Saturday, December 31, 2011

news: Lee Min Ho and Andy Lau with possible movie collaboration

LEE MIN HO IN TALKS ABOUT APPEARING IN A FILM WITH CHINESE STAR ANDY LAU
Clicky above to read about it.
source:  K-Pop Express


Give me a moment to soak this in...


Yes please!!!


Ahem...

Hottie Lee Min Ho(t) and my ultimate favorite Hong Kong entertainer Andy Lau in a movie together. There is nothing more that needs to be said about this possible collaboration except for: "Please let it be so. Please!!" I would, so, so, SO totally hit up that movie. Yes I would.

Lee Min Ho is our generation's K-drama hottie, no doubt with his outstanding City Hunter presentation and Andy Lau has been generation's worth of hotness, charm, smarm, wonder and everything else I can come up about him. Even in his seasoned years he's still resonating all the good-looking seksiness that I've always loved him for. And you know, of all the older entertainers out there, he was the first one in Hong Kong who made me go gaga over him. And I don't typically go for the older men stars, but ever since I was little... Man, did I love him! That's nearly twenty years of fandom and still going! Great acting, singing... everything...

Oh, please let it be so!


Oh yea. Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to everyone!!

Friday, December 30, 2011

2011 End of Year Reflection -- Part 2



So after reading other end of year reviews from other bloggers who are more familiar with the K-dramaverse, I came to the conclusion that I am really a green newbie in this arena. I'm a whole lot more forgiving about certain drama series than others and I realized that I understand the situation. Where I stand with Hong Kong drama series is the same as where all the veteran K-drama netizens stand with their Korean entertainment -- tired, picky, grumpy, seen that, been there, why isn't there anything more refreshing?, and so on and so forth... It's like there's a want for new blood (or something like that).

HOWEVER, I will not refute the fact that I am a very simple person and that any television viewing experience can easily become entertaining for me. Case in point: I watched Taiwanese Idol drama Brown Sugar Machiatto and actually enjoyed it despite its total lack of a story line or great acting. It was funny, it was cute and it had the element of The Cute and The Pretty. I got out of it what I had expected going into it: A whole LOT of FLUFFY.

I'm not professional enough to determine whether or not Hong Kong drama series are on par with Korean drama series, or if they're better or worse. In my opinion, they are by far NOT as great as the few K-dramas I've watched in the past five months (then again, it could be because of the refreshing new experience I got watching them). I won't a hundred percent say that Korean dramas are worlds better than the stuff that TVB (main HK TV studio) churns out because I HAVE already encountered few series that were somewhat questionable. And as for TVB, it has its moments where a gem is created; this is not a regular thing though. I have in mind a handful of personal favorites from TVB that I loved deeply, but then there is also that ocean of series that really just stunk and survived on loyal viewership. I mean, for the Cantonese speaking population, TVB is really all there is because their competing TV studio doesn't quite make the cut.

And so maybe this is why I've come to my K-drama obsession so quickly -- there are a lot of refreshing plot devices, great actors, beautiful settings, and a whole new culture to experience. The humor is quite different than Hong Kong's humor and, by far, the people are a LOT prettier (men included). TVB has its crop of great actors and actresses (few of which I find attractive, and yes I CAN get superficial), but they are often led astray by crappy story-telling and poor direction. And while I've always loved TVB, I know that they COULD stand on par with K-dramas (the ones what aren't trying too hard to BE K-dramas with their perpetual dramatic cliches or the ones that are more serious than senseless -- yea, lately, TVB has developed a need to try imitating the K-drama trend of angst and makjang, but they don't quite do it right).

Basically what I'm saying is that like the K-drama veterans, I'm a grumpy TVB viewer -- more demanding, less forgiving, extra pissy at the poor quality of recent dramas being produced. I'm not saying that were a K-drama veteran to start watching series from Hong Kong that they would be giddy with excitement, but I'm saying that because of my grumpiness, the fresh new Korean culture has been quite attractive for me, personally.

Nonetheless, I have my few classic favorites that may not be the best series in the world, but they definitely hold memorable places in my heart. This will be left for a later post at a later time wherein I walk down memory lane and recount the various series from Hong Kong which have captured my heart for good (meaning that I would definitely re-watch them again when I'm in the mood and still enjoy them fully). For now, we'll focus on the more significant K-drama obsession at hand and discuss briefly my experiences with K-drama in this year of 2011. First of all, I'll note the few 2011 drama series I've watched for this 'Part 2' of the End of Year Reflection. Because my ramblings have ended up getting rather long, I will follow up with a listing of all the K-dramas (including series from other years) that I've watched and how they rank for me (including the ones from 2011), and then include any other little blurbs about K-drama that might seem significant, for 'Part 3' of my long-winded-ness.

So without further ado on my extremely extended introductions:


2011 Dramas
I will be listing them in order of my viewing of them.


Heartstrings

Following the first Korean drama series I watched in 2011 (You're Beautiful) I followed through quite quickly with Heartstrings (aka You've Fallen For Me). I'm superficial when it comes to romantic comedies or any type of story line based on romance; Park Shin Hye and Jung Yong Hwa were charming in You're Beautiful and left me with that aftertaste for more of them. When I find a particular actor or actress who interests me, I search for other projects said actor or actress may have had in the past or will have in the near future (that's pretty much how I roll sometimes). And so imagine my contentment when I found out that they would be teaming up again in another series, nearly two years after their first collaboration. And better yet, I had just gotten into K-drama in 2011, which, omigod, ended up being the year that their newest series was due to be broadcast. A week or so after I officially finished viewing You're Beautiful, I climbed onto the Heartstrings bandwagon like the rabid fangirl that I am.

I've stated before: Heartstrings is really just a simple love story set in a youthful world of a college campus. It was fun and amusing in its own rights and I thoroughly enjoyed the most of it. Being one of the first K-drama series that I touched, the concept was fun and refreshing for me (because I'd just dropped off of a long line of shoujo manga and the like with bubbly, bumbling idiot female protagonists in every corner). Lee Gyu Won (Park Shin Hye) is a young woman who is anything BUT a bumbling idiot female protagonist; she's got zest, sass, ambition, dreams, and most importantly, she's got the charms of Park Shin Hye. And I loved that she was such a practical, down-to-earth type of young woman as the lead of a romance drama.

By all rights, Heartstrings really is as simple as a simple love story with side dishes of youth drama incorporated. The reason why it was fun was because it was about young people. The reason why it was heartwarming was because it showed a nice love line that made you smile at every and all antics. From Lee Shin (Jung Yong Hwa)'s development from jerk-face to perfect boyfriend to the build-up of our 100th Anniversary University Musical Performance, everything was just simple and fun.

And so it's rather unfortunate that the series ended up finishing on a rather lame note. Could it really have been that the production team was strapped for time after that unfortunate accident? Or was the series already starting to decline in its attractiveness? I don't know if there was really a way to tell. But one thing is for certain, the series really ceased to entice after the love line officially got its main couple to pair up; when Lee Shin confessed that he liked Lee Gyu Won, the story seemed to lose all of its steam after that. What was left was the anticipation of how the musical performance would pan out -- but even that ended up settling on dead weight (because we don't even get to see the entire performance).

Heartstrings is an entertaining series if you enjoy youth romance and lots of good music. For the most part, it didn't quite make it to the ending in a tightly wrapped package with a pretty bow on top. A lot of significant side plots were created and then resolved forcefully because it seemed like time was running out. However, as one of the first series I watched in my K-drama viewing experience, it's actually a rather memorable one.


City Hunter

Action, adventure, romance, revenge, justice, comedy (and angst)... With all of these genres packaged delightfully into an entire series, City Hunter ended up being one of my favorites for this year (and overall of most of the K-dramas I've seen total). Based on a manga of the same title, its only unfortunate downfall was advertising that connection as its selling point; because from what I found out among netizens, the Korean drama series itself was nothing like the beloved manga. I'll never know the difference considering I won't be enticed enough to read the original manga, but from what I ended up experiencing off of City Hunter... I'm not sure I really care.

As a series that starts off with suspense, action and a revenge plot to build its basis, City Hunter easily became so much more. I could go on about City Hunter; in fact I'm sure I did and ended up rambling on for far too long. City Hunter was my first Korean drama love. From the heroic and kickass hot Lee Yoon Sung (Lee Min Ho) to the spunky and fearless Kim Na Na (Park Min Young) along with the underappreciated, but beloved Kim Young Ju (Lee Joon Hyuk), this series boasted a lot of great story telling, direction and pacing, beautiful scenery and zippy camera angles as well as deep characterizations. The basic plot of hunting down five different baddies, one after another was also a really intriguing follow along -- although as I had mentioned in my discussion, I think I would have liked it more if the viewers could see the investigation more on Lee Yoon Sung's side, not knowing who the next target would be until he's revealed so that we could play detective too. Nonetheless, this wasn't just a series where you were intrigued by the suspense in the story line and awed by the action sequences; this was also a series where even the characters become relatable in such a way that you become invested in their plights -- even the supporting characters had background and lives of their own.

