Letter #32: A Korean Odyssey

Good morning, Erin. 
 
So, about a year before you recommended Hotel Del Luna to me because I mentioned I was watching a Chinese romcom, a woman I was speaking to online recommended A Korean Odyssey to me…because I mentioned to her that I was watching a Chinese romcom. How’s that for coincidence, eh?
 
But the uncanniness doesn’t stop there! Because I did not watch it back when it was recommended to me, I now have the knowledge and experience to realize that A Korean Odyssey was written by the same pair of sisters who wrote Hotel Del Luna. 
 
So that’s two different people pointing me to two different K-dramas written by the same two sisters after I mentioned watching Chinese romcoms, roughly one year apart from one another.
 
I’m not saying God needed me to start watching Korean television to save humanity, but…I mean, it’s a much stronger possibility than either of us probably thought it was, wouldn’t you say?
 
Well, regardless, I’ve watched A Korean Odyssey, and I’d like to share my thoughts:
 
1. I’m torn between describing this show as “kinda Goblin” or “proto-Hotel Del Luna.” It doesn’t come close to hitting either of those highs, but the similarity to Goblin is definitely there—but you can absolutely see the elements that will eventually be honed and perfected into Hotel Del Luna. (Which really isn’t all that spoilery to say, I don’t think, in case you haven’t seen this and suddenly want to.)
 
2. Speaking of Hotel Del Luna: is…is that the tunnel to the afterlife I see, in Episode 1, or am I being tunnel-racist, again?
 
3. There’s literally—and I mean literally literally—a Red Oni/Blue Oni pairing, here: two “demons” of opposing personality, with the cool and collected one typically dressed in blue and the surly and impulsive one typically dressed in red. It takes about 5 minutes into the first episode to meet them both. And it gave me quite the chuckle. 
 
4. Speaking of red and blue…or, okay, just briefly speaking of red, here’s the list of folks I recognized:

• EL (The Lady in Red from Goblin) as Ms. Ma, who is Blue Oni’s personal secretary

• Oh Yeon-seo (from Mad for Each Other) as Ms. Jin, who is our female protagonist 

• Prince Dowon’s eunuch from Rookie Historian as the intermediary for the spirit realm

 
5. Speaking of EL: she’s quite good in this series. I mean, she’s generally quite good, from what I’ve seen, but she’s specifically quite funny, here. She’s a “demon” whose true (that is, non-human) form is a dog, and, as such, she’s 100% loyal/obedient to Blue Oni. She totally nails the physicality for the role, particularly her facial expressions, shifting between the exuberance, innocence, and concern so often seen from pets so dedicated to the intentions of their owners. Plus, her excitedly-uttered catchphrase is “Shall I kill them?” when Blue Oni is faced with complications from any of the other characters. And how could anyone not love that?
 
5A. “But Daryl, you pleasant bastion of predictability,” I hear you say, “why didn’t you announce she was #BestGirl? That’s the biggest reason I look forward to your letters: official settling of the waifu wars. You said she was great, so why didn’t you say she was #BestGirl?” Well, dear Erin, the simple fact is that, despite her delightful performance, someone managed to outshine even Ms Ma. (And we’ll get to that, later.) Though, rest assured, it was mighty close for a good, long while. 
 
5B. Also, there’s a scene where she has to sprint—in high heels—uphill—on a cobblestone road. We don’t see it for very long, but it’s long enough to see that it’s actually her doing it. It’s very impressive. 
 
5C. Less impressive is the lipstick she’s always wearing. I mean, I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure it clashes with her reddish hair. And it bothered me. The whole time.
 
6. I’m assuming it’s deliberate that the Rookie Historian eunuch looks like a televangelist, but…maybe it’s not. 
 
7. There’s a surprising amount of wirework for a series ostensibly about…well, ghostbusting stuff that you’d think wouldn’t require much in the way of acrobatics. But…it’s there. And it’s mostly all right, if I remember correctly.
 
8. The green screen stuff, though, is…old. Yeah, let’s say it’s old. Which is also, um, surprising.
 
9. …but talk about terrible CGI. Oof. 
 
9A. Which is interesting, because the generic evil spirits they fight are just dudes in cheap black Halloween costumes with some CGI black smoke swirling around them…and they actually look pretty good. Or, like, effective, at least.
 
