Letter #12: Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha
Good afternoon, Erin. (Or morning. Or evening. I don't
actually know when you're going to get around to any of these. Maybe it's 3 AM,
you've had a terrible day and can't sleep, and you're going through all of
these silly thoughts of mine as a balm for your battered soul. Or, like, as a
means to bore you into slumber. Probably the latter, given a choice
between the two. But, whatever the time: hey there! Gosh, your hair looks
great. Oh, stop, yes it does!)
And so, at long last—assuming a week qualifies for such an introduction—we come to the discussion of Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha. Which, I mean, you won't have any reason to know this, but I actually finished it about a day sooner than I thought I would, so I spent that extra day doing a binge re-watch of an anime series I haven't seen in years: Kiznaiver, which is a bonkers show that is ultimately about empathy. I don't recommend jumping into it. But the opening theme, "Lay Your Hands on Me" by Boom Boom Satellites, is totally worth a look. Not that that matters. I'm only mentioning it because I'm prone to taking the long way to the meat of the story I'm telling, which, in this case, is that I started this letter a day later than I normally would.
Is that going to make a difference? I dunno. But, hey, if I just jumped into giving you my thoughts, I know it'd make you worry. And no one wants that.
Anyway...ON TO THE THEATER! (See? You're not the only one who regularly quotes Disney stuff from childhood.)
1. With all my talk about how silly Lee Ji-eun (and, to be fair, many others) looks while running, I wanted to start off by saying that Dr. Main Girl certainly looks good while running. As in, she doesn't look silly, when she runs. I wasn't making a comment on her physical attra—not that she doesn't look good, of course, she's obviously very—not that I was, like, looking, I'm just...y’know, I…hey, look, a hole for me to crawl into. How convenient.
2. I totally clocked that there was a Cinderella metaphor running throughout the (early parts, at least) of the show, when Good Boy returned Dr. Main Girl's fancy shoe, when they first meet. But I didn't expect the show to blatantly mention it when she went back to Seoul for her class reunion: her "friends" mention that her nickname in school was "Cinderella," since she always left the party before midnight. Still, I totally called the Cinderella thing at the first hint. I'm obviously the world's greatest detective.
2A. Sidebar: if I'm typing on the couch, I usually have some show or other playing on my TV on a super-low volume, just to keep me company. And, as I write this, I've chosen an anime series that...doesn't matter which one, just that, as I finished writing about the Cinderella stuff, the name of the episode of that's playing came up: "Cinderella Doesn't Smile." How's that for synchronicity?
3. I was very excited to see Ms. Choi (from Hotel Del Luna) make another appearance in a show I was watching, even if she was only in it (as the dentists' boss) for a couple of scenes. I'm easy to please, when it comes to cameos. And this is her third time crossing my path. Which ties her with Zumba Snake!
4. Speaking of recognizing actors: Bad Guy Lawyer from Vincenzo! And the girl from the IU interview! And they play father and daughter! Which I know you already know, but...yay!
5. Oh, here's something I found amusing: the main girl's name is Hye-jin, which sounds a lot like the English word "hygiene." And, assuming this wasn't a one-off detail they never really meant to be true (and I suspect a lot of details from early in the show sort of got dropped, as things went on), she was a bit of a germaphobe and, being a dentist, very concerned with the particulars of cleanliness. I don't know if this was deliberate or just a fun coincidence. But I noticed it.
5A. "But Daryl, you steadfast paragon of analytical wit," I hear you say, "I thought you couldn't remember anyone's names?" Well, dear Erin...shh.
6. Intended or not, this show totally plays out like a fanfic apology letter to Good Boy for how Start Up turned out. I mean, holy crap, they could not have done more to gratuitously swoon over him in every frame. Which is wonderful. But also funny.