On top of all of that, character relations were quite complicated, but at the same time full of juicy detail and delicious excitement. You became attached to the love line, you "aww-ed" at the Yoon Sung/ahjusshi guardian/son relationship, you held your breath at the father-son struggle and intrigue, you grinned giddily at the potential bromance between secret hero and public defender, and then you cried for the hero's inner struggles and horrific revelations. And on the side, you had fun with all the side characters who lent to the growth of our hero. Everything about City Hunter hinged on Lee Yoon Sung's every action and reaction, but all of his actions were based upon his interactions with the rest of the world.

City Hunter is like crack for the K-drama addict's soul. It's not a perfect drama, but it really hits all the marks perfectly when you allow it to suspend you into its world.


Scent of a Woman

I really don't know what I can say about Scent of a Woman. It was a nice journey, to say the least, but in the end, the beauty of the series can easily be replaceable by any other melodrama masked as a rom-com about a dying woman's journey. Did I like Scent of a Woman? Yes. Will I remember it six, maybe seven months from now? I'm not sure the answer will be a positive one. Was there anything memorable at all about Scent of a Woman? Yes. Did I really care for most of them? Not really.

Uhm Ki Joon was a great asset to the series as the socially awkward, yet loving and caring doctor and friend to our heroine, and in fact, he's the only character who actually stood out among the rest. The beautifully shot scenes and the lovely soundtrack might be a factor that can be noted, but I may not be able to successfully detail why. Lee Dong Wook and Kim Sun Ah had great chemistry with all of their passion and breathtaking sensual-ness zeroed in on their tango scenes. As individuals, however, I'm not sure I would really say that they stand out.

Lee Yeon Jae's refreshing take on a dying woman's last few months of activity was actually rather nice, though. Instead of being melancholic, she chose to face her world and make the most of her life. Instead of waiting out her days until death, she chose to live until she died. There has been speculation about some of her actions: 1) Why didn't she just tell her mother about her cancer? It would have been less of an issue if she had just been honest? 2) Why did she choose to fall in love when she knew she was dying? It was unfair to Kang Ji Wook that he had to go through the pain of losing a loved one. Again.

While these thoughts had crossed my mind as well, I can't a hundred percent say that I'm resentful towards Lee Yeon Jae for all of this. For one, how easy is it to tell your own mother that you're dying; especially after she had already had to suffer through a husband with terminal cancer. Lee Yeon Jae's fear should be understandable; not everyone is a self-less noble who knows immediately what would have been the right actions to take. Maybe it would have been better if she'd told her mother earlier; but we don't know that that's a fact.

Secondly, everyone is entitled to live their life in their own flair until the day they die. Does a dying woman not have the right to fall in love? Lee Yeon Jae was acting selfishly, but she was giving herself a chance to be alive for once in her life. I can't completely condemn her for following her heart. Honestly, people were born to die; today I could get hit by a car, tomorrow you could fall off a building or have a heart attack. This is life. Knowing these things, we all still continue to live anyway. What makes anyone else's lives any different from a dying cancer patient's life? One happens to be shorter than the other, but by how much?

It's a controversial subject, I know, so I'll leave it at that.

Scent of a Woman was one of those experiences wherein it's awesome and exciting and touching, all at the same time while you're in that moment. I will agree that the meddling chaebol device was pretty much frustrating and unnecessary. There's no need for more angst when the main female lead is experiencing a natural angst of her own already. Setting all of that aside, the series itself wasn't too bad. But just as soon as the excitement is over... well, it's simply over. That's how Scent of a Woman felt to me: it came and went and now it's just a distant memory that I may or may not recall when in reflection a long time from now.


Warrior Baek Dong Soo

We all know how I felt about Warrior Baek Dong Soo. So let's make this short and simple because its not the prettiest picture I've ever painted (with words). I love action, adventure and martial arts combat. I love a good Chinese wuxia themed series. I love watching the "incompetent fool" to "seasoned hero" progression. And I love the side plots of romance, honor, brothership and justice. This is what Warrior Baek felt like to me as I cruised through each episode, one right after the other. It was an adventure in a world where there is no full out Black and White and where even the publicly acclaimed "evil" side has its own codes of honor and may not necessarily be the straight up "evil" side.

Baek Dong Soo (Ji Chan Wook) was the arrogant, unskilled brat turned great hero. He had a lot of unique, immature, cheeky moments during his younger (?) intervals of the series. It was one of those devices wherein it's only fun because you get to follow the brat as he matures and "levels up" through obstacles of heart, mind and physical training. These are the things that make up a great hero progression story line. And along the way, you get to meet all of his interactions: a love line, a brother-in-arms, an honor code, a master, an alliegance to a leader...

And it was ALL there in Warrior Baek Dong Soo.

But somehow, the progression hit a nice little snag as well as multiple time skips (which I realize were employed to force a new plot twist and a new story arc per each time skip). The obstacles became mere anecdotes that were never elaborated and the side plots for supporting and/or second main character growth hitched on the side of the road. While we continue to follow the protagonist and antagonist pair, the rest of the world started to simmer slowly until everything just boiled away without a trace and we're left with a scorched pan without even understanding why (the fire was turned off too quickly yet everything STILL disappeared).

Warrior Baek Dong Soo ended up a chaotic mess of "we're not sure where this story is taking itself, but we REALLY want to go from A to Z as we skip around some letters, leave others out and then also include some symbols and double digits." It got REALLY messy. Because as the viewer, you KNEW where the story line was leading, but when it never got to its intended location and instead detoured a few times before getting onto the wrong track or just simply falling off a cliff, things just started going terribly wrong.

I enjoyed Warrior Baek Dong Soo if only for the opening scene and the glory of Yoo Seung Ho's Yeo Woon. The bromance wasn't too bad either, but that's a moot point when the ending came into play. The setting was beautiful, shot with gorgeous background scenes accompanied by a score of wonderful music numbers and insert songs. And to be fair, the direction was also done very exceptionally well. It was the story line that pretty much broke it for Warrior Baek: lost story arc conclusions, incomprehensible build up, strange plot twists that lead nowhere... And the romance? Don't even get me started on the pathetic love lines.

The only reason I would ever rewatch this series, I think, would be for the action sequences (which were merely decent, at best), Yeo Woon, and the great Choi Min Soo. Was it memorable? Yea. Unfortunately it was memorable for all the wrong reasons, which doesn't make it a good thing.


Lie to Me

I am hesitant to talk about this series because I may end up ranting off onto an entire ten pages worth of Lie to Me hopes and disappointments. To be brief, as many would point out, it isn't easy to take an overdone cliche and turn it into a refreshingly unique story. The contract relationship has been done to death already, but we still love this device because (like my favorite cross-dressing love) it has potential to spiral into all sorts of amusing fun and delight.

Lie to Me had two great things going for it: Yoon Eun Hye and Kang Ji Hwan. In fact, I considered watching this series only because of Yoon Eun Hye and finally picked it up and sat through it because of Kang Ji Hwan. And so, as I have mentioned time and time again, I really, really, REALLY tried to like this series. I kept giving it more and more chances and I kept making up excuses for it.

Fact was, when all a series has is a premise without a well thought out story line, you end up like all the unfinished rom-com stories I have ever started writing -- you lose sight of where it is you SHOULD be going and come to a road block. But in the case of Lie To Me, we climbed over that road block and tried to force our way through the unfinished construction so that we can get to the other side of the bridge. And so you see only the road leading into the mess and the small strip of concrete on the other end. In the middle, it's just chaotic and unconnected and you wonder why you even bothered to travel this disheartening distance that the workers have no intention of fixing.

And THAT was Lie To Me in all its disappointing glory. On the off chance that such a series had been created for a two-hour movie and had cut out all of that awkward mess of scattered plots in the middle, I think the story would have fared a whole lot better and we would still be able to get out of it the fluff piece with Yoon Eun Hye and Kang Ji Hwan, but with more optimism and more forgiveness. I'm more forgiving when it's a movie with time restraints that creates the excuse of having no time for development of more plot -- Lie To Me could have totally used something like that.


Flower Boy Ramyun Shop

This is the newest drug on the market; it's like crack boiled into the soup base of its ramyun delicacies.

I'm not quite sure that I can completely give justice to the greatness that is Flower Boy Ramyun Shop without taking up five or six separate posts (just like I've been doing for the entire month). There is just so much about this series that makes it such a symbolic, unpredictable, unique piece of work filled with what javabeans likes to call the "Trifecta" of great drama creation: story, direction, and acting.

I've been in awe of the editing, the pacing and the smooth transitions from one mood to another from the first episode onward. There has been over-the-top hilarity which eventually slides into more melancholic mood swings which then throws us for a loop with some heartwarming moments. And never once have I ever felt awkward watching these scenes play out; okay, maybe once, but it wasn't really a big deal and it still worked even if it was only slightly awkward. But for the entirety of Ramyun Shop's greatness, I'm willing to overlook a few flaws here and there.

