Frustration, Music and Karma: Love is Drop by Drop Episodes 97-103

Today’s starter story:

I was having lunch with a friend last week and we were discussing a couple who are mutual acquaintances–they happen to be the closest thing to chaebol level rich we both know. Their daughter is happily married, but their son is not married yet. He’s in his early 30’s, straight (!), reasonably good looking, well-educated, and with plenty of family money to back him for the rest of his days even if he isn’t making a fortune in his current job. My friend told me the young man has a girlfriend, but she has two small children from a previous relationship. This young man does not want or like children, so he told his girlfriend to choose–she could be with him, but she would have to have the kids live with their father or grandparents. Or she could leave.

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The Good Example and the Bad Example: Love is Drop by Drop Episodes 95-96

I’ve seen some dramas tank badly, but LIDD has set a new standard. Unlike a right-at-the-very-end disaster (The Good Wife) or a more common 2 episode implosion, (My Love Eun Dong) this once wonderful show is doing a much longer and more torturous flameout. It’s driving the once loyal viewers to new heights of anger and indignation especially since there were so many fun and lighthearted episodes in the middle of the show. The Soompi comments are bad, but the real venom is on the Hdfree.se and Dramacool.su sites. Even the writer’s AsianWiki page has exceptionally negative comments.

Thankfully this blog gives me the venting source I need or I’d be losing my last marble too.  I keep hoping the writer will pull off some kind of miracle, or there will be an extension (okay, I know—I’m a glutton for punishment!) to resolve the storylines in a manner which will not result in myself or any of the viewers destroying electronic devices or sending threats to the writer. I am finding that I can view this drama as a learning experience for future writing endeavors; it’s a “What Not To Do” model. We have a saying at Shamrockmom’s House: If you can’t be a good ‘good example’, then at least be a good ‘bad example’! 

The Case for Sobriety: Love is Drop by Drop Episodes 92 and 93

I’m hanging on by a thread. I feared the dreaded derailment, even at the beginning of this show. For more than half of the projected 120 episodes, that looked like an irrational fear. But as LIDD approaches the 100 episode mark, the baddies are getting away with way too much, the OTP is broken up with no sign of being able to reconcile, and once cute and promising side character plot lines with musical loving dentists have sunk into a swamp. Since I can’t and won’t drink like WH, I need to vent my frustration here at the keyboard! However, there might be a few hidden clues left by the Writer/PD-nim to give me a boost of perseverance. 

Seeking Justification: Love is Drop by Drop Episodes 69-71

A/N: Before I get started, I want to direct you to the second part of the “Elements of Style” blog post at koreandrama.today which goes into some incredible detail about how a scene is shot and the emotional impact it has on the viewer. I have learned more about how Kdramas are created by watching this show along with the information in the two blog posts than I ever thought possible. And even though the fun and lighthearted scenes that I really enjoy have pretty much disappeared, the messages the writer and PD-nim send through the BG music, PPL, props, fashion choices, and the sets continue to make this show take the top spot in my drama viewing lineup 5 days a week!

Pep talks and Evil deeds: Love is Drop by Drop Episodes 67-68

I took a couple of days off from the blog to do some much-needed self-reflection on this show and how it was exposing the worst parts of my personality….the grudge-holding, the anger and negativity, and how incredibly easy it is for me to believe the worst of someone instead of the best…yikes! I don’t like what I am finding here. I am severely lacking in many areas. I think that the writer-nim makes Bang Wool seem extra positive as she looks for the good instead of the bad in every situation; Woo Hyuk’s got a fair amount of that too, as he seems much more reluctant to believe the bad in people after DJ’s heart transplant, and Sang Chul has much less of this characteristic after all the crap he’s had dumped on him. I had also dropped all the other Kdramas I had been watching and fully concentrated on LIDD. That was one mistake. I picked up “Saimdang: Light’s Diary” again (I’m on Episode 9 and love it. I can’t figure out why so many folks hate this show. I hope it’s not about to tank.) and started “Father is Weird” (Very early assessment: Not too bad–and Lee Joon is hilarious.) I had to permanently drop “I’m Sorry Kang Nam Goo” as the level of sheer evil in that show surpassed the need for fangirling my sockless cutie-pie and tall drink of water Park Sun Ho, and I dropped “Golden Pouch” because the birth secrets were so complicated I couldn’t figure them out even with a scorecard! That show had some real potential too, and the cinematography was A+, but a long break in the middle of the show due to the impeachment hearings was a big problem. I might go back to it, but I doubt it. I need some better balance between the negative and the positive in my Kdrama life–and in RL as well.

Carnival of the (Scary) Animals: Love is Drop by Drop Episodes 65-66

When I went to KCON this past summer and attended the DramaBeans panel, there was one thing they said that really stuck in my head. It was that at the end of a Kdrama, the families have to accept the relationship between the OTP. They said that was pretty much a consistent thing in Kdramas, although I believe Secret Love Affair broke that rule–well, that and a lot of other ones too! Seon Jae was an orphan at that point, and Hye Won was estranged from her family; they were not even a part of the drama other than a very brief mention of her mother, and her sister’s kids. “Heard it Through the Grapevine” is another one in the rule breaker category; In Sang finally left his parents, and all their wealth and status permanently and chose his wife over them.

The Dragon Queen Arrives: Love is Drop by Drop Episodes 63-64

Back when I was watching HITTG, I wrote about an experience I had in my early college days, as I watched a fellow classmate deal with parental objections to a potential spouse. It was jaw-dropping to me back then but only merits a sad sigh and an eye-roll from me today. From my Episode 4 recap…

When I was a freshman in college (circa 1982), a male classmate of mine–a white guy–fell in love with a Vietnamese girl. He was absolutely head over heels in love with her. He even learned to speak and read Vietnamese (no easy feat) so he could communicate better with her and her family. Her family hated him, mostly because he was white, but also because he was a student, and only had a PT job like we all did back in the day. They tried everything to break those two up. I didn’t watch Kdrama’s back then, but it was some seriously crazy makjang stuff that went on–her parents arranged blind dates for her and intercepted their phone calls and letters. Of course, the guy’s parents loved her and were thrilled that their son was dating this lovely young lady. I remember the two of them cried–a lot. She broke up with him once for about 3 days, and everyone who knew these two cried with them, me included. Then they got back together and decided to stick it out no matter what. Her parents offered him a “contract”–I’m sure money was involved–to stay away from their daughter. He was furious…and so was she. I never did find out what happened to them. I graduated and left that college, but they were still together after 2 years of crazy parental antics. I hope they made it.

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In many Kdramas, the OTP would have already broken up by this point. Thank goodness WH and BW are made of tougher stuff–at least so far. How can anyone complain about the stunning level of honesty seen from WH?