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Saturday, February 14, 2009

An uninspiring ending and money lessons on the side

Money WarI am a movie addict.

I love espionage movies, but more often, I prefer to watch (and collect DVDs) ‘feel-good’ movies. Among my all-time favorites are Jerry Maguire, With Honors, TAPS, Forrest Gump, Phenomenon, The American President, Dave, and Finding Forrester (Okay I gave you my list so that you have something good to watch during the weekend eh).

I rarely follow any TV series, except for the sitcom, “Two and a Half Men.” However, recently, I religiously trailed the Korean TV Drama, “Money War.”

I am not familiar with the actors, but the title itself intrigued me. In addition, the plot is similar with that of ‘Jerry Maguire’. A former topnotch fund manager, Geum Nara, was having a good life but suddenly went broke and utterly destitute because of his father’s debts (which by the way caused the demise of both his parents.). In a gist, he sought the help of a renowned ‘loan shark’ master who taught him the fundamentals of money-lending business and how money is to be earned, invested, and valued.

Tonight was the airing of the last episode and I was anticipating an inspiring ending, as the story seems to lead there. In this final episode, Nara was already a successful CEO of a big Korean Financial company, albeit he felt that something is lacking. So went to see his ex-girlfriend and proposed to marry her. All is going well so far until a visit from his ex-boss (a notorious loan shark) on the day of the wedding.

Darn! I was already feeling good, and then I almost drop my coffee mug when the soap ended with the death of Nara. Darn! Darn! Darn!

Alright. Call me shallow, but IMO, it was the most tragic or worst ending I’ve seen in a TV drama series. Probably the scriptwriters are masochists or do not one to compromise with the most common “and they lived happily ever after” ending; nevertheless, they could have chosen a better ending other than death.

Lessons on money and life in general, here are a few:

  • Luck is for the lazy. Hardwork, determination, and resiliency are important pre-requisites to succeed (and to getting rich).

  • What you sow, you reap. It is a fundamental law. Need I explain more?

  • Lastly,
“It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things that money can't buy.” (George Horace Lorimer)

13 comments:

  1. Wait for the Filipino version and you'll see a happy ending even after death. You know, dying then being sent back from heaven for a second life. :)

    I also love the movies Dave, The American President and Forrest Gump. They are the kind worth watching over and over again.

    Btw, hope it's not too late for a red greeting. Happy hearts day!!! ^^

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  2. Yeah, and sometimes (forgive me for not being patriotic here) that's what I hate about em -it's so predictable. But this one, deserves a better ending rather than having the lead actor beaten to death on the day of his wedding. Probably, my reactions was shared by most Koreans because in as much as I want a "closure" for myself, I did a little googling. And presto, the producer made a 4-episode bonus for the show that ended up ok. Not as exciting with the first but it was okey though.

    Ey, happy hearts' day too ^^ No dates?

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  3. Dates? Nah. Got a lot of work to do and a deadline to meet. But, had you flown over here earlier, I would've made an exception. ^^,

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  4. wish i caught this show. it's always shown so late especially when survivor philippines was shown. so by the time that it moved to an earlier time slot, i no longer could follow the story.

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  5. @ Kcee

    dang! I could have flown earlier, and took you for a date than seeing my ex. :( *sighs*

    @ Alem

    yeah. lucky for me, am all nighter. But you can still catch the whole series, try the you tube.

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  6. I'll take a raincheck then.^^

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  7. *coughs*

    alright then. ^^

    *starts perspiring*

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  8. I always see this on TV but not actually watched it. My mother followed this that's why i get to see it.

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  9. It was a very inspiring tele-drama to watch. Actually, it seems like the story was tailor-fitted for Filipino audiences.

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  10. i was following this Koreanovela series but I haven't seen the finale episode. Well, good thing still, I might be more than disappointed to see the ending than you do!:) the Korean actor is my favorite from the hit of "Lover's in Paris".

    yep, "Money War" has lessons to share.

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  11. This is the first and maybe the last koreanovela I've had the chance of watching. I usually stay up at night in the computer room, surfing and blogging. My sister watches these types of shows often and I actually got tempted to try this one. I had interest in it since it had something to do with money lending principles. I was so shocked that the main character got killed in the end.

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  12. That is a depressing ending...
    Lessons still ring true though.
    I'm definitly a big believer in karma.

    Nice blog you have by the way!

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  13. @ ev

    good for you.^^, coz' until now I can still taste the bad taste it left in my mouth.

    @ jared

    "Shocking" is probably milder than what I felt :(

    @ G

    Well, that's true. As they say in an American cliche, "what goes around, comes around."

    Thank you for the compliment. ^^

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Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts ^_~