10. If there is one drawback to the series, overall, it’s the pacing. Whether it’s drawing out scenes with pauses in dialogue or needlessly watching a character silently walk across a room, there’s a lot of filling time, it feels like. And, in a couple of instances towards the beginning of the series, there’s some soft-restarting of the story. As in, the momentum of the story is going in one direction, and then something happens to essentially cut it off COMPLETELY (by utterly resolving the reason the characters are hooked into the plot, for example), forcing the whole thing to start again as if from scratch.
 
11. …if there are two drawbacks to the series, though, the second is that the plot doesn’t really get going until about halfway through. (Though, in fairness, it kicks in pretty satisfyingly, once it does.)
 
12. …if there are three drawbacks, it’s the main protagonist duo: male lead Red Oni is initially a little too unlikeable (even as he is meant to be a jerk) and, later on, written/played without the nuance his situation requires; and female lead Ms. Jin is stiff and somewhat…like, amorphous, despite having a pretty specific emotional touchstone for her character to build from.
 
12A. Ms. Jin is the biggest disappointment, in this case, because, while Oh Yeon-seo can be great, she’s utterly lackluster in this. The writing and/or directing does a chunk of the tripping up, here, but much of it is absolutely the acting. She just doesn’t seem comfortable being…normal. That is, I’ve noticed that her performances greatly improve the more she is able to hide behind or within a character. But when she’s just being a regular person, she doesn’t seem to be having the fun that injects so much life into her more unconventional or over-the-top roles. 
 
12B. That said, she’s gorgeous, so…I’m not complaining that much.
 
12C. …and no, being gorgeous doesn’t earn her #BestGirl. (But we’ll get there, Erin. I promise.)
 
13. So, this series was obviously filmed in the winter, because it is clearly very cold outside when they do outdoor scenes. But…where are they filming the indoor scenes that not only are the actors constantly in layers of coats but their breath is visible??? (There’s a very specific plot reason why one place might be like that in a couple of scenes, but it is everywhere.)
 
14. There are a few instances of the show being fully aware of how it’s using colors as part of the storytelling: Blue Oni fires red energy from his hands and Red Oni fires blue energy (either simply as complementary aesthetics or to signal their underlying similarities to each other, despite being opposites); Ms. Jin, while still denying her romantic interest in Red Oni, dresses up to meet him…in a red dress; and, at one point, to indicate that something is wrong with Ms. Jin, she is seen dressing completely in white, when her downcast nature typically sees her dressed all but exclusively in black. Which might not be all that complex, as far as visual storytelling goes, but I always appreciate it when it’s done properly. Or, like, when I notice that it’s done properly.
 
15. Wait wait wait—in Episode 9, there’s a school with a playground in front of it…and that is totally the little playground where the bad guy in Man x Man has that dedication ceremony, in his first or second appearance! And that slide has a little tunnel on it, so WHO’S TUNNEL-RACIST NOW, B****ES!
 
16. Prior to the events of the plot, Ms. Jin has no interpersonal relationships (outside of practical ones, like with her employee) because everyone believes she’s cursed—like, literally believes she will bring about doom to any who associate with her—and, as such, she doesn’t bother trying to reach out to anyone. In keeping with this, any photos she might have decorating her home or office are solely of her. HOWEVER…she has an absurd number of pictures of herself in frames all over her apartment. I mean, if I was as good looking as she is, I might do it, too, so maybe it’s not that strange. But, still, they’re all these, like, posed glamor shots. So…who’s taking these pictures? They’re all in that candid “I didn’t know you were taking a picture” style. Did she hire someone? Did she set up a tripod and take them herself? I have so many questions!
 
16A. And, further, there’s an episode where, to lure out an evil ghost (...did I mention that this show is ostensibly about fighting evil ghosts? I don’t remember. Um, this show is ostensibly about fighting evil ghosts.), she has to essentially become a popular Instagram girl…and she’s like, “But how do I take glamorous photos of myself?” And I’m shouting at the screen that she’s got a hundred pictures of herself in every room in her home. Which totally undercut that storyline. For me, anyway. Though maybe I’m the only one on the planet who noticed.
 
16B. …because I’m the world’s greatest detective.
 
17. There’s an evil ghost whose whole shtick is cutting the hair of heartbroken women. Which just further confirms that “heartbreak = haircuts” is absolutely a thing. 
 
18. And, of course, we get YET ANOTHER reference to Suzy as the standard of beauty. Sheesh. I’m starting to think this is a trope.
 
