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timeripple) wrote2011-11-30 12:43 pm
timeripple) wrote2011-11-30 12:43 pm
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Here I am: Subversion and the Secondary OTP in Secret Garden
I’m just gonna stick this post up here and edit it later, maybe with some pictures, because I have to run to work. Geez, work, why you gotta get in the way of the important things? ;P
This is a post about secondary characters! Okay, it’s about secondary characters in Secret Garden, because I have been faithfully re-watching it and not fast-forwarding to all the bits with the leads this time. *hangs head* What? The leads are a pair of bickering lovers played by Ha Ji-won and Hyun Bin. CAN YOU BLAME ME?
But this is not a post aboutHyun Bin’s face Ha Ji-won’s awesomeness the leads. This is a post about the bestest secondary couple of all recent kdrama: Choi “Oska” Woo-young and Yoon Seul. (Yes, they’re even better than Dogboy and Art Girl in Coffee Prince. I even know their names!) I kind of wish they WERE the main couple--or rather, A main couple, because their journey is pretty darn interesting. In fact I would argue that it’s them, rather than Gil Ra-im and Kim Joo-won, who get an actualized emotional journey, both as individuals and as a couple.
For those of you keeping score at home, Oska is an aging Hallyu star trying to make a comeback with a new album. He’s selfish, ridiculously enamored of his own fame, and an outrageous womanizer and flirt. He’s a ridiculous self-absorbed pop star... who nonetheless has enough sense to be the advice-giving hyung to his neurotic cousin Joo-won. YOU GUYS, I LOVE OSKA. He’s loud, brash, and his own biggest fan, but not-too-deep-down he’s a decent person who undergoes a whole lot of emotional grown throughout the drama.
Yoon Seul, I have to say, does not start out as somebody you want to root for. This is because she occupies the classic secondary role of Spoiled Rich Girl who pursues Our Hero, despite his obvious lack of interest in her, with increasingly delusional tenacity. She’s snotty, rude, mean to Our Heroine, and attempts to show off her superior education by speaking extremely bad English. She’s also Oska’s ex. For the first few episodes, we’re tempted to shout, “Good riddance, Oska!” Especially when she decides it would be fun to bribe her way into directing Oska’s comeback music video (she’s a director).
The thing about Seul is? She’s totally playing a role. She’s the most meta thing in this drama. Seul is pursuing Joo-won not because she’s smitten with his face or money, but because she thinks it’s the most effective way to torment Oska. (She’s right.) Seul doesn’t care if Joo-won is in love with someone else; she doesn’t want him to be in love with her either. In whatever kdrama logic goes on in her brain, marrying Oska’s cousin is totally the best way to get revenge on Oska for breaking her heart. (Never mind that she already broke his. And is blatantly, obviously still in love with his stupid Hallyu star face.)
Thankfully, Seul drops that scheme like a hot potato once she finds out Oska really is trying to figure out how he screwed up--that he genuinely wants to start over, but better this time, and is willing to work to make it, well, work.
Somehow this change of heart also turns her into the biggest Ra-im/Joo-won shipper in the whole world. The best scene in the entire drama is when another Rich Girl tries to butt in on a key moment for Ra-im and Joo-won at a fancy party. Seul swoops in, drags her outside, and delivers the “I’m the only crazy bitch in this drama, got it?!” speech. No, really, she’s like, “Don’t interfere when two people are about to have an important moment! Don’t you watch dramas? There’s only one crazy bitch character who gets to mess with the main couple AND THAT’S ME. Now run along.” It’s made doubly hilarious by the fact that by now, Seul’s not trying to be the interloper any more--highlighting just how much of an act that role has been for her all along. She gets to play it one more time here.
Then she heads back to the party, where Oska plays her favorite song and is like “this song is your favorite! I totally remembered!!1!” and it’s adorable. *dissolves into a puddle*
Oska’s other attempts to show his sincerity and win Seul back are pretty funny. Earlier at the same party, he offers her cheesecake. Wasn’t that her favorite, but something she didn’t want to eat because it would make her fat? “Nope, must be some other girl. Is she skinny?” It’s extra sweet, then, when he gets the song right.
More hilarious subversion: When Seul attempts to show off her English, it’s in front of the hot stunt director who spent some time in Hollywood. What Seul doesn’t know (but soon finds out) is that he’s played by Philip Lee, who grew up in the States. Their exchange goes something like this:
SEUL (talking in terrible English about the stunts she wants to use for Oska’s music video): I. AM. VERY. DISAPPOINTED! I. like. everything. [to be] FEBBULOUS!
