Good morning, Erin.
NJ? OK!
…hey, I mean, when has any show
been a bad choice to watch just because
it has someone I like looking at in it? Never.
“But Dary—”
I
said never.
“…”
Anyway, let’s talk about 18 Again! Woo!
1. I want to make clear that I
didn’t know this was literally an
adaptation of that old Zac Efron movie when I chose to start it. I obviously
thought the premise was similar, but it’s a pretty standard premise, as far as
fiction goes, so I didn’t think much of it. But, regardless, I promise it was
just me wanting more NJ in my life. That’s all. I have no affinity towards it
or Zac Efron or anyone adjacent to Zac Efron (unless you count thinking Vanessa
Hudgens is kinda cute—which you shouldn’t). I’m just here to make goo-goo eyes
at Roh Jeong-eui.
2. Actually, this show has a little
something for both of us, as it turns out, because we’ve both got two—yes, two—heartthrobs apiece (from previous
things) in this cast:
·
Firefly
Dude from Hotel Del Luna as the Dad (Young
Version) and “Bad” Boy from True Beauty
as…well, the “Bad” Boy.
·
NJ
from Our Beloved Summer as the
daughter and Piano Girl from Vincenzo
as Hot Young Reporter who’s competing with the mom for a spot at the news
station.
3. There are two more actors I
recognized:
·
Divorced
Co-Worker from My Liberation Notes as
the basketball coach (who is so different from his character in My Liberation Notes that I couldn’t
conceive of him acting like he did)
·
Main
Girl’s Dad from 100 Days My Prince as
the Dad (Old Version)’s boss (who was also, I was stunned to find, the savvy
boss of the main character in My Mister)
4. But what did I think of the
show, overall? It’s okay. Some of it is really entertaining. There are some
solid subplots. A couple of pretty good characters. It has NJ in it, which can
only be a positive. But a lot of it feels…amateurish, I think, is the best way
to describe it. There are a lot of instances of shots being framed incorrectly
or lingering too long so that actors’ movements look awkward on screen. The
camerawork/editing also affects the pacing of the show, the flow of dialogue,
and the effectiveness of certain parts of the comedy. It’s just not as sharp or
slick as it should be, at times, which hurts the production—and it’s from 2020,
which means it doesn’t even have “but it’s old” as a defense. Which is not to
say it’s unwatchable or anything, because, again, a lot of it is a fun time.
But, on balance, it’s not a show that’s going to give you the “okay, one more…”
pull that, say, Start-Up had.
5. That said, there’s this amazing
fight sequence in the first episode that should be in everyone’s K-drama
highlight reel. So…the good stuff is definitely there to be found.
5A. …it involves the theme song to The Avengers, too, which I…how did they
even afford that?
5B. I mean, there’s A LOT of Marvel
stuff, in this show: statues and props and costumes—but there’s also quite a
few Disney-specific things, as well, which makes me think they must have either
been bankrolled by Disney or they paid a BUTTLOAD of money to go to town on
whatever they want. Or, I guess, they could have just run with it and hoped
Disney didn’t notice. Somehow.
5C. Also, in terms of Marvel stuff,
there’s a copy of The Ultimates 2
prominently displayed in Episode 1. I’m sure I’m just about the only person
watching who thought that was the
Marvel thing to mention, but it’s one of my all-time favorite comic books.
5D. Also also, this is another show
that uses Iron Man as the benchmark for awesome superheroes. Which…hey, you
know I’m not going to argue.
6. Speaking of benchmarks, though,
we once again are told that Suzy is
the benchmark for hotness.
7. NJ is pretty great, in this.
She’s not as great as in Our Beloved
Summer, but she’s still #BestGirl.
8. …which is not to overlook her
best friend, Bo-bae, who is not just suuuuuper-cute but also the central figure
in my absolute favorite gag in the whole series. (SPOILERS in 8A.)
8A. So, throughout the show, I
noticed this fantastic little detail whenever we were doing a scene at school:
all the girls are fawning over the Dad (Young Version) ‘cus he’s so handsome,
but what he’s most interested in is becoming friends with NJ (his daughter).
