Letter #96: Gyeongseong Creature

Good morning, Erin.

Progress report on the BTS shows you wanted me to watch:

I started the reality show for a K-pop group called IVE because they did a short arc where they played out a satirical version of Transit Love. I had no idea who these girls were, but I was thoroughly entertained. 

I also watched a YouTube compilation of all the Jeff and Annie romance moments from Community. For Valentine's Day.

So…admittedly not the best evidence of my devotion to your recommendations—but I swear I’m going to watch them! Soon!

…soon-ish!

…-ish!

ANYWAY—I watched Gyeongseong Creature, because I’m newly a fan of the dude from Secretary Kim (because he was so funny in Dream (which, as it so happens, I’m going to make my family watch in a few days for my birthday, which will be quite the thing)) and…really, who can say no to Princess My Name? Like, aside from all the times I’ve done exactly that. 

Point is, it looked interesting enough to spend a weekend on, so I did just that. And now, I have a couple of things to say about it. Without spoilers, probably. 

1. Wait, wait, wait—Seul-ki from Single’s Inferno 2 is going to be in the main cast of a webcomic adaptation?! WHAT IS THIS MADNESS AND WHY CAN’T I WATCH IT YET?!

2. …sorry about that. We were talking about Gyeongseong Creature, and how I knew so many of the people in it!

• the boss from Secretary Kim as Tae-sang, our male lead

• Princess My Name from My Name as Chae-ok, our female lead

• Grandma from Start-Up as Tae-sang’s employee and surrogate mother

• Glasses Lawyer from Vincenzo as Chae-ok’s father

• the office manager from Touch Your Heart as the shop manager

• Mr. Wharton College Man from Little Women as the rich piano friend

• the evil spirit lady from The Uncanny Counter as the nightclub owner

• Mr. An from Vincenzo as the janitor

• the evil mom’s brother in The Matchmakers as the angry Japanese sergeant

• the scientist who thinks Thor is hot in Age of Ultron as Lady Maeda

• the evil mayor from The Uncanny Counter as the rich piano friend’s dad

• the hardware store guy from When the Camellia Blooms as Mori, the young Japanese cop

• the ghillie suit survivor guy from Sweet Home 2 as the scientist from Unit 731

2A. Okay, so Glasses Lawyer and Mr. An give us a fun Vincenzo mini-reunion, but Glasses Lawyer also gives us a fun mini-reunion with Princess My Name, since they were both in 100 Days My Prince. And then he also gives us a The Matchmakers mini-reunion with the evil mom’s brother!

2B. Of course, we also get an Uncanny Counter mini-reunion with the evil spirit lady and the mayor. And the guy who played Mori was also in Touch Your Heart, just like the shop manager. Neither of which has anything to do with Glasses Lawyer, but…no one’s perfect. 

3. Speaking of: we get some really solid performances from many of the actors in this…but Glasses Lawyer is probably the most noteworthy for how strong his performance is, particularly since he’s playing a character without a hint of comedy about him, which I have in the past noted that his talent for goofiness sometimes negatively affects him in serious roles. Not so, here—and, especially after his excellent turn in The Matchmakers, we might be looking at him entering a noticeably strong part of his career. 

4. Relatedly: to no one’s surprise, Grandma and Mr. An are both great and own their time on screen. But also of note were Kato (the frighteningly cold Japanese military officer in charge of the, um, creature development), the angry sergeant (who does a really good job of being a total thug who’s more than just brawn), and Lady Maeda (the almost otherworldly and unknowable wife of a Japanese commander).

5. It’s kind of sad that this show might be how many people first get wind of Unit 731 and all the horrible things they did—though I only heard about them because of an old episode of The X Files, when I was a kid, so…that’s not much better. It’s weird whom we feel comfortable demonizing and whom we don’t, when it comes to history’s dark moments—and, relatedly, whom we see fit to grant context and understanding…and whom we don’t. (This will come up later on, which is why I mention it.)

6. But how is the show, overall? It’s…fine. It’s a little too inconsistent—in just about every category—to consider it genuinely good, but it’s mostly interesting and exciting enough to be worth watching if you feel like it. Its reach definitely exceeds its grasp, and it’s probably easier to enjoy if you don’t think about anything too much. Plus, as mentioned above, there are some really good performances, which is never a bad thing.

