K Drama Recommendation or not: Thorn Birds

Title: The Thorn Birds (가시나무새)
Genre: Melodrama, romance
Episodes: 20
Broadcast network: KBS
Broadcast period: March 2, 2011 - May 5, 2011
Air time: Wednesday & Thursday
Producer: Kim Jin-woo
Director: Kim Jong-chang (Terms of Endearment)
Screenwriter: Lee Sun-hee (Air City)

Main Casts:

Han Hye-jin (Jejoongwon) as Seo Jung-eun

Jo Sang-wook (Giant, Paradise Ranch) as Lee Young-jo

Kim Min-jung (Fashion 70's, New Hearth) as Han Yoo-kyung

Seo Do-young (Spring Waltz, Friends, Our Legend) as Choi Kang-woo

Start to question my K Drama taste? ㅋ ㅋ ㅋ. Why is it so quiet about this Thorn Birds? L . No I won't say that Thorn Birds is a bad drama. It's just “makjang”. Many choose romantic comedy drama these days over this kind of drama when the choices are available. Compare to the ol’ time, when melodramatic and makjang-ish dramas were in bloom.

Because Thorn Birds is one of example of makjang drama, so we start with definition of makjang. From girlfriday , herself, one of Dramabeans goddesses: "Makjang is a tonal variation and a conscious choice to use common story element a.k.a the cliché like amnesia or incest or what have you, to carry the narrative". I think K drama on these days more or less has a little bit moved from that point, though not 100% walk away free from it. Almost all my early K dramas were makjang. They were the ones that brought me to this hella creaziness of K drama. So there must be something about makjang drama. Perhaps the familiarity of the plot tools that makes viewer easily to connect or the makjang elements are supposed to balance the monotonous simple life of the viewers.

Anyhow, I never abandon my old lover. Deep down inside I always be the makjang girl. Sometime I can not really connect with rom com drama. My face expression turns flat and I do a lot of sighing. Throw makjang drama on me, you get: eye rolling, teeth greeting, murmuring till yelling to the screen, growling, grimacing, hand fisting, heart rate accelerating, you name it, anything but crying. Believe it or not I laugh more watching makjang than rom com. Go figure. I think my sense of humor that got short circuited. And there’s an art in watching makjang. :P

Why should you watch Thorn Birds or not?

Because it is makjang? LOL.

There’s no such a thing called too many birth secrets. It doesn’t have one or two, it has Four birth secrets. Three of four main leads (Wait! Seo Do-young is considered as one of main leads in here?? Let me think about it again what his place is in this drama’s plot. It must be somewhere, right?) have birth secret.  That’s crazy, even City Hunter only has three dads.

This kind of photo in K Drama especially if the parents who pose only screams birth secret  is coming approach!

Uniquely makjang is that it usually has a twisted inter-character relationship.  It builds a spider web. Who are the real mother-father? Who are the fake mother-father (if there is such of thing called fake parents)? Or she/he is just a friend of the parent (LOL)??  Who is the brother from the same father? Who is the brother from the same mother? Who is the sister? Who is the friend? Who is the sister-like friend? Who is the enemy-like friend?  Who is the enemy-like sibling? Seriously get a map or you will be lost.

But sometime the map is the one that makes you lost

The fake mother, The real mother, The friend of the parents, Lee Ae Rin/ Yoon Myung-ja (Cha  Hwa-yun)

And the diseases are spreading like a plague. The statistic reveals that cancer, hematology and hepatic diseases are among the big three most prevalence diseases in K drama. Thorn Birds scoops all of them. No need to worry, save your Kleenex, no body will die because of it J Good job writer!  

I admit the main reason why Thorn Birds has a strange strength that pulls me over to watch it is beside the makjang element is Joo Sang-wook. He won me over in Giant. Mostly it is because of his Jo Min-woo character. I like this kind of character, as much as I like Maroo in Can You Hear My Heart and Baek Dong-yang in Jejoongwon who stays in gray area and full of inner struggling. But how much acting skill challenging this type character is, it rarely become the 1st lead’s character. Jo Sang woo was scored as the main lead for the 1st time! Why wouldn't I watch? Tee hee. Though his Lee Young-jo is kind of meh. Forgettable for sure. Good that he doesn't turn out to be the haughty cold hearted cheabol one. Nevertheless, his half-piss-off-sad-looking pair of eye is winsome :D What else can I say.

