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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Modern Farmer" Episode 12

Two new characters arrive on the scene this episode. One knows that she's a bit of an imposition, but is in such a miserable state right now that it just can't be helped. The other knows that she's a bit of an imposition, but doesn't really have the personality type to actually care about any of that stuff. While these two never meet, the parallel is an obvious one. Mostly all of this is just a vehicle for jokes, though.

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The sections with Yoon-hee and newcomer Yoo-na were my personal favorite. A lot of guy writers tend to have really weird assumptions about how women act when men aren't around, but writer Kim Ki-ho accurately notes that just because two women share the same gender doesn't mean they're instantly going to be able to bond over girly stuff, especially when a lot of touching is involved. Look, guys feel gay when they have to do that kind of thing. Why should women be any different?

Han-cheol's sections with Soo-hyeon are a bit less exciting, though, since the male gaze is a lot more obvious. In all fairness this is literally male gaze rather than perverted camerawork. The joke here is that Han-cheol thinks they're gay. Which isn't exactly an unreasonably assumption given the information he has access to (from previous episodes to boot). But that whole kiss sequence was pretty contrived- it doesn't reach anywhere near the goofy levels of the snake bite.

Speaking of those two, I'm not sure what to think of Gi-joon. The guy's acting like a jerk, and even when he finally gets remorseful about it Gi-joon isn't really all that good at acting remorseful. It's clarified that Hwa-ran's makeover was actually a deliberate long-term choice, but that doesn't justify his attitude. That seems to be a broader problem this time around. The band members are slipping back into bad behavior and not really recognizing that they're the ones behaving in the wrong in these current social situations.

But I don't want to make the situation sound too harsh. Their idea for raising money is good, and for the drama's strange central conceit of boy band members taking up farming, they actually fit in pretty believably with the wider community. So I'm optimistic about their ability to settle with all these differences. The real conflict will probably be the bigger, more existential threats that as yet lurk about in the background.

Review by William Schwartz

"Modern Farmer" is directed by Oh Jin-seok, written by Kim Ki-ho and features Lee Hong-ki, Lee Hanee, Lee Si-eon, Park Min-woo, Kwak Dong-yeon and Lee Han-wi.

 

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