Letter #163.5: Love Untangled (A Half-Birthday Treat)

Good morning, Erin—and…

…HAPPY HALF-BIRTHDAY!

October is my favorite month, and, as ever, it’s a wonderful little start to the best time of year (not just October but the whole run-up to the end of the year, as I’ve discussed before) that we get to celebrate the halving of you. Well, of your current year of life. And by “we” I mean possibly mostly me, since, even if you read this on your half-birthday, and even if that could be counted as you celebrating along with me, I’ve no guarantee you don’t just speed past this part to the bulk of the letter, which is rarely a (direct) celebration of you. But, still, it makes me happy to have it as a fixed point in the year, even if it is only etched into my mental calendar. 

So, what are we discussing today? And why does it belong here? Well, my dear seonbae, we are (as you can see) jumping into the Netflix-released movie, Love Untangled—and we’re doing it because it stars…well, “stars,” I think, is maybe a generous way to describe it…but featured in it, from start to finish, is none other than our beloved So-e. (Former dating show bloc? Check!)

I know you are as excited as I am to get into it—and I don’t want to keep you waiting any longer. Let’s get into Love Untangled, Erin, spoilers and all, because I refuse to believe you haven’t already carved out time to give this a go.

1. …because you absolutely should have! It’s cute, fun, and full of charming characters performed very well by a cast that I hope gets quite a boost from this. It’s basically 20th Century Girl without the tryhard “What the f***?!” ending. I really, really liked it. And I imagine you did, too. Or will, when you see it, if you haven’t already. Which I feel like you would have. Because…I mean, it’s adorable. Surely you’ve seen it. This is 100% something you’d have told me to stop watching other things for. 

2. The one thing I will say against it, though, is that it feels a little incomplete, as though there are sections of the story we just sort of skip past because they aren’t directly connected to the central plot. But, at the same time…who cares? It’s too fun, too cute, too charming for what is ultimately a nitpick (in this case) to truly matter. And I only mention it for the sake of completeness. 

2A. I mean, did I mention So-e is in it? And she has an adorable bob! So, 10/10, right there!

3. But, as I mention our beloved So-e, I think we should quickly jump over to all the folks I recognized, because there were more of them than I anticipated:

• the girl with the abusive father from Summer Strike as Se-ri, our curly-haired protagonist 

• So-e from Single’s Inferno 2 as the often quiet third girl in Se-ri’s pack of friends

• the little brother from Doctor Slump as Se-ri’s rambling male friend

• the MMA kid from Weak Hero: Class 1 as the hot guy Se-ri’s crushing on

• the psycho son of the mobster from Mercy for None as the new kid, our male lead

• the documentary director from Our Beloved Summer as the homeroom teacher

• the cop with the cheating husband from Behind Your Touch as the snack counter lady

• The little sister from Pump Up the Healthy Love as Se-ri’s little sister

• Miss Intern from Hotel Del Luna as Flintstone, Se-ri’s rival

3A. Per my notes: “Miss Intern is in this, too?! 13/10!”

3B. In a case of absolute actor-whiplash, the two boys competing for Se-ri’s heart, the dude from Mercy for None and the dude from Weak Hero (and, pertinent to this point, Night Has Come), have only ever played violent psychopaths in the things I’ve seen them in. So, it was a real flip of the ol’ brain compass to see them be, y’know, gooey nice boys. 

3C. If you haven’t seen it, I left out one person who has a cameo, because I…cannot believe this is a cameo in this movie. I don’t know how it happened. I don’t know why it happened. But I don’t want to ruin it. Of course, if you have seen it…you know who I mean. (And, like, what the heck? What a weird moment. Like, that’s nice and all, but it’s also like…why?)

3D. …that said, I’ve already warned you we were doing spoilers AND told you to see the movie, if you haven’t. So…why am I hiding it? It’s Mr. Goblin from Goblin. And, like, why? Because he was in Train to Busan, and this is set in Busan?

3E. …okay, wait, I’ve just remembered I can ask the internet about this. And, in part, yes: Gong Yoo is from Busan, originally, but the thing to look at is not just him but the actress playing his wife, who he’s been in three movies with, apparently, and is also from Busan. (Oh! She was the pregnant lady in Train to Busan! Nice!) And the production studio that made Love Untangled is the same one that made their first movie together, which was also the production studio’s first movie. Okay, this makes way more sense, now. Thanks, the internet!

3F. Also, apropos of nothing: the actress who plays Se-ri is apparently good friends with Lucy from Weki Meki. Which is pretty darn cool, huh?

4. Se-ri’s friends are seriously the best part of the whole movie—which is quite the compliment, considering how much I liked the rest of the movie. But, yeah, I absolutely loved them. (All four of them, for the record. Which surprised me, honestly, because I thought the boy was going to be annoying, but no. Just like in Doctor Slump, he defies his first impression. And good for him.) And my favorite—bias for So-e aside—was…uh, the main friend? The one with the most lines. Who ends up dating the male friend when we get to the time jump. Her. I thought she was fantastic.

