Big: First Impressions and Final Thoughts

Big: or as I like to call it---just stare at Gong Yoo.

sorry interwebz, i should really blog regularly–-episode by episode like i did for Heirs so that the progression from completely enamored with Big to downright heavy eye-rolling at the series will make more sense. 

first of all, can we talk about how beautiful everyone is in this show? the producers really knew what they were doing casting Lee Min Jung, Gong Yoo, and Suzy. their marvelous mugs were just about the only saving graces for the show.

all three (and for the most part everyone on cast except gil da ran's mother and the principal of her school) had very naturally pretty faces. i'm not going to go as far as to say they've never had any sort of plastic surgery done, but good job not poking, prodding, and prying every last inch.

the series started off fantastic. Gong Yoo's performance of playing a stiff, uptight, and somewhat distant but still sweet yoon jae was good----Gong Yoo's performance of an 18 year old who's discovering what it's like to be trapped in the body of a 30 year old was really well done and very entertaining––so the series began as a wildly funny, amazingly cute, and refreshingly entertaining show.

i for one was really excited. and then it went to shit when the writers got hella creepy and decided to turn the once noona (older sister) and nam-dongsaeng (little brother) relationship between gil da ran and gyong joon into one of lovers.

ew. there's not only a significant age difference––18 to 30––but there's just the fact that their relationship was first established as brother and sister-like (not to mention the obvious glaring reveal that gyong joon would actually really be gil da ran's little brother-in-law had she married yoon jae) AND that she was his teacher. what is this amurrricaa? high school teachers can not be dating their high school students. what were the writers thinking?!

when you're watching kdrama (or really anything), you never want to feel guilty, creeped out, or gross about rooting for the main couple––and that's how Big made me feel the entire second half of the show.

i felt weird cheering on gyong joon, and the only reason why it wasn't downright vomit-inducing is because they kept him in this wildly attractive 30-year-old man's chiseled chocolate bar-abs body so that the audience would forget that this 30-year-old high school teacher is actually making goggly eyes at her 18 year old high school student.

the Hong Sisters (writers of Big) knew they fucked up and wrote themselves into a shithole––that's glaringly obvious by the shit-tastic ending of the series when they kept gyong joon in Gong Yoo's body the entire time––because seeing gil da ran with the actual young actor who played gyong joon, even if they dolled him up to look dapper and older, would be creepy.as.fuck. 

and they knew it. that's why they had the final body swap happen off screen. if your entire plot of a show is about two souls switching, the resolution should obviously be this glorious shot of the souls returning to their rightful place and then everyone dancing in a field of flowers with glitter raining from the skies and Gong Yoo's naked statuesque body prancing among the poppies.

obviously.

from a fellow writer's perspective, even though the storyline jumped off into the deep end having gil da ran and gyong joon fall for one another, this could had been rectified by explaining that gil da ran had always loved yoon jae and she had always kept him in mind, even in gyong joon's switched body. that any feelings between gil da ran and gyong joon were remnants from gil da ran and yoon jae's relationship––and if anything, having his body switched with gyong joon allowed him to be free-er with gil da ran and less stiff (sure it's actually gyong joon's soul and mind inside yoon jae's body, but the writers could have explained that the spontaneous, fun, charismatic essence of gyong joon inside yoon jae's body remained with him after the switch back––like a life lesson learned YOLO-ing for him.).

when the two souls finally swap back (in my version of the should-have-been ending), gil da ran and gyong joon don't remember anything and gil da ran and yoon jae go on to have a lovey-dovey marriage and happy ending, because the love gyong joon felt for gil da ran in yoon jae's body remained in yoon jae's body, and he could feel how much more his love grew for gil da ran. PLUS gyong joon remains in gil da ran and yoon jae's life, having gained a noona-in-law and hyung and family, and everyone's happy, and there's no ickiness in gaining pleasure from this cute, cheesy ending. 

obviously, the Hong sisters should hire me as a third sister to write with. ladies, i'm all yours. just name a time and place and i will fly there to meet you with my pen ready. my only payment request: Gong Yoo, shirtless.

yes, please. thank you.

hana, dul set! press play.