news: the successful end to the first month

While things hadn't exactly gone as planned for this month, I think I'm kind of glad that my article posts turned out the way they did. My ultimate plan had included a couple more review articles to be posted for the month than I actually ended up publishing. HOWEVER, the itinerary is ever-changing, only because of the fact that new series are presented regularly and current series end by a certain time. As for the older series I've seen and have begun reviewing, since they've been out for a certain amount of time already anyway, their articles can wait.

Work in the real world has been quite distracting lately, and some family business is keeping me from quickly finishing series the way I'd been doing earlier. On top of that, I've been distracted by some other series, such as My Girl and Full House, that I haven't been able to hit up my "next in line" list yet. Basically, I walk into the living room where Mom and Dad are watching these and I catch a glimpse of enough of the series that makes me want to watch it for myself. And so instead of sticking to my plans, changes have occurred.

While I'm still in the middle of watching My Girl slowly, I will do what I can to hold off on Full House, only because of my plans. That, and I didn't really get interested in the latter to make me search for it.

As for the rest of the series on my current viewing list, Black & White (Taiwanese) is a series that, while quite captivating, hasn't exactly been a "do or die" type of series. I've found that I can watch a few episodes and then get up and do something else freely. There's no urgency to see what happens next even if that curiosity is there. Which, so far, that's what it feels like with this series: just a curiosity. That same edge of seat anticipation that I used to have watching mystery and crime thrillers from Hong Kong's TVB productions isn't quite there yet, but I have hopes that it'll present itself soon. Only a few episodes into the series, the story line is now starting to pick up with the mysterious past of Chen Zai Tien coming to the surface.

I think the unfortunate thing about Black & White is that between the first case and now the second case that I've just started in on, the writers don't keep you guessing. Sure, there are some underlying unknowns settled around the cases, but not big enough to make you want to keep pushing forward to find out the truth behind the situation. And then some of the mysteries are so blatantly obvious that there's no need for the series to hide them.

This isn't to say that I'm disappointed, but it makes me miss those crime thrillers from back in the day where the viewer was also treated like a detective and given the chance to try and figure out the "who dunnit". Then again, maybe Black & White isn't so much going for mystery excitement. It certainly has a huge tone of movie action, focusing a lot on the chase against the "bad guys" rather than a truth-seeking tone.

But before I get too in depth, I should move on.

Scent of a Woman and Warrior Baek Dong Soo are coming along really nicely. While in the beginning, I wasn't as hooked to Scent of a Woman, I've found that I am truly waiting in anticipation for the next few episodes. The romance is starting to pick up, and while I had stated that I don't care who she ends up with in my first impression article, I think I'm rather leaning towards Kang Ji Wook (Lee Dong Wook), but only because of the steamy chemistry that the two have been generating so passionately. And I'm curious to see how it will turn out for the two supports as well.

On an aside, the above banner is from the end of episode eight where I found the still so gorgeous that I just couldn't help but put it to my own use. After all, I'm stupid in graphic arts and can only piece together something simple. So all I really did was crop the picture and then add words to it. Simple...

Warrior Baek Dong Soo is interesting to follow, but the build up has been quite slow and I'm really just waiting for the adventure to start. I've also been resigned to watch this series as slowly as I can so that I don't end up the way I did with City Hunter -- being stuck with jittery anticipation for the next episode. Warrior Baek still has a while to go before the ending comes around the corner (and I have no idea how many episodes this series will be anyway) and if I pull a City Hunter, I'll rush through all the available episodes and then beat myself up when I realize I have to wait until the next episode is broadcast just to be able to watch it.

But anyway...

Articles planned for September include the "intro info" articles for all the reviews I've already posted. The "intro info" deal is just a temporary experiment to see how much better things fair for me, presenting an article without spoilers that is short and sweet, and then tacking on a longer, much more in depth article that usually takes about five minutes to read. If this works, then I'll continue to make do with it; if it doesn't, I might just get rid of them altogether and find a way to split some of my review articles so that they don't seem so unnecessarily expanded *coughcough*CityHunter*coughcough*.

