Who is way too excited about Psychopath Diary?

TV & Movies K-Dramas
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I am over the moon, as the saying goes, to see Psychopath Diary up on Viki. Only two episodes are up as of my writing, but I’m finding a lot to love. It’s the gentle, sweet, big-hearted little guy against the aggressive, stupid, clueless big guy, my absolute favorite type of K-drama. But it takes all the typical ingredients in that kind of story and messes with them–in a good way!

I love how, in the very intense first two episodes, you get ALL the back stories. That’s unusual; back stories tend to take up anywhere from five to ten episodes, maybe more.

The colors, the editing, and the use of spiritual symbolism are all very riveting. Somehow both very modern and very timeless. A video work of art.

The role reversal is great–the “psychopath” is the hero; the chaebol, who usually starts out emotionally warped by life but becomes kind and understanding in the end, starts out really bad and looks to be completely evil and fixed to stay that way.

And Yoon Shi Yoon . . . aw, can I just reach into the screen and take that baby bird and put him in my pocket? Here! Have another piece of gimbap, little sweetie!

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I, too, am quite excited about it. I find the way he’s trying to fit into the character in the diary quite entertaining and funny. :smile::smile: I’m also interested to find out what will happen later. Although it has used elements that have been quite common in K-drama (the amnesia) but they’ve managed to make something different and quite interesting out of it.

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When I saw him–and loved him to death–in Flower Boy Next Door in 2013, I wondered, “What is his deal?”

He clearly had some plastic surgery to give him a “photogenic” jaw line, but his face was (to my eyes at least) otherwise untouched. He wasn’t anorexic; he wasn’t always being cool and botox-y; he wasn’t afraid to make really weird faces and make gestures that were unexpected but appropriate for his character. AND! He was not just a decent actor, he was–and is–a very good actor.

He has done a good job of growing out of a phase of young Korean actor-hood with his reputation and popularity intact. He has taken on truly adult roles successfully. He has somehow avoided being “claimed” by fangirls who get irrational and go ballistic when their perfect never-aging idols turn out to be regular people who get married and have kids and stuff.

I’m looking forward to how he develops as an actor. I personally am hoping he will marry, have kids, and start making dramas with those kids.

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I too am very excited for Psychopath Diary. YSY became one of my fav actors after I saw him in Baker King Kim Tak Goo. I am currently working on watching all of his dramas–so far, I’ve seen him in Baker King, Flower Boy, and Your Honor. I am watching Grand Prince while waiting for the next episodes of PD to come out :smiley:

Everytime I see him on screen, I just smile. His acting is enjoyable and I know I am in for a treat when he is in the lead role.

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_ plan to start watching it today, I hope this will be a good one!_

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I hope it gets better!

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How can I give the subbers a huge hug? I am watching episode 3, and five minutes ago, it was 18% subbed. Now it’s 25% subbed!

Considering how incredibly fast the work is going, there are a few typos here and there, but the written English dialog almost PERFECTLY expresses the emotional content that I’m picking up on.

It is truly amazing. I am in awe, as usual.

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I am also greatly impressed by the subbers’ fast work. They are amazing!

I just finished ep. 4, and so far, my fav part has to be when Yook Dong Sik is imagining that he kidnapped the Director and the secretaries saw him (in ep 3 I believe)…I laughed so hard! Yoon Shi Yoon is amazing at making this drama funny

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Why don’t you wait for it to be completed and properly edited? I’m sure you will enjoy it much more. I understand you’re very impatient to watch the next episodes, but if you can make yourself leave this drama alone for one month and then come back for it, it will be much better!

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Irmar, that is exactly what I do(learned it some time ago here)

so I will give it the benefit of “my” doubt and start watching it.

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Irmar,

I got the “flavor” of Psychopath Diary from just watching the un-subbed trailers on YouTube. I am a former art major turned literature major, and the minute I started watching the charatcters’ behavior and got a sense of what their roles and relationships were, I got a few goosebumps.

