I like this show.
Watching the romance developed between the bar-owner Dongbaek and the policeman YongSik, I’m constantly reminded that Dongbaek’s death has been foreshadowed in the crime scenes at the start and end of — not one — but TWO episodes.
For many, this mental conflict in watching a romcom with a murder previewed, leads them to reject outright or explain away the murder. To wit: No, it isn’t really Dongbaek under the white sheet. No, it’s really her bar-helper who’s a petty kleptomaniac. No, that scene is merely a dream-sequence in YongSik’s mind. No, that scene depicts an alternate reality.
lol.
That’s why I like this show. Because a) I see that the gulf between present and the future is too wide to ever be bridged, but b) I trust in the kdrama gods that her grisly fate would never come to pass in a romcom, I’m staying to watch how the story sorts out this mess. The writer’s and the director’s brains interest me now.
Call me rubber-necking but I want to see how this ends.
1. Artistic beginning
I must point out how the beginning is very artistically done.
The scene is dark and moody with a panoramic view of a lakeside with rolling mountains in the background. A car speeds through an empty tree-lined street and splashes through puddles. Instead of a whole body of a man, feet are shown getting out of the car and striding with unhurried steps. Then, a man’s back is seen moving past the ambulances, onlookers and police gathered near a site by the water. The label on the back of his jacket identifies him as a police officer. He crosses the yellow tape and removes his cap.
That action, the removal of his cap, is the first clue that he isn’t on official business to investigate the crime scene. The second clue is a non-uniformed policeman waving him away although he ignores him and keeps walking toward a stretcher being carried away. The man raises a hand to command the paramedics to stop. And an arm falls out of the stretcher to reveal a bruised hand with a bracelet.
All this time, the man’s face is hidden from the viewers.
The camera cuts to the next scene with a woman wearing a similar bracelet pulling a canvas out of a yellow plastic bin filled with canvases. It’s the female lead, DongBaek. She studies the painting. Then the camera pans away to show the title of the episode appearing ominously on screen, “The Woman with the Germanium Bracelet.”
Ha!
If that isn’t a homage to the Vermeer painting, “The Girl with Pearl Earring” then I don’t know what is.
Likewise, the title of Episode 2, “The Good, the Bad, and the Cheap” alludes to great Western film where three cowboys were after the same treasure. Starring Clint Eastwood, that 1960s movie is called, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”
This is why I say that this show is artistically done: there’s a conscious effort to create a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality. Just like it merges a thriller and romcom in a novel way, it juxtaposes a very somber, dreamy crime scene with a very campy and brightly lit moving-in day.
The change in camera technique gives it away. The director suddenly switches from a stable image of a steady camera to a shaky perspective of a moving camera.
Instead of a police car speeding through a rustic setting, a moving van crawls through a narrow alley and people steer clear of it. The camera’s jerky movement and erratic speed gives the whole scene an unrehearsed and nervous feel. The camera perspective actually mimics the real of an actual “moving-in” day. lol.
And the view from the top of the van contrasts brilliantly with the steady feet walking through the gravel and puddles in the opening scene.
Do you see it? A single camera was used to shoot these scenes and each camera produced a totally different “feel” to the story. One camera was put low to the ground to follow the footsteps of the man going to identify a dead body. Meanwhile, another camera was positioned on top of the moving van to record people’s reaction to somebody moving in to the neighborhood.
A single camera captured the ambiance of the two scenes: one solemn, the other animated.
Well done, director!
The moving van parks behind a truck where movers are off-loading yellow plastic crates (similar to the one shown earlier with the easels) and carrying them inside a residence.
Neighbors curiously watch the sight from a distance. Three nosy ahjummas speculate about the newcomer and form wrong assumptions. They see the sign “Dongbaek” (or Camillia in English) and assume that a flower shop is opening. Nosy Ahjumma #1 and her husband doubt that a flower shop in the middle of a food alley will survive. They don’t outright say it but when they observe that setting up a new business in their Ongsan neighborhood is especially tough for newcomers, they really mean for “outsiders.”
And as they converse, the newcomer comes striding out the door.
She’s the girl with the germanium bracelet and she wears a raffia straw hat. She picks up a stuffed toy dropped by the movers and her hat falls.