As for the story and the writing -- I don't remember the last time I've been this satisfied with every direction that a series has been taking since day one. My true love of this series has mostly to do with the fact that, while it employs a lot of common tropes and cliches, it doesn't drag them out into exhaustion. We start up one plot device as a short story arc and then we resolve it within two episodes (or less) and then we move onto another one. And as most would have never believed possible, each little story arc helps to progress the main story line forward as we watch the series' characters grow. On top of that, the attention to the smallest, most trivial details had me so impressed: from Ba Wool and Eun Bi's Coca Cola substituted for soju drinking scene, to that darn Pororo blanket that Daddy Cha ended up becoming jealous about, and also Chi Soo's continued vanity for his physical appearance.

I will admit that the main basis of the story line isn't exactly readily picked up by viewers who don't fall into Ramyun Shop's addictiveness immediately. Is it about a makeshift family banding together to run a little ramyun shop? Is it about a noona-dongsaeng romance? Is it about our spoiled, rich brat's development into a more normal, compassionate human being? Or maybe we're actually following the self-discovery of our main female lead as she learns to accept herself for who she is. Ramyun Shop is all of these items mixed together, I would say, and so, so much more. It might sound like a chaotic mess of a story line, but when it all comes together, everything falls right into place.

What takes the cake for Ramyun Shop is one factor whom I've been doting on since the moment he started becoming a temper tantrum of immature man-child: Cha Chi Soo played by the ever awesome Jung Il Woo. To talk about this guy, both actor AND character could take days because there is just so much love going into my impression of him. But there is no doubt at all that, if City Hunter was the crack that started me in on my K-drama addiction, then Jung Il Woo's Cha Chi Soo will be the supplier who's giving me the means to continue my addiction -- and happily at that. Of all the 2011 series I've seen (which are few) Cha Chi Soo is definitely my pick for favorite character, hands down.

I think the only unfortunate set back about this series (as if there really were a set back) is that in order to love it, you have to be sold on its comically created over-the-top world. Once you've entered it with all the love you have, there is really no turning back.


Me Too, Flower!

There was a quirkiness to Me Too, Flower! that had drawn me into it. It could have been the non-standard character roles of a cheeky and easily tempered heroine, a sardonic and also cheeky hero, or even the asshole of a shrink (also cheeky) who was delightfully likeable at the same time. Maybe it was The Pretty (a Yoon Shi Yoon young'un trying to act like an ahjusshi who's pushing thirty with all of life's experiences and who drunkenly points at little Jo Maru and calls the kid "Baby" when obviously he's the one with the eternally baby-looking face). It could have been the well-written recaps at Dramabeans by orangy911 which allowed me to understand the premise of the series before I even started watching it.

The idea of the female protagonist NOT being a bubbly dimwit, but on top of that having an easily tempered personality and possible mental instability was attractive -- her depression and sense of self-worthlessness is also a nice area to explore since all rom-com female leads have always been the standard bubbly, cheerful type of bunny sunshine optimism. The male protagonist with a dark past is an overdone cliche in a lot of stories I've read, so that part wasn't as intriguing -- however, the willingness of Seo Jae Hee to break down and show his weakness to Bong Sun was a refreshing concept from most recent episodes.

No matter what it was that had me watching Me Too, Flower! doesn't matter anymore. What mattered to me was that I was sold and I was hooked. Of course, I DO admit that the extremely non-standard hot kissing scene (though forced into the story line) did sort of motivate me to start watching the series from beginning to its current status.

To be honest, everything about Me Too, Flower! had been going alright -- in fact, I might be brave enough to say that this series is one of the better ones I've seen in a while. There were a lot of obvious editing issues when certain sequences ended up presenting a bit awkwardly (such as the forced kisses, which were also forced kissing scenes) but they were happily overlooked for the bigger picture. There is a lot to explore concerning the human mentality of emotions, and when your biggest enemy or rival happens to be your own self-conscious, it gets a little more enticing. I mean, who needs actual, physical human love rivals when Cha Bong Sun's own emotional instability starts rearing its ugly head against her chance at a happy love line? Of course, I will admit that I'm very forgiving in my drama series viewing (just like I've been quite forgiving about Seo Jae Hee keeping secrets even though I know that Bong Sun has every right to be upset with him for a long time to come).

The only unfortunate turn out of this series so far, however, is that it's starting to fall into a more standard rom-com progression, utilizing all the frustrating cliches that we love to hate. Noble Idiocy takes a swing, and even though it didn't last long, it still hurt. And now we're seeing the rise of the "evil female love rival" who'd been simmering in creepy possessiveness from Day One of the series and then subjecting one of the more potentially likeable side characters into that resentful chess piece position. We have a "Project: Break-Up the Happy(?) Couple" on the horizon (and I use the term "happy" loosely just because this couple really has more inner demon struggles than even any love rival can supply). Why another standard cliche that will only end badly for everyone involved? And then the other issue of our psychiatrist making the moves on his patient; while I like seeing the main male lead get all worked up and jealous over his girl, I really hope that our lovely Dr. Park will only remain as a good friend and lend an ear rather than try to worm his way into the fluffy romance.

And now finally the all aggrieved BIG MISUNDERSTANDING plot device, which leads into more little misunderstandings, which eventually build into "all the reasons why our main couple cannot be together even though they're hopelessly in love".

Needless to say, I'm getting frustrated, but I still want to see how the rest of the series pans out.

To put it simply: I'm a sucker for fluff. I know that the current angst and frustration is anything BUT fluff, but by golly if the main couple didn't have such crazy, goosebump inducing fluffy romance montages when they were happy together! I haven't been this giddy about a lovey-dovey couple in a LONG time, and at the risk of turning the series into a monotonous dribble of cute, lovey-dovey fluff and nothing else, I am really, really shooting for seeing more of Seo Jae Hee and Cha Bong Sun just amping up the adorable sweetness. In all honesty, this is what's keeping me glued to Me Too, Flower! right now: the rekindling of the love line after a frustrating non-break-up and The Cute factor. Jae Hee and Bong Sun just seem to fall into place together after they could finally admit their feelings for each other; it's only unfortunate that they suffer from a common relationship cancer (of sorts) called "Lack of Communication" thus leading to "Lack of Honesty" which will eventually develop into "Lack of Trust." If only they could climb over that barrier and be The Cute that this couple can manage, then I'd be extremely ecstatic.

What I wouldn't give to have a female lead NOT have the heebie-jeebies whenever her boyfriend gets force-kissed by a persistent home-wrecker. Then again, it wasn't like Jae Hee was trying that hard to resist; I mean, how much of a force is Kim Dal anyway? It also doesn't work in his favor that he's currently 2 for 3 on secrets kept and NOT revealed by himself to his girlfriend -- can't expect a girl to give you trust if you haven't exactly been very convincing.

Looks like this ended up becoming an update on my opinions of this series... Must learn to shorten ramblings in the future. My apologies... With few episodes left for me to watch, I've been struggling about writing more discussion articles to follow along with Me Too, Flower!'s progress.

On a side note, I'm not opposed to getting rid of the string puppeteer, Miss Creepy Possessive Representative, which would solve so many problems, so that our couple can focus on working out their own inner demons (which will probably take another five extra episodes to fight about) to bring the originally quirky and non-standard story line back on track.


Girl K

What can I say about Girl K? It was action-packed, it was dark, it was moody, and it really was just an adrenaline rush of excitement. It was carried by great atmosphere and acting and housed a spectacular break out performance by Han Groo in her first ever role in a drama series. It was everything you could have ever asked for in a story line following a teenage assassin. For all its brief glory, Girl K was an absolutely addictive watch carried from beginning until the end in fast-paced action and the strength of raw emotions.

And to be totally honest, I see Girl K more as a three-part extended movie rather than a three-episode mini-mini-series. Because Girl K reminds me of the action-packed, young girl kicking ass as an assassin movies (none of which I can recall right now). And I think its success is truly the abruptness of its crammed story arcs. And so I disagree with a lot of netizens that Girl K should have been a lot longer in order to elaborate on the little side plots that revealed themselves: the could-have-been cute high school love story, the revenge plot, the high school girl moonlighting as a trained assassin basis...

As it is, it gave you small bits and pieces of temptation and then left it there for you to interpret as you liked it. And it concluded rather nicely without too much dead space filled with unnecessary detail.

Because essentially, Girl K follows, more than anything, the revenge-motivated actions of our teenage assassin; once that's over, there's nothing else left for her. From the moment that she is set on avenging her mother, she has been able to see nothing else and so I'm almost too glad that her revenge was executed early and we give her a chance to rekindle a reason for continuing on with her life in the form of the BIG BADDIE, her biological father. This was a story arc that gave her reason and allowed her to continue on as well as allowing the viewers a hopeful open ended conclusion to Girl K's short three episode run.

There is one thing I DO agree with, however, and that is that it would be nice to see a sequel which would utilize our Girl K and her skills for some other reason. Maybe these three episodes could have been a prelude to a longer running episodic drama series in the near future, setting up Yeon Jin's training and knowledge of the darker aspects of the world, and then catapulting her into a young high school (or college, I guess) student moonlighting as an agent of some form.

I can see that happening and I would jump on that bandwagon pretty quickly.