I was reminded of several novels and poems from different cultures. Some pretty powerful universal human themes came to mind. The music, the colors, the editing . . . everything ehnanced the basic themes I noticed.

Reading the subs in English at the moment is like eating slices of perfectly grilled meat from a sturdy paper plate. The plate holds everything together and lets me enjoy the taste of the meat. When the whole series is subbed, and when everything is sitting elegantly arrayed on a bone china serving platter, I know the flavor will be the same enjoyable taste.

Having all episodes subbed will certainly showcase the subbers’ ability to create a beautiful method of serving up tasty morsels of food for the soul. But the way they have subbed so far and matched their words to the spirit of what I’m seeing . . . it’s good, very good.

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Hm… Well, I suppose different people have different tastes (no surprise there!)
An audiovisual work like a series or film, in my view depends not only on the plot, the acting and the direction but also on the dialogues. The dialogues as far as I’m concerned are definitely not the plate but an integral part of the dish itself. That’s why when the translation does not convey the exact meaning, or they are full of irritating grammar and syntax mistakes, the flavour of the dish is somewhat spoiled for me.
But as I said, to each his own. The important thing is that we enjoy ourselves, in our different manners. :slight_smile:

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I admire actors who can do both comedy and drama and make them equally compelling. I have to say it’s a little distracting either way to watch YSY struggle while looking out from under his shaggy hair, but he’s doing a great job!

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Well, despite December being busy, I’ve kept up with Psychopath Diary, and I have to say . . . eh.

It seems as if everyone was really psyched to do something original and quirky at the start of Psychopath Diary, and then someone–probably the person writing the paychecks–cautioned them not to mess things up by being creative and risk-taking.

I know that K-drama writers and producers and actors are somewhat constrained by the ratings they get as each episode of a particular show is initially broadcast. And I know that K-dramas have this weird thing where they have to have X amount of slapstick comedy and X amount of blood and gore and X amount of rom-com flirting to keep various audience members interested.

The comedy doesn’t seem that funny, the gore doesn’t seem that scary, and the rom-com flirting . . . well, I’ve seen two extremely half-hearted examples of that.

I feel as if someone keeps saying to Yoon Shi Yoon: “Son, don’t go overboard with the thoughtful acting, okay? You’re not here to do some unique interpretation of a character or be subtle or anything. You are here to entertain and get ratings that will make the sponsors happy. So whatever the script says, just go with it and get it done with the least amount of effort, okay?”

I am quite tired by now of seeing YSY make his cute disgusted face, wrinkling up his nose and baring his teeth. His stereotypical gesture, what he’s known for, what he’s done in everything I’ve seen.

And I’m finding it hard to believe that amnesia has completely made him forget that he is someone with decent values. His actions are supposedly based on his unquestioning acceptance of the idea that he is ruthless and cruel at the core, and I’m not buying that.

There are moments when he is truly acting, and acting well, instead of relying on caricatures of human behavior. But those moments are rare.

Jung In Sun is not portraying the spunky risk-taker her character should be. Corporal Sim has her moments, but she’s fairly two-dimensional, not that brave and not that smart.

Park Sung Hoon is playing the most complicated and interesting character of the three main characters. But even he seems constrained by corporate expectations. Don’t mess up your pretty face with ugly expressions, and don’t mess up your pretty hair.

I will keep watching, but with some sadness. K-dramas are known to have trouble at times knowing how to bring their story arc to a conclusion without leaving things hanging. Maybe Psychopath Diary will figure out a good way to end that’s as good as the way it started.

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I too have been keeping up with Psychopath Diary, and I agree with some of your points. I love Yoon Shi Yoon’s acting in general, but I have to agree that his character could be more varied. The first few episodes were great, when he wasn’t taking anyone’s jerkiness. I loved how he stood up to people, yet he tried to find himself. I thought that would have been a great way to take the drama. Now, he just seems to cower a lot. sigh Kdrama writers, why are you doing this?

