And then I came home to a mom who's on a self-imposed retirement—and filling most of her time watching Korean soaps (the DVDs are faithfully supplied by her friendly suki Abdul in downtown Davao). So how do I bond with her when her eyes seldom stray from the TV???
The first one I watched with her was a weepy one called ‘Spring Waltz.’ It just happened that I liked it and got really hooked—even to the point of enduring the really dragging parts of the soap.
The English subtitles were impressive on the first half…so by the time the English went from bad to undecipherable, I was already far too emotionally involved with the romance of Eun Jung and Jae Ha to break away. But since the weepy tale did have a good plot, good-looking actors (a must for me, after all, this kind of stuff is supposed to be escapism, right??) and it ended happily, nobody had to stick a gun on my head to get me started on the next Korean soap.
That’s how it started to get frustrating.
The next one was 16 dragging, weepy episodes long (my mom cried at every episode) and, que horror! the lovers both died at the end!! Argggghhhh!!! How could the producers of the show be so sadistic as to pull my emotions up and down like a yoyo through 16 episodes only to send me crashing at the end?!
Because I am an idiot, I allowed myself to be conned one more time. I found myself shattered, yet again, when the heroine died on me, leaving me dismayed at having to cope with another tragic end!
So this is a word of caution to all of you who are still on the verge of getting hooked—if you don’t want to fall prey to sadistic Korean directors, check out the ending first!!!
Ok, I think I’d better get back to having a life now…
PS. Check out Super Rookie though, it’s funny, has superb English subtitles, the lead actors are good looking, and most importantly…it has a happy ending!
PPS. At least I got to bond very well with mom…and this is still my (best) excuse for watching Korean dramas…
6 comments:
I will learn from your experience and not get started on Koreanovelas! I don't think I want to get my heart broken over dying characters! But at least you get to bond with your mom with it. :-)
I can understand the addiction. I am addicted to medical dramas--now Grey's Anatomy. I almost bought the House DVD on my way home tonight. Ah, the curse of available and cheap DVDs.
I can see (or not see) that the picture posting did not work. I wonder why. U'll get back to you when I discover the answer.
I'm glad I'm not addicted to TV at all. I don't watch TV except for news, occasionally. Anyway, go on bonding with your mom. That's the better part of your addiction. :)
i know what you mean... i got addicted when i watched the Winter Sonata ( a long time ago, before I got addicted to Mulawin which became boring and dragging later on) ... the lead actors did not die, but the guy went blind! One good thing about this is that they do not follow the Hollywood Formula but still, romantics that we are, we always want a happy ending...
i am now currently addicted to Dr. House series... and Beng, i just bought the Grey's Anatomy last night! hehehe... i am defending my addiction by saying that at least this stimulates the mind and i am learning medical stuff! Yeah right! Addiction is addiction! :- )
Welcome to the world of addiction! - jen
Hi Beng and Jen, you should watch 24, grabe, galing talaga.
Hi Abaniko, that's why I didnt bother to get a TV in Manila, to stir away from this addiction..but now that am temporarily based in Davao...I must empathize with mom! :)
Hey, the pictures worked na! :-) Right, Jojie, call it whatever name you want--empathy, bonding--but the symptoms point to one diagnosis: addiction. (Now why do I sound like a doctor here? haha). Well, enjoy what you're watching.
The Koreanovela I've written about in my blog was the first soap my wife and I watched. 16++ hours total, viewed in 3 days. I thought it would be another tragic story, similar to the book by Erich Segal, but I was surprised.
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