Upcoming articles are exactly what's on my sidebar: I have everything done and ready for post, with a few more finishing touches to make. Sungkyunkwan Scandal's article is currently being written and rewritten. It may be a while before this article is posted. But then again, it's hard to say what my schedule is. After all, Heartstrings wasn't intended for August, but there it is anyway. And then I also have the review for Scent of a Woman to deal with when the series ends next month.

More new series are becoming accessible to me soon and a lot of older series are also piquing my interest.

With all of this attraction towards drama series, I hope that the drama zone will have a good run for a couple more months to come. animanga zone hadn't lasted long when I lost interest, which is my only worry. But then again, anime and manga really HAD been a temporary phase and I have always been a fan of the live action drama series, even if I never really wrote about them consistently in the past.

intro info: City Hunter (Korean)

시티헌터 - (Siti Heonteo)

Lee Min Ho as Lee Yun Seong
Park Min Young as Kim Na Na
Lee Joon Hyuk as Kim Young Joo
Hwang Sun Hee as Jin Sae Hee
Kim Sang Joong as Lee Jin Pyo
Chun Ho Jin as Choi Eung Chan
Kim Sang Ho as Bae Shik Joong

For more information on this series: City Hunter (Korean Drama)


City Hunter is an action packed, thrilling story about a young man, Lee Yoon Sung, who was raised for the sake of revenge by his adopted father Lee Jin Pyo. The series begins in 1983 when, due to political issues, a secret mission of twenty one men are sent to North Korea to carry out a massacre. Upon their completion, they were supposed to be able to return safely to South Korea via a submarine. Unfortunately, five South Korean government officials decided that the mission did not need to be carried out and so in order to keep it a secret, they decide to kill all the men on the mission. Of the twenty one men, Lee Jin Pyo ends up surviving and vows to return to avenge his fallen comrades by killing the five men who chose to abandon them. Somehow, he also ends up blaming the entirety of the South Korean government for the betrayal and will stop at nothing to prove that the entire government is corrupt and evil.

And so he goes to his friend Park Moo Yool's home where his wife had just given birth to a baby boy and takes the child away, telling the mother to forget about her dead husband and lost child and start a new and happy life. His ultimate plan is for the young child to grow up as a fighting machine as well as his pawn in his revenge plans.

Twenty eight years into the future, Lee Yoon Sung returns to South Korea after extensive training in survival, combat as well as seven years of education at MIT in America, to carry out his adopted father's revenge plan.

Included in this little epic adventure, of course, is the romance doomed to fail that cannot be left out. Kim Na Na is a young woman who's parents died in a tragic car accident ten years ago and meets with Yoon Sung in the Blue House (the presidential palace) where they both start working as part of the president's secret service. Lee Yoon Sung, with his PhD in computer technology enters the Network and Communications department while Kim Na Na with her 4th level Judo experience becomes a bodyguard to government officials. Having been tasked by a friend to look for Na Na and take care of her, there is no doubting that Yoon Sung soon finds himself growing attached to the fiery and head-strong young woman and eventually falling in love with her.

Of course, as all story lines such as these would go, Lee Yoon Sung is tasked by his adopted father to never ever put trust in anyone, never become attached to anyone, and especially to never fall in love.

I could probably go on about the story of City Hunter until the cows come home. In fact, I think I did in the actual review article -- for a nice long read with similar information from this current article, you can check that one out now, but there are spoilers galore in it. But anyway, City Hunter is a thrilling ride from beginning to end as you watch the characters interact with each other and develop as the series progresses. The hunt for the five men who betrayed Lee Jin Pyo and his comrades at the beginning of the story is exhilarating to follow along with, because we learn very early on that Lee Yoon Sung's idea of revenge is much different than his father's.

