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Oh! Master: Episodes 13-14 Open Thread

If there’s one thing that Oh! Master proves this week, it’s that there’s no limit to the depths of noble idiocy. Torture yourself, or torture someone else, there’s actually a rather gigantic line between stupidity and self-sacrifice, and boy have we crossed it.

 
EPISODES 13-14 WEECAP

I want to believe Oh! Master can still pull this thing together, but my hopes are microscopic at this point in our story. The cruel-to-be-kind breakup that Bi-soo forced on Joo-in last week continues through both of our episodes this week, and it’s neither fun nor interesting.

At first, Joo-in is the kind, understanding, and loving woman we’ve seen her to be. She forgives Bi-soo of every slight, sticks by him regardless, and continues to hold onto their love — all of this despite him being an utter jerkface.

After being hurt, spurned, belittled, and mocked in endless repetition, Joo-in eventually reaches the point where she can’t take anymore. She accepts the breakup, though she still tries to keep up appearances for Bi-soo’s dying mother, and because she’s the kind of person that always keeps a cheerful countenance.

However, Joo-in is not above crying her broken heart out in secret, and Bi-soo seems to think he’s done the right thing. He even tries to get her to pair up with Yoo-jin, which seems to be the entire purpose of Yoo-jin’s character, really — to have a ready and willing suitor waiting in the wings to take in this wounded bird.

Nothing really works as intended in Oh! Master, though. The exasperating levels that Bi-soo’s noble idiocy has reached made me totally forget that I even liked these two together. At this point, I’d rather her just leave him.

Similarly, I was trying to get onboard with the puppy devotion of Yoo-jin, but it just doesn’t compute. Proposing marriage to the woman you adore who sees you only as a friend and is clearly still in love with someone else… well, that’s kind of creepy. I don’t see any future for them that doesn’t end in unhappiness and/or resentment.

Then we have the storyline with Bi-soo’s mother. That which was once touching and compelling has become nothing but agonizing, and also useless. We watch this poor woman suffer for episodes, find a glimmer of freedom, say goodbye to it, and die in agony. It’s quite the bit of nihilism for a K-drama. And any wisdom she leaves behind for Bi-soo hasn’t done a damn thing to wake him up.

Instead, in his grief, Bi-soo throws himself into his writing, which means he’s churning out scripts for the drama that’s become as tangential as any other plotline here, and they’re supposedly genius. I actually like this idea — of turning the chaos of grief into creation — but the story doesn’t really have that much to say about this. Instead, the scripts (and the first formal script reading) are just another reason for Bi-soo to be cruel to Joo-in.

So what about Joo-in? She hasn’t had anything to do for episodes now, but this week is her turn for heartbreak. Nana is so absolutely winning and lovely — I wish this drama did her justice. I wish I cared about this breakup. I wish she didn’t think that Googling (or is that Naver-ing) “vanishing people” would actually turn up results that would explain the inkling she has about Bi-soo.

Eventually, Joo-in collapses in the most typical of fevers, causing her to be hospitalized. This seems to exist only to get Bi-soo to show a glimmer of his true feelings and turn up in her hospital room — only to spurn her yet again. It’s so completely frustrating and boring that the fact that she finally breaks through his wall by the end of the episode didn’t deliver the punch it wanted to.

We finally get a passionate kiss between them, but the on-cue rain and middle-of-the-street confrontation scene are so overplayed — and we are so out of patience at this point — that it all falls terribly flat. I guess I’m glad they’re kissing, but that’s about all I’m feeling right now.

So what awaits us in our finale week? We must deal with the fact that Bi-soo is running out of days on earth, that his random bouts of disappearing from the temporal plane keep happening with growing rapidity, and that Joo-in doesn’t seem to mind this fact at all.

Needless to say, this supernatural plot line is absolutely not working in favor of the drama. Instead, it’s dragging it down to the point of being unintelligible. And in trying to think of an ending that would actually satisfy me, I am coming up dry. There’s no purpose this (literal) vanishing act can fulfill that would make me feel better about this drama.

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This drama is utterly stupid and a waste of time, I discovered that I am a stupidly loyal fan of the three main leads tho because I didn't drop it even though all the cells in my body is screaming bloody murder.

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Ohhhhh I feel the same. We are warriors

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same

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okay, i'll just be totally HONEST and say i really LOVED that ending kiss.... and now in my heart i don't care how the story ends, how the story has been sucky all along, and how none of this makes sense...

cuz basically, i'm just going to own being a fan of the OTP, story/plotline/editing be damned....
; )

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Boy am I glad I dropped this after ep10. I've been keeping up with it through these weecaps though because I wanted to know what the makers had in store for a show that I wasted 10 hours of my life on....

@missvictrix Hwaiting for finale week! You need all the luck.

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One. more. week.

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When the drama started, I didn't like the idea of Bi-soo being in a coma and dreaming all the story, but now I think this would be the only thing that could save a little - really a little - the show.

Bi-soo has been so extremely cruel, Joo-in so miserable, Yoo-jin so flat and creepy and the story so pointless that all being a dream would be the one logical thing of the drama.

What a waste of talented actors, good chemistry and our time.

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Absolutely alllllllll of this. *gestures broadly*

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i still maintain that this show set out to show us what not to do and then do it better except it forgot about the better part.

i love lee minki and nana together so much, it hurts that this show is so insistent on being the way it is.