Sidenote: Again, I like the contrast in details here. Earlier, the man takes off his police cap. Now, she drops her straw hat. Their hats indicate their different personalities.
In dramatic slow-motion, the girl with the germanium bracelet fixes her hair and her face is revealed to all and sundry. Chaos ensues. The men watching her are instantly diverted.
A baseball is tossed in the air and dropped. A water-filled glove slips from the hand and falls to the ground. A bicycle runs over a street vendor’s dried hot peppers and crashed into a man. A hose sprays water.
It’s a cataclysmic moment when the girl with the germanium bracelet is first seen by the menfolk. Sensing a feminine threat to their menfolk, the ahjummas insist that she isn’t pretty.
Sidenote 2: I said this before. I find the actress Gong Hyo Jin homely. Her face reminds me of a Cabbage Patch doll. But for the sake of the story, I’ll suspend my disbelief.
The ahjummas revise their opinion of her when they see her retrieving a baby stroller from the moving truck.
Automatically, they presume that she’s a newlywed with a young baby, and decide that she’s a harmless little thing. Only then do they concede her beauty.
Of course, they’ll be shocked later when they discover that she’s an unwed single mother…the “worst” kind of woman in existence.
To me, these two events, the discovery of the dead body and the arrival of a pretty girl, are interesting to compare and contrast.
Dongbaek’s entrance causes a major stir in a tightly knit community. In comparison, her death (assuming that it’s her corpse under the white sheet) causes a commotion ONLY because the serial killer struck again in that remote countryside and not because SHE was found dead. Do you see the difference?
Except for YongSik, neither the onlookers nor police force seems to be particularly distraught by the discovery of HER dead body. In fact, although YongSik’s boss looks grim, he barely shows distress for his protégé’s loss. He doesn’t comfort YongSik in the manner I would have expected of him had YongSik really lost the “love of his life.” Everybody at the crime scene is busily attending to their task, and only YongSik is agitated at the sight of the dead body.
In contrast, the sight of Dongbaek’s beauty (quote and unquote) transfixes everybody. All eyes are riveted on her face as she flips her hair.
The perspectives in which we view these two moments are entirely different.
In the case of the crime scene, it’s viewed from YongSik’s perspective. The camera focuses on his shoes and footstep, and on the back of his head to give us the feel of walking in his shoes and seeing the dead body from his eyes.
It’s similar to “first-person” perspective in novels.
We’re empathizing with YongSik because we’re seeing the scene unfold from his point of view. But more importantly, this over-the-shoulder shot creates a psychological tension in us because we’re identifying with YongSik who clearly doesn’t know what will happen next.
In comparison, the arrival of Dongbaek is viewed from multiple perspectives, namely, the ahjummas and men. They’re clearly mesmerized by her because she’s unlike anybody that the locals have encountered in their neck of the woods. To them, she’s a rara avis or an extraordinary person. And the only way that they can “normalize” her and understand her ways is to pigeonhole her into a stereotype that’s very familiar to women living in that community. That is, a young mom with a husband.
The women are shocked to hear of her single status.
But the men patronize her bar and contribute to the success of establishment because of her single status. Camellia is the only place in that food alley where the men can escape their womenfolk.
It’s interesting that the one woman who SHOULD be wary of Dongbaek is the one who comes to her defense when Nosy Ahjumma #1 maligns Dongbaek for being a single mom or berates Dongbaek because her foolish husband spent too much money at her bar. This “influential” defender of Dongbaek is YongSik’s mother. Dongbaek is unaware that a shaman had told YongSik’s mom that her son’s frightful temper will be tamed when he meets the right person.
Shaman: A rabbit will meet a dragon.
Mom: My gosh! It probably means that Yongsik will soar high! I guess he’ll meet a girl who’s like an adorable rabbit.
Shaman: No! What I’m saying is Yongsik will meet a dragon.
Mom: What? Excuse me?
Shaman: Yongsik is a rabbit.
Mom: What? Are you drunk? Then where is this dragon?
Shaman: In the east.
Mom: Darn it. You always say that. I don’t even know which direction is east.
Shaman: (pointing) That way. That’s east.
And just then, Dongbaek arrives bringing rice cakes to greet her new neighbor, the shaman.
