Dal Ja's Spring, ep. 01-04

[oyceter]

I rewarded myself for finishing the first programming homework of my class by watching three episodes. Originally it was only going to be one episode, but I got a bit carried away.

Oh Dal Ja is 32 and unsuccessful in love. After being dumped, she runs into the younger Kang Tae Bong, who is apparently in the business of boyfriends for hire ("Need someone to meet your parents?" he asks her). As revenge, she hires him on.

I thought I knew where this was going, despite the Dramabeans praise; many hijinks ensue as Dal Ja attempts to get her old boyfriend back, female rivalry with her old boyfriend's new girlfriend, blah blah blah.

Only two episodes in, the show didn't go where I thought it would, and now that I'm four episodes in, I have no idea what it's going to do.

Right now, I particularly like the focus on Dal Ja's work life; she worked her way up and is now a manager of a TV shopping network (I think), and she very much enjoys being single. I also really like her relationship with network star Wee Seon Joo so far -- I had thought they would be rivals fighting over the same guy (tiresome), but there's a really nice bit in which the two don't end up as friends, but also don't fight.

We do get another love interest, but so far we don't know that much about him. On a minor note, hearing him on screen confuses me because the way he says things sounds a lot like Jang Chul Soo from Fantasy Couple. And I'm particularly interested in how Tae Bong is sidelined into giving Dal Ja romantic advice; he really does feel more like a little brother than a romantic interest half the time. The Dramabeans write up says he's almost too good to be true, but honestly, I like not having an alpha male on the scene. I also like how Dal Ja and Sae Do commiserate together after the breakup, though I could use with less drunk vomiting scenes. So far, no Piggyback of Affection, though I have no doubts that we will get at least one.

I would be happier if there were less jealous women; I wish they wouldn't be the focus of so many kdramas. Whenever we get them, I feel like the focus should be on the philandering guy instead. On the other hand, I very much like Dal Ja's relationship not only with Seon Joo, but also with her work eonni and with her mom and her grandma. I am also completely amused by her mom and her grandma's relationship -- is it her grandma from her dad's side? I'm sort of guessing that because the grandma keeps calling the mom "Dal Ja's mom," but she could just be crotchety. And ok, the liberal grandma vs. the conservative mom has been done before (Stephanie Plum!), but I still found it hilarious that the grandma liked Tae Bong a lot ("He's young! So much energy. That's very important for a marriage").

Alas, the grandma has yet to hit anyone over the head with a handbag.

I'm now curious as to how common marriage meetings/date set-ups are in S. Korea. I'm fairly sure dramas exaggerate it, but I can't figure out if it's a common plot point because it's handy for romantic comedies, or if viewers will sympathize with it, having been set up themselves.

On a side note: Han Kyul's grandma, hello! And Waffle Guy too! It's like Coffee Prince all over again!

Also, to join the bathroom humor often in kdramas, we have drunk vomiting too! Fantasy Couple had this as well, so I suspect it shows up even more in other dramas. I also laughed and laughed at the male impotence because I am evil like that.

In conclusion: I guess Dal Ja feels a little like Kim Sam Soon in that she's not afraid to tell people off at times, but she also reverts to girly speak fairly often (sunjeong mode?), which cracks me up. And did I mention that Kang Tae Bong is really cute? And nice? And really cute? And nice? Sadly, I think he lacks dimples, but that can be overlooked. (The noticing of dimples is also my sister's fault.)

Comments

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Huh. You wouldn't call people by their name unless you're close to them, yeah. And actually, to this day I embarrassingly do not know my own maternal grandmother's personal name because it was never used around me in everyday conversation and I wouldn't have called her by it EVER. You know, I'm going to ask you to ask vonnie_k, or wait until I can dig through the linguistics books with you, because I'm not entirely sure and I don't want to give you a wrong answer. Most of my experience is dealing with family (and my extended family was very tolerant of "foreigner" mistakes because me and my sister had basically had American schooling) or, um, hiding behind my parents while they do all the talking. And obviously the formality levels are different if they're talking than if I'm talking, etc.

[oyceter]

Yeah... I, um, was the same with my grandparents. I only ended up learning at funerals or while watching my mom get their ID cards and whatnot. I suspect people growing up more in Taiwan or Korean society would eventually figure out via documentation and such? Or socializing?

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Yeah...at some point when my mom was describing our family tree/history she must have mentioned the full name, but it didn't stick. There was just no reason for me to memorize it.

[vonnie-k.livejournal.com]

"Dal Ja-sshi" actually would be a perfectly fine way for her colleagues or her boss to call her. The "--sshi" designation elevates the first-name-calling into a more formal territory, like "san" desgination in Japanese. It would be just as polite as calling her "Miss Kim" or something, although the fact that they know her name does put them on a more familiar territory. Her close friends, on the other hand, would call he just "Dal Ja" or "Dal Ja-ya" (if they're calling out to her.)

Hope that helped! (It cracks me up so much you're learning Korean through kdrama! Reminds me of the time when I was learning English by watching a gazillion rerun of "Family Ties" 20 years ago.)

[oyceter]

Yay! Language notes, thank you so much! I think Dal Ja's colleagues mostly do call her "Dal Ja-sshi," though I'm going to try and listen closer. I keep trying to think if Chinese does the same, or if it usually sticks to surnames, but I've had so little experience in non-school settings that I have no clue.

I, ha... yeah. This is how I first learned Japanese too -_-;;. I am only hoping that a) I can continue with actual, formal classes later, and b) I am not getting some absolutely awful version of Korea in my head, like how the first Japanese I learned was: "I am the death god! I will kill you!" (very informally and rudely)