5. …which is not to say that everyone wasn’t at least very good. Because everyone was at least very good. Even So-e, with her limited dialogue opportunities, made a solid impact with her presence and physical comedy. (Have I ever mentioned that she’s good? Because she’s good.) 

6. I didn’t know this movie was going to be a period piece, but I totally felt that it was going to be one even before it started. And I loved every late-’90s thing about it. Even the Korean rock music, which I’d never heard before but sounded so ‘90s. Ah…you shoulda been there, Erin. You’d’ve loved it. Like, apart from how it was wildly unlike anything you probably grew up with. And, yeah, the internet is like a miracle, believe me, I’m not saying it was better not to have the internet as a tool, but…I’m just saying: you’d have loved it. You had a VCR. You watched Wishbone. You know. 

7. I mentioned that So-e doesn’t have a lot of dialogue, but it’s infinitely more dialogue than the little sister has. Like, literally: because the little sister never speaks. Which struck me as interesting—though perhaps only because I recognized the actress. Of course, her first professional job was Pump Up the Healthy Love, so it’s maybe more of a matter of timing that I am surprised she’d be the brief, silent role in this after (but potentially filmed before) her turn as the second female lead in Pump Up the Healthy Love. 

8. I was actually embarrassed by how utterly shameless Se-ri was in trying to weasel a discounted straight-perm from the new kid’s mom by not only pretending she was his friend but also giving away that the new kid went to the beach potentially to, um, throw himself in the ocean.

8A. …wait, or not. I actually don’t remember why he says he went there, only that I thought that was why he was there. I know he says something about being there after his mother expresses surprise that he’d gone to the ocean. But…hmm. Well, it’s what I thought he was doing when he first shows up, and so I was aghast that she might have revealed something like that to the mom. (Though, of course, if her son has intended to kill himself, she should probably be made aware. Like, objectively, that’s probably the right course of action, right?)

8B. Still, whatever the reason, it was pretty bad that Se-ri was like that. 

8C. That said, the mom parlays it into a win for her son, whom she very quickly clocks as having a crush on Se-ri (or, perhaps, projecting wanting her son to have a crush on Se-ri), by ensuring she has to stay by his side by asking him to be the son’s helper until he gets his cast off. And, further, she technically says that she’ll think about doing the perm for her, rather than promising to actually do it. 

9. At about the halfway point, Se-ri figures out she’s in love with the new kid—a development that happens too early in the story for me not to worry that this meant one of them was going to die at the start of the third act. And I cannot tell you how happy I was that that wasn’t the case. (Seriously: the 20th Century Girl vibes were strong with this one.)

10. I kind of love that Se-ri ultimately gave the game away about the total lie behind her “I never liked you anyway” speech because she didn’t understand how voicemail worked. 

10A. I also can’t help but think about how both 20th Century Girl and Twenty-Five, Twenty-One take place in the ‘90s, as well, and also feature an important element of the plot revolving around the use of voicemail. And you can make of that what you will.

Which is pretty much all I have to say about Love Untangled. It’s quite good, and I liked it a lot. 

…but, good though it may be, it’s hardly enough to offer you on your half-birthday, Erin. Which is why, as a special bonus surprise, I think it’s time to give you what you’ve really wanted all this time:

That’s right. We’re doing it.

Let’s talk K-Pop Demon Hunters.

1. Okay, so…you don’t need me to tell you how frikkin’ HUGE this movie is, even now that summer is in the rearview mirror. But, as a point of fact, even my sisters know about this movie. And if they can recognize “Soda Pop,” then you know this thing has broken through. 

1A. Though, in fairness, my littler little sister is a teacher, and the kids she had for summer school were AAAAALLLLLL about K-Pop Demon Hunters. So, she had help. And then got obsessed with it. And then made my bigger little sister watch clips on YouTube. 

1B. Point is: everyone knows what this thing is—and I’d be shocked to find out that the creators had any idea it would hit this big. 

2. Did you know I knew people in this movie? I’m betting you did. But, even so:

• the main dude from Business Proposal as Jinu

• Jin from Lost as the doctor

• Sun from Lost as Rumi’s surrogate mother (mini-reunion)

• Chang from Community as Bobby

• the Front Man from Squid Game as Gwi-ma

3. But what did I think of the movie? I thought it was…meh. 

3A. Hang on, hang on—hear me out: the music is AWESOME. But the story is a total mess. There’s too much going on and not enough room for all of it, leaving so much unexplored that absolutely deserves to be. But it’s just this…mush of ideas that should work (the parasocial relationship between idols and fans; the intrinsic value or detriment of idol culture; the mirror relationship between HUNTR/X and the Saja Boys; Korean folklore; the lore invented specifically for this story; the whole “Asian parents” thing) and all the lol weeb s*** and fandom memes that run counter to a sense of narrative. There are two sets of writing teams credited for the script of the movie, and you can feel the shift from one team to the other when a scene goes from being built around trite references to gimbap to suddenly posing a question about whether HUNTR/X is really all that different from the Saja Boys (wherein both might actually be eroding the souls of their fans—though one is, of course, doing it literally). And even when it’s moving solidly in the direction of the meatier parts of the writing, everything moves too quickly for us to get a solid enough look at the ideas or concepts or character beats we’re being presented with…all so we can get an out-of-place gag where the girls become anime characters for 10 seconds. 

