Y’know, like in your head, you have the Perfect scenario, the Perfect male lead, the Perfect female lead, the Perfect second leads, and the Most Perfect story arcs, Ever? The kind of idea that makes you go, “OMGGGG I WOULD WATCH THAT DRAMA!!!!”???
Where if you could have it your way, this drama would be filmed and produced, stat, and immediately given a time slot on a Korean network, so that the entire dramaverse would be able to inhale the awesome, in unison?
Well, I and the ladies on this blog certainly have a few of those, and not only am I gonna share those awesome scenarios with you today, we wanna hear about your Perfect Dream Drama too!
Sometimes a dream drama scenario is inspired by an awesome drama that we just wanna see more of.
Sometimes it’s inspired by the awesomeness of an actor / actress that we could so imagine doing a particular type of role flat-out brilliant justice.
Sometimes it’s coz there’s so much wasted potential in a disappointing drama (or dramas) that we start dreaming up an alternative, wayyy better drama for the actors/actresses/scenario.
If you’ve been following the comments threads on some of the posts on this blog, you might have come across some of our squee-storming and the various ideas that the ladies and I have been toying with. We get a little (ok, a lot) excited, and often, the story threads span several different comment threads across the blog and it’s hard to keep track of the story as it evolves.
It’s been boatloads of fun though, and honestly, it didn’t even occur to me to centralize the ideas in one place, until resident squee-stormer and recent giveaway winner Lady G left me this comment a couple of days ago:
Seriously. What an awesome idea!!
So without further ado, let’s dive right in!
As is befitting the major k-loves in my life, I’ve got a bit of a scenario for each of my big k-loves. Yep, there’s a scenario each for Gong Yoo, Jang Hyuk and (an as yet still somewhat underdeveloped one for) Kim Woo Bin.
Of course, you get to pick whomever you wanna construct your dream drama around, in the comments section (more on that later!).
1. Gong Yoo: Action Rom-Com
This action rom-com idea is still brewing and growing as I type this, and is the brainchild of Lady G, who was inspired after seeing this photo of Gong Yoo that kaiaraia posted:
We all agreed that Gong Yoo looks like he loves kids and seems to be pretty great with them. Lady G’s active imagination immediately went to work, and she posted this initial scenario:
SOLD.
What a fun premise! And as if we need any more convincing, here’s more evidence of Gong Yoo being adorable with a kid:
Ahhhh!!! So! Much! Cute! ❤
As other commenters got in on the action, the comments started multiplying and our scenario started growing and evolving.
Here’s what we’ve got so far.
Billionaire Bistro Baby (Tentative title)
재주소년 - 손잡고 허밍 (with 요조)
We have Gong Yoo as a somewhat-grumpy cabbie by day:
And a singer/songwriter/musician by night, who plays sets at night in a bistro/jazz bar as a second job, coz that’s his true passion:
Who one day meets Han Chae Ah, a strong, modern, career-minded passenger in his cab:
Hijinks ensue when they discover a baby girl in the backseat of the cab, and they each think the other is trying to ditch the baby.
But really, why would anyone want to ditch this baby??
Seriously, this is a real Korean baby. Click the pic to see her in adorable real-life action on YouTube!
Add on! Backstory!!
Meet Baby Dad (Kim Byeong Se)
And Baby Mom (Kim Hye Seon)
They’re smart, kind, philanthropic people, and have tried to conceive for the longest time, but couldn’t. Baby Mom gets unfairly criticized and mocked by the family and feels depressed, but her husband fiercely supports her. She’s his precious wife that he fought tooth and nail to marry even though she came from a middle class family (In his family’s eyes, POOR family.)
Then one magical day after a magical weekend getaway from said pushy, mean family, Mom finds out she’s pregnant and everything is happy and roses. Baby Yerin is born and they love and adore her like a little princess.
Dad is the mega rich CEO of a music company that his grandfather started. So little Baby Yerin is worth billions and they have always tried to protect her.
Now meet Disgruntled 36-year-old Pop Star (Eric Mun).
Disgruntled Pop Star has been cut from future record deals because of his inability to produce hits. In his heyday he was very good, but he turned into a huge diva and the fans moved on. He tried his hand at acting, but his drama debut tanked and he was scorned. The Anti-fans spread lots of rumors, many that were actually true, about him being mean to fans, making outrageous demands, etc. So his popularity dropped to zilch.
He pleads on his knees to the CEO (thinking he can just storm in and take his issue to the top brass) but he gets turned down for an extended contract. He vows revenge in a big hissy fit.
He gets the evil glint in his eye and the master plan forms when the CEO shoos him out to take a personal call with his wife and he sees him pick up a picture of his beloved baby Yerin, even cooing to her on the phone.
Disgruntled Pop Star’s horrible idea is not thought-through well enough. Not having enough cash left because he’s so extravagant, he hires gangsters from a hole-in-the-wall ‘lending center’ to make the kidnapping.
Meet Kim Myung Min, our head gangster!!! He is exactly as he was in Bad Family, which means that by the end, he’s a softie. Except in this alterna-verse, he’s got a different name and love interest and isn’t trying to form a fake family.
Head Gangster doesn’t realize the job involves a baby until it’s too late. He blows a fuse on his guys for daring to even take such a drastic measure. The old rule applies, no women and children. At this point Head Gangster also gets a little attached to the baby when she does her sleepy act with him.
In the process of trying to return the baby to her parents, the gangsters nearly get caught, so a big stupid one tosses the baby in the cab while GY is out getting a soda. GY comes back, and our leading lady jumps in. Hilariously no one is paying attention until they hear a little giggle and baby talk from the floor…
…which is how our befuddled new baby guardians end up on the run while trying to dodge the mobsters and get the baby back into the arms of her anxious parents.
Since this is such a rom-com, Head Gangster needs a little loving too. Which is where GY’s older sister, Choi Jung Won, comes in.
Noona is just a year older than GY and takes her noona role seriously, coz their mother died while she and GY were very young and after their father remarried, he was never around much. Which means that she’s always taken it upon herself to care for her younger brother. She’s a strong independent sort of woman, but is a big softie on the inside.
Kim Myung Min keeps coming to her door with the excuse of looking for GY while GY and Chae Ah are on the run and she’s all confused thinking her brother owes loan sharks.
Because noona is a teacher in high school, the kkangpae (gangsters) follow her to school and nag her for GY’s whereabouts, then pounce on a bunch of rotten schoolboys when they get fresh with her. And Kim Myung Min roars at them, “Do you want to eat dirt??” HA!
Add on!
Now meet Kim Sun Ah reprising her role as Kim Sam Soon as our second female lead, whose crossover is DDee‘s brainchild.
Hyun Bin is Han Chae Ah’s sort-of rich boyfriend at the beginning of our show, who pines after her and wants to plan her life for her runs a music studio and works for the Baby Dad’s company. He’s trying to get his bestie GY a contract but it hasn’t happened yet. He is attracted to Chae Ah:
But ends up with Sam Soon instead:
Somehow, GY and Chae Ah manage to dodge what must be rather bumbling mobsters, with these elements that Lady G has laid out:
Hyun Bin has a rooftop spare room where he helps GY and Chae Ah by allowing them to crash for a while. HB comes in to work and mess around, and has the hots for Chae Ah, which makes GY jealous.
In the studio setting, there’s ample opportunity for some GY cutesy music play time with the baby:
AND some swoony late nite heart-to-heart time with our leads by the piano, topped off with an almost kiss..
With the mobsters (temporarily?) off their tail, our cabbie and his passenger end up caring for the baby together at his apartment HB’s rooftop apartment, where she finally meets GY’s grumpy cat, who’s been brought over so that he won’t be home alone:
Who gives her the evil eye but is as sweet and as amicable as can be to Gong Yoo. And who has his own fabulous grumpy-demanding-cat soundtrack.
Go on, I dare you to listen to this song while looking at that fabulously grumpy face and not giggle
Clazziquai Project – Cat Bossa
Grumpy cat has his quirks too, and leading lady’s aversion to cats adds to the cat-related funnies:
Now meet Chae Ah’s suave, handsome, rich yet shifty on-again-off-again boyfriend, Song Jong Ho:
…who’s really deep in debt because he keeps living beyond his means.
Chae Ah dates him on-and-off while in hiding with GY. GY finds out and gets mad because they were supposed to cut off contact with people until they can sort things out. Which means no dating. Plus he’s already getting steaming jealous of this guy and really doesn’t trust him. (GY has a good eye for judging character.) One night on a date our lady gets drunk and accidentally tells Shady Boyfriend about the baby. So his gears start turning.
Shady Boyfriend gets ideas to try and hold Baby Yerin for ransom next. He is a money laundering accountant for Kim Myung Min’s ‘company’ and when they find out he begs for his life and pulls out the wild card that he knows exactly where the baby is hidden! But he wants a cut of the profits.
Eventually, Shady Boyfriend’s the one who kidnaps our girl and the baby for the last time and everyone comes to save them.
In the meantime, though, as GY and Chae Ah spend time in the same living space, sweet, warm encounters ensue, peppered generously with the comic, all set to the easy, breezy soundtrack.
She gets to see him do everyday things like get groceries for them:
And she gets to see him groove and croon at the bistro/jazz bar:
And of course, sharing the same living space, she can’t help but come across a lil bit of this:
And this:
Thud. (What’s a Gong Yoo drama without a shirtless scene, right? Or several shirtless scenes??)
Her eyes get attracted first, and then her heart. But her brain is the last to catch up, and so we have our heroine in various scenes of comic confusion and perplexity. Like, why am I staring? Why does the memory of him grooving on that stage keep haunting me? Why did I have a sexy dream about him?
One dream that she has, courtesy of Lady G:
“One of [the dreams] should be in a smoky nightclub where she gets serenaded. and she puckers up, someone starts playing the sexy saxophone then suddenly it starts sounding like a crying baby! I can see her falling off her chair as he comes closer and closer, cuz in reality she fell off the bed, the baby is crying and he’s coming closer and closer holding her because her diaper needs major changing. (At this point he’s not the expert yet. haha!)”
Another dream I have in mind is where our lovebirds go on a romantic date, with wine, flowers, dancing, and they even share a sexy, sweet kiss.. and then she wakes up only to find herself making out with her pillow..! Pffft.
And of course, they eventually come around to their mutual attraction and love for each other in what Lady G calls their “seal the deal” kiss:
Unlike most other kdramas, this “seal the deal” kiss won’t be their last. Nuh-uh, not in this drama.
After the baby’s finally reunited with her parents, our story ends on this arc, as described by Lady G:
As we see their lives unfold after the baby’s been returned to her parents, we get lots of kisses, as they build their new life together. We see them find romance in the everyday things, like stealing hot kisses in the kitchen while managing their bistro, for example.
He goes in for a sweltering kiss in the Bistro kitchen as she’s busy cooking and balancing two plates for their super busy opening night. He grabs her face and plants one on her. And she takes the time to kiss him right back. And there is some hot ‘n heavy breathing to go with, until they break the moment to go back to bistro business. Swoon.
And of course, we also get lots of everyday closeness with sizzling, off-the-charts chemistry, sorta like this:
Thud.
OMGGG. The sexyyyy.
Can you wrap your mind around THE AWESOME??!!!! *flails*
As so aptly described by DDee, our leads all have happy-ever-afters, co-running the bistro together:
Add on!
Noona never dreamed she would fall for a kkangpae, but Kim Myung Min wears her down with his earnestness and Chazz Palminteri sexiness and he vows to leave the “business” for her.
Little bro GY is very unhappy about Noona dating the gangster who was chasing them so Noona keeps her surprising love life a secret for a while.
Little bro and Noona have several squabbles in the meantime. She brings up all the horrible dates she’s had to toss out on their rears because of him, and then he brings up how he had to do the same for her lousy boyfriends and chase them down through the mazes of houses for daring to get fresh with his Noona. [cue montage of LOL flashbacks]
GY finally realizes Kim Myung Min is a good guy when he helps them save everybody, and in the end, GY makes him a general manager at their night club and even gives his cronies jobs as bouncers and bartenders/waiters.
Disgruntled Pop Star deeply regrets his dumb idea of taking the baby hostage, and apologizes. He even makes amends by offering to sing regularly at the Bistro. As he learns to accept his lesser ‘status’ and becomes a better man, he even eventually finds love. [Take your pick of Kim Sun Ah or Ha Ji Won, depending on who you picked as your second female lead ;)]
Add on! Epilogue!
Time-skip of 2 years later, we see billionaire baby all grown into a cheeky little young lady, as you can see in this vid:
In the meantime, GY’s and Chae Ah’s son is turning out be adorable and cheeky, just like his father:
She’s the little noona to Baby Boy, and visits often.
She often spews little words of advice to the little one when GY & Chae Ah aren’t looking. Like, “Be nice to the cat.. he’s the boss” Baby Boy always just looks back at her wearing that cheeky face, and says nothing.
But then after she’s gone home, we see him do exactly what she says. Like offer the cat his favorite toy and stroke Grumpy Cat’s head while Grumpy Cat gives him the bemused stare-down. LOL!
All while GY and Chae Ah watch him with amusement and wonder, and GY remarks, “Hey, look at that, he’s never done that before!” Hahaha!
How awesome is that?
Now tell me you wouldn’t want to watch this drama!
Add on! Alterna-verse!
This is for those who don’t prefer a Kim Sam Soon crossover. So, you can imagine a Secret Garden crossover instead! Hee.
We’d still have Hyun Bin as our second male lead, but our second female lead would be Ha Ji Won:
She’s Chae Ah’s tomboy bestie, who gets all huffy on Chae Ah’s behalf and confronts GY when Chae Ah basically puts her life on hold in order to help GY with the baby.
Of course, we need tomboy Ji Won to also get all confronty with Hyun Bin, who’s trying to control Chae Ah’s life . While she schools him on what truly loving someone really means, As Bestie Ha Ji Won joins forces with HB to help our lead couple navigate all their problems, we get stare-downs that turn into deep electric gazes, and a romance is reluctantly born
2. Jang Hyuk: Chuno Sequel – The Modern-Day, Fantasy Edition
Those of you who kept up with my Liebster post might’ve read some or most of this scenario, but here it is in full, this time with lots of interesting add-ons that emerged in the comments threads.
Chuno OST - 추노
Basically, I think Jang Hyuk as Lee Dae Gil is such a badass character in Chuno. AND, I think Jang Hyuk rocks the goatee & mane of glory. So much. AND, I think he does clean up real nice in a suit.
So, in my drama, Dae Gil would time-travel to the present and wear a sharp suit while retaining his mane of glory. Kinda like this:
He’d learn to live life as an ordinary modern citizen by day, and prowl the city by night, fighting injustice and taking down baddies, still wielding his trusty blade from Chuno, and still wearing the same badass schmexy smirk.
Certainly, there’d be occasion for him to go shirtless too:
He’d be searching for General Choi (Han Jung Soo) and Wang Son (Kim Ji Suk), who, unlike him, haven’t time traveled to the present, but have reincarnated their way here and therefore don’t remember him. (What, this is kdrama, right? Anything can happen *shrug*)
In line with their dreams while living as slave hunters, General Choi is now a farmer living a quiet life, while Wang Son is now living it up as the chaebol prince of a hotel-casino conglomerate (Ha).
When Dae Gil finds General Choi and Wang Son, they rekindle their bromance (one major arc of the story) and start to prowl the streets together (the second major arc), fighting baddies and taking them down together as the dream team that they’re destined to be.
Wang Son still takes care of the group’s meals, and his complaints are louder and more aggravated than ever, “What, I’m a chaebol prince now, and I STILL GOTTA COOK?!?”
Playing Dae Gil’s leading lady would not be Lee Da Hae, coz that’s been done to death already. Instead, we’d have the wonderful Shin Min Ah, who would be the feisty, strong, streetwise girl who knows Dae Gil’s secret and helps to protect him while keeping him in line. They probably do bicker their way to romance, and I can’t find a single thing wrong with that.
Dae Gil would smirk at her, and she’d smirk right back at him, then raise her fist:
Eventually she’ll break down all his defenses, of course. Coz who can resist Shin Min Ah?
General Choi’s quiet stoic charm has always been massively irresistible to women, and this time is no exception. He will finally meet his love match in Wang Son’s no-nonsense hotel business manager, played by Kim Sun Ah:
Playing resident baddie would be Kim Gab Soo, just because he’s brilliant at being calm yet chilling:
To top it all off, we would get an extended cameo by Jung Il Woo, coz if you’ve seen the first 10 minutes of The Return of Iljimae, you’d know that he’s immortal and kicks ass even in the present:
While also rocking the modern mane of glory:
Now, I already thought this was the most fantastic, kickass scenario I’d ever heard, but the scenario continued to grow and evolve and take on even more awesome facets.
First of all, the awesome Dnoella, who’d first triggered the scenario with her Liebster question, had a couple of ideas to add, which then made me have more ideas:
And so we have time-traveling Seolhwa (Kim Ha Eun), who’s come all the way to the present, still in pursuit of Dae Gil Orabeoni:
There’s fish-out-of-water time-traveling hijinks, sure, but she finds that some things do stay essentially the same:
Ha.
To earn her keep, Seolhwa works at a sleazy nightclub, singing just like she used to in the past. At some later point in time, some guy tries to get fresh and frisky with her, and Dae Gil busts in to save her, which is how they reunite.
But not before she meets roguish badass Yoo Ah In:
Who helps her navigate the modern world, and who’s also besties with Song Joong Ki (we hafta rekindle their awesome Sungkyunkwan Scandal bromance, right?):
Eventually, Seolhwa moves on from her Dae Gil love when she finds herself falling for Yoo Ah In.
And the awesome doesn’t end there either, coz Lady G and I had a whale of a time squee-storming more facets and arcs to our story!
Next up, we have Song Il Gook as a suspicious detective on the trail of the mysterious “Avenging Angel” that Dae Gil becomes known as.
He’s a muscled, macho jock who’s a great fighter but just a leeettle slow in the head. He is hilarious, and the running gag is him furrowing his brow and musing aggravatedly and roaring in frustration, coz our favorite trio outsmart him and give him the slip time and time, AND time again. HAHAHA!! XD
And we have Oh Ji Ho as a descendant of Tae Ha, who works with Kim Gab Soo’s character. He’s mysterious. Maybe bad, maybe good.
Eventually, we learn that he’s nowhere near as principled or as heroic as great-granddaddy Tae Ha. Dae Gil then shows him lots and lots of tough love (and that will also give us opportunities for some epic fight scenes!) in order to whip him into the kind of man that would make his great-granddaddy proud.
Also working for Kim Gab Soo’s shady character is reincarnated Eonnyeon (Lee Da Hae). She’s a good girl, but works for the shady guy coz of family debt.
Tae Ha is totally in love with her and quietly protects her from everything while working alongside her.
Of course Dae Gil will have to sort out his feelings for her at some point, because he’s really attracted to a new girl (yay Shin Min Ah!) and for the first time feels free of the crushing, smothering obsession with Eonnyeon. At first when he sees her again he gets all weepy and depressed, but then he realizes that he can open his heart again to someone else and be happy.
Next, we have Lee Jong Hyuk as a reincarnated Commander Hwang.
Unlike his past self, this time, he will be a big ally to our boys, giving him the opportunity to right any regrets he may have had. He’s the smart cop to Song Il Guk’s dumb cop.
At the same time, we have Ha Si Eun (who played Commander Hwang’s wife in Chuno), as a reincarnated version of herself. Except this time, instead of having palsy like this:
She’s their crime team leader, sharp as nails & whip-smart to boot:
Reincarnated Commander Hwang has to woo her with everything he’s got, ha. Plus, now Commander Hwang is working under a woman who in the past was under HIS thumb. Muahahaha!
What a monster of a drama, eh?? But what an awesome, epic monster it would be!!!
3. Kim Woo Bin: School 2013 – The Adult Years
김건모 - 빨간 우산
Those of you who read my School 2013 review would know how much I luffed Kim Woo Bin and Lee Jong Suk together as Heung Soo and Nam Soon.
I just couldn’t get enough of their fabulous bromance, and I remember several of my blogosphere friends remarked about having sequels to the show, featuring these two characters: College 2015, followed by MS 2018, ha.
This particular scenario, though, takes place after the boys finish MS, and eventually set up the shops that Kim Woo Bin foresaw in this interview: that Heung Soo would open a PC bang (internet cafe), and Nam Soon would open a comic book store.
At age 28, they still hang out together and do all sorts of bromantic, boy stuff together.
Heung Soo’s love interest would be played by Jung Eun Ji:
I love that she’s age-appropriate, natural, earthy and talented, with charm and spunk to spare.
She shows up one day in Heung Soo’s PC bang, coz she’s the new technician sent to service the machines, heh. She’s smart, sassy and good-humored, and knows her way around the male-dominated world of computers. She comes by regularly to service and fix the computers, and is drawn to Heung Soo. She doesn’t let his reticence stop her from making friends with him, and often pushes his buttons just to get a reaction out of him.
We see Heung Soo battle bemusement and intrigue, as well as a side of unfamiliar, puzzling attraction, as Eun Ji worms her way into his heart with sunny blitheness. We get lots of bickering, romantic goodness as these “friends” eventually spend time hanging out together, and she basically teaches him about different ways of seeing the world, as well as instructs him on the inner workings of the female species.
Nam Soon’s love interest will be played by Park Se Young, reprising her role as Song Ha Gyung:
Ha Gyung’s graduated from college since we last saw her, and now teaches at her alma mater. She’s got the rowdy class, and takes them in hand with a nice balance of friendly and fierce. Teacher In Jae and Teacher Se Chan (Jang Na Ra and Daniel Choi), who are now married, are very proud of her.
Ha Gyung still nurses that one-sided love for Nam Soon, and makes time to visit him at his comic book store, under the pretext that she’s developed a new-found love for comics. Hee.
While there, she flirts with Nam Soon and regularly asks him out to dinner (y’know, since they both haven’t eaten, and she’s already there, and she’s hungry..)
Nam Soon is equally confused and puzzled with the sudden influx of female attention, and our two boys often find time to hang out together and ask each other bemused questions such as, “Why do you think she did that?”
Giggle. I can just imagine the completely inaccurate interpretations these two give each other, as they flounder their way through the new minefield that is called romance. Hee.
Of course, they both eventually fall head over heels in love with the women in their lives, and find their happy-ever-afters, all while keeping the bromance all kinds of awesome and very much intact.
Whaddya think?!? Wouldn’t you watch this drama?
Add on! Crossovers!!
Hee. As Lady G and I were squee-storming in the comments, I had a brainwave. Seriously. I am SO excited!
Since Ha Gyung from my School 2013 sequel works at her alma mater, we’ll have GY’s sister work at the same high school! They’re colleagues in both shows, and in each drama, we have little throwaway lines that actually give us little tidbits on the OTHER drama’s story!!
Like, we could have a scene in the 2013 sequel where Ha Gyung’s having a conversation with GY’s sister, who remarks worriedly that she thinks her brother owes money to loan sharks.
Or, a scene in our GY rom-com, where his sister talks to Ha Gyung in school and sees her carrying a stack of comic books & asks her, “Since when were you a comic book fan??”
AND! Can you imagine both shows airing at the same time?!? We’d have the School 2013 sequel as a Monday-Tuesday drama, and the GY rom-com as a Wednesday-Thursday drama. Then, as people follow both shows, they get little extras here and there – you almost HAVE to watch both shows to get the full story, but you don’t have to!
HOW AWESOME WOULD IT BE TO DO A LIVE WATCH??? You don’t feel like you’re waiting a whole week for new episodes to air coz you never know what little tidbit will drop while watching the other drama!
Ahhhh!! THE POTENTIAL AWESOME!!! *flails*
Now, It’s Your Turn!
What’s your Dream Drama? Or do you have more than one? Share your ideas with us in the comments!
Or do you have more ideas to beef up the scenarios I’ve shared? Share your ideas in the comments too!
As Lady G mentioned in her original comment, anything goes. The world is your oyster when it comes to casting. You can have your dream cast, even if it means it’s Jang Dong Gun (circa 2000) romancing Kim So Yeon (circa 2013).
Just one rule, please. And that is, when starting a new scenario, please start a New Comment. When adding to a current thread of comments, please make sure it’s for the right drama scenario, so that we can keep our kickass imaginary dream dramas straight in our heads, mmkay?
Also, if you want to illustrate your scenarios with photos, please provide the link and I will embed them for you if possible (coz we learned recently that I’m the only one with photo embedding rights on this blog).
Don’t have a full scenario, but have a seedling of a potentially awesome idea? Share it anyway! Then other people can help build on your idea to flesh out your scenario!
So it’s been confirmed: Gong Yoo is guesting on Running Man, together with his The Suspect co-star Park Hee Soon. On 8 December! Which is very, very soon! Eeeee!!!
…And which almost every Gong Yoo fangirl or fanboy would know by now, actually.
So what’s the point of this post, you ask?
Well. Seeing as how rare it is that we get to see Gong Yoo on our screens at all, let alone on variety giant Running Man, this is just too momentous an occasion to let pass without a bit of fanfare.
So. We are officially gathering for a squee-fest! And you’re welcome to join us!
First of all, if you haven’t seen the trailer, here it is for your squeeing pleasure:
!!! Doesn’t it look like all kinds of awesome??
And here’re some stills, just in case you found the trailer too fleeting:
Gah. It looks like it’s gonna be an awesome episode of epic proportions.
Gong Yoo is just the naturally quick-on-his-feet, witty sort, so it’s always a treat to see him doing stuff like interviews. I can only imagine the epic-ness of him doing variety. My mind. It’s boggling while trying to imagine the awesome.
Hence the squee-fest, which is DDee‘s brainchild. I’m in total support, of course, coz I always say shared squee is the best kind. ^.~
How This SHOULD Work:
Ok, so neither DDee nor I have organized a squee-fest before, but we’re willing to brave some new frontiers in the name of fangirl dedication, heh.
Video
We will all source our own videos and play them simultaneously – it’s just more practical that way, than say, sharing screens.
If you are in the US, you can watch the episode subbed on DramaFever.
If you’re not in the US, you can watch streaming subbed episodes of Running Man on kshowonline.
Alternatively, if you’d like to torrent the episode and the subs, you can visit AsiaTorrents. [Registration is open all of this month (December 2013), so if you're not yet a member and have always wanted to be, now's a good time!]
Date & Time
We wanted to make this as accessible a time as possible, for all our GY-loving friends all over the world, so I’m thinking 9:00pm Singapore time (UTC+08:00) on Saturday, 14 December.
This would mean it’ll be sometime in the morning for our friends like Lady G and ling in the US and Canada, and sometime in the afternoon for friends like muffin in South Africa. And our friends like evez and kaiaraia in The Philippines are in the same time zone as us.
Seeing as it’s a Saturday, I’m hoping this means more of us will be available to make it.
Platform
I can think of a couple of platforms that we could use for our squee-fest, but of course, nothing’s quite perfect. Here they are, with the pros and cons.
1. Twitter
Upside: It’s easy and if you don’t already have an account, it’s not hard at all to get set up. We don’t need to set up a group beforehand.
Downside: Character limits on every tweet, which gets tighter with every additional person added to the group tweet.
2. Skype Voice Chat
Upside: We get to hear one another’s voices and can watch our show without typing like mad at the same time.
Downside: It’ll probably be super confusing, especially with more people involved, and us never having heard one another’s voices before. We will probably never know who’s saying what at any given time.
3. Skype Instant Messaging
Upside: Group chats are easy to form, and we will always know who’s saying what at any given point in time.
Downside: If you don’t already have Skype, you’d need to get an account. Plus we all need to find one another on Skype before our squee date.
4. Gchat
Upside: If you’ve already got Gchat, it’s easy to do group chats.
Downside: If you don’t already have Gchat, the new version is Hangouts and doesn’t seem to work as well. At least for me.
5. Facebook Group Chat
Upside: Group chats are apparently easy to form. We’ll know who’s saying what at any time.
Downside: We need to make sure everyone’s connected on Facebook before our squee date. I have just reactivated my very super inactive Facebook account, in case this turns out to be a popular choice.
That SHOULD be all!
So whaddya say?? Dya want to be part of the squee-fest??
If your answer’s yes, pick your preferred platform below! You can pick more than one option.
Please vote by 11 December, 11:59pm (UTC+08:00), so that we can figure out how to get connected on the chosen platform before our squee date!
If you’re in, let us know in the comments below! If you’ve got a better timeslot/platform to suggest, let us know in the comments as well!
And if you’ve got a question, let us know too! Uh. We may not actually have an answer for you, but we’ll certainly try!
Eeeee!!! I’m exciteddd!! Come squee with us!!
UPDATE!! 12 December 2013: SQUEE DEETS FOR ALL THE SQUEE PEEPS!!
Ok, everyone! So the votes are in, and Facebook group chat wins!!
So DDee and I have reactivated our Facebook accounts, and we’ve got a Facebook group now, just for the squee fest! I’ve made the group an open one, so that anyone can join easily, ie, we won’t need to spend time on you guys requesting to join, and then approving members one by one. once you request to join, anyone already in the group can approve your request.
Just visit the Facebook group and join before the squee fest, it’s that easy! And then, when it’s time for our squee date, we’ll start a group chat with everyone who’s in the group, and we can squee together to our hearts’ content! Wheee!
I can hardly believe it, you guys.. Today the blog turns one year old. ONE YEAR OLD!!
Wow.
How surreal. From being a long-term, persistent lurker around the dramaverse, it’s now been a full year since I’ve been running this blog. Which, really, is the exact opposite of being a lurker.
What a turnaround. And I never even saw it coming, even.
So, so many thoughts, y’all.
Shut Up Flower Boy Band OST – Love U Like U
I must say that I’ve grown very fond of the blog, even though blogging was something I sort of stumbled into rather than actually planned on doing.
Not only has the blog been a very real outlet for my urge to write, it’s been such a gratifying, surprising journey filled with things that I hadn’t expected.
SURPRISING THINGS ABOUT THE BLOGGING EXPERIENCE
1. Learning gets real
I’d never done anything even close to blogging before, prior to starting this blog. In my head, I’d guessed that running a website was a really technical sort of thing. In my head, I’d also assumed that running a blog would be a whole lot simpler than actually running a website.
While my assumptions weren’t quite wrong, I really expected this blogging thing to be way less technical than it is. I’ve learned so much, seriously, just from running the blog on a day-to-day basis. From learning to work the WordPress dashboard, to using various tools, to making headers, it’s been a whirlwind of acquiring new knowledge and skills.
I now kinda-sorta know how to use GIMP to do photo-editing, and I learn more with each new header that I make. And that’s a pretty nifty, useful skill I never thought I’d acquire. It’s been altogether surprising how much I’ve learned through caring for this blog.
2. Cyber friendships get real
When I dipped my toe into the blogosphere, I sort of knew that I would make connections with other drama fans in the course of exchanging thoughts and comments on the dramas that I planned to write about.
What’s taken me by serious surprise, is how real those friendships have become to me.
From fellow bloggers to twitter pals to regular readers of the blog, the sense of closeness that we get from one another has become increasingly strong and real.
As lives get shared in the course of all the drama-viewing & spazzing, we’ve gotten to know one another more and more, and I often find myself thinking of my “cyber” pals (quotation marks coz they aren’t simply so cyber anymore) when I see or experience something that I want to share with them.
Like the other day, when I got on my flight for my work trip to Hong Kong, and discovered that the in-flight entertainment system had the first episode of Grandpas Over Flowers, subbed?!? Man, I was so, sooo super excited and wished that I could squee through the episode with you guys.
When my sister had her baby, there were so many of you who expressed care and concern, asking after my sister, my flight, and my new nephew.
Of course, you guys also regularly show your love by either tweeting me or dropping by the blog to share goodies like photos, gifs, videos and articles with me, even if it’s not for a k-love that you share. The number of Gong Yoo and Woobie goodies I’ve received are dear to me not only coz I love (LOVE!) those boys, but also because of how the goodies were proffered so generously and sweetly by all my thoughtful friends.
And when I go for a stretch without chatting with you guys, I miss you. That’s definitely more real than cyber, imo.
Big hugs, y’all ❤
3. The community gets real
If I had to pick just one favorite thing about how the blog has evolved, it’d be how it’s become a place to hang out and chat.
Over time, comments on the blog turned into real conversations and I already really love that. And then, a marvelous thing happened. Suddenly, people weren’t just talking to me; they – you! – started talking with one another.
We became a community. Woah.
What blows my mind even more, is that the blog’s become a community where people get excited to see new joiners & welcome them on my behalf. kaiaraia and evez are like resident unnies on the blog, and it warms my heart SO much, when they welcome new commenters on my behalf, or answer questions on my behalf when they know that I’m on a work trip and unable to answer the questions myself.
Seeing them do their unnie thing puts a huge goofy grin on my face, and I love it. So. Much.
Thanks, you guys, for loving this place as your own. ❤
CHALLENGES OF THE BLOGGING EXPERIENCE
Much as I hold dear the great things about blogging, it isn’t without its challenges.
1. It’s a time eater
Hosting a blog takes way more time that I ever imagined. Seriously. The amount of time it takes to write posts, format them, upload screenshots and other photos, as well as check and edit everything, sometimes on top of dealing with lagging internet or a buggy WordPress interface is no joke.
I once almost lost 11,000 words of my Gaksital review coz of a problem saving on WordPress. Shudder. Thankfully, I managed to copy the draft off my otherwise frozen screen and paste it into a new draft. Phew. Or you might’ve never seen my Gaksital review, seriously. Coz I don’t know if I could’ve rewritten it all..!
You’ve probably also noticed that I make it a point to respond personally to as many comments as I can. I love responding to your comments coz it allows me to get to know you guys. It does take time though, and making time for this is part of the challenge of running this blog.
Sometimes it’s hard to keep up, especially when Real Life acts up.
I’m grateful, though, that you guys are super patient, not only with waiting for my responses to your comments, but also with my relative infrequency of posting. Thanks, y’all ❤
2. You watch a lot less drama
It’s one of those paradoxes that you don’t discover until you start blogging, really.
No one really tells you that once you start to blog about the dramas that you love so much, that it actually eats up many, many of your drama hours. From being a lurker who used to be up-to-date on all the latest dramas, I’ve become a blogger who’s behind on so many of the new dramas that I probably shouldn’t write a year-in-review post. I dunno. Maybe I’ll write one anyway.
Going forward, I really need to find a way to get more drama on my screen.
3. Finding a way to balance it all
A couple of months ago, I faced my first existential crisis as a blogger. Essentially, I realized that writing about dramas was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it brought certain dramas to glorious, textured life. On the other hand, it killed a lot of the joy of watching drama for me, coz I basically became overly analytical without even realizing it.
I’m still experimenting with how I consume my dramas and how I write about them, as I search for that elusive Middle Ground that so many other bloggers are looking for too.
THOUGHTS GOING FORWARD
In my existential post, I did muse mildly about whether or not I wanted to continue blogging.
When I started the blog on a whim, it was an experiment. I just wanted to find out what it was like to have a blog, really. I figured that if it got too complicated or if I got too tired, I could stop at any time.
One year in, I’ve realized that it isn’t quite so simple anymore. Because of the community that the blog has become, it’s no longer just a place on the internet where I can post my drama thoughts. It’s become a place where friendships have become real; the fabric of the blog has evolved from being made up simply of threads of my various drama thoughts, to the interweaving of lives and relationships. And that’s something precious and meaningful that I can’t easily walk away from.
So I’m gonna keep on finding a way to figure out the challenges, while enjoying the awesome.
Let’s hold on together, you guys. Kinda like this:
❤
GIVEAWAY!
Blogging has turned out to be such a huge adventure, that I thought I’d hold a giveaway to celebrate the coming-of-age of the blog which I never thought I’d have, but which I now can’t imagine not having.
Back in November 2012, I stepped out of the lurking closet on Stephanie’s blog Crazy for Kdrama to recommend a drama I really, really enjoyed:
That really is the seed that quite quickly sprouted into a whole blog. (You can read the origin story of the blog here)
So I thought Queen In-hyun’s Man would be the perfect drama for this giveaway.
Yes, I’m giving away a DVD box set of Queen In-hyun’s Man! Eeee!!!
If you’ve seen the drama, you already know how awesome it is and how worthy of a rewatch it is.. And if you haven’t seen the drama, this is a great chance to check it out! (You can read the short-ish review that I posted for it, early in my blogging journey, here).
Box set specs:
Title: Queen And I (I don’t know why but some dramas get alternative names when exported to the Chinese market. Apparently Hulu also lists QIHM as Queen And I)
Language: Korean / Mandarin
Subtitles: English / Mandarin (I’ve checked and the English subs are good)
Discs: 4 pretty discs, each emblazoned with one of our 4 pretty leads
Region: All regions
Worth: S$49.90 (approx. 40USD)
Giveaway Details:
Who can enter
So I wanted to find a way to open the giveaway to non-subscribers, yet reward subscribers for, well, subscribing.
Here’s what I’ve come up with: Everyone can participate!! Woot! If you follow my posts but just aren’t the subscribing kind, you’re welcome to join the giveaway!
As a perk, subscribers get an additional chance to win, yay!
If you’re not yet a subscriber and would like to be one, the “follow” button is on the handy side-bar to your right.
And yes, it’s open internationally.
How to enter
To enter the giveaway, share with us about your love affair with kdrama. Like, how you got into kdrama, what was your first drama, what made you fall in love.
Let’s have fun getting to know one another’s kdrama stories! Wheeee!!
Giveaway closes 31 December 2013, 23:59 (UTC +08:00).
In in all, I’d hafta say that 2013 has been a big k-year for me. My biggest k-year ever, since I got on the k-train in 2007. After all, this is the year that I:
- experienced what it’s like to take care of a blog;
The downside of all that, though? I watched the least amount of drama, ever, since I got on the drama train.
Tsk. The irony, right?