Six years pass by without Dongbaek and Yongshik once meeting. And his mom looks kindly upon Dongbaek because she remembers being in Dongbaek’s shoes as a widow selling sundae soup and soju to raise her three children. She advises Dongbaek to ignore the women and just go on doing her thing.
Dongbae: I wish I had a mom like you.
Mom: I would’ve loved to marry one of my sons off to you.
Dongbae: (putting on her raffia hat) Oh right. I heard your youngest son is still single.
Mom: What? (looking confused)
Dongbae: I was just kidding.
If this were a typical romcom, I’d like the idea the future mother-in-law and daughter-in-law getting along well with each other. But if this story ends in a heartbreak, then I’d rather that they didn’t become too familiar with each other.
2. DongBaek’s baby, PilGo
The confrontation in Episode 2 between mother and son is very touching. It reminds us that Pilgo has been protecting his mom from public opprobrium.
lol. I think it started even when he was a baby. When the landowner was asking DongBaek where her husband was so he could talk to him about the renovation to the rental property, the baby Pilgo gave a small cough.
Then, when Nosy Ahjumma #1 was inquiring where Dongbaek’s husband was and whose baby was in the stroller, the baby Pilgo started crying. lol. But he’s dressed up in baseball outfit because his dad after all is a famous professional baseball player.
And I like the way that he threatened the male customers to address his mother respectfully as the owner of the establishment, or he wouldn’t give them extra refills of corn puffs.
But as noble as his deed may be, he’s still a young child. While it’s heartbreaking to hear him air his grievances, we have to remember that he has an incomplete picture, not to mention understanding, of human nature. Indeed, there are people who like his mother, such as YongSik, his mother and brother. And not everybody who harasses Dongbaek actually hates her. It’s more likely that people harass her because they envy her.
Dongbaek: You shouldn’t behave like that to adults. You always talk back to adults and get into fights with your friends. That’s why everyone calls you a pit bull.
Pilgo: Do you even know why I became like this? It’s all because of you.
Dongbaek: What?
Pilgo? Why do I need to protect you? You should protect me. I am only in first grade. I’m too young to be protecting you.
Dongbaek: When did I ask you to protect me?
Pilgo: I don’t want to do that either. But I’ve no choice but to protect you.
Dongbaek: Why?
Pilgo: Because everyone else hates you. I’m the only person in the world who likes you in this entire world. I already know how much the neighbors hate you and harass you. That’s why I can’t even play baseball. I’m always busy protecting you. Sometimes I get tired of doing this. I get…I get really angry doing this.
And they both cry while YongSik watches them.
Of course, it’s not lost on YongSik, and us the viewers, that he’s the grown-up version of Pilgo. He empathizes with Pilgo because he sees himself in Dongbaek’s son. He, too, has a mom who had to raise three boys by herself by successfully running a crab restaurant.
3. Dongbaek’s real name?
I think the viewers are hastily assuming that her name is Dongbaek but that might not be her actual name.
As Pilgo points out to bar customer, “Dongbaek” is only the name of the bar.
We don’t know her English name either.
Then, in Episode 2, when her ex-boyfriend and Pilgo’s dad saw the name of the bar, “Camellia,” he sighs and says, “This is what she named the place?”
I don’t speak or read Korean. But I’m guessing that the letters that are lit up spell “camellia” in English but I don’t know what that number 2 stands for. Most likely, the bar is named in memory of a place that she and ex-boyfriend liked.
The letters at the bottom right corner spells “dongbaek” which is camellia in Korean.
4. “The Good, the Bad, and the Cheap”
Based on first impressions from Episode 1, the male lead Hwang YongSik appears to be a bad cop. He’s “transferred” (a face-saving way of saying “demoted”) from the Seoul metropolitan police force to his hometown branch, because of an incident involving excessive use of force.
Meanwhile, the second male lead, a professional baseball player named Kang Jong Ryul (JR) appears like a good family man. He’s a doting father and long-suffering husband of an immature social media influencer.
The third male lead is Mr. No, her landlord and a wannabe-politician. He acts like a big spender, treating folks out to meals.
Almost everybody in the community owes him money because he readily lends money as a way to ingratiate himself with future constituents and earn votes for the coming election.