7. Dr. Main Girl getting stranded in town is EXACTLY why I don't trust digital currency. You shall not crucify mankind on a cross of crypto! #GoldStandard
8. Have we talked about the red string of fate, before? I can't remember. I mean, maybe you know it on your own, but it's an idea that soul mates are bound to each other with an unseen red string. In China, it's around their ankles, in Japan it's around their fingers. And I dunno if you noticed, but Dr. Main Girl spent a lot of the show wearing this thin, red ring around one of her fingers. (And, she had a red ankle thing when she was staying at the inn overnight when she was stranded in town that first time.) Coincidence? I think not! Particularly given how she and Good Boy kept running into each other, over the years. (Which...well, I'll talk about that, a little later on.) That said, if it wasn't about him, it was certainly about the town and how she was destined to end up there. After all, she does mention falling in love with the place, at the end.
9. I'm so glad Best Friend followed her out to the countryside. I liked her immediately, and was afraid she wasn't going to be in it, after the move. #BestGirl
9A. ...which is not to say that Ju-ri (the cafe guy's daughter) wasn't also the best. Because she was. Totes adorbs.
9B. ...which is not to say I wasn't completely smitten with Writer Girl, for basically all the reasons I was smitten with Chae-ran from Our Beloved Summer.
9C. ...but Best Friend was absolutely my favorite. I thought she was funny and relatable and....gosh, her romantic subplot was just the cutest thing. (More on that later.)
10. I think the best-written character in the show, though, was the Landlady Divorcee, who owned the restaurant and whose ex-husband worked at the town hall. She had probably the best and most complex character arc of anyone.
11. Speaking of: this show does a really good job of shifting on a dime from light and fluffy to awkward and heavy, at times. And the moment that stands out to me the most is when Landlady Divorcee made a a whole big meal for her ex-husband (under a "made too much" pretense) only to have to return home and shove it all in the fridge because she saw him mackin' on Teacher Lady. I mean, when she closes the fridge door and then stumbles back into it because she's just heartbroken over the whole thing...oof.
12. ...and speaking of Teacher Lady: I totes knew she was in love with Landlady Divorcee. I mean, not as quickly as I caught the Cinderella thing, but safely before the show made it obvious. Again: world's greatest detective. (Right before they let the audience know, though, they start her part of the episode with a trip to the dentist, where Dr. Main Girl unwittingly makes the most heavy-handed metaphor for being in the closet they could make, regarding her wisdom teeth. I kind of rolled my eyes at that.)
12A. Did it make sense that Landlady Divorcee "knew" about this? Probably not. But that's fine, I guess. She could still be heartbroken over her ex-husband not being as torn up about not being with her as she is at not being with him, even if he was chasing a woman who wasn't into dudes.
12B. Also, to take a second to talk about them: ugh, how much did it hurt to finally figure out why they divorced? That was a pretty great reveal. Best-written part of the show, in my opinion, that whole subplot.
13. Speaking of: did you notice that Landlady Divorcee was kind of a babe, during the flashbacks? Maybe not gorgeous, but noticeably more attractive? By which I mean that the middle-aged version of her is clearly done up to accentuate her features in the least flattering way possible. I mean, her eye shadow looks overdone and her lipstick only makes her mouth look absurdly small, which makes her other facial features seem way out of whack. I barely noticed it until I could compare with the flashback version of her. Good job, makeup team.
14. Similar to the whole fluffy/heavy turns, this show could absolutely break out the cringe humor, when it wanted to. I don’t think I’ve had to pause a show and walk away to shake off the second-hand embarrassment as much as this since I watched The Office. (Unless I’ve mentioned doing with other K-dramas. In which case…I’m lying, I guess. No—forgetful! I meant to say forgetful!)
15. Here’s a fun little nitpick: someone was wearing a t-shirt that said, “Athens ’96” and had the Olympic rings on it. But the Olympics in 1996 were in Atlanta.
16. On the other hand, here’s a fun little deliberate detail: early on in the show (around Ep 2, I think), Good Boy gave Dr. Main Girl a little speech about meeting people in the town halfway, in terms of not asking them to change everything to adapt to her. At the end of the episode, she goes to speak to Good Boy, and he’s up on the rocks, fishing. He doesn’t climb all the way down to the beach to talk to her, so she has to climb a bit to get to him, which allows her to slip and for him to catch her and oh aren’t our hearts all aflutter. But the important detail is this: he doesn’t climb all the way down…which forces Dr. Main Girl to literally meet him halfway.