School 2013 OST – Beautiful Days
I thought about not writing a year-in-review post, since I watched so few of the 2013 dramas. And then I thought, why the heck not? As a bona-fide resident of the dramaverse, I have every right to tell the dramaverse what I think, right?
And this is the season of giving. And forgiving.
So here’re my thoughts, all ye shows who’ve crossed my screen in 2013.
From the hearts-in-my-eyes accolades:
To the what-the-heck-were-you-thinking:
I’m gonna tell it like it is, shows. So that you’ll know how to do better next time.
Favorite Drama: School 2013
Aw. Looking back at the various 2013 dramas that I managed to watch, you really are the drama that captured my heart like no other drama did this year. (And I’m not even talking about Kim Woo Bin sneaking up on me and stealing my heart. Although that does give you extra brownie points for sure.)
Full of heart, with hopes and ideals and fears all mixed together in one kaleidoscopic world, and boasting my favorite bromance in all of dramaland, you, Show, are the unassuming little underdog who packed more of an emotional punch than many other big budget shows this year.
You were sweet, with just enough bitter to keep it raw and real; altogether lovely, and worth a second serve.
I ❤ you, Show.
Favorite Rom-Com: I Hear Your Voice
Show, I crown thee a noona romance to slay all other noona romances.
Yes, the chemistry between your OTP could’ve been more crackly, and yes, your legal system was cartoonish to a mickey mouse-ish sort of degree. But Lee Jong Suk sold this so earnestly and endearingly that I was very firmly rooting for him very fast. Plus, the wonderful theme of unconditional love that you served up gripped me by the heart and wouldn’t let go until I’d fallen over in complete surrender.
With the bonus of likable supporting characters and a wonderfully breezy, lovely OST, I was a happy camper willing to overlook all of your flaws.
Could I have a Park Soo Ha of my own, pretty please? Preferably in time for Christmas? No? Well then, how about in time for Valentine’s?
Most Illuminating Show: King Of Dramas
Satirical and cheeky, and peopled by an excellent cast, you gave us an unapologetic and unrelenting look at what goes on behind the scenes of our beloved dramas.
With enough realism and grit to make for an illuminating and fascinating watch, and enough campy to make it tongue-in-cheek and fun, all the while imbued with just enough whimsy to make it feel like a dreamy parallel universe, you, Show, felt fresh and unexpected and even a little daring, for poking fun at the k-ent industry while making plain some of the open secrets that we (mostly) already (sorta) knew.
You are by far the funnest and most thorough of the various dramas that have used the k-ent industry as a setting.
For giving us Anthony, and for forever changing the way I look at a drama, I forgive you, Show, for your weak ending.
Biggest Mental Workout: Nine
Nine, you are the most intelligently written of the time travel dramas that have graced our screens. Your time travel device and all of its accompanying ripple effects were one the most tightly written and well thought-out that I’ve come across.
You proved to be one big rollercoaster ride that kept me on the edge of my seat from episode to episode with all of your twists and turns, and I was always asking the question: “What will Sun Woo do now?”
Was it because I was too busy trying to keep up with the mental gymnastics? Or was it because your writers were too busy keeping track of their time travel device? My only beef with you is that I never felt fully engaged in an emotional way, even though there were times that actual tears left my eyes.
You’re a thought-provoking one. To put it mildly.
The Underachiever: Flower Boy Next Door
An introspective watch disguised as a zany rom-com. At least, that’s how I like to see you.
When you were zany, you were so very zany. With a hero displaying the personality of an Energizer bunny, random flower boys populating the screen (and sometimes literally hanging from windows), and quirky sound effects to boot, one would be hard-pressed to not identify your world as manhwa-inspired.
Yet when you were introspective, you were so very thoughtful. We got to know a heroine who was a timid shut-in, desperate for the world at large to not notice her existence, and we followed her on her journey as she collided head-on with said Energizer bunny hero and was forced to take her first small, scary steps out into the world.
And if that had been your main arc and message, Show, I would’ve been such a happy camper. Instead, right towards the end, you decided to side-step our heroine’s eventual growth as an individual and feed us lots of treacly sweet couple stuff instead, which felt like noshing on empty calories.
You could’ve been so much better than that, Show. If only you knew.
Prettiest (& Most Disappointing) Show: That Winter, The Wind Blows
Oh, That Winter. You started off so well. Everything and everyone looked gorgeous and beautiful. Every scene perfectly lit and shot, backed with a wonderfully evocative OST.
Plus, you can even boast that you have the crackiest fauxcest I’ve ever seen in dramaland. Never before have I rooted harder for a “brother” to kiss his “sister.” Yes, Show. You did weird things to my brain. To all of our brains. I and all of dramaland felt the need for therapy as we ate up all the fauxcest you served up, and then craved for more.
But here’s the thing. Logic’s a really important foundation stone when you’re a drama. We didn’t expect you to be really strong in this area, but at least the semblance of some would have made a difference.
You left me bemused and very upset at your cop-out of an ending. But hey, at least you were oh-so-pretty while you were at it.
Weepiest Melo: I Miss You
OMG, Show. You got it all wrong. A drama doesn’t need to have tears in every single scene, nor go crazy with its plot and characters in order to qualify as a melo.
I tried to stick with you, Show. I really did. After all, you served up a very lovely Yoo Seung Ho with such delicious bedroomy eyes. But you made our heroine cry so much that Yoon Eun Hye’s face and eyes were constantly puffy. After a while, it just felt like you were trying to wring tears from me. Like you took actual pleasure in making your characters suffer, rather than in telling a coherent story.
Your manipulative penchant for suffering and tears is why I broke up with you after 13 episodes, Show. And I have it on good authority that I made the right decision.
Most Underwhelming Show: Heirs
With so much hype preceding your arrival, it was going to be an uphill battle for you to live up to expectations one way or another. In that sense, I feel a little sorry for you, Show.
But really, you didn’t have to be that underwhelming.
Instead of fresh and zippy, you gave us slow and heavy. Instead of meaningful growth for our characters, you made us circle around the same things over and over. Instead of fleshing out some key relationships, you chose to gloss over almost every relationship. Instead of meaningful dramatic tension, you gave us one Big Bad Chairman Daddy and called it a day.
Still, for giving us Bo Na and Chan Young, who were the cutest thing about you, and for giving us Young Do, who was the most compelling person in your entire cast, I forgive you.
We may not always have California (and the jaw-droppingly bad Engrish to go with), but we will always have mesmerizing Young Do. ❤
Fun & Easy: Master’s Sun
Although I’m still dating you, Show, it’s been a pretty good 14 episodes that we’ve had together so far.
Overall, you’ve been a fun, easy, unchallenging watch. Sure, the story you’re telling is fairly simple, and sometimes I feel kinda disturbed by some of the hair-grabbing and other humiliation/mistreatment that your heroine’s had to bear, but you’ve got an OTP with excellent chemistry and a gorgeous OST that I really dig.
You haven’t been shout-it-from-the-mountaintops great, but you haven’t been all that bad either.
Just 3 more episodes to go. Don’t fail me now, Show.
Heartless City
Everyone swooned and waxed lyrical over your bad-boy allure so much that I approached you out of pure curiosity.
10 episodes in, you’re proving to be dark, twisty and mysterious, just like everyone said you were. It’s weird that I’m not head-over-heels smitten with you like everyone before me. You’re certainly interesting, though. And gritty. Yet elegant. And you sure know how to muddy up what’s supposed to be right and wrong, leading us into a glorious sea of uncertainty.
10 more episodes with you, Show. I might just fall in love with you yet.
Other 2013 Dramas I Want to Check Out:
Well, that was a short list of watched dramas, wasn’t it? Yes, there are a number of 2013 dramas that I’ve still got on my radar.
In no particular order, going forward, I’d like to go on dates with:
Can We Get Married?
The End of the World
Mandate of Heaven
Two Weeks
The Queen’s Classroom
She is WOW
Reply 1994
The only problem, of course, is finding the time, with 2014 almost upon us, and whole slew of new dramas already invading our horizon.
Where is that time machine that dramaland served up last year when you need it?
A Slight Tangent:
On a somewhat related tangent, I did make time for some rewatches in 2013.
Chuno
This rewatch started innocently enough. All I was in the mood for, really, was to drool over some serious eye candy after telling everyone on my Jang Hyuk post that they should watch Chuno, if only for the shirtless awesome.
But then, a few episodes in, I was completely blown away by how good Chuno really is, and decided I needed to write it a proper review. 13,000 words later, I’m more convinced than ever, that Chuno is a masterpiece.
Sungkyunkwan Scandal
Recently, I started a rewatch of Sungkyunkwan Scandal, coz Michele and I wanted to try out a Skype Squee thing. The idea, of course, is to watch something together while connected via Skype so that we can squee together.
Even though Sungkyunkwan Scandal sits on my All-Time Faves list, I am still happily blown away by just how cracky it is, even the second time around.
Which begs the question: why isn’t the dramaverse serving up dramas like these anymore?
I feel like so many shows these days start out promising and then get completely derailed. And the casualty count only seems to be increasing as we go.
Is it just that I’m noticing it more now than before, coz I’ve started blogging about it? Or is this really a new (& very disappointing) trend?
So many people I know have spoken about drama fatigue. I felt it a little, too, this year. But now that I’m watching Sungkyunkwan Scandal, I’m convinced that it’s not me, Dramaverse. It’s YOU.
C’mon, Dramaverse. Give us the good stuff. We know you can do it, coz you’ve done it before. Make 2014 awesome for us all.
I know, I’ve been a little bit MIA in the last couple of weeks, only surfacing periodically to answer comments. I’m sorry, you guys. I plead crazy-hectic-holiday-schedule. Both my Christmas and New Year weeks were packed to the gills with gatherings, lunches, dinners (or insert alternative meal) and other get-togethers.
On the upside, it made me feel really popular (ha). On the downside, I got a lot less drama on my screen, and a lot less time to chat with you (boo).
I didn’t forget the giveaway, though! And yes, it’s time to find out the winner of one gorgeous DVD box set of Queen In-hyun’s Man!
Queen In-hyun’s Man OST - 지금 만나러 갑니다
Thanks to everyone who entered the blogoversary giveaway – it was such a treat reading all your stories and getting to know how each of you fell in love with kdrama.
Many of your stories made me smile, giggle and laugh out loud, and also made me think back fondly to way back when Goong sucked an unsuspecting me into dramaland, on what appears to be a one-way ticket, no less!
I loved, too, how everyone jumped in on various conversations on the post, coz you found someone else on the thread with a similar kdrama love story. Like how DDee and Lady G discovered that they shared a gateway drama in Nice Guy! And I discovered that several of you have Boys Over Flowers to thank for your current residency in dramaland. All in all, just lots of super cool stuff!
As promised, I have picked a winner, and the new owner of the QIHM DVD box set is…
Congratulations, mawiie (otherwise affectionately known as maknae.. or lil ninja. It’s a long story). Please send me an email with your preferred mailing address and I will send Kim Boong Do right on over to ya!
Also. Just in case there’s any suspicious eye-balling in our midst, kinda like so:
Let me assure everyone that no nepotism was practiced whatsoever in the selection of our winner
All eligible entries were assigned a number, with subscribers to the blog receiving an additional chance to win as promised. The 34 entries were then run through an online random number generator to pick our winner.
Just so you know. And also, I just wanted a chance to put that picture up there, heh.
Some Thoughts Going Into 2014
I don’t exactly have any formal k-resolutions for the New Year, but looking back on 2013, I realize that I watched a lot less drama compared to before I started blogging.
Much as I enjoy writing reviews, chatting with you guys and making headers for the blog (not necessarily in that order; it really depends on my mood on any given day), I foresee a problem – well, several problems, really – if I keep watching as few dramas this year as I did last year.
Problem #1
I might eventually run out of things to write about. Simply because I’m not watching much drama. That’s probably not such an ideal situation for a blogger to be in. Right?
Problem #2
I would be a sad puppy. I’m a big kdrama lover at heart, so to keep sticking dramas on my want-to-watch list and just watch that list grow and grow while I fall epically behind the actual watching is a sad, sad thing. *sadface*
My Sort-Of Resolution
This year, I’ve decided to make drama-watching more of a priority.
I’m not sure how that’s going to work, exactly. Coz I still want to keep writing for the blog, and also chat regularly with you guys. Those are 2 of the funnest things about hosting the blog. And also 2 of the most time-consuming.
I’ll be experimenting to find a balance that works for me – and you! And the blog! – and at this point, I’m not quite sure what that’s going to look like.
I expect that some reviews will be shorter than others, although I fully expect to write a couple of epic reviews when a show excites and inspires me enough.
I also plan to keep on experimenting not only in terms of how I consume my drama, but also in how I tackle posts for the blog. For one thing, have you noticed that there are no Gong Yoo or Woobie pictures in this post?? That’s right, folks. Milestone. Hee.
I also expect that there will be times when I’ll post &/or answer comments in spurts, rather than in a regular fashion. It’s partly to make time for drama-watching, but also partly coz 2014 is looking to be rather busy on the Real Life front too.
I won’t forget about the blog or about you guys, though. Hold my hand:
We’ll make it work.
The meant-to-be loves always make it work ❤
And before I sign off, here’s my New Year wish for you.
May 2014 bring you lots of happiness, joy, love, health, peace and laughter. And when you find something (or someone! Eeeee!!!) to love and feel passionate about this year, may you have the courage to grab on tight and not let go:
Hee.
And may you enjoy lots of cracktastic goodness in dramaland, dreamland (I know you k-dreamers are out there!) and Real Life Land.
Drum roll please, everyone! I’m excited to announce the first guest post on this blog!! Wheee!!
A number of you would already be familiar with Lady G, who’s an unnie on this blog. She is always such a pleasure to chat with, and always has such interesting and insightful thoughts to share that I always look forward to her comments.
When it was announced that The Suspect was premiering in New York, we all squealed out loud in envy over at our GY Running Man Squee Fest Facebook group (yes, the squee-fest is over, but the squeeing has happily continued, heh), coz this meant that Lady G would get to see this movie on the big screen. We – pretty much in unison, really – commissioned Lady G to tell us alllll about her experience of watching Gong Yoo in his first action role on the big screen.
Being the awesome gal that she is, Lady G didn’t just come back with lots of incoherent spazzes and gushes, though we wouldn’t have blamed her if she did. I mean, it’s Gong Yoo on the big screen after all. Heh.
Nuh-uh. Instead, she wrote a whole review of the movie, and here it is!
Take it away, Lady G!
Hey all! This is LadyG. I want to thank kfangurl for allowing me to be a guest blogger and give my two cents on Gong Yoo’s international smash action film, “The Suspect.” This is not a summary of the film, there are plenty of those to be found now on the web.
The cinematography is cold and blue toned-there’s no warmth here, expect maybe in a dreamy/hazy flashback with Gong Yoo in the background while his 14 year-old looking wife hangs laundry. Some critics/reviews complained that the camera work was headache inducing. But I think that was over-stated. It’s not shaky-cam, but there are a lot of cuts back and forth. Particularly with the action sequences. I guess when you need to read subtitles and watch the action at the same time it can bring on a headache. But I was fine with it after a few minutes.
Violence quota: This is a revenge action movie. There was violence, as much as a Hollywood film. I don’t know which has more, I rarely watch movies of that kind. Some Korean films tend to be brutal. But I expected as much. The violence in “The Suspect” was not just random shoot-em-ups and body counts like a lot of American films. Every act, no matter how much I personally cringed and shut my eyes, had its purpose to forward the plot.
Language: Korean. haha. But I mean foul language. I’m writing this warning for viewers like me, that don’t appreciate it and may want to know how much is in the movie. Again, it’s like Hollywood standard. The more I learn the Korean language, the more I don’t trust English subtitles. The have a habit of adding more hard core curses than is actually spoken in Korean. Also, I’m learning that the subtitling often simplifies what the character is really saying. I suppose the subbers felt that given the mood of the character or the way a line was spoken, a big curse would substitute just fine. The English flashback scene in the film is all of 2-4 minutes when GY’s character is in Puerto Rico. Gong Yoo doesn’t speak, but there’s plenty of big bad English cussing. I hate cursing no matter what, so it was annoying to read it/hear it, But ottoke? I put on my big girl panties and dealt with it.
Gong Yoo is tall, dark, and devastatingly handsome as the suspect, Ji Dong Chul. And that’s just standing there without trying to be. He’s no poser. You believe this is a man of few words and all action. Gong Yoo was so tanned in some scenes, you’d think he was mixed with Spanish, Indian, Filipino, or any dark-skinned culture. It created a rugged appearance that fit in with his strenuous, I mean STRENUOUS, past. Dong Chul went through horrific training in the North Korean army to come out as one of the best spies in the world. He was later tortured in barbaric ways and managed to escape. (No real spoilers there; if he didn’t, there would be no movie!)
The tan made him stand out against the stark grey and blue palette at times. Let’s face it, the man was shake-and-baked, fried to a crisp, sauteed ala mode!
His body and abs were ripped beyond ripped. A truly silent but deadly and efficient North Korean spy defector that could kill you with a glance.
Dong Chul is disengaged from society, and constantly watched by the Government because he is a known defector. He lives in run-down shack and speaks to no one. Inside his wall is plastered with maps, photos and lists – his plan of revenge. When you see him in action he moves with an efficiency that can be compared to a robot. This man was trained to be a terminator. But his tormented eyes reveal his humanity, he is a grieving husband and father. A human being.
You wouldn’t want to meet Dong Chul in a dark alley.
I’ve said it in my blog comments before. Gong Yoo looks like a gorgeous cat. Yes, a cat. Even more so in this movie. And I found myself giggling about it. His moves and stunts were powerful and reminded me of a panther. I’m strange, I know. I used a picture for emphasis.
Gong Yoo probably had no more than 15 lines in the whole 2 hours and 17 minutes. But he conveyed every emotion through those beautiful and piercing big eyes – vengeance, pity, sadness, anger, and he mastered the stoic poker face. His stunts and all the fighting/martial arts sequences were amazingly choreographed. You can tell he pushed himself to the limit. Whatever the limit is that allows actors to perform their own stunts.
I really like actor Park Hee Soon. He nearly stole the entire movie as hard-nosed, cynical, but eventually sympathetic soldier/agent, Min See Hoon. The introduction to his character on the army plane is not to be missed. See Hoon is hot on Ji Dong Chul’s trail. (And looking hot while doing it too!) See Hoon had a run-in with Ji Dong Chul in the past, made it out alive, and is used by shady law enforcement to hunt him down again. On a side note, the technology in this film is really modern and effective. And I was reminded of the great show and movie “The Fugitive” in the way he relentlessly hunted Dong Chul.
See Hoon had all the best lines and comebacks. He may have been the most fully developed character because of that. He was aided along by the only comic relief character, Captain Jo, played by Jo Jae Yun. An obnoxious, but intelligent and loyal, gum-chewing soldier.
Actor Kim Sung Kyun also gives a strong and chilling performance as a hitman/spy being stalked by Ji Dong Chul. Fans will immediately recognize him from the recent hit drama “Answer me, 1994” as the straight-laced/stuffy 19 year-old who looks 40.
It’s hard to say much about the plot without giving away major twists or the ending. Basically Dong Chul is framed for the murder of a scientist with a secret formula that the North Koreans would kill for. He is given the formula and told to “bury it” then goes on the run. But Dong Chul is also out for vengeance to find the man who killed his wife and daughter. Be prepared for major edge-of-your-seat action and some of the absolute bestcar chase scenes ever made.
Evidence of a fantastic car chase! The way they were able to weave through the mazes and stairwells of the Korean neighborhoods was absolutely astounding.
As an action movie, “The Suspect” rivals Hollywood films, and in my opinion is even better. But of course it adds that unique Korean flair. There’s a heart underneath the madness. It doesn’t bog you down with sentimentality and ham-over acting as many Korean films do. Except for the big villain’s obviously ‘evil laugh’ near the end. Muwhwahaha!
This is a pure revenge flick. There are no real goody-goody heroes. Everyone is an anti-hero and has their own morally grey agenda given their profession or lot in life. But they all somehow come together for a greater good – or bad. They do what they have to do.
K-Drama fans: DO NOT expect any type of cutesy romance or sweet gestures and antics from our beloved Gong Yoo. The only active female in this movie is an investigative reporter played by Yoo Da In. She helps Gong Yoo hide-out and manages to expose all the lies and secrets around him. There’s a mutual respect between them, but no love or even hinted chemistry. With all the craziness, there’s simply no time for it. I think the writers were smart to avoid a romance factor. It would have belittled Dong Chul’s mission of revenge and love for his lost wife and child. Dong Chul is a man dead to the world, taking his grief to the max. But he still has a heart underneath his stony exterior and that is made clear in a few scenes. But If you were ever in immediate danger, you would want him on your side and running to your rescue. Don’t miss that scene!
Despite the long length, you never feel bored. When the action slows down briefly, there’s still the element of intrigue to keep you on your toes.
The most memorable things about this film are the intense and wild car chases (I guess they don’t have air bags in Korea? Haha!) Park Hee Soon’s performance is award worthy, and the haunted expressions on Gong Yoo’s face will stay with you for a long time to come. (Okay, okay, and those abs.)
A face that has seen the worst of humanity and is full of anger and some regret for taking part in it.
It’s not a deep or profound film, but a great popcorn flick. Regardless, Gong Yoo is such a huge talent. Because his character was so darn quiet, I fancied him in a silent twenties film with pale make-up, exaggerated eyes, and wild gestures. He’d be absolutely perfect for it.
Something like this:
(That’s Sessue Hayakawa, a popular Japanese Silent film star in America. It’s a shame a lot of those films got lost or rotted away from improper handling or studio fires. I like Silent movies and would love to watch ones with real Asian stars. Not white actors with taped eyes.)
I’m not surprised that Gong Yoo’s International fan base is so huge that this movie made it to New York City. I remember reading the comments by Spanish fans salivating because he went to Puerto Rico in the summer of 2013 to film. He is now a certified action star. I can imagine the action movie scripts are rolling to his doorstep now. I would rather he do another TV drama, even if it’s action, or an action-packed Sageuk like “Chuno.” He would be fantastic!
Gong Yoo is hard to pin-down or typecast because he is constantly re-inventing himself. From jerks in his earliest films, to adorable rom-com leading men, to subtle, yet powerful dramatic actor/accidental activist in “Silenced/The Crucible,” and now a rough and sexy action star.
I can’t wait to see what he does next! Gong Yoo…Fighting!
Most of you are familiar with my 3 big k-loves. And although I’m currently spazzing over and lovin’ on Kim Woo Bin more — uunghh I wuv my Woobie ❤ — I love ‘em each in their own special way.
If you’ve known me for a while, &/or taken a look at my fangirl motto on the side-bar to your right, you’d probably also know that having big k-loves — or major Woobie love, heh — doesn’t mean that I don’t have room to admire and.. appreciate (ahem) other talented k-men in dramaland.
In fact, I’ve got quite a few of those medium k-loves, at least a few of whom I plan on introducing to you guys this year.
First up: Kim Soo Hyun!
I’ve liked Kim Soo Hyun since his Dream High days in 2011, and have had my eye on him and his work ever since. Every time he’s got a new drama or movie out, I perk up and take notice. And now that I’m watching You From Another Star, my Kim Soo Hyun radar has switched itself into Mmmm.. mode all over again. Which, really, is the catalyst for this post.
Come squee with me, y’all!
Encounter 1: Dream High
To be honest, even though Kim Soo Hyun already had a nice, solid filmography before Dream High, I hadn’t seen him in anything prior. All I knew was, lotsa folks in the dramaverse were really excited — chomping at the bit, to put it mildly — to see him in this. That made me really curious to see who this boy was, who had everyone and their mothers all aflutter.
When Kim Soo Hyun finally made his appearance in episode 2, though, I really couldn’t see what the fuss was about. He was all decked out in country bumpkin gear, topped off with an unruly mop of curls.
The fangirl in me was unimpressed. What I did dig, was the dorky, buff, Song Seung Hun-esque appeal of our other male lead Taecyeon, and I lapped up the generous shirtless awesome the show served up via Taecyeon.
As I got further into the show, though, I was happily quite taken with Kim Soo Hyun’s acting chops. He made Song Sam Dong a likable, engaging and endearing character, and I enjoyed having him on my screen.
Plus, partway through the show, Song Sam Dong gets an image overhaul, and Kim Soo Hyun got to show some broody smolder too. And a bad-boy ear stud.
I liked what I saw.
I didn’t exactly walk away from Dream High with a crush on Kim Soo Hyun, but I certainly came away with a new-found admiration for him. Not only was his acting solid and nuanced, he clearly took his craft very seriously.
Perhaps the thing that blew me away the most, was the realization that he’d held his own as the only non-idol among the main cast, doing a very solid job of all the singing and dancing even though those weren’t quite his strengths. In fact, he’d trained at JYP for 3 months prior to starting to film for Dream High, living the trainee idol life, and learning to sing and dance. Respect.
I decided that Kim Soo Hyun was definitely a young man worth keeping my eye on and put him firmly on my radar.
Here’s the track that Kim Soo Hyun sang for the Dream High OST, complete with some excellent (& rather spoilery) Song Sam Dong footage:
For those who want to avoid spoilers but still want to hear Kim Soo Hyun’s singing voice, this vid is for you:
Not bad at all, eh?
Mesmerized and Swooned Out: The Moon that Embraces the Sun
In 2012, a year after Dream High, Kim Soo Hyun came back to dramaland in The Moon that Embraces the Sun. And promptly blew me away.
In Dream High, Kim Soo Hyun had struck me mostly as cute and likable. In MoonSun, though, he was regal, smoldery, and very, very sexy.
I thought the kingly robes became him:
As did the sardonic, barely-hidden sarcasm that his king Lee Hwon got to display:
Most of all, I swooned at the intense, smoldery gazes that he showed his leading ladies:
Rawr.
This was a whole different, very sexy side to Kim Soo Hyun, and I loved every swoony minute.
Sure, the writing was flawed, and yes, Han Ga In was completely underwhelming as his leading lady. But in my eyes, Kim Soo Hyun and his sexy king more than made up for it.
I lapped up episode after episode, eager for more mesmerizing, sexy, regal Kim Soo Hyun. And I definitely came away from MoonSun with a newly minted Kim Soo Hyun crush.
Kim Soo Hyun also lent his vocals to MoonSun’s OST. Here’s a (fairly spoilery) MV of that track, featuring some of that regal smolder:
For those who want to listen to the song but want to avoid spoilers, this one’s for you:
Post-MoonSun Interview Awesome
I haven’t checked out that many Kim Soo Hyun interviews, but I really liked this episode of tvN’s Taxi, in which he guested.
He comes across as fairly natural and quite savvy, managing to answer questions tactfully while toeing the fine line between humility and self-praise. At the same time, his answers show how much thought he puts into each and every scene, and I love a man who’s serious about his craft.
Here’s the full episode, which I genuinely enjoyed. Be warned that there are MoonSun spoilers, since this aired after the series wrapped.
Movie Moment 1: The Thieves
I don’t watch a whole lot of movies, but with Kim Soo Hyun now firmly on my radar, I couldn’t not check out The Thieves.
Much as I was disappointed with the heavy turn the movie took halfway through, and with the relatively small amount of screen-time Kim Soo Hyun had, I did like the introduction to his sinewy arms:
And his character’s crush on Jeon Ji Hyun’s character did yield some mild shirtless smolder:
And a less mild, fleeting-yet-sensuous kiss:
Overall, a fairly underwhelming movie, but it sure had some pretty tantalizing Kim Soo Hyun tid-bits.
Movie Moment 2: Secretly Greatly [aka Covertly Grandly]
Still with my eye firmly on Kim Soo Hyun, I was super excited to see trailers for Secretly Greatly. I mean, not only did this movie promise much more Kim Soo Hyun screentime, it also promised awesome stuff like Kim Soo Hyun as a spy! And Kim Soo Hyun in uniform! (rawr) And! Kim Soo Hyun’s new abs! (double rawr)
While I wasn’t too taken with the movie itself, it did deliver on those 3 things that it had promised, and I was somewhat mollified.
Not bad at all, I say. Not bad At All.
A Transition: From Boy To Man
As all of this movie stuff was going on, I also noticed something else about Kim Soo Hyun: he made the transition from boy-man:
To man:
Ooh. Rawr.
As boy-man, Kim Soo Hyun could still get away with playing a high-schooler, but with this new look, I would place him firmly — very firmly! — in man territory.
Needless to say, I really dig the manly vibe about him:
Ahem. Moar please, is what I’m thinking.
Eeee!! Really, REALLY Liking: You From Another Star
Given that (a) I’ve decided to include one currently-airing drama on my drama plate, (b) I dig Kim Soo Hyun’s (yummy) transition from boy-man to man, and (c) I really enjoyed the sparks that he shared with Jeon Ji Hyun in The Thieves, You From Another Star was the natural choice when the new drama cycle came around.
10 episodes in, I’m pleased to report that I’m enjoying it very, very much. It’s cracky rom-com at its best. And Kim Soo Hyun does not disappoint.
Well. There are other actors and factors that also do not disappoint, but since this is a post about Kim Soo Hyun, I’ll save those other details for the review to come.
Kim Soo Hyun awesome: let me count the ways.
First of all, Kim Soo Hyun is very, very dapper as Do Min Joon and is often shown wearing sharp suits. And you know how I love a man in a sharp suit.
Yum. I approve.
Secondly, I find it hot that his character has superpowers.
Thirdly, Kim Soo Hyun’s turn as Do Min Joon is faceted and nuanced. Even though his character is supposed to be all stiff and unemotional, Kim Soo Hyun does lend layers with the subtle shifts in his gaze.
I particularly love this scene, where you can see the almost imperceptible glimmer of a tear in Min Joon’s eye, even as he carefully keeps his expression unreadable.
Very nice.
Ahem. Something else that’s also very nice? Kim Soo Hyun’s shower scene:
Rawr.
And let’s not forget the chemistry between Kim Soo Hyun and Jeon Ji Hyun, combined with his heretofore firmly established smoldering ability:
Ooh. Yum. Yum yum yum.
I need moar, I really, really do.
Photo Treats of the Kim Soo Hyun Kind
While doing, er, research for this post, I realize that I categorize Kim Soo Hyun’s various looks thusly:
Boyish & Playful
Despite his recent more sexy turn, Kim Soo Hyun can definitely turn on the cute:
Cozy
And he does warm, cozy and a little snuggly very nicely too.
Sharp & Smart
Kim Soo Hyun suits up very nicely, and here’s evidence:
Shirtless
Kim Soo Hyun doesn’t have a whole lotta shirtless pix out there, but I found that the ones that are out there, are sensuously appealing. Yum.
Scruffy
Kim Soo Hyun doesn’t do scruffy all that often, but I really do dig him when he’s a little undone. Sexy boy.
Sexy Smolder
Hands-down, this is my favorite look on him. I mean, he does the sexy smolder so well. Can you blame me for going melty?
Mmm.. Quite delicious, amiright?
This is why I’m makin’ room in my fangirl heart for Kim Soo Hyun.
I’ve got my eye on you too, you sexy, smoldery boy
A teen melodrama dressed up to pass off as a posh teen rom-com.
At first glance, this show might look like it wants to do too much, what with its over-bloated, gigantic cast. In actual fact, though, the show doesn’t really want to do anything except provide a platform for its OTP to go through the requisite angsty steps (angsty coz this is ultimately more melo than rom-com) to get to their happy-ever-after, which was a given from the very beginning (ok, the happy ending’s sorta more rom-com).
On the plus side, Kim Woo Bin is the resident scene-stealer (and he steals those scenes, so well), while several other secondary characters are likable and amusing. Just don’t expect a properly fleshed out story or robust character & relationship development arcs.
Pleasant enough but far from cracky, Heirs is a show that never fired up my emotions one way or the other. I neither hated it nor loved it. And indifference, I realize, is really not a very inspiring place to be.
Heirs OST - 세렌디피티
THE LONG VERDICT:
Oh, this show. I wanted to like this, I really did.
As we entered the first couple of episodes, I assumed the slow pace was simply an effect of us being in the set-up episodes, and that once the necessary pieces were properly put in place, that we’d really get started on our story.
I was so wrong. By the time we were 12 – TWELVE! – whole episodes in, it hardly felt like we’d gotten our foot out the door. Which wouldn’t be such a problem if this were a long-running daily with an episode count upwards of 150. But Heirs, at 20 episodes long, seemed to take forever and then some to get going in earnest with its story.
In that sense, watching Heirs felt like watching an American soap which goes on indefinitely, season upon season, and no one and nothing essentially changes from episode to episode. Kinda like Grey’s Anatomy, which I followed for something like 3 seasons. For each of those seasons, our female lead was still in love with McDreamy, pretty much. The episodes just went in circles around that one theme. And I felt like that’s what Heirs was doing; going in circles a lot, but with nothing substantial happening, for way too long.
Take, for example, the 3-way stare-down. One too many stare-downs made for ineffective, boring cliffhangers. Especially since everything else in the story stayed essentially the same.
3-way staredowns as cliffhangers only work for so long before getting old. Very, very old.
To add to the plodding feel of the story’s pacing, I felt like it was too melodramatic to be enjoyable. Almost everything felt heavy & slow: in atmosphere, in movement, in character and relationship development, just.. everything. While I was watching this, it didn’t feel like a miniseries, coz, well, a miniseries needs to move faster than this.
And then after episode 12, Stuff did happen. The only problem was, there was very little explanation for so many things. Complete character turnarounds were left largely unexplained, signalled only by a change in hairstyle. Apparently when you get a lobotomy, a new hairstyle comes with the package?
Woobie looks great either way, but still. Bad writing, Show *smacks wrist*
To continue enjoying watching the show, I learned to accept that in the world of Heirs, Not Everything Makes Sense. Not every effect needs a cause. Stuff happens, sometimes. Just because.
So instead of doing a proper breakdown of the show, I thought I’d just give you a couple of highlights: things I liked, things I didn’t like, and things I would’ve liked.
On a side note, I thought I’d mention that while certain tracks on the OST nearly drove me batty with overuse as I watched the show (Love is the Momeeeennnt, anyone?), I realize there are some tracks on the OST that I actually rather like. (Who knew, right?) Those will be the tracks that I will be sharing in this review.
[SPOILERS THROUGH THE END OF THE REVIEW]
THINGS I LIKED
1. The relationship between Tan’s mom and Eun Sang’s mom
These two were hilarious together.
They often shared comic scenes, such as the one above, where a mild tussle between a hungover, suspicious Madam Han (Kim Sung Ryung) and a hastily contrite Madam Park (Kim Mi Kyung) escalates into a full-on pillow fight, which then suddenly turns on its head into a magical, dreamy moment as the pillow explosion brings on floaty, slo-mo feather snow. Ha.
The two women freeze in wonder, until Madam Han realizes that the feathers aren’t goose down but chicken feathers. She purses her lips that she can’t return the pillow now, but brightens that she’s now in the mood for chicken and beer. HA. Irreverent, light and very, very amusing, I could’ve watched these two and their antics for episodes on end.
Aside from the comedy, though, theirs was one of the most endearing relationships in the show. Beneath the petty disagreements, these two genuinely cared for each other.
I loved the scene in episode 19 where the two women reunite. Madam Han, upon stepping out of the car, cries, “Ahjumma!” And the two embrace like long-lost sisters – or lovers. Heh.
Madam Han proceeds to unleash a tirade of protests at Madam Park for leaving so suddenly: “How could you do this to me? How could you leave without telling me?” … “Ahjumma! Did you miss me or not? [Madam Park nods, smiling] Liar. How could you not send me a text?”
How cute are they, right?
And if there was any doubt before, the depth of their friendship and affection is plain as day as they catch up with a heart-to-heart talk over drinks.
To Madam Park, Madam Han expresses her regret at how she’s lived her life, coveting another woman’s husband, home and life, and therefore bringing about her own paralysis at being unable to properly be a wife and mother.
Madam Han’s regret overflows into big, heaving sobs as she sits on the beach, and Madam Park does what any good friend and soulmate would. She simply sits with her.
Heartwrenchingly, heartwarmingly lovely, these two. Loved them.
2. Bo Na on her own, and Bo Na with Chan Young
I hafta say, Bo Na was one of the most likable, lovable, amusing characters in the show. Major credit goes to Krystal’s delivery, coz on paper, Bo Na could’ve easily been an annoying, irritating character instead.
As a character, Bo Na’s uber full of herself and superficial. To top it off, she’s also an obsessive, possessive, hyper-jealous kind of girlfriend. Yet, Krystal made her entertaining and harmless, and basically showed us that being a cheerful, clueless, happy teen was way better than being angsty like everyone else.
I loved the running gag that Bo Na was so convinced of her charm and irresistible allure that she always automatically assumed that the boys were falling over themselves for her.
Classic case in point: the scene in episode 8 (above), where Bo Na finds Kim Tan (Lee Min Ho) standing outside the school studio and immediately assumes that he’s there waiting for her.
She huffs, “Hey Kim Tan! I really don’t like you following me like this. You still haven’t gotten over me?”
Amused, Kim Tan plays along, “I guess not.”
Bo Na cluelessly and haughtily puts him in his place, “I knew it. Hey! I’m really happy with Chan Young right now.”
Some teasing back-and-forth ensues, and Kim Tan says, “You’re still cute, Bo Na.”
Bo Na mutters to herself, “At least you have eyes.” (HA.) Then she turns to set things straight with Kim Tan, “Just in case you were wondering, I don’t like you anymore.”
Kim Tan doesn’t miss a beat, “But I like you.” Perplexed, Bo Na starts to raise her voice, “Hey! I have a boyfriend!”
“Does he know that I like you?” Agitated, Bo Na cries, “He shouldn’t know that! Gosh! Can you please get over me?” And flounces off in a huff. Hee.
Without fail, Bo Na’s Princess-of-her-own-world way of approaching everything made me giggle.