So, every time he sees her, he waves hello. She never likes this, thinks he’s a
weird dude, all that stuff. Well, every time he waves at NJ, Bo-bae waves back
at him. And, unless you’re really paying attention, it’s easy enough to ignore
(because NJ always has a line or rolls her eyes or something that’s way more
important). So I thought to myself, “Aww, poor Bo-bae thinks he’s waving at her. What a fun detail!” And then, in
Episode 12, Bo-bae approaches the Dad (Young Version) and tells him the she’s
noticed how he’s always waving at her
and that she like him back. Which he raises an eyebrow at and denies. CUT TO every single instance of him waving and her
waving back…and then Bo-bae turns to notice that she’s next to NJ every time, then turns directly to the
camera and says, “Oh, you’re kidding…!”
And, Erin, I absolutely could not believe they were paying off that stupid
little detail. Twelve episodes of buildup, and I wonder how many people even
noticed. I was howling with excitement at the TV.
9. Characters in this show find new
and better ways to be the absolute worst
people imaginable. Like, we’ve got scumbag journalists, scumbag YouTube comment
sections, scumbag figures in authority. You want needless cruelty? Moral
hypocrisy? Unwarranted classism? Enough skeeviness to drown a kitten? Well, I
don’t think you could toss a rock without hitting at least two of those. It’s a
cornucopia of reasons to lament human existence. Which, sure, could be TV
exaggerating for dramatic effect, but…probably not as much as I would want.
10. Speaking of: Piano Girl from Vincenzo is a toooootal b****, here.
Like, she might be worse than Bully Chae-ran from True Beauty.
10A. Also, they gave her this throwback
Dana Scully haircut, which…isn’t the most flattering look for her. And I love
Piano Girl. And Scully.
11. I’m just saying…if they could
pay for the Disney licensing, what the excuse for covering up all the Hyundai
logos? Hm? Hmmmmmmm???
12. In a fun bit of detail, the
girl they got to play the young version of the mother in flashbacks looks an
awful lot like NJ.
13. If you’ve not seen the show and
don’t plan on it, I’ll ballpark the moral of the story for you: communication
is very important for good relationships. Of all stripes.
14. The show wanted very much for
me to think the homeroom teacher was a total babe. And I want you to know I
wasn’t going to just go along with it.
14A. …which is why I held out until
Episode 9 before thinking she was a total babe. #freethinker
15. The episode of Return of Superman that features NJ
visiting the real-life family of her Dad (Old Version) is hilarious, by the
way. Just…as an aside. (I saw it waaaay before I ever watched the show. Because
I just wanted more NJ in my eyeballs, once Our
Beloved Summer ended.)
16. There are a good many love
triangles, here. And most of them don’t live up to their potential.
17. “Bad” Boy gets to flex his
popstar muscles, for a bit, in one episode. Which is fun.
18. That said, he is way underutilized, in this
show.
18A. Of course, this show is also
really good at forgetting that NJ isn’t the only child the mom and dad have. So
maybe I shouldn’t be surprised he’s underutilized.
19. At one point, someone is mocked
for liking anime, and I’d like to know what’s so bad about liking anim—sorry, I
thought I could finish that line without laughing, but…no.
20. There’s a scene where the Mom
is taking batting practice, and—in what must be the absolute worst production
error I’ve seen possibly ever—she’s
holding the baseball bat incorrectly. Like, she’s got her hands in the wrong
order! (If you didn’t know, when you’re not used to batting, you tend to grab
the bat with your dominant hand, making it lower on the bat than your other
hand. But the correct way to hold the bat is with your dominant hand above the other, so that you can put the
most force into your swing.) How did no one catch this?! You cannot tell me
that literally no one on set had ever swung a bat, before. And it goes on for
the whole scene! I thought it was done deliberately so the person pitching to
her could correct her and they’d have a little moment together, but no. And I’m
still annoyed about it.
21. The smooching is…okay. I don’t
think there were many opportunities for anything particularly passionate, so
it’s not like there was much of a bar to clear, but…for what it needed to be,
the show didn’t embarrass itself.
