Endings

I know, I know...I'm suppose to be writing my assignment, but I'm not. Self-disciplined much, no?

I wanted to post this since yesterday.

I am a sucker for dramas. And also movies. Especially those with good endings. Yes, I am talking about dramas and movies. Doesn't matter what language or genre. (But I'm touching on Korean and Taiwanese dramas, cause American dramas are just too long to end.)

Criterias for me when I watch drama:
- good acting (character!)
At least one main lead and supporting minors must be solid acting, cause ever since I started writing scripts and later started reading dramabeans, I always look out for character portrayal and development. If the whole cast can't act to save their lives....I understand the flowerpot concept, but seriously, go and get the skills. Acting can be taught, though some are born with a flair for it. I know I can't act, cause I have no nuance in my expression. Always dead-fish-eyes.

Recent case in point: Beethoven Virus with Kim Myung Min, Boys Over Flowers with Lee Min Ho, etc.


(Kim Myung Min as Kang Gun Woo/Kang Mae in BV)



(Current Korean hot boy, Lee Min Ho riding on BOF fame as F4 leader Gu Jun Pyo)

- good soundtrack (swooning factor!)
Never mind if the storyline is a bit boring, when the songs and instrumentals are put to good use, even boring tears can move one to tears. But of course, not every OST accompany boring dramas.

Recent case in point: Star's Lover, Hello God, Goong, etc.

- good directing + cinematography
I like nuances in scenes. I like those small, little factors that directors pay attention to. Less is more. To have a strong story deliverance, you just have to cut out the weeds and pay attention to story, not fanservice! Not only so, I like lingering moments of those needing lingering.


(Choi Ji Woo & Yoo Ji Tae as Lee Mari, Kim Chul Soo in SL. I liked this scene as well.)





(Lee Ji-Ah and Kim Myung Min in BV. Loved this scene! I love hands holding...)

Recent case in point: The hand movements in Star's Lover, the water dripping from Du Ru Mi's (Lee Ji-Ah) shirt in Beethoven Virus, the tearing of Joo Ji-Hoon's character in Goong when Yoon Eun-Hye's character didn't want to stay in the palace any longer but he wanted her to stay.

(*Boys Over Flower, unfortunately, even with Lee Min Ho as a strong lead and several strong supporting casts, have less than stellar directing and editing. So. Sigh.)

- good storyline (retention factor!)
Seriously, there must be a good storyline enough to make me want to stay on, no? Even when I write script, I want to write something with substance so that audience want to keep on watching it.

- good script lines (swoon factor!)
Need I say more? It is those sweet lines or those emotionally-laced lines that keeps the drama memorably sweet.

- good endings (respect factor!)
I am a sucker for good endings. A lot of dramas I watched have terrible endings or "meh" endings -- endings that just don't make sense. I'm not just saying the final scene. I'm talking about the resolution which is usually the last episode if not last two. Good endings are those when the ending made sense and therefore wrap up the whole show nicely. Never mind if the middle part dragged, I find it very important to see the ending...So I WILL stay on to watch the whole thing. If the ending was bad...the whole drama just lost its flavor.

Btw, ending does not necessarily need to be a happy one. The protagonist can die for all I care, but at least have a good ending.

Recent case in point:



Star's Lover - starring Choi Ji Woo and Yoo Ji-Tae
Alright, this drama was beautiful in the beginning, slow in the middle all the way towards the end. If you want to watch this drama, watch while they are in Asuka. Then, you just watch it for the chemistry up to Episode 16. Skip Epi 17 and 18, go back to 19 and you can forget about the last episode. Yeah, this sums up my review for the drama.

Honestly, it's not that bad, as compared to Choi Ji Woo's previous works (think Winter Sonata and Stairway to Heaven) but it's still slow till frustrating points when it reaches the middle. As javabeans said, how does a drama take such a sharp turn.

Oh well.

But my point is, though I like the happy reunion, I find the ending just "meh". Why? Only for one reason: It doesn't add up. Episode 12-17 was all about Lee Mari (CJW) the star who fell in love with a commoner, meeting the utmost difficulties along their way. And *spoiler** boom, she confessed that she love Chul Soo (YJT) very much, still does and apologized to the whole world for her previous lies (Epi 19)...and then they lived happily ever after, with a daughter after 5 years and her career unmarred (Epi 20). I think if the ending narration was narrated by Chul Soo, it would be much better (he was the starting narrator for the drama).


Another case in point:



Lovers in Prague (Jeon Do-Yeon & Kim Joo-Hyuk)

Though I didn't manage to catch all of the middle-part, so it's a little hard for me to judge the whole thing, but I did manage to catch the last few episodes and I loved the ending, where they were both consistent in character...Jeon Do-Yeon's character Jae-Hee was still as last-minute as ever. And how they went back to Prague after one year of marriage and Kim Joo-Hyuk's character Sang-Hyun wrote "I Love You" in every possible language he could find...I mean, that has got to be one of the best ending ever. I wished Star's Lover could have them go back to Asuka. I totally wouldn't mind the beautiful cinematography done up in the starting episodes being repeated here.


Isn't this scene captured nicely? I don't mean the picture. If you watched, you'd know. (This is Episode 2)

Other case in point:
Beethoven Virus - interesting ending. Not the best, but not the worst either. Summed up the drama well enough.

Likeable or Not (daily drama starring Han Ji-Hye and Kim Ji-Sook) - the ending was a typical daily drama setup, everyone takes picture in the end. But everything fitted and it was a good ending.

You're My Destiny (daily drama starring SNSD Yoona and Park Jae Jung) The first part of ending was great, I never felt more impressed to see a death scene. Then the rest just became so predictable that it's patheticly bad. Like what happened to Subin's story? Subin's (Gong Hyun-Joo) story was so main character at the starting then she just faded to the background. Like did Yoon Hee (Park Min Jee) call Tae Young (Lee Pil Mo) father? No... But then the drama isn't really great to begin with. So. There.

Sweet 18 (starring Han Ji-Hye and Lee Dong-Gun) - just normal. I hated her perm. I liked the ending for My Little Bride, the spinoff movie version starring Moon Geun Young and Kim Rae Won better.

Lovers in Paris (starring Kim Eun-Jung and Park Shin-Yang) - weird ending. Why go back to the starting of the story of another person in Korea (instead of Paris) with four Tae-Youngs (KEJ)? Doesn't make sense.

I'm Sorry, I Love You (starring So Ji Sub and Im Su Jung) - this is the a really melodrama melodrama...but I loved the ending! Even though both of them died, the voiceover at the end and the flashback was done properly so that it was a bittersweet ending. Very nice.

Hello, God (starring Kim Ok-Bin and Yoo Gun) - I loved this drama for all its worth. Even if Yoo Gun's character Haru goes back to being a kid, I liked how he remembered Kim Ok-Bin's character Eun-Hye, like he promised when he was high in IQ. LOVED it. And the voiceovers between both of them. Very sweet. Never mind if it didn't reach good ratings.

etc. etc. etc.