Even more than that, I loved Bo Na’s childlike lack of malice. She got huffy quite a lot, but she never stayed angry for long, nor did she hold grudges.
One of my favorite Bo Na scenes around that theme is this one in episode 14, where Bo Na makes up with Ye Sol (Jun Soo Jin).
As she’s handing out invitations to her make-up party with Chan Young (Kang Min Hyuk), Bo Na spots Ye Sol at her locker. She calls out, “Kang Ye Sol!” but Ye Sol, guilty for the part she played in causing the pair to break up in the first place, hurriedly turns away, pretending not to hear her.
Bo Na gives chase, demanding, “Why are you leaving when I’m calling you?”
Ye Sol offers lamely, “I was just standing here.”
Bo Na huffs matter-of-factly, “If I run towards you, you should run towards me! I’m having a reunion party with Chan Young. You have to come! You’re the reason we broke up.” And then adds, “I’m sorry.”
Ye Sol chokes out, “Me too.”
Both girls tear up as they embark on a hilarious, heartwarming round of arguing over who’s sorrier.
“I’m sorry more.”
“I’m more more sorry.”
“I’m more more more sorry.”
“I’m more more more more more sorry.”
“I said I’m more sorry.”
“I’m sorry more!”
So. Cute.
Not only do I love that Bo Na doesn’t hold a grudge, but she’s the first to extend the olive branch to Ye Sol. And she’s the first to apologize too. I luff this girl.
And I luff her with Chan Young too:
When I first met this couple, I seriously wondered how Chan Young put up with her obsessive-possessive tendencies. As I got to know Bo Na better as a character, though, I began to see why Chan Young felt so much affection towards her.
One of the things that sticks in my mind the most about this couple, is what Chan Young says in episode 7, in response to Eun Sang (Park Shin Hye) urging him to leave before Bo Na gets angry.
Smiling, Chan Young declares, “Bo Na never gets angry. She’s just acting cute.” Ha. And aw.
I enjoyed that both Bo Na and Chan Young were quick to show each other affection. Bo Na was refreshingly open and honest about her adoration of Chan Young. And Chan Young was wonderfully tolerant of her many rants and mini tantrums, coz he could see that behind it all, she had a good heart.
I thought Bo Na and Chan Young were super cute together, and I would’ve happily watched an entire drama with them as the OTP.
I mean, he’s the entire reason that I live-watched Heirs at all, since prior to this, I’d always preferred to marathon shows after they were done. I knew, though, that even if Heirs stank and stank bad, I would stick with this show to the bitter end. All for Woobie, y’know.
Let’s just say that Woobie did not disappoint. I know, I’m a biased fangirl, so my opinion is probably biased anyway. But I’ve heard multiple other people (some who weren’t even KWB fans to begin with!) echo the same sentiment: Kim Woo Bin was excellent as Young Do in Heirs, and stole every scene he was in. Heck, he practically stole the entire show.
Let me state upfront that despite the fact that Young Do’s character was one of the few (the only one?) who enjoyed an actual development arc in Heirs, that I still found the writing around his character (and practically everything else, really) lacking.
Young Do’s development as a character was patchy at best, and the jerky writing would at times give us hints of character depth beneath the surface. Ultimately, though, the writing failed to connect the dots for the audience. Partway through the show, Young Do appeared to get a lobotomy, and his personality shifted so massively that I felt like I had drama whiplash.
Despite all of that, however, Kim Woo Bin gave us a solid, nuanced performance, and made Young Do much more fascinating in delivery than on paper.
Woobie Awesome: let me count the ways.
#1. The Pretty
Kim Woo Bin looked amazing in Heirs. Whether he was without his shirt,
Rawr. That’s 12kg (26.5lb) of muscle he put on, and it’s so, soooo delicious. ❤
or in a full tux,
Eeeee!!! So, soooo handsome. I swoon. ❤
or anywhere in-between,
Woobie in a crisp white shirt = so swoony. Thud.
he always looks fabulous.
Even when the writing made no sense whatsoever, I could always count on the Young Do pretty to give me something to spazz about.
#2. The Charismatic Bad Boy
It’s true that Young Do was written as borderline psychotic in the first half of Heirs.
Angry, sullen, and with obvious violent tendencies, Young Do was Dangerous with a capital D. Alarmingly, Young Do seemed to take actual pleasure in inflicting physical pain and emotional torment on others.
On paper, there were so many reasons to be disturbed by Young Do rather than drawn to him. It’s purely Kim Woo Bin’s charismatic charm that made Young Do inexplicably alluring instead of intensely abhorrent.
It’s like I knew in my head that Young Do was behaving in deeply disturbing and terrible ways. But my fangirl heart couldn’t help but be fascinated and rather mesmerized by him anyway.
Knowing that he was being schooled by a terrible, abusive father (Choi Jin Ho) didn’t make Young Do’s behavior any less excusable, but it did at least give me a reason to feel sorry for Young Do.
One of the things I liked the most about Young Do was how ballsy he was.
From declaring that his step-sister-to-be Rachel (Kim Ji Won) was totally his type, to bringing in his father’s ex-lover to derail the family portrait-taking, to storming Kim Tan’s house wearing a motorcycle helmet and a whole lotta swagger, Young Do is ballsy and bold, with a bit (or a lot!) of brash on the side.
It is that boldness, that Kim Woo Bin plays with unhurried, measured, drawling deliberation that makes Young Do’s bad boy so charismatic and mesmerizing.
I (we?) just couldn’t look away.
#3. The Facets and Nuances Beneath the Surface
In part, it was the writing which gave us glimpses into Young Do’s psyche, and in part, it was Kim Woo Bin’s thoughtful, nuanced delivery which added layers to Young Do that weren’t in the script.
Combined, these 2 factors gave us insight into Young Do the character beneath the bad boy surface that felt mostly credible. This, despite the massive, inexplicable shift in Young Do’s personality in episode 14 after a shower and hairstyle change. It’s to Kim Woo Bin’s credit that Young Do still kinda-sorta felt like the same character despite the extremely jerky writing.
Here are a couple of Young Do highlights that I liked.
Hallway Confrontation
I liked this quick scene in episode 5, where Young Do confronts Rachel in the hallway on the rumors that Kim Tan is back.
Leaning casually on Rachel’s locker, Young Do asks, “Is it true that Kim Tan is back?” Angrily, Rachel tantrums, “Why is everyone asking me? This is so annoying! I said move!”
Without losing an ounce of cool, Young Do remarks in smooth, almost soothing tones, “So my sister doesn’t know either. That’s why she’s annoyed.”
So. Cool. Ahhh!!
And, Young Do shows that he’s pretty good at reading people. Or just reading Rachel?
On a side note, I also wanted to say that I actually rather liked Rachel as a character, even though she’s mostly portrayed in bitchy tones.
I find that Rachel actually has shades of vulnerability about her, like she’s trying to stick to her guns and prove that she’s all that, but it’s all just empty veneer, and she’s more fragile inside than she’d like to admit. In that sense, I always sort of felt sorry for her, even when she was being her bitchiest.
Credit to Kim Ji Won for bringing out shades of vulnerability and fragility in such a petulant character.
Because I was lonely
In a quick scene in episode 8, Young Do goes to the cafe where Eun Sang works and catches her ignoring another one of his calls.
Eun Sang asks defensively, “What do you want to say?”
Smiling his usual sardonic smile, Young Do answers, “Nothing.” As he averts his gaze though, Young Do softens his tone as he admits, “I’m just here because I’m lonely.” He then quickly recovers with a cheery, “Oh yeah. I dropped the lawsuit.”
Kudos to Kim Woo Bin for managing to give Young Do’s quick, matter-of-fact admission such a sense of pathos, even though we don’t have a strong reason to feel sorry for him.
It’s the little things
This section isn’t quite about a particular scene. Rather, it’s a small collection of moments where Show and Kim Woo Bin together show us there’s more warmth to Young Do than meets the eye.
Like the quick scene above, where Young Do happily and warmly pats his dog.
Or here, where Young Do looks intrigued by Eun Sang, who’s just chirpily delivered fried chicken to the guys at the bike shop:
Or here, in a follow-up scene, where Young Do orders fried chicken too, just to get her number.
Amid the cocky veneer that he wears as they talk, there’s a moment where Young Do quietly watches Eun Sang as she nervously completes the transaction, and his gaze is intent, but soft and curious. Likey.
Or this moment where Young Do spies Eun Sang sitting outside the convenience store, and smiles to himself, pleased to see her.
It’s in the little moments like these, where Kim Woo Bin injects Young Do with glimpses of personality and softness, and I appreciated that a lot.
Fave Young Do Scenes
With Young Do, I felt that his main arc was never about romance or bromance, though there are many viewers who would’ve liked to see more of those elements at play in Young Do’s story.
Rather, I felt that Young Do’s main trajectory was of healing, reconciliation and growing up.
Here, I just wanted to highlight a couple of my favorite Young Do scenes around that theme.
Young Do’s meal with Eun Sang’s mom
This is truly one of the most heartbreaking yet heartwarming scenes in the entire show. And possibly my favorite scene of the entire series.
In episode 18, Young Do goes to visit Eun Sang, who isn’t home. He gets invited in by Eun Sang’s mom, who feeds him.
Urged by Madam Park, Young Do begins to eat, cautiously and uncertainly. He just keeps putting rice into his mouth, and Mom anxiously pushes the banchan toward him. Young Do swallows and choke-whispers, “Thank you.”
He chews studiously as his eyes fill with tears. He tells Mom, “It’s delicious” and she smiles.
When Mom asks if he’s a good friend of Eun Sang’s, Young Do pauses before answering honestly and a little hesitantly, “I like Eun Sang.” Mom says nothing and Young Do continues to eat gratefully. Aw.
It’s a profound moment for Young Do, who hasn’t tasted a mother’s food nor felt a mother’s warmth ever since his own mother left.
I love Young Do’s hesitant honesty, and his sincere, tearful gratitude in this scene. I love how uncertain and vulnerable he allows himself to be, in the face of a mother’s gentle care. I love how simple it is for Eun Sang’s mom to extend that care towards him. And I love how it’s something so simple that gets Young Do in the heart.
Heartbreakingly, heartwarmingly good.
I lived wrongly
Young Do’s deepest emotional pain stems from being abandoned by his mother, and he’s masked that pain for so long with his anger and rage that it’s a profound moment when he sits in the cafe where he would’ve last seen his mother, confronting and pondering the words that she’d scrawled to him on the graffiti-ridden wall, “How are you, Young Do?”
As Young Do leaves the cafe, he finally answers in voice-over, “Not good. I feel that I’ve lived wrongly.”
What a great character moment, where Young Do finally confronts his pain and admits that it hurts; admits his wrong.
Kim Woo Bin doesn’t even speak during the scene, but his eyes and his face speak volumes.
Young Do’s reconciliation with his mom
In episode 20, Young Do goes to his mother’s cafe and finally walks through the door. There’s a moment where she stares at him in recognition, and calls out his name, “Young Do ya..” and Young Do can only manage a hesitant, polite “Annyeonghaseyo..”
Tearfully, Mom (Choi Ji Na) asks if he’s been well, and Young Do lets a silent tear fall as he answers in voice-over, “No.”
Mom approaches to touch the face of the son whom she hasn’t seen in years, and remarks that he’s grown tall and handsome. Young Do’s tears fall freely and he whispers, gently, brokenly, “Omma..” And then again, trying the words out for the first time in years, “Omma..” Oof. Tears.
Mom holds him close in a hug, crying out her apologies and broken explanations, for not waiting, for not coming back, and Young Do quietly, gently hugs her back.
So much emotional goodness, in this one scene. And Kim Woo Bin said so much, without saying much at all.
Kim Woo Bin shot up everyone’s radar with this drama, and as we’ve seen, it’s with good reason.
Heirs OST – Some Other Day
THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE
Honestly, there are so many things that I could talk about in this section, coz this drama could have done better in so, so many areas. The entire cast was terribly under-utilized, and random plot points and numerous underdeveloped arcs meant a great number of talented actors were wasted.
But I will only pick 3 things to talk about here. These are my main beefs with a show that could’ve been so much better.
Maybe Some Other Day (hur. See what I did there with the OST track?), in some other parallel universe, Heirs could maybe be a better drama.
1. The way women are treated in this show
With few exceptions, the women in this drama — Madam Han, Hyun Joo, Eun Sang – were treated like objects. I’m just going to touch on each of their situations briefly, coz delving into too much detail would be too frustrating an exercise for me, and for you.
Madam Han
Madam Han, a prisoner in her own house, with no power to live properly as a mother to her own son. And when she finally plucks up the courage to leave, she’s not even allowed to leave as she pleases, but is instead sternly dictated a place to stay by Evil Dad (Jung Dong Hwan) until she feels better:
“You were able to come here when you wanted to. But it’s a different story when you’re leaving. Go to America. Stay there and see the American sky until you feel better.”
Ew. No thanks.
Hyun Joo
Hyun Joo (Im Joo Eun), a prisoner of her non-relationship with Won (Choi Jin Hyuk), made to feel so inferior and unworthy for liking him, and he doesn’t do anything to fight for her right to like him either.
Won consistently chooses the company and his corporate success over Hyun Joo, and prioritizes her down the line as if she has no will or decision-making capacity of her own.
When Hyun Joo finally chooses to let him go, Won bangs on Hyun Joo’s gate, yelling, demanding that she come out when she clearly doesn’t want to. SO DISTASTEFUL.
And Won pleads with Hyun Joo to go to America for 3 years, so that she won’t see him hitting rock bottom,”Don’t read about me. You can’t find out that what I got for losing you… was really stupid.”
So basically, Won’s pride is of more importance than 3 years of Hyun Joo’s life. Not cool.
Eun Sang
Being our female lead, Eun Sang perhaps represents the female population of our cast the most. Which is terrible, coz she gets treated like an object the most.
All the 3-way stare-downs (and there were many!) were about Tan and Young Do brandishing their power, and she was the pawn of choice. Eun Sang was often the subject of wrist-grabs, trip-ups, or worst of all, forced skinship.
Case in point, these kisses.
First kiss:
To top it all off, Tan accompanies “romantic” moments like these by saying stuff like, “Because I like you. So I’m going to interfere in your affairs at school. I’m going to invade your privacy.”
And right after the kiss above, Tan threatens Eun Sang that he’ll really go crazy and kill whoever calls her, if she answers her phone.
Whut. Are you kidding me? That’s awful.
Or how about that second kiss in episode 16, where he practically shouts, ”I said I will come for you. I said to wait for me. Stay where I tell you to stay. Wait when I tell you to. Stay when I tell you to stay. From now on, go to school and get off school with me. Listen to me. Okay?” Um. Those are not romantic words.
And then, he zooms in to practically grind his lips on hers, while her brow is all furrowed up, and through it all, Eun Sang looks like she’s enduring the kiss.
The music tells me this is supposed to be a romantic moment, but I feel more like Tan is branding Eun Sang as his, with this kiss. Shudder.
But wait, there’s more.
Hands-down, the moment above all other moments, where Tan treated Eun Sang like an object, is in episode 17, where he decides to let Eun Sang go. And then tells Young Do, “You take her.” You take her?!???
Well, if that’s not telling of how Tan objectifies Eun Sang, I don’t know what is.
Ugh. That made me so bleepin’ mad, I tell ya. And left such a bad taste in my mouth too.
2. Tan’s selfishness and self-centeredness
With more than 150 kdramas under my belt, let me just say upfront that I am very capable of rooting for the cold, selfish chaebol jerk who gets transformed by True Love.
The problem with Kim Tan was, he never really changed. He was selfish and self-centered pretty much all the way through this show, and I found myself asking the question at regular intervals, “Am I supposed to like this guy???”
While gathering my thoughts for this review, I found so many — so, so many! — examples of Tan’s unsavory behavior that I shocked even myself. I’m going to try to narrow it down for this review.
Here are my top 3 beefs with Selfish, Self-centered Tan.
#1. He treats his fiancee like crap
Too lazy to rebel properly, Tan has allowed himself to get engaged to Rachel, by arrangement of their parents. Which I can understand, given the chaebol circumstances.
But then Tan proceeds to treat Rachel like crap at every possible opportunity, and is impossibly mean and unkind to her. He basically treats her as if she has no feelings whatsoever, and that just sucks.
All he cares about is his own disdain for the engagement, and never takes into consideration the fact that Rachel was a pawn in this transaction as well.
Mean Tan is not at all attractive and I have no clue what Rachel sees in him.
#2. He’s malicious when it serves his purpose
In episode 10, when the war escalates between Tan and Young Do, Tan takes the matter to Young Do’s dad, and apologizes for hitting Young Do. Twice.
Tan knows full well how Young Do’s dad is probably going to whip the living daylights out of Young Do for allowing Tan to hit him, and yet he walks away from his meeting with Young Do’s dad with the most satisfied smirk on his face.
GAH. He willingly went there – to that deep, dark, evil place – just to win. That seriously made me question whether Tan was really the hero of this story, coz honestly, that’s just so uncool it’s practically evil.
And I found myself asking the question all over again, “Am I supposed to like this guy???” O.O
Coz the thing is, I know Young Do behaves in many very disturbing ways too. But hey. Young Do’s not this drama’s hero. Tan is. Well. He’s supposed to be, at any rate.
#3. It’s basically all about him
So I’ve described in some detail how I feel about Tan as boyfriend material (hint: not good).
On top of the manhandling and forced skinship, Tan regularly uses his power to manipulate and corner Eun Sang, in hopes that she will respond to his advances.
Like in episode 7 where he says to her, ”Leave my house tomorrow. Or can you not do that? Do you want to keep going to school? Then like me — if possible, for real. I like you.” Ugh.
Or in episode 10, where we get this telling exchange between Eun Sang and Tan.
Eun Sang: “Didn’t you know? If your mother finds out about this, my mom and I… will have to live on the streets. So can you please cut the crap, Young Master?”
Kim Tan: “Do you really take my heart for granted? My feelings mean nothing to you? My life means nothing to you then? Do you fit with me? Do I fit with you? Yeah! You’re right. You don’t fit with me. I’m too much for you. You know why? It’s not because you hurt my pride. It’s not because you mentioned about my family problems and hurt me. It’s because I took the courage for you. But you didn’t do anything for me. Fine. If that’s what you want, then I will just leave you alone. I thought you were a good dream. But you were just a bad one.” And he walks away.
Seriously?!???
Basically, Tan is an inconsiderate, selfish ass.
And in episode 17, when Eun Sang disappears, Tan sinks into the hugest poor-me depression, ever.
Instead of doing anything at all constructive to help Eun Sang or find her, Tan wallows and wallows.. and wallows some more.
To Young Do, Tan says, “I ruined her. Because I liked her… I pushed her off the cliff. Home, school, friends… Even her future…. I ruined it all.”
And just when I begin to feel a little sorry for him, he says to Young Do, “You take her.”Argh.
And really, it feels like at least a good chunk of Tan’s angst was a pity party for himself rather than pure remorse for Eun Sang’s wrecked life at his hands.
In response, Young Do grabs Tan by the collar and practically shakes him, “What did you just say, you bastard? You want to die? Do you even deserve to break down?” Yes, please knock some sense into the stupid self-centered boy.
Honestly. It’s a mess that Tan created with his obnoxious self-centered ways, and now that it’s all gone to pot, he’s crying about it and wallowing in his misery.
I was exceedingly annoyed by Tan’s wallowing, precisely because it was all about him. He cared more about himself than about Eun Sang.
Tellingly, at his most desperate, he pleads with Won, ”When can I go to America? I’m dying. Just let me go. Please help me.” Ugh. Ugghh.
Listen. Through lots of kdramas, I’ve come around to care for many a jerk-wad chaebol as they chart their development journeys and get transformed by their True Loves. Just, Tan is not one of those.
18 whole episodes out of 20, he’s still wallowing in self-pity and only cares about himself. Just, no.
3. The deterioration of a heroine
As our heroine, Eun Sang started out strong. She had a strong stubborn streak, was prickly, and had very clear ideas about what she wanted in life.
I liked it when in episode 4, Eun Sang refused to give Tan her number and even called him out for treating his fiancee badly. Good for her!
As the show wore on, though, Eun Sang eventually evolved into a helpless damsel in distress who was constantly in need of saving.
And she almost always had a horrified, tearful expression on her face too.
Eventually, in the later episodes, Eun Sang recovers some measure of her previous sass, but it feels like too little, too late. Like an afterthought, almost.
I would’ve preferred Eun Sang to have retained her strong willed personality all the way through. Coz why does she need a personality change just because she falls in love with a boy, right?
Heirs OST - 한여름 밤에 꿈
WHAT I WOULD’VE LIKED
Again, there are so many things I would like to wish for in this show, instead of the heavy and largely pointless angst that it served up.
Again, I’m going to limit myself to picking just a couple of the most major things.
1. More time on resolution between Tan and Won
If I had my way, I’d have liked to have had more screen time dedicated to resolving the tension and bad blood between Tan and Won.
Through much of the show, Tan is doggedly seeking Hyung’s approval and acceptance, and this thread is never resolved in a satisfying, robust manner.
I’d have liked to see the relationship slowly evolve and heal and the two brothers tackle their issues one by one, to move from enemies on opposite sides, to brothers in the thick of a genuine, heartfelt bromance.
2. More time on resolution between Tan and Young Do
Again, I’d like more thought and screentime dedicated to the resolution of the strained friendship between Tan and Young Do.
From the beginning of the show, we’re shown that the two used to be close friends, only to end up as enemies when Tan inadvertently plays a part in Young Do missing the chance to see his mother one last time before she left. That, and Tan’s admission to Young Do about his parentage.
I’d have liked to see these two find a way to work things through, to finally and properly resolve their issues and arrive at a place of acceptance and forgiveness. And yes, bromance too.
3. More time on parent-child resolutions and reconciliations
There are so many strained parent-child relationships in the show, and not enough resolution.
I’d have liked to see more concrete steps in the reconciliation between Young Do and his dad, for instance. Sure, we get a hint that Abusive Dad becomes a bit more of a Concerned Dad by the end, but I would’ve liked to see more of how that developed.
The same goes for the strained relationship between Rachel and her mom (Yoon Son Ha), Hyo Shin (Kang Ha Neul) and his parents, and Tan and Won’s epically strained relationship with Evil Dad.
I’m not asking for everything to be wrapped up neatly with ribbons and bows, coz c’mon, we’re talking about teenagers and their parents here. But a more concrete look at some progress in each of these relationships would’ve been nice.
Bonus asks
While I’m at it, I couldn’t resist putting in an ask for more of this:
A proper noona romance between Hyun Joo and Hyo Shin couldn’t have hurt, could it? It would’ve been way funner than the sad-sap stuff we got between Hyun Joo and Won.
And more of this:
Young Do and Rachel were interesting together.
A loveline between them would’ve been fun to watch. Or even a fleshed-out sibling-esque sort of affection would’ve been great to watch too.
Basically, I liked seeing them spark off each other.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Most of the time in Heirs, while each plot point is sort-of-maybe explainable, it all feels like we’re swinging from one branch to another through a forest that’s made up of trees representing a sea of teen moods.
I feel like this today = swing this way! And tomorrow I feel like that = swing that way!
It’s haphazard and zig-zaggedy and gets you from one point to another, but it doesn’t really make a coherent throughline. Nor does it ensure that loose ends are taken care of either.
I blame the writing.
THE FINAL VERDICT:
A show that, despite its best intentions, wasn’t quite able to bear the weight of the crown that it made for itself, hur.
Ultimately underwhelming. More for diehard fangirls and -boys.
VISUAL TREATS:
Non- to mildly spoilery vids for those who haven’t seen the show:
Short teaser:
Longer 2-minute subbed teaser:
For those who’ve seen the show, or for those who don’t mind spoilers:
A cheery MV featuring the OTP:
A tribute to the mesmerizing Young Do:
And finally, a lil something for Young Do & Rachel shippers:
So a funny thing happened. Liebster season snuck up on me when I wasn’t even looking.
When the first signs popped up, hinting that Liebster season was upon us again, I hardly took notice. I was all like, Well, I had a good go at that last year, and it was a heap of fun. Surely after 9 whole Liebsters, though, no one’s going to want to ask me more questions about myself. Right?
Wrong.
When I wasn’t looking, those Liebsters seemed to multiply in a little room all by their sneaky little selves. Almost like they had a will all their own. And now, I have a serious heap of questions to answer *starts sweating bullets*
I plead hectic Real Life schedules as the reason that I delegated the job of answering the Liebster questions to Future Me (hey, after watching so many time-travel dramas, you gotta learn something, right?)
So here I am, Future Me (er, now Present Me?) to the rescue! Let’s see if you guys can stick with me all the way to the very end, eh? I promise to make this as pain-free as possible
And, thanks to all you sweethearts who nominated me – I feel like I’ve been rained on by showers of lurve ❤
Clazziquai Project – Gentle Rain
Liebster #1 – January 21st, 2014
My first clue that Liebster season was arriving was a ping on Facebook from Jaime, who hosts (is?) The Drama Noona.
Lovely Jaime is sorta new to the blogosphere, but she’s quickly racking up sunbae points even as I type this. Not only has she recently given her blog an impressive makeover, she’s putting her art school training to good use, designing cool banners for herself and others. Over Christmas, she made this post, offering a selection of her newly-made headers to other bloggers who might like them. Coz she’s just sweet that way.
And while Jaime’s got a big noona heart, she’s got a particular soft spot for Choi Jin Hyuk. So Jaime, here’s a little sumthin’ for ya:
Mmm. Very nice indeed.
Jaime gave me what she calls an Honorable Sunbaenim Nomination. Aw. Sweet thang. She really does call me sunbae, y’know. Just some of the time
And while she says that this is the kind of nomination where I don’t have to answer any questions and just wave and smile and enjoy my award, I thought I’d pick just one of her questions to answer.
So this is the one I picked:
2. How did you come up with the name for your blog?
When I started the blog, I knew that I wanted to focus mainly on drama reviews, and I thought The Verdict would be an apt name for the blog. And I did call it that, actually, when I started putting the blog together on Blogger.
But then I decided that WordPress looked interesting and wanted to give it a go. I signed up for an account, all excited about getting The Verdict a home on WordPress, and.. “The Verdict” was not available. Bummer, I thought.
I chewed on my options for about a minute, and decided that The Fangirl Verdict would have to do. And that’s how The Fangirl Verdict was born.
Definitely what I would call a happy accident, coz now on hindsight, I feel like The Fangirl Verdict suits me a whole lot more. And says everything about what I’m doing here on the net. Fangirling (of course). And writing reviews (of course).
NeeNee is quite the sunbae around the blogosphere, having been blogging for 4 years now (wow, right?!?). What’s even more amazing is that she seems to have found the secret of bending time and space, coz she posts a heckuva lot. More than one person should logically be able to manage, even if they decided they didn’t need a life. Or sleep.
Yet, she single-handedly churns out a plethora of posts, from recaps to reviews, and she’s taken on multiple 30-day blogging challenges (and owned them all, too). Respect, truly.
I’m pretty sure NeeNee qualifies for the blogging version of the 10,000 hours rule!
NeeNee says that she doesn’t have one particular favorite actor, but she’s named a bunch of actors that she appreciates, and I decided that this pic would make a suitable prezzie for this post.
Here’s Kang Ji Hwan, celebrating with showers of happiness, just like we are.
Well, maybe not exactly like we are. I’ve still got my shirt on. Do you?
And on we go, to NeeNee’s questions:
1. What made you start blogging?
Toward the end of 2012, a burning desire to write bit me and bit me good. And I had a whole lotta drama love saved up for the 6 years that I’d been steadily consuming kdrama. And then Stephanie asked me to write a guest year-in-review post. And she also asked whether I had a blog. And so I thought, Well.. Maybe I should make one? And here we are. Heh.
I wasn’t even fully convinced that I would blog for long, honestly. I just wanted to know what it felt like to have a blog. And now that I’ve started, I find it hard to stop. So.. I guess I’ll be here for a while yet
You can check out the full story on the origin story of the blog here.
2. What keeps you blogging?
It’s a combination of the sense of community here in the blogosphere, and the feeling that I’m contributing something to the dramaverse.
I used to think that I could stop this blogging thing at any time. After all, it’s something that I started on a whim, just to see how it feels. And now that I know how it feels, I can stop. Right?
Well. It didn’t quite work out that way. Now I feel like this blog isn’t mine alone, and there are lovely readers here who love this space as much as I do. And I feel so encouraged by them when they get excited about the stuff I post. They – you! – are the ones who make it hard to walk away. And that’s why I’m still here. That, and I still do like talking about dramas.
3. Future goals (in or outside the blogging/drama-watching sphere)?
To grow up without growing old, to always love what I do and have fun while I’m doing it, and to always be happy.
Oh, and watch a lot of drama.
4. Profession? (out of curiosity, what do you do in your real life?)
I’m secretly a superhero.
To protect my superhero identity, I also go undercover to conduct training workshops to unsuspecting civilians. Shhh. Don’t tell.
5. Gateway addiction into the drama realm?
Goong. I loved it so freaking much.
6. Favorite quote? [NeeNee loves quotes from movies, dramas, literature that really resonate and hit you, you know?]
I can’t say I’ve got a favorite. But I rather like this one:
“With great power comes great responsibility” ~ Spiderman
This makes so much sense to me, not only in Real Life, but in blogging too. With this blog, I have a voice in the blogosphere, and I feel it’s important to use that voice responsibly.
7. Coffee? Tea? Neither? [I personally think white chocolate hot chocolate is the most awesome concoction as is horchata.]
Ooh. Tea. Iced Oolong. Or iced White. Or iced Rosehip & Hibiscus.
Do we see a trend?
8. Have you ever tried Calpis water [or something like it]?
No, I can’t say I have. But I hear Calpis is sour, and I love lemons. Does that count?
9. Are you proficient in more than one language? If so, which?
I can speak Mandarin & Cantonese, and sort of understand a handful of other Chinese dialects. I understand some Japanese from 2 years of Japanese lessons. But my Korean’s better than my Japanese. That I learned purely from watching kdrama. Hee.
For more on how I pick up Korean while watching drama, you can check out this post.
10. Favorite OST?
Ooh, tough one. I love so many.
Chuno‘s soundtrack is masterful, evocative and completely immersive.
And Goong’s soundtrack is wonderfully pitch-perfect for Goong’s fantasy world. It’s light, breezy and quite addictive.
Liebster #3 – January 24th, 2014
On the very same day that NeeNee gifted me with Liebster #2, my lovely friends Drama Fan and Gumi, who host Stuck On Hyuk, gave me a Special Mention Liebster.
How sweet are they, to let me off the ho-, er, graciously excuse me from answering a whole 10 questions?
As a little thank-you to the ladies, I’m gifting them with this gorgeous shot of the man around whom their entire blog revolves, Jang Hyuk.
That’s right. Theirs is an entire blog dedicated to all things Jang Hyuk, who happens to be one hawt man.
I also happen to have a robust, er, appreciation for Jang Hyuk’s fine.. talents, and you can check out my k-love post for him here.
Even though they said I didn’t have to answer any questions, I thought I’d pick one to answer anyway.
And here’s my pick:
5. What was your first Kdrama crush?
Technically, this would have to be Joo Ji Hoon, since he played the Crown Prince in Goong, and I loved that show to bits.
Coming in a very close second would be Ji Sung, coz Save Your Last Dance For Me was my second kdrama ever, and he played our suave leading man.
I’m fairly sure that I crushed on Ji Sung even more than I crushed on Joo Ji Hoon.
snow_white was one of the first friends I made here in the k-blogosphere, and has always been a pleasure to chat with. On her blog, she posts frequent, bite-size posts which are quick and fun to read; it’s a perfect way to get in a quick dose of dramaland when you’ve got a bite-sized pocket of time.
Although snow_white says she doesn’t have one ultimate bias, I feel like she’s got a soft spot for Lee Min Ho. I know she was supremely happy when he got cast with Park Shin Hye in Heirs, and that OTP kept her boat afloat all series long.
So here, snow_white. Here’s some Lee Min Ho cute for ya:
Hope you likey
And now, onto snow_white’s questions!
1. Who is your favorite K-ent actor and actress?
Well now. I can’t not mention Gong Yoo and Kim Woo Bin, both of whom I love and both of whom are excellent, dedicated actors.
But I thought, why not challenge myself to pick a k-actor whom I respect purely for his acting? And the name that immediately came to mind was Kim Myung Min.
The man takes method acting to a whole new level, immersing himself completely in character from start to finish. You never feel like you’re watching Kim Myung Min in character. Rather, he becomes the character.
As for a favorite k-actress, I have several whom I really like, but since I’m only picking one, I’m gonna have to choose Shin Min Ah.
She’s got a uniquely approachable yet ethereal goddess-like quality about her, and is wonderfully gung-ho in roles. You just can’t help but love her, really.
2. Talking about favorites, what are your favorite movies, TV serials, actors and actresses outside Kdramaland?
I don’t watch a lot of non-kdrama stuff anymore, to be honest.. But my favorite movie of all time is When Harry Met Sally. And my favorite serial that’s non-k is Japan’s Hana Kimi, which is fantastic, campy fun. No one does live action manga like the Japanese, imo.
3. If your life were a drama, which one would it be?
Ooh. This one’s tough.
Um.. I’m gonna go with Baby-Faced Beauty, coz I’ve often been mistaken for younger than my actual age.. Now all I need is my own Daniel Choi Although I’d rather have my own Woobie ❤ Crossover?
4. Dramas or novels? Why?
Dramas. I used to love novels, but I haven’t been reading much at all lately.
Plus dramas often come with gorgeous OSTs and novels.. don’t.
5. Which color do you like the most and why?
Red. Coz it’s bright, happy & passionate. Just like me (hur).
6. Your dream cast for a drama: main leads as well as second leads………….
This recent article about Yoon Eun Hye picking Gong Yoo as her ideal type got me and Evez talking. Evez, being quite the romantic, said it’d be nice if Gong Yoo was interested in Yoon Eun Hye too, and was just waiting for the right time to propose.
And that fired up a drama scenario in my head, where Yoon Eun Hye and Gong Yoo play celebs like they are in real life, and they’ve worked together before. Each nurses a crush on the other, but doesn’t do anything about except hint through the media, via articles like the one I read.
Of course, they both think the other party is just saying obligatory nice things, and that it’s all media talk.
Several years after they first work together, they get cast together again, to play the OTP of a drama. Let’s make it a rom-com. They each sign on, eager to work with the object of their respective affections, but both maintain cool, unruffled professionalism on the surface.
As they get into filming the drama, they both have to navigate the intricacies of working together – filming, interviews, photoshoots, variety appearances – all while trying to hide, yet fan, their feelings for each other. The stolen glances, the silent squees once they’re out of sight and out of earshot of the other, and the barely controlled swoon as they get up close and personal for filming and photoshoots.
Gah. HOW MUCH FUN WOULD THAT BE?!??
We could have Jo Jung Suk playing Yoon Eun Hye’s nervous, obsessive compulsive manager who nurses his own crush on her. And we could have Im Joo Eun play Gong Yoo’s ballsy, sharp and no-nonsense manager who nurses a secret crush on her charge as well.
Of course, eventually Jo Jung Suk and Im Joo Eun would fall head over heels in love too. Coz they would be so, SO cute together.
For more dream drama scenarios, check out my dream drama post here.
7. What is the best thing about blogging in your opinion?
I’d have to say it’s been the sense of community, where we squee together as well as exchange ideas. So often, my ideas have been challenged and expanded through conversations with other bloggers and fans here in the blogosphere, and that’s just very, very cool stuff.
You guys color my drama world ❤
Liebster #5 – January 28th, 2014
Two days later, I received Liebster #5 from my friend misscupcakees who hosts A Fairytale World. And whom I realize gifted me with a Liebster last year too. What can I say? I guess she loves me a lot?
misscupcakees is always a pleasure to chat with, coz she’s so full of bubbly, cheery energy. And she manages to get so much drama on her screen, I don’t know how she does it. On her blog, she covers not only kdrama, but also Hong Kong, Taiwanese and Japanese dramas. I think she knows the secret door to the fourth dimension, seriously.
Although misscupcakees doesn’t profess to have a favorite actor, she does count Lee Jun Ki among the ones that she appreciates. So here, misscupcakees, this is a little bit of Lee Jun Ki for ya:
Mmm. Handsome, handsome man.
And now, on to misscupcakee’s questions!
1. How did you get into blogging about drama?
On a whim
See answer to Liebster #2, Question 1 for more details. Or go here for the full origin story.
2. What is your all-time favourite drama trope that you can watch over and over again?
Bad boy turning over a new leaf in the name of love. I am quite a sucker for that. Or noona love. Or both, coz, why not?
3. Who is your favourite OTP and why? (I asked this during my previous Liebster Award post but it doesn’t hurt to ask it again).
The last time misscupcakees asked me this question, I answered Ji Hyun Woo and Yoo In Na in Queen In-hyun’s Man.
This time, I thought I’d pick another worthy OTP whom I love, and that’s Lee Jun Ki and Shin Min Ah in Arang and the Magistrate.
I loved them both immensely in this show. They were perfectly, equally matched. I never felt one was more important than the other. They were both amazing. And they had such fantastic chemistry too. Just look at ‘em:
Rawr.
4. Who do you have the most severe SLS (second lead syndrome) towards?
Young Do in Heirs. Coz, Kim Woo Bin. ❤
5. What is your favourite MV? Link me please!
I already post drama-related MVs in my reviews, so I thought I’d go with a non-drama-related MV.
I don’t listen to much kpop at all, but I thought this version of All I Want for Christmas is You by Bom&Hi was flat-out brilliant.
They don’t change the lyrics or the tempo or even the mood of the instrumentals of the original song, but manage to change the song’s whole meaning – everything - simply by tweaking the context of the MV. And I always say that context is everything, so.. this is a perfect example.
Check it out:
6. What is one drama that you regret ever having started regardless of whether you finished it or not?
Oh my. Dream High 2. It’s.. bad. And yes, I finished it.
