Lobbyist + swallow the sun = wallow in man-pain

[alexandral]

My heavy obsession with "Midas" sent me off on the path of watching as many dramas written by Choi Wan Kyu as I can find. blueocean80 and I made a pact to watch one episode of "Swallow the sun" a day and I also re-started "Lobbyist" from the beginning. I whizzed through "Lobbyist" 2 years ago, but it didn't catch my attention back then. Now it seems that my tastes have changed towards dramas that have plot (as opposed to dramas that revolve around a romantic story), so I thought to give it a try again.

I have watched the episode 1 of "Swallow the sun" and the episodes 1,2, and 3 of "Lobbyist" yesterday and am happy to report that I am loving both.

Swallow the sun:


It is hard to tell what the mains story is about yet as the episode 1 was a part of the old events. It mostly told us an old story about a girl falling in love with an escaped convict, conceiving a child , having a baby and giving the baby away. I think the girl was the main character's (Kim Jung Woo, played by Ji Sung) mother, but we will see how it all develops. The short-lived romance between Mi Yeon and the convict whose name I didn't catch was poignant and beautiful. But it makes one wonder how sane should a person be to fall in love with an escaped convict.

The interesting moment was the explanation of the drama's title "I Swallow the sun for you" - apparently this is a version of "I will get the moon and the stars for you ", meaning "I will do anything for you". I have been always wondering what that means - interesting!



The main reason to watch Swallow the sun (apart from twisty plot):



Lobbyist


The first two episodes also contained Maria and Harry's back story. I thought that the part of it that was set in Korea was really strong. Maria's father discovers a Northern Korean submarine with spies on board, reports it to the authorities, but later gets the blame because the Navy doesn't want to look like idiots : "if a civilian found the submarine, where was the Navy? . Harry's father died in the military conflict with the spies, so Harry and his sister had to immigrate to USA. Maria's family was conned by an acquaintance and immigrated (illegally) to USA as well. This was the good part, but after that the story continues in the USA and becomes a little bit too over the top as well as hard to believe. I had a particular difficulty to believe that Maria's father (an illegal immigrant) was able to obtain a driving license. The level of accents both maria and Harry have is also unbelievable for someone who lived in the country for years.

Anyways, there was plenty of plot in the first three episodes and I love both Maria ( Jang Jin Young ) and Harry (Song Il Gook).

The main reason to watch Lobbyist:

Comments

[linfer.livejournal.com]

Ah, I wanted to watch Lobbyist for some time now, I think I'll do that after I'm finished with Jumong. :o))

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

YAY! I know some other people who loved it (at the time I tried to watch it the first time), I think it is a pretty solid drama. it is written by the same guy who is the writer for "Jumong" as well. :D

[linfer.livejournal.com]

And it has the actor of Hae Mo-soo, though I know he is a bad guy in this one.But I loved him in Jumong, especally when he had scenes with Song Il-gook.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Yes, he plays an evil guy, but he is a good actor and his evil guy is very interesting!

omg long comment

[intermezzo]

I wrote you a comment about the first ep somewhere on your journal. I figured you'd have the notifs on so you'd see it.

Anyhow, I loved the first ep os StS. Loved it. I know that ep has probably little to do with the modern story (and yes, the child born from the union of Mi Yeon/Il-hwan -I had to rewind the file to catch his name, I'm OCD like that- is the main lead, I'm almost positive about that), or maybe not, but I don't care.

As for the short lived love story between Mi Yeon/Il-hwan, I think it was nicely done. I mean, you could tell why he fell for her -she was the first one to show him kindness, that life was worth living etc- and she was sorta interested in him from the moment she saw him. I was kinda o_O about the first kiss, but there was no mistake she had feelings for him if her reaction to his capture was any indication of it. The thing I liked is that their story was raw and had so much untapped potential; I mean, if they have had time to really know each other, I'm sure they would have fallen even harder for each other, they would have grown together, he especially would have smoothed some aspects of his personality.

PS: Ji Sung is the actor, Kim Jung Woo is his character ;)

PPS: the guy who was in love with Mi Yeon and wanted to marry her? The policeman? Oh man, HE is going to make her son's life hell. IDK why, but I convinced myself he is the one why Jung-woo ended up spending time with gamblers and that ultimately pushed him in the direction of crime.

PPPS: oh lol, that pic of Lobbyist! Can I crack a terrible, terrible joke?

Re: omg long comment

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

YAY! I have seen your previous comment. I am a bit poorly today, so I am mostly laying watching dramas, not posting much. D

I thought the parents' love story was haunting - so so sad! Il-hwan surely looks really gorgeous and so she noticed him first. :D Yes, the kiss looked like it had some violence in it at first , but it became tender later on. May be this was the only way he knew how to kiss? So sad.

Yes! Thank you so much! I have put the namings right.

It feels as is the policeman is going to appear again indeed.

ahahahahahaha! I can imagine your joke!

