50FiftillidideeBrain
Sleeping B!+ches Bite °Excellent°
Su Jae (SJ) “sure is acting up.” That's what her boss says after he finds out that she's snatched files & replaced them w/ manhwa (comics). Is the plot alittle outrageous? Sure. It actually holds together very well, but it's not free of logical problems. For instance, remains are found at a construction site when it makes no sense that the bad guys would have allowed them to be found. It's sloppy. Also, a tragedy occurs at the end of ep14 that feels especially painful & completely unnecessary. Though it lends to symmetry in the plot development, the scene is ham-handed.
However, there's plenty more + than -. The closing scene is beautiful. The music is excellent. ‘Beautiful’ by DOKO & ‘What about us' by HAJIN are both Shazamable. Craft-wise, they send messages w/ color. SJ's wardrobe is almost always black & white which represents the hard lines she's adopted over time. It begins in black & white. Our female lead is wearing white. Then the director introduces the color red: Red lipstick & red blood splatters. SJ wears rich blues for trials - apparently, juries everywhere like blue. All of a sudden, in ep3, she shows up in a bright peach suit. Maybe that doesn't sound pretty, but it looks fabulous on her. Why the color change? Well, she's had a significant emotion-altering interaction w/ Gong Chan. (It would be too difficult to describe it, you'll just have to watch it for yourself). She has softened up. By the show's end, she is in color regularly. She's freely living a full spectrum life.
WH is about Power & corruption & the abuse the powerful heap onto those below them… especially women. The context is the pressure cooker that is Korea. In ep1 we see a suicide: Korea has the 4th highest suicide rate in the world. Exams, constant bullying, gossip, & impossible parents are ubiquitous themes in Kdramas. Under extreme pressure most will hunker down & go w/ the flow, too many will commit suicide, & some may act out. When they try to toss SJ away w/ the trash, she decides to act out. Bravo!
Seo Hyun Jin plays SJ. I've seen her as a new, bright-eyed teacher in Black Dog-8.2 & a fed-up woman who can't get a break in Another Miss Oh-7.5. She's beautiful, but she's got that down-on-earth neighborhood girl quality to her which goes beyond looks or acting capability; it's presence. She can act, too. K-actors act w/ every muscle in their bodies. Her walk kills me in WH. She's stiff as a board, yet so eloquent. It is completely different from how she walks in other shows. Extraordinary. Her performance is the best thing about a very good show.
SJ is a trial attorney. A formidable one, specializing in undermining the credibility of an opposing witness's testimony. The more we learn of her backstory, the more her behavior makes sense. At the start she was a nobody who couldn't look her co-workers in the eye, but now /they're/ terrified of /her/. But the old-boys-club cannot tolerate this capable woman in their chauvinist sphere.
SJ's a fundamentally decent person w/ a dream to go all the way to the top - it's a dream that cannibalizes decency. Initially, she seems impervious to everything. We learn that she's been #refusing to show her fragile side. She's ‘gritted her teeth, held it in, & held her ground.’ Flashbacks show the sweet girl she was, the way her father brought her up, & the way her immediate underlings are fiercely loyal to her. Yet she's rude to a waiter, she's disdainful of children, & she's a monster to clients of opposing attorneys. She's starting to act like the 1%ers. Success, power & money are corrupting, indeed. In ep1 she's on the cusp of becoming a blood sucking parasite. But irony comes crashing down, splattering her & shaking her conscience loose. The crashing irony is a tragedy arising from one of her cases & public opinion turns toxic. Her boss sends her into hiding: She must ride out the scandal while being an adjunct prof at law school. The rich-and-powerfuls were happy to make use of her at their convenience, but now they're letting her know exactly what she is: Disposable. “I'll stand in a high place & look down on them all!” SJ screams her vow to the waves.
Hwang In Youp (The Sound of Magic) is Gong Chan. He's changed his appearance, so SJ doesn't recognize him, but she represented him years ago for a murder case in which he was innocent. The reason he's in law school is because she inspired him all those years ago. He comes on strong & it works rather well. The romance gets crankin pretty quickly. In fairness, Gong Chan seems to have had it bad for yrs. But when SJ learns who he truly is, what will she think?