Protect the Boss

I first picked up this series right after I completed Heartstrings. I watched the first episode and then I dropped it because it didn't quite pull me in. In fact, I never even really finished the entire first episode those few months back. After watching a movie that had Choi Kang Hee, I considered picking up Protect the Boss once more, but that was merely a flitting thought. And then I read about the raving of Kim Jaejoong's break out performance and saw a lot of the hype going around about how Protect the Boss was such a great series. It even got an extension (which doesn't always mean it's a good thing) but which means that the series was so popular that the production staff felt inclined to continue the hype by tacking on three more episodes.

So far, I've finished the first three episodes, and I must say, I'm quite sold on this world. I think I've been hovering around so many formulaic rom-coms in recent years that I grasp onto any chance that a drama series is NOT a typical romantic comedy with all the typical romantic formulas. I'm also a sucker for kick ass strong female leads, and so when No Eun Seul opens the series with a "gang fight" during her high school years, I wanted to like Protect the Boss. Why it didn't hook me in the first time around, I don't know. But I'm certainly intrigued by it now and am willing to sit through it despite all the mixed feelings that netizens are harping on about.

So far, I'm sold. Every character is so non-standard (ever since Me Too, Flower! I've been using this description too much, methinks) that it's actually pretty refreshing. Everyone seems to have an awkwardly insane (term used true to definition rather than for sake of slang complimenting) quality about them. No Eun Seul is already quite plucky as the fighting, easily tempered female lead with half a brain; Cha Ji Heon is the typical arrogant second (or third, I guess) generation chaebol son who has his OCD-laced, child-like tendencies of immaturity wielding the other half of that brain. Then there's Cha Moo Won who is like the omnicient gentleman, confident and reliable, but strangely turns sixteen years old in mentality at all the right(?) times when faced with Cha Ji Heon's own immaturity. Finally, Seo Na Yeon... well, let's just say that she's not that refined and classy young lady with that true to form holier than though attitude that most female love rivals are known for (nor what I'd expected). Instead, she's still the arrogant rich chaebol daughter, yet houses a much more comedic and screechy (causing my WTH blinkiness) unstable personality of a twelve year old brat who must resort to telling herself that she is "an educated person" so that she won't rush across the room and rip another girl's hair out.

Current impression of what I've seen so far: I'm liking it. I will continue to watch it. Because as outrageous as these characters seem to have been created, I kind of like the dysfunctional world they encompass. Cha Ji Heon's family also gives me that WTH vibe as well, but in a good way.

At risk of being flamed by JYJ fans, however, I DID want to mention that I'm not quite seeing the "breakout performance" of Kim Jaejoong -- yes, he performs decently, but it doesn't really seem as outstanding as everyone is making it out to be. Maybe I'm just not seeing that charm, or maybe he's being overshadowed (severely) by Wang Ji Hye's Seo Na Yoon, whom I am extremely loving as opposed to her role as Kim In Hee in Personal Taste.

***


And so there you have the 2011 K-dramas that I managed to watch within the past five months. While Me Too, Flower! has recently finished airing, I haven't had the chance to finish it yet, but I will be looking forward to the end (and hoping that things turn for the better). I will finish watching Protect the Boss fairly shortly as well as I'm quite enjoying the strangely weird characters; unless something else comes around to entice me, this will be the next series I finish. I make little mention about Tree With Deep Roots only because I haven't been following it even though I saw the first episode; everything I wanted to say about that first episode is included in my first impression post, so I would just be on repeat if I talked about it here too.

Soon will be Part 3 of this End of Year Reflection. It is unfortunate, however, that there's a possibility it won't be posted until after the new year. This is what happens when I'm drowning in ramyun, flowers, and laziness.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

news: Where's my TVB Miracle?



I am at the edge of my seat in anticipation. Ever since the sales presentation for TVB (HK) aired last year, there has been one specific series I've been looking forward to seeing. Needless to repeat myself over and over again, but TVB has been a big disappointment in my life for a few years now. While I had still been watching some series, the number of TVB series on my "watched to completion" list just kept shrinking with each recent year. (Yes, I went and did an exact tally of everything I watched.)

2006 was the last year of TVB in which I actually tallied a number of series in the double digits: I watched 13 of their 2006 productions, but not all of them were well-received and one of them was highly overrated (*coughcough*ToGrowWithLove*coughcough*). Or maybe more than one had been highly overrated (The Dance of Passion AND Lethal Weapons of Love and Passion) only one of which I actually enjoyed.

Starting in 2007, the number of TVB drama series I watched began to dwindle. We went from 8 in 2007 to 9 in 2008, and then in both 2009 and 2010, I only actually watched 5 series completely. In 2010, I started watching some series and then ended up dropping them like hot potatoes.

So what about 2011?

I saw one, yes, only one entire series produced by TVB. But my reasons are probably best left for another post I'll be dishing out later on.

Rant finished (well, sort of), I still have the need to check out future projects for my native television station. The sales presentation gave me what would ultimately (hopefully) be my revived interest in the TVB arena.

回到三国 (Wui Dou Saam Gwok, in Cantonese; Hui Dao San Guo, in Mandarin)
Return to Three Kingdoms

And this image of Raymond Lam in his role of Chukot Leung is the only picture I've been able to find that is slightly representative of the series. The photo at the top is all I could find that promotes the actual series itself and those aren't even the people who will be starring in it (so yea, total fake out; my bad). TVB likes to create their sales presentations with various actors giving the audience a taste of what's in store and then they play musical casting until something works out better. Of course, I totally wouldn't have been averse to Steven Ma being in this series as well. There aren't any true promotional posters and the series has been finished filming for months now. Even a while back, from my own sources, it was said that Return to Three Kingdoms would be airing soon in late February of 2012. And so I got excited and totally looked forward to it.

If it's one thing that I like, it's historical series, and with a premise much like the A Step Into the Past glory that was so loved this was going to be my return crack for TVB. Other various series that seemed interesting enough just never piqued my interest even if I saw the first episode and thought to myself "I'll think about watching it."

But now there aren't even anticipated broadcast dates from my sources about when Return to Three Kingdoms will be presented. And I'm in a bit of a ranting, raving funk because of that now.

Raymond Lam is one of my favorite Hong Kong drama series stars and alongside him, Tavia Yeung will also be starring as female lead in this series. Granted, this won't be a Mysteries of Love reprisal of their love line since Tavia is paired with Kenneth Ma, but I'm still wanting to see their interaction. Because in Face to Fate, even when they didn't have a love line together, they still exhibited tumults of chemistry as a bickering pair of questionable comrades. And it was fun.

Nonetheless, I'm a little disappointed that there might be a delay on the broadcast of this series. TVB is known for doing such things with highly anticipated (even if I'm the only one anticipating it) series, pushing them aside for something they think will bring in better ratings for that time period. Or maybe they're in a funky disagreement with one of their own actors and decided to play tricks by postponing that particular actor's series. I've learned over all these years that TVB is not above being petty like that.

news: Park Eun Bin with Yoo Seung Ho in drama series

Clicky to read


MORE NEWS!!

Once again, a shout out of "Thanks!" to Dramabeans for so much K-entertainment news. Otherwise, I'd have nothing to look forward to outside of stuff that's older and I haven't seen (which I should really get crackin' on anyway), but it's nice to know when some of your favorite stars are going to be associated with a new project.

And now with a short and sweet synopsis of both characters in this series (what we're calling Operation Proposal for the time being) I'm really looking forward to it even more. Of course, being described as a melodrama gives me some slight heebie-jeebies, but I'll hold out that with Yoo Seung Ho in it, it'll be carried well. I'm not familiar with Park Eun Bin, but I'm reading that, like Yoo Seung Ho, she's a child actor turned solid adolescent actor, so there is much to look forward to. I would dig up some of her old projects to check out, but being a child actor it looks like she doesn't have much leading status or supporting status to her name. (Yes, I did some quick research.) And if she's better known for her roles in Queen Seon Deok and Legend (both with Yoo Seung Ho), then that means Operation Proposal will be the first I ever see of her.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

news: Moon and Sun and Snow and Jung Il Woo...

Goodness has this been a busy last few weeks of December! I keep finding more stuff to blog about (which is not a bad thing). Unfortunately, it's going to make my next few months pale in comparison since I'm planning on slowing down a little. Of course, if a nice new series comparable to City Hunter or Flower Boy Ramyun Shop grabs my attention, then maybe I'll be busy with more articles. At the very least I won't have to resort to filler 'intro info' stuff about series that are two or three years old. Not like I won't try though, cause I've got a lot of posts written to completion (they just need some nice screen caps to go with them).

Anyway, well it has become a daily thing for me to check Dramabeans for new posts on entertainment news, episode recaps... the like. A few weeks ago, I saw this article:

Clicky to read

And since I fell in love with Jung Il Woo's Chasung rich brat in Flower Boy Ramyun Shop, the picture and the name "Jung Il Woo" piqued my interest enough to read the article. Reading the description of Jung Il Woo's new role in this The Moon That Embraces the Sun series, penned as a fantasy-sageuk, javabeans notes: "...Jung Il-woo plays [Kim Soo Hyun's] hyung who purposely acts like a frivolous playboy because he doesn’t want people to back him politically and endanger his dongseng.