7. A big issue I had was how Tae-sang is frequently out of step with the seriousness of the situations he’s in. It’s not just that he uses humor to mask his feelings or to deal with stressful situations: he plays moments for laughs from the audience, not to affect the moment he’s living through. I know the actor can be extremely funny (again, see his fantastic turn in Dream), so I don’t know if this was a him thing, in the same way I had criticized Glasses Lawyer in the past, or if it was the script or director, but…yeah, that performance or character was a consistent stumble point. (I mean, he got me to laugh, despite the appropriateness, but…still.)

8. What I can definitely pin on an actor, though, is Princess My Name’s “Princess My Name face” that she does. (You know, the one where the raises one eyebrow and looks slightly aghast.) She doesn’t do it often, but it does sneak in a couple of times. She’s perfectly fine otherwise, and it doesn’t technically drag down her performance…but you know I’m not a fan of it. So. 

9. Speaking of Princess My Name: I’m 86% sure she was putting on an accent. You’d probably know better than I would, but…that’s how it sounded to me. Which, if true, was a good choice for her character. 

10. Actually, in a similar vein: there was a Japanese guy at the pawn shop arguing about the price of a bowl he’d brought in, and the Korean actor playing him was definitely speaking Korean, but I’m 97% sure he was speaking with a (perhaps exaggeratedly thick) Japanese accent. I mean, again, you would probably be able to tell better than I would, but it jumped out at me, if that’s worth anything. (It could have been his cadence rather than his accent, I guess. I dunno. It stood out, is all.) And, if I’m right, good job, actor guy. 

11. Which reminds me: this is yet another instance of how important it is to distinguish between when characters are speaking in Korean and when they are speaking in Japanese—and how we don’t get it in the subtitles. Who does it, when, and why mean so much to understanding characters and particular moments of the plot—and yet…I was once again left to trust my untrained ears.

11A. I’m just saying…wouldn’t you have liked to know who was speaking what when Tae-sang spoke to Lady Maeda or the commander was talking to “Akiko”? (Not literally you, of course, because you speak 15 languages and could tell for yourself, but the rest of us would have benefited from it, I mean.)

12. Oh, and speaking of subtitles: who in the heck decided that “my bad” was an appropriate translation for a period piece?! 

12A. Now, full disclosure, there are more than a couple of things throughout the show that feel a bit too contemporary (whether it’s language choices or interpersonal behavior or attitudes about social norms) for the setting, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the original script actually used modern slang and the translator simply followed suit, but…either way, I made a frowny face.

12B. Relatedly: how up on English words were Koreans at the time? There’s a whole discussion of humanism, and it’s not just a subtitle translation: they literally say humanism. That stuck out to me—whether it is anachronistic or not. 

13. And here’s where I spend a couple of minutes being a nitpicking weeb—interestingly, exclusively about Lady Maeda: 

• Why is there only one instance of someone referring to her as “Maeda-sama” (which means “Lady Maeda”)? Everyone refers to her as “Maeda-san,” which essentially means “Ms. Maeda.” It drove me nuts every time it came up. This is like mixing up -nim and -shi in Korean, guys. 

• Why doesn’t Lady Maeda have her husband’s last name? It was law, by that time, so…is this an error, or is it supposed to indicate her superior social status over her husband? 

• Why is she referred to as “Yukiko Maeda” and not the more accurate “Maeda Yukiko” in the subtitles? I know that the Japanese used western name order in international competitions and business dealings for a long time (and might still—I admit I’m not up on these things), but…given that the Korean names are presented in traditional order, this seems like a weird choice on behalf of the subtitles. 

14. If the above wasn’t a hint, I really liked Lady Maeda, by the way, and think she should have been an overtly bigger part of the story. But she made a big impact whenever she was on screen, regardless. And one of the ways they did this was by having her be the only one to dress in traditional Japanese attire, which made her instantly recognizable in any setting, even when obscured—which meant that her appearing at certain moments felt that much stronger…and, not infrequently, quite ominous. 

15. You know who else I really liked? Mori, the young Japanese cop. What a great, sympathetic character. I was so glad to see him continue to pop up throughout the show.

16. …which is a great place to jump into my biggest complaint: thematic inconsistency.

