Even if you aren't a country fan, the song, Live Like You Were Dying, contains universal human truths. The singer meets a stranger. It goes alittle something like this β«β«>
βͺ He said: I was in my early forties β« w/ a lot of life before me β« When a moment came that stopped me on a dime β« I spent most of the next days β« Looking at the x-rays β« & talkin' 'bout sweet time βͺ I asked him: How's it hit you β« When you get that kind of news? β« Man, what'd you do?" βͺ & he said: I went skydiving β« I went Rocky Mountain climbing β« I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu β£ & I loved deeper β£ & I spoke sweeter β£ & I gave forgiveness I'd been denying β« I was finally the husband β« That most of the time I wasn't β« & I became a friend a friend would like to have β« Well I, I finally read the Good Book, & I β« Took a good, long, hard look β« At what I'd do if I could do it all again... β£ Someday I hope you get the chance β£ To live like you were dying β£
CL goes alittle like that as well. Our FL Shin-a, is in a similar situation.
βͺ How'd it hit Shin-a βͺ When she got that kind of news? βͺ Man, what'd she do? βͺ She went social climbing β« She did some crazy driving β« She hole-punched the h3!! Out his seven favorite suits β« (& she said: I'm not dying this way...) β« She chopped up his cacti & β« Force-fed him fish fry β« & pelted onions at his head to boot β£ But it only led to: β£ She loved deeper β£ & she spoke sweeter β£ & she gave forgiveness she'd been denying...β£
Lee Shin-a works for a horrible boss. Noh Go-Jin could be described as coldly cruel but he's actually highly intelligent & hopelessly left-brained. Feelings? Nonsense. It translates to his being intolerant of incompetence. But next to him, everybody is incompetent. His genius has no equal & it's gone straight to his ego. (He's such a heartbreakerrrr - trill those R's!) Shin-a failed her teacher audition at Noh's academy. Those who don't make the cut get the "honor" of being Chairman Noh's personal secretary. It's the company's way of getting them to quit. Nobody has made it more than 3 mos. She has endured 12 months. Shin-a needs this job. She'll endure b/c VP Oh Se-Gi gives her regular doses of positive re-endorphins. When she's at her lowest from Noh's worse, VP Oh always picks her back up. He's the best.
Ep1 sets up Shin-a's horrible situation. She gets particularly bad news from the doctor. Those headaches? That is a brain tumor. She's going to die. Yes, severe stress can open the gates for cancer to take hold. She's likely dying from stress. Noh, that rat-b@$+@rd, is killing her. Shin-a decides she ain't going out alone. Just like the (rightfully) disgruntled ex-employees of Noh, she will make sure he gets what he has coming. It's HAMMER TIME! Enacting her plan leads to a crazy chain of events, & Shin-a is in the right frame of mind to step off a cliff to see if she can fly.
"Try harder to remember. You MUST remember!" Bedside at the hospital, e'erbody thinks she's pleading out of love for him, but in reality, she desperately wants Noh to remember how she stood up to him before his accident. "No way I'm dying like this." She won't be able to die in peace unless he remembers that she clobbered him & then quit. Good old amnesia is an overdone Kdrama trope. They borrow from the excellent comedy, Overboard, & Shin-a claims they were secretly engaged prior to the accident. The interesting thing about amnesia is that when people forget all of their past bad choices & the previous offenses they've suffered, they forget to be miserable. They totally forget to be @$$h0!e$. Ignorance truly is bliss. Shin-a remembers it all, though. She decides the best thing to do, as she waits for the cancer to take her, is to take him through Hell. Vengeance is HERS.
Noh, in the meantime, hasn't thought of being mean. He may not remember his "fiance", but he certainly grows used to having Shin-a around. She's going behind his back setting up expensive company dinners (you all deserve beef! Make sure to use all your vacation time before the end of the year... & start leaving on time!). It's not easy being mean, at least it's not easy being mean to someone who is always nice. & Noh is always nice, anymore. She knows the doctor expects a full recovery. When this genius (IQ 190) finds out what she's done, what will happen? In addition, Noh may be new & improved now, but his enemies don't know that. His enemies don't care. & he's made a lot of enemies.
Several characters have to show personality shifts & hidden sides. This isn't a serious show, but the acting is still quite good. Krystal (Heirs7.3, Bride of Habaek7) is excellent at putting on some antics, esp in one scene that would flop w/ most actor/writer/director combos, but they make it work. I cringed in anticipation of pain when she started ranting, but I ended up grinning (&fairly relieved). They could have done alittle bit better w/ fleshing out her character, though. What is her passion? Why did she fail the audition? How smart & capable is she? How hard has she worked to get to where she is? Getting more personal w/ her would help the audience relate to her more. She remains a tad distant from us, emotionally. That is writing & directing - Krystal is great.
