Tribute to Zhao Yuan Jun
Han Jae Suk as Zhao Yuan Jun in Model My eyes are still puffy from the crying. Last night I finally finished watching "Model" - and I was screaming THAT IS SO UNFAIR!!! at my TV screen. What I'm gonna type next contain major spoilers of this series, so don't say I didn't warn you.
Why I'm so worked up? Because my favorite character, Yuan Jun was killed off abruptly. 23 episodes (out of 24 episodes) hating, loving and rooting for this character: and in the end all I get is to see him die like that?! And for the most foolish, unworthwhile reason. Inexplicably, I began to hate Li Zheng (Jang Dong Gun) more as well. Never thought JDG character turn out to be such a (insanely) bad ass. Feel like fly kicking; karate chopping Li Zheng head off.
Yuan Jun and Li Zheng started off as two very different character. The former a very hotheaded and rebellious while the latter was gentle and compassionate. However, I've always liked Yuan Jun early on from the moment he stole a kiss from Jing Ling (Kim Nam Joo).
Yuan Jun ain't perfect; even though he became less hotheaded and more optimistic, he is still prone to jealousy but unlike Li Zheng who will destruct everything (or anyone) he can't have, Yuan Jun chooses to let go. I particularly liked his conversation with Xiu Er, where he say perhaps he didn't love Jing Ling enough because he decided to let her go while Li Zheng will commit crime just to stop her being with her teacher. I was thinking: "Yuan Jun, you fool! Don't you realize that Jing Ling is doing exactly the same, letting you go so you can be happy?" Maybe her feelings for you is not as fiery as Li Zheng's, but it is still love. If it weren't for his rough attitude in the beginning, I have no doubt that Jing Ling will choose him early on. I've always felt Jing Ling does has a 'thing' for him, despite countless time rejecting and breaking his heart.
Anyway, Yuan Jun and Jing Ling finally got together after 23 episodes and after a very romantic proposal scene, he was hit by a truck and died on the spot. Déjà vu? Do 'All about Eve' ring a bell?
At least I'm satisfied knowing that Jing Ling do love him. The scenes where she bawled out in her car and also her attempted suicide - the volume of her sobbing are so loud I had to lower the volume (while with tissues in my hand because it's so sad). Perhaps then she realized she loved him more than she think and unfortunately, she never told him how much he meant to her.
Han Jae Suk looked very handsome and ultra suave in here. Much better before he became a little puffy in AAE and Glass Shoes. Ah... if only such guy like Zhao Yuan Jun existed in this world...
Congrats! You finished Model! Yippee! Strangely you're the 2nd one who said how much you love Han Jae Suk's character. Frankly nobody in this series leave any impression on me, not even my JDG and the only reasons I could possibly want to watch this series again is because of JDG. God awful series. And I never liked Han's character also because really this man was plain abusive at first. Maybe it's the editing but he was so different here than in AAE. A good actor.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, he had to die. If not Li Zheng can't go on to become a much better person. In fact no Korean series has ever had a truly happy ending with all body parts intact in a body. 2nd time this actor died of a lorry/van accident.
If you hate Li Zheng here so much then you better not watch Medical Bros. Not only just karate chop him, you will want to double wham his face, karae chop his neck and end it with a high flying kick to where it hurts most. Yes, his Siu Yong is really that horrible BUT like in this Model series in the end redeemable but still a bastard in my opinion. Which just shows how good JDG was.
A question; any actress in Model that you like? I realised in the end I like none of them. But Model was made in 1997, so imagine that skinny one went on to become such a good actress in Tale of Two Sisters. Amazing but see got improvement. I finally saw JDG in a series where he wasn't so good and that was The Last Match but still something abt this guy that totally deserves where he is today.
Poor Han Jae Suk; in the army now right? So old already i wonder can he take it physically?
Anyway Model, truly dreadful horrible disgustingly bad series.
By the way Li Zheng was never compassionate and gentle. he was always pretentious and calculative, only his conscience was holding him back from being worse. He used everybody for reasons that perhaps may or may not justify them. He was also two timing two women for his own personal gain.
ReplyDeleteAnd his death was nothing like All About Eve. All About Eve was more tragic but still his own undoing (why he had to protect that bloody woman?!) and in this series it was plain unfortunate. I believe may be the same lorry eh!
I saw The Last Match, again a character was again hit by a lorry the same way. Maybe I should do a post on how many characters in how many series died of being hit by a lorry. Always a lorry, never a motorbike and always they fly backwards dramatically and always dies on the spot or about to die on the spot. I think K-dramas perfected the art of death by accident on the roads or by some incurable disease that may be curable but never know since most victims never go for treatments anyway.
And I never liked Han's character also because really this man was plain abusive at first. Maybe it's the editing but he was so different here than in AAE. A good actor.
ReplyDeleteAt first I disliked his abusive tendencies as it ruined his chances with Jing Ling. But he is a good actor but wonder why he never got famous outside Korea. Lacking the "IT" factor, perhaps?
Poor Han Jae Suk; in the army now right? So old already i wonder can he take it physically?
Better worry for Sung Seong Hun. Look so thin, if carry heavy stuff sure fall flat.
I think K-dramas perfected the art of death by accident on the roads or by some incurable disease that may be curable but never know since most victims never go for treatments anyway.
If you're a guy, chances to be hit by incoming truck in very high. If you survived, you most probably have amnesia after a 'short' coma.
For a girl, 90% will have either 1. Leukimia (top favorite),
2. Heart conditions or
3. Cancer
Should we compile a list of truck accidents in Korean series?
Those I can remember:
Autumn in My Heart
Sangdoo, Let's go to School
Winter Sonata (survived, with memory loss)
Spring Day (survived, with memory loss - was it a truck? i missed that episodes)
p.s. Regarding your questions on the fav actress, frankly I have none but in terms of character, perhaps Xiu Er (JDG's ex in real life). Quite a realistic character.
ReplyDeleteIf I met someone like Li Chu in real life, I'd probably bitch slap her to death. A cumbersome and whiny character. Totally useless and perhaps as Li Zheng said, she does deserved it.