I’m a serial dater. I date kdrama series like I would a potential partner, and I give it a maximum of four weeks to impress me. Eight evening dates with a kdrama should tell me whether it’s up to my standards or not.
I’m dumping you, Vagabond. Here are my reasons.
One, I like physical, active, sporty, and rugged guys. But looking at Cha Dalgun do chase scene after chase scene, I’m reminded of a boyfriend who’s always on Viagra at the weirdest hour. When I see Dalgun getting ready to jump, climb or take a flying leap, I feel like telling him, “I’ve a headache tonight,” or “tomorrow, honey” or —
“I’m post-menopausal.”
lol.
Dalgun tires me out, and I don’t mean sex.
Two, in reality, I like women. I like cute, bubbly, perky women. And I go drinking with cute, bubbly, perky women. But a major turn-off is when these cute, bubbly perky women turn into a horror show of drunkenness. I don’t get it. Haeri knows that she can’t hold her drink but she drinks to oblivion anyway.
It’s like, you’re aware that curry gives you diarrhea, but you order curry on a date anyway. Why do you do that? Do you hate your date?
drinking to the point of intoxication = having a diarrhea, without a toilet paper
They’re gross.
Three, I dislike threesomes.
Especially when two of the three people in the group are airheads. It’s not that I want to discuss national security or sustainable economic development with my dates, but I expect a conversation that makes sense.
Unfortunately, the writers of Vagabond don’t.
Whoever said that two heads are better than one, has yet to meet these two writers. My eyes glazed over when they depicted the NIS so corrupt that moles were everywhere, then they showed the lead female snitching on her own team too. Duh?? Wouldn’t that make her a mole, too?
It does NOT matter one bit that Cha Dalgun was one of the bereaved family members. She apprised him of their trip to Morocco because she wanted to communicate with him again after he stopped texting her. Her friend asked, “By the way, aren’t you going to call Cha Dalgun? He’ll be really happy to hear this news.” And the next thing, we saw was Haeri calling him up and visiting him at the martial arts center. Urgh.
Moreover, she kept updating him of her team’s movement while in Morocco. Is she loyal to her team or to Dalgun? She knew what she was doing was grounds for demotion or even dismissal.
Remember this, writers. Loose lips sink ship. People end up compromise their mission when they inadvertently give intel to their lovers who turn out to be working against them.
Four, “It’s not about you, it’s about me.”
Seriously. It’s not about Gi Taewon being sexist when he refused to take her on the team, and relegated her to kitchen duties. I would, too.
It’s about Haeri’s being an amateur, both professionally and mentally.
For instance, on the plane bound for Morocco, Gi TaeWon accidentally glanced at her. Uncomfortable of their eye contact, she said, apropos of nothing, “I was in the toilet. I have constipation.”
Is that something she would blurt out had GTW been a female boss looking at her? If she couldn’t imagine saying that to a female boss, then Haeri’s being sexist here. She’s seeing her boss as a man, not as a gender-neutral colleague. lol.
Her statement to GTW indicated that a) her emotions dictated her speech, and most likely, her actions, too, b) she doesn’t think before she speaks, and c) she couldn’t separate business from the personal.
More importantly, her behavior signaled to me, too, that she couldn’t be trusted not to flake out at the critical moments. If she wasn’t the heroine of this kdrama, she WOULD be considered a joke in any other series. If she bemoans next time that she isn’t treated seriously, she should remember her random aegyo moves. It’s a good thing Suzy is cute, or this scene deserves a rotten tomato.
Five, playing the “shrinking violet” is such a bore.
I would never have expected a stuntman who does over-the-top stunts to be exaggeratedly shy over a kiss. Why was Dalgun making a federal case out of Haeri’s drunken kiss? Are his lips virginal and he was saving them for marriage?
Chill-ax, Dalgun. If you can kick-ass your way through an 15, 30, 50 agents and a North Korean assassin in a 24-hour cycle, you can definitely survive a smack on the lips for 5 seconds.
Last, there’s no mystery here.
The fun part of dating is getting to know the other person…or in this case, the kdrama. That’s why I like serial dating. I’m not committed to marry the kdrama and stick with it through thick or thin till death do us part.
Thanks to the over-hyped action scenes, unbelievable plot, and undeveloped characters, this show doesn’t intrigue me enough to continue.
To me, the ultimate bad guy is Edward Park. His assistant, Micky is Michael’s killer. Shadow is the secretary of the president. Jessica’s been played.
As for the couple, Dalgun and Haeri, I’m sure Haeri would like to have children with her brains and his brawn because that’s what she bragged about.
It doesn’t say much about the writers, who I heard are a married couple, when they can joke about the female having the brain-power and the male having all muscle-power. With such offensive stereotypes, it’s no wonder that the characters AND the story annoy the sensibilities of reasonable viewers like me.
So, goodbye Vagabond.
I’m dying for a relationship that can move me, body and soul, but I’m not seeing me with you in the works. Let’s not waste my time and break up now while I still retain a few decent memories of you. If ever in the future, I get over my disillusion, I may check up on you.
Good luck.
