Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Potato Star and the Dilemma of Long Dailies


Here's something you may be surprised about. I've been watching Potato Star 2013QR3 for the past few weeks or so. The reason why it may be surprising is because this is a daily drama. With 120 episodes. That's a whole lot of hours I could've used for something somewhat useful. Whatever that is.

The premise of Potato Star starts with Na Jin-ah (Ha Yeon-soo) and her mother Gil Sun-ja (Oh Young-sil). They live in a shabby house on the outskirts of Seoul. Jin-ah dreams of working in Kong Kong, a toy company who's origins also involves her late father. Despite her father's contributions to the now large corporation, the family only receives one bag of rice a year. One day, a young man that goes by the name of Hongberg (Yeo Jin-gu) moves in to the old house next door. The house is basically abandoned, so he often visits the Na family for basic needs like bathroom, food, and electricity. Meanwhile, Kong Kong's president, Noh Soo-dong (Noh Joo-hyun) decides to retire. His son, Noh Min-hyuk (Go Kyung-pyo), an arrogant Harvard graduate, takes over the company. His somewhat nontraditional approach gains him a few enemies. On the other hand, his new policies would grant Jin-ah her entrance to the company. Suddenly, a potato-like meteor strays off its predicted course, possibly crashing to earth itself. This brought chaos to the world, and a few changes to the lives of our characters.

Here's the catch, the occurrences that I've mentioned above happens in about 9 episodes. That's a lot of episodes, if you ask me. But considering the total number is 120, 9 episodes isn't that many. Afterwards, a ton of things have happened to the characters which I probably won't talk about that much in this post since it'll be way too long.


That's the thing I'm worried, though. That this daily sitcom is just too darn long. I'm always complaining about dramas being gluttonous of their length. An average rom-com drama eats up at least 16 hours. This sitcom though, while each only 30 minutes long, will be a grand total of 60 hours. That's right. If you decide to marathon this sitcom, it will take you 2 and a half days. Non-stop.

Time issue aside, I'm currently on episode 90 (almost there!) and I still find it funny. Sure the abundance of bathroom jokes in the beginning can throw you off. And the characters can be extremely annoying at times. But there's lots of great moments since then. Obviously these characters aren't exactly your average family next door. They have super quirks, they fight with each other, make fun of one another. They're not what you would call a model family of any kind. On top of that, the story line does get ridiculous. But hey, that's what fake sitcom families are for. The crazier the better.

So here's to my first foiree in Korean dailies. The characters aren't the most complicated out there. They're more like American sitcoms of yore (and present too?). Caricatures more than characters. But they sure are funny. Because of their stupidities or daily happenstances, this sitcom definitely cracks me up sometimes. And this is not an exaggeration. While 120 episodes might not be your cup of tea (I sure thought it wasn't mine), I think it's nice to give it a go. Since Potato Star is produced by the team behind High Kick, the Korean sitcom franchise that I've been hearing so much about, I wonder if I should give any of those a go.

Have you watched any Korean sitcoms? What do you think about them?

Photos courtesy of tvN

16 comments:

  1. I tried out two first episodes on Potato Star and while I did find it pretty quirky and fun, I wasn't up for 120 episodes of it. I haven't had any previous experience with dailies either, so it's a bit hard to start. But I do think I might give it another chance someday, because...well, it has Yeo Jin Goo.

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    1. I'm watching it mostly because I literally have nothing to do (unemployed new graduate here). And yes, Yeo Jin-gu is oddly adorable in this. Can't believe he's only 17. I feel so old...

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  2. As you mentioned, this is a sitcom and not a drama, so I actually personally don't find the 120 episodes a major turn-off. Since the show airs 4 days a week I enjoy keeping up with it and now I'm hooked! Of course, like any sitcom, there are some great episodes (one of my personal favorites was episode 83) and some "meh" episodes. But there are some great moments and the actors are really good as well. Yeo Jin Goo, Ha Yeon Soo, Go Kyung Pyo, Lee Soon Jae, Jang Kiha...the list goes on. I've also really come to enjoy the breakout actress Seo Ye Ji as well!
    Anyway, I look forward to my daily dose of Potato Star and the love line especially has me hanging. I live for the moments between Hongberg and Na Jin Ah! Haha

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    1. As someone new to sitcoms, 120 is a lot. But now that I'm on my 100th episode, it doesn't seem so bad! I'm approaching the current episodes though. I don't know how I feel about watching only one episode a day instead of 5 haha

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    2. Just curious, where'd you find a link to watch? Been looking for a long time now

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    3. Hi Julie, if you live in the states, you can watch subtitled episodes on Hulu. Sadly, I think it's only exclusive on the site so there's not many options outside of that. Hence I haven't been able to finish the series since I don't understand Korean.

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    4. YOU CAN WATCH IT HERE, IT'S SUBTITLED :)
      http://www.drama.net/potato-star-2013/

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  4. the ending is SHIT?? I hate it. What happened to hongberg?

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    1. I agree. I think they were going to a mysterious ending with the viewers in tears. But I am more pissed than sad.

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    2. Yea, It's disappointing, I just finished it just now, so many questions unanswered e-e

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  5. What's the finale???

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  6. I enjoyed it until the end, it was sad and empty

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  7. I enjoyed it until the end, it was sad and empty

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  8. I enjoyed this sitcom till the end. Though it created so many unanswered questions at the end. I just wish season 2 of this show is there, it could have answer alot of my questions. But overall, love this show😊

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  9. Sitting in the 'sad boat' with everyone else after watching the finale of this series. It feels like I had invested so much of my time and love for this show and was slapped in the face for my hard effort and commitment. I felt that there was a lack of build up towards the ending and they struggled to tie together all the loose ends.

    Before I go on *spoilers* warning.

    Where was Director O and his people? What happened to them? Was it REALLY necessary for Hong to leave? Why was the DNA test negative? What was with the odd monologue about Science from Jin A at the end? Was that even relevant?

    It really felt like they had run out of budget and cut off production.

    But then I also wondered... was this really a story about romance? Or about Jin A and her mother learning lessons and getting back on their feet? It would have been slightly pointless if Jin A had, in the end, gotten together with one of the boys from the Noh family. She has a secured position in a company, was able to earn an income, had a roof over her head, was respected by her peers and directors, a better relationship with her mother, and lost her fear for the dark. In that way... I am sort of bitterly satisfied with the ending.

    But even then, it felt like Jin A had men leaving her life since she was small... and honestly, makes Hong leaving at the end even more cruel. The fact he wasn't the real son either was also odd and poorly explained. I also question the legitimacy of those results based on where the family pulled the DNA samples from.

    SPOILERS END

    Overall... a good k-drama. Probably won't invest 120 episode again until next exam block. Procrastination's a bitch.

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