Re: omg long comment

[intermezzo]

Oh! I'm sorry you don't feel that well. Marathoning dramas? Lobbyst?

Soooo sad. Haunting is the perfect word for that love story. *sighs* Why am I sucker for doomed otps? Whyyyyy?

I'm sure the policeman is going to show up again. He had THAT look on his face when he saw the baby.

It's not difficult to image at all.

Re: omg long comment

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the episode 2? OMPH! I think I am going to like this. : a0 I like dramas set in Jeju island 2) I like Ji Sung 3) this is going to be plotty

[thinking-lotus.livejournal.com]

It used to be much easier for illegal immigrants to get drivers licenses. But really it depends on what state you live in. You don't have to prove you're a legal resident to get one in some states, or didn't before 9/11. In NY State you need a legal mailing address and a social security card, but those can be faked and indeed there is a whole faking credentials for illegal immigrants industry.

The accent is really a much better argument ;-)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Actually, thinking about it, they didn't ask me about any prof of "right to abide in the country" when I passed the driving test in the UK, they only asked to prove that I live where I said I do.

The accent yes - like neva_butterfly noted below, I know plenty of cases when older people's accent persists (still, it usually becomes intelligible enough), especially if people life in closed communities. But people who immigrated as children usually speak like natives by the time they grow up..

[neva-butterfly.livejournal.com]

I don't know... where I am it seems pretty easy for illegal immigrants to get a driver's license and many live in communities of mostly other immigrants and continue to have accents for many, many years. Some people may have lived in the US for decades and still actually speak no English if they live in a community where they really don't need it.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I agree with this, but this is only true for people who immigrated as adults. Poeple who immigrated as children usually speak perfect English by the time they grow up .

[att123.livejournal.com]

This is so crazy, I've been wanting to watch these as well. But since you think they're good then I might finish up some others and start watching this these two!

So Midas was written by the same author of Swallow the Sun and Lobbyist? Wow, that actually changes my mind a little about Midas then!

You sound pretty addicted to Midas!

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Oh, both of these are quite popular dramas, I have heard few good things about both of these dramas. But I have also heard that "Swallow the sun" wobbles a bit in the second half, I will see.

Yes, Midas is written by the same guy (he also wrote "IRIS",'All in" and "Jumong"). He has a distinctive style, I think, quite plot-driven.

Midas has Jang Hyuk and No Min Woo. :D These are two of my huge favourites.

[att123.livejournal.com]

Thats good to hear! I love action dramas, there arent' enough Korean ones in my opinion.

OH MY, well now you've hooked me! I really liked IRIS and I've wanted to try out Jumong for a while now. Oh theres just so many dramas that I want to try and not enough time!

Jang Hyuk always has that "scruffy, bad boy" thing even if he's clean shaven and all dressed up. Love that man!

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

** nods ** Korean dramas are mostly heavily centred around romance. another popular category is family dramas.

Jang Hyuk always has that "scruffy, bad boy" thing even if he's clean shaven and all dressed up. Love that man!

I like him when he cries. :D he did that in Midas. :D

[lage-nom-ai.livejournal.com]

Ahahahahaha, what a subtle tank picture!

[intermezzo]

IKR! One could crack sooooo many lame jokes about that pic.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

hahahahaha!" i felt a bit off yesterday and that picture cheered me up.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I adore both Lobbyist and StS (StS more because I think it's a better drama but they are all good). The heroine of Lobbyist is especially awesome and tough.

Re: driver's license. Even nowadays, when it's much harder to get driver's licenses and documentation reqs are very strict, take it from someone whose job tangentially dealt with fall-out from immigration fraud - there are established markets for forged documents to help you get other 'proper' documents and access to jobs and any dedicated illegal immigrant would be able to get his hands on that stuff if he/she had any money at all.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I am loving both too. I really wanted something like "Midas" whilst I am waiting for the new episodes to come and both these dramas hit the spot.

Thinking of driving license, I think you are right. I don't remember anyone asking me any visa documents when I was learning to drive.

[timescout.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, so you are watching both of these plus Midas? Yikes! Are you sure you won't overdose on angst and mapain? XD I haven't seen either but I've read enough re-caps to know what's coming. Have fun!

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Angst and manpain is my pleasure. :D I like both dramas very much , though! i am catching up on "Sign" as well. :D

[intermezzo]

You absolutely HAVE to watch at least ep 1 of Swallow the Sun. Do you know who's in it? I've just figured it out. It's the guy who was in Monday Kiz' Inside story music drama!!! Aaaahhh, why didn't I place his face immediately?

[timescout.livejournal.com]

StS has been on my to-watch list forever but I've already got too many dramas to watch and no time. :( In the past few weeks I haven't been able to make even a dent in the ones I want to finish before taking up anything new. I'm going to be very surprised if I manage to get anywhere with them before I'm off to Seoul. There's just about 2 weeks left!

I can't even mainline stuff like I used to as too little sleep gives me horrible migranes now. Sigh. Getting older is not fun.