7. Poor girl, rich guy. Write up a drama plot revolving around them.
I’d have Sung Joon as a chaebol heir who duly puts in a suited up appearance or two at the office every couple of weeks, but spends most of his time rocking out on the drums with his band at a smoky indie club. He genuinely loves music and wants to change the indie music scene, making it easier for indie musicians to make their music available without selling out to soulless big management companies.
Jung Eun Ji is the poor student-cum-waitress who works at the club where Sung Joon plays. She’s loud and brassy, with her Busan accent firmly in place, and exceedingly cute. She’s working to put herself through school, and puts up in a room at the back of the club. She often yells at the rocker boys for continuing to play long after the club’s closed for the day coz she’s trying to study.
Cue rom-com hijinks as the rocker dude and the spunky waitress cross paths and bicker their way to romance in spite of themselves. Then cue lots of romantic cuteness after they fall hopelessly in love, in spite of themselves. And then cue more hijinks as Sung Joon tries repeatedly to reveal his chaebol-ness to her, but fails in spite of his best efforts coz she thinks he’s pranking her as usual.
They eventually live happily ever after, still bickering, of course.
8. Who are some guys that you can just stare at for days and nights without having them to even do anything?
Why, Kim Woo Bin of course. ❤ Yes, yes, I know. I have a one-track fangirl mind. Let’s call it.. focus.
Yep, I’ve had great difficulty tearing my eyes away from this pic. Great. Difficulty.
Swoon.
9. What are you currently studying/have studied etc. or what is your current job (if you are currently working)?
See Liebster #2, Question 4.
10. What are some places you want to visit (it can be fictional or not) and where in the world do you currently reside? (I know, I cheated with asking 11 questions in all but hey, rules are meant to be broken!)
Ok, so the obvious answer is Korea. In terms of travel destination, that’s my top pick.
On a fantasy note, I’d like to visit the restaurant in Fermentation Family, coz not only is it in a beautiful location:
They serve the most delicately prepared kimchi that looks out-of-this world:
Over at POPS MISSION, Pops has a great collection of thoughtful yet humorous drama and movie reviews, along with other fun posts. And she’s also got a soft spot for Lee Min Ho.
And even though we already have a pic of him in this post, I always say that shared squee is the best kind, so what’s the harm in sharing some squee over Lee Min Ho, eh?
Pops, this one’s for you:
Hope you likey.
And now, on to Pops’ questions!
1. Which drama character would you marry in real life?
Choi Han Gyul, Coffee Prince. I want that smitten face to be from thinking about me. ❤
2. What actors/actresses do you love so much that you would watch a totally terrible drama just because they were in it? Any examples?
Oh my. I watched One Fine Day (a totally terrible drama) for Gong Yoo. Twice.
And I watched Heirs for Kim Woo Bin. All of it.
3. Did you have a moment in your drama watching history when you just suddenly realised you were totally hooked?
Hee. When my sister and I stayed up way past our bed-time in order to watch one more episode of Goong. And then one more. And then one more.
I plead first drama love/insanity.
4. What do your friends and family think of your obsession? Do they know?
Mostly they look at it with a mix of eye-rolling & amusement. They indulge me when I talk about drama. To a point.
Of the few people in my Real Life who know about this blog, only a tiny percentage of the few actually bother to check it out.
5. Do you have a favourite drama kiss scene?
I probably have several. But the one that comes to mind right now, is at the end of episode 12 of Big, where Gong Yoo kisses Lee Min Jung. It’s so gentle, so tender, so full of wonder.
I melt. And swoon. ❤
6. What is it about your favourite drama that makes you love it so much?
Gosh, it’s tough picking favorites!
I love Life is Beautiful coz it’s heartwarming, fuzzy, cozy goodness folded into a lovely drama package. I love Coffee Prince coz it’s just so well-written, so well-acted, so well-paced and so addictive. And I love Goong, coz being my first kdrama, it gives me so many feels.
For more thoughts on what makes drama crack stay cracky for me, you can check out this post.
7. Why did you start a blog?
The how of it all was a spontaneous sort of thing. The why? It was to see what having a blog felt like. And to give my drama thoughts a voice to be heard.
8. Have you ever walked up to a non drama viewing family member or friend and started singing ‘Almoost Paraaadise” at them?
I’m gonna hafta say no. Phew. Otherwise I might be writing this from a mental institution.
9. What is your guilty pleasure drama?
Hee. That would either be Playful Kiss, coz it’s such a happy, simple world, despite its (rather huge) flaws.
Or Chuno, coz I first tuned in to this masterpiece just to gawk at the shirtless men.
Ahem. You can hardly blame me, right?
10. Tell us 5 random facts about yourself (presuming you haven’t done this already)
(1) I learned Chinese calligraphy for a year in school. I was terrible at it, but it fixed my Chinese handwriting good and proper. Suddenly with a normal pen (instead of a calligraphy brush), my Chinese characters actually became pretty. Go figure.
(2) I nearly became a lawyer. My parents tried talking me into accepting a place at law school coz of the prestigious career they felt it would give me. Thank goodness I came to my senses in time. I would’ve been miserable in law school. And probably a terrible lawyer too. Plus, most lawyers I know don’t have a whole lotta drama time.
(3) Before I went all into drama, I went through a beauty phase where instead of drama, I was super interested in all things beauty. As a result, I now have way too much makeup and skincare than my face can accommodate. Oopsie.
(4) My body temperature is slightly higher than most people. I think it might have to do with my high metabolism. It’s one of my secret superpowers. Metabolize! And I’m hungry again.
(5) I was super shy as a child. So shy that I didn’t dare talk to other kids. Or accept party hats at kids’ parties. Now I talk to strangers as an integral part of my job. What a turnaround. I am still an introvert at heart though.
Yep, apqaria’s blog is all about Lee Da Hae. Talk about focus and dedication
This is for you, apqaria:
What a pretty pic.
And although apqaria’s Special Mention Liebster means I don’t have to answer her questions, I thought I’d pick one anyway.
I decided this one would be fun:
2. How many dramas can you watch at the same time?
I totally used to be a one-drama-at-a-time kinda gal. I felt that watching anything more than that would dilute the drama experience for me. Such a purist, eh?
Now, though, I have about 7 – yes, SEVEN! – dramas going at the same time. I don’t watch all of them evenly though. I sometimes will leave a few on the backburner for a while as I watch the rest, and then come back to the backburner dramas when the mood strikes.
I guess I’m better at multitasking than I thought.
To be honest, this is my first time meeting Kelly, so I don’t know a whole lot about her yet. Although, I do know from her Liebster post that she’s currently crushing on Kim Soo Hyun.
So here, Kelly. A little bit of delicious Kim Soo Hyun for you:
Mmm. Naise.
And onward, to Kelly’s questions!
1. If you can be a female drama lead in any drama, who would it be?
I’m gonna stick with last year’s answer to this question. I wanna be Lee Min Jung in Big. Coz she gets to be kissed in wonderful, epic fashion by Gong Yoo. ❤
2. What would you do if a banana you are about to eat comes to life and begs you for his/her life?
I’d set it free in the wild. But my dog would probably eat it before it got too far. She loves bananas.
3.What is your all time favourite song to sing at the karaoke?
Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It’s a happy song. I think.
4. What subject are you majoring in and do you know what you want to be in the future/what is your occupation?
See Liebster #2, Question 4.
Oh, and I majored in English Language and English Literature.
5.If the world ends in a week, would you still watch dramas for the remaining time or would you think that it’s a waste of time?
Hmm. I’d probably spend more time getting Real Life stuff in order. But depending on what I was watching before I found out the world was going to end, I might make some time for it
6. Do you believe in supernatural beings such as ghost, gumiho, aliens, etc.?
Um. Yes to supernatural stuff. No to gumihos, aliens etc.
7. What influences your choice in picking a drama to watch?
Primarily whether the scenario sounds interesting. Next, I’d be interested in the casting too. And then who’s writing/directing.
Of course, if Kim Woo Bin’s in it, I’m in for the long haul. Come what may. Coz I love my Woobie ❤
8. What is the earliest memory you can remember?
I was probably about 4 and my parents had brought me to a chicken farm along with a group of other friends. The chicken feathers made me sneeze and sneeze and I couldn’t see straight coz I was too busy sneezing. I grabbed tightly onto my mother’s hand and wouldn’t let go till we got out of the chicken area.
It was only then that I realized everyone was laughing coz I’d grabbed onto some other lady’s hand instead of my mom’s. In my defence, I couldn’t see coz I was sneezing so hard. Plus she smelled like my mom; I think she was wearing the same perfume.
Afterwards, I felt traumatized at all those adults laughing at me. I was a super shy kid, remember?
9. What food out of any dramas you’ve watched do you want to try?
There’re lots of Korean restaurants and eateries in Singapore where I live, so it’s not been hard translating drama greed into Real Life food experiences.
Bibimbap was the first, and Korean BBQ pork remains one of my faves.
I’d really love to try all the fantastic looking kimchi in Fermentation Family, though. It all looks so good. Drool.
10.What would you do if you have amnesia? (kinda like making up your own story involving amnesia)
Wow. I can’t think of a story, really.
What I would do, if I did actually wake up with amnesia one day, would be to read through my journals to find the people I trust the most, and then ask them about my life.
And then I’d watch all my favorite dramas again. Coz when else can you feel the magic of experiencing your favorite dramas for the first time, all over again???
See? There’s a silver lining to everything. Heh.
THE END
Phew. That was a whole lotta stuff about me, wasn’t it? For sticking with me through all 8 of these, I’m sending you big hugs. Thanks, you guys ❤
If you’re up for still more stuff about me, you can check out my first Liebster post here.
If your head starts to hurt partway through, though, you might wanna pace yourself. Coz I found this little nugget of wisdom which you might find useful:
You’ve been warned. Hee.
NOMINATIONS
So here’s where I’m changing up the rules and doing whatever I want. Just coz I can.
Instead of 10 questions for 10 bloggers, I’m going with 3 questions for 5 bloggers. Coz, why not?
And get this:
1. You can totally take these any way you want. You can make a post, or update an existing post, or answer the questions in the comments section here, or just smile and wave and accept your awards. How cool is that?
2. Everyone can play! Even if you don’t blog, feel free to share your answers with everyone in the comments. I thought of this coz when Liebster season started, Evez asked me if this was only for bloggers, and I realized that it’d be fun if everyone – not just bloggers – got to play.
A lovely little community that’s run by Grace, supported by her lovely minion Jules, mawiie and NewKdramaAddict. Musings boasts a wide variety of posts, from recaps to movie reviews to news tid-bits to a regular eye-candy section, so there’s always a little something for everyone.
Not only does Amanda regularly churn out insightful, fun reviews, she often comes up with wonderful concept posts which run the gamut from sharply profound to side-splittingly hysterical. Always a great read.
Betsy is one of my favorite people in the blogosphere, and I had so much fun with her on our first Trading Thoughts post. (More to come, we promise!) She’s insightful, profound, sweet, and has a wonderful way with words. She writes lots of reviews and reaction posts & I love reading her stuff. Sometimes I wish I watched more drama, so that I could read everything she writes. But I’m a spoiler-phobe, so I sometimes save some of her posts for later. Or dodge like a ninja through ‘em, just to get a feel for how she feels about a show.
Sarah’s got a great writing style that I really like. The first time I poked around her blog, I knew that she’d be fun to read. At the moment she’s making a couple of changes on her blog, so expect to see reviews coming soon – spoiler-free versions will be available too. Whatever she decides to write, though, I’m sure it’ll be great to read.
QUESTIONS
1. For some people, kdrama literally saved their lives. What does kdrama mean to you?
2. Which is your favorite comfort-food drama? Your go-to drama when everything feels bleargh and you just wanna feel better?
3. Who’s your favorite kdrama character and why?
And! Here’s a final word of wisdom that I learned from writing this post!
Heh. So even if answering more questions feels like a tough journey, you’ll eventually get there. One step at a time.
Classy, funny and sexy, That Far Gone is a smartly-written, tenderly-conceived labor of love.
A writer who clearly knows her subject and her audience, mywebfoot paints a convincing, believable fantasy world in which drama fans can indulge their imaginations and even their shipper hearts as they see the unfolding of a ‘real-life’ romance between So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin come to life in the pages of this fanfic.
A tantalizingly addictive ride not only for So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin shippers, but for anyone who took notice of their chemistry in Master’s Sun.
Master’s Sun OST – Candy Love (Touch Love Guitar Ver.)
THE LONG VERDICT:
So. Good, you guys. So. Good.
Honestly, I wish that I could just flail about and keep repeating that, and perhaps hypnotise you while I was at it, so that you’d go right out and read this ebook, based on your faith in my word alone, heh.
But that wouldn’t be doing justice to this book. Not at all. Which is why I’m going to attempt to break it down and explain what makes this fanfic such a worthy read. That’s right. I’m gonna try to decode the magic, without taking away any of the fairy dust.
* Let me state upfront that while mywebfoot graciously provided me with a copy of the book for review, that that doesn’t affect my opinion in the least. I enjoyed the excerpt and available chapters so much (details to come!) that I would’ve purchased this book myself.
CONTEXT
Before getting into the book itself, I thought it’d be worthwhile to give you a bit of background. After all, I wasn’t all that blown away by Master’s Sun as a drama (review coming soon), so why would I bother to read a fanfic, right? And a whole ebook at that, spanning 12 whole chapters?
1. Fanfic and Me
Honestly, I’ve never been big on fanfics. Maybe it’s coz I feel like I can’t even keep up with all the dramas I want to watch, let alone read fanfics. Priorities, y’know.
Or maybe it’s coz when an OTP does capture my imagination, I’m content to let them stay there – in my very fertile, active, self-sufficient imagination. I can dream up lotsa fun scenarios when the occasion calls for it, and I generally haven’t felt the need to seek out fanfics.
Or maybe it’s coz not all fanfics are created equal, despite the writers’ best intentions. Not everyone’s a gifted storyteller, after all.
The bottom line is, I’m raving about this ebook without a pre-existing fondness for fanfic in general. Which means you don’t have to be a fan of fanfic either, to appreciate this book. And neither do you need to be a So Ji Sub-Gong Hyo Jin shipper either. I definitely wasn’t a shipper when I started reading the book, and that didn’t impede my enjoyment of the book in the least.
2. Existing Impressions of our OTP as Individuals
One of the draws for me, to That Far Gone, is my existing affection for its protagonists, Gong Hyo Jin and So Ji Sub.
Gong Hyo Jin
I’ve loved Gong Hyo Jin as an actress for a long time. When I first saw her in Pasta, my first impression of her was that she seemed sorta plain and ordinary to be headlining a drama, but she grew on me, SO MUCH. By the time I was done with Pasta, I considered Gong Hyo Jin one of my favorite actresses in dramaland, and have enjoyed her in pretty much every role she’s chosen since.
I love her natural, earthy charm that she brings into each of her roles, and I love how she seems to have no hangups about not conforming to the usual Korean standards of beauty. She manages to have a healthy sense of self-confidence in her own brand of beauty, and she’s got such a gung-ho vibe about her too.
I love that she did Project 577, where she basically hiked for miles and miles and suffered exhaustion, cramps and terrible blisters, all while appearing without makeup on camera in all her unglam glory – the works.
Yet, she remained likable, charming and accessible throughout.
I love how real she comes across and I always think of her as one cool chick. Who could plausibly be a BFF who comes over for tea and girly chit-chat – including chit-chat about boys, of course.
So Ji Sub
I first encountered So Ji Sub in I’m Sorry, I Love You. I didn’t love the show, but So Ji Sub’s strong shoulders and defined biceps didn’t hurt, and neither did the rebellious bad-boy smirk he wore much of the time. I didn’t come away with a fangirl crush myself, but I could understand the angsty So Ji Sub appeal.
Funnily enough, So Ji Sub endeared himself most to me not in Master’s Sun, but in his foray into rapping and making music. In his various music ventures, everyone basically made fun of him and dissed him as not-a-rapper as well as ridiculed his wacky fashion sense.
When I watched the MVs and a couple of BTSes, though, I really liked how earnest and sincere he seemed, in spite of the widespread mockery.
I saw a man who had a sincere love and passion for music, and who just wanted to do something he loved.
And I saw too, that a pretty sweet dork lived beneath the celebrity veneer.
Here he is, visiting Younha on the set of his music video ‘Picnic.’ Look at that good-natured, adorkable look on his face, like a little boy in a candy store trying hard not to explode with excitement:
And here he is, visiting the adorable Yoo Seung Ho on the set of his MV ‘Ground.’ Yoo Seung Ho plays So Ji Sub’s younger self in the MV, living up to his nickname of “Little So Ji Sub.”
I saw these two being all chummy together and couldn’t help melting a little:
Once I discovered the sweet dorkiness of So Ji Sub, I couldn’t help but have a bit of a soft spot for him.
Plus, he likely knew all about the general sense of derision towards his music ventures, but he smiled for the cameras and pressed on anyway. Gotta give him props for tenacity and an admirable sense of self. It takes a strong person to know that people are laughing at him and yet not let that affect his choices. Respect.
While Master’s Sun didn’t hit it out of the ballpark for me, I did appreciate the great onscreen chemistry between Gong Hyo Jin and So Ji Sub. And reading that little excerpt, I could totally see the man-dork fall for the bright, confident cool chick.
I thought it’d be adorable to see them get a happy-ever-after, even if it was within the fantasy world of a fanfic.
3. Existing OTP Chemistry – Master’s Sun BTS
I didn’t seek out reports or articles about the BTS chemistry between So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin, and even then, I knew that fandoms were exploding with squee over the sparkling chemistry that these two shared off-screen.
Gong Hyo Jin’s always had a reputation for being warm and easy-going, so it was no surprise to see her smiling and having fun during interviews. It was So Ji Sub that was the big surprise.
Famously serious and reserved, he was often captured in photos and videos, smiling, laughing and basically having a whale of a time with his co-star. Gone were the super serious expressions. Instead, we got lots of cuteness where he looked like he was laughing coz he just couldn’t hold it back.
To give you guys a better idea of what we’re dealing with, here’s a photo of So Ji Sub at a press conference with Han Hyo Joo in 2012, for their movie Always.
All serious answers and respectful distance, right?
Now take a look at So Ji Sub with Gong Hyo Jin, all smiles and banter in an interview:
And then look at them here, where So Ji Sub’s wearing such an intent look on his face, with just a touch of amusement in his eyes, as he watches Gong Hyo Jin answer an interviewer’s question.
Oooohh. Right?
You just can’t blame the fans – or me! – for wanting to entertain some fantasy romance between the two.
I wasn’t a shipper by any means, but knowing about their off-screen chemistry certainly poised me to be ready for more.
Master’s Sun OST - 미치게 만들어 (Driving Me Crazy (Inst.))
WRITING
Much as my existing context set me up to be open to exploring a fanfic about So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin, it was the writing itself that was the real clincher.
I read that short excerpt (yes, more on that in a bit!), and I was immediately intrigued. Here’s why.
1. Storytelling Style
The Art
To me, storytelling is an art. An art that not a lot of people know how to perform effectively. It’s not easy to use words to paint a picture, to bring a character to life, to immerse readers and take them on a journey.
And mywebfoot is an effective, skilled, classy storyteller. Plus, she clearly tells her story with care, and with heart. It’s clear to me that she crafted this story, and fleshed out these characters with fondness and affection. Vicariously, through her words, I found it easy to love these characters too.
mywebfoot has a great flair for picking out just enough bits from a scene to flesh out in words, in order to make it come alive in one’s mind’s eye. Not too little, and not too much; Juuust right (said the happy baby bear reading the book, heh).
Language
I love that while the language mywebfoot uses is simple and accessible (read: you don’t need to be a language genius in order to read it), she scatters interesting word combinations in her narrative that make for delicious phrasing and just-so nuance, which I really dig.
Here are just a couple of examples:
“I hear the crackle of her opening up her bento box.”
“…cackling like a witch, hugging herself and crumpling slowly down to the ground”
“Her hand slips and a slosh of batter goes over the side of the bowl.”
Crackle. Crumple. Slosh. Such interesting yet perfect word choices. Likey.
Narrative Voice
So Ji Sub is mywebfoot’s chosen narrator, and we get to hear the entire story told from his point of view, in his voice. And mywebfoot inhabits that voice so well.
In a sense, That Far Gone reads almost like entries in a diary, coz we’re given blow-by-blow accounts of incidents. What makes it different from entries in a diary, though, is the use of the present tense. That, combined with the on-going mental commentary and reactions by So Ji Sub, makes it feel like we are actually in the moment with him, seeing as he sees, hearing as he hears, and basically experiencing each and every incident with him in real time.
Like so:
“I stare at her. She’s gorgeous when she’s happy.”
“She scrunches her lips together, making her cheeks puff up. She looks like a hamster when she does that.”
This style of writing, combined with the simple language, effectively makes us feel like we are inhabiting the straightforward, uncomplicated male psyche of our narrator.
Bewilderment, bemusement, intrigue, attraction, confusion, frustration. Our sweet man-dork feels it all, as he encounters the bright, confident cool chick. And we get to feel it all with him.
The past tense is reserved for flashbacks, and this works wonderfully well to inform us as readers where we are at any given time, in So Ji Sub’s consciousness. Whether we’re in the present moment with him, or delving into memories recent and not-so-recent, the simple difference in tenses ensures that we are accurately informed. I love how effective yet simple that storytelling device is.
It’s immersive and absorbing, and I dig it.
2. Character Interpretation
One of the most impressive things about That Far Gone, is how well mywebfoot interprets the characters. It’s absolutely uncanny how on-point all the descriptions are, from speech patterns to personality quirks to facial expressions.
From everything that I know about So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin, I can so imagine them behaving the way she depicts, and talking the way she describes. It’s clear that mywebfoot has either observed these people for a long time, or put a lot of careful preparation and research into fleshing out these characters. From Gong Hyo Jin’s winning smile, to the way her lanky limbs work, to her habit of lifting her hair off her neck, mywebfoot’s got it all down pat.
As I read each paragraph and chapter, I could totally see the man-dork reacting to and responding to the bright, confident cool chick. They came to life in the pages of this book, and they felt just like the people I thought they would be.
3. Brilliant Use of Context
To me, this is the most brilliant aspect of That Far Gone.
You know how the writers of The Princess’ Man and Tree With Deep Roots used real people from history, and combined them with fictional characters, and found nooks and crannies in history that were left vague? They filled in those unrecorded, unwritten, blurred shadows of history to make plausible the events and characters in their narrative, and effectively made stories that could have conceivably passed for fact. That’s one of my favorite kinds of sageuk. I find it brilliant and thought-provoking, and persuasively compelling.
And mywebfoot does exactly that, except the history and characters we’re dealing with are a lot more recent.
For a good chunk of its story, That Far Gone works off of actual scenes from Master’s Sun. As she describes them, we know exactly which scenes mywebfoot is talking about; we’ve already watched them unfold on our screens while watching the drama.
What mywebfoot does, is take those scenes and inject context and meaning where before we only had massive blanks. She fills in these blanks for us, with feelings, motivations and subtext, and basically lifts the scene to a whole new level of meaning and fascination.
[MINOR SPOILER]
For example, in the excerpt below, So Ji Sub feels conflicted about filming the kiss scene. He narrates his urge to touch the bare skin exposed by Gong Hyo Jin’s dress.
It’s so easy to imagine coz we’ve seen that scene; seen that dress. We know exactly what the writer is talking about. And yet, it’s delicious coz now we’re seeing the scene in a whole different light. So Ji Sub’s feelings and emotions and personal responses are now painted in for us, and it enriches and lifts the context of the scene to tantalizing heights.
[END MINOR SPOILER]
Throughout the book, mywebfoot consistently does a great job picking out scenes in the drama and giving them meaning. Especially scenes that didn’t make complete sense. Like the extra-cold way that Gong Sil responds to Joong Won when he confesses. She paints the whys, the context, and suddenly it all takes on meaning. It’s thrilling to imagine the reality she paints, and completely persuasive, to believe, just for a while, that this could all be real.
Just like TPM and Tree paint history in a way that could have actually happened, mywebfoot paints a reality that could have believably, actually happened.
It takes an eagle eye for detail, a strong imagination, and a loving touch to create a narrative that feels immediately familiar and believable because it’s rooted in reality, yet tastes exotic and tantalizing because of the possibilities she creates.
mywebfoot also inserts other characters in the story that we all know, and that is pretty great. We get appearances by Song Seung Hun, Park Yong Ha, and Shin Min Ah, for example. These people are real-life friends of So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin, and having them participate in the story ups the realism further and paints even more on the empty parts of the canvas of our mental image of our lead couple.
On top of all this, mywebfoot takes everything that we as drama fans know – the incidental Korean phrases (jjinjja? Oppa!), and how drama shoots work, with the PD, cameramen, Coordi Noonas – and weaves it into her narrative. As a result, we feel like we’re entering a world that’s at once familiar yet fascinating. She takes what we find familiar and levels it up, bringing life to the scene through little details, and injecting plot into places we don’t usually see into, as an audience. It’s tantalizing, gripping stuff.
All in all, a world that is perfectly written for its audience.
Master’s Sun OST - Love Is Like A Picture
EXCERPT
Finally, the excerpt that I keep promising everyone. Here’s a peek at mywebfoot’s take on the kiss scene that happens in episode 9 of the drama.
The first kiss scene, the pivotal scene of any romantic tale, is today.
Yeah, my timing is wonderful. I set myself up for a day of unrelenting sexual frustration.
“Now hug her.”
“Hold it. Right there.” One centimeter away from her lips. Holding her face, breathing her sweet breath.
“Now kiss, and then let her collapse against you.”
God, her front is pressed up against me. The temperature climbs. Think about something else, you randy idiot! Stay professional, like her.
“Now kiss… yes…hold it there.” I kiss but keep my lips firmly in check. No shifting, molding or tasting allowed.
PD Hyuk walks around us, checking the final camera angles. I hate him for being so damn thorough.
“All right, Ji Sub-ssi, hands hesitate… pause, camera hoist up, hands down, down Ji Sub-ssi, … all right …. then we cut.”
Her back is warm. Her skin, as soft as it looks. I imagine running my fingers up and down the gap in her dress. Temptation gathers in the tips of my fingers. Just once, my hormones beg me, sitting up with their tongues lolling for a treat.
After reading the excerpt, I felt right away that the narrative was simple, yet nuanced; immediate and accessible. I knew I’d enjoy reading the entire book, and I wasn’t disappointed.
MINOR QUIBBLE
While I genuinely loved That Far Gone, there is one point of the story that didn’t flow for me. It’s not a huge deal, and is easy enough to overlook in order to enjoy the rest of the story. But it did niggle at me somewhat, that I couldn’t connect the dots with this particular beat of the story.
[SPOILER ALERT]
In chapter 4, after an evening of too-close-for-comfort pancake making, we find Hyo Jin looking worried and troubled the next day, about the kiss scene at hand.
After some bad takes, Ji Sub approaches Hyo Jin to try to tease a smile out of her. Hyo Jin then broaches the subject, ”What happened last night, Oppa? Do we need to talk?” And Ji Sub’s next thought is, “Relief floods me. She just acknowledged this crazy attraction we have.”
I.. had trouble connecting the dots there.
In the pancake making scene of the night before, we could clearly hear Ji Sub’s thoughts as he put the moves on Hyo Jin and we know for a fact that he’s intoxicated by her. But we don’t get a clear sense that she actually enjoyed the close proximity, only that she was clearly uncomfortable. To then have her worried and troubled countenance about the kiss scene the next day equate reciprocal attraction was just too ambiguous for me.
Yes, we need our story to get to a place where our lead couple’s attraction to each other is clear. But that didn’t do it for me, coz in my mind, she could’ve easily been uncomfortable because she didn’t want him that close to her, rather than because she was attracted to him and therefore acutely hyper-aware of his physical closeness.
Once I decided to just shrug off this bump in my reading journey, however, the rest of the book was pure pleasure to read. All in all, a minor quibble in a sea otherwise full of goodies.
[END SPOILER]
CLOSING THOUGHTS
What’s so great about this story is that it’s so well fleshed-out. Characters, personalities, emotions, backstories; everything is just so well woven together. It’s fast-paced without feeling rushed, and at 12 full chapters, we get a nicely developed story that feels satisfyingly fleshed out and resolved.
In this story, we get so much more than infatuation and romance. We get to share in the characters’ joys, as well as their fears and tears, and in the end, we are rewarded with a love story that feels substantial and real. And that is gratifying, satisfying stuff.
The best part? This story lingered with me – much like how a great drama lingers with me – many hours after I was done. That’s the true mark of a great story.
Oh, and just so you know, I finished the entire book in one sitting. Yep. I was That Far Gone.
THE FINAL VERDICT:
An immersive, delightful read that will tickle and satisfy the imagination. Unreservedly recommend.
WHERE CAN I GET MY HANDS ON THIS CRACK?!??
1. To sample the Prologue and Chapters 1 through 3 (yes, three whole chapters!), &/or to find purchase links, visit mywebfoot here.
* If you purchase off Lulu, there’s a site-wide 14% discount until Valentine’s Day (14 February 2014).
2. To learn more about mywebfoot, and get the backstory on how she started writing and publishing fanfic, check out DDee’s interview with her here.
* DDee’s holding a giveaway where you stand a chance to win a copy of That Far Gone for yourself. Giveaway closes 14 February 2014.
VISUAL TREAT:
Here’s a small collection of BTS moments with So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin. There’s no audible dialogue in this clip, but really, you don’t need dialogue to be able to see how much fun these two have together on-set. It’s adorable.
One of the early hits that helped to launch the Hallyu wave, All About Eve is the kind of drama that’s so old that it actually feels new.
A fairly light, ultimately warm melo that doesn’t have too many of the classic kdrama tropes coz, well, they hadn’t been established yet, at the time. There isn’t a jerky male lead, nor a damsel-in-distress female lead; in fact, for a good long stretch, I couldn’t even figure out the dynamics of the love square. That sure kept me on my toes. So refreshing, and mildly cracky in the best way too.
Plus, I totally see the Jang Dong Gun appeal now. Finally. Thank you.
All About Eve OST - True Love
THE LONG VERDICT:
In a sea of newer, shinier drama offerings, it’s easy to overlook a classic like All About Eve, especially if you boarded the drama train fairly recently. I almost overlooked this one myself, and man, am I glad I didn’t!
Reason To Watch #1
I’d had it at the back of my mind, to check out All About Eve, after watching A Gentleman’s Dignity and failing to fully comprehend the Jang Dong Gun appeal. I mean, the man did give us some impressive smoldering stares, like so:
But I knew there was still a big chunk of the puzzle that I was missing. There had to be a good reason that all of South Korea adores – like really, really ADORES – this man to bits, right?
His last drama, 10 whole years before A Gentleman’s Dignity came along, was All About Eve. I figured that if I checked out All About Eve, I’d find the treasure map to solving the puzzle. And I was right. More on that later!
Reason To Watch #2
I have to thank Lady G for providing me with the push that I needed, to finally pull out All About Eve from my collection and put it at the top of my watch list.
In November last year, after momentarily disappearing into the lurking closet, Lady G re-emerged on the blog to rave about this drama. Here’s a snippet of what Lady G said:
“I recently finished watching a fabulous ‘old’ drama- All about Eve, from 2000. and I was thunderstruck. It’s so refreshing to see a drama without all the over-dramatic pauses, stares, and stilted dialogue and miscommunications. People actually talk to each other and work out their problems, and the story flows. They touch and hug right away w/o waiting for an hour with shaking hands or swelling music. Life happens realistically. Some consider this the best Korean drama. What happened in 13 years since?”
Wow. High praise, right? I was intrigued. I knew I had to watch this drama.
Initial Bump
So I pulled All About Eve out of my collection, plonked it on my iPad, and.. stalled on episode 1 several times.
Heh. Talk about déjà vu. This is exactly what happened to me when I first started watching A Gentleman’s Dignity. There was a similar bump in my viewing journey there. It took me 4 tries before I got through episode 1 of AGD. And it also took me about 4 tries before I got through episode 1 of All About Eve.
Somehow, my mood and the show just couldn’t find a way to jive, so for the first little while, it felt a little like an awkward blind date. Each time, I would watch about 2 minutes of it before I clicked stop and moved on to other shows.
But! I pushed on. While pushing on in AGD gave me a pleasant but nowhere near satisfyingly cracky drama experience, with All About Eve, once I got over that initial bump, I was sucked in, and in the best way too.
REFRESHING RETRO
It’s the little secret that so few people actually take advantage of. When you go back far enough in time, all the firmly entrenched drama tropes – that have us rolling our eyes and wishing waves of fresh creativity on our drama writers – actually sort of disappear. Coz they just weren’t invented yet. (See, time travel is possible in dramaland!)
At a Year 2000 vintage, All About Eve is a prime example of a drama that came sufficiently before the tropes that we all know too well, that I was kept sufficiently guessing and felt quite nicely kept on my toes. I found that I couldn’t quite predict plot points like I often can in many more recent dramas. (Well, not all recent dramas, but you know what I mean. The less inventive ones.)
1. The Love Square
Even though I sort of knew that our leads were Jang Dong Dun and Chae Rim, I still couldn’t quite predict how the love square worked, and who was who in that love square, and for a fairly good stretch too.
I believe one of the major factors that made this love square feel different, was that the frenemy-ship between our female leads Jin Sun Mi (Chae Rim) and Suh Young Mi (Kim So Yeon) felt more the focal point of our story than the OTP.
From the very beginning in episode 1, Young Mi is jealous of Sun Mi’s seemingly perfect lot in life compared to her own hardship, and sets out to steal whatever Sun Mi has or wants.
[SPOILER ALERT]
It’s precisely because what Sun Mi has or wants changes over time, that the love square feels so different for much of the drama.
When we first meet Sun Mi, she’s crushing on Kim Woo Jin (Han Jae Suk), long-time Oppa and family friend. So of course that’s where Young Mi sets her sights too. And for a good while in our initial episodes, the love triangle is squarely (hur) between those 3 players; Sun Mi, helplessly crushing on Woo Jin, while Young Mi slyly puts the moves on Woo Jin, who in turn wanders into Young Mi’s trap none the wiser.
Even though Sun Mi and Yoon Hyung Chul (Jang Dong Gun) cross paths fairly quickly in the show, they remain firmly platonic for a good stretch while Sun Mi continues to carry a silent, unrequited torch for Woo Jin.
[END SPOILER]
In a drama climate where we’re so used to the general rhythm of the typical romance -
an early episode OTP meet-cute,
a solidification of the relationship by the halfway mark, often accompanied by the OTP’s first kiss,
followed by an angsty stretch where misunderstanding &/or separation of the OTP is likely to occur, and
some kind of resolution by the final episode
- it felt refreshingly different and somewhat unpredictable. It’s like I knew who my leads were, but had no idea how they were going to get from Point A to End Game. This drama wasn’t a cookie-cutter kdrama romance. At least, not from the cookie cutters that I’d become familiar with, at any rate.
I really liked that feeling of freshness in the story-telling, and this factor ranked very high on my personal list of reasons of why I enjoyed this show.
2. Communication Patterns
In a drama climate where certain Reactions and Misunderstandings are stock, this was another particularly refreshing aspect of the drama for me.
People talked about things. Misunderstandings didn’t go on for extended periods of time. Characters confronted one another and hashed things out.
Just when you think, “Uh-oh, here comes a Big Misunderstanding,” characters will surprise you by actually facing it head-on with a matter-of-fact conversation aimed at clarification and understanding, rather than stew for episodes on end amid increasing suspicion plus lots of tears and gnashing of teeth.
[SPOILER ALERT]
An early example of this occurs in episode 2, where Sun Mi, growing quickly suspicious of Young Mi’s true intentions, finds out that Woo Jin has recommended Young Mi for a job at the broadcast station. This, despite knowing that Sun Mi is dying for an opportunity to work there herself.
We get the set-up that we’ve come to know so well: Sun Mi finds out about the job from Young Mi, then sees Young Mi being cozy and flirty with Woo Jin as he walks her home. Sun Mi hides around the corner and watches and listens.
And just when you think, “Aha, this is where a Big Misunderstanding is going to happen,” Sun Mi seeks Woo Jin out and asks him plainly, to his face, “Oppa, how could you do this to me?”
How refreshing, that she doesn’t stew silently, but confronts the issue head-on, with candour and honesty.
At the end of the conversation, Sun Mi is unhappy but accepts Woo Jin’s explanation. And then they leave the cafe together, Woo Jin with his arm around Sun Mi’s shoulders.
I totally didn’t see that coming.
I love that I got a sense of the unexpected, all while getting scenes of actual healthy communication on my screen. It was like getting to have my cake and eat it too. Very cool.
[END SPOILER]
I love that the writers didn’t feel the need to rely on Big Misunderstandings in order to drive the story forward. And yet, the pace of the story hummed along in a pretty zippy manner. Kudos, writer-nim, for not reaching for easy crutches.
3. Gender Stereotypes
I enjoyed the fact that both of our female leads had strong ambition, career-wise. They both wanted to be newscasters, and everything they both did was an effort towards that goal of becoming anchor-women.
Refreshingly, romance didn’t cause that ambition to disappear into thin air. Nor cause strong female characters to suddenly become helpless damsels in distress (vs. say, Heirs where our initially feisty female lead gets quickly tamed into a helpless, weak, crying damsel by her leading man).
In fact, both male leads in All About Eve were extremely supportive and understanding of the female leads’ career ambitions. So supportive, in fact, that the notion of romance often felt like an almost-though-not-quite-screensaver in the background, while career concerns and ambitions occupied front-and-center of not only our screens, but our characters’ consciousness as well.
Thank you, Show, for demonstrating to us that romance isn’t all that matters; that a girl doesn’t have to choose between having a solid career and having romance in her life.