While Lee Jin Pyo wants to hunt the men down, find their corrupt activities and then kill them, Yoon Sung wants nothing more than to believe in the justice of a country that once abandoned twenty men in order to remain in power. Yoon Sung's idea of revenge is merely revealing to the public what terrible deeds that these men have done and then letting the government prosecutors deal with the rest. He feels no need to kill anyone, explaining that, in the future, when his revenge is over, he would love to be able to live a normal life. If he killed a person, then he knew that it would be hard for him to live that normal life he's always dreamed about. Because his murder would leave another young child to suffer the same life that Yoon Sung suffered, vowing revenge on the people who took away a father. Yoon Sung does not want that to happen.

And so this is what makes City Hunter so captivating. The meticulously planned out actions and the means by which Yoon Sung engages in investigation are so interesting to follow along with that you find yourself sitting at the edge of your seat wondering what this young hero will end up doing next. But of course, this is no Batman or Superman type hero that Lee Yoon Sung takes on the role of and he is human after all. Thus, while seeming to be a perfect fighter and an intelligent strategist, Yoon Sung still has his moments where he makes trivial or fatal mistakes which might end up costing him more time, or at the worst, someone's life.

Alongside his revenge are the various friendships and relationships he strikes up along the way. Despite his father's warnings to remain detached from other people, Yoon Sung cannot help but to butt in on Kim Na Na's life, as it seems she needs a lot of help to maintain survival. He cannot help but to step in when colleagues or friends require assistance. And he cannot just remain a shadow in passing.

City Hunter is a very entrancing series wherein I managed to run through every episode in so little time that I regret watching it so quickly just because of the fact that it finally ended and I have no more City Hunter to appease my desires. Of course, this is not to say that the series is entirely perfect; there are minor mishaps and mistakes that, as the viewer, you sometimes wonder if they couldn't have been avoided. But with an excellent cast and wonderful direction, even though City Hunter cannot be deemed as a perfect production as there are a few kinks that need to be ironed out, it is an amazing production that would captivate any viewer from beginning to end. There's a sort of charm to this series that overshadows any minor flaws that may have presented.

I'd love to insert a bias and say that it might have been Lee Min Ho's attractive heroic charm that drew me to continue following the series, but I know that there is just so much more to it than that. Simply the refreshing presence of a strong female lead role, played by Park Min Young, can make some story lines so much more bearable. While Lee Yoon Sung is the suave and charming, kick butt hot hero, Kim Na Na is the stable and well-balanced Blue House bodyguard who is simply trying to survive a hard life. Throw in a persistent, yet upright and good man, Kim Young Joo as the prosecutor who carries out justice in public where our City Hunter cannot, and we've got a complete crime thriller filled with loyal budding friendships, suspenseful investigations, and action packed wonders. Between the cast, the characters, the action sequences, the love story, and the suspense and even the atmosphere of this series, it is a definite good experience and I would recommend it to anyone interested in some action packed entertainment.

If you're a fan of Lee Min Ho already, there's no reason to skip this series. If you weren't a fan of him before -- much like myself -- this series will prove to you his talent, skill and undeniable charm. Just as well, Park Min Young's portrayal of Kim Na Na is wonderfully simple yet complex at the same time as she is not your typical female protagonist with a "damsel in distress" type of livelihood. Having spent ten years working to survive and being able to throw a large man over her shoulder in the first few frames of her appearance into the series, Kim Na Na is not a woman to be taken lightly.

The rest of the cast and characters were excellent as well, from the justice-bound prosecutor Kim Young Joo to the loyal and nagging Bae Shik Joong ahjussi and even the wonderfully beautiful president of South Korea Choi Eung Chan; everyone was brought to life so wonderfully that you wished the series didn't end. Special praise goes to the character of Lee Jin Pyo played by Kim Sang Joon, who was presented wonderfully tragic as a wounded man seeking revenge for his fallen comrades using his adopted son as a pawn, but at the same time displaying beautiful love for the son he raised for twenty-eight years. Even though this adopted father tortures and scars Yoon Sung in order to get what he intends to have -- bloody vengeance -- there is no doubt that he loves and cares for the son he'd raised into a man as he displays an array of guilty conflict upon seeing Yoon Sung's pain and suffering.