22. The mom’s lawyer friend has a
fun subplot that…just sort of stops. For logical reasons—but it was also given
too much attention for it to just disappear like it does. I mean, it makes
perfect sense for it to disappear, but it also isn’t as light and playful a
running gag as the show thinks, which I thought made it suddenly stopping seem
less believable than it should have.
23. The mom’s lawyer friend also does
this great homage to Legally Blonde,
but no one calls attention to the reference—which now makes me wonder if most
people watching it caught that it was an homage.
24. There’s a scene where the Dad
(Young Version) is arguing with his friend, and they are just laying into each
other. The show comically bleeps out all the swearing and crass language, but
the subtitles just write out a clean version of what’s being said. But, because
what I was reading didn’t indicate that something was being bleeped out, I kept
thinking my microwave timer was going off every time something was being
censored. I kept pausing and looking over at it, and then I figured out what
was happening and felt very silly.
25. After watching this, I am so
tempted to bump Roh Jeong-eui up to #3 on my K-drama girlfriends list—but
that’s where Lee Ji-eun is, currently, and I’m not convinced I can let her drop
to #4 without my heart stopping.
26. Oh! There’s an employee-girls
duo that flits in and out of parts of the story to act as comedy relief, and,
despite them not being a makeup-girls pair, I enjoyed them very much. I don’t
know what it is about this particular “archetype” that I so enjoy, but…as I have
noted before: gimme that pair of ladies serving a quaternary (but consistently
present) role. Every time.
27. I was looking something up on
My Drama List, while I was watching this, and there was a headline that a
Korean character-actor had died. The picture looked familiar, so I checked him
out—and I actually knew who he was! He was the crazy writer lady’s dad in It’s Okay to Not be Okay AND had a minor
role in 18 Again! So, not only was it
somewhat astronomical that it would have been an actor I know (‘cus I’m still
so new to all this), but also add to it that he happened to have a minor role
in the show I was literally watching as I read that headline. Crazy stuff.
(Also: poor guy. Sorry to hear that.)
28. So…okay, final note: there is a
goofy scene, in the middle of the series, where they contrive a reason for the
Dad (Young Version) to impress everyone with his smooth acoustic guitar
playing, but it’s so so soooo
contrived that they pretty much broadcast that this is what the scene will be
by having an acoustic guitar almost inexplicably in frame behind him for the
whole scene leading up to that point. It was Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-levels of “Why are we doing this? I mean,
obviously I know why we’re doing this, but….” (If you’ve seen it, I’m sure you
loved it.)
28A. Y’know, I finally got around
to seeing why Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha
was given that English title (other than it being snazzy enough to stick in
your mind). It apparently has to do with the show being about how you can’t
always do things on your own, and the cha-cha-cha is a dance that you can’t do
by yourself. Which I only mention because this actually led me to look up the
Korean word for car (which is
technical jadongcha but almost always
shortened to cha), because the one
instance “cha cha cha” that appears in the show is an exchange between Dr. Main
Girl and Good Boy about a car: Dr. Main Girl asks about her car (cha), and Good Boy raises an eyebrow and
either asks what the word means or what car she’s talking about (he literally
just looks at her and says, “…cha?”),
to which Dr. Main Girl responds by saying, “Cha,” makes a little steering wheel
pantomime with her hands, “cha cha.” And every time I think about that title, I
think of that moment and wonder what the heck that was all about. And now I
know.
And that, as they say, is that.
Highlight was NJ, of course, but
there wasn’t nearly enough of her to move this towards the top half of my
ever-growing list of watched shows.
…but the Roh Jeong-eui/Lee Ji-eun
debate almost certainly has decided my summer rewatch will be Hotel Del Luna. But, hey, who knows?
Maybe mentioning Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha
and Start-Up in the same letter will
make my next stop Good Boy Station.
Either way, I will see you there.
Possibly with a frown on your face. ‘Cus, like, you wanted to just chill out
with some ice cream, and them I’m all like, “Here are 5000 words about Mr. Sunshine!” And then your whole day
is ruined.
Or not. What do I know.
--Daryl
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