However, I’m sure that as the story progresses, the good guy here will be YongSik who’ll do anything to protect Dongbaek. The bad guy will be the professional baseball player who’ll be consumed with jealousy and/or anger that he was deprived of his son.
And Mr. No will be the cheap guy who fixates on the freebie peanuts from DongBaek and gives his wife the freebie promo gift.
One of the memorable lines spoken by Dongbaek in Episode 1 is her telling Mr. No that she isn’t for sale. “The whelks are 15,000 won, the stir-fried pork is 12,000 won and the conches are 8,000 won. But the price doesn’t include your right to touch me or my smile. I only sell alcohol. The only think you can buy here is just alcohol. That’s it.”
I think this is a reaction to Mr. No’s wife’s insinuation earlier that day that the reason Mr. No likes to frequent her bar is because she smiles easily like a cute and diffident girl. That hurt DongBaek because she’s been anything but flirtatious and casual with her male customers.
5. Forced relationship
For me, the fly in the ointment in an otherwise entertaining start of this romcom is DongBaek’s last-minute ploy to “rent a man.” Ugh! She takes advantage of YongSik’s friendship and kindness.
She grabs hold of his hand,
and pretends that he’s her husband in order to escape her ex-boyfriend JR.
Unfortunately, they meet Mr. No who’s stunned to see them holding hands. He asks if the two are dating.
His question shocks both JR and YongSik for different reasons, of course. JR thinks that he’s DongBaek’s husband so he’s surprised that they’re dating. YongSik, on the other hand, thinks he’s merely a friend of DongBaek, and nothing more, so he’s surprised that they’re dating.
Only YongSik is delighted by this sudden turn of events…
and that makes him the stupidest person in this love triangle quadrangle.
This irritates me for so many reasons. One, I don’t believe in love at first sight. Two, he’s head over heels in love with DongBaek for no good reason other than she’s beautiful. (and she isn’t! Dang it!). Three, he isn’t thinking with his brains. Four, he’s rushing things again like he does with his police work. Five, his feelings are tied up with his unresolved mother/childhood angst.
And six, he so wants to play the Prince Charming to her Princess Diana that he’s missing the red flags. Like, she finds him weird.
And she really isn’t THAT into him. She isn’t at all flustered by his presence or touched by his romantic gestures. She finds them a nuisance instead.
Sure, she sees the advantage of having a guy like YongSik to fend off her ex-boyfriend JR and the troublesome Mr. No. But she still needs time to see the merit of having YongSik himself, and not just any other guy, at her side.
lol. I dislike Dongbaek for using YongSik this way, but I dislike YongSik, too, for being such a patsy.
6. Last, when do the camellias bloom?
In winter.
I was surprised to discover that the camellias actually bloom in winter, and the Korean camellia, known as “Korean fire,” is probably the hardiest camellia there is. It’s been said to survive -28°F condition.
source: New York Times
What does this tell us about Dongbaek? According to www.flowermeaning.com, camellias are a “symbol of faithfulness and longevity. They have been part of traditional Korean wedding ceremonies since 1200 B.C.” Considering that the shaman prophesied that she’s a “dragon” and that she raised her child single-handedly while operating a bar, I say that she’s being true to her name, sturdy and tough. Although she admits to laughing and smiling easily,
she’s definitely no wilting wallflower.
“I don’t speak or read Korean. But I’m guessing that the letters that are lit up spell “camellia” in English but I don’t know what that number 2 stands for.”
The number 2 is actually part of the second letter. And yes it does sound out as “Camellia” (or KKa – Mel – Ri – A).
This irritates me for so many reasons. One, I don’t believe in love at first sight. Two, he’s head over heels in love with DongBaek for no good reason other than she’s beautiful. (and she isn’t! Dang it!).
I don’t know what to say. 🤣
I did watch the first episode and I’m not sure if it’ll keep me going. Oh I thought Yong Sik was not in Ongsan for the 6 years because he was stationed in Seoul and he got transferred back to Ongsan because of his other abuse incident. 🙂
I have to say I got way distracted by those big crabs in those big tubs while the Ahjumma’s were washing them. 🤤
Bravo, Pkm3, on the camera angles and footsteps! Adds more interest when you know the director is actively using these methods.