While awaiting a hoped for sequel to this excellently riveting series, I would totally recommend City Hunter to anyone looking for a fun and exciting thriller full of intrigue and emotion.

***

Related articles:
thoughts: City Hunter (Korean) - a more in depth look at the series in discussion

***

first impression: Scent of a Woman (Korean)

It's hard to say how I really feel about this series. With a rather typical romantic comedy formula, it really isn't as stereotypical as the rest of the romantic comedies I have seen thus far.

This isn't so much a first impression article as it is a "thoughts thus far" type of deal since I've already seen the first six episodes of the series. But the story line, having already introduced the conflict and an almost predictable road to follow, is still in the progress of being unfolded.

Lee Yeon Jae (Kim Sun Ah) is an introverted and hard working woman. Her mother and many others around her make it their duty to point out that she is passed her thirty year mark, which is apparently quite old in Asian fictional drama land; and so without a college degree or any form of fashion consciousness, everyone thinks that her life will forever be lowly and lonely. Her mother is on a quest to find her a suitable rich husband and her coworkers and immediate manager make her life miserable because they know they can -- after all, at her age, she can't afford to lose her job, so they know she'll do everything they tell her to do and keep her opinions to herself.

Why on earth is thirty years old such a landmark age? To this day, it confounds me why it seems that, after you hit the age of thirty, a woman seems to have aged to a hundred. If we don't already have things accomplished by that age, then we've pretty much lived a life of regret. If things are going to happen, they should happen while we're young and apparently, young coincides with any age under thirty.

I'm starting to get a little bit of real life frustration from these hinted insults against age.

But anyway...

In conclusion, Lee Yeon Jae sounds like a very pitiful Cinderella case. But really now, to spend ten years keeping quiet about sexual harassment and all the mistreatment by everyone else in the workplace... I'm not sure if I'd ever be able to just take that kind of crap laying down obediently.

But then fate does a cruel number on her and diagnoses her with gallbladder cancer, giving her an estimated six months left to live. And so in a fit of anger at how unjust the world is and how unfair her life has been up to this point, and then throw in a couple more accusations and a slap in the face, Lee Yeon Jae finally throws her resignation letter at her boss, giving him a few choice words while she's at it and then storms out of Line Tour, the travel agency she'd been working at for over ten years without being treated like a human being. She grows that backbone we were waiting for and completely turns her own life around to make sure she doesn't get treated like dirt anymore.

It was a relief for her, as well as any viewer and myself, when we get to see Lee Yeon Jae stand up for herself by counting the injustices presented towards her by her manager and her coworkers. And it was also a giddy bit of pleasure when she slapped the arrogant and spoiled rich princess, Im Se Kyung.

This series is a tear-jerker from episode one. From the moment that Yeon Jae learns about her cancer, to the arguments she gets in with her mother, and then the terrible accusation of her stealing someone's precious ring... it just seems like her life wasn't meant to get any better unless she forced it to become that way. The idea that this woman only has so little time left to do things she had always been waiting out for makes you feel sympathetic for her. The sadness is conveyed very well by actress Kim Sun Ah through Yeon Jae's urgent need to DO SOMETHING with her life before she dies.

Because up until that fateful moment, Lee Yeon Jae had been spending her time working, saving money, and pretty much having no life. She wears cheap, clearance rack clothes, doesn't bother touching her savings account because she'd been saving up to buy her mother a nicer home, and she fears being hostile in the workplace because she knows she needs that job to survive. And because of her tendencies to lounge around at home, saving money and doing nothing else, she has had no romantic love life to remember. Making oneself fashionably pretty even costs money as well and Lee Yeon Jae would be hard pressed to do something like that.