19. An American character is introduced into the story, at one point, and—despite being fluent in Korean—he frequently just addresses everyone around him in English. Even when he knows they don’t speak English. And I have absolutely no idea why. ‘Cus, like, I don’t mean that he will sometimes struggle with how to say something in Korean or let spontaneous overflows of emotion come out (unthinkingly) as English. He just talks to people like they understand him. It’s odd. And not in an adorable “you know I have no chingu!” kind of way. 
 
20. Speaking of language, though: there is an episode that revolves around a little girl ghost who speaks exclusively in Japanese. The subtitles don’t do anything to let you know this, though. So, when she first appears and starts speaking, my brain recognized that it was hearing Japanese, but, because I am so used to hearing Japanese, it didn’t strike me as odd that I was hearing it until the man she was speaking to said, “Are you speaking in Japanese?” and I went, “Oh, right, this is a Korean show.” I’d just automatically slipped into anime mode, because, after all, I was mostly focused on reading the subtitles.
 
20A. In a funny bit of perhaps-accidental accuracy, though, Ms. Jin addresses the little girl by her name (Akiko) but without the honorifics you’d use in Japanese when addressing a child you don’t know. Which is totally what she’d do, since she doesn’t know Japanese. Or the writers just didn’t know that she probably should have called her “Akiko-chan” (or even “Akiko-sama,” because she seemed to be a child of some small measure of nobility). Or I’m overthinking it. 
 
20B. The little girl ghost was totally fluent in Japanese, though. And I checked: she’s definitely Korean. So, I’m guessing she either has family in Japan or parents who hate violin music and decided to divert their high expectations into language arts. 
 
21. Speaking of little girls, though: one character’s young daughter likes to draw brontosauruses. Which is great, because, as we established in my Nevertheless letter, the brontosaurus is the best dinosaur. 
 
22.  …if there are four drawbacks, it’s that they introduce TWO love triangles in a single episode—and do absolutely nothing with them. (Well, nothing love triangle-y. There is actually plot stuff that comes from them both. Well, from one. The other is…less plot-y.)
23. And…what’s this, Episode 19? The hallway outside the main villain’s home office is the same hallway human guests exit into when they leave Room 404 of the Hotel Del Luna! And hallways are like tunnels, so…double-not tunnel-racist. Booya. 
 
24. Of all the things I have seen get censored or lackadaisically covered with a strip of painter’s tape to avoid some kind of unpaid advertising or copyright issue, explain why there’s a Grateful Dead poster just, y’know, hanging on the wall. I guess hippies don’t care about merchandising rights. Or possibly Korea. 
 
25. There are a couple of sections where certain characters have to (for one reason or another) act like not-themselves, and each time it comes up, the actors rock it. I always think it can be great fun when a single actor gets the chance to play more than one character in a single show. And, in this case, it was a bit of a blast. 
 
26. In that vein, there is a very minor character who finds herself possessed by...for simplicity’s sake, let’s say she’s possessed by a high spirit (as opposed to an evil ghost)—but the high spirit is male and has never been inside a human woman before. The actress does a really good job of moving around in a very un-feminine manner (and not just in that she stumbles around in her high heels), with my favorite thing she does being the absolute refusal to sit without having her legs splayed apart. It’s all done very believably, as though there is an actual man trying to move around in her body, and it’s hilarious. 
 
27. There’s an episode where our protagonists are after the ghost of…well, the little mermaid: after she gave up her tail and life under the sea for a human she fell in love with, she died and, as such, lost her human legs (as a ghost). Which…makes sense, in context—but I’m mentioning it because there’s very specific dialogue about how the mermaid ghost would be so very pretty if not for her lack of legs. And I want to go on record as saying she was plenty pretty, regardless of her leg status.
 
27A. That said, part of her ghostly activity was appearing to men who were studying alone in a college library overnight. And I have a habit of assuming that any pretty girl who starts talking to me out of nowhere must either be a spy or an assassin (which, sure might seem silly, but ask me how many state secrets I’ve revealed to agents of foreign powers. Or how many times I’ve been assassinated. So…now who’s the silly one?), so her shtick would not have worked on me.
 
28. Speaking of being pretty: there is a character who is talked about for most of the show before she actually makes an appearance, and she is constantly referred to as being drop-dead gorgeous. Which is a lot to live up to, when she finally appears on screen, but…I mean, while I’d never claim the actress is anything but attractive, I’d say she didn’t even quite hit TV-level “good looking,” let alone gorgeous. Which seems like an avoidable problem, no?
 