High Five ! 😀
I chose to stop this drama too. The last 2 episodes were too stupid for me. The villains who can take over NIS and the team GA and GD against the NIS Team… The writters would have chosen between a rookie who has to learn her job or a special agent who can do her work and not a mix between the both.
So now, you have time fore Extraordinary You 😀 (I’m joking)
Lol. I came to rant and saw this breakup notice. A sad day it is.
I agree 100% with what you’ve written about Ki Tae Woong and Haeri. KTW is the reason I’m staying (most probably because SSR). I’ve watched ep 9, I like that he is still inline with his character: a righteous man. He upholds his superiors orders, imo that does not make him a arrogant person, it makes him a good employee. A puppet of some sort. Haha.
I am totally against the show trying to force a love triangle. It is just….MEH. and I’m so over Dalgun being invicible. In ep 9 he easily disarmed the most ‘top’ NIS black agent(?). Dalgun is like a comicbook superhero character instead of a stuntman. Make him loose for once. Or change his character description to winter soldier or captain america. Sigh.
And I feel that the other characters are dumbed down to make Dalgun and Haeri rise above them. Urghhhh.
Good luck in your search for a new drama packmule3! Despite all my rants, I know I’ll continue watching VB, even if its only KTW scenes. Hahaha!
😂 Just keep posting us updates on Vagabond. I’d like to hear about Ki TaeWoong. Are the writers going to make him dependent on painkillers? Is this setting him up for the dark side in later episodes?
SSR needs his own show. I just hope it’s not a legal kdrama bec I’m not touching that. 😂 A detective show, maybe?
The time jump should happen soon too, right? The writers have to explain the flash-forward scene in the beginning and resolve that, too.
Yes, the NIS’ stake-out was the last straw. That’s not how it’s done. The NIS mission is basically a search-and-rescue operation. Like in a disaster area. Given the three mile-radius, it would have been better if the teams were broken up in groups and assigned a grid to monitor.
The drones could have been better used For instance, infrared drones could be deployed at night and search for residences which consistently has only one occupant. Given that this is a slum area, most homes will be packed with tenants i.e., large extended families, at night. During the day, the drones can fly over those selected residences for a visual check. The empty bottles of water should have been spotted during the day fly-over of the drones.
Supermarkets are not the only place they could have monitored. They should have checked out neighborhood bars too. Lol. How come this pilot doesn’t drink like the rest of his compatriots? Tsk tsk tsk. Not believable, writers.
Water, toilet paper and ramen. 😂 Those are the essentials for any Korean character trying to elude the authorities.
Lol😂😂😂 your list are all on point. But then again…that’s kdrama dear😃 i also roll eyes at some scenes. Yes this is an espionage drama so we really hoped for a serious character. Btw, i was a fan of Alias and I really liked that kind of strong, bad ass character and serious character. Well as for me I will stick to watching just to see how this mess will resolve.😛
I don’t see a time jump happening soon. The pace is so off.
Some updates for ep 9
Vagabond is codename for a chicken place haha 🤣
http://www.dramabeans.com/members/katakwasabi/activity/906073/
I like chicken ahjumma and wished this drama is about her and KTW.
http://www.dramabeans.com/members/katakwasabi/activity/906100/
I hope KTW shoots Haeri and Dalgun
http://www.dramabeans.com/members/katakwasabi/activity/905889/
Ep 10 preview. OTP on a ship. A physical cargo ship and high-5ing. Lol
http://www.dramabeans.com/members/katakwasabi/activity/905936/#acomment-905951
Just update us on the Open Thread because I do want to know the outcome, too. Please?
I simply don’t have time to view the episodes and write a review of them.
Okay, but I’m waiting for her to turn around and show her dark side. Legit, she owns the same jacket as the female assassin who killed Michael. She was assigned to investigate Michael’s death but left early enough to kill him and supposedly didn’t notice the gun hand thing. Also, why the hell would her boss assign her to that anyways and fly the new girl to 🇲🇦 or put her on the national team/ambassador assignment? Likewise, the interview scene was unnecessary. We get that information in like 5 different places. The only thing new is that there is someone in NIS that was saved by her father– someone whose face is deliberately not shown– and they manipulate her to suggest she won’t make it into this job she needs so much (until magically she’s there). Spot the potential for corruption! They carefully show her throw the jacket that I mentioned earlier over the back of a chair later– with the identical design and stitching visible. It’s hinted that she ends up on the side of the bad at some point (in that cringeworthy first scene) and she repeatedly does things to suggest she could actually be playing a version of the double agent– just way deeper than the other characters. They show her hands or gun in some of the sketchy scenes and look at when she decides to be a badass and when not. And recall your sunglasses dilemma and the way she often hesitates right before helling. In a disturbing way, it fills a lot of the plot holes if she has a secret ulterior motive or involvement. I keep watching to see how she evolves and how they justify her as the main female character given her potential involvement. Deep cover? Something unexpected (hopefully)?
**To summarize** the inconsistencies in her character are so directed that it seems like it might be leading somewhere, so I watch just in case (though I hate the President– he bores me– and miss the secretary’s secretary who tried to smuggle the president the truth. This is a show where they show explosions but the plot is driven by secretaries.)