16A. One of the things I really enjoyed about Tae-sang was his survivalist’s pragmatism (refusing to be drawn into taking “political” sides), which he balanced with an adherence to principles, making him essentially a third-option choice in any given situation, as opposed to flowing from one side to another when the mood suited him. Particularly given the situation around him with the Japanese control of the area and the increasingly-active Korean independence movement, I thought this was a very compelling part of his character—and not just because his belief in principles over ideals personally satisfying. That he refused to let the world force him to bend to its will while simultaneously acknowledging fully the reality around him meant he’d have a unique struggle against whatever obstacles were going to be thrown in his way. And I liked that. 

16B. The fun part of this, of course, is that his personal beliefs, goals, and the manner in which he cared for or was loyal to those in his circle absolutely mirrored those of the factions he refused to join. 

16C. Now, his specific employment of his principles faces the crucible of the plot, and, as a result, Tae-sang ends up changing his perspective on what does and does not fall under the purview of his principles. Which might sound like splitting hairs, but I think it’s a real distinction: he doesn’t change his principles, just reconsiders how to apply them.

16D. So, what about this bothers me? What is so thematically inconsistent about it? Well, it’s that Tae-sang ends up expressing this change—verbally, at least—by rhetorically treating the Japanese as a singular entity, just as the people in the independence movement would. Which is a problem (to me, at least) because Tae-sang always judged individuals, not groups. As such, his arc was never about moving from neutrality to jingoistic patriotism but widening his sense of responsibility. This responsibility would, in fact, take him into broad alignment with the independence movement (which, obviously, is anti-Japanese occupation), but it shouldn’t change his opinion of Japanese people as individuals. Guilt by association should be antithetical to his principles.

16E. I led into this little complaint of mine by mentioning Mori, the young Japanese cop who Tae-sang more or less gradually charms over to his side. Mori, at one point, becomes the stand-in for the undeniable brutality of Unit 731—simply by virtue of being Japanese. He has never mistreated anyone, he is not at all associated with Unit 731, and he is just as horrified by what’s going on as everyone else. And yet, while he does not speak against Mori when Grandma goes off on him for the sins of others, Tae-sang doesn’t step in to make any kind of distinction between people like Mori and the monsters in Unit 731.

16F. …unless you count the “good guy” within Unit 731. He’s fine. Sure, he was technically a part of their whole horror show, but you can’t blame him for what he had no control over, right? (Uh-huh. Absolutely f*** off with that.)

16G. Again, much like with Song of the Bandits, I don’t have any kind of issue with wanting to portray the Japanese forces as the bad guys—and Unit 731 in particular deserves that kind of treatment—but doing so in a story like this one, which is so much about individualism, seems like a ridiculous misstep. 

16H. Also, Mori was a total puppy, and he deserved better.

17. There’s also this ridiculous moment involving a sliding door that seems to be reinforced with magic-infused plot armor, but…TV’s gonna TV, as my sister might say.

18. Also, just how many knives does Chae-ok have on her at any given moment?! I suppose there could have been a couple of instances of production oversights or continuity errors when it came to this (as in, they could have forgotten that she’d just thrown her knife or left it in someone she’d attacked), but I like to think they knew darn well what they were doing and that she was just covered in hidden knives. 

19. Speaking of Chae-ok and her knives: most of the early fight scenes she’s in are choreographed well enough to believably balance out her size and strength disadvantages with her skill and ingenuity advantages. Which I appreciate. 

And…y’know what, I think that’s it. I know I can turn anything into a 10-page paper, but I didn’t have all that many notes, believe it or not. Well, aside from long asides theorizing about why Han So-hee just doesn’t do it for me. 

So, yeah, check it out, if you want. Or don’t. I think it’s a good call either way. (Though, I would note that there’s a Part 2 coming out in the next couple of months or something like that. (Which…I don’t even want to get into that. The ending is…weird.) So, if you’re interested, maybe wait until that comes out and you can watch it all at once.)

But, with all of that out of the way…yes, dear Erin, that means it is finally time to move on to Single’s Inferno 3!!! And—boy oh boy—do I have things to say. Like, I know we’d occasionally end up talking about a show or something for a pretty long time, but this’d absolutely be an hours-long discussion, no question. (Which might be the first time not having you around has worked in my favor, because it means I’d avoid getting written up for just flat-out abandoning my work for an entire afternoon.)

So, I hope you’re ready for it, seonbae. 

…or, maybe, already were ready?

—Daryl