Heo Joon Ho (Missing: The Other Side-8.3) owns the law firm as Choi Tae Gook. He seems level & fair, but he is something else behind closed doors. His sons admire SJ. Bae In Hyuk (My Roommate Is a Gumiho) plays Choi Yoon Sang, his youngest son & admirer of SJ. What dimples! An avg student, in the past she tutored him. Now he sits in the back row of her new class. Lee Cheol-Min (My Only Love Song-8.7, Love to Hate You-8.9, Mr. Queen-9 & dozens more) usually plays a goof but he does a nice job as a “bad guy” in this. Everything about him is completely different. Even though I recognized him I still had to look it up to be sure. The director is Park Soo Jin of The Hymn of Death-8.4, While You Were Sleeping-7.3, & Dr. Romantic.
It all gets off to a very rocky start. SJ is no softie & the students‘ initial response is to rebel. SJ shows up at her 1st class w/ about a minute left. She writes on the chalkboard: “I will never let my client go to jail.” Chalk drop. She exits. In class 2 she brings them case files & assigns complete verdict analyses. It's only 50% of their grade(!) “How do we do it?” One student wants guidance. “Figure it out,” is her laconic response. Immediately, her class is under threat of being canceled, but she's no rookie. Putting college students in their place is child's play & she's never going to spoon feed her students.
The class is seated by GPA & formed accordingly into teams for group projects. The last row of the last students form their motley group; then they form a bond. Two of those students already have a connection to SJ - her boss's son & her forgotten former client. Other members of the motley team are a middle-aged woman who is a former cop, a girl who was sexually harassed by a prof, & another boy who was weak. The student council bullied him and he refused to testify on behalf of his abused friend for fear that it would affect his standing at school. SJ gives him strength enough to find his footing.
The theme is to treasure those you love & live a clean life worthy of them to avoid future regrets. This is also very much a girl-power show. SJ is a minority w/ educational & background disadvantages. It's a higher hurdle in Korea than it is in the USA. Like other minorities, she gets no benefit of the doubt, no head start, & zero 2nd chances. No room for error. It's a triple-thick glass ceiling. She has to be 10×s as good as her competition. She'll have to make some pretty bold moves.
It's true that women's rights aren't settled in the USA, but Asia is worse. Stalking & harassment protection are decades behind the USA. SJ is reluctant to help the student that was molested because the chance of success is slimmer than SJ's legs. She encourages the student to focus on her goal & nothing else. That's practical advice & sometimes it's the best course. But there's another side to the coin. Gong Chan challenges SJ. He points out that if the prof gets away w/ it then he'll do it again. “Then it won't be {Professor Seo’s} wrongdoing, but ours,” he explains.
When no one challenges powerful abusers they just get emboldened. Weakness enables evil. To be a woman is to be subjected to sexual misconduct, indignity, molestation… or worse. Besides the off-color, inappropriate remarks, there's the inappropriate touching. Men shouldn't be touching you, ladies. I know what it's like to have that happen & freeze in the moment, only to be furious at myself later for not doing anything. It often happens in a place where the power balance is out of whack, like a doctor's office. If you break their nose or knee their groin that is what they deserve. We should start a dense fund. Maybe someone has.
A good society is one where the people stand up to wrongs. We shouldn't let anger control us, though, as there will never be an end to wrongs on earth, and none of us are mistake-free. “Is the world a fair place? Unfortunately, the world is never fair. So is it impartial? Not even for a moment. The era of unfairness & partiality will continue. Perhaps it may become worse. However, everyone, we have our last bastion. That is the law - In the world that's never fair, where things have never been impartial. While applying the law to everyone fairly & impartially, all of you must fulfill your duties & responsibilities. Lawyers must rectify the law that waivers in the face of money & power & defend justice.” Beautiful words from baddie, Choi Tae Gook. True words - even when spoken by one of the perpetrators of partiality & unfairness. It's fascinating how intelligent, successful & wealthy people know how to say the right things. They've severed their hearts from their brains, though. They act upset about the awful state of things, but since the world's been good to them, they easily accept it as fait accompli. People for whom the system is working are never motivated to change it. They step over the homeless & never give it another thought. It's called compartmentalization. They still thoroughly believe themselves to be right & decent & good. The human heart is quite deceptive & we are all blind to our own stuff.
