A few thoughts about Heartless City... and guns.

I can understand why a lot of people have serious problems with Soo-min('s character)... I guess I have mixed feelings, myself. There are times when I do think her character seems vapid and empty (poor writing), but other times when I think that it's exactly her gauche-ness and lack of polish and depth and development, if you will, that make her perfect for Shi-hyun, who's so used to moving in a world where everyone has different roles/facades/identities that they take on as a matter of course. (Although, of course, she is [on some level] an "undercover cop"... so she is also pretending...). My point, I think, is that I don't necessarily think the writing is faulty here.

On another note... it does bother me that Soo-min always manages to run for her life in heels that must be 6 inches high. (Meanwhile, are her skirts even 6 inches long?)

Baksa... sexy and smoldering as always. Whatever else happens or doesn't happen in the show, I'll continue to watch just for him. I think someone commented that he has a bit of a death wish? Or perhaps a bit of a hero/martyr complex?

Finally... I think this may have been commented on before, but it was on my mind a lot during this week's episodes -- do Korean drug dealers really not have guns? The scenes where they all fight with their fists, or with knives? Is that how it really is? And when Hyung-min shows up, with his one dinky gun, and is able to arrest like 10 gangsters... really? I think someone may have said that in Korea, guns are restricted to the military and the police -- but come on, drug dealers are CRIMINALS! I'm wondering... do the actual drug lords (gangsters, crime bosses, whoever...) have and use guns, and they just can't show it on TV, or do the criminals in Korea really not use guns?

Good Mothers, Grandmothers and Mother-in-laws

I Hear Your Voice
Uh Choon Shim, Hye Sung's mother
Points 10+
While celebrating for her daughter's success, she still kicked her daughter into being a better person. She made an awesome mother, from being nervous that she didn't say enough to putting down the judge to being harsh when her daughter wanted to rest on her laurels.

Full House Grandmother (in law)
Points 8
While teaching about Jap Chae it was clear she wasn't so clear about how to do it herself, and while her words were sharp, she often had a soft side.

My Princess
Seol's mother (Adoptive)
Points: 10
While the fathers suffered in this show, the mothers didn't. The mother here was actually warm and one of the best examples of an adoptive mother. She both kicked her daughter, gave boundaries and showed a tremendous amount of heart and love without judging her daughter's place. Even after she was revealed to be the "long lost princess" she still treated her daughter the exact same. When her daughter was broken up over changing her family register, her mother was fiercely understanding.

BIG
Points: 6
While the ending wasn't to everyone's taste, and the pacing and plotting wasn't as expected, Da Ran's mother was fun to watch. Neither weak or strong, she was the first real attempt to write a mother that wasn't too overbearing by the Hong Sisters.

Goong
Chae Kyung's mother, Queen Mother (grandmother) Queen Min
There were a string of really interesting mothers in Goong. Chae Kyeong's mother who was supportive and often gave boundaries. (7), Queen Mother who was cute (9), and Queen Min who was shown as strict, but often had a soft heart. (6)

Heo Joon
Heo Joon's mother
8
Heo Joon's mother is pretty good. While she's not always right, she does show compassion and understanding, often getting upset at her son for not following rules. The downside is that sometimes she opposes her son foolishly without asking for more information first.

Bad Family
The fake mother
9
Warm and funny... I really liked this mother. Well, the entire drama was one warm family moment.

Dae Jang Geum
(Mother-like figures and grandmothers)
I really liked the mother-like figures in this drama.

The worst mothers are in Lee Soon Sin and in Melodramas. (I also hated the mothers in My Sister-in-law is 19 too, but there are just more of them in Lee Soon Sin.)

Never watched it, but was the mother in Gumiho: Tale of a fox child ever present?

A lot of mothers are simply absent or dead, but that's not much different from Western stories where parents are either dead or absent. (Usually on the weak excuse it's less characters to deal with. Writers told me that...) I mean all of Grimm's fairytales... seriously. Someone has issues with mothers (they originally all mothers, not step mothers)

Any others you want to add?

Isn't the season of fasting called ramzan not Ramadhan !!!

Wishing everyone Happy Drama Watching this weekend. I thought I would be marathoning a lot of dramas this summer, but alas it was not meant to be. I'm forever in the car, taking my kids to squash or other activities. That's at least two hours of driving a day. :(
I'm following I Hear Your Voice and Monstar whenever I get a chance. I'm enjoying both so far.
HUGS to my Dramabean family. <3

Spoiler tags are the coolest new toy.

[Spoiler]
It's where those of us who can't help speculating and talking about what we saw in the preview clip at the end of a show can have our way!
[End Spoiler]

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Make the spoiler it's own paragraph. Mark it with text describing a spoiler is coming, because it isn't totally assured all browsers/platforms will correctly hide the text. Dramabeans is the spoiler-free zone for Kfans, so we want to keep it that way.

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