17. There’s a sequence after Dr. Main Girl and Good Boy start getting those early crush vibes where it’s just a compilation of them “happening to pass by each other” in the morning over the course of several days. And it is so…frikkin’…cute.
17A. And then they follow it up with an almost as adorable pouting session from Dr. Main Girl when she doesn’t see him, one morning. Which, I guess, was for the kids in the back who didn’t get that she was upset at not seeing him just from how she was looking for him, when he wasn’t there. Because, I dunno, I guess some people don’t know what it’s like to agonize over a crush. The absolute jerks.
18. Hilariously, Good Boy won the Math Olympiad. (Now…tell me this isn’t deliberate.)
19. Speaking of Good Boy: that acoustic guitar scene was magnificent in its excess. We get it, show, we’re all in love with him. You don’t have to have him hit every sexy-guy trope.
19A. I’m not objecting to it, exactly, but…
19B. Meanwhile, at the Council of Daryls:
“Y’know, NJ never played acoustic guitar.”
“Stop that.”
“YOU CAN’T MAKE ME!”
20. Y’know, I’m glad to see the “lights went out—better eat all the ice cream!” instinct is universal.
21. Less glad to know that the phrase “TMI” (too much information) is universal.
22. Every time Good Boy’s phone rings, I think it’s mine. Because my phone has the same ring.
23. Despite all the romance waves kicked up with Good Boy, it’s interesting that the thing that truly hooks Dr. Main Girl into the town is Ju-ri.
24. Sappy, ham-fisted thing I absolutely loved #1: when Dr. Main Girl puts on her newly reunited pair of glittery high heels and the lights suddenly snap back on in the town.
25. Also at the Council of Daryls:
“Oh, goodness, they’ve got him dancing, now.”
“I think you mean, ‘Woo! They’ve got him dancing, now!’”
“…shh.”
26. You know I love a good cliché. So, when I saw that they were going to do the cliché “pretend to be dating!” episode…hoo-boy, did I let out a cheer.
27. To make absolutely clear his place as rival, Director-senpai shows up in town and immediately charms Dr. Main Girl, Ms. Grandma, and Ju-ri—the three most important ladies in Good Boy’s life. (And, as a bit of literary awareness, that would be your standard Maiden, Mother, and Crone trio.)
28. Speaking of: there’s something perversely amusing about watching Good Boy huff about in jealousy.
29. Sappy, ham-fisted thing I absolutely loved #2: he gave her money, when they were teenagers, to buy something to drink.
30. Direct from my notes, when referencing the flashback to the night Dr. Main Girl stayed at Good Boy’s house, drunk, for the first time: “OH MY GOD THEY KISSED.”
30A. Relatedly…I mean, of course they met as children. How could they not.
31.Oh—do you remember the sequence where they're chasing the pervert attacker guy? Well, in the spirit of that sequence, here's some advice: decide immediately if you should sprint after him. That is, only sprint if you think you can catch him right away. Otherwise, it's best to run only fast enough to keep him in sight, because he's undoubtedly trying to get away from you at his top speed—which he will not be able to keep up for very long. So, if you can keep him in sight, you'll be able to see when he starts to slow down. And then you kick it into gear and use that burst of speed to overtake him.
32. Speaking of pervert attacker guy, I'm sure you remember
that Dr. Main Girl freaks out, at one point, because she thinks she's being
followed, and then she sprints into the arms of Good Boy for protection. They
embrace, and we get a super-adorable moment, after, of Good Boy telling himself
his heart is racing because she "startled" him and not for any other
reason nope not at all definitely startled. Cliche as hell? You betcha. Did I
love it? You betcha. But it made me think: much as I love this
cliche...has anyone in the history of ever actually thought this? Like, used
this as an excuse to dismiss unwanted/"unwanted" pangs of longing?