In the end, SJ adopts a more others-focused life and steps put of the rat cage. Her conclusion: “The fact that every day is entirely mine. That I move & decide w/ my own will. The results are also entirely mine. Those things were more decent than I thought. Whether the results are good or bad, I rejoice in the good things, & if not, I just say, “so what?”, curse, & move on… I'm content w/ myself living this way.”
Smart girl.
QUOTES
I'm so sick & tired of money.
A single “I believe you” can help a person breathe & move on.
Nothing is more powerful than honesty.
Don't give power to the greedy; don't give money to the ignorant; & don't give a sword to the insane.
“It was a shameful life, looking back.“
I didn't want to suck.
His pride in cooking is almost a disease.
〰? IMHO
RATINGS
Directing 8
Writing 8
Acting 8.5
Romance 7.6
Flutters 5
Art 7
Sound & music 8.4
Ending 8.3
LEVELS
Warmth 4
Action 4.5
Laughs 2
Tears 4.5
Fright 2.3
Tension & Anxiety 3.5
Gore 2
Thought provocation 4.8
Snores 0
?8 ?8 ?8.5 ?7.6 ?5 ?7 ?/?8.4 ?8.3 ▪ ?4 ⚡4.5 ?2 ?4.5 ?2.3 ?3.5 ?2 ?4.8 ?0
Age 15+
R-rated language, F?s
Murder, affairs, pregnancies, violence.
Rated TV-14: Parents Strongly Cautioned.
Re-?? Sure someday
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
Crazy Love-7.8,
A Witch's Love 7.8,
Another Miss Oh-7.5,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Inspector Koo-8.4,
Familiar Wife-8.5,
Hospital Playlist-9, Black Dog: Being A Teacher-8.2, Law School-8,When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Call It Love-8.4, Blood Free-8.5
My Mister 9.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9
However, there's plenty more + than -. The closing scene is beautiful. The music is excellent. ‘Beautiful’ by DOKO & ‘What about us' by HAJIN are both Shazamable. Craft-wise, they send messages w/ color. SJ's wardrobe is almost always black & white which represents the hard lines she's adopted over time. It begins in black & white. Our female lead is wearing white. Then the director introduces the color red: Red lipstick & red blood splatters. SJ wears rich blues for trials - apparently, juries everywhere like blue. All of a sudden, in ep3, she shows up in a bright peach suit. Maybe that doesn't sound pretty, but it looks fabulous on her. Why the color change? Well, she's had a significant emotion-altering interaction w/ Gong Chan. (It would be too difficult to describe it, you'll just have to watch it for yourself). She has softened up. By the show's end, she is in color regularly. She's freely living a full spectrum life.
WH is about Power & corruption & the abuse the powerful heap onto those below them… especially women. The context is the pressure cooker that is Korea. In ep1 we see a suicide: Korea has the 4th highest suicide rate in the world. Exams, constant bullying, gossip, & impossible parents are ubiquitous themes in Kdramas. Under extreme pressure most will hunker down & go w/ the flow, too many will commit suicide, & some may act out. When they try to toss SJ away w/ the trash, she decides to act out. Bravo!
Seo Hyun Jin plays SJ. I've seen her as a new, bright-eyed teacher in Black Dog-8.2 & a fed-up woman who can't get a break in Another Miss Oh-7.5. She's beautiful, but she's got that down-on-earth neighborhood girl quality to her which goes beyond looks or acting capability; it's presence. She can act, too. K-actors act w/ every muscle in their bodies. Her walk kills me in WH. She's stiff as a board, yet so eloquent. It is completely different from how she walks in other shows. Extraordinary. Her performance is the best thing about a very good show.