29. Shout-out to EL for dropping some really well-pronounced English in Episode 7. 
 
30. Later in the show, there’s a vision that reveals that a character is going to die, but the vision obscures who it is—except for the winter coat the person is wearing. Now, they do a terrible job obscuring who it is, so you know exactly who it’s going to be, but the show then has just about every character suddenly wear similar-looking winter coats to try and ratchet up the mystery over who it could be. Hilarious.
 
31. I don’t know what to make of this, but there are three separate wedding-themed ghosts they have to deal with, in this show—and two of them are in back-to-back episodes. 
 
31A. The visual used for one of them genuinely creeped me out, though. So…well done, show.
 
32. The guy playing Blue Oni was loving the somewhat flamboyant-but-debonair manner of his character.
 
33. Relatedly: one of my favorite games to play, as the show went on, was spotting EL trying not to laugh at Blue Oni’s antics in wide shots of scenes they were both in.
 
34. I’m not usually one to succumb to the deliberate employ of the old pouty lip/sad puppy eyes look, but I can always appreciate a cute girl looking cute as she does it. HOWEVER…Ms. Jin pulls this look at one point, veeeeeery deliberately, and I genuinely let out an audible gasp at the sight of it. She could have asked me for my kidneys, and I’d have given them to her.
 
35. One of my favorite things a character does is disguise herself as the very chaste female protagonist only to then act like a seductress to literally everyone she sees—and then get all annoyed when, for some unfathomable reason, everyone realizes she’s not really the female protagonist. 
 
36. As for the smooching… [elaborate hand gesture] YOU PASS! 
 
36A. …which is a reference to how the Blue Oni lets contestants on the American Idol-like show he judges know that he’s letting them move on to the next round.
37. Yes, there’s a time jump—but one of those nice epilogue ones that don’t make me yell at my TV. 
 
38. Get this: Blue Oni legit mentions wanting to open a hotel for ghosts. Which…come on. Who would ever want one of those?
 
39. Which leaves us with one order of business yet left undone: the awarding of #BestGirl. Which goes—utterly uncontested—to Zombie Girl. (She’s…a girl who is a zombie. Just FYI.) Stem to stern, she is phenomenal: hilarious, charming, compelling, winsome, and an absolute scene-stealer. Her physicality is incredible, when she is initially twisted and shuffling about, and I genuinely had to remind myself that she was just acting and not suffering the effects of a terrible maiming. (I suspect she’s a dancer, which would explain the great control she has over her body movements.) She had a great overall arc, slowly peeling back layers in her personality, which required her to perform a variety of distinct versions of the same core character. And, whether this was always the intention with her character or the writers just cottoned on to the oil they’d struck with her, she becomes more and more involved in the main plot of the story, despite initially just being a tertiary, comic relief character (which she’s great at being, by the way, because she’s got great comedic instincts). In fact, I’d argue that the show only really hits its stride once she becomes a pivotal part of the story—though, whether that’s because of her or because the story just gets down to business, at that part, I couldn’t say. But once she’s stepped into the spotlight…hoo-boy, she absolutely brings it. I mean, yes, it doesn’t hurt that they also darkened her hair, adjusted her makeup, and dressed her like a sexy Victorian librarian, but all that did was give her a chance to be stunning and excellent, rather than just pretty and excellent. Honestly, she killed it every time she was on screen. And I’ve got to see if she’s in anything else I’d be even a little bit interested in watching, because she absolutely floored me. (And her name is…scroll scroll scroll…her name is Lee Se-young. I am not going to remember that. But now I have it written down!) So, yeah—no contest. Zombie Girl for the win. 
 
And that’s the way it is.
 
This was a totally all right show. A little slow, a little long, but a good time whenever it introduces an actual plot. 
 
BUT…brace yourself, for this is only the first of a trilogy of Oh Yeon-seo shows on the docket. As it turns out. Which surprised me quite a bit. (Pleasantly, of course, since she’s one of my K-drama girlfriends.)
 
Will entries two and three fare better or worse? Tune in next time! Or, like, next-next time, probably. Or maybe more like next-next-next time. I’m not sure. ‘Cus I’m in the middle of a couple of different weeklies, too, and I dunno if I’ll finish those first, or…
 
And the first episode of The Uncanny Counter was rad as f***. 
 
So.
 
Um, brace yourself for bracing yourself! Eventually!
 
--Daryl