I was thinking... "Hmm... I may check this out later."

But then other things came up and so I didn't really think about it too much later aside from, "I wonder what Jung Il Woo's newest project will be like."

Today, I read this article:

Clicky to read some more

And I was thinking, "I like kick ass female warriors." I'm a sucker for strong female lead(?) roles. I'm not sure if Yoon Seung Ah is on par with leading lady status since Han Ga In seems to be cast as the heroine of this series, but I'd watch something historical slash fantasy slash very fictional just for a strong female lead. The article says that she will be the bodyguard for Han Ga In's character who plays a shaman. So that could be interesting too.

So now that I've been hooked by the series' concept, I decided to backtrack a little and so I read this next article:

One last clicky

From Dramabeans:
Casting has been revealed for the upcoming sageuk drama Moon That Embraces the Sun, which is adapted from a novel by Jung Eun-gwol, the writer who wrote The Lives of Sungkyunkwan’s Scholars, the novel that gave us Sungkyunkwan Scandal. Phew, that’s a mouthful. Basically: Sungkyunkwan Scandal v.2.0 in the works? Yes, please!

What the...? Where was I when this was announced? This is basically saying, "From the creators of Sungkyunkwan Scandal..." and that means that, if the drama series is shot in any way similar to how SKKS turned out (sans ending), then we're in for a fancy fun ride. On top of that, we've got a kick butt female swordsman, the ever welcome Jung Il Woo with that intriguing character description (pretending to be a flirty playboy to protect the little brother? Hell yea!), and I've heard so much fawning about Kim Soo Hyun's acting skills. (I'm closer to considering watching Dream High just to see what this Kim Soo Hyun is all about!)

I'm totally in now. The next few months may prove eventful after all! January 4? I'm marking my calendar for that... well, a week after since English translations take a little while to come out.

first impression: Skip-Beat! (Taiwanese)

Also known as Extravagant Challenge
華麗的挑戰 -- Hua Li De Tiao Zhan




What Taiwan does happen to do well is take a manga story line and adapt it into live action pretty decently. The characters will always stay in character, and the setting doesn't stray far from the original manga story. It's only unfortunate that the embedded humor of Japanese manga cannot seem to be captured very well by Taiwan's adaptations. For instance, Hana Kimi, though having its own charm, was never really able to convey that subtle hilarity and cutesy sweetness that the original manga was loved for. Instead, the supposedly funny moments end up kind of awkward and tacky.

This is one of the things that Taiwanese drama rom-coms have never really been able to capture quite accurately: a sense of actually funny humor. The only series I've seen so far that has been able to do as much is Miss No Good (but only because Rainie Yang is charming and Wilber Pan has a natural sense of comedic timing in his expressions). Brown Sugar Machiatto and its sister(?) production The Legend of Brown Sugar Chivalries were both rather comedic in execution (much more so than most Taiwanese comedies), but I don't really count those two as drama series -- they're more like promotion shows for the young idol groups Lollipop and Hey Girl.

And so we end up with not so much a romantic comedy, but a romance strewn with tacky and awkward moments trying to impersonate humor. And honestly, what good is a romantic comedy if it isn't even really that funny?


When I first heard about Skip Beat! being turned into a live action adaptation by Taiwan, I was curious, only because Skip Beat had been one of my most favorite shoujo manga stories. Taiwan's drama series aren't half bad most of the time and I've already enjoyed a select few during the past year. While they all seem to be the same rom-com formulas with the same over-exaggerated acting and story pacing, there have been some rather good series.

Taiwanese Skip-Beat! doesn't stray far from the typical Taiwannese Idol drama series, show-casing beautiful people in a rom-com aimed at young teenage fangirls. People who are already familiar with Skip Beat! manga already know the details, the story and the character fairly well. For those who haven't been exposed to the original manga, though, here's a short and brief synopsis:

Basically, Mogami Kyoko is a girl who has spent her life devoted to Fuwa Sho, pretty much sacrificing her youth and her time and her energy to take care of his lazy ass so that he can focus on becoming a famous musician. Unfortunately, all Sho has ever thought of her as was just a live-in maid he can boss around regularly. When Kyoko learns of this and how Sho never really cared about her as a girlfriend, she vows vengeance, letting her Pandora's box full of demons out to play. In order to bring him down to nothing, however, Sho challenges her to enter the entertainment industry as well; it will be the only way she'd ever be able to touch him at all.

So what does Kyoko do? She accepts his challenge, but along the way towards her ultimate revenge, she slowly learns to appreciate her own life and her own individual person, finding reason for herself outside of Fuwa Sho.

There are a lot of reasons why Skip Beat! manga was one of my favorite stories. For one, Kyoko isn't your typical pushover of a female protagonist; instead of moping like a damsel, she chooses to take action. Secondly, in the case of the manga, I had loved watching Kyoko grow as a person from someone who has based all of her actions around one man, and into someone who can find her own way in life for herself.

Taiwanese Skip-Beat! is cute. So far this is the only thing I can really say about it. Much like when I watched Hana Kimi's live action adaptation, I found it cute... but that was about it.


Ivy Chen is Gong Xi (Mogami Kyoko) and while her over-the-top performance works quite well for Kyoko's enthusiastic personality it almost seems a bit too much. Still in the process of critiquing her performance, however, I haven't really found much outstanding about it save for the one moment wherein Gong Xi finally breaks down with her crying slash laughter, letting out those anticipated Xiao Xi demons (Kyoko demons). There are moments during Ivy Chen's presentation that I keep thinking about Amber Kuo's role as Wu Shan Bao in Woody Sambo. While it fits Kyoko's personality, I'm hoping that I don't keep flashing images of Wu Shan Bao during my viewing of Skip-Beat!, otherwise it could get a little old. Also, I'm interested to see how Ivy Chen will convey Kyoko's ever changing moods and personalities. Kyoko is essentially an extremely innocent young girl who never got to live her youth to its fullest before being thrust into the world in such a cruel way. Despite her anger and cynicism, there are still a lot of moments when she resembles any other young teenage girl who buries herself in Fairy Tale fantasies. And hopefully Ivy Chen can pick up on this part of Kyoko -- she's not simply a cute and bubbly girl trapped inside a vengeful, angry exterior because she's got so much more depth that slowly form in the inner workings of her mind.


Korean idol group Super Junior lends two of their famous members, Choi Siwon and Lee Dong Hae for the roles of Dun He Lien (Tsuruga Ren) and Bu Po Shang (Fuwa Sho), respectively. The one thing I'd been worried about for these two roles was the need for Mandarin dubbers to cover both men's voices so that there can be consistency. It would be rather strange if our main female lead spoke Mandarin while the two male leads spoke Korean. So far I don't have much of an impression of either Choi Siwon or Lee Dong Hae, and the dubbing doesn't really bug me too much either. The only thing I will mention, though, is that Lee Dong Hae's presentation of Bu Po Shang's strangely cute actions when he's NOT trying to maintain his cool image was actually quite adorable. While I had always found Sho to be an annoyingly irritating rat bastard of a man, I'm somehow finding Bu Po Shang not as detestable. (A salute to the beauty of Korean idols, maybe?)

Choi Siwon radiates Ren's arrogant professionalism quite well. Idol stars have always had disadvantages of being scrutinized for being nothing but a pretty vase. So I look forward to seeing how well he does with Dun He Lien's role since he's had various other acting roles in K-dramas before.


As for the rest of the cast and characters, I'm really much more interested in the appearance of Bianca Bai, who is cast as Jiang Nan Qin (Kotonami Kanae), the girl who joins Kyoko in the LME LoveMe department. Her arrogance and strangely indifferent kick-ass-ness is what I'm looking forward to seeing since I've always enjoyed Kanae's presence as Kyoko's reluctant best friend.


Jin Qin is Dun He Lian's manager, known as Yashiro Yukihito in the original manga, and has alwyas been a great source of comedic relief. Even though it's been a while since I last looked over the manga (about a year or so, methinks), I remember liking this character because he amused me immensely with the way that he easily picked up Ren's feelings and intentions before Ren could even pinpoint them himself. There's nothing more fun than an omnicient manager at hand who also plays the mother hen to an otherwise domestically incompetent superstar who can't even take care of himself properly. Jin Qin was also in the role of Manager Ke Yi Zhi in Taiwanese drama ToGetHer to main character Zhaung Jun Nan and he was a very amusing and awesome person. I think I'm going to like his role here in Skip-Beat! reprising another manager role (especially for one of my more favorable characters from the manga).


Finally, Tsai Yi Chen (better known by her stage name Wu Xiong) is cast in a character role not present in the original manga. She is a girl named Wan Zi who works at the small restaurant called Bu Dao Weng (Darumaya in the manga) with Gong Xi and also seems to be playing the part of Gong Xi's only friend at present. I'm not sure where the series is trying to go with this extra role, but I hope it's a good direction because I like Wu Xiong and I'm hoping that she gets more screen time and continues to be Gong Xi's supporting friend in the background.