And so, as a romantic comedy slash melodrama type of series, we can already predict that Lee Yeon Jae's desires for a memorable love story will be granted by the ALMIGHTY DIRECTOR.

On a side note, backtracking up a few paragraphs to the infamous stolen ring, the story made me wonder what was up with that case. Because the owner of the ring, a musician named Wilson, was very adamant that Yeon Jae had been a thief; the rich and almost psychotically arrogant Im Se Kyung was also adamant that Yeon Jae had stolen the ring. No one would believe her at all, and so she ended up guilty before any formal investigation could be performed. But then we are shown that Wilson didn't really lose his ring; it had been caught on his clothing where he didn't see it. Instead of going back and clearing up the matter or even calling to say that he'd found his ring, he just leaves the country and never even bothers to look back.

What the heck was up with that? You wrongfully accuse someone of something, realize that you wrongfully accused an innocent person, but you keep moving forward like the situation will correct itself even if you don't say anything? Actions like that could ruin lives or cause deaths and these stupid irresponsible people should never be allowed to be recognized as high and mighty upstanding citizens because heads would roll. I'm still rather irritated by this particular situation, because at present, Lee Yeon Jae is now facing a lawsuit worth more money than she could ever afford in her entire life, no lawyer is willing to take her case, and she still has a widowed mother who needs to be cared for after the cancer finally kills her off.

And these rich people are just sitting in their fancy mansions, making billions of dollars daily while trying to make one little common person's life more miserable by demanding more money?

But now to step back off of my soap box and back into the article's subject.

To continue, two men walk into Lee Yeon Jae's life almost simultaneously, both of which could become the love story she wishes for.

The first is Kang Ji Wook (Lee Dong Wook), the son of Line Tour's CEO who seems like the perfect and handsome prince charming; for a girl like Lee Yeon Jae who's never truly been in love before, she feels that it would be nice to date someone like him at least once before she dies. Unfortunately, he's not so much a prince charming as he really is just another formula rich, dull brat, living off of his father's fortune and engaged to the "most expensive woman in the country" Im Se Kyung in order for his family to continue being wealthy and high society. Neither of the two want this marriage, but Im Se Kyung seems intent on making sure people know that Kang Ji Wook is her man even if she doesn't really love him -- talk about arrogant and spoiled. As for Kang Ji Wook, he's really not doing anything to control his own life, which is pathetic in its own way; he's the type of "boring" rich boy who doesn't seem to care much about the way his life is going, as if he knows that he has no say significant enough to change the course of his future. These are the non-princes we all love to hate since they have absolutely no desire to do anything with their lives despite having the money and power to make it happen.

Lee Yeon Jae really doesn't need this kind of drama from a man who's not even man enough to decide his own future. But of course, as drama land formula's dictate, Lee Yeon Jae will more than likely end up falling in love with this guy who has no more ambitions for his life outside of being his father's and Im Se Kyung's pull-string puppet. Maybe she'll end up changing his ideals and he'll become a better person and fall in love with Lee Yeon Jae right before he realizes that she's dying and they can't have a happily ever after. The thought of that is kind of depressing, but what more would we expect from a story line based off of a woman's last six months living in the world?

Of course, there is speculation that Kang Ji Wook may soon start a development progress to add onto the suspense and intrigue of his character. Right now, he's just the boring, lazy, unambitious main male lead. Of course, even so, Lee Dong Wook's presentation is done quite well since, even as a boring character, he's able to convey a lot of different changes in expression and mood surrounding the rich brat that makes you chuckle every so often.

