First Impressions: Orange Marmelade

Now, this is more like it. I’ve been waiting and waiting for another kdrama to truly grab my interest and Orange Marmelade seems to be it. Of course, it’s a bit early to say for sure after just 2 episodes, as things can yet go to pot, but I love what I’ve seen so far.

It’s been forever since I sat through the early epis of a kdrama being captivated, enough not to notice the time. The whole thing just flows, effortlessly and the pace seems just right. Even the few somewhat indulging long shots didn’t grind the flow to a halt, like that sort of thing so often does. There is this lovely, whistful feel to all of it, sort of like a breeze you almost see, blowing through the scenes. Stopping here and there, playfully making things flutter before moving on to the next locale. I liked how they inserted the humor into the mix. It’s not OTT and thankfully they are not underlining it either. There is too much of that going around in kdramas in general. I sometimes wonder of TPTB don’t trust their own abilities to make people see what is funny or sad or angsty, so they succumb to heavy handed methods, like underlining the scenes. Sometimes it’s like they are using a really thick, red marker with a gaggle of exclamation marks and arrows to make their point. 🙂

The center of the story seems to be the human/vampire interactions. It’s about a supressed minority, one that is ostracized because they truly are ‘the other’ and thus feared. I’m rather interested in the vampire lore of this reality. Were vampires killers to begin with or did they just turn that way because they were hunted down for being ‘monsters’? Are they a separate spieces or just a strange human mutation? I hope we get at least some answers along the way. I can already see plenty of angst ahead but for once I don’t think it’ll be of the manufactured kind. There is a solid reason for it and the conflict to come.
I’m really liking the charcters as well and feel like I already know something about many of them. Besides, I’m eager to learn more as I’m sure there IS more to all of them. As expected, Yeo Jin Go is great. His Jae Min is almost like the perfect representative of a teenager at the cusp of adulthood with the ‘feels’, uncertainty, bravado and occasional truly awkward moments (yeah, I did chuckle aloud during that scene XD) that go with it. What is even better is that the rest of the cast is doing pretty darned fine too. I already love Ma Ri, there is something vulnerable and fragile about her but I don’t think she’ll turn out to be one of these weepy wet blankets we often get. Her mom and dad seem like loving, supporting parents, which I liked. Jong Hyun is a surprisingly good fit for the part, there’s a marked improvement from A Gentleman’s Dignity days. Whether Shi Ho is an ally or an obstacle is yet to be seen. Beotchy girl is beotchy but I guess we can’t do without one of those, sigh. I just hope she is more than just one of these one note crazy secondaries as that would be a pity. Song Jong Ho’s Yoon Jae seems to be a sweet guy and I’m really eager to find out more about his and Jae Min’s mom’s story. Inter racial relationships have their difficulties, even in this day and age but within the story’s context it feels like the situation could be something out of American historybooks.

Well, this was originally going to be just a part of my next drama grab bag but as it is, I had more to say about Orange Marmelade than I initially though. 😀