4. Treatment of Social Class Differences
After so many kdramas have convinced us that chaebol parents care Very, Very Much about social class, the way the different social classes of our leads is treated feels refreshingly matter-of-fact.
While not quite a chaebol, Young Chul is clearly in a different social class than Sun Mi. He’s the Director at the network by virtue of being the Chairman’s son, and Sun Mi’s your regular girl-next-door. Yet, Young Chul’s father (Han In Soo) never makes an issue of it.
[MINOR SPOILER ALERT]
The introduction is made simply and in a very matter-of-fact manner in episode 10.
Young Chul simply introduces Sun Mi to his father at a company dinner, and Chairman Yoon smiles and asks if Sun Mi is the girl that Young Chul met while in England. No dramatics. And it never becomes an issue for the rest of the show either.
All we get is a scene in a later episode where Young Chul receives a call from his father, who enquires when Young Chul intends to bring Sun Mi home to officially meet him.
No Evil Father-in-Law, nor Bitchy Mother-in-Law either. How very refreshing, right?
[END MINOR SPOILER]
5. Parents
Besides Young Chul’s father, every other parent in this show is nice, too. Wow, right? I’ll just give you a minute to let that sink in.
Sun Mi is the jewel of her father’s (Hyun Suk) eye, and we often see them teasing each other, smiling and laughing together, and just generally being the sweetest chums ever.
Woo Jin’s mother (Park Won Sook) is, likewise, a loving, pleasant lady who loves her son and only wants to see him happy. Sure, we get some angst from her when Woo Jin makes some troubling choices, but we are always, always crystal clear on one fact: she would do anything for her son; she loves him that much. And no, I don’t mean that in a crazy-makjang way either.
Given that dramaland regularly serves up some really nasty parents, and in a drama climate where every drama has to have at least one Awful Parent, All About Eve is refreshingly devoid of dysfunctional parents. Sure, there’s some angst, but only to the extent of what any normal, loving parent would experience along with their children’s growing pains.
All About Eve OST - 지금처럼만
THE CHARACTERS
I really appreciated that the characters in this show felt like real people. No one was all good or all bad. Everyone had specific backstories and motivations, and each of our characters had their strengths and their flaws.
Yes, the good guys were more inclined to kindness and forgiveness than most folks, but they were flawed enough to still feel real. And even our resident trouble-stirrer had enough of a backstory and enough strengths to make her feel more like an actual person than a 2-dimensional villain.
Although there are likable secondary characters, I will only touch on our main characters in this review.
Chae Rim as Jin Sun Mi
I thought that Chae Rim was very well-cast as the sunny Sun Mi, who’s received lots of love in her life despite losing her mother at a young age, and therefore has a cheerful, kind disposition.
All in all, I found Sun Mi a very likable character. She smiles even when she’s hurting and always looks for the bright side, the right way of thinking. And yet she doesn’t come across as a typical Candy. She’s no self-sacrificing noble idiot, and gets upset and angry when provoked. Sometimes she cries angry tears, and sometimes she gets jealous too.
I thought it was a nice touch that she’s actually not quite as good as Young Mi in terms of work stuff. She has her shortcomings, and she works hard to overcome them.
Besides her infectious, bright smile, perhaps my favorite thing about Sun Mi is her good-heartedness. She doesn’t harbor bitterness in her heart – well, never for long, anyway – and is quick to give kindness and love to those around her.
[SPOILER ALERT]
In episode 3, I really appreciated that when Sun Mi goes to England to get out of Young Mi’s way, that she doesn’t spend all her time moping.
She continues to smile and make the best of her days, even though she has moments where she sheds tears in solitude. She jokes with her aunt, and she makes friends, including with Hyung Chul.
On a side note, I’d like to mention that while her trip to England has a tinge of noble idiocy to it, that it felt acceptable to me because she had made her feelings for Woo Jin clear to him. She wasn’t just slinking away in silence. And she had no intention of staying away forever either.
Plus she felt indebted to Young Mi for saving her from thugs, and perceived that she owed it to Young Mi to give Young Mi and Woo Jin some space, at least for a little while.
The scene where Sun Mi left the deepest impression on me is in episode 7, where Sun Mi and Young Mi are walking together after a work dinner.
Sun Mi’s a little tipsy, and says a little sheepishly to Young Mi, “Since I’m a little drunk I’ll be honest. Sometimes there were times when I wanted to give you a hug. Even when I see you throwing tantrums like a kid, I felt sympathetic and wanted to hold you.” Aw. Considering the terrible things Young Mi’s done to her up till this point, I was really quite blown away by the largeness of Sun Mi’s heart.
When Young Mi rebuffs Sun Mi’s words, informing her that she’s crossing the line, Sun Mi simply smiles and says, “OK, sorry, I’ll stop. Go get some rest.”
There’s no hint of self-righteousness about Sun Mi’s response; no “look here, I’m being the bigger person here, you should appreciate it.”
Instead, Sun Mi is calm and totally doesn’t press the issue.
They say when you’re drunk/tipsy you speak what’s really on your heart. And in this scene, Sun Mi bared for us a truly good heart. How can one not like this girl?
[END SPOILER]
Kim So Yeon as Heo Young Mi
Kim So Yeon has always been a bit of a hit-or-miss for me. In some roles, she completely blows me away (like in Iris), and in some roles, she just rubs me the wrong way (like in Prosecutor Princess).
I like Kim So Yeon a lot better when she’s edgy, and I think All About Eve tapped into her strengths. Kim So Yeon got to portray many facets of her character, and often had to switch between two opposites in a matter of seconds. One moment, she’d be a frail, simpering victim, and the next moment, she’d be a glowering, manipulative schemer who will stop at nothing to get what she wants.
It’s her gaze, which can switch in a moment. And it’s also her voice. When she’s Scheming Witch, her voice is strong and confident. But when she’s Frail Victim, her voice is soft, breathy and manipulatively piteous, eventually to an annoying degree.
While she could have afforded to give Young Mi more depth and nuance, I thought Kim So Yeon did a pretty great job at portraying the two faces of Young Mi.
[SPOILER ALERT]
As a character, Young Mi stoops to appalling lows to get what she wants, including sleeping with Woo Jin, and then faking an abortion in order to always have him around her little finger.
And when she finds a new target in Hyung Chul, she promptly dumps Woo Jin, telling him that she never loved him. Granted, we see in Young Mi’s private moments that she sheds tears for Woo Jin, but it’s never enough to actually stop her from being cruel to him.
She is unable to overcome her own ambition, basically. She knows that she’s being awful and evil to Woo Jin, but she does it anyway, in order to advance on her chosen path.
Young Mi as a character managed to actually make my skin crawl. Yet, I couldn’t actually thoroughly hate her, coz over the course of the drama, we’re privy to several moments where she shows genuine private pain.
All in all a memorable character, even if not a likable one.
[END SPOILER]
Han Jae Suk as Kim Woo Jin
Han Jae Suk does an acceptable job of portraying Woo Jin as a good-hearted man who’s ultimately too square and naive for his own good.
I admit I didn’t feel extremely interested in Woo Jin as a character. At times, he felt more like an object that the girls were fighting over, than a fully fledged person with thoughts and motivations of his own.
I definitely believed that Woo Jin loved Young Mi in his own way. But he always felt more interesting in terms of what his existence brought to the plot, than in and of himself as a character. This possibly also had something to do with Han Jae Suk’s fairly wooden delivery.
Overall, a decent effort towards fulfilling a necessary element of the story.
All About Eve OST – Somewhere
Jang Dong Gun as Yoon Hyung Chul
Ahhh. Jang Dong Gun as Yoon Hyung Chul.
Such a lovely leading man, played to subtle perfection. I wasn’t immediately taken with Hyung Chul, to be perfectly honest, but by series’ end, I was definitely pretty melty over him.
Hyung Chul isn’t written as a perfect character, and is presented early on as someone with attachment problems stemming from parental issues. He’s jovial and pleasant with his friends, but try to get too close and you’d come up against a firm – but honest – wall.
As a character, Hyung Chul certainly isn’t perfect. We see him struggle with challenges both at work and in love, and it is his struggle to make sense of both that makes him feel real.
Perhaps my favorite thing about Young Chul is that he consistently has a gaze that isn’t hard. Even when he’s challenged in work or in love, his gaze is matter-of-fact, leaning a little soft. It’s really nice. I love how his first instinct towards Sun Mi is almost always amusement and affection.
It’s the almost always bit that makes it believable. Coz there are occasions when he doesn’t, particularly when Sun Mi is being unreasonable. These are the details that makes Hyung Chul believable as a character; we know he isn’t some perfect patient saint. And that makes the times that he does regard her with affection all the more real. And melty.
Truth be told, his affectionate gazes had me very, very melty.
For the record, while All About Eve doesn’t feature the kind of ab-full shower scenes that have become a drama staple of sorts, it does boast possibly the most gorgeously shot shower scene I have ever seen.
There’s nothing fancy about the camera-work; no fancy lighting nor angles. Just a shot of Jang Dong Gun from the neck up, with rivulets of water running down his face and through his lashes. And it’s beautiful. He’s beautiful:
Right?
While this wasn’t the main reason that I found Hyung Chul melty in this drama, it certainly didn’t hurt.
[SPOILER ALERT]
Hyung Chul was pretty awesome as a character, and I’d like to just highlight a few of my favorite things about him.
#1. His honesty
I really appreciated Hyung Chul’s honesty in general.
Importantly, he’s honest with Joo Hee (Kim Jung Eun), whom he knows nurses a deep-seated crush on him. He never leads her to believe that he reciprocates her romantic affections. At the same time, he never lets her crush get in the way of their long-standing friendship either.
When Joo Hee notices a change in Hyung Chul’s behavior and asks if there is a new girl in his life, he tells her the truth about his feelings for Sun Mi. He’s gentle with Joo Hee, but never sugar-coats anything for fear of hurting her feelings.
It just really appeals to me, that Hyung Chul treats Joo Hee like an adult who is capable of making her own choices and protecting her own feelings.
In so many other kdramas, the men are shown making I-know-better decisions for the women; Me Ah Ri’s crush on Choi Yoon in A Gentleman’s Dignity comes to mind. Both Choi Yoon and her brother Tae San decided that her crush was a bad idea and treated her like an errant child, deciding that her crush needed to come to an end. That was aggravating to watch, and to have Hyung Chul take such a completely different approach, where he couldn’t accept Joo Hee’s feelings, but could respect that she had them, was very refreshing indeed.
On a related note, I really liked that he was also honest with Young Mi. When Young Mi starts coming on to him, he simply tells her that he finds her scary.
#2. His instinct for affection – at least for Sun Mi
There are many instances in the show where Sun Mi messes up, and often in ways that might inspire aggravation in most people. But Young Chul consistently demonstrates that at least where Sun Mi is concerned, his first instinct leans more towards amusement and affection.
It isn’t that Hyung Chul is painted as being blind to her faults. Rather, I got the impression that he was fully aware of Sun Mi’s shortcomings, and he chose to believe that she would eventually grow and mature out of them.
Like in episode 9 when Sun Mi storms into his office, (wrongly) accusing him of making things difficult for her by sending her flowers.
He doesn’t say anything, and when her phone rings and she realizes the flowers had come from her father, Hyung Chul’s quiet, affectionate amusement is heart-melting to behold:
Aww. Melt.
And then there’s the incident in episode 11, where Sun Mi reacts strongly to a story about kidnappers while live on-air. Everyone else is scandalized, yet, as her boss watching the same thing in his office, Hyung Chul simply stops to chuckle aloud, with affection and mild exasperation, “Jin Sun Mi, where are you crying now?”
Aw. Where can I get one of you for myself?
I just love that Hyung Chul knows her that well, coz the very next scene shows us that Sun Mi’s crept into a darkened auditorium to cry by herself. Just like Hyung Chul predicted.
Hyung Chul then sends Sun Mi a card as her anonymous supporter “Y,” saying exactly what she needs to hear, “To Sun Mi, You did a great job today. You’re one of a kind. Keep up the good work.”
Sun Mi manages a tearful, rueful smile. And I melt, just a little more.
#3. His patience
One of the most moving things about Hyung Chul’s love for Sun Mi is how patient and giving he is, in loving her.
In a later episode, Hyung Chul says to Woo Jin that it’s because Sun Mi is the only one for him, that he has to let her do what she wants. I believe it is this clarity that he has – that no one else will do – that gives Hyung Chul the strength to be as patient with Sun Mi as he is.
In episode 9, when Sun Mi realizes Hyung Chul’s true identity and grapples with what that means in the context of his feelings for her, she tearfully pouts, ”I hate you. Why are you doing this? This is too hard for me.“
Young Chul’s quiet answer is, “Let’s look at it this way. I’ll wait for you, but for now, you forget that I’m waiting for you. If you can’t love me that’s fine.” Melt.
And then Hyung Chul even jokes that now he doesn’t have to hide whenever he sees her at the office, and gives her his jacket so that she won’t feel cold as they walk. Melt some more.
A leading man who doesn’t try to force his feelings on his leading lady, and instead gives her time and space to figure out what she wants? You just can’t not swoon at that.
#4. He runs to her
I love too, that when Hyung Chul perceives that Sun Mi needs him, he literally runs to her. He never wastes a moment or stops to think. It’s clear as day that all he’s thinking about, in the moment, is getting to her. Because she needs him.
Hyung Chul runs to Sun Mi more than once in the drama, but I particularly love this instance in episode 12, when she calls him crying and leaves a message. All she says is, “Sunbae-nim, what should I do?”
The second Hyung Chul hears her message, he takes off, racing to be by her side. You can totally tell that he can’t and won’t think of anything else except finding her.
It’s moving and swoony.
And when he finds her, he doesn’t say a word. He just holds her.
Melt.
#5. His sheepish faces
As swoony and steady as Hyung Chul is, I just love the sheepish look he gets on his face whenever he contemplates doing something romantic for Sun Mi.
Like in episode 13 when he’s browsing possible birthday presents for her:
Or in episode 20, when he contemplates how to propose to her:
You can just see what he’s thinking: I can’t believe I’m doing this. What have I gotten myself into? Aw, but I love her.
Ack. How does one resist that sheepish look?
What an adorable, swoony, melty man.
[END SPOILER]
Fun Fact
In episode 11, we get a cameo by a very young Song Il Gook, who plays a reporter. This was one of Song Il Gook’s earliest TV appearances, preceded only by Into The Sunlight, in 1999. Doesn’t he look super young and fresh-faced?
THE RELATIONSHIPS
While there are various relationships in this drama that we could talk about, I’d like to highlight just the two that were most interesting to me.
[SPOILER ALERT]
Young Mi & Sun Mi
The frenemy-ship between Young Mi and Sun Mi was often the focus of attention, and I found their relationship intriguing and quite compelling.
Young Mi totally plays dirty, all the time. She often baldly, without-batting-an-eyelash switches between Scheming Witch mode and Simpering Victim mode right in front of Sun Mi &/or Woo Jin’s mother, the two women she most wants victory over.
It was aggravating to watch, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but grudgingly admire Young Mi’s ballsy attitude and sometimes reckless audacity. Like the time she adds acetone to Sun Mi’s toner and also lies about Sun Mi’s father being in a serious car accident coz she wants to prevent Sun Mi from hosting a show.
Or the time in episode 11 when Young Mi plants Sun Mi’s phone in the studio and calls her phone during a live broadcast. Shudder. I wouldn’t want her coming against me, that’s for sure. But Sun Mi doesn’t ever get a choice in the matter; Young Mi chose Sun Mi as a target, just for being her. Young Mi wants to steal whatever it is that Sun Mi has, whether it’s Woo Jin or Hyung Chul; her happy family or her career.
Interestingly, Young Mi often ‘fesses up when Sun Mi confronts her, which happens more than a few times.
To me, what makes their frenemy-ship different is how baldly they confront each other, instead of hiding behind lots of smoke and curtains.
I love that Sun Mi stands up strong to Young Mi, and doesn’t cower in front of Scheming Witch. Sun Mi stands up strong enough that the match between them feels fairly even.
Tellingly, they each have occasion to slap the other in the course of the show. Sometimes Young Mi marches up to slap Sun Mi in the face. And satisfyingly, there are times when Sun Mi marches up to Young Mi and slaps her in the face.
The two even have an all-out, hair-pulling, screeching cat-fight fairly early in the show.
Meowr.
I love that Sun Mi doesn’t take Young Mi’s bullying sitting down, but fights back without stooping to Young Mi’s level of underhanded tactics.
In the end, the two women make peace, and it does feel a little contrived, the way Young Mi loses her memory and gets a start-over. But at least the show explains it in a way that fits.
Hyung Chul & Sun Mi
The development of our OTP’s relationship felt organic and believable, and I really enjoyed watching their scenes together. These scenes were a significant part of the reason why I marathoned this show in just a few days. I just wanted more of them on my screen.
I really enjoyed the fact that their romantic relationship grew out of a firmly platonic friendship. I loved that long before their relationship took a romantic turn, that they shared deep-reaching conversations and a genuine sense of closeness and affection.
I loved this little scene early in the series where Hyung Chul comes back to Korea and Sun Mi, seeing him for the first time in months, is so delighted that she runs up to him and hugs him. How cute is that?
This moment is so clearly platonic – Sun Mi’s still pining for Woo Jin at this point – that her overflowing happiness at seeing Hyung Chul feels particularly pure and unadulterated.
Over the course of Sun Mi’s time in university, and into her initial days on the job at the broadcast station, we see that she continues to share meaningful conversations with Hyung Chul, even in the midst of their banter and jokes.
Through it all, their interactions are marked by smiles, good conversation, and the occasional gesture of affection, which I found really cute.
Look at that bemused surprise on Hyung Chul’s face. It’s no wonder that he can’t help but fall for the happy, bubbly Sun Mi, in spite of himself.
Once their relationship starts taking a turn for the romantic, I loved how it is obvious that these two are good for each other.
Hyung Chul doesn’t stifle Sun Mi’s little acting-out tantrums, and neither does he pander to her either. He consistently feels like the solid, more mature half of the equation, led equally by common sense and affection. And Sun Mi is the refreshing wind in Hyung Chul’s heretofore jaded life. She makes him smile. And that seems pretty priceless, considering that hardly anyone else in his life had been able to tease that kind of reaction out of him.
With Hyung Chul’s steady, self-sacrificing support for Sun Mi’s career ambitions, I really was wondering whether we would get a happy-ever-after. After all, Sun Mi gets the opportunity to further her studies and career in England, and he tells her without hesitation that she can and should go.
In the end, the turnaround, where he tells her not to go, feels a tiny bit convenient, but it’s handled quite nicely.
Sun Mi tells Hyung Chul as she stifles tears, “I feel like this is something I have to do right now, or I won’t be able to. I’ll try to be strong and make my own way in London. I was grateful for everything. Goodbye.”
For an awful second, I think that Hyung Chul will really let her go. But he suddenly gets a look of resolve in his eyes and chases her down on the cross-walk.
In a nice echo of her earlier words, he tells her, “I feel like this is something I have to do right now, or I won’t be able to. Will you marry me? Don’t go. I love you, Sun Mi.”
Sun Mi nods, smiling, and he kisses her. Tenderly. And swoon-inducingly.
Sweet. Sigh.
And perhaps this is how the kissing-in-the-middle-of-a-crosswalk kdrama trope was born. Heh.
Yes, the way we get our happy ending is a little bit of a convenient turnaround, but it’s still pretty believable. And I felt that deep down, Sun Mi kind of hoped that Hyung Chul would ask her to stay.
On a career note, I’d also like to think that even after the wedding, that Hyung Chul would continue to support Sun Mi’s career the way he always has.
All in all, an OTP that gave me the warm melty feels.
[END SPOILERS]
FINAL THOUGHTS
There’s a whole lot of retro fashion, thick-as-pancake make-up and teased hair to remind us of the vintage of this drama, but at its heart, this show feels fresh and engaging in a way that we don’t quite see in more recent dramas.
There are moments when we do see some recognizable kdrama tropes, but those are few in number and honestly, these probably weren’t tropes when this drama was made. If anything, we might actually be witnessing the birth of those tropes. So when you do encounter those, just think of it as.. history in the making?
THE FINAL VERDICT:
Retro drama crack at its best. They sure don’t make ‘em like they used to. Highly recommend.
VISUAL TREATS:
Here’s a trailer-esque MV set to the All About Eve theme song:
And the lilting, thoughtful ballad that sums up the show’s feel quite nicely:
To top it all off, here’s some Jang Dong Gun Pretty. You’ll get a sense of his Leading Man appeal, as well as another glimpse at his beautiful-as-art shower scene:
Not one of the best outings by the Hong sisters, but not one of the worst either, Master’s Sun delivers what it promises: rom-com hijinks of the somewhat ghostly variety.
Driven mostly by sparky OTP chemistry and a lovely OST, which together made up for lapses in the storytelling, this drama is more mood than substance. And it’s a slow burn too, at that.
Essentially, a pretty fun, easy, unchallenging watch if you don’t think about it too hard. And I’ve just found a way to level that up in a serious fashion, which I’ll tell you more about in the review.
And no, the ghosts aren’t that scary.
Master’s Sun OST – Touch Love
THE LONG VERDICT:
A Lie To Me Tangent
Have you ever had one of those experiences where you were feeling pretty meh about a drama, and then something came along that completely changed the game?
This happened to me once before, when I was watching Lie To Me (2011). I know, I totally sound like I’m going off on a crazy tangent. Stay with me.. I’ve got a point, I promise.
I remember feeling completely underwhelmed and quite horrified, even, at the lack of cohesion in Lie To Me’s narrative. Nothing really made proper sense, and plot points were strung together with the flimsiest of excuses. Character motivations were similarly bemusing and felt almost random. Like, one moment our male lead Kang Ji Hwan really, really dislikes our female lead Yoon Eun Hye, and the next minute, he’s kissing her. One could objectively say that it was a mess of a drama.
I was on the verge of dropping Lie To Me when I chanced on a whole lot of fandom squee over the chemistry between Kang Ji Hwan and Yoon Eun Hye. And yes, I’d noticed that they had excellent onscreen chemistry too.
The game-changer for me was the new knowledge that the two of them had basically ad-libbed a good number of the swooniest couple moments on the show. Woah. Well then. That put a whole different spin on things.
I changed my mind about dropping the show, and proceeded to enjoy the rest of the episodes. Just with a different lens on.
I didn’t bother any more with the story, coz I’d already determined that that wasn’t going to make much sense. I was glued to the chemistry that Kang Ji Hwan and Yoon Eun Hye brought to the screen though. If you asked me now what the story in Lie To Me was about, I’d be hard-pressed to tell you, beyond the barest of details. But I remember with HD clarity the crackling, through-the-roof chemistry those two shared, and the super-hot, ad-libbed kisses they gave us.
It was context and perspective that totally changed the game, coz now I had something to tickle my fancy beyond the flimsy, almost non-existent story.
So what does that have to do with Master’s Sun?
See, in a nutshell, Master’s Sun didn’t really do it for me, as a drama. Much as I heard that many viewers enjoyed this a lot (like, really-really-loved-it a lot), I actually only sorta liked it.
There were a number things that I didn’t like so much, and felt could’ve been better. I did think So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin had good onscreen chemistry though.
And I was all poised to write a review detailing everything that I liked and didn’t like so much in this drama.
And then, the game changed.
Just as I was gathering my thoughts for this review, DDee posted this interview that she did with mywebfoot, who had written a fanfic, not for the drama’s lead characters Joo Joong Won and Tae Gong Sil, but for the drama’s lead actors, So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin.
I was intrigued.
Long story short, I’ve now read the fanfic, and that has changed everything for me. And now that I’ve found a way to enjoy Master’s Sun, all my original thoughts have been, well, sorta over-ruled.
I’m still going to give a quick overview on my thoughts regarding Master’s Sun as a drama, but really, I highly recommend you check out my review of the fanfic, and consider reading it for yourself.
If you already love Master’s Sun, you’ll probably love it more as a result. And if like me, you didn’t quite love Master’s Sun, this fanfic might change the game for you, too. ;)
FINALLY, MY OVERVIEW REVIEW
So, first things first. These comments don’t take the fanfic into account. I’m only looking at the drama as it stands on its own.
When the drama’s consumed together with the fanfic, though, they go together like strawberries and cream, or peanut butter and jelly, or Kim Woo Bin and Lee Jong Suk, or Song Seung Hun and abs, or.. (you get the idea). You could have one without the other, but having them together just takes everything to a whole new level. Amiright?
Anyhoo. Back to the review.
I am not a fan of horror / ghosts, and make it a general rule to wuss out of watching those kinds of shows. (Yes, wussing out can be planned.) They’re just not my thing, y’know?
Which means when I say that the ghosts in Master’s Sun aren’t scary, you can so take my word for it. On occasion, they can be a touch creepy, but it’s nothing you won’t be able to handle. If I can take it, anyone can. Yes, that is the extent to which I wuss out on horror shows, heh.
How did I end up watching this, then? It was the show’s general reputation for sizzling OTP chemistry that drew me in. Great OTP chemistry is pretty high up there for me, so when I heard that So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin had off-the-charts chemistry and together were burning up screens across dramaland, I just had to see it for myself, ghostly show or no. Plus, I love Gong Hyo Jin and I was intrigued by the idea of So Ji Sub doing comedy. And despite the disappointment of Big, I still had residual regard for the Hong sisters, having enjoyed many of their earlier works.
I start most of my reviews talking about the stuff I like, coz that’s where my journey usually starts. Many shows tend to start out with varying degrees of promise only to end up disappointing me.
While there were a number of things that I didn’t care for too much in Master’s Sun, there were enough goodies to keep me going till the finish line. And over time, this show did eventually grow on me, in spite of itself. And in spite of myself.
To mirror that journey (sort of), I’m going to start by talking about the stuff that I didn’t like so much in this show.
THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE
1. Gong Sil getting treated like garbage
Basically, Gong Sil (Gong Hyo Jin) got treated like garbage a lot. Joong Won (So Ji Sub) was often shown treating her roughly, swatting her away as if she was a pesky insect. Or an object. And that so did not sit well with me. Ugh.
While many kdrama hours have conditioned me to accept ungentlemanly behavior in my kdrama leads, at least in the beginning when they’re as-yet-unreformed jerks, I did take issue with the extent to which Joong Won is ungentlemanly. I mean, he pushes and shoves Gong Sil a whole lot, which is bad enough. To make matters even worse, Joong Won grabs Gong Sil by the hair in episode 1. By the hair.
Halfway through the episode, we see Gong Sil attempt to make contact with a man getting into an elevator as part of her ghost-related mission, and Joong Won stops her in her tracks, with a painful-looking hair-grab. Which, in my opinion, is sooo much worse than a wrist-grab. I think my scalp hurt just watching this scene.
First of all, Joong Won unceremoniously holds Gong Sil in place by her hair, not unlike how one might hold a cat by the scruff of its neck. Although I’m told this doesn’t hurt for cats (I’m uncertain how the experts managed to ascertain this. Like, did they interview a talking cat? *ponders*), I’m very sure it does hurt for humans, as anyone who’s fought with a sibling would know.
Second of all, to make this scene even worse than it already is, Gong Sil’s reaction is not to screech in pain or be in any way upset. Instead, she smiles sheepishly and shyly up at Joong Won. Like, WHUT. Argh.
That is just so wrong on so many levels.
I totally get the kdrama trope of giving us a jerky chaebol. And I get the desire to push the envelope when making dramas. But really, Joong Won’s rough treatment of Gong Sil went way beyond what I feel is acceptable. His treatment of her was.. violent. In my mind, that’s not being a jerky chaebol. That’s a crime. A crime that can get the cops called on you.
And having Joong Won engage in this type of behavior with Gong Sil made him – and the drama as a whole – unsavory. Which means the show had to work that much harder (and longer) to creep into my good books.
2. Too much time spent on ghost of the day
From the beginning of the show, we get a ghost-of-the-day format, where we spend a good chunk of the episode watching Gong Sil solve the problems of that episode’s ghost.
While I understand the storytelling device, I felt the story itself was off-kilter. By episode 3, I already felt like we were spending way too much time on the episodes’ ghosts, and the overall pay-off in relation to the overarching story felt weak and unsatisfying.
Sure, there were times that the ghost-of-the-day actually felt rather poignant, like the dog-ghost in episode 6. (Coz, doggie. *sniff*) And yes, there were times that these ghosts-of-the-day were used to demonstrate character movement too. Again, the dog-ghost in episode 6 applies.
Too often, though, I felt like I was paying my dues by enduring the ghost-of-the-day stuff. Like, if I sat through the ghost-of-the-day stuff, I’d get rewarded with some overarching development in terms of plot &/or character. Maybe.
I didn’t like that, and would’ve preferred a more balanced approach with greater overarching pay-offs.
3. Patchy Plot Logic
There’s a good chunk of stuff that doesn’t quite make sense in the show, and the effect that that had on me, was that I felt less invested in the story that the writers were trying to tell.
[SPOILER ALERT]
While a relatively minor thing, the random (very, very badly spoken) Mandarin in relation to the Ghost Matchmaker (above) niggled at me. I rationalized that the show was trying to make the point that it’s a Chinese practice, but in episode 5, we see the ladies converse in (very unconvincing, stilted) Mandarin for a short while, then switch to speaking (still to each other) in Korean. That just comes off as odd, really. It’s almost as if they found it too hard to keep talking to each other in Mandarin and so switched to Korean.
But ok. Putting aside my personal cringing, this really wasn’t that big a deal, in the larger scheme of things.
What was a bigger deal for me, were the larger plot points that got completely and conveniently glossed over. In that respect, episode 15 comes to mind as a significant offender.
The whole plot revolving around Ha Na/Hee Joo’s ghost gets tied up (and not a moment too soon), with Dead Twin (Han Bo Reum) desperate to borrow Gong Sil’s body in order to stop Live Twin (Hwang Sun Hee), and there are tears and good-byes and it’s all supposed to be pretty moving.
As I watched, though, I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to the Ha Na/Hee Joo who insisted she needed to protect the perpetrator? All series long, Ghost Girl insists that she cannot and will not reveal the truth, because she has to protect the perpetrator. And then, when we need the arc to wrap up, heretofore reluctant Ghost Girl now wants to uphold justice. Did she change her mind? I guess she must’ve, for the plot to develop this way. But, how convenient, wouldn’t you say?
Really, there are so many things glossed over in this episode. Joong Won buying out Gong Sil’s contract with the ghost matchmaker, Joong Won’s regained memory, and the body-stealing. And I’m genuinely curious, how did Secretary Kim (Choi Jung Woo) know about the necklace inside the figurine?
Given that this Hee Joo/Ha Na arc is presented as a major plot-line in our story, and that we’re strung from episode to episode on the basis of this overarching mystery, I consider this final glossing over in its resolution a Big-Time Offender. I felt cheated and tricked, coz there never was a robust answer to reward me for the episodes of mystery I endured followed. Frustrating, to say the least.
[END SPOILER]
Master’s Sun OST - In Memories
TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
Besides the good and the bad, there was this middle ground that, for me, represented two sides of the same coin. Sometimes I liked it, and sometimes I didn’t. Sometimes it got old, and sometimes it got better. Dya see where I’m going with this? Me neither. Ha.
1. Skinship
I know that a lot of viewers took delight in the excessive skinship that Gong Sil and Joong Won have, right from the beginning of the show. Because of the fact that Joong Won is Gong Sil’s ghost-buster, she finds every opportunity to touch him. And the show uses those opportunities to turn the save-me touching into her feeling him up, on more than several occasions.
In principle, I don’t think I have a problem with that. I mean, I love skinship as much as the next drama viewer. But when it’s in the dual context of (1) him regularly recoiling from her and (2) him treating her like garbage and her accepting that treatment as deserved, it.. grates, after a while. I like when skinship is mutually appreciated, and when a girl is treated like a lady.
On the other hand, it is amusing when we know that Joong Won actually likes the proximity and is just putting up a huffy front. So in this sense, I think the skinship grated on me mostly in the beginning when Joong Won genuinely hated to be touched and really disliked having Gong Sil around. That just tasted bad, to me.
But in the later episodes when Joong Won starts to develop care and affection for Gong Sil in spite of himself, the huffiness becomes a mere smokescreen, and we know that he actually does care for Gong Sil, in spite of himself. That, for me, is when the skinship started becoming fun. Coz it started to actually mean something more to our OTP, other than making ghosts disappear.
2. Sexual innuenndo jokes
Along with the right-off-the-bat touchy-feely stuff in the show, we get lots of jokes with sexual references and innuendo.
Like episode 3, where Gong Sil and her sister (Park Hee Bon) have a conversation about sucking a man’s energy. Which, really, isn’t even innuendo, since it’s outright talk about sleeping with a man.
Through much of the show, we get regular doses of wordplay, about touching, energy, size, etc.
I found it amusing at first, but it got old really fast. Maybe it’s coz there was so much of it. And/or maybe it’s coz it was in the context of Joong Won treating Gong Sil with disdain. By episode 4, I felt myself getting bored with the sexual references that just didn’t seem to want to stop.
[MINOR FANFIC SPOILER]
On the other hand, in the context of That Far Gone, mywebfoot provided a spin that changed the game for me with respect to the sexual innuendo. Basically, she paints Gong Hyo Jin as ad-libbing at least some of the innuendo, for giggles, as well as to rib So Ji Sub, who in turn gets suitably huffy but fights not to show it. Ha. Now that is cute.
That put things in a different light for me, and perhaps with this particular lens on, I might’ve felt differently about all the innuendo that Show served up.
See, that’s why I say that reading the fanfic is a big game-changer where this show is concerned. It just levels up your experience of Master’s Sun. It takes you either from meh-to-fun, or from love-to-more-love.
[END SPOILER]
THINGS I LIKED
There are a couple of things that I really liked about this show, and even though they may seem few in number, for me, these were solid things that were hefty enough to keep me watching this show, in spite of its flaws.
1. The OST
Maybe it’s coz I’ve always liked music, but this show’s OST played an unexpectedly major role in keeping me happy.
Polished, well-mastered and well-applied, the OST contained tracks that ranged from breezy and laid-back to hauntingly wistful. And as the music swelled in the background, it soothed away many of the frayed edges of this show in my mind.
I honestly had a moment where I’d left off watching the show for a while, and had sort of forgotten what I liked about it. I was a little half-hearted about starting on it again, but my completist streak reared its head and I dug back in to try to get into this show.
As I watched, the strains of the OST soon came on, and I remember thinking with a start, “Wow. This show has a really nice OST.” And somehow, in my mind, that elevated the show to a higher level.
The show wouldn’t have been the same without the OST, and that’s a fact. In my world, anyway.
Master’s Sun OST - 미치게 만들어 (Driving Me Crazy)
2. So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin – Individually and Together
In spite of the various things that niggled at me in this show, there were enough goodies to keep me hanging in there until this show actually grew on me. And I’ll admit upfront that those goodies had a lot to do with our leads.
I honestly was more drawn to So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin – as characters, as actors and as our OTP – than the details of the storytelling. There were times when the storytelling was patchy, and times when it was more solid. In the shifting sand of the storytelling, these two remained major constants, and they were a large part of what kept me coming back, episode after episode, even when the storytelling cards weren’t stacking up all that well for me.
[SPOILERS THROUGH THE END OF THE REVIEW]
So Ji Sub
From only having seen So Ji Sub in melo I’m Sorry, I Love You, Master’s Sun was certainly a significant change in terms of my So Ji Sub experience.
Instead of being a broody, angsty hero, So Ji Sub had to draw on comedic chops that had heretofore remained hidden from sight. And to his credit, he was often amusing and endearing. Y’know, once we moved past that consternation-inducing initial stage where Joong Won was genuinely disdainful of Gong Sil and treated her like garbage.
I liked that there wasn’t any vanity about his performance, and that So Ji Sub seemed to blithely embrace the campy, even when it meant he had to look undignified and ridiculous. And I really liked that over the course of the show, his Joong Won really did seem to grow a heart. Or, rather, rediscover the one that he already had.
From the defiant, profit-driven businessman who couldn’t believe in what he couldn’t see and would challenge the heavens to strike him with lightning if he was wrong:
Joong Won becomes the kind of guy who sits and chats with Trashcan Ghost on what appears to be a regular basis:
Aw. I just found that super endearing that he would do that, given that he couldn’t actually see or hear Trashcan Ghost.
Through it all, I was very much taken with So Ji Sub’s eyes. They spoke volumes, especially during the quiet moments.
In particular, I really liked So Ji Sub’s laughing eyes. They made him look so attractive, and got me, every time.
Like here:
And here:
Ummph. I love his smiley eyes.
So Ji Sub should totally smile more, dontcha think?
Even more than his laughing eyes, I loved his swoony eyes. I mean, just look at this:
So intent. So meaningful. So tender.
Swoon.
Guess I’ll have to watch Ghost after all. Heh.
Gong Hyo Jin
I have a lot of affection for Gong Hyo Jin as an actress, coz she’s just so likable. She has a great earthy warmth that she brings into every character that she plays. And yes, maybe that’s sorta limited acting in some sense, but I just can’t help but like her, so I’m not complaining.
Like her co-star, Gong Hyo Jin attacks the role of Gong Sil with gusto and not a shred of vanity.
Sometimes, this didn’t work for me, like here, when she goes OTT with the crazy eyes:
But otherwise, Gong Hyo Jin really shows her comedic and dramatic range, like she does here, where she eyes Joong Won like a wolf eyeing a piece of choice meat:
Ha.
Or the many personas that she portrays during Gong Sil’s various bizarre visitations while drunk. My personal favorite is this bit, where Gong Sil takes on the persona of a cat.
All she does is sit there and look at Joong Won, and I can totally see the cat personality in her.
Very nice job indeed.
Perhaps the moment that struck me the most, was the scene where Gong Sil cries in the hospital after Joong Won’s ghost visits her.
