Something in the Rain: Pretty Sister Who Buys Me Food
May 3, 2021 6:37 PM - Season 1 (Full Season) - Subscribe

Son Ye Jin, from Crash Landing on You, is the female lead for Something in the Rain, a Korean drama from 2018 about an older woman/younger man romance, with lots of family drama, and women fighting against the patriarchy. Taboos will be broken!

ENTROPY: A TRIUMPH IN THE AGE OF ME TOO: SOMETHING IN THE RAIN

Magdalene: Yes, It's Hard to be a Woman

SITR’s focus is on Jin-a, who is in her mid-thirties, still lives with her parents, and has been passive in response to the disrespect shown to her by her mother, suitors, and men in the workplace. Her communication is clear and strong when protecting work products, but Jin-a caves when it comes to protecting herself. Jung Hae In portrays Jun-hui, a family friend and brother of Jin-a’s best friend. This character is in his mid-twenties and has just returned from the States following a 3-year assignment. Jun-hui shows himself to be kind and supportive of Jin-a, and together they have a playfulness that’s a pleasure to watch, but there are early hints that he too will eventually cross the line between protecting and controlling.

The director, Ahn Pan-seok, made some deliberate choices that intrigued me. The soundtrack seemed bizarre at first – and more than a little jarring. Stand By Your Man and Save the Last Dance for Me (with the latter sung by Bruce Willis – what?!) are played repeatedly. Are they meant to be ironic? I believe the songs are intended as commentary on the expectation (particularly by Jin-a’s mother) of a woman to stand by her man even if he is cruel and disrespectful and of a man to think of a woman as his possession (as displayed many of the male characters).

The pacing of the show is slow but I thought it helped make Jin-a’s growth believable. I especially loved how the simple act of holding hands was drawn out and was so pleased that she was the one to make the first move. Tracking characters as they moved along the apartment hallway seemed odd at first, but I found it to be interesting and perhaps even symbolic: the path to Jun-hui’s apartment had a proverbial fork in the road and having Jin-a pause helped to build suspense and convey the weight of her decision to veer right.

While SITR won many awards, there were critics of the pacing, music, and conclusion. Personally, I loved it all (well, except the music, but I think I get it). I’m hoping there are some MeFites who will share their thoughts.
posted by kbar1 (5 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I watched episode 1, and, yeah, the music was jarring. I did like the leads, and I will probably get back to it eventually though. I'm less likely to watch shows without Dramabeans recaps, and didn't see any when I searched last night, but forgot to check alternate titles - they have it listed as "Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food", but they didn't recap every individual episode, so I'll have to watch a few more episodes before I can start reading.
posted by oh yeah! at 1:16 PM on May 7, 2021


Each source I checked seemed to provide a different title for the show or spelling of the character’s names. My understanding is that Pretty Noona Why Buys Me Food was the original and official title, but then Noona was translated to Sister, and Netflix renamed the whole show to Something in the Rain. Ay yi yi! Subtitles on Netflix spell character’s names as Jin-a, Jun-hui, and Gyeong—seon, while Dramabeans spells them as Jin-ah, Joon-hee, and Kyung-sun (Kyeong-seo is used on Wikipedia but appears to be a typo). Is there a reliable source I can use to check these details before posting? This is my first post on a Kdrama (and only my second post on FanFare) so I’m a bit of a noob, but I’ll try to include a link to Dramabeans recaps going forward. Here are the recaps for all the shows:
Episodes 1 – 6
Episodes 7 – 8
Episodes 9 – 10
Episodes 11 – 12
Episodes 13 – 14
Episodes 15 – 16
posted by kbar1 at 3:30 PM on May 7, 2021


No worries -- I assume the differences in the spelling of the character names are just the choices the various translators are making to go from Korean alphabet spelling to phonetic English, there probably isn't a definitively right one.

I find 'MyDramaList.com' useful as an alternative to imdb for kdramas -- they list multiple 'aka' titles for the shows, and have way more headshots for the actors. (MyDramaList entry for Something In The Rain)
posted by oh yeah! at 6:22 PM on May 7, 2021 [1 favorite]


It’s now been 6+ months since this post and I’ve had a chance to rewatch SITR and mull it over. On first viewing I loved it all, but I think I just got swept up in the romance and chemistry of the leads. It was only my second Kdrama (after Crash Landing) and I wanted the show to have an ending that was unequivocally happy. In retrospect, the ending was only happy on the surface and the writer’s decision to have Jin Ah forget that she was worth treasuring, go back to dating narcissistic men, and accept Joon Hee back in her life after he tried to force a major decision on her and then petulantly abandoned her for declining his offer – it’s like the writer/director lost sight of Jin Ah’s arc. Or maybe they, too, got swept up in the chemistry (ratings?) and decided to shoehorn the couple back together.

I’m sharing this just in case others, like me, use FanFare to help decide whether to invest time in a show. I still love and recommend the first 10 or so episodes, but then I think the storyline took a wrong turn and concluded with an ending that was false and unbelievable.
posted by kbar1 at 11:14 AM on December 26, 2021


Thanks - I only made it through the first 4 episodes. Didn't hate it, but didn't love it, and have been procrastinating finishing it ever since. Guess I can let it go now :-)
posted by oh yeah! at 4:54 PM on December 26, 2021


« Older Critical Role: Hell or High Wa...   |  Mare of Easttown: Enter Number... Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments

poster