DIRECTOR (also in English): Then I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong person. My style is more polished than flashy.
SEUL: Ahahahahashit.
I love her. How awesome is it that she’s not just a rich heiress; she actually has a career too? LOVE HER.
What secondary characters do you love, either OTPs or individuals? (Does anybody want to talk about Xiao Ma and Forsenics Lady from Black & White?)
This is a post about secondary characters! Okay, it’s about secondary characters in Secret Garden, because I have been faithfully re-watching it and not fast-forwarding to all the bits with the leads this time. *hangs head* What? The leads are a pair of bickering lovers played by Ha Ji-won and Hyun Bin. CAN YOU BLAME ME?
But this is not a post about
For those of you keeping score at home, Oska is an aging Hallyu star trying to make a comeback with a new album. He’s selfish, ridiculously enamored of his own fame, and an outrageous womanizer and flirt. He’s a ridiculous self-absorbed pop star... who nonetheless has enough sense to be the advice-giving hyung to his neurotic cousin Joo-won. YOU GUYS, I LOVE OSKA. He’s loud, brash, and his own biggest fan, but not-too-deep-down he’s a decent person who undergoes a whole lot of emotional grown throughout the drama.
Yoon Seul, I have to say, does not start out as somebody you want to root for. This is because she occupies the classic secondary role of Spoiled Rich Girl who pursues Our Hero, despite his obvious lack of interest in her, with increasingly delusional tenacity. She’s snotty, rude, mean to Our Heroine, and attempts to show off her superior education by speaking extremely bad English. She’s also Oska’s ex. For the first few episodes, we’re tempted to shout, “Good riddance, Oska!” Especially when she decides it would be fun to bribe her way into directing Oska’s comeback music video (she’s a director).
The thing about Seul is? She’s totally playing a role. She’s the most meta thing in this drama. Seul is pursuing Joo-won not because she’s smitten with his face or money, but because she thinks it’s the most effective way to torment Oska. (She’s right.) Seul doesn’t care if Joo-won is in love with someone else; she doesn’t want him to be in love with her either. In whatever kdrama logic goes on in her brain, marrying Oska’s cousin is totally the best way to get revenge on Oska for breaking her heart. (Never mind that she already broke his. And is blatantly, obviously still in love with his stupid Hallyu star face.)
Thankfully, Seul drops that scheme like a hot potato once she finds out Oska really is trying to figure out how he screwed up--that he genuinely wants to start over, but better this time, and is willing to work to make it, well, work.
Somehow this change of heart also turns her into the biggest Ra-im/Joo-won shipper in the whole world. The best scene in the entire drama is when another Rich Girl tries to butt in on a key moment for Ra-im and Joo-won at a fancy party. Seul swoops in, drags her outside, and delivers the “I’m the only crazy bitch in this drama, got it?!” speech. No, really, she’s like, “Don’t interfere when two people are about to have an important moment! Don’t you watch dramas? There’s only one crazy bitch character who gets to mess with the main couple AND THAT’S ME. Now run along.” It’s made doubly hilarious by the fact that by now, Seul’s not trying to be the interloper any more--highlighting just how much of an act that role has been for her all along. She gets to play it one more time here.
Then she heads back to the party, where Oska plays her favorite song and is like “this song is your favorite! I totally remembered!!1!” and it’s adorable. *dissolves into a puddle*
Oska’s other attempts to show his sincerity and win Seul back are pretty funny. Earlier at the same party, he offers her cheesecake. Wasn’t that her favorite, but something she didn’t want to eat because it would make her fat? “Nope, must be some other girl. Is she skinny?” It’s extra sweet, then, when he gets the song right.
More hilarious subversion: When Seul attempts to show off her English, it’s in front of the hot stunt director who spent some time in Hollywood. What Seul doesn’t know (but soon finds out) is that he’s played by Philip Lee, who grew up in the States. Their exchange goes something like this:
SEUL (talking in terrible English about the stunts she wants to use for Oska’s music video): I. AM. VERY. DISAPPOINTED! I. like. everything. [to be] FEBBULOUS!
DIRECTOR (also in English): Then I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong person. My style is more polished than flashy.
SEUL: Ahahahahashit.
I love her. How awesome is it that she’s not just a rich heiress; she actually has a career too? LOVE HER.
What secondary characters do you love, either OTPs or individuals? (Does anybody want to talk about Xiao Ma and Forsenics Lady from Black & White?)