Lazy Weekend and Rerun of Gaksital Ep 1-2

I just spent a lazy weekend after a week full of deadlines, where I got an assignment due on Monday, Wednesday, and a paper which was due on Friday at 5 PM. I watched some movies after submitting my paper and then hibernated from Friday night all the way to Saturday noon to reward myself. Then I spent the rest of my Saturday just lazying around the apartment Hotaru no Hikari style and went out for dinner to eat Pho with other lovely Indonesians and I finally got a sim card for my blackberry (yes -finally!)

OK! That should be enough as a prologue to justify my first half of blog title and let me start on what really matters.. :D I watched the first two episodes of Gaksital today. I have to say that it is still as good (if not better) as when I watched it the first time. It reminded me why I got so hooked on this drama 6 months ago (phew, time flies..)! The actions, the story, the characters, *ehem* Joo Won.. And to think that I only picked it up because the sub on Ghost (a cyber crime drama by So Ji Sub) was so excruciatingly low at that time and Gaksital was the only drama that's fully subbed by Viki? It's good decision after all to click that play button six months ago.

I just have to upload a screenshot with this Viki comment! Pfftt..

Watching it for the second time made me pay more attention on some of the aspects from this drama. First, the thing that bugged me the most is the overuse of the stunt doubles for the first Gaksital (Don't worry I won't spoil the story by disclosing his identity here). I don't know whether it's part of their strategy to throw the audience off from who the real Gaksital is before the end of episode 2 or whether the actor who plays the real Gaksital just didn't want to do all those stunts? I'm inclined to the former because... apparently they're still using doubles even when he's not doing any action sequences or for a minor action sequences! Furthermore, the mask is only half-face so it's kinda easy to guess the person behind the mask, and if they reaaally want to keep his identity a secret, they definitely need to do something to distract the audience and keep them engaged. I mean, I for one, could not point my finger with confidence at who was the first Gaksital is, simply because I saw too many different jaws in just one episode!

Seriously, is that the real Gaksital??

Second thing is I found Joo Won as Lee Kang To to be even more charming (is that even possible?) here. I realized that even though he's set up as the bad guy at the beginning of the episode, he still has that minor moments which proved that he's not as bad as he is on the outside. When he's handing out candies to the kids on the street and also part of his conversation with Shunji, about wanting to buy a house for his mom and get his brother treated in the best hospital in Tokyo.

"As long as I can get Hyung back, then who cares if they call me a Jap's mutt"

I think this is one of the ways of the writer to drop hints about his other traits so that his transformation later won't feel too abrupt. That he used to be a good guy and he's just doing all these nasty things because he sees no other ways.

Finally, I miss Kang To-Shunji's epic bromance! So much! It's kinda bittersweet to watch them here esp with knowledge of what's about to come. Sometimes I wish they could just ride that bicycle in episode 6 into the sunset and live happily ever after...

Anywho, to cap off this post, let me leave you with THIS... pyong!

Watching 1n2d simultaneously with Gaksital definitely wrecked my brain! It doesn't compute!