Voice Episode 1 Recap

We enter a dark and gritty world. Voice Episode 1 Recap “Chapter 1 – The Voice in the Dark” It’s dark and she’s running, trying to get away from the man in the black hood. She hides. Moo Jin Hyuk (Jang Hyuk) and his police detective buddies are on a stake out at the harbor. […]

https://kjtamusings.wordpress.com/2017/01/17/voice-episode-1-recap/

Beautiful Mind Episode 1 Recap

And so it begins…another series where I delight in watching Jang Hyuk. Thank goodness he is a workaholic. Beautiful Mind Episode 1 Recap A passenger on a flight gets ill. The crew uses the intercom to request a doctor. A flight attendant approaches Lee Young O (Jang Hyuk) asking him to confirm that he is a […]

https://kjtamusings.wordpress.com/2016/06/23/beautiful-mind-episode-1-recap/

Fated to love you Ep 1 – Thoughts and discussion

You have no idea the happiness I feel, as a Jang Hyuk fan, to be able to watch a drama with him, live, and to be enjoying it

One of the exciting aspects of watching live is to be able to interact with others, spazz, speculate, dissect, fangirl, drool, anticipate next episodes together, etc! There are many places where one can do that Soompi and Dramabeans being among the most popular. However, since this is a remake of a very popular taiwanese drama of the same name, it is IMPOSSIBLE to avoid spoilers and comparisons to the original taiwanese version. People do their best to use spoiler tags but there is always someone who forgets and throws a big BOMB to those who are watching this version first lol. So here is the idea we came up with for those who would like to share this experience without spoilers and comparisons.

We will open up a post per episode, so we can discuss it in the comments, and there will be only one rule : NO COMPARISONS or SPOILERS please

You can talk about anything regarding the episode on the title and about any actor.

Well, since I’m already here I’ll give you my thoughts on ep1 :p

The first episode was an introduction to our leads:

Lee Gun: He is the first one we meet, and he makes quite the entrance! Jang Hyuk channels his inner diva/stripper/Jack Sparrow to provide us a scene for the ages! I was stunned, startled, paralyzed. I wash’t sure I was liking it! but “even without knowing” like he said “I burst out a hearty laugh” muahahahhahaha.

I mean, seriously, what is going on here?

Like a boss!

This eccentric, loud and quick tempered chaebol is as colorful and vibrant as his clothes. He is a crazy pervert one minute, a major wimp the next, a dashing prince/fairy godmother/gambler later, a drill sergeant always yelling “Do it meticulously, meticulously!” He is EVERYTHING! lol but the most important thing is, behind all the quirks and the crazy laugh, Lee Gun has a soul and we met him early on.

BTW! he reminded me of someone 😀

On episode 1 I was not entirely convinced this exciting creature I couldn’t take my eyes off was not a cartoon, and it worried me, because while fascinating, a character like that could be hard to connect with. But all the fears disappeared on episode 2 (which we’ll get to in a different post) He is not conventional in any way, but does feel real. I’ve read polarized opinions on his interpretation and his look. Yes, it is purposely over the top, but I’m glad the writers, director and  Jang Hyuk decided to play the character this way. I think a classic approach would’ve been boring.

Mi Young: Then we met Mi Young, an office worker who can’t say No, so she is known as “Post-it girl”. She is supposed to be the classic female lead I tend to not like, but Jang Nara makes her so adorable and relatable. She is mousy and meek but I feel protective of her. Instead of seeing her as a hopeless weak girl, I want to take the place of her best friend and help her boost her self esteem.

Look at her trying to say “No” lol

She might be shy, but she is so self aware! She also shows signs of inner strength, especially on ep2 (we’ll get to that) so the character already feels three dimensional. I knew Jang Nara had charm but she has also shown skills. She become the character, she IS MI Young. It is easy to root for her and I just want to see her grow. Again kudos to the writers, PD and actress for their work

Se Ra: On episode 1 we also met Se Ra, not your conventional second female lead. The ballerina that Lee Gun sees as an angelic creature is actually sassy and tomboyish! There is quite a contrast between his idilic image of her and reality. She pursues her dream of being a ballerina which great dedication and passion thus neglecting her boyfriend but I have the feeling that Lee Gun admires her because of that passion.

Daniel: We don’t know much about the second male lead, but if the characterization of the first three leads is a sign, he will probably be another interesting character

So yes Fated to love you, started out as a true rom com with a lot of slapstick ridiculous humor and it made me laugh out loud more than once. For us Jang Hyuk fans there were some moments that felt like references, like the shampoo Ad which seemed very similar to what he did the only time he participated on Running Man, or the most obvious one, of using Chuno background music when Lee Gun was fighting the “fierce” rotweiler (what would Lee Daegil say? lol)

But besides the laughs and some crazy moments where we definitely have to suspend our disbelief (Mi Young drinking the spiked water from the fountain) it is providing with adorable characters who already have depth.

The blogosphere is buzzing with first impressions of this drama, so I’ll point to some of the reviews I’ve read so far and that don’t include comparisons with the taiwanese version.

Zhaoul’s take on ep 1 at Kdramadreamer.com (also check out her fan art section, you will be blown away)

Ahjussi Fan’s ep1 screen caps on Ahjussi Fan – (All hail the screen cap Queen!)

Fated to love you: Me likey! by DDee at Obsessive Compulsive Drama Watching Disorder – (covering eps 1 and 2, a fangirly, sensitive and insightful take by Ddee)

Fated to love you recap at Noonas over Forks – Not only are the recaps superbly written, the comments by Jung – bug-eo and Kaenada are a must read. They do this back and forth discussion that is really amusing.

Fated to love you is fun – First impressions by Snow at The Drama Corner

Fated to love you – First impression on The cat that watches TV

AND NOW PLEASE SHARE YOUR (spoiler free) THOUGHTS on Ep1 🙂