Gong Sil sinks to the ground and cries with deep-reaching, guttural, heaving sobs; her grief feels so raw and her disbelief, dismay and regret so honest that my heart couldn’t help but break for her.
Kudos to Gong Hyo Jin for such an believable and poignant delivery.
Together
While it was widespread squee over the OTP chemistry that drew me to this show, I had also heard that it was a bit of a slow burn, and for me, this held true.
It took about 6 episodes for me to begin to warm to our OTP and their purported chemistry.
Even though there were some good moments in those first stretch of episodes, it was in episode 9 that I encountered the definitive moment where I actually felt the chemistry that everyone had been talking about.
It’s the moment when Joong Won kisses Gong Sil and the ghost who had been possessing her leaves her body.
It’s partly the husky, wistful OST swelling in the background to create such an immersive mood. And it’s partly the context of Joong Won, determined and anxious to save Gong Sil. And it’s in the way he looks at her and handles her, with heroic care and loving tenderness.
It all comes together to create this electric moment where the proximity between them is quite sizzling and laden with sexual tension.
Very nice. With this, I was fully on board the chemistry train.
In terms of really feeling this OTP, though, my moment was in episode 12.
After Joong Won gets stabbed while saving Gong Sil, Gong Sil waits nervously in the hallway of the hospital as Joong Won undergoes surgery, when he appears in front of her.
It’s like she feels him before she sees him, and looking up, Gong Sil sees Joong Won standing before her, unhurt. With nervous fear in her eyes, Gong Sil stands to her feet to face him.
Joong Won looks intently at her with some wonder and remarks thoughtfully, “It’s true. You really are as bright as the sun.”
Gong Sil shakes her head in denial, and Joong Won continues quietly and matter-of-factly, “Have I died? I feel extremely wronged, but since my woman can see me, I can tell you this before going. Tae Gong Sil. I love you.”
And then he disappears.
Woah. And oof.
What a twist. And delivered with such pathos. This is when I finally felt it; this OTP.
This was the point where I felt that Show had bitten me good.
Unfortunately, as I’ve alluded to above, the storytelling didn’t hold up all that well all the way to the end. But through it all, it was the well-being and happy-ever-after of our OTP that kept me going.
In that respect, Show kept up its end of the bargain; we got a happy-ever-after for our OTP, and a healthy serving of cuteness and kisses along the way.
The chemistry between Gong Hyo Jin and So Ji Sub as they talk and giggle in the final scene is what carries us to the end of the drama, and I found that extremely apt, coz that had always been one of the main draws of this show.
And just coz I can, here’s a screencap spasm of our OTP, in some of their more memorable moments.
Enjoy:
FINAL THOUGHTS
While I enjoyed Seo In Guk as our second lead Kang Woo,
Like seriously, how cute is he??
I really, really liked Lee Chun Hee in his extended cameo, and wondered if Lee Chun Hee’s character would have made a more compelling second lead than Kang Woo.
So, so fine. Cuteness-wise, it’s a hard fight.
After all, Lee Chun Hee’s character has a whole 3-year backstory with Gong Sil, where her spirit stayed with him while she was in a coma following her accident. I would think that that’s great fodder for a story, and makes a much more compelling love triangle.
Even with Lee Chun Hee’s limited appearance in the show, I felt like Gong Sil should go back to him.
It’s the way he looks at her, with tears burgeoning, which says to me that the 3 years they spent together were special. And who better to understand her, but someone who sees the same ghosts that she does? And if she’d stayed with him before, during her coma, she must’ve reciprocated his feelings.
Can you imagine the meaty awesome if the Hong sisters had decided to use this as the love conflict instead of Kang Woo’s unreciprocated crush on Gong Sil? I think that alternative arc would’ve been really intriguing. With that kind of dramatic tension, we might not even have needed to spend much time at all on the Hee Joo/Ha Na arc.
Oh, what could’ve been. Sigh.
On a different note, I actually really liked the finale episode.
Unlike many other dramas where finale episodes rush through a (hopefully) happy ending, this finale episode was filled to the brim with sweet and cute.
I don’t mind the drawn-out happy ending coz it’s not just about Gong Sil being with Joong Won.
It’s about Gong Sil feeling like she can be with Joong Won on her terms, not just coz she needs him as a shield. And that’s growth and progress for our heroine, who not that many episodes ago, had described herself as shameless. So I do like that touch in the final episode.
I also liked Joong Won talking to Trashcan Ghost and the eventual telling of Trashcan Ghost’s story. I especially liked the bit where Joong Won leaps to refer to Trashcan Ghost as his friend. Aw. What a long way he’s come since we first met him.
And Joong Won holding himself in check, so that Gong Sil can feel like she’s coming to him on her terms, is sweet, considering how he used to bulldoze his way through everything in the past.
Also, the time given to Yi Ryung (Kim Yoo Ri) and Kang Woo is just enough to make it sweet and satisfying, without detracting from our OTP. And likewise for Gong Sil’s sister and her Blabbermouth (Lee Jae Won).
It’s happy endings and warm fuzzies all around, and I really liked that I got to savor that for a bit, together with our characters.
THE FINAL VERDICT:
An easy-breezy, unchallenging watch, for when you simply want a light rom-com without having to think too much.
And here’s an alternative, subbed, fan-made, stylized trailer for the show that contains only (very) minor spoilers yet gives a fairly good flavor of the show:
For those who’ve seen the show
Here’re a couple of MVs featuring some of my favorite tracks off the OST:
Bonus!
In honor of the OTP’s excellent chemistry, here’s a little collection of cute NGs – you can totally tell how much fun these two are having. Aw!
While I started this blog mainly to write reviews, every so often, I get inspired to try something new. A fair amount of the time, it’s conversations on the blog itself that serve as the impetus. And that is totally the case today.
Not long ago, I posted my Master’s Sun review, and wrote this throwaway line about consuming the drama together with the fanfic:
“When the drama’s consumed together with the fanfic, though, they go together like strawberries and cream, or peanut butter and jelly, or Kim Woo Bin and Lee Jong Suk, or Song Seung Hun and abs, or.. (you get the idea). You could have one without the other, but having them together just takes everything to a whole new level. Amiright?”
And then today, I woke up to this comment from blog regular Asotss:
“You are soooooooo right ! Ah Song Seung Hun… Too bad his talent doesn’t measure up [to] his bodyliciousness. Could we still hope for a KLove Confession post, just for the photoshoots that only you can dig up ?”
That’s when inspiration struck. Besides Asotss, a couple of other readers and blogging friends have also commented appreciatively on my Googling skills. I guess Google and I get along particularly well; Google’s shown me more than a few particularly lovely photos of my k-loves, after all.
Still, because Song Seung Hun doesn’t quite fall into k-love territory for me, I’m creating a whole new series.
Introducing… Pure Pretty! Y’know. Where it’s all about The Pretty. ;)
Urban Zakapa – Let It Rain
To be honest, Song Seung Hun’s been on my radar for a long time. The moment I saw him in Autumn in my Heart, I thought he was cute. Sure, his acting wasn’t great, but I was rather taken with his strong, angular features.
Then I saw him in Summer Scent. And then My Princess. By then, I was convinced of the truth that we all know: Oppa really doesn’t have a whole lot of acting ability. But he tries. Sometimes too hard.
Aw. Poor Oppa.
On the upside, though, Oppa is Pretty. Very, very pretty. And that’s what we’re gonna celebrate today: the Song Seung Hun Pretty.
Let me just say that when I started this Googling experiment today, I didn’t have a single photo of Song Seung Hun in my possession. Which means that these, folks, are all hot off Google, specially selected for your gazing pleasure. ;)
As always, I’ve categorized my finds, all the easier for us to.. savor. Heh.
Sweet ‘n Preppy:
It can’t be denied that Oppa cleans up real nice, and when he’s in preppy togs, bearing flowers or a ring, he really does look like the kind of guy you’d want to bring home to meet the parents.
Cool ‘n Contemplative:
With that gorgeous bone structure, Oppa photographs particularly beautifully when he looks lost in thought.
Sharply Suited:
Y’all know how I appreciate a man in a sharp suit, and Oppa doesn’t disappoint. Here he is, all handsome and suited up.
Casual Laid-back:
One of my favorite kinds of photos, these casual laid-back shots make me feel like Oppa could be the guy next door, just hangin’ out and chillin’.. Y’know, if it’s normal for the guy next door to look this handsome and this hot. *cough*
Scruffy:
Oppa also looks great when he’s scruffed up. Somehow, the more scruffed up he is, the sexier he looks. If only we could all look this good when we’re scruffy, right?
Sporty:
Given that Oppa’s physique is pretty much what he’s most known for, it should be no surprise that he rocks the sporty look. That body takes work to maintain, right?
Shirtless:
And after all the effort he’s put in, isn’t it only right that we take a moment – or several – to.. admire Oppa’s body of work? Ahem.
Close-up Pretty:
In the face of the plethora of shirtless pix, let it not be said that we ignored Oppa’s other worthy features. He’s beautiful close-up too.
Cozy, Snuggly, Undone:
Perhaps even more than the shirtless pix, I like these ones, where Oppa’s all cozy. Or a little bit undone. Rawr.
So Oppa may not be a very talented nor skilled actor, but he sure is pretty, isn’t he?
And now he’s going to put all of The Pretty to work, in his upcoming movie Human Addiction (aka Obsessed). Where Oppa will get to look glorious in uniform. And, er, out of it too. *cough*
Go ahead and be awesome, Oppa. We’re all rooting for you! Fighting! *fist pump*
Also, thanks for the Pretty. We appreciate it very, very much.
After rolling out my first Pure Pretty post on Song Seung Hun, I was just going to do a little bit of preliminary searching in preparation for my second Pure Pretty post, and got completely and utterly sucked in. There was just too much TOP goodness to gaze at. I couldn’t stop.
Let me state upfront that just because I’ve picked TOP to be part of the Pure Pretty series, doesn’t mean that I don’t think he’s talented. It’s just that I don’t really follow his music – I’m not much into kpop to begin with – and therefore don’t have a lot to say about his personality or his music. I do think he owns the stage when he’s rapping, and it – HE – is hot.
I’ve seen TOP act, though. I first saw him in Iris and immediately decided that he looked very interesting. And handsome. And hot. Heh. Though I didn’t think he was so great at the acting, to be honest.
Recently, though, I watched him in The Commitment, and he’s gotten so much better! Which bodes well for me. I love TOP’s speaking voice. And TOP in motion on my screen. Mmmm.
In the meantime, though, let me just say that as I did research for this post, I’ve come to the conclusion that TOP is insanely beautiful. SERIOUSLY. INSANELY. BEAUTIFUL.
There just doesn’t seem to be a way to take an ugly picture of this guy. Really.
TOP – Act Like Nothing’s Wrong
Given my love for Woobie and TOP’s gorgeous, strong eyebrows, I’m beginning to think that I have a weakness for men with distinctive brows. Heh.
TOP’s brows aren’t the only gorgeous thing about him, though. He’s got gorgeous bone structure. And beautiful, defined lips. And a piercing gaze. Omona. The combination of all those factors in a single face is sometimes disconcertingly stunning.
Gaze and marvel and melt into a puddle with me?
Fierce &/or Broody:
With those glorious brows and his penetrating gaze, TOP does fierce and broody particularly well. He looks strong, imperturbable and very sexy.
Oof. So sexay.
Sharply Suited:
When those strong brows and piercing gaze is combined with TOP in a sharp suit, I find the combination killer.
So, so handsome. Melt.
Rugged Casual:
And then there’s the rugged, manly look where he looks especially delicious:
YUM. And also. Mesmerizing.
Close-up Stunning:
With that out-of-this-world bone structure, the close-up shots of TOP are often nothing short of spectacular. At any angle, from every perspective, TOP looks amazing. Guh.
Stunning, right? How does he do that??
Quirky:
Maybe it’s coz he’s got such amazing features. TOP manages to pull of some of the quirkiest looks I’ve seen around. And look hot at the same time. It’s a superpower, I tell ya.
Yes, even the back of his head looks sexy, somehow. *tilts head*
Geek Chic:
TOP rawks the glasses, and makes geek chic hawt.
Sputter. Puddle.
Preppy:
TOP also takes preppy to a whole new level. Who knew preppy could be this hot?
Just Plain Otherworldly:
Sometimes, TOP is so beautiful that he simply looks otherworldly. Coz it’s hard to believe that a human could look this good. Right?
No words, seriously. So. Beautiful.
Knowing Cool:
Perhaps one of the sexiest looks on TOP is the knowing look. It’s like he knows how commanding and knee-melting he is, and isn’t afraid to let you flail in the awesome.
Sexy, sexy, sexy:
So TOP is (thus far, anyway) strongly averse to taking shirtless photos. But that doesn’t lessen the sexy. Not at all.
Sizzle. Has your screen melted yet?
Rumpled & Undone:
Whether TOP’s rolled up and cuddly in bed, or disheveled and intense, one thing is consistent. He manages to look sexy either way.
Casual:
As if we needed more proof that TOP looks good in just about any situation, here’s a handful of pix of TOP being comfortably casual.
Candid:
I have only one thing to say. How can anyone look so good in candid shots? Candid, y’know. It’s really like he can’t help but be this hot. Also. Doesn’t TOP look adorable when he’s smiling?
His smile is just adorable, right?
Adorable:
Speaking of adorable, I couldn’t help but squee at Cute TOP. Eeeee!!!
Is it possible to melt and squee at the same time? Coz I think I did.
Man At Work:
Something about seeing a man focus on something he’s great at gets me and makes me swoon. Here’s TOP at work. Swoon.
Thoughtful:
A personal favorite of mine, is TOP being thoughtful. So intense. So melty.
Melt. Those eyes.
I may not have a deep appreciation for his music, but I’m surely looking forward to more TOP. His acting is improving nicely, and I can’t wait to see him again in a movie or a drama.
Plus, there’s all the pictures. Fierce, broody, cute, quirky, sexy.. I’ll take him any which way, thankyouverymuch.
I know, I’ve been a little bit MIA in the last couple of weeks, only surfacing periodically to answer comments. I’m sorry, you guys. I plead crazy-hectic-holiday-schedule. Both my Christmas and New Year weeks were packed to the gills with gatherings, lunches, dinners (or insert alternative meal) and other get-togethers.
On the upside, it made me feel really popular (ha). On the downside, I got a lot less drama on my screen, and a lot less time to chat with you (boo).
I didn’t forget the giveaway, though! And yes, it’s time to find out the winner of one gorgeous DVD box set of Queen In-hyun’s Man!
Queen In-hyun’s Man OST - 지금 만나러 갑니다
Thanks to everyone who entered the blogoversary giveaway – it was such a treat reading all your stories and getting to know how each of you fell in love with kdrama.
Many of your stories made me smile, giggle and laugh out loud, and also made me think back fondly to way back when Goong sucked an unsuspecting me into dramaland, on what appears to be a one-way ticket, no less!
I loved, too, how everyone jumped in on various conversations on the post, coz you found someone else on the thread with a similar kdrama love story. Like how DDee and Lady G discovered that they shared a gateway drama in Nice Guy! And I discovered that several of you have Boys Over Flowers to thank for your current residency in dramaland. All in all, just lots of super cool stuff! :D
As promised, I have picked a winner, and the new owner of the QIHM DVD box set is…
Congratulations, mawiie (otherwise affectionately known as maknae.. or lil ninja. It’s a long story). Please send me an email with your preferred mailing address and I will send Kim Boong Do right on over to ya!
Also. Just in case there’s any suspicious eye-balling in our midst, kinda like so:
Let me assure everyone that no nepotism was practiced whatsoever in the selection of our winner ;)
All eligible entries were assigned a number, with subscribers to the blog receiving an additional chance to win as promised. The 34 entries were then run through an online random number generator to pick our winner.
Just so you know. And also, I just wanted a chance to put that picture up there, heh.
Some Thoughts Going Into 2014
I don’t exactly have any formal k-resolutions for the New Year, but looking back on 2013, I realize that I watched a lot less drama compared to before I started blogging.
Much as I enjoy writing reviews, chatting with you guys and making headers for the blog (not necessarily in that order; it really depends on my mood on any given day), I foresee a problem – well, several problems, really – if I keep watching as few dramas this year as I did last year.
Problem #1
I might eventually run out of things to write about. Simply because I’m not watching much drama. That’s probably not such an ideal situation for a blogger to be in. Right?
Problem #2
I would be a sad puppy. I’m a big kdrama lover at heart, so to keep sticking dramas on my want-to-watch list and just watch that list grow and grow while I fall epically behind the actual watching is a sad, sad thing. *sadface*
My Sort-Of Resolution
This year, I’ve decided to make drama-watching more of a priority.
I’m not sure how that’s going to work, exactly. Coz I still want to keep writing for the blog, and also chat regularly with you guys. Those are 2 of the funnest things about hosting the blog. And also 2 of the most time-consuming.
I’ll be experimenting to find a balance that works for me – and you! And the blog! – and at this point, I’m not quite sure what that’s going to look like.
I expect that some reviews will be shorter than others, although I fully expect to write a couple of epic reviews when a show excites and inspires me enough.
I also plan to keep on experimenting not only in terms of how I consume my drama, but also in how I tackle posts for the blog. For one thing, have you noticed that there are no Gong Yoo or Woobie pictures in this post?? That’s right, folks. Milestone. Hee.
I also expect that there will be times when I’ll post &/or answer comments in spurts, rather than in a regular fashion. It’s partly to make time for drama-watching, but also partly coz 2014 is looking to be rather busy on the Real Life front too.
I won’t forget about the blog or about you guys, though. Hold my hand:
We’ll make it work.
The meant-to-be loves always make it work ❤
And before I sign off, here’s my New Year wish for you.
May 2014 bring you lots of happiness, joy, love, health, peace and laughter. And when you find something (or someone! Eeeee!!!) to love and feel passionate about this year, may you have the courage to grab on tight and not let go:
Hee.
And may you enjoy lots of cracktastic goodness in dramaland, dreamland (I know you k-dreamers are out there!) and Real Life Land.
So I was determined that I would post something other than Pure Pretty, after unveiling 2 Pure Pretty posts one after the other. Y’know, so that the blog wouldn’t appear too frivolous and fangirly. *clings to denial*
But after a pretty exhausting work trip, followed by a long and hectic weekend, I just didn’t have the mental bandwidth to continue writing my review of You From Another Star. *contrite* When my brain’s had enough time to recover its drama-appreciating faculties, I promise that the YFAS review will be the first thing I tackle. *pinky swears*
While resting my brain, I thought I’d do some research for Pure Pretty. And we know how that’s gone before, heh. A little research soon turned into a sizable haul of pretty, which I couldn’t wait to share with you guys. And so I bring you Daniel Henney, who single-handedly commanded almost all the votes for future Pure Pretty that got floated after the first 2 posts.
Can’t say I don’t aim to please, eh? ;)
Ra.D - 날 위한 여행
Ever since I first laid eyes on Daniel Henney in My Name is Kim Sam Soon (2005), I’ve agreed with pretty much everyone else in the dramaverse that he is one very good-looking man.
I even rather liked him in Seducing Mr. Perfect (2006), which I thought was a cute movie, and later, I even watched Spring Waltz (2006) coz he was in it.
My interest waned after some time though. Maybe it’s coz he’s not so great with the acting.
And maybe it’s coz Daniel Henney’s not quite my type. Maybe it’s coz he’s too pretty? We all know how my taste tends to lean towards the less conventionally handsome boys.
Still, while browsing the many, many available pix of Daniel Henney on the interwebs, I did find a very nice number of photos that I genuinely liked. And so I picked the ones I liked the most for this post.
Only the very best for you guys, y’know. ;)
As always, I’ve categorized the photos for our easy gazing. And just in case you wanted to put the pretty on your desktop or something, I’ve included wallpaper sizes where possible. Yes, I love you that much, heh.
Close-Up:
With such great bone-structure, Daniel Henney’s close-ups are often like works of art. As I looked at these photos, I couldn’t help thinking how handsome he is. That, and how you could practically cut through ice with that bone structure.
Old Hollywood:
Possibly because of his classically handsome features, sometimes Daniel Henney’s photos look like they fit right into Old Hollywood. He looks retrolicious and so statuesque.
Preppy:
I don’t have a particular preference for preppy (wow, that was unintentionally alliterative!), but I hafta say, Daniel Henney makes preppy look sexy. He rocks the glasses in a way that only very handsome men can. And I very much approve.
Smartly Suited:
I do love a man in a sharp suit, and Daniel Henney’s good looks certainly don’t hurt either. He suits up real nice, though to be honest, my favorite shots in this set are of him in the white shirt and vest. Very nice.
Rugged:
As good as Daniel Henney looks in the sharp clothes, he looks just as good in more rugged togs. Whether he’s casually sporty or showing us his rough ‘n rugged side, he’s equally pretty.
Undone:
The pix where Daniel Henney is a touch – or more – undone are particularly sexy.
Shirtless:
For someone who’s so famously pretty, it’s little surprise that the shirtless pix are particularly pleasing. This is certainly a case of nature and nurture coming together quite perfectly, wouldn’t you say? I think of some of us might need a drool bucket, or at least a handkerchief, to fully appreciate this section. Just sayin’.
Fresh-faced:
Y’know, even though the shirtless pix are something else, I actually think I like even more, the pix of Daniel Henney where he’s bright-eyed and fresh-faced. There’s just something very wholesome about these pix which I really dig.
Focused:
I find the air of focus about a man a very attractive thing. Which is why I like these pix with Daniel Henney either actually concentrating on something, or at least pretending to concentrate on something, heh.
Casual/Candid:
These are actually my favorite of the lot.
Looking at these casual shots, some of which are candids, I actually felt like I was getting to see more of Daniel Henney’s personality. I liked that. I especially awwww-ed at the shots of him with the doggies. Coz, puppy!! ❤ And who can resist a guy who’s kind to doggies, right?
Awww.
This last batch of photos really give me the impression that he’s a nice guy. You can just tell, by the gentle, protective way he’s holding that last pup. And really, that appeals to me even more than the fact that he’s chiseled and handsome.
You’re a good bloke, Daniel. That’s a very cool thing.
And, thanks for the Pretty. We.. appreciate it very much. ;)
Most of you are familiar with my 3 big k-loves. And although I’m currently spazzing over and lovin’ on Kim Woo Bin more — uunghh I wuv my Woobie ❤ — I love ‘em each in their own special way.
If you’ve known me for a while, &/or taken a look at my fangirl motto on the side-bar to your right, you’d probably also know that having big k-loves — or major Woobie love, heh — doesn’t mean that I don’t have room to admire and.. appreciate (ahem) other talented k-men in dramaland.
In fact, I’ve got quite a few of those medium k-loves, at least a few of whom I plan on introducing to you guys this year.
First up: Kim Soo Hyun!
I’ve liked Kim Soo Hyun since his Dream High days in 2011, and have had my eye on him and his work ever since. Every time he’s got a new drama or movie out, I perk up and take notice. And now that I’m watching You From Another Star, my Kim Soo Hyun radar has switched itself into Mmmm.. mode all over again. Which, really, is the catalyst for this post.
Come squee with me, y’all!
Encounter 1: Dream High
To be honest, even though Kim Soo Hyun already had a nice, solid filmography before Dream High, I hadn’t seen him in anything prior. All I knew was, lotsa folks in the dramaverse were really excited — chomping at the bit, to put it mildly — to see him in this. That made me really curious to see who this boy was, who had everyone and their mothers all aflutter.
When Kim Soo Hyun finally made his appearance in episode 2, though, I really couldn’t see what the fuss was about. He was all decked out in country bumpkin gear, topped off with an unruly mop of curls.
The fangirl in me was unimpressed. What I did dig, was the dorky, buff, Song Seung Hun-esque appeal of our other male lead Taecyeon, and I lapped up the generous shirtless awesome the show served up via Taecyeon.
As I got further into the show, though, I was happily quite taken with Kim Soo Hyun’s acting chops. He made Song Sam Dong a likable, engaging and endearing character, and I enjoyed having him on my screen.
Plus, partway through the show, Song Sam Dong gets an image overhaul, and Kim Soo Hyun got to show some broody smolder too. And a bad-boy ear stud.
I liked what I saw.
I didn’t exactly walk away from Dream High with a crush on Kim Soo Hyun, but I certainly came away with a new-found admiration for him. Not only was his acting solid and nuanced, he clearly took his craft very seriously.
Perhaps the thing that blew me away the most, was the realization that he’d held his own as the only non-idol among the main cast, doing a very solid job of all the singing and dancing even though those weren’t quite his strengths. In fact, he’d trained at JYP for 3 months prior to starting to film for Dream High, living the trainee idol life, and learning to sing and dance. Respect.
I decided that Kim Soo Hyun was definitely a young man worth keeping my eye on and put him firmly on my radar.
Here’s the track that Kim Soo Hyun sang for the Dream High OST, complete with some excellent (& rather spoilery) Song Sam Dong footage:
For those who want to avoid spoilers but still want to hear Kim Soo Hyun’s singing voice, this vid is for you:
Not bad at all, eh?
Mesmerized and Swooned Out: The Moon that Embraces the Sun
In 2012, a year after Dream High, Kim Soo Hyun came back to dramaland in The Moon that Embraces the Sun. And promptly blew me away.
In Dream High, Kim Soo Hyun had struck me mostly as cute and likable. In MoonSun, though, he was regal, smoldery, and very, very sexy.
I thought the kingly robes became him:
As did the sardonic, barely-hidden sarcasm that his king Lee Hwon got to display:
Most of all, I swooned at the intense, smoldery gazes that he showed his leading ladies:
Rawr.
This was a whole different, very sexy side to Kim Soo Hyun, and I loved every swoony minute.
Sure, the writing was flawed, and yes, Han Ga In was completely underwhelming as his leading lady. But in my eyes, Kim Soo Hyun and his sexy king more than made up for it.
I lapped up episode after episode, eager for more mesmerizing, sexy, regal Kim Soo Hyun. And I definitely came away from MoonSun with a newly minted Kim Soo Hyun crush.
Kim Soo Hyun also lent his vocals to MoonSun’s OST. Here’s a (fairly spoilery) MV of that track, featuring some of that regal smolder:
For those who want to listen to the song but want to avoid spoilers, this one’s for you:
Post-MoonSun Interview Awesome
I haven’t checked out that many Kim Soo Hyun interviews, but I really liked this episode of tvN’s Taxi, in which he guested.
He comes across as fairly natural and quite savvy, managing to answer questions tactfully while toeing the fine line between humility and self-praise. At the same time, his answers show how much thought he puts into each and every scene, and I love a man who’s serious about his craft.
Here’s the full episode, which I genuinely enjoyed. Be warned that there are MoonSun spoilers, since this aired after the series wrapped.
Movie Moment 1: The Thieves
I don’t watch a whole lot of movies, but with Kim Soo Hyun now firmly on my radar, I couldn’t not check out The Thieves.
Much as I was disappointed with the heavy turn the movie took halfway through, and with the relatively small amount of screen-time Kim Soo Hyun had, I did like the introduction to his sinewy arms:
And his character’s crush on Jeon Ji Hyun’s character did yield some mild shirtless smolder:
And a less mild, fleeting-yet-sensuous kiss:
Overall, a fairly underwhelming movie, but it sure had some pretty tantalizing Kim Soo Hyun tid-bits.
Movie Moment 2: Secretly Greatly [aka Covertly Grandly]
Still with my eye firmly on Kim Soo Hyun, I was super excited to see trailers for Secretly Greatly. I mean, not only did this movie promise much more Kim Soo Hyun screentime, it also promised awesome stuff like Kim Soo Hyun as a spy! And Kim Soo Hyun in uniform! (rawr) And! Kim Soo Hyun’s new abs! (double rawr)
While I wasn’t too taken with the movie itself, it did deliver on those 3 things that it had promised, and I was somewhat mollified.
Not bad at all, I say. Not bad At All.
A Transition: From Boy To Man
As all of this movie stuff was going on, I also noticed something else about Kim Soo Hyun: he made the transition from boy-man:
To man:
Ooh. Rawr.
As boy-man, Kim Soo Hyun could still get away with playing a high-schooler, but with this new look, I would place him firmly — very firmly! — in man territory.
Needless to say, I really dig the manly vibe about him:
Ahem. Moar please, is what I’m thinking.
Eeee!! Really, REALLY Liking: You From Another Star
Given that (a) I’ve decided to include one currently-airing drama on my drama plate, (b) I dig Kim Soo Hyun’s (yummy) transition from boy-man to man, and (c) I really enjoyed the sparks that he shared with Jeon Ji Hyun in The Thieves, You From Another Star was the natural choice when the new drama cycle came around.
10 episodes in, I’m pleased to report that I’m enjoying it very, very much. It’s cracky rom-com at its best. And Kim Soo Hyun does not disappoint.
Well. There are other actors and factors that also do not disappoint, but since this is a post about Kim Soo Hyun, I’ll save those other details for the review to come.
Kim Soo Hyun awesome: let me count the ways.
First of all, Kim Soo Hyun is very, very dapper as Do Min Joon and is often shown wearing sharp suits. And you know how I love a man in a sharp suit.
Yum. I approve.
Secondly, I find it hot that his character has superpowers.
Thirdly, Kim Soo Hyun’s turn as Do Min Joon is faceted and nuanced. Even though his character is supposed to be all stiff and unemotional, Kim Soo Hyun does lend layers with the subtle shifts in his gaze.
I particularly love this scene, where you can see the almost imperceptible glimmer of a tear in Min Joon’s eye, even as he carefully keeps his expression unreadable.
Very nice.
Ahem. Something else that’s also very nice? Kim Soo Hyun’s shower scene:
Rawr.
And let’s not forget the chemistry between Kim Soo Hyun and Jeon Ji Hyun, combined with his heretofore firmly established smoldering ability:
Ooh. Yum. Yum yum yum.
I need moar, I really, really do.
Photo Treats of the Kim Soo Hyun Kind
While doing, er, research for this post, I realize that I categorize Kim Soo Hyun’s various looks thusly:
Boyish & Playful
Despite his recent more sexy turn, Kim Soo Hyun can definitely turn on the cute:
Cozy
And he does warm, cozy and a little snuggly very nicely too.
Sharp & Smart
Kim Soo Hyun suits up very nicely, and here’s evidence:
Shirtless
Kim Soo Hyun doesn’t have a whole lotta shirtless pix out there, but I found that the ones that are out there, are sensuously appealing. Yum.
Scruffy
Kim Soo Hyun doesn’t do scruffy all that often, but I really do dig him when he’s a little undone. Sexy boy.
Sexy Smolder
Hands-down, this is my favorite look on him. I mean, he does the sexy smolder so well. Can you blame me for going melty?
Mmm.. Quite delicious, amiright?
This is why I’m makin’ room in my fangirl heart for Kim Soo Hyun.
I’ve got my eye on you too, you sexy, smoldery boy ;)
A light(ish) melodrama that’s high on the cute and low on the logic, Bride of the Century is the kind of show that would crumble under too harsh a lens. Given the right lens, though, it’s a fun watch that even gets pretty cracky in stretches.
The good news is, that lens isn’t a hard one to put on.
Yes, the show is so full of drama cliches that it feels like someone took every drama cliche that ever existed, put ‘em all into a box, and the writers of this show then played a game where they took turns drawing out random cliches from the box and had to find a way to work ‘em all into the show. In the order in which they were drawn. Yep. Sometimes plot logic took a beating; I cannot lie. But think of Cliche City as a game, and that ups the fun by a whole lot.
The shining jewel in this rather haphazard crown, is that this show has enough cute to mitigate almost the entire weight of the excessive drama tropes. Who can say no to this show, when you’ve got this cute of a puppy on your screen, right?
Bride of the Century OST - 들어와
THE LONG VERDICT:
There are only 3 things that you need to know in order to enjoy this show. Yep. 3 things. That’s all you need, and I’m here to tell you all about them. What can I say? I’m helpful that way. ;)
1. Lee Hong Ki is a Puppy
I’m gonna have to agree with everyone else; Lee Hong Ki is all kinds of adorable as Choi Kang Ju, our leading man.
If you’ve seen You’re Beautiful (2009), you’d already be familiar with Lee Hong Ki’s cute, little-boy charm as the effervescent, lovable Jeremy.
He’s cleaned up nicely for Bride of the Century, wearing with ease the dark hair, smart suits and suave smirk which Jeremy didn’t get to wear. At the same time, Lee Hong Ki really just can’t get away from his Core Cute. It shines through, even when he’s being all manly and debonaire.
So even as this new, manned-up version of Lee Hong Ki strutted his stuff on my screen, at the heart of it, I saw Puppy.
Basically, when Lee Hong Ki was being Fierce Kang Ju, like so:
I saw Fierce Puppy, like so:
And when Lee Hong Ki was being Sad Kang Ju, like so:
I saw Sad Puppy, like so:
And when Lee Hong Ki was being Nurturing Kang Ju, like so:
I saw Nurturing Puppy, like so:
To which, one’s response can only be, “Eeeeee!! Cutieeeee!! Can I squish you now??”
Right?
I found it endlessly entertaining to watch Lee Hong Ki wear his best manly air and strut his hero stuff. Not to be disrespectful or anything, it just felt like I was watching the cutest, littlest puppy ever, put on his best I’m-a-big-guard-dog shoes. ADORABLE.
Here’s more Adorable Cute Puppy for ya:
Isn’t he just the cutest lil puppy?
On a side note, I thought it was equal parts cute and sexy that Lee Hong Ki’s got such hairy legs. Cute, coz that’s so in character – after all, puppies have hairy legs too, right? Hee. And sexy, coz that’s such a manly sort of thing, having hairy legs.
Rawr. And, squishes.
2. The OTP is as cute as 2 Puppies
With such a cute leading man, having a cute leading lady (who’s almost as cute as her leading man) is pretty much exactly what we need.
Yang Jin Sung fills that quotient quite nicely, managing to take a pretty cookie-cutter sort of spunky Candy heroine and making her likable and appealing.
Together, our OTP was literally as cute as 2 puppies:
With that kind of cute resulting when the OTP is together, it’s no wonder that the show’s writers basically spend much of their time working out ways for our OTP to share screen time.
A good number of the tropes employed are in service of OTP skinship, and y’know, I just can’t complain about that. Not when these 2 are this cute together.
Mistaken identities, wrist-grabs, falling kisses, plus one Fake Engagement. We’ve got ‘em all.
Although the arc of having an ice prince hero getting his heart melted against his will, by a spunky, warm heroine is nothing new in dramaland, it somehow didn’t feel stale to me, in this drama.
Maybe it’s the cuteness of the OTP that makes it work. Or maybe it’s this precise just-so combination of drama tropes that makes it work. Or maybe it’s the Goong-esque flavor of the fake engagement that gets me. As my first ever drama, Goong has a very special spot in my drama-loving heart. Maybe – probably? – it’s all of the above.
I enjoyed the fake fiancee set-up a whole lot, and looked forward to all the hijinks as they unfolded on my screen.
Plus, who can resist cute lil puppies as they make moony eyes at each other, right?
3. The entire show is a Puppy
Have you ever watched a play that’s written, produced and acted by young kids?
Almost everything about this show reminds me of that sort of an experience.
Despite the plot fails, and the sometimes nonsensical direction of the story, this is a show that seems to take itself seriously. But because this show is basically a puppy, watching it is like watching little kids put on a Very Serious Play that they wrote themselves. They memorize their lines and put their whole effort into the acting, the costumes, everything.
Overall, the acting in this show is really.. earnest. It’s not quite nuanced, and overall, it’s decent, if sometimes stilted. But the earnestness does shine through. Everyone – especially our main cast – tries really hard.
As I got deeper into the show, I realized, too, that beyond the outer shell that was all sparkles and rainbows (and puppies!), there was a nutso fantasy makjang brewing at the center. Curve balls came out of nowhere, and often didn’t actually make a whole lotta sense, especially if you thought about it too hard.
Back to our analogy, to the “kids,” it’s epic, important and Very, Very Serious business. For us watching, though, it’s just impossible to take it too seriously. Even during the angsty parts, it’s basically still a cute puppy, just that it’s trying to bare its teeth and flaunt its claws. So even when it’s trying to be all fierce and serious, all you can think of is, “Aw, Puppyyyy.” Heh.
There are loose ends and logic fails aplenty, and at around episode 10, I started to feel the drag and was even mildly tempted to drop the show.
If/when that happens for you, here’s a little vid to amplify how much fun it can be, to sometimes just let go of your need for plot logic.
Kid Snippets: stories conceived & voiced by kids
Hee.
Sometimes watching the events unfold in Bride of the Century is akin to watching this kid video. If you’re expecting elegance, nuance or robust plot logic, you’d be disappointed. If you can look past all of that, though, you’ll be rewarded with ample amounts of cute.
THE FINAL VERDICT:
Fun for when you want to give the ol’ brain a vacation and just indulge in large amounts of Puppy cuteness.
VISUAL TREATS:
For those who haven’t seen the show, here’s a subbed teaser to give you a flavor of the show:
If you’ve seen the show, don’t mind spoilers, or just want to see the Puppy Cute, this is for you:
A drama that’s got a light, frothy and often comedic outer shell, but harbors an inner core that’s poignant, stirring and heart-in-your-throat moving.
To be sure, if one put on a hard logical lens, this show’s flaws may be too glaring for one to overlook. But for those who can turn that logical lens to a blurry soft-focus, and amp up the emotional lens to a setting high enough to engage with the characters on a more visceral level, that touching inner core is the satisfying, gratifying reward.
Separately, Jeon Ji Hyun and Kim Soo Hyun are both truly excellent in their roles. Even better? Together, they are pure magic.
You From Another Star OST - Man From Star (Opening Title)
THE LONG VERDICT:
Every drama makes missteps, and You From Another Star is no exception. Under too keen a microscope, the plot logic in YFAS wouldn’t stand up terribly well, to be honest. What sets it apart from so many other kdramas, though, is that it gets the most important bits (mostly) right.