The second man is Chae Eun Suk (Uhm Ki Joon), a doctor and former elementary school acquaintance to Yeon Jae. He seems to be the strict and unyielding type, unwilling to become openly compassionate about his patients and making absolute decisions without considering other people's feelings. Despite being elementary school friends, Chae Eun Suk makes a point to be blunt and rude to Yeon Jae, only telling her the dreary facts of her life and not really bothering with giving her time to absorb her condition. But even after that, Yeon Jae comes back to him as her doctor and happily allows him to treat her and acts as if the two have been friends forever. Surprisingly, Chae Eun Suk doesn't seem to shy away from her friendship and almost immediately changes his attitude towards her; even though he acts like he's the jerk hole that Yeon Jae thought he was in the beginning, he is kind and willing to go along with Yeon Jae's antics. We learn by episode six that Chae Eun Suk might have had an ongoing crush on Yeon Jae since elementary school.

This guy, no doubt, is that stereotypical good man and third wheel to the main couple's relationship. While there are certain types of good men who strike me as touching and worthy of our main female character's love, so far Chae Eun Suk has proven to be less than compatible. I'm shooting for the fact that there seems to be zero chemistry between Yeon Jae and the doctor and he's also not really making much of an effort to win this woman's heart. He also seems socially inadequate to the point that not many people really like him that much, especially his patients. This is fairly different from the usual "good man third wheel" offered in other series whom everyone tends to like and will push for the female lead to get together with. Then again, he also knows that she's going to die and probably would rather not start something that didn't have an proper ending. Or, he's just not quite sure how to handle this situation yet and is biding his time; which, if he really thought about it, he doesn't have very much time left to make a decision.

And so how is a girl to choose whom she will have her first and last wonderful romance with? After all, it's not like she gets to keep either one of the two men. She only has six months left to live.

The series, despite being based on a very melancholic plot device, truly does not convey much of a sad or depressing tone. In fact, aside from scenes where Yeon Jae is crying about the unfairness of her condition, the rest of the series so far involes her trying to spend the rest of her days making the most of her life in a very high-spirited and sometimes comedic fashion. We, as the audience, rarely get to return to her inevitable death and sometimes will forget that she has cancer and is dying at all. Of course, her cancer is a secret from everyone except for her and her doctor and the nurses. If she wants to live her life normally and if she doesn't want friends and her mother to worry, she has to continue to live happily for whatever time she has left.

And so what does a woman who is about to die do?

Lee Yeon Jae takes the first month and leaves the country for a nice and relaxing vacation in Okinawa, Japan. There, she chances upon Kang Ji Wook, who has no idea that she used to be an employee at his company, and the two end up enjoying the cultural activities, delicious food, and beautiful scenery of Okinawa in full force. And Yeon Jae ends up finding the gorgeous beach that she had dreamt about where she meets the man of her dreams, some muscular dude named William. Learning that Kang Ji Wook's given English name is simply Willie, she is a little disappointed... but really, what were we expecting anyway? A perfect fairy tale where our female protagonist meets her Prince Charming within the first two episodes?

In the Korean drama world, trials and tribulations as well as loads of tears and grief must occur before someone can live happily ever after. In this case, there might not even be a happily ever after, but there will definitely continue to be buckets of sadness.

This vacation and chance meeting establishes that lasting impression that the main leads will have for each other, sealing the inevitable pairing when they meet up again back in Korea. Because even though Kang Ji Wook is engaged and Lee Yeon Jae only has so much time left, there remains in each other's minds a desire to continue seeing each other; even though Kang Ji Wook tries so hard to remain detached since he has other obligations.

The vacation in Okinawa was a fabulous experience to follow along with. Japan is definitely a wonderfully gorgeous country, whether physically or culturally -- and it definitely gives one the resolve to plan a vacation in the near future (or far future depending on priorities). The direction and filming of this vacation was done beautifully, following as Yeon Jae gives the viewers a fun and fantastic tour of the area, enjoying the activities and looking lovely while she does it.

Scent of a Woman touches upon a very meaningful ideal as we follow the main lead on her journey to a late coming self-discovery. Lee Yeon Jae had plans to save up money for more important matters and ended up missing out on life. And so it's sad to see her go through all of that turmoil, but at the same time it's a bit of an eye opener, allowing viewers to wonder about life, in general, for oneself. Because, as stated in almost every inspirational concept, people should always live their today as if it could be their last day. When you keep putting things off for tomorrow, there will finally come a day when tomorrow might not be coming at all.