3B. Which is to say: I thought that, fundamentally, the idea of the movie is FANTASTIC—I just think it needed a lot more work to do one of three things: A) tighten the script by ditching lots of details and ideas that are never developed; B) flesh out the script’s weak areas so that you get a 3.5 hour epic; or C) turn it into a three-part miniseries. Because, trust me, I love the idea that a K-pop group was secretly fighting demons as part of an ancient spiritual practice, taking advantage of the ever-growing worldwide appeal of Korean music to use protective music magic against their enemies. I looooove the idea of the demons countering the good guys by usurping the very advantage they press against the demons. I love the music and the performances and the lore and the folklore, and I love the way it all gets blended together in an easily recognizable, easily translatable, easily explainable (...okay, explaining it sounds insane, out of context, but, still, it’s not exactly complicated) package. Again, fundamentally, this idea is absolutely perfect, like the media fusion that propelled Hannah Montana but with a slickness born of the cross-cultural appeal of the modern internet. But the execution just isn’t there, I’m sad to say.  

3C. Such as:

• cramming in Mira and Zoey’s “tragic backstories” moments before we need them for the plot.

• cramming Rumi’s whole “You want me to feel ashamed! You hate me!” backstory into the middle of her confrontation with her surrogate mother as a way to explain the confrontation she is currently in the middle of having with the surrogate mother.

• …and are we really not going to talk about how exactly Rumi got to be half-human/half-demon? Because it was either a human/demon romance—which would seem to be INCREDIBLY RELEVANT to Rumi’s, y’know, romance storyline with a demon—or it’s something much, much less pleasant to talk about. 

3D. So, I get why people love it—and it’s mostly down to the music/dancing (and the animation, which is great). And 12-year-old girls filling in the gaps in the Rumi x Jinu love story. (Which, like everything else, is fundamentally very good, just sloppy and incomplete). I’m not telling anyone what to like or not like, but I am absolutely saying that people are equating personal enjoyment with technical success. And K-Pop Demon Hunters just isn’t as quality a story as its popularity would indicate. 

3E. THAT SAID…something this show actually does incredibly—one might even say refreshingly—well is that it tells a universal story. The message is about feeling out of place, like you have to live someone else’s image of who you are or should be (which, of course, neatly ties back into the question of idols and why people turn to/obsess over idols), which is something everyone feels or has felt at one point in his or her life, regardless of who they are, what they are, or where they’re from. Is Rumi’s angry speech “really” about being a stereotypical Asian child? Being gay? Jewish? A young conservative on a college campus? Yes and no—to all of them, all at once. Which is terrific. 

3F. Also: some of the jokes land really, really hard. Others are just awful. But when they hit, they hit like a runaway train. 

4. For me, the highlight of the movie is the Saja Boys. I think the movie completely perks up once they and their story get introduced. They’re bright, fun, compelling, and they have easily the two best songs in the movie. (“Soda Pop” is a perfect earworm, and “Your Idol” is visually spectacular.) That their whole shtick was designed to be catchy but shallow actually helps them as characters, since they’re so thin apart from their function in the story, the deliberate details of shallowness actually lends flavor to them that they would not have had otherwise. Do I think the story should have been more…if not about them then more open to giving them time to be fuller characters? Not really, no. I think they strike the exact right balance, having juuuust enough detail to imply that none of them is a totally empty space in the movie.

5. …except the real highlight is obviously the tiger and bird. Hooooooly f***, do I love the tiger and the bird. Every moment they were on screen was great, and that I could not immediately purchase a tiger plushie was a crime. 

5A. F-For my sister. Like, for Christmas. Obviously. 

6. That I could not immediately purchase the Metallica-style Gwi-ma shirt that one of the background characters is wearing for the everyone’s-been-mind-controlled concert is also a crime. 

7. I’m not the biggest fan of HUNTR/X—but you bet your bippy I’m a little in love with Zoey (and was from the first moment we see her). What an absolute hoot that girl is. 

7A. Like, I’m still laughing at her confidently declaring: “Magicians!”

8. To talk about the tiger and bird, again: I love that Rumi just lets them hang out in her room. That’s great. 

9. …as great as the tiger being OCD about knocking things over? No. That is AMAZING. 

And those are my notes on K-Pop Demon Hunters. Which, I know, you’ve been dying to hear me talk about. And now you have! Which is probably, what, top three best half-birthday presents of all time? Top two?

Regardless, I hope you have a lovely day—and maybe a snack that you wouldn’t otherwise. Treat yourself. Like, more than you did by reading my letter. 

Meanwhile…I’ve got to get back to the TV mines. And who knows what I’ll dig up next. 

More soon.

—Daryl