Unfortunately, with Wan Zi's presence, it only means that Gong Xi (Kyoko)'s journey to learning how to love herself is a bit stunted. The entire basis of Kyoko's depressing life is that her one and only childhood companion has always been Fuwa Sho -- she has lived her life for Sho, losing out for herself as well as never making any true friends (most of the girls in her childhood hated her because she was close to Sho who happened to be popular among the girls). Her entire life has been devoted to one day becoming Sho's wife and helping his parents take over their inn in Kyoto. Her mother had abandoned her when she was a child and her father has always been absent and so she knows about nothing but her life as the future innkeeper for Sho's family. When Sho betrays her at the beginning of the story, Kyoko loses all faith in any kind of love. For this very reason, she doesn't understand the emotion of love: to be loved by others as well as to be able to love others.

So while I really enjoy Wu Xiong's presence in this series (she's coming off a lot more likable than anyone else in the series as far as Episode One goes) I hope it doesn't deter the personal journey that Gong Xi (Kyoko) must go through to find her way in life.


This first episode of Taiwanese Skip-Beat! had taken me about three separate sittings during the evening to finish watching. I don't know whether it's because I already know the story line really well, whether it's because the anime already did a rather good job capturing the story, or if it could really be that the drama itself isn't conveying the glory of Skip Beat! to a decent enough level. There are a lot of really wacky CG inclusions that make for the cheesiest attempts at humor which kind of bemuses me, but may also end up grating on my nerves. The pacing and editing isn't too bad since it's following the original story line quite closely (aside from Wan Zi's presence); but the acting is almost too exaggerated and may turn out to be a problem for me.

Nonetheless, I will continue to give Skip-Beat! a chance if only because I'm a fan of the original manga. Let's hope that the live action adaptation can do well.

On a side note, the opening theme and the closing theme are both quite catchy -- sung by Super Junior-M and Lee Dong Hae respectively. The insert song, I'm recognizing as A-Lin's voice, but I might be wrong, but it's very pretty and I hope to hear more of it.


Monday, December 26, 2011

thoughts: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop (Korean) -- the final showdown (sort of) and overall thoughts

This article contains spoilers, but mostly opinions; proceed at your own risk.

꽃미남 라면가게 - Kkotminam Ramyeongage


Jung Il Woo as Cha Chi Soo
Lee Chung Ah as Yang Eun Bi
Lee Ki Woo as Choi Kang Hyuk
Park Min Woo as Kim Ba Wool
Jo Yoon Woo as Woo Hyun Woo

Kim Ye Won as Kang Dong Joo
Ho Soo as Yoon So Yi
Kim Il Joong as Coach Seo
Joo Hyun as Cha Ok Gyun (Daddy Cha)
Seo Bum Suk as Director Go (Daddy Cha's secretary)


On an entirely serious note, the last episode wrapped things up rather well, in my opinion.

Episode Sixteen brings a heartwarming atmosphere of holiday cheer amidst the lingering after effects of Chi Soo's Noble Idiocy from last episode. On top of that, Kang Dong Joo is preparing for her wedding (half-heartedly) and the resoluteness of Eun Bi's broken heart is beginning to take a toll on the boys of the Ramyun Shop. At the Chasung Palace, Daddy Cha laments over Chi Soo's depressed behavior as his faithful secretary comments that this was exactly what "Madame" did every day and every night before she left them. (I think perchance Chi Soo isn't so much caviar as he is, maybe abalone or king crab, which can be eaten with rice or ramyun just fine.)

Outside of actully recapping the entire episode with random thoughts about particular scenes, I'm not sure how best to go about this particular article. And since girlfriday has already done a stellar recap of the last episode over at Dramabeans (much better than I could ever do), I'm opting for a more chaotic and scattered formula for this post. I've taken notes of particular scenes that have piqued my interest and will simply comment on them. And so the rest of this article about the last episode might seem a little bumpy, but that's how I'm rolling for it this time around.

Also, beware mass screen capping. I give my apologies now, but you've been warned.


First of all, I fairly like the opening of the last episode with a Holiday cheer atmosphere, which immediately pans to our boys laughing hysterically at some sort of black and white Christmas(?) movie. It gives us a bit of a calm lull before the storm starts to hit in the ensuing rest of the episode. It also coincides nicely with our Christmastime viewing experience. On that note, Merry Christmas to all in this online community! This post had been meant for publishing a day earlier, but unfortunately, real life priorities will always come up first.


My next comment is on the parallelism symbolizing the "fated to be" relationship between Chi Soo and Eun Bi. This is what I've come to conclude about it: For a series that is chock full of symbolism at every turn, analogies of the most unpredictable kind, as well as a phantom premise based on the ideas of "Fated" and the like hovering in the background as shadows ("bells ringing when you're with your true love") this parallelism doesn't really bother me as much as it would have in another romance story line. For another series, this type of parallel symbolism would have actually been kind of tacky. I feel this way only because I'm guilty of doing the exact same things whenever I've tried writing my own rom-com: I always try really hard to throw out dormant, yet blatantly obvious reasons why our main couple is "meant to be together." From every action and reaction to having the two always being at the right place at the right time or doing the exact same thing at the exact same time even in two different places... This is how I've come to see my own writing of a romantically linked pair -- "god-given" justification for why they were meant to be together.


And the parallelism in Flower Boy Ramyun Shop that has been occurring between Chi Soo and Eun Bi (in this last episode and in other prior episodes) have given me this type of insight. However, the truly gratifying part of all of this symbolism in Flower Boy Ramyun Shop is that, depite all those idealistic hints in the background, we still take the dealings of Fate and throw them all out the window. The idea is there, but our characters don't resign themselves to it. From the moment that Chi Soo first steps out of his caviar bubble to try being ramyun, I realized that the so called "fate" that everyone keeps going on about wasn't going to be the problem. And to top it off, Eun Bi's final decision on her love life is a direct attack on who everyone (herself included) thinks she should be together with: Why does she choose Chi Soo? Because she loves him and it's as simple as that and no other reasons (Fate included) need to be her deciding factor. She just knows that she can't seem to be happy without him.


This also brings me to the ending rescue sequence that totally reverses everything known for being a static convention in rom-coms. While our Prince "Chapunzel" (as coined by girlfriday with me hooting in laughter upon reading the name) resigns himself to a more mature stance of noble sacrifice in order to save the Ramyun Shop, Eun Bi finally decides to take fate into her own hands and goes to find him. And I like that she has finally realized her own desires and has chosen to go and retrieve her lost love rather than be resigned to stick by what she had believed to be the fate of her and Chi Soo's relationship.


Now, is it strange that I found Eun Bi's outburst from the bathroom after a bout of constipation, declaring the un-okay-ness of Chi Soo's sacrifice in her angry tone, plunger in hand, looking like she's about to fight the world, kind of touching? I was really clapping and cheering and all sorts of satisfied that the duration of depression and Noble Idiocy lasted all of ten to twenty minutes before someone decided to take things into their own hands. And then the rescue scene wherein Eun Bi rushes to Chasung (plunger still in hand like a battle sword) was totally hilarious, especially when she started to accumulate followers starting with Ba Wool and Hyun Woo who chase her from the Ramyun Shop, then Chi Soo's posse who decide to join in, and finally the neighborhood ahjummas who are reveling at how Eun Bi has more Flower Boys following her around.


Then at Chasung, the dream sequence rescue rears its ugly head -- Eun Bi climbing a set of stairs to get to Chi Soo ends up tripping over her dress, which flashes her to the dream she'd had in the beginning of Episode Fifteen. Except in that particular case, she felt helpless as she was taken away by the palace soldiers and Chi Soo watched on, completely useless as he didn't want to "wrinkle his clothes". In reality, however, Eun Bi chooses not to resign herself to that kind of fate; the dream didn't have to happen in real life too and so she rips her dress into a shorter length, throws it and her shawl at the pursuing Chasung security staff and continues on.


What really took the cake for me was when Eun Bi confidently announced that she would gladly take responsibility for Chi Soo (a total role reversal if there ever was one). She would continue to date Chi Soo at the risk of Daddy Cha bull-dozing the Ramyun Shop as well as kicking his son out onto the streets without a dime to his name. Eun Bi's response (as taken from the Drama Fever translations): "His bare body, I'll live very well with it." This was in response to Daddy Cha's confirmation that he would strip Chi Soo bare and penniless if Chi Soo chose to leave Chasung and be together with Eun Bi. While the translation at Dramabeans makes a lot more sense in that Eun Bi declares that she will "take Chi Soo's broke ass and support him", I found that I kind of liked the more hilarious (and suggestive sounding) translation from Drama Fever, if only because it was funnier and more "rawr"-worthy. I'm strange like that, I know.


Eun Bi attacking her ex-boyfriend in the face with her used plunger was also a nice little detail that I don't think felt too extra. And I agree with girlfriday that it was hilarious how he was brought back for a mere millisecond just so we could see that moment of satisfaction -- I'd always wondered what happened to him after that entire music store debacle and whether or not he'd make another appearance. I'm totally happy with this short fix of violence (disgusting as it was).