Of course, as inspirational as all that is, the idea is so much easier to talk about and discuss than it is to do. Human beings are only good at one thing after all: taking life for granted. Nobody is bothered with the idea of death because we would rather not think about it. And so we continuously live our lives as if we were immortal. For those of us who have yet to reach a certain age, death is such a far journey off from present day. And then for those people who have gotten to a certain age, there just seems to be so many more priorities to occupy our time. And finally, for those people who are nearing death's door... well, they are resigned to believe that, if they haven't lived their life fully by then, there's no reason to start.

But that's how it is with people; in today' society, there IS no time to think about anything but priorities and future plans. Everything is about money and responsibilities and future investments.

It's frustrating when you take a little bit of time to think about it, because we all know that we should try to have some sense of "no tomorrow" and live in glory rather than regret.

Nonetheless, I digress (it's what I do best) and now must return to the series...

While I'm not as hooked to this series as I typically am for others, I still rather enjoy what I've seen so far. The story line has been picking up rather slowly for these first six episodes, but Lee Yeon Jae has managed to do a lot of things for herself already between changing her appearance by buying new clothes and a new hairstyle, and getting a new phone and taking tango lessons. It's refreshing to see Yeon Jae so easily go from a non-image conscious, nagging young woman with priorities to a beautiful and more confident woman. She's not klutzy in her transition and it just feels so natural for her that she might as well have started off the series looking like a fashion model rather than the homely, glasses-wearing slave girl from episode one.

Kim Sun Ah presents Yeon Jae's reaction to her cancer and her sudden change in life really well. She's not over-doing the melancholy, she's not dramatizing on the pitiful state of her character's situation, and she's not even really trying to steal the scenes with what is supposed to be the most important device in this series. She is merely presenting to the viewers, a woman who has six months left to live, resigned to making the most of her life quietly, but at the same time as a gorgeous self-satisfying display.

Thus far I haven't really been too impressed with the characters aside from Lee Yeon Jae. Kang Ji Wook is the typical rich and spoiled brat with a heart of gold. Im Se Kyung is a woman that I really despise right now, being her arrogant and bratty self, feeling like the entire world should kneel at her toes in order for her to continue living. Chae Eun Suk really doesn't stand out as much as he seems to be meant to stand out. And the rest of the characters are kind of just background.

And for once in a romantic comedy genre series, I really don't care too much about the love story and just want to see how Lee Yeon Jae continues on with the rest of her short time in this world. There is just so much more meaning behind her last few months of planned activities than there is in her finding a man to love who will love her back, even though this is one of her biggest items on her Bucket List. And I think, ultimately, this is because we know that there is no "happily ever after" for Lee Yeon Jae and her Prince Charming; there is only a "live life to the fullest before I die" atmosphere.

I'm more worried for her mother when the time comes for her to realize her daughter is dying. I'm interested in seeing Kang Ji Wook's reaction to this news as well since there is an evident attraction towards her, but he's more adamant about remaining detached and continuing his monotonous rich boy life. I'm interested in seeing how friends and ex-coworkers will react. I'd like to see a bit of revenge going on for all the people who mistreated Yeon Jae. I want to know whether or not Wilson will ever return and clear Yeon Jae's name so that she doesn't have to give up her savings and then some for something she's innocent for.

And I especially want to see Im Se Kyung's rich brat self get her just desserts. In the fictional world, there are rich and spoiled brats that you can forgive for many reasons, and then there are arrogant and spoiled rich brats that you just cannot seem to stand at all. Im Se Kyung is a woman whom I cannot find an excuse for no matter how hard I've been trying. She had been cheated by an ex-boyfriend for money which hurt her. That's fine and you can be a little bit bitter. But does that really give you the right to treat everyone like they owe you their lives? She lives to believe that she is better than everyone else and that she should always get her way because she's so successful. She looks down on everyone, whether rich and powerful or not, and despite acting high and mighty and claiming to be strictly professional, she still allows her jealousies and her irrational behavior to control her actions.