One of the reasons why I like makjang is that "sometime" it gives deep twisted character which is my favorite, but sometime in way to produce that kind of character, it gives up so much more. And that marked the establishment of undifferentiated schizophrenic character. Everything that come off from the character whether behavior or emotion, are just random for makjang end result fulfillment. See this Han Yoo-kyung (Kim Min-jung) character after her mother abandon her although unintentionally, she also abandon her baby for no good unbelievable reason (Good career, lover and father of the baby, she has been carried who is ready to marry her and who she love him too, all she gives up for??? Hmmm). She dislikes her mother for it and hardly forgives her, but... she is giving her all to take a revenge for not her but mommy, the dearest. And somewhere along the way she finds out that she takes revenge over the wrong person (Psst). Is investigation and research not one of the points in S.O.P of a big revenge planning, lady? J Either way the deep twisted one or the undifferentiated schizophrenic one, both are fine with me. One makes me rooting for the character, the other gives me good exercise of eye rolling and giggling. What is healthier than those? J

You will wonder what happen in Kim Min-jung's expression in this drama.

Finally a character with a red line, Seo Jung-eun (Han Hye-jin). I like how organic this character is I can feel her insecurity in building relationship with other. After she was left by her mother in orphanage, she doesn't have anyone who is blood related to her. Reminding that blood is thicker than water, makes her think: "Even my mother who is connected with me by blood had left me behind", “How about others who aren't my family by anything to begin with?", "They can always choose somebody else over me and I can not even protest cause who am I to them?“ I can see the reasoning behind. And they don't push her to be happy-go-lucky kind of girl, I like it! I fell in love Han Hye-jin in this, she is so pretty. I'm easy for the pretty. I watch Jejoongwon next.

The story: Don’t be fooled it is nothing like the novel. Only one similarity: Birth Secret. I see...now I know why this is so familiar *cheeky smile*: Birth Secret can happen anywhere from Australia (Thorn Birds, the novel) to Afghanistan (The Kite Runner, yes that famous one, am I spoiling you? J ), from Indonesia (insert random Indonesia dramas' title, they probably have one) up to Korea (Don't tell me to write it, they are too many). And don’t blame the writer-nim for bring it up. I have showed you the reality J

The story of two best friends with both have mommy issue

They take different path and meet again as frienemy

And this one guy as a thorn

The rating is not good, starting low and ending low. Remind single digit in almost its entire run. Eeep! You poor thing.

The OST. Err I can not remember any song from this drama, not even a single tune. That's bad. Come on music director L And I was sitting and thinking what song for this post. I thought about Urban Zakapa’s Picture of Spring that its MV had just been released or Brown-eyed Girls’ Cleansing Cream that I like to called it makjang song! he he and the MV is awesome. And then I came up with Kangto’s Instinctive Love. Long I want to write about him but K dramas, daily life, and a lot of album release back on early this year had put it on my to-write list and stayed there since that. This from his debut album, 날개의 흔적yes debut album, we should never miss this one.

Kangto (강토) - Instinctive Love

아주 작은

Aju jageun 

저 바람 속의 꽃씨도 사랑을 찾길 원하고

Jeo baram soge kkotssigo sarangeul chatgil wonhago

길을 잃고 헤매이던

Gireul ilgo hemaeideon

가로수 아래 저 새도 사랑을 찾길 원하네

Garosu arae jeo saedo sarangeul chatgil wonhane

하루 하루

Haru Haru

힘겨운 땀을 흘려도

Himgyeoun ttameul heullyeodo

이 마음 지치질 않고

I maeum jichijil ango

모든 것이 사라져도

Modeun geosi sarajyeodo

내 가슴 속엔 영원히

Nae gaseum sogen yeongwoni

그대만 담길 원하네

Geudaeman damgil wonhane

그대는 멀어서

Geudaeneun meoreoseo

내 손이 닿질 못해도

Nae soni datjil mothaedo

꿈을 날아서라도 

Kkumeul naraseorado

그대와 함께 춤추리

Geudaewa hamkke chumchuri

꿈을 날아서라도

Kkumeul naraseorado

그대와 그대와 함께 난 춤추리

Geudaewa geudaewa hamkke nan chumchuri

 *세상 모든 것들은 그대를 바라보고

Sesang modeun geotdeureun geudaereul barabogo

사랑함이 당연치 않나

Saranghami dangyeonchi ana

그게 바로 당신을

Geuke baro dangsineul

바래왔던 나의 이유

Baraewatdeon nae iyu

내가 가진 행운이 다 사라진다 해도

Naega gajin haenguni da sarajinda haedo

사랑함이 당연치 않나

Saranghami dangyeonchi ana

나의 바다 그대니

Nae bada geudaeni

필요하다면 모두모두 드리리다

Phiryohadamyeon modumodu deuririda

Back to *

Thanks To:

Wiki for the info