Enough to capture the imagination; enough to engage the heart; enough to make it feel cracktastic and addictive.
I liked a lot of things about this show, and even though hindsight is 20/20 and the uneven pacing and plot-holes that I hadn’t taken too much notice of before now seem clear as day, I still consider it a worthy watch.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
I thought the cinematography was mostly very pretty in YFAS.
The way certain scenes were framed, lit and shot was often so pretty that I stopped to admire the composition of the shot &/or the richness of the palette. Most of the show is bathed in lovely rich, warm tones that were alternately Spring and Autumn. Gorgeous.
Maybe it’s coz this show revolves around the stars/space; I found the aerial shots (like the one above) &/or the high-ceilinged shots particularly breathtaking.
Whether it was stuff flying in the air (like above), or people doing the same (like below), I thought the effect was nicely handled, and executed in a nicely believable fashion.
The Joseon scenes in particular could be quite stunning, like this scene:
Gorgeous, right? This could almost pass off as a painting, it’s so pretty.
When the scenes leaned more towards the foreboding, the color palette cooled significantly to communicate the chill of unease too. This was consistent across timelines, and we see it here in the Joseon arc:
As well as here, in the present-day arc:
Perhaps the only times I found the cinematography a little clunky was when it related to the less subtle camera effects.
Maybe it’s just me, but I found the less subtle CGI effects unintentionally amusing:
Despite these minor-ish hiccups, though, I generally enjoyed the cinematography of this show.
Original SoundTrack
Along with the cinematography, I also really, really enjoyed the OST in this show. Yes, the “My Destiny” song leaned a little cheesy, but it didn’t dip into Help-not-AGAIN territory for me, so it’s still all good.
Even more than the songs themselves, I really, really enjoyed the instrumental tracks in this show. These ranged from halting, thoughtful melodies, to blissful, happy, tinkly tones, to swelling, pulsing orchestral pieces. Well-executed and nicely evocative, I found the instrumentals particularly lovely.
I never felt like the OST was interfering with my immersion in the show. Rather, the OST served to enhance it. And that I really enjoyed. I’ll be sharing several of my favorite instrumental tracks in this review, though I will say that there are a good many more gorgeous instrumental tracks on the OST than I’m able to share here.
CHARACTERS
Over and above the other strengths of this show, and in the face of its weaknesses too, it was the treatment of our main characters that really made the show for me. Not only were our main characters nicely fleshed out, but they were excellently delivered.
Yes, there were a number of characters who weren’t as nicely fleshed out and remained in two-dimensional territory. And there were some weak links in the delivery as well. But the OTP and several other key characters were so well delivered that it was enough for me, to quite easily forgive the show’s shortcomings.
Kim Soo Hyun as Do Min Joon
Ahhhh. Kim Soo Hyun. He totally killed it, as Do Min Joon.
I’ve come across some folks who contend that he didn’t act very well in this show. For the record, I disagree. Vehemently. Strongly and politely. Heh.
In the beginning of the show, I did feel like Kim Soo Hyun’s face was stiffer than I preferred, but over time, I gradually got a deeper and deeper sense of the dichotomy between the impassiveness that Do Min Joon showed the world, and the real emotions that he felt on the inside.
Kim Soo Hyun did an outstanding job portraying that duality, managing to imbue even Min Joon’s stiffest expressions with hints of Min Joon’s inner feelings. Sometimes, these were so subtle that they might be overlooked by a casual viewer. Put on a more careful, discerning lens, however, and you’d find that it’s all there.
As the show progresses, the balance of that dichotomy shifts continuously. How much emotion Min Joon is able to show the world evolves in degrees, and Kim Soo Hyun demonstrates that gradual shift with precision delivery. It’s almost like he has an internal dial that allows him to select exactly what percentage of Min Joon’s emotions are allowed to show on his face. And if that’s not impressive enough, Kim Soo Hyun makes this demanding feat of precise, exacting delivery appear completely effortless. Talk about skill. Talk about talent. Talk about character immersion. I was suitably blown away.
Special mention goes to Kim Soo Hyun’s crying scenes. These were truly heartwrenching, and I never felt like he was acting, or forcing the tears. In fact, it consistently felt more like he was genuinely trying to hold the tears in, but couldn’t. Which is exactly in character. Completely masterful. Respect, truly.
On a lighter note, I must say, I just love how pitch-perfect Kim Soo Hyun’s crotchety, stuffy old man-alien is. Given his youthful appearance, it’s amusingly dissonant. I never got tired of grumpypants-old-man-alien rocking the young face and sharp suits, grumping in his old-man way at people and things in general. So cute that I wanted a grumpypants-old-man-alien of my very own, heh.
You From Another Star OST – Back To The Present
[SPOILER ALERT]
By now, you’ve probably got an inkling that I have a lot of.. thoughts, when it comes to Kim Soo Hyun as Do Min Joon. In this section, I distill a few of my favorite things about our favorite alien.
Layers Coming Off
One of my favorite things about watching Kim Soo Hyun as Min Joon, is getting to discover the softie living on the inside of the multitude of stiff layers that he’s erected as his outer shell.
Min Joon’s spent 400 years constructing and maintaining the austere mask that helps him to keep a low profile and stay disconnected from the people around him. He refrains from establishing relationships with people as a general rule, and lives by the principle of not getting involved; in other people’s business, in situations around him; in life in general. He’s played the waiting game for 400 years, and all of his focus is trained on one thing and one thing only: waiting for the arrival of his comet so that he can return home.
Given that context, it’s extra gratifying to watch Min Joon’s true personality peek out from under the layers of armor in varying degrees as the show progresses.
Like the time in episode 3 where Min Joon is reluctant to care about anything that happens to Song Yi (Jeon Ji Hyun), but ends up getting involved anyway. Somehow I enjoyed seeing him play her guardian at the hospital, wearing the most unwilling, grumpy face ever, but doing everything that needed doing anyway.
Or like the time in episode 4 where Min Joon threatens to throw Song Yi out, but goes out to buy her snacks anyway.
Or the time in episode 6 when Min Joon takes off running out of concern for Song Yi’s safety.
Basically, after seeing Min Joon’s cold outer shell so much in play, it’s extra gratifying to witness the moments when he breaks out of that shell and acts in a manner that’s completely counter to the shield that he’s erected for himself. Plus, knowing how solid that shield is, it’s also thrilling to realize just how much Song Yi is getting to him, for him to react in such a visceral manner.
Memorably, the moment, for me, in terms of seeing just how much Min Joon actually feels on the inside, is the scene in episode 6, where we see Yi Hwa (Kim Hyun Soo) dying in Min Joon’s arms after saving him.
His horrified cries, as realization sinks in, and his freely spilled tears, got me, right in the heart. I felt his distress and grief and disbelief in that moment, as he registered that she had died in order to save him. Ow. My heart.
This pivotal scene sets the record straight: Min Joon is fully capable of emotion. He has a heart that works, and it works well. It’s just that he’s steeled his heart and chosen to live behind a shield of stiff armor. And it’s just as much to protect the people around him, as it is to protect himself, that he does so.
With that context firmly in place, my heart went out fully to Min Joon. How alone he must have felt for the 400 years that he’d forced himself to live in such emotional isolation. Poor baby. Uh. Poor old-man-alien.
Where our story happens, with Song Yi now in the picture, unwittingly and relentlessly drawing him out of his shell, mostly against his will, is cracky, satisfying stuff. It just made me really pleased to see the cold, grumpy shell give way to reveal the warm heart underneath. In short, I really liked seeing how Min Joon is a big ol’ softie at heart.
Superpowers are Hawt
Even though we start the drama already knowing that as an alien, Min Joon has superpowers, this fact actually grew on me more and more as the show progressed. By episode 7, I was practically giddy over the fact that Min Joon has superpowers.
In part, I think it’s the kid in me. Like, how cool is it that our drama’s hero is actually a superhero?
More to the point, I think, is the fact that Superhero Min Joon is hawt. I love how he uses his superpowers to save Song Yi.
Like in episode 7, where Song Yi’s life is in danger thanks to Jae Kyung (Shin Sung Rok) and his Evil Secretary (Lee Yi Kyung, all grown up and completely misguided after School 2013 and Nine). I love how Min Joon displays multiple superpowers in saving her.
First, the super hearing, where he hears her screams for help from miles and miles away (above).
Then, the teleporting, to appear right in front of her in her critical moment of need. And finally, the super strength to stop a car gaining momentum, with only his bare hands.
Swoon.
That Min Joon then poofs away to resume his facade of normalcy just ups the cool, in my opinion. It’s like every other superhero ever. Coz no true superhero sticks around to bask in the glory of being heroic. Right?
Plus, then we see in episode 8 that Min Joon actually hurt himself in the process of saving Song Yi, and resuming his facade of normalcy basically entails walking around with shards of glass still embedded in his bleeding hand.
Ow.
The fact that Min Joon can feel physical pain, just like a regular human, just makes my heart go out to him even more. Despite the possibility of injury to himself, he’d gone and saved Song Yi without hesitation.
Plus, the fact that Min Joon gets hurt in the course of ensuring that Song Yi doesn’t get hurt, is such heart-melty stuff.
On a more amusing superpower note, I found it really cute that the reason Min Joon doesn’t drink is coz otherwise he’d let his powers run amuck.
I love tipsy Min Joon, solely for the fact that he appears to take a very pure childlike pleasure in making things float in the air. And that is just so refreshingly different from the crotchety-old-man persona that he shows us when he’s sober.
Sure, in our story set-up, the superpowers are sort of incidental, in that they aren’t exactly key to the romance, really. But having our hero have superpowers certainly doesn’t hurt. And I found superhero Min Joon hawt.
The Extent of Min Joon’s Love
One of the swooniest things about Min Joon is how deep and far-reaching his love for Song Yi becomes over the course of the show. We see it demonstrated and expressed in a number of ways; it’s almost like as the show progresses and as his love for her grows deeper and deeper, that that love starts leaking out through multiple cracks in that heretofore impenetrable armor.
It’s In How He Uses His Powers:
On a related note from our previous section on superpowers, I did love how Min Joon’s growing love for Song Yi is demonstrated in how he uses his powers.
As Min Joon’s affection and love for Song Yi grows, he takes increasingly risky actions to protect her. The magnitude of the risks that he takes mirrors the magnitude of his love for her, and it’s swoon-worthy stuff.
For someone like Min Joon, who’s ruled firmly from the head all these 400 years, it’s extremely telling that when it comes to Song Yi’s well-being, he rules more and more by the heart.
Like the time in episode 10, where Min Joon flies down 23 flights of stairs at supersonic speed just to meet Jae Kyung on the ground floor and warn him against harming Song Yi. It’s risky and it’s not his only possible course of action, but he does it anyway. And reckless Min Joon wearing his heart on his sleeve is fierce, potent, and very, very swoony.
As Min Joon’s worry for Song Yi’s safety grows, the risks he takes and the urgency (and badassery!) with which he takes them grows at an exponential rate.
Like in episode 11, where Min Joon shows his superpowers to Jae Kyung.
Watching this, I knew it was a dangerous move, but man, did I take a lot of pleasure in Min Joon’s coolness and Jae Kyung’s mind implosion.
Of course, there’s also episode 14, where Min Joon is practically blind with rage and fury at the attempt that Jae Kyung makes on Song Yi’s life.
He literally flies over to Jae Kyung’s office, breaking through everything and overturning furniture with a single thought and nary the blink of an eye, and literally holds up a limp rag-doll-esque Jae Kyung by the scruff of the neck, with steely determination burning in his eyes.
In a superpower flash, Min Joon’s dangling a helpless Jae Kyung over the ledge of the building, purely by the force of his mind.
When Jae Kyung taunts him, saying, “I know that if I die, so will you,” Min Joon resolutely bites out, “If I could stop you, I don’t care if I die.” And he lets Jae Kyung fall.
Min Joon doesn’t let Jae Kyung die, however, but stops Jae Kyung’s free-fall at the last minute, warning darkly, “Pray that Song Yi is safe. If anything happens to that woman, I will come back to kill you. You said you have a lot of things to lose. I’ll make sure you know the taste of losing them one by one. In the end you will lose everything, and I will show you what utter destruction is.”
Jae Kyung starts, “How dare you-” but gets unceremoniously cut off by Min Joon, who’s blazing fire from his eyes, “How dare YOU. I’ll show you who you dared mess with.”
So satisfyingly badass. And so recklessly focused on Song Yi’s well-being, to the extent of wagering his own life. How can one not swoon?
And then there’s episode 19, where Jae Kyung, cornered with no way out, informs Min Joon that Song Yi’s doomed anyway.
The way that Min Joon lets loose with everything he’s got, to get to Song Yi in time, to save her, at any cost, is completely moving. With his powers having been unstable prior, I feel like Min Joon had to pour all of his efforts and concentration into this, and then some; more so than if this had happened earlier in the show when his powers had been steady.
With each step in the Big Rescue, we see that Min Joon’s teetering on the edge of losing control. Not just of his powers, but of his emotions, for fear of losing Song Yi.
First, we see him crash-land out of thin air at the restaurant where Song Yi is seated. His abrupt appearance and the accompanying smashed glass is an attention magnet, and a crowd soon forms around him and Song Yi. But Min Joon pays no heed whatsoever. He wraps his arms around Song Yi and poofs them out of there, leaving behind the gathering of confused spectators.
Min Joon is similarly focused at their next stop, the hospital.
When nurses and doctors protest at his barked instructions, Min Joon swiftly takes matters into his own hands. Using just the power of his mind, he makes a quick barricade of carts, trolleys and other medical equipment between him and Song Yi and the forming crowd of onlookers.
Min Joon’s only concern in Song Yi’s well-being, and his urgent, panicked focus is on her and her alone.
The moment Song Yi comes to, Min Joon is visibly relieved, and his entire body finally relaxes.
When Song Yi asks to be taken away to somewhere peaceful where there isn’t anyone else, Min Joon quietly agrees. Gathering her up in his arms, he poofs them out of there, right in front of the flashing cameras.
And he takes her to the farthest, most remote place he can think of.
Woah. Right??
Considering how strict Min Joon has been with himself for the last 400 years about laying low, keeping a low profile and not getting involved, this is HUGE. It’s literally that he can’t think straight when Song Yi’s safety is hanging in the balance. That there’s no longer any point keeping up the facade to protect himself, if Song Yi is not safe.
It’s heart-in-throat moving, to realize that Min Joon literally loves Song Yi more than he cares about himself.
Gulp. And tears.
It’s In His Desires & Dreams:
Before falling in love with Song Yi, Min Joon had never allowed himself to have any kind of dream, other than the one which involved him leaving earth and returning to his home planet.
After he falls in love with Song Yi, however, Min Joon begins to dream, in spite of himself. And the nature of his dreams, together with the longing attached to them, tell us eloquently of his deep love for Song Yi.
In episode 11, as they sit together by the lake, Min Joon asks Lawyer Jang, with a wistful look in his eyes, “What does it feel like to… Grow old together?” He pauses. “I want to… grow old together.”
Augh. This is where my heart began to break for Min Joon. He must feel so trapped. He loves Song Yi. And wants to grow old with her. But he can’t. Tears.
Soon after, in episode 12, as Min Joon lies unconscious after being hit by the car sent by Jae Kyung, he dreams a heartwrenchingly sweet and simple dream.
It’s of everyday little things with Song Yi. Sharing food, bickering, playing in the snow, snuggling in bed.
Min Joon’s dream is so simple, so lovely and so heartbreaking in one. It shows him happy and in love. It shows where his heart is. It shows us the joy he perceives in the mundane. So simple, yet, for him, so unattainable.
I watched this scene with smiles and with tears. It was so good to have a glimpse of happy Min Joon. But it was so sad to know that in his mind, at this point, these were all things that were completely out of his reach.
After Min Joon wakes up from his dream, he finally articulates to Lawyer Jang his desire to stay.
At Lawyer Jang’s urging to consider his relationship with Song Yi as one that had never begun, Min Joon answers with tears falling freely, “Why must I do that? I have under two months left to see that woman. I like her. I care for her… I’m fine with two months, or one month - I just want to be together. If I can’t leave… if, as you say, I will die here… if I can only remain sleeping in that happy dream, I want to do that. Is that truly impossible? Can I not do that?”
Oof. Min Joon would rather stay and be with Song Yi and die, than be apart from her and unhappy. It’s heartbreaking and swoon-worthy all in one.
And then at the end of the episode, we have That Epilogue, where Min Joon faces the camera and says, “You ask how I feel with my departure approaching? Well…” And then his controlled expression morphs into one of deep grief, and he can’t hold back the sobs.
Oof. And oof again. The pain that Min Joon feels must be so deep and so raw and so near the surface that his impassive expression morphs into one of profound grief within seconds. (On a side note, mad props to Kim Soo Hyun, who’s proven once again that he really is a talented actor.)
That Min Joon, who’s only ever looked toward the moment of finally leaving the planet after 400 years, can now only sob in grief at that same thought of leaving, speaks volumes; of his love for Song Yi, of his longing to stay with her, and of his desire to live the way humans live.
I love that in discovering his love for Song Yi, Min Joon also discovers – or rather, rediscovers – the heart that he’s buried deep within himself for so long.
Oh, and lest you think that I forgot Kim Soo Hyun’s very memorable shower scene, here you go:
Mmmm.
You’re welcome.
[END SPOILER]
You From Another Star OST – My Destiny
Jeon Ji Hyun as Cheon Song Yi
I freaking loved Jeon Ji Hyun as Cheon Song Yi, seriously.
And one of the big reasons I loved Jeon Ji Hyun in the role is coz she plays Song Yi with a wonderfully gung-ho lack of vanity. Given that Jeon Ji Hyun spent much of her career being typecast as the pretty girl who might not be so fantastic at the acting, I feel that she took this role and turned it to gold. Gold, I say. Not only does she make Song Yi funny, vulnerable and relatable, Jeon Ji Hyun demonstrates that she’s very good at the acting too, thankyouverymuch.
One of the most refreshing things I found about Jeon Ji Hyun in this role, is how she never hesitates to look less than glamorous for the camera. Whether it’s literally, like this:
Or more figuratively, in terms of Song Yi’s more embarrassing character ticks, Jeon Ji Hyun doesn’t show a iota of hesitation about looking silly for the camera. Gotta love a girl who’s not so hung up about her looks and reputation that she can’t laugh at herself.
At the same time, Jeon Ji Hyun imbues Song Yi with a lovely fragility that makes it hard not to like her.
Special mention too, goes to Jeon Ji Hyun’s crying scenes. I never felt like she was actually even trying to cry. It was always more like I just happened to see her in a vulnerable moment, where the tears happened to spill over.
In fact, that’s true of all of the scenes where Song Yi cries. It always feels like someone poked a needle into her or something, and the tears, as a matter of course, just leaked out. The tears always appear to be incidental, never like they are the point of the scene. I really appreciated that.
I just love that Jeon Ji Hyun makes Song Yi feel so very real, and makes the character come to life.
[SPOILER ALERT]
Credit goes to the writing and to Jeon Ji Hyun’s delivery for making Song Yi feel so real and so relatable as a character. She’s extremely flawed, has a huge ego, and a diva attitude to go with it. At the same time, she’s got a lot of likable traits, and as I got to know Song Yi as a character better over the course of the show, I couldn’t help but like her more and more.
In this section, I list a couple of things that make Song Yi so awesome.
She’s entertaining
Right away in episode 1, we get a sense of Song Yi’s tendency for epic slip-ups of the bimbo variety. She’s the kind of celeb who tweets or says stuff to look cool and puts her foot in her mouth while she’s at it.
Like how, in episode 1, she orders a mocha latte, takes a selfie, then tweets, “Sweet mocha latte is the best in a tiring afternoon. Now I know why Sir Moon Ik Jum smuggled mocha seeds into Korea. Thank you Sir Moon Ik Jum.” Mocha seeds?!? Tee hee.
Or the time on live TV that, intending to say propolis, she credits propofol instead, for keeping her skin young and fresh. HAHA. Her management collectively face-palming and wanting to tear their hair out over her faux pas just makes it even funnier.
Besides the bimbo angle, Song Yi’s also full of physical gags, and Jeon Ji Hyun embraces the physical comedy with admirable gusto.
Like the time in episode 3 where Song Yi is in serious pain and stops to pretty herself up – or tries to, anyway – in order to keep up her hospital fashion:
Or the time that Se Mi arrives to talk with Min Joon in his apartment, and Song Yi desperately and ridiculously clings to the wall to try to eavesdrop on the conversation:
Or the time Song Yi first connects the dots that she will eventually look older than Min Joon, given their different aging cycles, and tries all manner of crazy stuff to try to preserve her youth:
Jeon Ji Hyun is gung-ho about embracing the funny, and I dig it very much.
She’s gutsy – yet vulnerable
Another great thing about Song Yi is how gutsy she is. Song Yi lives in the cut-throat world of entertainment, and beneath the glittery surface, things can get pretty harsh and cruel. To that world, Song Yi shows her confident, tough, sassy side, and refuses to crumble, even when she’s not so sure of herself on the inside.
We see this tough-cookie side of her in episode 2, when rival actress Han Yoo Ra (Yoo In Young) confronts Song Yi and accuses her of stealing a documentary from her because of an inferiority complex.
Without missing a beat, Song Yi replies smoothly, “No, that’s something I could feel only when I’m actually inferior to you. I may be ignorant, but I know that much. What I feel towards you is… Superiority.” Ooh, touché.
Song Yi has a ready come-back for every accusation or insult that Yoo Ra throws at her, and it’s pretty impressive.
Like when Yoo Ra spits out, “Whenever people get together, they criticize your dramas.” Song Yi doesn’t bat an eyelash, and comes back with this zinger, “Right? How come people always talk about me when they get together? Is that the only thing they’ve got? It’s okay whether they are compliments or criticisms. It’s better than being in a drama with only a 4% rating… And no one knowing who started and ended the series.” Ouch. And again, touché.
Besides showing us Song Yi’s ability to think quickly on her feet and give as good as she gets, her gutsy side also speaks of her innate strength.
In episode 7, when Se Mi admits that she’s never once thought of Song Yi as a friend, it’s a huge blow to Song Yi, whose eyes fill with tears as the realization sinks in.
But Song Yi doesn’t crumble. Instead, she looks Se Mi right in the eye and delivers this parting shot, “When I hit bottom this time, there were a lot of times I felt like the pits. But there’s one good thing about it. It filters out people. Who is really on my side, and who disguised themselves as being on my side. When life tests us, I wonder if it’s God giving us the chance to filter out the real from the fake.”
I felt that that said a lot about Song Yi’s inner strength. Yes, she’s reeling and hurting from the realization that the person whom she’d regarded as a close friend all these years just admitted that it was all an act. But in the midst of that vulnerable fragility, Song Yi musters up an inner strength that allows her to hold her head high and stand tall in the face of the blow, instead of crumble to the ground.
On a related note, I found that there’s also a very likable, practical streak in Song Yi.
Like in episode 10, where Song Yi pronounces that it doesn’t matter that she’s broke coz money can be made again.
Song Yi’s the kind of girl who’s got her priorities straight. Matters of the heart, relationships, a clear conscience. These are the things that we see Song Yi continually put first, over money, status and reputation. And I love that about her.
For all of Song Yi’s outward bravado and top-star swag, she has regular moments of private pain. Pain that she fights to keep beneath the surface. Pain that she only allows breathing room when she’s in the privacy of her own company. It is Song Yi’s private pain that Jeon Ji Hyun plays with such convincing fragility that makes Song Yi so relatable and sympathetic.
Right away, in episode 1, we get a glimpse of how fiercely Song Yi strives to keep her pain private. To everyone else, Song Yi shrugs off the hurtful comments that netizens have been posting about her, and strains to sing the pain away in the solitude of her own apartment, accompanied only by her hairdryer. Her mode of therapy is not extremely effective, however, and we see the tears threaten to spill over when Min Joon knocks on her door to complain about her disturbing the peace.
In an awesomely ridiculous rant, Song Yi blusters, “So I am stupid and ignorant? Stupid! Brainless! Botox! You’re saying that I got botox in my brain and that it’s wrinkle free! That’s what you’re saying right now! I only ate an apple and half of a cabbage head today and I’m still full. Because people gave me so much crap. But I never imagined that you’d give me even more crap for singing! Can’t I sing for a sec? After all the crap I’ve been through? Where do I relieve my stress? I ate an apple and half of a cabbage head all day!” Taking a deep breath, then gathering all her star dignity together, Song Yi quietly finishes, to Min Joon’s bemusement, “It’s okay. You don’t need to apologize. I don’t feel like talking to you anymore.”
It’s comical diva behavior, and it’s played for laughs. But Song Yi’s tears that threaten to spill over are very, very real.
Shortly afterwards, she cries heartbrokenly into her pillow: “What did I do that was so wrong? Are you guys so perfect then? Are you that smart? You said that I was the prettiest and that I was your favorite. And now you’re talking crap about me. You have no loyalty whatsoever.”
Sniffle. Poor Song Yi.
And also, that’s a meta comment right there, about the cruelty of fandom, which is chillingly true to life.
That sense of fragility lurking just inches from the surface of her fierce, proud outer shell is consistent over the course of the show.
Like in episode 5, where Song Yi is dropped from all her CF contracts. It’s pretty heartbreaking to watch Song Yi tough out the many rejections, repeatedly saying, “I dumped them,” and the more she says it, the less convincing it sounds.
Her tears continually peek to the surface, and Song Yi determinedly rears them in and tamps them down, resolute that the world not have the satisfaction of seeing Cheon Song Yi falter. For all her bravado, though, it’s clear to us that Song Yi is distressed, and her vulnerability is what makes her empathetic.
Jeon Ji Hyun does an amazing job bringing out Song Yi’s vulnerability, and it shines through particularly in how Song Yi loves Min Joon.
In episode 11, once Song Yi realizes she’s in love with Min Joon, the gutsy side of her who wears her heart on her sleeve throws herself into confessing her feelings to him. When Min Joon asks if she tagged along on his fishing trip just to hear his answer to her earlier confession on the balcony in episode 10, she answers matter-of-factly, “No. I just wanted to be with you.” Aw. Gotta love a girl for being so brave and frank when it comes to the boy she likes.
After being firmly and quite cruelly turned down by Min Joon, Song Yi lies sadly in bed thinking about him. There’s something so vulnerable and almost fragile about Song Yi as she broods; something innocent and almost teenager-like, which I love.
Perhaps one of my favorite Song Yi moments in the show – and there are so many, really – is in episode 15, when Min Joon reprises his role of being her manager, despite having rejected Song Yi on the romantic front.
When Min Joon attempts to do manager things like follow Song Yi inside the film set, or wait for her, Song Yi tells him resolutely, “You said you disliked me. Then act like a man who dislikes me.”
I love Song Yi for being strong and keeping Min Joon at arm’s length on the principle of it, even though her emotions are probably all over the place. That’s strength and self-respect right there.
All in all, Song Yi’s private tears and vulnerability makes her outward diva attitude so much easier to accept, coz it helps us see beyond the often prickly, haughty surface to the soft, warm heart on the inside. Song Yi is velvet and steel in one, and I love it.
She cares – about her friends, family – and she doesn’t hold grudges
Despite any and all bickering, Song Yi isn’t the type to hold a grudge, and that’s another one of my favorite things about her.
From the beginning of the show, we see that Yoo Ra is antagonistic towards Song Yi and isn’t below initiating a cat fight, with all her claws unsheathed. There is no hint of warmth nor affection between the two, only a long-standing, prickly frenemy-ship.
Yet, in episode 4, when Min Joon asks about the rumors of Song Yi’s involvement in Yoo Ra’s death, Song Yi speaks without a hint of bitterness.
Tearing up thinking of Yoo Ra’s death, Song Yi muses, as if to herself, “She was only thirty - how did things come to this? I didn’t do anything wrong, but why do I feel so guilty and sorry?”
Song Yi may give as good as she gets, but she clearly has a good heart beneath it all.
I also really like Song Yi’s words to Yoo Ra in an earlier episode, “Does it have to be Jae Kyung?”… “Frankly, you’re not exactly my type but I think you’re the kind of girl that men would want.”
I like that despite their turbulent relationship, Song Yi cares enough to try to dissuade Yoo Ra from a destructive marriage, and even compliments her in the process. That takes a big heart, particularly when you’re speaking to your competitive, prickly frenemy.
Another instance of Song Yi’s big heart in action is in episode 15, where she finally reunites with her father after 12 long years.
When Song Yi wakes up in her hospital bed and finds her father (Uhm Hyo Sup) by her bedside, all she has to say is, “Why did you only come now? I grew up all alone - why did you come so late?”
Her tone is far from accusing, and she sounds more like a little girl being gently reproachful of her father for coming home late and missing her playtime.
Song Yi and her father embrace, and they both cry many pent-up tears.
I love how matter-of-factly and gently Song Yi tells Dad how much she pined for a father all those years, and how simply she forgives him.
No dramatics. No bitterness. Just, done. Love it.
[END SPOILER]
Park Hae Jin as Lee Hwi Kyung
Much as I have an existing affection for Park Hae Jin (he was so adorable in Famous Princesses!), I’m gonna hafta say that I didn’t dig his character much in this show.
Hwi Kyung as a character fell into rather two-dimensional territory for me. In my eyes, he basically just hovered around to complete the necessary rom-com love square. I don’t have issues with Park Hae Jin’s delivery; it’s more the writing that I feel let the character down.
Yes, there was some character movement, in that Hwi Kyung started out in pretty neutral territory, then veered into being dangerously annoying, before recovering and ending the series on a more positive note. Despite that, I neither felt very interested nor invested in Hwi Kyung’s place in our story.
[SPOILER ALERT]
Most of the time, I was annoyed with Hwi Kyung for being That Guy, the guy who just won’t give up and refuses to take No for an answer, even when he knows that the girl that he likes just doesn’t like him back. Yes, that might describe almost every other second lead ever, but somehow, Hwi Kyung’s brand of clingy just did not sit well with me.
In particular, in episode 6, I found Hwi Kyung’s behavior most repulsive. Yes, that’s a strong word. But hey, Song Yi’s just had her world turned upside down and lost just about everything that she’s worked for, and what he has to say to her is, “You may smack me if I say this. But I’m still going to say it. I kind of like your life being difficult. I honestly like what happened to you… Because I can finally do something for you. There’s room for me.”
Argh. I was so bleepin’ mad with Hwi Kyung here. He is such a selfish ass. In the midst of Song Yi’s struggles and difficulties, he can only see so far as to consider his own benefit. “There’s room for me”?? Ugh.
I really, really wanted to slap him in this scene. Really.
Still, for the fact that Hwi Kyung plays a significant role in bringing Evil Baddie Brother Jae Kyung to justice, I eventually relented and was able to mentally park Hwi Kyung once again in neutral territory.
By the end of the show, I didn’t exactly love him, but he wasn’t so hard to tolerate either. That’s at least some kind of progress, right?
[END SPOILER]
Yoo In Na as Se Mi
Similar to how I felt about Hwi Kyung, I didn’t have big love for Se Mi either, even though I really loved Yoo In Na in Queen In-hyun’s Man. Again, I blame the writing, not the delivery.
Like Hwi Kyung, Se Mi felt rather flat as a character to me, and I never really felt very engaged with her character nor her story. She was just there coz they needed someone to be. To complete the love square, to be the best friend, to toe the line between good and evil.
[SPOILER ALERT]
As a character, Se Mi starts the show being somewhat sympathetic, but it doesn’t take long for her character to embrace the dark side and become Annoyingly Clingy. Both things that did not help to endear her to me.
From the passive aggression that we see from Se Mi as early as episode 2, when she “sweetly” and “innocently” lets Yoo Ra know that Song Yi took the documentary special coz she knew Yoo Ra wanted it, we already get an inkling of Se Mi’s less-than-content state, and her disinclination to take it lying down. These remain as vague-ish hints, however, until Song Yi’s fortunes fall. That’s when Se Mi shows the darker stuff that she’s really made of and becomes overtly bitchy by degrees. No likey.
On top of this, Se Mi’s desperate clingy ways with Hwi Kyung are equally if not more frustrating. Yes, you can’t stop your heart from caring, but you most certainly can choose to retain your dignity and not insist on hanging on to a man who doesn’t reciprocate your feelings. I think the most frustrating thing about Se Mi’s one-sided love for Hwi Kyung was the fact that she didn’t confess her feelings for him for years and years, yet reserved the right to feel offended and slighted and act the victim when Hwi Kyung showered Song Yi with his time and attention. That’s really unfair. Also no likey.
In the end, Se Mi’s character gets a fairly quick redemption in her decision to let Hwi Kyung go, and in her reconciliation with Song Yi. Adequately covered, if a touch slap-dash. But it’s telling, isn’t it, that in the final time skip of the show, Se Mi’s character barely makes an appearance, even though several “lesser” secondary characters get significant screen time?
[END SPOILER]
You From Another Star OST – Waltz With Star
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Even though I didn’t enjoy both of our second lead characters, there are a number of side characters that I genuinely enjoyed. They proved to be more fleshed out and interesting than our second leads, even though they were technically smaller roles. Here, I’d like to give them the spotlight for a bit. Well, them and Resident Baddie, whom I didn’t enjoy, but who was too significant a presence in our story to actually ignore.
Kim Chang Wan as Lawyer Jang
I really, really loved Kim Chang Wan as Lawyer Jang. Kim Chang Wan’s brand of affectionate amicable ahjusshi is just perfect to bring Lawyer Jang to wonderful, adorable life.
One of my favorite things about Lawyer Jang is how much affection he has for Min Joon. Even though Min Joon can often be a difficult grumpypants, Lawyer Jang’s attachment to Min Joon is clear as day, and that just makes my day.
[SPOILER ALERT]
A great example of Lawyer Jang’s quiet affection for Min Joon is in episode 5, where he silently watches Min Joon and Song Yi bicker in front of him. He stifles a smile, but he can’t hide the fact that he’s absolutely delighted to see Min Joon actually connecting with someone.
Aw. That’s totally the kind of look in his eyes that a father would have while watching his son. So, so sweet.
Another Lawyer Jang highlight for me is in episode 12, when Lawyer Jang, concerned and worried for Min Joon, earnestly says, “I spent half of my life protecting you. It was the most meaningful thing in my life. Even when I heard that you were leaving… I thought I didn’t have to worry about someone taking care of you even after I’m gone. I thought it was fortunate. But then you kept getting involved in dangerous situations. You got hurt!” … “I took care of your legal affairs. I will also help you with your emotional affairs.”
Sweetness. And tears. Coz Lawyer Jang is speaking in the context of parting ways with Min Joon, and his previous worry that no one would take care of Min Joon upon his own death.
And even though their relationship is officially a business one, Lawyer Jang asserts his self-declared right to help Min Joon even in his personal, emotional matters. Coz that’s how much he cares. Aw.
I heard some rumblings in the dramaverse about how Lawyer Jang seemed to be conveniently fickle, ie, one moment asking Song Yi to stay away, the next encouraging the relationship, then the next, musing that they never should’ve started.
While I acknowledge that Lawyer Jang did seem to change his mind over the course of the show, I’d like to state in his and the writers’ defense, that I still find it believable, coz humans are like that. We sometimes think in the moment, or are ruled by our emotions in the moment, and then change our minds. It’s part of what makes us human after all, right?
Oh, and one more thing about Lawyer Jang. I freaking loved that in episode 17, Lawyer Jang basically admitted that he’d wanted to see Min Joon make objects fly while drunk. HAHA. How cute is he??
[END SPOILER]
Ahn Jae Hyun as Yoon Jae
I thought Ahn Jae Hyun did very well as Song Yi’s younger brother Yoon Jae.
At the beginning of the drama, Yoon Jae is a small, almost throwaway sort of character. He’s reticent and broody and hardly ever says anything much. But as we get deeper into the show, we see Yoon Jae blossom into a more outspoken, faceted and larger character with more screen time.
If my sources are correct, it’s all because Ahn Jae Hyun managed to take a fairly small supporting character and make him intriguing enough that viewers were clamoring for more. Very well done indeed, coz by the later episodes, I found Yoon Jae genuinely endearing, with a nice heaping dose of amusing on the side.
[SPOILER ALERT]
One of the Yoon Jae highlights in the show for me, is in episode 16, when he barges into Min Joon’s apartment uninvited, and sits himself down to have a man-to-man talk.
Putting on his best Big Brother tone, Yoon Jae levels his gaze at Min Joon, “I’m here to ask you as a man. A male to another male. Do you like my sister?”
Min Joon offers, “You want some chocolate milk?” In a blink of an eye, Yoon Jae is completely distracted, asking, wide-eyed, “You have it?”
Then, in between sucking on his chocolate milk like a good boy, Yoon Jae continues, “My sister had a lot of guys after her ever since she was in school. I was always busy taking care of them. But you’re the first one that she liked. I don’t know why, but…” And his eyes widen as they fix on something nearby,”Is this an an astronomical telescope?”
Ha. Pretty soon, Yoon Jae’s addressing Min Joon as Hyung, and taking selfies with the telescope.
Yoon Jae gushes to Min Joon, “I feel like I met my soulmate. I feel really good. My sister has many flaws. She really doesn’t measure up to you. But be good to her. In that sense, I’d like to say something.” … “Can I come over again?” Pfft.
So. Freaking. Cute.
[END SPOILER]
Hong Jin Kyung as Bok Ja
While one of the more minor characters, I did find Bok Ja amusing, and I liked the contrast between Song Yi’s stilted interactions with Se Mi, versus her completely comfortable conversations with Bok Ja.
Even though Song Yi and Bok Ja had lost touch with each other since leaving school, I love that the two of them fall into a comfortable rhythm of conversation very quickly, like there never was a time skip in their friendship.
I loved, too, the running gag that Bok Ja basically keeps falling for every flower boy that crosses her path. I giggled at that, and wondered mildly if that was a dig at us drama fans, since we fall for almost every flower boy that crosses our screens. Heh.