What I'm really hooting about is that entire role reversal though, because for the past couple episodes, I've been in a bit of a fit over Eun Bi's passiveness in the entire love line. She has been rather dormant and easily pushed around, not once taking any action on her own to get what she wants. She'd been spending a lot more time just over-analyzing the entire situation, only to come up with a bag full of "what ifs" which always end up leaving her in a rather poor state. But this last episode really reaffirmed my respect for her kick ass personality that should have surfaced a long time ago. And so I loved that Eun Bi is the one running to take Chi Soo away from his caviar prison, and I love how Eun Bi openly declares that she will take care of Chi Soo (I guess as the older and questionably more experienced party in this couple), and I love how she charges in and grabs Chi Soo by the wrist and drags him out of his castle. And then I also love that she is the one to initiate the "happily ever after official couple kiss" that conclusively stamps Cha Chi Soo and Yang Eun Bi as official lovers.


For once in a rom-com, the man isn't the one who fixes all the problems for the couple to get back together. For once in a rom-com, the girl is the one who initiates all the dragging, declarations of love and responsibility, and kisses. It's only unfortunate that this is the only episode wherein all this role reversal awesomeness happens. And it's also not such a bonus that Eun Bi did get some help from her Pillar Husband in order to move forward to retrieve her Prince (though it was a bonus on Kang Hyuk's part).

There are just too many more swoon-worthy scenes in this last episode that ended up getting me excited and giddy, but if I chose to mention them all, I might go on forever and I still need to do an official wrap up of my opinions (unless I separate and make a whole different post for those, which MIGHT actually happen considering how much I've rambled on already). I might as well have just recapped the whole darn thing.

And so I'll mention a few other items and try to be brief about them:


Firstly, Chi Soo's maturity was very much welcomed. When he recited the same words that Eun Bi had said (reflecting from the very first episode) about how you cannot change love, I thought it was a very meaningful circular conclusion to his growth. At the same time, even after the time skip was employed, I'm also glad that some things still didn't change for Chi Soo: when he ends up enlisting into the army, he chooses to be stationed somewhere else (not with his usual posse whom all also enlisted with him) because he'd get to keep his hair the way it is. Chi Soo's vanity is one to be reckoned with, but I don't blame him.


Next, Kang Hyuk's presence has been one in which I feel love and sadness towards. There is very little noted about Kang Hyuk in this last episode, but each of his scenes shows his true form as the caring and loving, good man that he's always been. From urging Eun Bi to look into her heart, to helping her out of the mass crowd of protesters at Chasung and equiping her with running shoes so she could better save her Princess "Chapunzel" (girlfriday I am STILL chuckling about that coined nickname for our Chi Soo), and finally walking away with the grace of a hero and a lonely wanderer, but leaving with that adorable, teasing pettiness of:
"While you and Chi Soo are living in bliss, I am sure I will drown my sorrow in booze, and with the help of many other women... I'm sure I'll slowly mend my loneliness as I pass along as the bad guy... While I go on cursing you."


He's so cute and he's so great and he's still always thinking about Eun Bi first. And much like Eun Bi, there's really no way to describe what I really want to say to him or about him. I DO want to include that, when he started laying down to take a nap in the middle of Chasung, even though it was his strategy to trip pursuing security staff, I found that I had missed seeing his lazy, always sleeping moments from earlier episodes. Despite being in love with Chi Soo the entire way through, there's a special place in my heart for Kang Hyuk that doesn't even do justice for his greatness; but it's there and makes me remember him as the dear Pillar Husband who always looked out for everyone else except himself.


And then finally, a comment on side supporting characters I have neglected to talk about since I started blogging about Flower Boy Ramyun Shop. Kang Dong Joo (Eun Bi's best friend) and their old volley ball coach (whom I only know as Coach) have been weaving their own side story in and out of the main love line for a while now. While I have made little mention about them, I will comment that I've thoroughly enjoyed seeing that our little makeshift family, the little love triangle as well as the entire conflict about "caviar vs rice" still has room for a smooth transitioning into the lives of our supporting characters, even if very briefly. Ba Wool and Yoon So Yi's love line has been an ongoing comedic flair, but when Dong Joo and Coach began exhibiting signs of romantic connection, it was a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. And it was rather interesting to see between the rest of the chaos.


I have to say though, for the few scattered instances of Coach and Dong Joo's side love line, it was rather deep and meaningful. And so when their love line came to a conclusion, I totally got giddy and hooty with excited laughter. When Coach shows up on the day of Dong Joo's wedding only to re-enact one of my most favorite scenes in one of my most favorite movies, Love, Actually, I almost died. And to top it off, even with some of the placards being questionable in romantic aspects ("But I know all the plastic surgery you had done five years ago" along with a picture of the chubbier Dong Joo during her high school volley ball years) the entire scene was just so sweet and so touching that I was OMG-ing like a teenage school girl and clutching my chest in an attempt not to fall over.


Can I say that this was probably the BEST EVER conclusion to a supporting couple side romance? I LOVED IT!



As I already said, there were just so many aspects in this one last episode that I just enjoyed to death. But to keep going on would just require me to copy and paste girlfriday's recap and just put in my own personal comments at each scene she talks about.

In all honesty, this has been one of the few more perfect, more complete endings I've experienced in K-drama since I've first started watching them about five months ago. The only other one was from My Lovely Sam Soon -- the only difference is that Flower Boy Ramyun Shop's ending for the main couple was slightly more finite than the one presented in Sam Soon. However, both had their own charms and despite the "I wish this series could go on forever and ever" mentality that I typically get, I'm fairly content with the ending for Ramyun Shop.

On a side detour about the employed standard time skip device, I don't think it really bothered me as much as other time skips have done in the passed. In fact, I really don't like time skips, because they're always a means for a series to find a way to wrap up the ending which always turns out pretty awkward. The time skip usually happens because we want to separate the couple for whatever reason, which typically isn't the best one in rom-coms. However, in Ramyun Shop's case, the time skip didn't feel forced at all. Using the army as a means to separate the couple for two years which will give Chi Soo the chance to grow into a less squicky age (in order to calm the masses of controversy in viewership) and hopefully a more matured young man was a pretty good ploy. Enlisting in the army is a requirement in Korea for young men and it's not like it was a forced reason that could have been resolved with a little more tact and communication (unlike the Noble Idiot break up of a man who doesn't want his girlfriend to stay in Korea and miss out on an opportunity to become famous because he needs to have wrist surgery). While the age gap hasn't really been an issue for me (I mean, no matter what, there will always be a six year gap between the two), this time skip army enlistment worked to satsify squickiness of viewership.


Also, I think it might have been a means for Daddy Cha to utilize his last strike of punishment for disobedience -- and to tell Chi Soo that even if the boy chooses to leave Chasung, they are indeed still father and son and this is something that, as his guardian, Daddy Cha can exert power over. It's like a "Fine, you can have your own way in your love life, but you are still my son and so I'm at least going to do something still within my power to lay down my authority and to tell you that I'm still upset with you." And so Chi Soo's American citizenship is forfeit and now he's off to army training. Petty as this may be (if this is indeed Daddy Cha's mind set) I think it works and remains in true character to the series.

So... Time skip and then closing voice over as well as final, standard rom-com reunion... it all falls into place pretty neatly.


I DO appreciate that while we see a "happy couple getting together in the end" conclusion, the rest of the supporting characters, side stories, etc., are fairly open-ended. Daddy Cha may still be his typical misguided, piteous, weak-willed, lonely man who's actions all story long were propelled by that bad experience he had with his love for Chi Soo's mother. If he had suddenly grown happy and understanding, it would have seemed forced. In the end, he's still the big ol' softy of a father who dotes on his only child, treating him like diamonds and fragile glass statues.


Ba Wool's relationship with Yoon So Yi was still in a rocky spot wherein she continues to drag him along while she goes on dates with those "an oppa I know" casual boyfriends; you want him to either give up on her or do SOMETHING to change his course. But the fact is, this time around isn't the Kim Ba Wool and Yoon So Yi love story, and Ba Wool is the one who chooses to continue seeing Yoon So Yi despite knowing that she's seeing other men. This relationship could go in all sorts of directions, and a simple forced kiss is still not the conclusion for them. The open endedness of it was actually rather satisfying. Ba Wool still has a long road to go if he continues to be stuck on Yoon So Yi (whom I've long ago grown out of that hate/hate impression for and am just biding my time for her own maturity to kick in because I just don't really get her and I'm tired of trying to analyze her). If Ba Wool had been given a happily ever after, whether with Yoon So Yi or a newly employed love interested, then we would have fallen into that dreaded "Couple Curtain Call" that I hate so much and the series would have been awkward... and tacky.


And then there was the Hyun Woo and his own possible start of a Chi Soo/Eun Bi restroom meeting, in reversal -- a potential new love line that doesn't need to be elaborated on, but with all sorts of possible hijinks to ensue in an imaginary new story line that we don't ever have to see to be content with.