It's in media all the time, but I can't imagine anyone actually doing it. I
mean, I've felt the moment a crush ignites and chastised myself for it
afterward, but I've never, like, tried to convince myself I'm misinterpreting
my physiological response. (And, trust me, with my track record, I would
absolutely have tried to convince myself otherwise, if it was possible.) And
I've had the heart-racing thing. You spend the rest of the day thinking about
that, whether you want to or not.
33. Sappy, ham-fisted thing I absolutely loved #3: of
course Good Boy not only saves Dr. Main Girl from pervert attacker
guy's pervy attack, he gets seriously hurt doing it.
34. On more than one occasion, I've mentioned that I like
how these shows like to keep the romances pretty demure, but I don't think I've
ever really gotten into why, outside of some basic "sexytime is
lazy writing!" and "keep smut separate!" points.
Philosophically, I guess, my preference for this comes from how it winds up
celebrating all the little things about the early, discovery stages of a mutual
attraction, like the excitement of a smile or brushing shoulders or even eye
contact. I love that. I love the
purity of it—that is, the sincerity and uncomplicatedness of it.
34A. To wit: Dr. Main Girl turning into a blushy-blushy mess
when she finally lets her romantic feelings out as, y'know,
not-contentiousness. Adorable and hilarious. And so much more emotionally
satisfying than, like, seeing her try to find the lowest-cut blouse in her
wardrobe or whatever.
35. I didn't make note whose dialogue prompted this, but
it's time for another episode of Grammar with Daryl: the line should be
"None of you is normal," not "None of you are normal."
The word none is singular: it's essentially short for "not
one" or "no one." People mistakenly use are instead
of is, here, because of the presence of you (for which the
form of "to be" is are), but "of you" is a
prepositional phrase, which means it is not the subject of the sentence and,
therefore, does not influence the form of the verb.
35A. ...of course, if you knew this, already, then let
me know, and you'll get 10 more Daryl points added to your overall score!
36. I don't think I've mentioned this before (...unless I
have), but...man, Korean nameplates are something else, huh.
37. I like how, to fully allow for the whole "must stay
at Good Boy's house" section of the "attacked by the pervert attacker
guy" subplot, they had to ship Best Friend off to Seoul (because her
mother was in the hospital) so that she wouldn't be stuck staying in the
unsafe-feeling house by herself and make us all feel gross about Dr. Main Girl
just sort of abandoning her. Classic.
37A. I mean, it gives us the whole thing about Cop Guy going
with her and how that helps further their relationship, so it's not like it
isn't a good sub-thread to the subplot...but, I mean, we all know why it was
really there. And it wasn't to get the Best Friend x Cop Guy ship sailing more
briskly.
37B. And, actually, since we're still talking about the
pervy attack of pervert attacker guy, I was shouting at the screen the whole
time he was skulking down on Dr. Main Girl in her home—because she should have
had her baton and ear-piercing siren thing to hand. They introduce them into
the story, and then...she doesn't do anything with them. (Remember what I said
about the show forgetting details?)
38. You know I love a good love triangle, but...for my
money, Director-senpai enters the story a little too late into things to then
stick around pining for Dr. Main Girl as much as he does. I don't mind him
disrupting things, when he shows up in the middle of the show, but...sheesh,
he's in it a lot. Which didn't add enough drama, from my perspective, to
overcome how much of a nuisance it was to have to deal with it simply
slowing down—but never actually threatening—the Dr. Main Girl x Good Boy
story. I mean, I liked the guy well enough, but I don't think he was as well
utilized as he could have been.
39. It was so great to see so much truly awful, blatant
product placement in this show. I love it so much. My favorite, though, was in
the last(?) episode, where Good Boy tells Director-senpai about this absolutely
wonderful app he uses to order pizza...and it's just Domino's. I literally
burst out laughing. I mean, I took a picture and texted it to my family (...who
then told me they didn't understand why it was funny), I was so tickled by it.