Given the limited screen time she had, I feel that Bok Ja brought more than her fair share of fun to the show.
Shin Sung Rok as Lee Jae Kyung
Oh, Creepy Brother. Who was so creepy.
Shin Sung Rok played Jae Kyung with an OTT oiliness that made him really easy to dislike.
I do think Jae Kyung’s characterization was rather flat, considering that he was a fairly important secondary character. Still, Shin Sung Rok is now indelibly etched in my mind as Creepy Brother, so that’s something?
[SPOILER ALERT]
For pretty much the entire show, Jae Kyung seems to be evil just for the sake of being evil. There’s no real explanation for why he’s the way he is, except for a throwaway line in episode 15, when Min Joon asks Jae Kyung why he kills people.
Jae Kyung replies languidly,”There are many people in the world. But only few are needed. The rest are unnecessary. Like pests. And sometimes, one of those pests gets on my nerves. Then the right thing to do is to eliminate them. Only then we can evolve. That’s not evil. It’s for the common good.”
To which I say, Huh. Doing the world a favor indeed. And that train of thought is not even properly established to help us understand it in a more fleshed out manner either. Whatevs.
Good riddance, Evil Bro.
[END SPOILER]
You From Another Star OST - 안녕 Good bye
RELATIONSHIPS
Aside from the characters themselves, the relationships between them were a big highlight of the show for me. Here, I’d like to give the loving spotlight to my personal top 3 relationships in this show.
Min Joon & Lawyer Jang
As I mentioned above, I really, really loved the friendship between Min Joon and Lawyer Jang. The visual dissonance of seeing the two of them together, with Lawyer Jang respectfully addressing Min Joon as “Teacher” just never gets old. Add on the stuffy-old-man-alien persona that Min Joon adopts much of the time, and that just ups the fun.
More than the fun factor, I love that beneath the respect and structure these two have built into their interactions, there is genuine care, warmth and love.
Aside from our OTP, the friendship between Min Joon and Lawyer Jang is the relationship that moved me the most. To laughter and to tears.
[SPOILER ALERT]
One the giggle-worthy scenes featuring Min Joon and Lawyer Jang is in episode 7, when Min Joon finally buys a cellphone to appease Song Yi.
I love that Lawyer Jang is jealous coz Min Joon never listened to him all the times that Lawyer Jang had asked him to get a cellphone, and now Min Joon’s gotten one, just because of a girl. Hee. Just look at that awesomely peeved expression on Lawyer Jang’s face!
To add to the cute, Lawyer Jang gets huffy coz Min Joon’s got Song Yi saved on speed dial as #1. Even cuter, Lawyer Jang refuses to admit that he’s upset about it. Ha! You boys.
On the other end of the scale, the scene that really gutted me is in episode 20, when Lawyer Jang and Min Joon say their good-byes.
As Lawyer Jang thinks back to how Min Joon saved his life 30 years ago, Lawyer Jang asks haltingly, “Can I hold your hand once?” Min Joon doesn’t protest, and Lawyer Jang slowly and gently grasps Min Joon’s hand in both of his own.
Rubbing Min Joon’s hand tenderly, Lawyer Jang’s voice begins to break as he continues, “I don’t want to send you away. I know it sounds a bit ridiculous. But I feel like a parent sending his child away.”
Lawyer Jang begins to weep quietly as Min Joon’s own eyes glisten with tears. Min Joon begins, “Lawyer Jang,” to which Lawyer Jang manages a quivering, “Yes?”
With his voice steady and gentle, not betraying the tears burgeoning, Min Joon says to his friend, “Someone once told me a long time ago… That you should say your farewells ahead of time. Because when the time really comes… You won’t have time to say your farewell.”
By this time, Lawyer Jang is sobbing openly, and Min Joon’s voice, betraying only the faintest quiver, continues, “Thank you. I will not forget you.”
Lawyer Jang, unable to contain his grief, leans over and sobs into Min Joon’s lap, while Min Joon, his own eyes now wet with tears, places a comforting arm on Lawyer Jang’s shoulders. And they sit quietly like that, not speaking another word, with Lawyer Jang’s deep sobs the only sound breaking the silence.
Oof. How absolutely heartbreaking. The fact that it’s this hard to say goodbye speaks volumes of the depth and magnitude of the love that these friends share.
That Lawyer Jang is Min Joon’s first friend ever, just magnifies the emotional impact of this scene.
All in all, whether they were being silly and petty with each other, or ripping my heart out with the emotional heft of their scenes, I just loved – LUFFED – these two together.
[END SPOILER]
Min Joon & Yoon Jae
I was highly amused by this surprise relationship that came practically out of nowhere.
From being the random boy next door, Yoon Jae becomes to Min Joon the adoring little brother that he never had. Or wanted, heh.
This screenshot above pretty much sums it all up pretty nicely. By the end of the show, Yoon Jae can’t get enough of Min Joon hyung, and Min Joon has to put up with Yoon Jae literally throwing his adoring self on his hyung. It’s hilarious and endearing and so, so good.
[SPOILER ALERT]
My absolutely favorite bromantic moment with these two, is in episode 18. Min Joon gets tipsy after having drinks with Song Yi’s dad, and promptly teleports himself and Yoon Jae back to Song Yi’s apartment, dumping them both haphazardly on the couch, no less:
Yoon Jae’s confusion then gets doubled when Min Joon gets thirsty and levitates a bottle of water to himself with a simple outstretched hand:
Yoon Jae’s confusion is written all over his face as he tries to process what just happened and what it means. Adorably, even without any answers, Yoon Jae gets all protective over Min Joon, and when Song Yi tries to drag Min Joon to his feet, Yoon Jae jumps to his defense, gathering Min Joon up in his arms like he’s the most precious thing in the world.
When Min Joon finally wakes up sober, Yoon Jae shushes Min Joon’s attempts to explain, assuring Min Joon that his secret is safe with him. He has only one request.. And Yoon Jae points his index finger in Min Joon’s direction, ET style. Ha!
Min Joon protests, starting to explain that there’s a misunderstanding, but Yoon Jae pouts and refuses to give in. And so it is, with the ET soundtrack swelling in the background, that Min Joon, wearing the most mortified expression ever, finally relents and obliges, index tippy to index tippy.
HAHAHA!!
OMG I practically cried with laughter during this scene, it’s just so friggin’ hilarious!
At the heart of it, though, I found it really sweet that in response to the discovery of Min Joon’s alienness, Yoon Jae’s gut instinct and natural first response is to protect Min Joon and adore him even more. Which is just so opposite of every. other. response. that Min Joon had ever gotten in the past when he had chosen to reveal himself to others. Aw.
[END SPOILER]
You From Another Star OST – Space Love
Min Joon & Song Yi
I really enjoyed the chemistry that Kim Soo Hyun and Jeon Ji Hyun shared in The Thieves, despite their limited screen time together, and was left wanting more. Much more. YFAS is the answer to my ‘much more’ dreams, coz these two sizzle and spark onscreen, whether they are in each other’s faces glaring daggers, or in each other’s faces making kisses. And as I always say, 16 or more hours of drama (in this case, 21!) > 90 minutes of a movie. Hands down, any day.
To think that Jeon Ji Hyun had turned down the role, and that Kim Soo Hyun then took it upon himself to persuade noona to say yes. Thank you, Kim Soo Hyun sshi, for reaching out to noona, and thank you, Jeon Ji Hyun sshi, for taking a leap of faith and saying yes. I actually find it hard to imagine any other 2 actors inhabiting these roles, so I am really glad that they managed to make this happen.
As characters, both Min Joon and Song Yi are lonely hearts yearning for connection. Min Joon’s loneliness is largely self-imposed, since he resists engaging with people in general. Song Yi, on the other hand, is lonely at the heart of the glitter and glamor that surrounds her. So hungry is she, for human connection, that she would rather risk embarrassing herself on SNS so that she can communicate with fans whose faces she doesn’t even know, than opt to quit tweeting and be mysterious instead. Her reason? “Then who would I talk to?” That’s definitely lonely. And sad.
I found both characters on their own extremely likable and engaging, and by extension, I wanted them both to find each other and therefore fill the lonely void in both of their hearts. It’s true that the storytelling elements around this were a little (or a lot, depending on your perspective) rough around the edges (more on that later), but the satisfaction I got from actually seeing them together was strong enough that I am willing to forgive the missteps.
On top of it all, I really enjoyed the fact that even though this looked like a noona romance to everyone else in their world, that it really wasn’t. In reality, Min Joon was clearly the Oppa in their interactions despite his youthful appearance, and not only because he was approximately 400 years older either. I just loved that protective, take-charge side to Min Joon’s character, as he sought to do right by his girl.
Of course, Min Joon’s grumpypants old-man-alien attempts at stepping outside his comfort zone to woo the girl were also plenty of fodder for laughs and squees, and I loved pretty much every minute of it. I could watch Min Joon for hours on end, grumpily-bashfully fidgeting over how to wow Song Yi with a romantic date. Hee.
[SPOILER ALERT]
There are so, so many OTP moments that I loved in this show, that it’s pretty much impossible to cover them all. Here, I’m picking some of my favorites to revisit.
Swoony / Sexy / Kissy
When we found out in episode 9 that kissing a human makes Min Joon deathly ill, I was a little, well, concerned that this would affect the amount of skinship our OTP would get to have.
Let’s just say that I needn’t have worried. As we know by now, our favorite alien didn’t allow a little thing like sickness to get in the way of bringing on the swoon. Rawr.
Pillow tussle
I loved this moment in episode 5, when a grumpy Min Joon attempts to grab a pillow out from under a blithely oblivious Song Yi, who’s spent the night in his apartment and brought the clueless diva attitude with her.
One thing quickly leads to another as they tussle and scuffle, and soon, Min Joon’s pinning Song Yi down on the couch.
Rawr. Very sexy indeed.
The icing on the cake is their matching shocked expressions when they look up to see Lawyer Jang gaping at them.
Hee. Sexy and funny.
Levitation kiss
One of the swooniest kisses our OTP shares is in episode 15.
Having been accidentally left behind by the entire film crew, Song Yi comes outside to find that only Min Joon is there waiting for her. She’s still smarting from the earlier rejection from Min Joon, however, and challenges him, voice rising, “You said you never once liked me! That you never felt butterflies for me, or worried about me, or pictured a future together! You said I was a stand-in for that girl!”
When Min Joon doesn’t respond, Song Yi resolutely turns to go, but then turns back again to add, “Now I dislike you too. With you acting like this, I dislike you even more. So disappear from my sight – no, from my life. And I hope you can understand how selfish you’re being.” And she turns to go again.
As Min Joon looks at her retreating back, the lights around her start to flicker on. Song Yi stands in puzzlement and wonder, watching the twinkly fairy lights around the entire village come on in waves, coming together to create a dream-like setting.
Song Yi turns around to look questioningly at Min Joon, who simply blinks. And Song Yi finds herself lifting into the air, propelled right into Min Joon’s arms.
Confused, Song Yi asks, “What are you doing?”
Min Joon answers quietly, “It’s the most selfish thing I can do to you.” And he leans in to slowly and gently kiss her.
Swoon.
My thought is, that’s pretty much tops all other grand kisses in kdrama history, right? I mean, who else can put on the lights with just a thought, and then draw his girl through the air towards him so that he can catch her and then kiss her? It’s a tough act to follow, unless you’re some other 400-year-old alien.
Tussle kiss
In episode 20, Min Joon and Song Yi play Go-Stop, and loser gets the forehead flick. Min Joon wins the round, and despite Song Yi’s protests, flicks her a good one. Song Yi huffs, “Why did you hit me so hard? Just watch! I’m going to kiss you really deep. That will knock you out.”
She launches herself at Min Joon, and the two tussle adorably for a bit.
That is, until Min Joon flips her over and gains the upper hand. Instead of forehead flicks or any other playful punishment, though, he leans in and delivers that deep kiss on her.
YUM. And, rawr.
Sweet / Cute
Despite the very grown-up ages of our OTP – Song Yi is 28, and Min Joon is, well, at least 400 years old – there were many sweet and cute moments between them that felt akin to the kind of cute young love that is more common between teenagers. I couldn’t resist the cute, and lapped it all up, ready for seconds.
Here, I pick just one of my favorite cute moments with our OTP.
Testing, testing
In episode 16, Song Yi steps out onto her balcony for some fresh air. On a whim, she quietly calls out in the direction of Min Joon’s empty balcony, “Do Min Joon.”
A moment later, Min Joon comes out onto his balcony and asks, “What?”
Amazed, Song Yi moves towards Min Joon, marveling, “Daebak.”
Min Joon deadpans, “Why did you call me?” and Song Yi, still marveling, explains, “I was testing if you could really hear me.”
“Are you kidding me?” Not amused, Min Joon about-faces and goes back into his apartment.
Left on her own, Song Yi calls out after Min Joon, offering her defense, “Do Min Joon! Do Min Joon! It’s not like that! I didn’t call you to see if you could hear me. I missed you. I called you because I missed you. Huh? I called you because I missed you.”
She gets no response from Min Joon, and Song Yi tsks, “He can’t take it like a man. He’s such a sissy.”
When she turns around, though, Min Joon’s standing right there, still unamused.
Stunned, Song Yi babbles, “Oh my God! How did you? I can’t get used to this.”
Min Joon doesn’t answer her, but grabs her cheeks. “A sissy?” Song Yi protests, “No, I was just saying. Hey! Let go! Let go!” And they circle round and round, with Song Yi flailing ineffectually, trying to grab Min Joon’s cheeks too.
Tee hee. So. Much. Cute.
Spasm of Cute
For those of you hungry for more OTP cuteness, here’s a sampling of adorable for ya:
Sweetness. ❤
You From Another Star OST - 너의 모든 순간
Heart-in-your-throat Moving
With the epic, intergalactic scale of our OTP’s relationship obstacles, it’s little wonder that they share many moving moments, particularly as the inevitable looms. I often found myself moved to tears, not only by the love that they have for each other, but also by how deep that love runs, and the sacrifices they willingly make, one for the other.
Can we do it in a month
In episode 16, after an evening where Min Joon uses his powers to make Song Yi’s day particularly enjoyable by helping her win at Go-Stop, the two sit together and chat. As Song Yi snuggles into Min Joon’s shoulder, she starts to muse over what she’d like to do for their couple milestones, like their 100th day, their 1 year anniversary, their 1000th day.
Min Joon asks Song Yi what she’d like to do, and Song Yi rattles the items off, one by one: couple rings and couple Ts, eating at the restaurant at Namsam Tower, leaving a love lock there, eating ice-cream, an anniversary trip.. The list is long.
As Min Joon listens, the tears start to gather in his eyes. He finally turns to Song Yi and says quietly, “Cheon Song Yi, the things you want to do… Let’s do them ahead of time.” … “Let’s do them all within a month.”
Song Yi, confused and worried, starts to ask, “Why? Why in a month?”
Min Joon chokes out haltingly, “I… I am leaving.” With growing concern, Song Yi asks, “What are you talking about? Leave for where? Where are you going?”
Finally, Min Joon answers brokenly, with the tears finally starting to spill over, “Back to where I came from. In a month… I’m leaving to go back to where I came from.” And his tears fall.
Oof. The emotional heft in this scene pretty much took my breath away. Just the way the emotion builds up in Min Joon, as he prepares to tell Song Yi that he has to leave, leaking out as a glimmer of a tear in his eyes, and finally spilling out as his voice breaks with grief as he finally breaks the news.
I felt, in that moment, just how much Min Joon didn’t want to leave, and by extension, just how much Song Yi means to him. That he was helpless to do anything about it, that he couldn’t do anything to protect her and not let her hurt, and how much that hurt him. Just, tears.
I’m not leaving, it’s OK
In episode 17, our OTP spend some alone time in a cabin, just doing couply things, like practice Song Yi’s lines, make coffee, & hold hands. Song Yi clings to Min Joon more than ever, but laughs it off as her strategy to get tired of him faster.
But when she later can’t find Min Joon inside or around the cabin, Song Yi loses it and starts screaming for him frantically.
When Min Joon reappears, asking, “Why are you calling for me?” Song Yi clings to him, and babbles, “You scared me. I thought you left…”
Song Yi continues earnestly, “I have a feeling that you will just go away. What I’m saying is… You can go. But I was afraid that you would leave without saying good bye. I know I’m rational and clean-cut. But if you leave without saying good bye…”
And Min Joon interjects firmly, with this look of resolute assurance in his eyes, “I won’t leave. I’m not leaving you. I’m going to stay.”
OMG. Swoon.
Song Yi searches his face, “What do you mean?” And Min Joon continues in that same assured tone, “I’m saying I’m not leaving. Not in a month, or two months later. So… Don’t be anxious.”
Tearfully, Song Yi asks again, “Is it okay for you to not go?”
For just one second, Min Joon averts his gaze, as he thinks back to his strong inkling that if he doesn’t return this time, that he will die.
But then he turns his eyes back to Song Yi and tells her, “It’s fine.”
Still concerned, and still searching, unable to really believe this, Song Yi ventures, “Is it really okay?” And Min Joon gives her the most assuring look ever, and nods.
OMG swoonswoonswoon.
And then he embraces her, still wearing that look of satisfied, contented resolve.
Oof. I swoon. SO. SO. MUCH.
I am so blown away by how much Min Joon loves her. That he would willingly lay down his very life, if it means that she can have peace of mind. Just, augh. My insides basically imploded from the force and potency of Min Joon’s love.
What I mean is, Go
In episode 19, after days of creating and storing up shared memories, Song Yi snuggles up to Min Joon and asks that he sing her a song, one that will remind her of him for a long, long time.
Min Joon dutifully sings, then turns to Song Yi and gets down on one knee with a ring box in his hand, “Cheon Song Yi. Although I can’t say all the words you would like to hear it’s true that I want to be a part of the future you dream of.”
Song Yi’s eyes fill with tears, “Put it on for me.”
He does so, and Song Yi tearfully muses with a note of finality, “I’m perfectly happy.”
Gazing at Min Joon through her tears, Song Yi begins, “Do Min Joon.” Min Joon answers, smiling, “Yes, Cheon Song Yi?”
“Do Min Joon, whom I love,” Song Yi breathes his name. Amused at her dramatics, Min Joon teases, “What?”
Swallowing her tears, Song Yi finally speaks her heart, “My beloved Do Min Joon. It’s time for us to wake up from this dream. For my sake, exist somewhere. For me, don’t die. Exist somewhere. What I’m saying is, go. To where you were. Back to where you came from. You said that you needed to go back. You said that you would die. You said that it’s already hard. So go.”
Min Joon listens, stunned, tears welling up in his eyes. He starts to protest, “Cheon Song Yi… I already made up my mind. I’m going to stay with you.”
But Song Yi interjects, “And I made mine. If you stay with me and die, then I’ll die with you. Do you know what I mean? I like you much more than you think. The fact that you’re alive somewhere… will help me live. It’s much easier way to know that you are alive somewhere in this world.”
Augh. So, so moving.
I had tears in my eyes watching, with both of them feeling so much in the moment. And this, even though I knew this moment had to be coming. Kudos to the writers, and to both Kim Soo Hyun and Jeon Ji Hyun, for making this moment play out in such a completely moving fashion.
How it ends: The Pain, The Swoon & The Warmth
In the end, how things pan out for our OTP is marked first by pain. And it’s pretty heartwrenching, gutting pain too. Oof. Happily, though, that pain eventually gives way to some serious swoon, before settling into some lovely warmth.
To celebrate this lovely OTP, I’d like to revisit each of those stages in their journey to togetherness.
The Pain
In episode 21, Song Yi and Min Joon stand on the balcony together and look up at the stars. The comet is approaching, and everyone is out in full force to enjoy the sight.
Song Yi suggests that they wish on a star, and after some mild initial protests, Min Joon acquiesces.
As the much anticipated spaceship enters the atmosphere, Min Joon feels it in his body, and when he looks up, he realizes that his hands are fading out.
As his hands fade back in, Min Joon reaches a hand towards Song Yi, wanting to touch her, but stops, sadness coloring his face. Instead, he turns back to facing the world below him, and, with tears welling up in his eyes, haltingly begins his farewell words to her.
“Cheon Song Yi. My dear Cheon Song Yi. Don’t wear clothes that show off your skin when it’s cold. You’re prettier when you cover up more.”
Tears begin to fall from Song Yi’s eyes, but she doesn’t look up. Min Joon’s voice steadies somewhat, as he continues, “Like I said, no kiss scenes or back-hug scenes. No passionate melodramas. Don’t get sick. And don’t read haters’ comments. Don’t sing and cry alone. Don’t eat alone. Don’t get drunk and go into random houses.”
Song Yi’s tears continue to fall, and she turns away from Min Joon. Min Joon swallows back tears and presses on, “And don’t look at the sky at night and wonder… if it’s this star or that star. You can’t see it from here. But… I’m going to see you every day.”
Min Joon swallows hard and clenches his jaw to keep his lips from trembling too much. “From there. I will watch this place every day, where you live. And I will try to come back every day. I will find a way to stay with you for a long time no matter what. I will do that.”
Min Joon’s voice breaks as the tears finally fall, “But… If… If I… If I can’t make it back…” Min Joon pauses, unable to bring himself to actually say the words. But he finally chokes out, “Then forget everything. Everything.”
Song Yi starts to protest that she could never forget, that she isn’t a fool, but she gets no answer from Min Joon, and when she turns around, he’s gone. She dissolves into sobs, and begs Min Joon to stop kidding around and to come out.
And elsewhere, Min Joon’s entire body fades out and disappears.
Gulp. Sadness and tears.
So much pain on both their parts, in this one moment. Min Joon’s helpless sorrow at leaving Song Yi behind, and Song Yi’s desperate heartbreak at Min Joon’s departure.
The Swoon
3 years later, Song Yi looks radiant in a bare-backed white gown as she walks the red carpet for an awards ceremony.
As the cameras click and flash away, suddenly time freezes. Song Yi doesn’t freeze, though, and in the midst of the crowd, Song Yi is stunned to see him: Do Min Joon.
Not taking her eyes off him for a second, Song Yi begins to move towards him, as he makes his way, assuredly and unhurriedly, towards her.
Min Joon takes off his overcoat and places it gently on Song Yi’s shoulders, then reproaches her mildly, “I told you not to go out with so much skin showing.”
Song Yi doesn’t answer, but reaches up to touch his face, hands trembling and tears threatening to spill over.
Song Yi gasps a little, to realize that the man she sees before her is real. Voice catching in her throat, Song Yi whispers, “Do Min Joon?”
Min Joon wipes away a tear from her eye, “Yes, it’s me.”
Song Yi is still in shock, and Min Joon gently repeats, “It’s me.” Song Yi collapses into him in a hungry embrace, and Min Joon pauses a moment before saying, “I’m sorry. I took too long, didn’t I?”
And Min Joon leans in to kiss her; fully, slowly, & thoroughly.
OMG Swoooonn.
How breathtakingly epic. And so, so melt-worthy.
It’s too bad that Min Joon’s visit was abruptly truncated, and Song Yi was left with only his overcoat on her shoulders and the memory of his lips on hers.
The Warmth
As our show winds to its end, we find out that Min Joon has now found a new way of coming to Earth, via wormhole, and his attempts have had increasing success. Even though he’s unable to stay for good, his visits have been growing longer and longer, and in the current time, he’s able to stay for a year and two months.
We see our OTP share quiet cozy moments together, just enjoying each other’s company.
At some point, Min Joon disappears again, but this time, Song Yi is calm, knowing that he will eventually make his way back again.
Song Yi addresses us, “Is disappearing without a heads-up difficult to bear with? Of course it is. But it also makes me love him more. Because every moment that we’re together could be our last. And that makes every moment precious.”
We see Song Yi sleep alone at night, and wake to find Min Joon next to her in the morning, looking right at her.
She smiles, and he says, “I’m home.” And she snuggles into his embrace.
Augh. So, so good.
I’m moved to tears all over again, it’s so breathtakingly good to hear Min Joon say those words, “I’m home.” Absolutely, a sweet sound for sore ears.
Afterthought
After all is said and done, it’s true that we don’t actually know what’s going to happen to Min Joon after Song Yi’s lived out her lifetime. Does she get reincarnated again like the show hinted at in the beginning? There are no answers, only a positive hope for the immediate future. And maybe that’s the point. Live for the now.
It brings to mind the moving words that Song Yi says to Min Joon in episode 19:
“Even though I’m anxious that you’ll disappear right away, and even though I’d sell my soul for the time we could be together, if only we could stop time forever… and even though sometimes these feelings are too hard for me and I might wish I hadn’t met you… still, even if I could turn time back, I would meet you again, and I would bicker with you, and I would fall for you, and I would love you.”
[END SPOILER]
You From Another Star OST – Missing You
STORYTELLING, PACING
I actually really enjoyed the pacing of YFAS. Right away, from episode 1, the show felt engaging and fun, yet had a distinct thoughtfulness about it, which I really liked. Underneath it all, the story was driven more by heart than by logic. Which, I realize, is this show’s strength as well as its downfall. Strength, because this show really did have me by the heart. And downfall, because, well, not everything made sense, y’know?
The nicest thing I can say overall, about the storytelling in this drama, is that it felt organic, like the story was evolving in an organic way. To the point of not feeling entirely consistent, unfortunately.
Here, I do a quick run-down of what I liked about the storytelling in this drama, and some of the accompanying problems and plot holes.
[SPOILER ALERT]
What I liked:
The show’s got a great way of balancing the different timelines. We often start &/or end an episode with a peek at Joseon-era Min Joon, before segueing back to where we left off in the previous episode. This way, we get to see the past and present unfold at the same time, without having to sit through a chunk of past in order to enjoy and appreciate the story in the present, as we have to do in so many other dramas. (Childhood episodes, anyone?)
There’s a fun play with chronology that is consistent through the episodes. Many episodes lead us to believe that events unfolded a particular way, usually from Song Yi’s point of view, only to jump back in time either in an epilogue or in a following episode, to show the full scenario, including Min Joon’s point of view. Although this device did seem to be used a little heavy-handedly, the show used it effectively to manage what we knew as an audience, and I thought it was pretty neat.
The writers worked in great little spots of meta, cameos and even spoofs. Like the Heirs parody in episode 5, which was hi-la-rious! And I love that they brought back Kim Soo Hyun’s MoonSun sidekick Jung Eun Pyo not once but TWICE, in a running gag where he’s a descendant of a long line of real estate agents. Love!
The stakes ramp up quickly and by episode 5, we have OTP feelings solidifying and related complications setting in. It’s engaging stuff, and Show got me more and more by the heart from that point onwards. By episode 12, I felt like I could hardly breathe, Show had me so good by the heart.
Noble idiocy is kept to a minimum in our story, in that Min Joon rejects Song Yi for her own good. But the honesty and openness with which our OTP then deal with the impending separation is dignified and matter-of-fact, even amid the tears. This was very refreshing indeed.
Problems & Plot Holes:
The reincarnation arc, which was the hook at the beginning, got completely dropped by the end. While there are hints that Song Yi is the reincarnation of the Joseon-era Yi Hwa (instinctive tears in her eyes when she sees the hairpin), there isn’t any firm conclusion on that. I would’ve liked to see the show draw some kind of conclusion on that, instead of simply shifting focus and not coming back to it.
Now that I think about it, Min Joon didn’t actually get to choose whether to go back. When it was time, he disappeared. But I suppose one could argue that he didn’t know that prior either.
There were a number of plot-holes. Like how did Yoo Ra have that USB recording of her conversation with Jae Kyung’s ex-wife? How would she even meet her, if the ex-wife’s very existence in the hospital is guarded so fiercely?
Min Joon’s premonitions. Are they actually random? Coz he has premonitions about Yi Hwa, then about Song Yi, then about himself. Is there a link? And why does Min Joon allow the car to hit him, if he knows that it’s coming? With his superpowers, it should have been easy for him to avoid the oncoming vehicle. Does it mean that his powers cannot be used during events shown in his premonitions? The writers are never clear about this, and it feels like a loose end.
Does Min Joon get a personality transplant in episode 18? It’s so out of character for Min Joon to use his powers recklessly coz of a jerk who’s giving Song Yi’s dad a hard time. And so out of character for him to drink and allow himself to get drunk as well, even if the drink is offered by Song Yi’s dad. It felt like something conveniently shoved in to make possible other plot points in our story, but it honestly didn’t ring true to Min Joon’s personality.
The evidence, which was the voice pen in the pawnshop. That had been there for ages, likely longer than the pawn’s contractual period. In which case, wouldn’t it have been very possible for someone else to have purchased the voice pen from the pawnshop instead? That.. just didn’t seem like a very safe place to put it, is all I’m sayin’.
[END SPOILER]
THE EPISODE EPILOGUES
OMG I loved – like, really, really LOVED! – the epilogues at the end of each episode.
A friend of mine actually watched the entire drama without realizing there were episode epilogues (I know, how about that, right??), and yet still managed to enjoy the show.
For me, though, these epilogues were often the highlight of the entire episode. Sometimes they were side-splittingly funny. Often, they were illuminating. And they always, always made the episode feel truly complete.
[SPOILER ALERT]
Here, I list just a couple of my favorite epilogue bits.
E1. I LOVE the comic short at the end, about Min Joon having served 49 years in the armed forces out of the 400 years he’s lived on earth. HAHA. I never saw that one coming, and it made me giggle for a good long while.
E11. Min Joon freezes time and takes Song Yi’s hand and kisses her, despite having earlier turned her away. And he kisses her knowing full well what kissing her does to him. Ow. My heart. This epilogue made me yearn on Min Joon’s behalf.
E13. Song Yi screams repeatedly on the mountain top for Min Joon, and we finally see that Min Joon does actually show up on the mountain. He spies her from behind a corner, determines that she’s alright, then grumps that Song Yi gave him a fright with all her fake screams. So cute.
E15. Min Joon meets Song Yi’s dad in the elevator and tells him that Song Yi misses Dad a lot and that she’d really like it if he was there when she woke up. Plus, Min Joon’s confession to Dad that he likes Song Yi. Awww.
E18. All the things Min Joon really did, in an attempt at a romantic date. Balloons, flowers, posters, and a ring. The whole works. Which Song Yi never got to see. Oof. The epilogue gets me, almost every time. Min Joon’s backstory – the REAL story – gets told, and it breaks my heart while making it overflow at the same time. Guh.
E20. Song Yi’s goofy proposal video, and Min Joon’s laughing-crying response. I freaking love Song Yi’s proposal video. And this epilogue totally made me cry. She wants him to smile remembering her. And even though it hurts like crazy to send him away, she does it with a smile, for his sake. Tears.
[END SPOILER]
FINAL THOUGHTS
In the end, despite its flaws, YFAS raises some thought-provoking themes: What does it mean to be human? And what matters more; how long you live, or how you live?
Not everyone loved the ending of this show. Some called the resolution overly convenient. But warts and all, I loved the ending. Sure, there are things glossed over / left unexplained, but it feels emotionally satisfying, and things are tied up more than they are untied, so I’m happy.
More than that, the ending leaves my heart full. Min Joon and Song Yi don’t have all the answers to what lies ahead, but they’re living each moment bravely, wearing their hearts on their sleeves. Not depending on any guarantees.
The final message that this show leaves me with is not only: Savor and treasure the special moments. But also: live life being ready for those special moments.
And that’s not a bad lesson at all.
THE FINAL VERDICT:
Romantic, heartwarming and cracktastic. Definitely recommend.
VISUAL TREATS:
For those who haven’t seen the show, here are a couple of spoiler-free teasers that will give you a flavor of the show.
For those who’ve seen the show, or for those who don’t mind spoilers, here are a couple of the official MVs for the OST. Interspersed with dialogue and voice-overs, these are a great way to relive the show a little.
Fresh, fun and earnest, and backed by a breezy soundtrack that’s easy on the ears, Dream High ranks as one of my all-time favorite music-centric, high school dramas. Heck, it’s one of my favorite dramas, period.
Despite its youth-y premise, Dream High has a pretty universal appeal, with its emphasis on friendship, loyalty and finding & pursuing your dreams. What the idol-heavy cast lacks in finesse, they more than make up for with earnestness. And then there’s Kim Soo Hyun, Uhm Ki Joon and Lee Yoon Ji in the main cast, lending acting cred and nuance to the overall package.
The drama takes an episode or two to get into its groove but once it does, it’s cracky, delicious goodness.
Dream High OST - 드림하이
THE LONG VERDICT:
Fairly fresh from my watch and review of You From Another Star, I was on the market for something fun and light, preferably in the comfort food sort of vein, and Dream High felt like a nice fit.
It’d been a while since my last watch (which had been my 2nd, by the way); and I thought it’d be interesting to see how I’d take to the show now that I’ve accumulated a lot more kdrama miles under my belt, and also, now that I’ve got new Kim Soo Hyun-appreciating eyes. Heh.
I watched episode 1 last night – well, re-watched, since this is watch #3 now – and found it rather nostalgic. Seeing familiar characters again and hearing the breezy OST again felt easy and comfortable, even though I thought the show felt a touch dated compared to dramaland’s newer offerings. I’m pretty sure that was just my clued-in k-senses talking.
Most of you who know the origin story of this blog also know that long before the idea to start a blog ever crossed my mind, I used to journal my drama thoughts. I used to be a total lurker in the k-blogosphere, so my journal really was the only outlet I had, for my drama thoughts.
On a whim, I dug out my 2011 journal to see what I had to say about Dream High after my first watch, and lo and behold, I found a mini-review! Reading it, I found it fun getting back inside my pre-blogging, 2011 brain, to see how I perceived and processed drama, and I thought you guys might enjoy a peek too.
So without further ado, I give you Past Me, talking about Dream High, back when I never thought anyone would actually be, well, reading me. I haven’t edited it at all, and only added a couple of screencaps for this post.
Let me know if you guys like visiting with Past Me, and I’ll see if we can’t time travel a little more with some other older dramas ;)
[WITH SPOILERS]
My 2011 thoughts after first watch:
I just zoomed through Dream High, and I really, really like it!
I almost decided against watching it, because I didn’t particularly feel like watching something with such a strong youth theme, after watching several dramas with more grown-up themes. I’m really glad that I decided to watch it anyway, coz in spite of myself, I ended up really liking it, and I might even re-watch it sometime.
The thing that took me by surprise was who got the girl in the end.
I’d confidently placed my bets on Taecyeon, who acted as Jin Guk, and fulfilled every criteria for the male lead, I thought.
He was tall, well-built, good-looking in a totally Song Seung Hun kind of way, had intense eyes, and his character even had that childhood history with the female lead. Plus, he had 2 shirtless scenes when the other guy had none, and even started a relationship with the female lead, who liked him back. Plus, he got to kiss the girl. And we got through the whole of episode 1 without ever meeting the real male lead. Like, seriously, how could they break so many kdrama conventions by letting the other guy get the girl??
I mean, it’s really unheard of for the second lead to get to kiss the girl. Plus, the second lead never gets a shirtless scene unless the lead gets as many or more shirtless scenes.
The fact that this drama broke so many rules really took me by surprise. I really was quite stunned when I found out at the end of episode 14 that she liked the other guy.
I was rather disappointed that Taecyeon didn’t get the girl, coz I think he’s cute. He’s so much like Song Seung Hun, and I realize I really dig that look. That chiseled, high cheek-boned clean-cut look with the intense eyes & strong brows, topped off with a suitably hot bod. Let’s just say that I found him very, very easy to root for. Ahem ;)
Having said that, I have to admit that Kim Soo Hyun who played Song Sam Dong, the guy who got the girl, did an amazing job. He was the only real actor among the main cast, and it showed. His delivery was so full-on, so heartfelt and so realistic, that I totally believed his character every step of the way. I think he would have shone even if he’d been placed in a full-on actor ensemble; he was that good.
I teared when he ran after the bus, thinking that Hye Mi had left for good. I also felt his pain and confusion when he realized that his hearing was damaged forever. I teared too, when they showed him crying with Hye Mi, not wanting to leave her to pursue his dream in the US.
He was heartbreakingly good in all the intense scenes, which is precisely where all the others just paled in comparison. He really did anchor the show in the dramatic department, and considering that he had to learn to dance and sing alongside actual professional idols, he really held his own very well.
The only time he seemed uncomfortable singing & dancing was during the special concert that was aired after the last episode, and that doesn’t quite count, in my books.
I also really liked IU, who played Kim Pil Suk. She has a sweet, husky quality about her that I really like. I thought she acted really well, especially considering that she’s not a professional actor, but a singer.
I totally loved Park Jin Young, who played Teacher Yang. He’s a really well-known respected producer, and the CEO of JYP Entertainment, which manages lots of well-known artists. He actually wrote the script for Dream High, which is pretty amazing to me.
He completely stole many scenes with his comic portrayal, and it really does blow my mind to know who he really is. He rawked in so many ways, and it’s clear that he’s a cool guy in real life, being confident enough to be so self-deprecating in the show. I loved him; he’s a big reason to re-watch Dream High.
Of course, the other big reason is Kim Soo Hyun, coz he’s so good. It’ll be interesting to re-watch this knowing that he’s the male lead.
Plot-wise, the show had good pacing and it never felt like it was getting draggy.
I was glued to it from pretty early on, despite my resolve to do other things. For the past 2 days – or was it 3? – I’ve basically been quite unable to tear myself away and ended up putting everything else on hold while I ate up the show.
A definite thumbs-up from me, despite my initial doubts about it :)
THE FINAL VERDICT:
Fun, engaging and full of heart. Worth a rewatch – or several.
VISUAL TREATS:
For those who haven’t seen the show, here’s a quick teaser:
Here’s an extended, subbed trailer which gives a pretty good flavor for the show while only being mildly spoilery:
This is one of my fave tracks from the OST, with spoilers only from episode 1, and it’s subbed too.
I dunno. Maybe I’ll write one anyway.
