like sunlight burning at midnight

Eleven episodes in to Playful Kiss, and I'm ending up more frustrated than anything. It's not the lack of development in Seung-jo and Ha-ni's relationship, or the continued presence of He-ra as a rival for Seung-jo's attention, really. I actually... wouldn't mind all that much if Seung-jo and Ha-ni ended up with a sarcastic, playful, sibling-like relationship - they pretty much have that right now, except for a few odd moments of tension. What bothers me is the way Ha-ni seems to have given up every other aspect of her life in order to follow, stalk, and moon over Seung-jo.

Even Joon-gu's devotion for Ha-ni doesn't parallel Ha-ni's obsession with Seung-jo: Joon-gu is at least following his culinary dreams, too. Ha-ni doesn't even bother to study for (or attend, if a few throwaway lines are any indication) any class she doesn't share with Seung-jo. I think it's all the more disappointing because it's a regression. When the show started, Ha-ni had a life outside of Seung-jo. She had other interests, her very existence didn't revolve around Seung-jo and what he thought of her, and I miss that Ha-ni. :(

Also, I won't lie. A lot of what Ha-ni does (often with the help of Seung-jo's mom) comes across as just plain creepy. Following him home from work and then waiting outside for more than an hour? Following him on a date? Since when is that kind of behavior okay? (And yes, Joon-gu is every bit as bad as Ha-ni in this case. The difference there is that Ha-ni's dad seems to recognize that this is not okay behavior, instead of encouraging it the way Seung-jo's mom does.) I know I'll never get it, but what I really want to see in the next few episodes is for Ha-ni to back off from Seung-jo, and focus on her own life. I really don't care how Seung-jo reacts to that, I just want to see Ha-ni mature on her own, as her own person. Uhm, yeah, and seeing her finally become competent in some area of her life? That would be pretty awesome, too. :|

I'm not really sure how else to describe Liu Zhu. I'm pretty sure YesAsia won't be carrying this, but I really hope it does well. The songs are wonderful.

I think we really need to have a talk. See, you keep doing this thing, where you get me interested in a pretty face, and then steal my heart by revealing the adorable personality and heart of gold that lies behind said face. And I have no problem with that - that's why I'm here, after all - it's what comes next that is really starting to get old.

Do you think you could just stop with this breaking my heart - and soon?

I mean, I'm like five for five right now, and I'm not sure how much longer I can take it. There's Amber, the ignored last fifth of f(x) who may or may not even be under contract at this point. There's Henry, the sweet, down-to-earth golden boy who can keep up with Donghae while playing Mozart on his violin. Zhang Liyin, who blows every k-pop diva out there out of the water, but still hasn't gotten more than her debut album from four years ago. Oh, and did I mention Zhou Mi? The kid who was on his way to becoming a nationally-recognized host before you snapped him up? The guy who was already being listed in magazines as a celebrity personality to look out for in the next ten years before he joined your company? Yeah, for being one of Asia's foremost entertainment industry, I've got to say, you really haven't done much for him. Unless, of course, you call throwing him into a controversy, feeding him to the lions, and watching him keep a smile on his face despite all of it helping.

(Don't get me started on TRAX, either. You'd think a company of your stature would be capable of promoting a band as talented and charismatic as TRAX, for goodness sake.)

So, I just wanted to say, you've got me for now. I love these people too much to walk away while they're still around, and some of them are quite simply too talented to disappear despite your complete and utter mismanagement. But I hope you know that the day Mimi and Liyin go back to China, the day Henry and Amber head home and don't come back, the day Jay and Jungmo decide that enough is enough? Yeah, I'm outta here right along with them.

Not that I expect you to actually change or anything, but I thought I might as well bring everything out into the open.

Cheers,
Me

There's been some talk about the exact nature of Zhou Mi's relationship with Z-Chen, with the general consensus being, from what I understand, that it's creepy and gross and basically should be taken with a huge dose of brain bleach. And I guess, if the age difference is a big deal, that I can kind of see where it's coming from? Mainly, though, I'm just glad that Mi has someone he can go visit like that, without any real warning. I'm glad that he's got a friend (or perhaps more, though I don't want to speculate too much either way) who looks out for him and makes sure he eats when he has the chance. Whether there's more to their relationship or not, there does seem to be genuine warmth and affection between them, and that's good enough for me.

(Really, though, Zhou Mi is twenty-four years old. He's spent the past two years facing more hatred than most people experience in their entire lives, and he handles it with more grace and class than most anyone else would. A thirteen year gap (Z-Chen is 37, right?) might be comment-worthy, but I don't think there's a real, worrisome imbalance in dynamics because of it, and that would be the one thing that would actually bother me. As it is, all I really want is for Mimi to be happy. I hope he's happy.)