I asked my guy friend what he thought about GHJ and her beauty. He says she’s very attractive because of her figure not her face. Guys like those long narrow torsos. Go figure.
I hate love at first sight too. But I’m in for four episodes at minimum.
This is a cute drama but I am just so not believing with the looks of Kang Haneul. He is so good looking IRL but why did they have to do that style to him.
Plus I thought you don’t like noona-dongsaeng love story. Oops! If I’m mistaken mian, maybe it’s from another blog, if I’m mistaken.Enlighten me.Peace!!!
Hangul is a simple phonetic alphabet. I suspect you could pick it up in a very short time. Then you can puzzle along with the rest of us in wondering why is that English word written that way in Hangul when there is a much better fit??? For example, Camelia, to my understanding (and google in the US) starts with a k sound. Which means the first syllable should look like 카 or 커, not 까.
One thought that has occurred to me is that the importing of words is done from multiple languages where similar words have different phonetic spellings and the form that dominates is often not English. i.e. in some language, Camellia really does start with 까… This really frustrates the heck out of my elderly mother who has to puzzle out what the writing is saying by trying out different pronunciations until she gets the particular word.
It’s only 24 characters and sounds. Give it a try!
One last bit of trivia – the form that my mother learned had 28 characters. When’s the last rime a living alphabet lost one seventh of its characters?
Mslee’s tweet brought me here tbh, cos I wonder what your take on this drama. Well, yes I’m excited bcs I watch too. Mind you, I haven’t read the whole post, just quick scrolling, and I find Vermeer, Clint Eastwood, Munch and even cabbage patch 😅 I have to leave this comment before I really “read” the whole post, are you trying to educate, cultivate and enlighten the not-so-smart, uncultured and lazy me Ma’am? 🤣🤣🤣 please do!!
Oh I see. Thanks, @nrllee.
lol. I thought it was the number 2.
You’re right. Yongsik was away from Ongsan for 6 years (or more). Dongbaek had been living in Ongsan for 6 years and she didn’t see once.
Yes, the crabs were distracting, right? I wanted to eat crab cakes went I was watching that scene. lol. I’ve crab cakes in the freezer which can be cooked for dinner tonight.
Is your male friend joking? Her body is as flat as a board. If she had more flesh on her, like around the chest, hips, and buttocks, then yes, she’d be attractive.
I think Kang Haneul looks stocky because of her.
Love at first sight in kdramas annoys me. I’m a bitter woman.
Yes. I’m the one who doesn’t like noona-dongsaeng romances especially when the whole point of the drama is to spotlight the age differences. Cough cough. “Romance is a Bonus Book” Cough cough. The female lead in that kdrama is one of the worst leads I’ve seen. Ugh! Because the guy’s her dongsaeng that she can push around, she squats in his house and steals his food without his knowledge and permission. Can you imagine a guy doing that to a girl? Can you say creepy?
But I think (and I’m hoping) it’s different with Dongbaek. I like that she’s a good single mom.
I didn’t even notice that DongBaek was older than Yongsik. lol. I thought they were the same age!!
Thanks, @flying tool.
My problem is even if I can memorize the alphabet and learn to sound out the words, the words still won’t mean anything to me. It’s like a non-English speaking person being able to read and pronounce “misprision” and being ignorant of the meaning.
But then, maybe I’m spoiled. I’ve an interpreter when I travel on business so I’ve become accustomed to relying on someone. I’ve a Rosetta Stone software on my laptop. If I watch less kdrama, I can learn a new language. Trade-offs. 🙂
Hi there, DEY!
lol. I was trying to be artsy-fartsy like the director.
Morning! 😊
Those crabs were huge! My eyes were 🤩 and then 😋
What’s your crab cake like? It’s not similar to crab pancake is it?
I’m episode 43 of MTF, I want to finish it ☺️
I’m sorry. I’m having a brain freeze here. What show is MTF again?
It’s the Phillips brand of crab cakes. They look like hamburger patties.
https://www.phillipsfoods.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/mdcrabcakes-pk.jpg
I’ve two frozen lobsters, too. But it’s more work to steam them so crab cakes should be fine. There’s steak for my hubby.
I also have a block of tofu. I bought it on a whim so I don’t know how to cook it. haha. I’ll google recipes for it.
