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

[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..