Beanie level: Noble idiot

One thing I’ve often found weird is the difference between male lead tropes in Western vs. East Asian television. In EA, the man is a skinny, sometimes frail even, genius who is beautiful.

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    In the West, the stereotypical dude in romance or rom-coms is a dumb jock who is hot.

    (You might be asking what prompted this weird post. Basically, I’m just astonished by how weird the dudes in Le Coup de Foudre and Put Your Head On My Shoulder are in comparison to everything I grew up watching.)

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    I wanted to give a longer reply (twice!) but it said I used an inappropriate word 😂

    So, western media and EA media base their portrayal of guys on their own society’s general idea of what a good guy is. Concerning their physical, body types are different in EA and the West.

    If we can mix both of their good parts, we can obtain a better guy in romance. Someone who knows what he is doing, has social skills and stays humble.

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      Agreed, although I think part of what makes each of these tropes winsome in their own way is the fact that we kinda realize their flawed.

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I’m dropping Abyss. I just can’t with this show. It’s poorly done and the worst part is that its mediocrity isn’t even funny. Bah, yuck.

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HOLY SHIT THE ENDING OF EPISODE 14 of Beautiful World!

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    Now we have to hope for a full recovery.

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      I’ll be so sad if it’s anything less than a full recovery. I want to see how Oh Jin-pyo and Seo Eun-joo react. In all likelihood, the former will be shitting his pants while the latter might actually be happy. I’m also curious about Joon-seok’s reaction (the last few episodes have made him seem far more sympathetic than my impression of him from the first half of the series).

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Don’t know why I’m only now seeing this, but holy crap this is great. Especially Ten…

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OMG, Deok-mi and Ryan have the cutest and actually most realistic of all the unrealistic K-drama relationships. Hwatu had me rolling on the floor with laughter.

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Only watched episode 1 of Absolute Boyfriend, but I like it! Minah emotes well and Hong Jung-hyun is impressive (though his character = ass). Need to see more of Yeo Jin-goo to form an opinion.

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    Good to hear. I loved Minah in Beautiful Gongshim and Yeo Jin-goo it goes without saying.

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      Never watched anything involving any of these three actors, so my impression of them is entirely based on what I’m watching right now. I’m half way through episode 2 and I’m really impressed with Yeo Jin-goo. To be honest, all three of these people are great.

      I also have to say that the eye candy in this show is amazing. Yeo Jin-goo running around shirtless and Hong Jong-hyun in gratuitous workout and shower scenes is…wow.

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Abyss continues to disappoint. I\’m watching only for Park Bo-young at this point. Ahn Hyo-seop and entire murder plot are way too clumsy.

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Eichmann in Jerusalem is exactly the book for this show, which at its heart is about adults normalizing, burying and justifying wrongdoing to protect their children and/or their reputations.

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    Also, the various quasi-judicial hearings which Seah holds are thinly concealed show trials, which is another reason it’s fitting that Seon-ho was reading Arendt’s book. (Seriously though, has nobody in this show heard of natural justice?)

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    My to-read list is growing while watching this show.

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BW is honestly so good. The performance put in by these actors is absolutely on point. Especially impressed by Joon-seok\’s eomma. Eun-joo\’s Macbeth complex is amazingly well-done.

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Not impressed with Abyss so far. It\’s disjointed and the serial killer stuff is hammy. The male lead is wooden. Park Bo-young is a bright spot though. I\’ll give this show a few more episodes.

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Thoughts about episode 10 of Her Private Life below:

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    1.) I might be in the minority for this opinion, but I really appreciate the humour in this show. Ms. Eom always makes me cackle (I keep on trying to copy her dainty speech affectation, but, alas, to no avail), while the scene where the dude curator gets the evil eye from Lion and Deok-mi for not wanting to leave early got a long giggle from me. Best of all, though, is Seon-joo and her weird shenanigans with her husband.

    2.) I’m a bit unclear about Joo-hyuk’s role. Is he just supposed to be an alternate object of Seon-joo’s fangirl affections or does she actually have a bit of a crush on him? Either way, he’s adorable.

    3.) I’m glad Shi-an did have a lot of screen time. Something about his character rubs me the wrong way, like he’s duplicitous or hiding something important.

    3.) Geon-woo is so cute!

    4.) Was I the only one who found some of the interactions between Lion and Deok-mi a bit wooden? Maybe I’m just reading a bit too much into their behaviour? Regardless though, the few possibly awkward moments were amply offset by the otherwise amazing chemistry between these characters and the actors who play them.

    5.) I really dislike Eun-gi’s character and I hate these relationship problems. I hope this stuff clears up soon.

    6.) So is this show going to pull a Why Secretary Kim-esque move and have our leads be childhood friends who’ve forgotten (or partially forgotten) each other? Because booo if that is the plan. This cliche is so overdone.

    7.) Lee Sol is Ryan’s mom, right?

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Lion’s clothing choices while he’s working horrify me. I have this deep-seated fear that his attire in this show is a harbinger of the return of 1970s fashion.

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    I truly hate that copper suit with mega lapels.

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    100% that Ryan’s wide-at-the-bottom 70’s pants need to go. 90% agree about the grandpa patterned coats. But actually I love the color coordination in his more traditional business suits. The beige one he’s wearing the night when he gets really drunk was fab, the blue one with pink shirt at the beginning of ep 9 was also super cute. DM’s suits too – all the colorful pant suits are all amazing and I love how she choses the color based on her mood (really looking forward to the upcoming red piece).

    PMY always gets me in let’s buy a whole bunch of girly things that I’ll probably never wear mood (bought new earrings and some bright colored shoes because of HPL already). Today I wore a beige pants suit with a pink! top to work (if you knew me at all you’d appreciate how unusual that is)

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      PMY always makes me yearn for pretty girly things.

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      I agree about Deok-mi’s clothing. I think she looks elegant in her suits and pretty in her dresses.

      I haven’t watched episode 9 yet! But I loved his suit from the night he gets drunk!

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Okay, call me a flip-flop if you like, but I change my mind about Lion-nim. He\’s so cute!

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Started watching Her Private Life. On episode 2. So far Ryan Gold is a piece-of-shit asshole. Deok-mi and Seon-joo are great though.

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I think I\’ve finally found a C-drama that is romcom-ish that I actually like!

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I\’m a bit sad that He\’s Psychometric is done. I think it\’s the best k-drama I\’ve watched in a while. I\’ll be following Jinyoung\’s future projects (he was excellent in this).

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My biggest complaint with this show is that there isn\’t enough Nam Da-reum.

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    I want to see him out of his hospital bed and flashbacks

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Beanies, do you guys also think the cactus is bugged?

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The entire Oh family in Beautiful World is rotten to the core. Also, this show is amazing!

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    The parents of the Avengers (except for Seon-ho, although I think it’d be farcical to consider Seon-ho a willing participant in that game) in this show are amoral familists. Their only loyalties are to their children.

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Most of the adults in BW are slime.

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