SJ is a trial attorney. A formidable one, specializing in undermining the credibility of an opposing witness's testimony. The more we learn of her backstory, the more her behavior makes sense. At the start she was a nobody who couldn't look her co-workers in the eye, but now /they're/ terrified of /her/. But the old-boys-club cannot tolerate this capable woman in their chauvinist sphere.
SJ's a fundamentally decent person w/ a dream to go all the way to the top - it's a dream that cannibalizes decency. Initially, she seems impervious to everything. We learn that she's been #refusing to show her fragile side. She's ‘gritted her teeth, held it in, & held her ground.’ Flashbacks show the sweet girl she was, the way her father brought her up, & the way her immediate underlings are fiercely loyal to her. Yet she's rude to a waiter, she's disdainful of children, & she's a monster to clients of opposing attorneys. She's starting to act like the 1%ers. Success, power & money are corrupting, indeed. In ep1 she's on the cusp of becoming a blood sucking parasite. But irony comes crashing down, splattering her & shaking her conscience loose. The crashing irony is a tragedy arising from one of her cases & public opinion turns toxic. Her boss sends her into hiding: She must ride out the scandal while being an adjunct prof at law school. The rich-and-powerfuls were happy to make use of her at their convenience, but now they're letting her know exactly what she is: Disposable. “I'll stand in a high place & look down on them all!” SJ screams her vow to the waves.
Hwang In Youp (The Sound of Magic) is Gong Chan. He's changed his appearance, so SJ doesn't recognize him, but she represented him years ago for a murder case in which he was innocent. The reason he's in law school is because she inspired him all those years ago. He comes on strong & it works rather well. The romance gets crankin pretty quickly. In fairness, Gong Chan seems to have had it bad for yrs. But when SJ learns who he truly is, what will she think?
Heo Joon Ho (Missing: The Other Side-8.3) owns the law firm as Choi Tae Gook. He seems level & fair, but he is something else behind closed doors. His sons admire SJ. Bae In Hyuk (My Roommate Is a Gumiho) plays Choi Yoon Sang, his youngest son & admirer of SJ. What dimples! An avg student, in the past she tutored him. Now he sits in the back row of her new class. Lee Cheol-Min (My Only Love Song-8.7, Love to Hate You-8.9, Mr. Queen-9 & dozens more) usually plays a goof but he does a nice job as a “bad guy” in this. Everything about him is completely different. Even though I recognized him I still had to look it up to be sure. The director is Park Soo Jin of The Hymn of Death-8.4, While You Were Sleeping-7.3, & Dr. Romantic.
It all gets off to a very rocky start. SJ is no softie & the students‘ initial response is to rebel. SJ shows up at her 1st class w/ about a minute left. She writes on the chalkboard: “I will never let my client go to jail.” Chalk drop. She exits. In class 2 she brings them case files & assigns complete verdict analyses. It's only 50% of their grade(!) “How do we do it?” One student wants guidance. “Figure it out,” is her laconic response. Immediately, her class is under threat of being canceled, but she's no rookie. Putting college students in their place is child's play & she's never going to spoon feed her students.
The class is seated by GPA & formed accordingly into teams for group projects. The last row of the last students form their motley group; then they form a bond. Two of those students already have a connection to SJ - her boss's son & her forgotten former client. Other members of the motley team are a middle-aged woman who is a former cop, a girl who was sexually harassed by a prof, & another boy who was weak. The student council bullied him and he refused to testify on behalf of his abused friend for fear that it would affect his standing at school. SJ gives him strength enough to find his footing.
The theme is to treasure those you love & live a clean life worthy of them to avoid future regrets. This is also very much a girl-power show. SJ is a minority w/ educational & background disadvantages. It's a higher hurdle in Korea than it is in the USA. Like other minorities, she gets no benefit of the doubt, no head start, & zero 2nd chances. No room for error. It's a triple-thick glass ceiling. She has to be 10×s as good as her competition. She'll have to make some pretty bold moves.
