Heyhey! How be yooooou! So this week, I was going to do a longer piece on the progression of LGBT representation in kdramas but I haven’t been able to finish watching a couple of the dramas I wanted to watch for research. I considered rushing through it to give you a quick summary on what I actually wanted to say but it’s an important topic so I shall save it for my next issue. I didn’t want to skip today’s issue either so here’s a quick wrap-up of two time travel dramas that just ended on Netflix yesterday – Sisyphus: The Myth and Hello, Me!
Sisyphus: The Myth – Epic. Classic. I….don’t want to let this show go.
Where do I even begin with the magnificence of the Sisyphus OTP? WHERE. Time travel romances are always tricky – female lead from the future and male lead from present day. Female lead travels to present day to help male lead change the future.
But.
For her to change the future, time must surely be in a loop, right? So, if you change the future, would the female lead still exist? AUKFGSDJF HOW LIKE DIS.
Cho Seung Woo and Park Shin Hye play Han Tae Sul and Seo Gang Hae, the aforementioned leads. And they do it brilliantly. Really. Cho’s mastery of the craft is not news. From Forest of Secrets to Live to any of the stage musicals he’s been in (also, who can forget The Classic. Brb I need to go cry), he’s played a myriad of different roles and he’s different in every single one of them. Park, on the other hand, was typecast in very Candy-esque roles for a bit. Let’s not talk about how the writer of her previous sci-fi drama severely underutilised her, too. Recently, though, she’s been putting in effort to get out of the Candy rut, starring in Netflix films like #Alive and The Call. Her role in Sisyphus is, hands down, her best so far. I’ve watched her since she was a second lead in Goong S and the amount of depth she’s brought to the table was amazing. Sisyphus could very well be a revival of sorts for her and I’m so looking forward to more of her work.
This OTP is special. The magnitude of the show – with its timey wimeyness makes their romance is one of the big, epic ones that span multiple timelines. But it’s also rooted in so much emotional heart that it fills you with joy, hope and warmth. They’re the kind of OTP you want to tuck away into your pocket so you can protect them from the forces of the Dramaland Villains forever. The kind of OTP you wish you were a part of if you had to hop through a time machine, with no knowledge of when you’re going.
Hello, Me! – Lighthearted funtimes~~
Hello, Me! is a lot more lighthearted and fun. The sci-fi element really only is in how the 17 year old female lead, Bahn Ha Ni (Lee Re), travels to present day, only to be alarmed at how much her 37 year old self (Choi Kang Hee – love her), also Bahn Ha Ni, has changed. I remember briefly thinking about my 15yo self would be proud of who I am now. Last year, I honestly believed she wouldn’t be. But now, if she had anything bad to say about me, I’d be like ‘you try lah, you come and try life ah, you think easy ah??’ She better be proud ahahaha.
The OTP is C U T E. I’m so glad we’re seeing more and more empathetic male lead like Yu Hyeon in kdramaland these days. The noona romance is not the highlight of the show – the focus really is more on the two female leads who get up to hijinks as they try to figure out a way to send the 17yo back to when she came from without anyone finding out who she really is. The OTP evolves as a bonus consequence of the 37yo female lead coming to terms with her grief and finding a way to love herself again. Sp, the OTP didn’t feel like it was as epic as the Sisyphus OTP since this development of this OTP is much closer to what it might be like in real life. It developed, not through life or death situations, but through the daily monotony of life which can wear the hell out of you if you don’t have someone to lean on. BUT. That’s pretty special too, don’t you think?
Toxic masculinity, who?
Both OTPs challenge gender norms in one way or another and I really enjoyed this. Tae Sul was hilariously quick at hiding behind Seo Hae whenever they need to fight the bad guys and he’s endearingly egoless about how she is clearly the better fighter than he is. Tae Sul started off the show quite focused on his own self-preservation so it was endearing when he did try to jump in front of her once to protect her. He looked like a scared little kid. But still a kid who desperately wanted to protect the person he loved.
The male lead in Hello Me!, Han Yu Hyeon (Kim Young Kwang) was much more emotionally attuned to the needs of others than your typical male lead. I enjoyed how he was empathetic enough to afford 37yo Ha Ni the space to be herself around him and waited for her to open up to him without pressuring her or expecting anything in compensation. He wasn’t your typically arrogant chaebol, either. He just was nice to everyone and…quite naïve for a while but I liked how he retained that childlike wonder about life even as he was forced to mature through the events of the show.
Both OTPs featured leads who leaned on each other and that’s always a wonderful thing to see. Neither half of the OTP was constantly in distress. Neither half of the OTP singlehandedly saved the day every single time. They were partners, in every sense of the word. They learned from, leaned on and loved each other and I really really really am very reluctant to let go of two such OTPs at once.
Ending Things~
As far as the endings go I don’t want to spoil either because both finales just aired yesterday. But. Damn. Sisyphus was a one heck of a solid drama. It was narratively consistent from beginning to end!!! THAT IS NOT EASY WHEN IT COMES TO TIME TRAVEL. I’m definitely going to rewatch Sisyphus again and again in years to come. I don’t wanna let it go. It’s a much heavier drama and that’s probably why I became a lot more emotionally involved with the characters. The worldbuilding was much more extensive and keeping up with that required big brain energy and full attention. Hello, Me! was much easier to follow. The supporting cast was…all right and the story itself was somewhat predictable – but that’s what I liked about it – it was a perfect pick-me-up after a long, tiring day.
Don’t forget tissue.
Regret and grief. That’s perhaps the only reason why anybody would want to go back in time, right? Both shows deal with the idea of how even the slightest chance to redo something that cannot be undone, something that has caused us so much grief, is worth snatching. For this, I related to the characters. Whether they were constantly time-travelling or dealing with mundane life issues, these characters navigated emotional obstacles involving death and loss and that shit is hard lah sia. At one point or another, you will cry when you watch these shows so keep dem tissues nearby.
When I used to think about time travel as a kid, it was nothing more than a fun intellectual exercise. But now, these thoughts are tinged with a very deep sense of…sadness. Which, I suppose, is a natural consequence of having lost someone. I know that not everyone deals with grief and loss in this way. Some people are able to move on much faster than others, but I can very safely say that if I were given the chance to go back in time to fix some of the things that have happened, I would. Even if I can’t fix things, isn’t the chance to see someone again enough? I know the larger life lesson in these shows is that we shouldn't feel like we need to rewrite history to be able to move on…but…meh. As far as I’m concerned, I love these shows because it offers me some impossible hope that there’s more to life and death and time than what we make of it so…If you ever figure out a way to go back in time, hit ‘Reply’ and let me know. I’d really appreciate it :)
Take care, my friends. See ya in two weeeeeeeks.
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While I haven't figured out a way to go back in time, I'm hitting reply anyway. 😄 I really enjoyed reading your take on "Sisyphus: The Myth" and "Hello, Me!", since I watched those too, the moment they aired. I liked both kdramas and how the main leads interacted with each other. Han Tae Sul is one of my favorite male leads so far! He may be egotistic, but at least he knows his flaws and weakness and willing to admit them. 😁 I'm glad Park Shin Hye took on this role of a strong female. Her role in "Memories of the Alhambra" was just askjfdhae. 🤦🏻♀️ The writers could've made her so much more. "Hello, Me!" was enjoyable because it wasn't too heavy but there were a lot of takeaways on self love and acceptance, which I liked a lot. Plus, Yu Hyeon was just adorable. 😊 He and the 37 year-old Bahn Ha Ni were perfect together. ❤️