Skip to main content

Well . . . Okay

I actually tried watching the k-drama Guardian: The Great and Lonely God a couple of years ago, but certain aspects of the story aggravated me, so I stopped around episode four. Since it has been touted as such a great series I decided to go back and give it another try, and at last saw the whole thing.

Let me get my gripes out of the way first. This is a Korean style paranormal romance, with a literary overtone that I really didn't like. Also, the fact that a beyond wealthy, pretty omnipotent immortal falls for a poor, abused high school girl while knowing her situation sucks, and really doesn't do much to help her (and even subtly torments her now and then), didn't set well with me.

Disclaimer here to explain some of my gripes: I really dislike Cinderella stories; a woman in a bad situation doesn't need a fairy godmother or even a prince to save her -- she just needs to get away from her family and work for herself. I personally know a Cinderella who did just that and ended up fine without any man or fairy rescuing her (points to self.)

The bromance between the lead male character and his nemesis was cute at times, but got too much focus, and distracted from the main romance. The plotting was unoriginal and misogynistic to a degree I found rather breathtaking, considering the drama's writer is female, and really tiresome. Finally, the pacing, oy. Molasses moves faster.

If you're willing to put up with all that, then Guardian isn't a horribly bad series to watch. Gong Yoo does a fine job of portraying Kim Shin, a general betrayed and basically murdered by the king he served, who is sentenced to immortality for all of the lives he took on the battlefield. That I bought. That he walks around for nine hundred years with his own sword sticking out of his chest (literally and metaphorically) is a less believable pricetag, but okay. He still manages to be convincing, although at times I got the feeling he was rolling his eyes between takes.

The echoes of the past return to haunt him as he meets Ji Eun Tak (very artfully portrayed by Kim Go-eun) the abused high school girl, who becomes his first love. Cinderella isn't helpless, and up to this point does a fine job of dealing with her sucky life, but as soon as Kim Shin steps on stage suddenly she becomes helpless and clingy. That I also don't get. This is the point when the whole series slants to the petty and mean, so I'll stop here. I don't even know if I should recommend this series, but it may be worth a watch for the Cinderella lovers. Available on Viki.com.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goodwill Gamble #2 Arrives

My second Goodwill gamble arrived; this is one I paid ten bucks for last month. Just inside the lid was a big roll of plastic mesh that I think is for latchhook work. In the auction listing it looked like fabric to me, so that was unexpected. Someone at the seller's end was nice enough to put a note on this pinned fabric. I'll put on my gloves before I take it out to inspect it. The embroidered green fabric turned out to be 1-1/2 yards of sequinned and three-dimensional designer fabric. I'll guess this cost somewhere between $20.00 to $30.00 a yard, and it's in pristine condition. But here's a shot of everything in the lot, which is mostly crafty odds and ends with a small amount of cotton fabrics, a large amount of synethetic fabrics, and some other surprises. The original owner of these was probably a Catholic school teacher; these beads, crosses and medallions are the kind of rosary kits for kids to make at Sunday school or Bible camp (and s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...
1 comment
Read more

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.
Post a Comment
Read more