A Big Bunch of Blabbermouths: Thoughts on Love is Drop by Drop Episode 115-116

A/N: With the postponement of the last episodes until Thursday/Friday, I curse TPTB out of one corner of my mouth–and cheer with the other. I thought I was gonna have to skip to Ep. 118 but now I can throw a few things in from Episodes 115-116.

I think that it matters greatly in a Kdrama that a character finds out the Big Secret from the appropriate person. Case in point–In “My Love Eun Dong”, Eun Ho finds out from Eun Dong that Ra Il is really his son, conceived on a getaway weekend 10 years ago, and right before the accident that paralyzed Jae Ho and wiped out Eun Dong’s memory until recently. I loved that when her memory came back, she told him herself. He didn’t hear about it second-hand, or from overhearing a conversation he shouldn’t have. I really applauded the writer for that. Then as that show imploded, Ra Il found out that Jae Ho was not his dad–by overhearing the nurses at the hospital gossiping about it. Ugh. It felt like lazy storytelling to me.

Cinematography For The Win: Love is Drop by Drop Episode 114

Even when a drama is going downhill, there can still be some stellar moments hinting at the possibilities of what might have been. Since this show seemed to jump the track much later than the average Kdrama daily, it’s especially frustrating to see quality work from the crew who are working on a very slim budget. When their efforts are blown up with a storyline that is far less than what viewers expected given the excellence of the first ~75 episodes, I feel that it needs to be acknowledged.

The Shortage of Comic Relief: Thoughts on Love is Drop by Drop Episodes 111-113

One of the ways LIDD seemed to lose steam as the episode count got into the upper 70’s was that the show’s comic relief seemed to nearly vanish. When I reviewed “Remember–A Son’s War” with Yoo Seong Ho last year, I also mentioned that it too suffered from lack of humorous interludes. When the comedy is appropriate and sprinkled throughout the show, it allows a mental break for the viewer and the show succeeds. When the comedy fails (like the ‘Domestic Violence as comedy’ concept from Heard it through the Grapevine) it’s bad, and when it’s minimal to non-existent (like in the dropped “I’m Sorry Kang Nam Goo”) it makes the show unwatchable for me. Walking that line between humor and melodrama is not easy, but it is doable. The first 13 1/2 episodes of “My Love Eun Dong” did a better job than most melodramas in having comic relief; even Joo Jin Mo got into the comedy and it worked very well.

Another similarity that LIDD had to “Remember” was that the writer chose to heap so much bad stuff on the decent people in the drama that it became tiresome and depressing. In “Remember”, the writer turned things around in a big way just past the halfway point, and then the show was much more enjoyable. Unfortunately, that did not happen in LIDD–and finally after 110 episodes, we are seeing the baddies get some serious setbacks. Unfortunately, most viewers are left feeling as if it’s too little, too late. If a writer is able to pull off letting the good guys having a small win or two here and there, and setting the baddies back a notch it keeps the viewers like me from giving up on the show and suffering through Kdrama burnout, high blood pressure and the worst ailment of all–feeling the desire need compulsion to write fan fiction to correct the perceived shortcomings of the drama.  

More questions than answers: Love is Drop by Drop Episodes 108-110

This was a short week due to the election coverage, but these three episodes had some great prop and BG music choices that I wanted to cover. Even as this show winds down into what I believe will likely be a rushed and messy ending, the goodies for Shamrockmom keep on coming!

Side Post: The Armchair Quarterback– Love is Drop by Drop Episode 104 corrective mini fan-fic

 

 

Repairing the damage, one scene at a time:

A very popular pastime during American Football season is to sit back in a recliner chair and second-guess your favorite team’s quarterback. Even if you never played football yourself, it’s easy to look at the TV, listen to the commentators, and imagine how the play should have happened versus how it actually occurred; that is, in real time and with fallible human beings who are making decisions under vast amounts of pressure and with information viewers are not aware of.

I am finding that I am also highly prone to second-guessing the writers of Kdramas, even though I have only taken 2 semesters of college level English (35 years ago) and have exactly zero personal experience writing, editing or publishing short stories, screenplays–or any other kind of fiction. (Fan Fiction doesn’t count!)

Hands up for the music: Love is Drop by Drop Episodes 104-106

A/N: It’s getting more difficult to find scenes I want to recap, but luckily there were a couple of fun moments from this week I want to highlight. I’m also working on a corrective scene FF from Episode 104 so this will be a shorter than normal post.

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.

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!