It's true that women's rights aren't settled in the USA, but Asia is worse. Stalking & harassment protection are decades behind the USA. SJ is reluctant to help the student that was molested because the chance of success is slimmer than SJ's legs. She encourages the student to focus on her goal & nothing else. That's practical advice & sometimes it's the best course. But there's another side to the coin. Gong Chan challenges SJ. He points out that if the prof gets away w/ it then he'll do it again. “Then it won't be {Professor Seo’s} wrongdoing, but ours,” he explains.
When no one challenges powerful abusers they just get emboldened. Weakness enables evil. To be a woman is to be subjected to sexual misconduct, indignity, molestation… or worse. Besides the off-color, inappropriate remarks, there's the inappropriate touching. Men shouldn't be touching you, ladies. I know what it's like to have that happen & freeze in the moment, only to be furious at myself later for not doing anything. It often happens in a place where the power balance is out of whack, like a doctor's office. If you break their nose or knee their groin that is what they deserve. We should start a dense fund. Maybe someone has.
A good society is one where the people stand up to wrongs. We shouldn't let anger control us, though, as there will never be an end to wrongs on earth, and none of us are mistake-free. “Is the world a fair place? Unfortunately, the world is never fair. So is it impartial? Not even for a moment. The era of unfairness & partiality will continue. Perhaps it may become worse. However, everyone, we have our last bastion. That is the law - In the world that's never fair, where things have never been impartial. While applying the law to everyone fairly & impartially, all of you must fulfill your duties & responsibilities. Lawyers must rectify the law that waivers in the face of money & power & defend justice.” Beautiful words from baddie, Choi Tae Gook. True words - even when spoken by one of the perpetrators of partiality & unfairness. It's fascinating how intelligent, successful & wealthy people know how to say the right things. They've severed their hearts from their brains, though. They act upset about the awful state of things, but since the world's been good to them, they easily accept it as fait accompli. People for whom the system is working are never motivated to change it. They step over the homeless & never give it another thought. It's called compartmentalization. They still thoroughly believe themselves to be right & decent & good. The human heart is quite deceptive & we are all blind to our own stuff.
In the end, SJ adopts a more others-focused life and steps put of the rat cage. Her conclusion: “The fact that every day is entirely mine. That I move & decide w/ my own will. The results are also entirely mine. Those things were more decent than I thought. Whether the results are good or bad, I rejoice in the good things, & if not, I just say, “so what?”, curse, & move on… I'm content w/ myself living this way.”
Smart girl.
QUOTES
I'm so sick & tired of money.
A single “I believe you” can help a person breathe & move on.
Nothing is more powerful than honesty.
Don't give power to the greedy; don't give money to the ignorant; & don't give a sword to the insane.
“It was a shameful life, looking back.“
I didn't want to suck.
His pride in cooking is almost a disease.
〰? IMHO
RATINGS
Directing 8
Writing 8
Acting 8.5
Romance 7.6
Flutters 5
Art 7
Sound & music 8.4
Ending 8.3
LEVELS
Warmth 4
Action 4.5
Laughs 2
Tears 4.5
Fright 2.3
Tension & Anxiety 3.5
Gore 2
Thought provocation 4.8
Snores 0
?8 ?8 ?8.5 ?7.6 ?5 ?7 ?/?8.4 ?8.3 ▪ ?4 ⚡4.5 ?2 ?4.5 ?2.3 ?3.5 ?2 ?4.8 ?0
Age 15+
R-rated language, F?s
Murder, affairs, pregnancies, violence.
Rated TV-14: Parents Strongly Cautioned.
Re-?? Sure someday
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
Crazy Love-7.8,
A Witch's Love 7.8,
Another Miss Oh-7.5,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Inspector Koo-8.4,
Familiar Wife-8.5,
Hospital Playlist-9, Black Dog: Being A Teacher-8.2, Law School-8,When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Call It Love-8.4, Blood Free-8.5
My Mister 9.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9
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