On another side note, I really do like that Ba Wool and Hyun Woo have grown a very simple bromance relationship with each other. Where Ba Wool started off being annoyed with Hyun Woo, it's nice that the two of them ended up being close (even if Ba Wool won't admit it) and that by the end of the series, they're still working with each other even though the Ramyun Shop is no more. This is one of the many wonders of the Ramyun Shop bringing two complete strangers together, who probably would have never even bothered to acknowledge each other in any other setting.


Finally, I know that a lot of people are really distressed over the conclusion that Kang Hyuk ended up with. I feel bad for him too and throughout this last episode, I really kept wishing to the gods that, maybe we can overlook societal taboos and maybe Eun Bi could just be with BOTH men? I know that's a really bad desire, and for the first time ever I'm actually condoning a two-timing relationship, but still... when you've seen all that Choi Kang Hyuk has done for his Wifey and you've seen how even SHE has no idea what can be said or done for Kang Hyuk to make things better... I just really, really want something significant for him.

I want our Pillar-ssi to be happy too and watching him walk away from that Ramyun Shop with welled up tears in his eyes was heartbreaking.


However, I'm actually kind of glad that we didn't get a complete "Couple Curtain Call" just for his sake. I want Kang Hyuk to have a romance of his own, maybe sometime down the line in his life; now is NOT the time for it to happen, though. To me, the idea of making Kang Hyuk find another someone to love at the end of this series would have been tactless and too rom-com standard for me to have enjoyed it. It would have also terminated any possibility of an open-ended conclusion to this particular side story, which cuts off all possibilities that Kang Hyuk may get his own story in the future (even if a sequel would also be kind of forced). Over all, however, I DO like that Kang Hyuk's ties to the story line ended up being so much more than just a love line with Eun Bi. He was also connected to a little brother, the Ramyun Shop, as well as the two little Flower Boys he took in to work for him. His presence isn't limited fully for the sake of Yang Eun Bi and her romances and he also helped Chi Soo with his growth as well.

The ending to a romance story line doesn't necessarily always mean that EVERYONE must find a significant other within the allotted time that the story line takes place. Love isn't the only thing to life. While Flower Boy Ramyun Shop was set in a more comedic, almost comic book like fashion, the conclusion was more realistic than a complete wrap up of happy endings. And so rather than being a romantic comedy as its only calling card, Ramyun Shop also gave to us a journey of growth by both Cha Chi Soo as well as Yang Eun Bi. Chi Soo learns to mature and become a human being worthy of others' love and care when he learns to love and care about others. Eun Bi learns to accept herself as who she really is without trying hard to fit in with the norm -- Yang Eun Bi is Yang Eun Bi, and despite the fact that she's returned to the respective societal norm of taking the civil service exams again, she has found herself as Yang Eun Bi.


Finally, the Ramyun Shop's closing was a sad one. I really DID hope that the makeshift family could have remained together forever. I really wanted Daddy Cha to withdraw his redevelopment plans and save the little building. I wanted Kang Hyuk to continue running the Ramyun Shop with the boys and Eun Bi. It would have been a Fairy Tale happy ending and it would have satsified the masses; because the Ramyun Shop has become a significant place in everyone's hearts.

Am I sad that it had to close down? Yes. But is it something that I can accept? Yes. Because as much as I loved what the Ramyun Shop represented for our little Flower Boy family and Eun Bi, its closing was in tune with the rest of the series' conclusions. The Ramyun Shop, became a certain special time and place for the five people who worked there and will always remain as a beautiful memory. The Ramyun Shop brought everyone together to share special moments; but even with the Ramyun Shop gone, life still goes on. Maybe viewers would have been happier with a Ramyun Shop success ending scene -- but that would have been forced and a an ex deux machina ending. Chasung isn't going to withdraw redevelopment plans that have always been in action just for a moment of love for his son; that would be unrealistic.


Was I satisfied with the ending? Yes. Was it a good one? Definitely. Was it the best? I don't know if I could answer that. Simply put, the wrap up for this series did NOT leave me unsatisfied and it did NOT leave me wondering or yearning for anything that was untouched. Instead, despite its finite-ness, there is still the possibility of a renewal or a follow-up. Would I do something like that to Flower Bow Ramyun Shop? Probably not -- again, it might end up being too much and too dragged out. But would I pass up any chances to see some more love-dovey, chaotically comical sweetness between Chi Soo and Eun Bi? That totally wouldn't bother me. Do I want to know how Ba Wool dumps Yoon So Yi and finally finds himself a girl to care about him enough to only see him? Of course. Do I want to witness Hyun Woo's newly blossoming possible love line? Yea. And as for Kang Hyuk, what about his own love story? Honestly, does he really need one? I wouldn't refuse it, but at the moment, it would be too much, plain and simple. More fininte conclusions for everyone would have been nice; but it would really have been too much and too dragged.

As a whole, this series and this story is done.

And you know, I really, really loved it. Every conclusion fell into place almost too perfectly. And when I say almost too perfectly, I'm not using a sardonic tone; I'm totally sincere. I don't think I would have changed anything.



The series overall was like crack-tastic fun. But I don't need to say that too many times. I've doted and swooned and riled and I've gone on and on and on about Flower Boy Ramyun Shop so much that I'm starting to wonder when I'll tire myself out. Of a lot of drama series I've seen in a long time, this has been one of the better and best ones and with such a satisfying ending (although I know a lot of netizens would beg to differ) to me this was probably the best series I've seen all year (or within the five month time span I've been watching K-drama).

I know that I'm still a K-drama newbie, but I'm not a story book or rom-com newbie. I know what I like and I know that my own opinions and standards and values differ immensely from a lot of other people. I think a lot of people would be surprised to know that when Flower Boy Ramyun Shop first started broadcasting, I wasn't even going to look at it twice. And then when I finally started watching it out of curiosity, I thought it was good fun, but that was about it -- and since it was fun enough, I chose to continue watching it. And even as the series progressed into mid-series, I honestly didn't hold much love for Cha Chi Soo's arrogant, spoiled brat lifestyle and his less than insightful non-compassion for other human beings. And I really DIDN'T care for Choi Kang Hyuk either -- the creepy vibes were up because of his claim on Eun Bi and the house, living with her without her knowledge. It got me wondering which one of these guys would actually be decent enough for boyfriend material: the lazy stranger who shows up most awkwardly, or the asshole of a second generation chaebol who can't seem to stop making life hell for everyone around him.

And so it's kind of a wonder to me that this series ended up sticking to me, growing on me, reeling me in to its deepest recesses and then finally just becoming an addictive drug I couldn't stop coming back to. I'm not even sure when I started loving Ramyun Shop so much, but it happened.

Ultimately, I think what drew me to the chaotic mess that was Flower Boy Ramyun shop had to do mainly with its refreshing non-standard navigation through standard plot devices. As I've stated before, I like that the entire series rushes by in a zippy way, introducing one story arc and resolving it almost immediately. I like how common cliches are employed to help the story line progress, but a fairly unpredictable twist is set in to give Ramyun Shop's story line its own individual sense of style. I especially love the series' sense of attention to detail; sometimes viewers notice the strangest little things that may not have anything to do with plot progression, but adds onto the setting and the atmosphere of particular scenes. It shows that the writer and the production staff might have been thinking about the direction of this series on the viewers' side of the screen and asking themselves what little details and what random questions will a random viewer come up with or notice.


For instance, Ba Wool's Miss Teddy Bear new girlfriend having her own little bottle of yogurt while he partakes in some lamenting about Yoon So Yi on the other side of the table. There was also the Coke shot scene wherein Eun Bi pours Ba Wool shots of Coca Cola for him to drown his sorrows in as a replacement for soju (which I assume is a no-no for nineteen year old high school students in Korea?); it parallels the past when Eun Bi's father poured her milk shots to teach her how to make those satisfying "soju facial expressions" that female leads like to make in almost every rom-com. And then there's the ongoing Pororo protective blanket that Chi Soo has grown attached to, which ends up worming its way back into the last episode upon Chi Soo's dip into depression because of his Noble Idiocy. Even at the end when Chi Soo goes to reunite with Eun Bi, he claims that because he's "Chwa" he can't be coming out to see her in a tacky army uniform; it's so in character with Chi Soo's personality despite his matured growth.

The little details of Ramyun Shop are just so finely tuned that I can't help smirking every time I notice something that otherwise could have been missed.


Flower Boy Ramyun Shop, from its quirky characters to its use of strange analogies and symbolism, leading into a very finely presented emotional center, made for one of the better romantic comedies, maybe even one of the best, that I have been exposed to in a long time (or maybe ever). With great acting, story telling and direction, the only setback of Ramyun Shop (as I will be repeating in a later post) is that in order to love it, you really HAVE to be drawn into its comically created, over-the-top world. And once you're in, there's absolutely no turning back.

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Related articles:
first impression: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop
thoughts: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop -- mid-series
thoughts: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop -- episodes 9 and 10
thoughts: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop -- shipper status update
thoughts: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop -- the end is near
thoughts: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop -- finale on the horizon

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