"It's this incredible service that brings you pizza! It's called:
Domino's." So great.
40. The little "blonde" girl was a kick in the
pants, by the way.
41. Did I miss the story letting us know where Best Friend
was during the "giving birth during the typhoon" episode? I kept
waiting for her to come in, drenched, and then find she'd walked into the
middle of a midwives convention. Fortunately, she just never showed up. For
some reason.
42. They snookered me with Good Boy's tragic backstory. I
thought it was going to be all about the girl. But it wasn't. It was all about
the guy. ("But Daryl,” I hear you ask, “does that mean you're no longer
the world's greatest detective?" Well, dear Erin...shh.)
43. Speaking of: Director-senpai being the brother-in-law of
the dead friend...meh. A little too much "small world, huh?" for my
taste.
43A. Same goes for Dr. Main Girl calling 911 because she saw
Good Boy slumped over by the side of the bridge, back in the past. I
mean...fate and all that, sure, but come on.
44. Dr. Main Girl's "Wait, I think I love him"
moment was FANTASTIC—and her confession to Good Boy was equally FANTASTIC. I
mean...gosh, go team, on that. Well done.
44A. ...which is how they end Ep 10, and then they repeat
the scene to start Ep 11...and the dialogue is translated differently.
Which...still such an amusing thing.
44B. Less amusing, though, is how I think they seem to have
digitally removed the Hyundai logos from some of the cars. The bastards.
44C. But swinging back into the amusing camp: that, as soon
as they wrap up the utterly fantastic getting together scene, Dr. Main Girl
calls for a pause. Absolutely hilarious. The writers should be proud of
that.
45. Which brings us to the kissing score: safely above
passing. Again, go team.
46. It's genuinely great character stuff--and really, really
funny—how girly Dr. Main Girl gets over both Good Boy and their coupling up.
She's held so much inside that it can only gush out, once the restraints are
loosened at all. To say nothing of how much she, y'know, likes him.
47. ...of course, she does overdo it more than a little, as
the show goes on, but I suspect this was done to fill time because they had to stretch
out the story over the last few episodes. I mean, it never comes back to affect
the plot. Unless you count the “we suddenly need time apart because you won’t
reveal your darkest secrets to me!” section. Which…I don’t.
47A. Though, on that note, I suppose it makes sense that
she’d jump to the “why aren’t you telling meeee???” thing so quickly because
they’re both in their mid-thirties. At that stage, you don’t have the time to
waste on slow reveals. Gotta get to weddin’ and beddin’ and birthin’ them
babies. Obviously. Ticking clock and all.
48. Here's a moment that made me nod my head sadly: when
they're about to get all kissy-kissy, and Dr. Main Girl stops the proceedings
so they can go brush their teeth. Talk about an absolute mood killer. It's
right up there with "Hey, lemme just use the bathroom real quick."
Sure, you can start up again, after, but...it's not the same. I feel for ya,
Good boy.
48A. That said, it's totally something she'd do, isn't it.
Hye-jin/hygiene and all that.
49. And, at long last, let’s talk about my absolute favorite
part, which is—of course—Best Friend x Cop Guy, which managed to eke out our
main couple for the title of the cutest thing in the whole of the show. How
great was this subplot? You got the “wild” girl and the uber-traditional guy, both
pulling the other closer and closer to his or her own way of being, meeting
somewhere in the middle. It’s so satisfying to watch their part of the story
unfold—even the bit where Best Friend does the silly TV thing of Rejecting Cop
Guy juuuuuust as he was about to formally ask her out, because it leads to the
scene where he tells her he wants to get to know her while she’s cleaning his
teeth, and that’s such a sweet way for him to get past his shyness at confessing
to her (especially since he’s so utterly guileless: he must have been going
over how to talk to her for days
before coming up with that plan). And then when they formally start dating—and,
even before that, when he buys her the
rotisserie chicken!!! Absolutely adorable, these two.