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Bravo, @missvictrix for persevering with this terrible drama. Oh, I can't even begin to count the ways these two episodes annoyed me! Mostly, I am enraged by Bi-soo and the fact that anyone with an ounce of intelligence could think this was the best way to "not hurt someone". And they went *so far* with his cruelty. The only logical thing for Joo-in to do is run for the hills from such a narcissistic, moronic personality. Instead, she kisses him and instantly forgives/forgets the lot. Seriously, lady...

Yes, Bi-soo's mother just ended up being a bit pointless, and now that she's disappeared, Joo-in's mother seems to be miraculously recovered from Alzheimer's episodes but is wandering around aimlessly because she's got nothing to do. What was the point of her character then?

Final rant (cos it's not worth spending more thought on this abomination) - *who* has been dressing LMK??? When his mother said he looked so handsome in the blue suit, I simultaneously winced and guffawed. It was *so* badly fitted, terribly misco-ordinated with his shirt, and the last word you'd use is handsome. The wardrobe department have not blessed his part in this project...

Hang in there, @missvictrix - we'll keep you company till the end!

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Thank youuuu *sniffle sniffle*

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The show has turned unsalvageable. As mentioned weeks ago, the show’s theme has dramatically turned towards cruelty. When Bi-soo basically handed Joo-in over to Yu-jin, it was like a property transfer (despite her feelings) that was too unbelievable and uncomfortable to watch. The dislike for the male leads has been cumulative. This week, two of the meanest situational lines uttered by Bi-soo to Joo-in: “You’re so loud. Go outside and cry.” And “This is my masterpiece. I can’t let you ruin it.” His non-stop mean comments to make her hate him so she will not grieve when he passes is not a well-intentioned story. It is just cruel. The sudden story turn at the end is unbelievable. And if she takes him back, where is her pride, trust and self-esteem?

Nana's happy pill personality could not carry this show. Her character was too one dimensional with no growth. The side character dating stories are stale filler material. The only person with any common sense and grounded is the record store owner. Even the sanctuary of the record store was ruined by the break up scene in the listening room with the forced imposition of the undefined, meaningless paranormal story element.

At this point, it really does not matter how the story ends.

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I literarily puked and forwarded the handover scene. Had JooIn stayed, I'd puke more.
To even watch episode 14 seems like a drag

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@missvictrix - I dropped this show a few weeks ago and want to commend you on how you hang in there with these recaps.
It must be hard, but I will admit that your comments reassure me I made the right decision.
Hang in there for one more week!

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These dramas just seem to find me, right? Haha

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You need a dose of She Would Never Knows's couple :p

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This drama has a rating of 4 stars... I'm curious how it happened.

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4 stars on DramaBeans? On a 10-point scale would make sense. Perhaps folks haven't gone back to remove the stars they rewarded the show when it still had potential.

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I... I have no words. I thought it was impossible to get worse. I was wrong.
And now I'm wondering what is going to happen in the final episodes. I already know is gonna be a mess...

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I watched episodes 1-6, and now I’m going to watch the kiss and that’s it. I couldn’t make it through ep 7 and abandoned it and it turns out that was a good thing. What a hideous waste of two genuinely charming leads.

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This is a hugely disappointing drama, cannot stand the stupidity of the script and had to stop watching it a couple of weeks ago. Such a beautiful heroine and such a handsome hero (except for the crazy hair) but I just can't be bothered to watch them any more. Please, guys, you are great actors don't waste your time and ours with such rubbish.

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Both LMK and Nana deserved better than this.

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Absolutely true.

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I am so glad I dropped this show like in ep. 5, I think 🙄
I dropped it after he confessed, because hey, I honestly felt the whole confession and even her answer and their reaction when they came back together in the house was... a little bit unreal... Even more cliché dramas have made a better job with a confession because a confession doesn't have to be amazing with confetti and globes and music, or a very expensive restaurant, but a confession is something huge for anybody's heart, and it makes the person vulnerable.
Knowing this characters from the beginning, I thought Bi soo confessed too soon and too lightly, and I didn't like that.

Anyways... haven't watched a single scene since then, and I am not watching, because as you all have told me now: it is not worthy. I hate noble idiocy the most and the supernatural element added here from day one also feel pointless from day one.
Lee Min ki's character could have ended up living in that house anyway, which would set the circumstances for the love story to happen, and whatever else that have been happening since, make no sense and as you say, not necessarily related to the supernatural elements, etc , and now even I myself don't know what I am saying.. 😒🙄😒🙈

Whatever! Thanks for the weekaps! They saved even my curiosity.
Long live to the beanies who are still watching!!! ✌

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The previous work of the writer Jo Jin-kuk was the aptly (badly) named 'Love is annoying but I hate being lonely' (Yikes). An online review of the series begins "Thankfully this lasted 10 episodes because the story was paper-thin and almost everything about it was cliche", with inserted asides in the recap like "Show is also mundane". The review ends with the phrase "utter forgettable."

was the cowriter on 'Fated To Love You' in 2014. But apparently his primary job must've been typist.

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Dropped in here to see how two of my favorite actors are doing in this show. It was difficult to view legally so I decided to wait and see. Reading the weecap and comments I see I've dodged a bullet. Having crawled to the finish line for Sisyphus due to respect for the ML, I am feeling your pain. Also whispering one word..., Bossam.

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