Melting Me Softly by Baek Mi-Kyeong on September 28 - November 17, 2019 Genres: Fantasy, Love & Romance, Science Fiction, Social Issues Buy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Bookshop.org Find on Goodreads Ma Dong Chan (Ji Chang-Wook]) is a PD, who works on a popular variety show. He and other participants take part in the variety show's 24 hour freezing people project. Ma Dong Chan is supposed to wake up 24 hours after being frozen, but, when he wakes up, he finds out that 20 years has passed. His appearance is the same as when he was frozen, but his parents, younger brother, girlfriend and co-workers have all aged significantly. To survive, Ma Dong Chan has to keep his average core body temperature at 33°C. (from AsianWiki)
So as you’ve probably guessed from the lack of K-Drama reviews lately, that I’ve been in a serious K-drama watching and reviewing slump. When I heard Ji Chang Wook–one of my all time favorite Korean actors from some of my favorite dramas like Empress Ki, the K2, and Healer— was back from his mandatory military service and starring in a new drama, I figured it would be the perfect watch to get me out of my viewing hole. I was even more excited because his new drama, Melting Me Softly dealt with a male and female lead who underwent a 24 hour cryogenics experiment only to wake up 20 years later–what an interesting concept!
Not only did the male lead–Ji Chang Wook’s character, Ma Dong Chan–and female lead–Won Jin Ah’s character, Go Mi Ram–have to deal with waking up in a very different decade, but seeing that all of their loved ones aged 20 years! Plus, the two find that they can’t let their body temperatures–now an average of 31.5 degrees celsius–get past a certain point, or they’ll die. Talk about one heck of a creative story line. Sadly, I struggled to get to even episode 12 out of the 16 episode drama and found I was mostly on my phone for the later episodes.
Should Watch #14: Melting Me Softly
Despite the show being extremely well-acted, and having a great center idea, I found that it wasn’t well executed and made odd choices about what to focus on in the course of its very short 16 episode stint. And instead of being a science fiction-esque romantic comedy about two people waking up in a different decade, leaning on each other and falling in love, it’s more of an office comedy, of all things, with a lot of focus on a murder mystery on the side. It was not at all what I expected, but I could have liked, or even loved the show if it had made some different narrative choices.
For starters, Melting Me Softly didn’t take enough time to develop the characters in their home decade. Viewers are given only part of the first episode in 1999, with a few flashbacks in the second episode, to get to know Ma Dong Chan, his longtime girlfriend Na Ha Yeoung, Go Mi Ram, and their families. It’s simply not enough time to get to know the characters, their personalities, and their relationships. In fact, I never even knew Go Mi Ram was in college until the time skip–that’s how little time was spent on developing the characters’ lives in 1999. If Melting Me Softly had spent more time on the characters in the past, the loss of 20 years with their loved ones would have hit so much harder and opened up the door to way more interesting drama involving the lead characters. Instead,
Likewise, if the show had spent more time establishing interaction between the Ma Dong Chan and Go Mi Ram from the very beginning, maybe their almost instantaneous love story would have made more sense. For the life of me, I really didn’t understand why these two suddenly fell in love. They had no relationship or friendship outside of work, with Go Mi Ram desperately needing money for her family and simply taking on any odd job Ma Dong Chan offered her from the entertainment studio for which he was a producer/director. He literally had to beg her and to persuade her with money to take part in the experiment, as they had no real relationship prior to the freezing, and even that did not work. It’s only his unknowing nail on the head suggestion that participating in experiment could lead to finding medical cures–something that might help her brother with autism–that finally gets her to to agree to the freezing experiment.
Ciuman Ji Chang Wook Won Jin Ah Di Melting Me Softly Jadi Sorotan
Instead of two people being the sole survivors of a truly unique traumatic incident and navigating together the murky waters of this new world that left them behind–Go Mi Ram suddenly, out of absolutely nowhere, decides she wants to be a producer and blackmails the entertainment company–which incidentally covered up the whole freezing experiment as part of a larger conspiracy and so they wouldn’t face legal troubles–to give her a job. And for some reason, the studio rehires Ma Dong Chan, and hires Go Mi Ram, with absolutely no legal issues whatsoever–shouldn’t they at least need new driver’s licenses or something? And of course it doesn’t really matter that Go Mi Ram has absolutely no qualifications or experience for said internship, something Melting Me Softly reasons is only for the studio hiring Go Mi Ram to prevent having to pay her damages.
