What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:
*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*
TV
Jealousy Incarnate (2016)
This past week I decided to rewatch Jealousy Incarnate, featuring Jo Jeong-seok, one of my favourite actors, in a show that I remembered as being incredible when I first watched it. However, I felt like I didn’t have a chance to fully appreciate what the show was at the time, being a relative novice to k-dramas and Korean culture in general. Now, after having watched about 70 Korean titles from all sort of genres, I felt much better equipped to understand Jealousy Incarnate, and the pieces that went into making it.
On second watch, I found myself enjoying the cast just as much as I did the first time, if not more. Jo and Gong Hyo-jin complement each other so well, both having a natural realist style of acting. I remember being annoyed by that exact quality of Gong’s acting style in When the Camellia Blooms, perhaps because her partner there was too fantastical. But here she exudes charm and because of the way that Hwa-shin reacts to Na-ri, I found it that much more believable.
It’s this grounded approach that makes the more far-fetched elements of the show easier to accept, from the love triangles to the teenage (and sometime adult) hijinks. While I feel like the show could have done without the love line between the chef and SBC ladies (I found myself skipping through these scenes on rewatch), I do like how the show set up these kind of choices for our characters. Most of the conflict of the show is a direct result someone being pulled in two directions and being unable to make up their minds. Hwa-shin needed to make a choice between his friendship or his love, Ppal-gang (Moon Ga-young) needed to decide which of her mothers she wants to live with, Na-ri had to choose whether to hold on to the love she’s had for several years or leave it behind and start fresh.
The writing was consistently strong, and themes of the show were well mapped out. The writer took the time to explore gender roles, both in the workplace and in society, using Hwa-shin’s breast cancer and Na-ri’s career path as prime examples of gender inequality for both men and women. But I like that just because there was cause to pity a character in one situation doesn’t mean that they didn’t get reprimanded for their other wrongdoings. Hwa-shin was a monumental ass to Na-ri on several occasions, but he didn’t get a pass just because he got sick. In fact, if anything, because he was so terrible, Go Jeong-won (Go Gyeong-pyo) comes up smelling like roses despite his own laundry list of flaws. He had to actively work towards getting Na-ri’s forgiveness for mistreating her. Similarly, Na-ri wasn’t let off the hook as easily by Jeong-won and Hwa-shin for stringing them along.
While the show did have its share of flaws, I enjoyed the show a lot. The highlights for me were the shows two leads. I also loved Doc (Bae Hae-Sun) and Nurse (Park Jin-Joo) for being a near constant source of both humour and heart, as well as Chief Oh’s (Kwon Hae-Hyo) bickering and snark. I feel like the second viewing of this show allowed me the chance to look deeper at the social commentary that the show was trying to make, and understand it in a broader cultural context that I didn’t quite get on first watching Jealousy Incarnate.
Colourful Granny 