Oh geez! Those crab cake looks sooo good! 😋 I want some 😂 Not sure if we have those here but we have crab meat which is normal. I love crab omelette too. We usually steam lobster. Oh tofu is another fave of the boys and myself. I always order them if we’re eating out. I like salt n pepper tofu. ☺️
My True Friend is MTF 😉 I’ve finished with GGS so I want to finish this one too.
I watched Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency. I don’t know what’s up with Viki. The romcom is a Viki Original but until now Ep 1 is still partly subbed. Had to go to another site.
Ooh! I’ve to watch GGS, too.
So many dramas to watch, I feel a panic attack coming. lol.
If it weren’t 8:30am here, I’d eat the crab cakes right now. But I’ve to go to the office shortly. See you later!
Viki is in crisis. From what I can gather from the messages left in my box, on Sept. 19/20, Viki sent a message to the French teams that it was implementing bot translations on a lot of dramas that had unfinished French translated episodes, and that teams were free to edit the bot translations. So there was no prior warning or discussion with the French teams about how to best handle the unfinished dramas and then some of the French language volunteers mentioned that the bot had actually overwritten existing French translated dialogs with bot gobbledygook for some of the dramas. Result: All hell broke loose as Viki volunteer community raged about Viki management not respecting them and the fear that humans were being replaced by machines (that do crappy subs). So French teams went on strike and encouraged all other languages teams to strike as well in solidarity until Viki stop the bot and agree to never use it again. On Tuesday Sep. 24, Viki agree to stop the bot and delete the French bot translations, and I think want to talk to the volunteers about finding solutions to the problems. I think the strike is now called off but I got a message to sign the petition to not use bot translations for dramas today.
At the same time as this, Viki also been having technical difficulties all week so teams subbing is going slow even before “Botgate”.
Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency is having major issues. First, it only have 2 translators on the team so subbing at a snail’s pace from beginning because they do not have enough people on the team. They were actively trying to get more translators when: Second, the Channel Manager quit right after episode 2 was posted. So there is no CM and they have to find a new leader and everything is on hold until they have a new CM.
Which is why I am grateful that dramas I am interested in are being subbed by other streaming services because I don’t know when these issues at Viki will be solved. I can only be thankful that all this mess started after Before We Get Married finished.(Phoenix-my review of BWGM is posted!) I’m really looking forward to Tale of Nokdu which luckily is going to be subbed by Kocowa and VIU. And Graceful Family/Elegant Family is available with subs at OnDemandKorea.
Thanks @packmule3 for going into the camerawork and the different perspectives in which Dongbaek is viewed. The show really does revolve around her. Her coming, her movements, how she deals with people and does business, her relationships and the men who remain in her orbit and her possible impending death.
All the stranger then, that until now, we do not know if Dongbaek is really her name or not. Her son seems to imply that it isn’t and her ex-boyfriend too is surprised by the name of her business establishment. Which seems to suggest that her name is not Camellia.
Something about this scene struck me … did I misunderstand? I had the impression that ‘Mom’ was shocked at the suggestion that her youngest son should be paired off with Dongbaek. In the normal run of things, when the older person with a son to palm off comes across a likely female, she already starts pairing them off in her mind. But this did not happen with ‘Mom’.
This suggests to me that Dongbaek is not seriously being considered as daughter-in-law material. Although ‘Mom’ says she would love to marry off a son to Dongbaek, her reaction seems to suggest that it’s not something she’d entertain. After that shock, she didn’t say to Dongbaek, ‘Oh what a nice idea, how come I didn’t think of it.’ She was just silent.
Dongbaek’s reaction too was telling. She sort of laughed it off with “I’m just kidding,” that is, as if she knew she’d never be considered to be a suitable wife of ‘Mom’s son. She did not believe ‘Mom’ although she knew that ‘Mom’ liked her.
She is liked by the men and her own son but mostly rejected by the women. Poor Dongbaek.
SPOILER
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SPOILER
In the midst of the ‘normal’ life of Dongbaek, there is someone watching her who could be the same person who wrote on her wall, telling her not to become a joke. The killer is already in her midst. I’d like to know what being a ‘joke’ means to the killer.