Kim Jae-Wook (Her Private Life8) is Noh. HPL was a big surprise for me. The premise sounds like a low IQ show, but it's actually wonderful fun. Now that I'm getting a 2nd look at Mr. Kim, it's obvious that he is quite talented. His comedic timing is excellent. He sells his character both as an insufferably toxic narcissist & as an innocent, confused amnesiac. He can dance! In ep8 he puts on a show! Ha-Joon plays VP Oh. He's completely different as a teacher in Black Dog8. Ko Kyu-Pil (Crash Landing on You9, The King's Affection8) is a PI. He's clearly having a great time, & he's funny.
CL is VG & it narrowly misses excellent marks. Given that this is a new director/Kim Jung-Hyun & writer/Kim Bo-Gyeom I am very excited to see what they do next. I think we have some winners here. Overall, the romance is VG, but it could have been even better. This probably goes back to the fact that we don't know Shin-a as well as we should. They share a great first kiss. He lies to himself about what he does to keep her by his side. She's oblivious to what's going on in his head, as she's been keeping her head down & just moving forward.
They run into some small logical stutters. Nothing too 'crazy'. Some of the drama in the later eps is a bit ham-handed, but again, it's not too 'crazy'. The show isn't intended for anything but fun escapism, & it shouldn't be over-analyzed. The good by far overshines the substandard. They end up providing enough plausibility for ?s that arise. The director is skillful in handling the part of Baek Soo-Young, Noh's ex. In the beginning of the show she seems impossibly beautiful. As the show goes on she looks less so. Her clothes don't fit her right & the makeup & camera work are less complimentary. Woody Allen did the same thing w/ Scarlett Johansen in Match Point. Is it stretching to think their names are an English language pun? His name sounds like "No-go Shin". It's close. She's definitely decided to "go" & the doctor told her, unfortunately, that soon she'll be go-ing, but he's there, & his name says "No-Go". 'No-Go-Shin'.
CL is plenty funny, She hates him. She really hates him. She hates him so much. So why is she sad? She turns on the TV to forget him, & there's his commercial: "Make your decision NOW." He's pointing thru the screen at her! While everyone around her assumes the opposite of what is true, the overhead camera will look down at her face from a side angle & her eyes will tilt up sideways as she's lying. She'll often comment like that to the camera directly. Then he starts doing it in later eps. It's skillfully played for laughs. By mid show I became a fan of the director. The little things add up to something bigger.
CL features a horrible boss b/c that isn't exactly a rare thing. A horrible boss is almost always a person caught up in h/h own power. It's an offshoot of pride. Psychology teaches that people who do get ahead tend to presume they deserve it, which leads to them assuming that those beneath them are truly Β°beneathΒ° them & deserve to be so. These things aren't mysterious. Everyone knows that power is corrupting, yet nobody ever sees their own corruption. Pride is the worst liar & we are blind to our own stuff. Practice kindness: It takes determined effort. Also featured is online gang mentality. Technology allows us each a voice & that is power. Virtual pitchforks are no different than horrible bosses. We should be slow to judge & be constructive when we criticize. CL's online lynching leads to a suicide attempt; a particular problem in Korea (highest rate in the developed world). We have too much of it in the USA, too. People will take that pain & go the other way as well, becoming abusers themselves. If you want to live w/ a free conscience, then practice kindness. It costs you π
Ύ.
The wrap up is excellent. They tied & trimmed all the bows. "Life can be shorter than we think it should be. If you're sorry, say you're sorry. If you're thankful, say you're thankful. Try something again. You never know." At one point Shin-a's anger abates. She reflects on life & what is most important as she is preparing for her final exit. She decides to forgive & release her rage. She realizes that all humans are merely flawed humans. In the end, crazy love made her sane again. π, afterall, is the answer.
QUOTEπ’
I've been ignorant. I had no idea those in my life were precious. & so, I've never appreciated them at all.
γ°π IMHO
π£7.8 π7.6 π7.9 π6.7 π¦6 π6 π¨7.4 β‘4 π΅/π7 π
7 π3.5 π±3 π―2 π3 π€4.8 π€0 π8
Age 14+ PG-13 Language An unmarried couple is pressured to have a baby.
Re-πΊ? π
ππππ
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