I also liked how the real psychopath thought YSY was just like him. Now that he found out that YSY is just some naive guy, he is trying to pin the crime on him. This doesn’t sit well with me because PSH’s character seems to take pride in his work, now suddenly he doesn’t want to get caught. I thought psychopaths wouldn’t care about what others think of them? He seems to be afraid of his dad, or at least, he wants to prove himself to his dad. I do think PSH is doing a great job, though.

Corporal Sim really bugs me. She takes advantage of her police name and tries to get into places/make people talk by pressuring them. I feel that she doesn’t have enough sensitivity, or if she does, it is towards the wrong characters. Idk, I have seen better policemen/policewomen in dramas.

Also, the fact that she let PSH’s character just waltz into her life shows me that she doesn’t have good instincts and thinking skills. Sure, psychopaths like to manipulate and quietly worm their way into people’s lives, but as a policewoman, she should be wary of everyone. Even my alarm would be going off if someone decided to take the liberty of putting my dad into a mental ward. To sum it up, she isn’t that smart.

I will also keep watching because I rather like the story, and I want to see how PSH’s character gets caught. Not to mention, I want to see Yook Dong Sik get his memory back.

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Yes, when poor Dong Sik gets his memory back, I hope they make good use of that. K-dramas do really well with characters getting revenge on behalf of the long-suffering little guy. I want to cheer somebody on.

Also, would be nice if that poor skinny kid with glasses has an opportunity to be a hero. In fact, the minor characters at the office and at Dong Sik’s parents’ restaurant could play a great part in bringing down the real psychopath.

If Psychopath Diary is being shown now in Korea, and we are getting episodes fairly close to the air dates there, then maybe we will actually see something interesting develop.

If the show has finished, and we are just getting whatever they came up with, oh well.

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I don’t know how the director can make it so hilarious. So talented! But in reality, if one wakes up with a psychopath diary and has amnesia, it is creepy rather than funny.

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Okay, so, ep 13 and 14 are pretty cool! I am loving the way the story is picking up. Everyone is doing a great job! I have high hopes for the ending. Many thanks to the subbers, they work so fast and they are amazing :smiley:

EDIT:
I finished watching Psychopath Diary, and what I can say is that the last episode wasn’t necessary. It was just filler scenes to reach the 16 ep. count. Probably the best lines spoken in the show were spoken by the trash collector guy on TV in the last episode:

“I was parked when I heard a thump. Little did I know a real piece of trash fell from the sky. That kind of trash can’t be recycled; it needs to be buried.” :rofl: (somewhat paraphrased).

Overall, the show was pretty good. It had too many coincidences for me to really believe the show, too many ‘holes’ or decisions made that didn’t make sense. Basically, the show could have been written better. The acting was outstanding, especially Park Sung Hoon. I actually felt bad for his character at the end, which is something that I hadn’t felt throughout the show. He did make me laugh many times, shudder, and look outside my window before going to bed.

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Because of current daily challenges which are causing me to lose way too much sleep, I am taking the best medicine for the soul I can think of. I am way overdosing on Asian dramas.

I am sooooo behind on Psychopath Diary, and am happy to hear things are improving for Yoon Shi Yoon. I am one of those who loves reading the last chapter of a book before I’m even half-way through the first chapter, but I am going to discipline myself to continue through, episode by episode, in order.

And I’ll try to keep myself focused with additional doses of Yoo Na’s Street (also known as Steal Heart), which I think of as a close sibling or close cousin of Psychopath Diary and the C-drama Mr. Fighting.

I could swim in a vat of the broth of love these series offer. And the most lovely part is how deeply and sincerely the subbers continue to pour out their hearts in these kinds of shows.

Viki subber fangirl, that’s me. But I don’t need any autographs. I see your signatures in every frame I watch! Thank you again and again for your hard work and sincerity and sense of love and fun!!!

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