50. All that said...am I mad about the one-month time skip
or not?
And that’s the way it is.
Had a very good time with this one. Solidly written,
fanservicingly indulgent, pretty well-paced (overall). Definitely gets the
thumbs up. I don’t think it would crack the top five on my overall list, but
it’s probably got the raw technical scores to get close.
And, as ever, I can't wait to see where you send me
next.
--Daryl
PS – You may have noticed the
sudden appearance of crude colored pencil drawings on the envelope flaps for
the last couple of letters. See, I found the colored pencils in my desk drawer,
when I was looking for…y’know what, it doesn’t matter what I was looking for.
Point is, I found them, and...well, I just wanted an excuse to use them. I
like drawing. I'm not good at it, obviously, but I like it. I wanted to
draw comic strips, when I was a kid. (Actually, ask Lisa, she’s got a pile of post-it
notes from me.) Anyway, it keeps my imagination churning. Which, I mean, makes me happy.
And so, at long last—assuming a week qualifies for such an introduction—we come to the discussion of Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha. Which, I mean, you won't have any reason to know this, but I actually finished it about a day sooner than I thought I would, so I spent that extra day doing a binge re-watch of an anime series I haven't seen in years: Kiznaiver, which is a bonkers show that is ultimately about empathy. I don't recommend jumping into it. But the opening theme, "Lay Your Hands on Me" by Boom Boom Satellites, is totally worth a look. Not that that matters. I'm only mentioning it because I'm prone to taking the long way to the meat of the story I'm telling, which, in this case, is that I started this letter a day later than I normally would.
Is that going to make a difference? I dunno. But, hey, if I just jumped into giving you my thoughts, I know it'd make you worry. And no one wants that.
Anyway...ON TO THE THEATER! (See? You're not the only one who regularly quotes Disney stuff from childhood.)
1. With all my talk about how silly Lee Ji-eun (and, to be fair, many others) looks while running, I wanted to start off by saying that Dr. Main Girl certainly looks good while running. As in, she doesn't look silly, when she runs. I wasn't making a comment on her physical attra—not that she doesn't look good, of course, she's obviously very—not that I was, like, looking, I'm just...y’know, I…hey, look, a hole for me to crawl into. How convenient.
2. I totally clocked that there was a Cinderella metaphor running throughout the (early parts, at least) of the show, when Good Boy returned Dr. Main Girl's fancy shoe, when they first meet. But I didn't expect the show to blatantly mention it when she went back to Seoul for her class reunion: her "friends" mention that her nickname in school was "Cinderella," since she always left the party before midnight. Still, I totally called the Cinderella thing at the first hint. I'm obviously the world's greatest detective.
2A. Sidebar: if I'm typing on the couch, I usually have some show or other playing on my TV on a super-low volume, just to keep me company. And, as I write this, I've chosen an anime series that...doesn't matter which one, just that, as I finished writing about the Cinderella stuff, the name of the episode of that's playing came up: "Cinderella Doesn't Smile." How's that for synchronicity?
3. I was very excited to see Ms. Choi (from Hotel Del Luna) make another appearance in a show I was watching, even if she was only in it (as the dentists' boss) for a couple of scenes. I'm easy to please, when it comes to cameos. And this is her third time crossing my path. Which ties her with Zumba Snake!
4. Speaking of recognizing actors: Bad Guy Lawyer from Vincenzo! And the girl from the IU interview! And they play father and daughter! Which I know you already know, but...yay!
5. Oh, here's something I found amusing: the main girl's name is Hye-jin, which sounds a lot like the English word "hygiene." And, assuming this wasn't a one-off detail they never really meant to be true (and I suspect a lot of details from early in the show sort of got dropped, as things went on), she was a bit of a germaphobe and, being a dentist, very concerned with the particulars of cleanliness. I don't know if this was deliberate or just a fun coincidence. But I noticed it.
5A. "But Daryl, you steadfast paragon of analytical wit," I hear you say, "I thought you couldn't remember anyone's names?" Well, dear Erin...shh.