What’s worse is that with Go Mi Ram’s hiring, the show instantly becomes an office drama, where Go Mi Ram is a lowly intern working for Ma Dong Chan, on whom she develops a crush, all while navigating the taboo workplace relationship and the fact that Ma Dong Chan’s now 20-years-older jealous ex is Na Ha Yeong the main newsroom anchor and news director. Not at all what I expected. Even more mind boggling than the circumstances of how I was suddenly watching an office romantic comedy, is when the two decide to go on a completely unnecessary location scouting field trips in dangerously hot weather together and almost “melt” due to their temperatures climbing. It was clearly written this way to force the two to be alone together in a desperate situation instead of, you know, actual good writing that lays a foundation for a developing relationship–there is no “melting me softly” in this drama, once the characters decide their frozen hearts have melted for each other for some reason–that’s it.
Similarly, unlike other, better K-Dramas, which draw out a main love triangle or square–sometimes for episodes upon end until you feel like you’re going to scream–Melting Me Softly strangely puts a nail in the coffin of its most interesting relationship right away, that of Ma Dong Chan’s and Na Ha Yeong’s love. Yes, I understand that Na Ha Yeong did not search for her boyfriend after the freezing experiment went over the 24 hour period. She knew that the head doctor overseeing the project went missing and that the studio could go under for their involvement in allowing the experiment. Deep in her grief, she was convinced there was nothing she could do for Ma Dong Chan by the greedy studio executives who were desperate to cover up their involvement in the freezing experiment. I knew she ultimately agreed to help the entertainment studio cover up the entire incident in exchange for the main newsroom anchor position–the wrong decision–but I still felt bad for her because she immediately wanted to go and look for Ma Dong Chan when she was told the news.
Key Points To Look Out For Heading Into The Second Half Of “melting Me Softly”
I feel the studio executives took advantage of a young woman in a severe amount of emotional distress who had no one else to turn for help, and could lose her livelihood on top of her boyfriend, by resisting their manipulations and pressure of higher ups. No one ever treats her sympathetically in the show, especially not Ma Dong Chan. He had simply been asleep and woken up the next day–how does all of his love for Na Ha Yeong disappear so easily and quickly? Plus, though he claims to now hate her once he finds out about her betrayal, it’s clear he still cares about Na Ha Yeong on some level, but never goes as far as looking at it from her perspective. I couldn’t help but think that if some crazy murderers were wondering around trying to keep my boyfriend frozen, he would want me to stay safe myself, to investigate from a position of power in the newsroom, and then to go to the police. Although she never really says she investigated in the years he was frozen, she mentions keeping a lookout for any information on Ma Dong Chan. And she still wants to be with him, despite the age gap, and is even still single. Sure, the dynamics would be a little weird, but shouldn’t a drama primarily about waking up in a different decade demonstrate all of the difficulties that arise from it?
Melting Me Softly did not do itself any favors by revealing to Ma Dong Chan
I feel the studio executives took advantage of a young woman in a severe amount of emotional distress who had no one else to turn for help, and could lose her livelihood on top of her boyfriend, by resisting their manipulations and pressure of higher ups. No one ever treats her sympathetically in the show, especially not Ma Dong Chan. He had simply been asleep and woken up the next day–how does all of his love for Na Ha Yeong disappear so easily and quickly? Plus, though he claims to now hate her once he finds out about her betrayal, it’s clear he still cares about Na Ha Yeong on some level, but never goes as far as looking at it from her perspective. I couldn’t help but think that if some crazy murderers were wondering around trying to keep my boyfriend frozen, he would want me to stay safe myself, to investigate from a position of power in the newsroom, and then to go to the police. Although she never really says she investigated in the years he was frozen, she mentions keeping a lookout for any information on Ma Dong Chan. And she still wants to be with him, despite the age gap, and is even still single. Sure, the dynamics would be a little weird, but shouldn’t a drama primarily about waking up in a different decade demonstrate all of the difficulties that arise from it?
Melting Me Softly did not do itself any favors by revealing to Ma Dong Chan
0 Response to "Melting Me Softly Kiss"
Posting Komentar