I had the same impression of the mom’s reaction – nimbyism, i.e., Yes build that homeless shelter, I’ll even donate, but Not In My Backyard. It’s one thing to aid and assist someone not quite accepted by the community, but quite another thing to have them marry into your family.
If I had that crab cake in my fridge, I’d eat it even if it’s 8:30am 😄 Love, love crab! hehehe
I’m actually looking for my next cdrama, but maybe I’ll start on Mr Fighting. I am going to start on Flower Crew this weekend 🙂 Hopefully the Viki issue will be solved soon. I’m scared if Viki goes off permanently. 🙁 Thanks for the info @Table122000 .
Oh! I didn’t know that. Thanks for the update, @table122000.
You’re welcome on the Viki update, everyone. It’s a sad situation, indeed. If anything, this crisis has shown to me just how unviable/unworkable this business model is for Viki now. Yeah, 10 years ago the K Drama/Asian drama landscape was very different and the volunteer model could work well, but today…no way. There are too many other players for K Drama, that’s for sure. Who use paid translators and get quality subs out quickly because of it. And, tbh, reading those posts it just makes it so clear how using the volunteer model is so exploitative. Let’s be real, the volunteer translators are the backbone & lifeblood of Viki. Co-founder Razmig Hovaghimian sold Viki to Rakuten in 2013 for $200-255 million US dollars (accounts vary on the actual sale price). Yes, he had a pool of investors to pay off (including himself), but still you know that profit in his pocket was millions and the hardworking volunteers got not a penny. A $50 free subscription really doesn’t cut it in terms of what they gave. Who knows how many millions in yearly profts Viki makes now, and again, for the amount of time and effort, even the $100 free subscription is a drop in the bucket to volunteers true worth. I’m not saying that the volunteers don’t understand the realities or that they don’t agree to it, just that the model itself is exploitative. Respect and attention is the very least Viki should offer them.
Absolutely agree, Table, and was a loud complainer about this to Viki itself. My forum posts were removed! Basically, I said they needed to become a professional service and pay their – hopefully professional – translators their worth. This was after watching one series that stopped in the middle because the translators didn’t have time to finish it, and another one whose English subs were almost incomprehensible. Paying the translators is not only ethically correct, it means they can be held to a more professional standard.
All moot, of course, because they then really pissed me off by enforcing their app usage which doesn’t work with my device. So no, their model is not working, I agree, and whoever is making their business decisions – like auto-translate for goodness sake – is an idiot.
You are so right, @Barbrey. Yes, the volunteer model is just not feasible in today’s market. You mention 2 prominent issues regarding use of volunteers: language knowledge and fluency and ability to commit the time necessary. There are lots more things-just take a look at the discussion posts over at V. Also there is just no accountability with the volunteer model-on both sides. Using a Bot subs is stupid because while it may be fast, it’s gibberish and who will pay for gibberish when I can pay a different service for quality subs that are posted equally quickly? And yeah, Viki is so bad with the censorship-I had my posts deleted too a few times. Anyway, I got an official message today that the strike has ended-Viki agreed to meet with the volunteers to discuss issues.
About the show … it’s weird how most of the men folk are such weak personalities or dolts, and the only ones with spine and confidence are the killer and the love-sick cop. Even the ex-bf is hen-pecked. I have hopes in Pil Gu, though, but he’s too young.
Every female, by comparison, seems to stand out as being strong … strong-willed and as Dongbaek says,… self-reliant.
Are the new episodes out already?
Yes the new episodes are out.
Are they entertaining? I brought home work but I need a break for an hour or so before I get back on task. But if they’re aggravating, I’ll pass and watch a variety show instead. 😂
@packmule3, I personally find episodes 3/4 and 5/6 good. I only know of one thing that you find aggravating, and not if there are more things to warn you about. 😂
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Good thing is that the hand holding mistake was quickly resolved. So that’s one of your aggravations down, I imagine.
Interesting translation of the words of the killer. Instead of ‘don’t be a joke’ it is “I already told you five years ago not to act up.”
So someone is interacting with Dong Baek and considers her behaviour an acting-up (not a joke) which might make the murders more understandable, but not more justifiable.
The question is what made him stop.
Forgot to mention that the translation of the killer’s words was from DB!