6. Intended or not, this show totally plays out like a fanfic apology letter to Good Boy for how Start Up turned out. I mean, holy crap, they could not have done more to gratuitously swoon over him in every frame. Which is wonderful. But also funny.
7. Dr. Main Girl getting stranded in town is EXACTLY why I don't trust digital currency. You shall not crucify mankind on a cross of crypto! #GoldStandard
8. Have we talked about the red string of fate, before? I can't remember. I mean, maybe you know it on your own, but it's an idea that soul mates are bound to each other with an unseen red string. In China, it's around their ankles, in Japan it's around their fingers. And I dunno if you noticed, but Dr. Main Girl spent a lot of the show wearing this thin, red ring around one of her fingers. (And, she had a red ankle thing when she was staying at the inn overnight when she was stranded in town that first time.) Coincidence? I think not! Particularly given how she and Good Boy kept running into each other, over the years. (Which...well, I'll talk about that, a little later on.) That said, if it wasn't about him, it was certainly about the town and how she was destined to end up there. After all, she does mention falling in love with the place, at the end.
9. I'm so glad Best Friend followed her out to the countryside. I liked her immediately, and was afraid she wasn't going to be in it, after the move. #BestGirl
9A. ...which is not to say that Ju-ri (the cafe guy's daughter) wasn't also the best. Because she was. Totes adorbs.
9B. ...which is not to say I wasn't completely smitten with Writer Girl, for basically all the reasons I was smitten with Chae-ran from Our Beloved Summer.
9C. ...but Best Friend was absolutely my favorite. I thought she was funny and relatable and....gosh, her romantic subplot was just the cutest thing. (More on that later.)
10. I think the best-written character in the show, though, was the Landlady Divorcee, who owned the restaurant and whose ex-husband worked at the town hall. She had probably the best and most complex character arc of anyone.
11. Speaking of: this show does a really good job of shifting on a dime from light and fluffy to awkward and heavy, at times. And the moment that stands out to me the most is when Landlady Divorcee made a a whole big meal for her ex-husband (under a "made too much" pretense) only to have to return home and shove it all in the fridge because she saw him mackin' on Teacher Lady. I mean, when she closes the fridge door and then stumbles back into it because she's just heartbroken over the whole thing...oof.
12. ...and speaking of Teacher Lady: I totes knew she was in love with Landlady Divorcee. I mean, not as quickly as I caught the Cinderella thing, but safely before the show made it obvious. Again: world's greatest detective. (Right before they let the audience know, though, they start her part of the episode with a trip to the dentist, where Dr. Main Girl unwittingly makes the most heavy-handed metaphor for being in the closet they could make, regarding her wisdom teeth. I kind of rolled my eyes at that.)
12A. Did it make sense that Landlady Divorcee "knew" about this? Probably not. But that's fine, I guess. She could still be heartbroken over her ex-husband not being as torn up about not being with her as she is at not being with him, even if he was chasing a woman who wasn't into dudes.
12B. Also, to take a second to talk about them: ugh, how much did it hurt to finally figure out why they divorced? That was a pretty great reveal. Best-written part of the show, in my opinion, that whole subplot.
13. Speaking of: did you notice that Landlady Divorcee was kind of a babe, during the flashbacks? Maybe not gorgeous, but noticeably more attractive? By which I mean that the middle-aged version of her is clearly done up to accentuate her features in the least flattering way possible. I mean, her eye shadow looks overdone and her lipstick only makes her mouth look absurdly small, which makes her other facial features seem way out of whack. I barely noticed it until I could compare with the flashback version of her. Good job, makeup team.
14. Similar to the whole fluffy/heavy turns, this show could absolutely break out the cringe humor, when it wanted to. I don’t think I’ve had to pause a show and walk away to shake off the second-hand embarrassment as much as this since I watched The Office. (Unless I’ve mentioned doing with other K-dramas. In which case…I’m lying, I guess. No—forgetful! I meant to say forgetful!)
15. Here’s a fun little nitpick: someone was wearing a t-shirt that said, “Athens ’96” and had the Olympic rings on it. But the Olympics in 1996 were in Atlanta.
16. On the other hand, here’s a fun little deliberate detail: early on in the show (around Ep 2, I think), Good Boy gave Dr. Main Girl a little speech about meeting people in the town halfway, in terms of not asking them to change everything to adapt to her. At the end of the episode, she goes to speak to Good Boy, and he’s up on the rocks, fishing. He doesn’t climb all the way down to the beach to talk to her, so she has to climb a bit to get to him, which allows her to slip and for him to catch her and oh aren’t our hearts all aflutter. But the important detail is this: he doesn’t climb all the way down…which forces Dr. Main Girl to literally meet him halfway.
17. There’s a sequence after Dr. Main Girl and Good Boy start getting those early crush vibes where it’s just a compilation of them “happening to pass by each other” in the morning over the course of several days. And it is so…frikkin’…cute.
17A. And then they follow it up with an almost as adorable pouting session from Dr. Main Girl when she doesn’t see him, one morning. Which, I guess, was for the kids in the back who didn’t get that she was upset at not seeing him just from how she was looking for him, when he wasn’t there. Because, I dunno, I guess some people don’t know what it’s like to agonize over a crush. The absolute jerks.
18. Hilariously, Good Boy won the Math Olympiad. (Now…tell me this isn’t deliberate.)
19. Speaking of Good Boy: that acoustic guitar scene was magnificent in its excess. We get it, show, we’re all in love with him. You don’t have to have him hit every sexy-guy trope.
19A. I’m not objecting to it, exactly, but…
19B. Meanwhile, at the Council of Daryls:
“Y’know, NJ never played acoustic guitar.”
“Stop that.”
“YOU CAN’T MAKE ME!”
20. Y’know, I’m glad to see the “lights went out—better eat all the ice cream!” instinct is universal.
21. Less glad to know that the phrase “TMI” (too much information) is universal.
22. Every time Good Boy’s phone rings, I think it’s mine. Because my phone has the same ring.
23. Despite all the romance waves kicked up with Good Boy, it’s interesting that the thing that truly hooks Dr. Main Girl into the town is Ju-ri.
24. Sappy, ham-fisted thing I absolutely loved #1: when Dr. Main Girl puts on her newly reunited pair of glittery high heels and the lights suddenly snap back on in the town.
25. Also at the Council of Daryls:
“Oh, goodness, they’ve got him dancing, now.”
“I think you mean, ‘Woo! They’ve got him dancing, now!’”
“…shh.”
26. You know I love a good cliché. So, when I saw that they were going to do the cliché “pretend to be dating!” episode…hoo-boy, did I let out a cheer.
27. To make absolutely clear his place as rival, Director-senpai shows up in town and immediately charms Dr. Main Girl, Ms. Grandma, and Ju-ri—the three most important ladies in Good Boy’s life. (And, as a bit of literary awareness, that would be your standard Maiden, Mother, and Crone trio.)
28. Speaking of: there’s something perversely amusing about watching Good Boy huff about in jealousy.
29. Sappy, ham-fisted thing I absolutely loved #2: he gave her money, when they were teenagers, to buy something to drink.
30. Direct from my notes, when referencing the flashback to the night Dr. Main Girl stayed at Good Boy’s house, drunk, for the first time: “OH MY GOD THEY KISSED.”
30A. Relatedly…I mean, of course they met as children. How could they not.
31.Oh—do you remember the sequence where they're chasing the pervert attacker guy? Well, in the spirit of that sequence, here's some advice: decide immediately if you should sprint after him. That is, only sprint if you think you can catch him right away. Otherwise, it's best to run only fast enough to keep him in sight, because he's undoubtedly trying to get away from you at his top speed—which he will not be able to keep up for very long. So, if you can keep him in sight, you'll be able to see when he starts to slow down. And then you kick it into gear and use that burst of speed to overtake him.
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