Aside from that, there is nothing that would ever give one human being the right to physically abuse another. Even IF Lee Yeon Jae had been the culprit who stole the ring, it still doesn't give Im Se Kyung the right to slap her. And whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty anyway? And then just because she was slapped in return, Im Se Kyung decided to make life miserable for Yeon Jae; well at first it seemed that she just wanted Yeon Jae to disappear, but then she catches our female main lead and the princely Kang Ji Wook together in Okinawa and so she is even more determined to make life hell for Yeon Jae. So now Yeon Jae has that hefty little lawsuit weighing her down.

But as Yeon Jae says, she just finds it irritating that she has to waste time trying to fix this problem when she has so little of it left. She's confident that she won't lose to the rich brat, but she just wished that she could have used her time for other more important matters on her Bucket List.

For Im Se Kyung, I wonder about the rest of her desolate life. Because living as a paranoid person with a "greater than thou" attitude, the rest of her life will undoubtedly be a sad and depressing one. Unless someone is trying to flatter her out of fear or out of greed, there will never be anyone else willing to approach a woman like her. And so she will never have any true friends to share her woes and happinesses with. In a way, her life is even more depressing than Lee Yeon Jae's six months. At least Lee Yeon Jae is making the most of the rest of her short life.

Scent of a Woman has, so far, been rather interesting to follow along with and I will continue to watch it until the end just to see how Yeon Jae ends up. Again, it's totally strange how, for a romance series, I'm really not that interested in seeing which man Lee Yeong Jae will ultimately fall in love with by the end of the series. The journey to the last days in her life are what's more important and I'm intrigued by what else she plans on doing for herself until that last dire end.

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Related articles:
thoughts: Scent of a Woman - a gem among gems - 09/01/2011 update; progress mid-series

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intro info: Heartstrings (Korean)

(넌 내게 반했어 - Neon Naege Banhesseo)

Jung Yong Hwa as Lee Shin
Park Shin Hye as Lee Gyu Won
Song Chang Ui as Kim Suk Hyun
So I Yeon as Jung Yoon Soo
Woori as Han Hee Joo
Kang Min Hyuk as Yeo Joon Hee

For more information on Heartstrings: Heartstrings @ dramawiki

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As an introduction, this is the first of the "intro info" articles for my drama series. It really is just a means for me to make sure I can introduce any series with a summary and brief thoughts without giving away too much of the plot (of which I ended up doing in my more in depth thoughts articles). Each series I write about will include this brief introductory piece along with the more in depth analysis and extremely detailed opinions that I give.

In addition, I will include in these particular articles the link to each new related article that I add to my blog. Each new article added about a series will ultimately include a link at the beginning that guides any possible reader to the intro info post for the purpose of not giving away spoilers too early until the reader is ready to read the more detailed articles.

So... without further ado... or something like that...

***

Taking from my first impression post, Heartstrings is summarized as a college romance that takes place in a fine arts university wherein music is incorporated as a background theme. To put it simply, the story line basis for Heartstrings is first and foremost a sweet and fun little love story between the long awaited favorite onscreen couple by fangirls all over the world who obsessively followed the You're Beautiful popularity.

Lee Shin is a student of applied music theory, the leader of a band called The Stupid, and an extremely popular campus celebrity among the girls. Lee Gyu Won is a student of traditional music, the unofficial leader of a group called The Windflowers, and plays the gayageum, an extremely large stringed instrument that must be played sitting down, as a result of her grandfather's influence.

In the typical romantic comedy formula, Heartstrings starts off our main couple as two people who just can't seem to get along with each other. For the most part, because Lee Shin is a very indifferent, heckcare type of guy, he doesn't see any reason to be nice to people who aren't important to him. While most girls seem to fall for this type of guy as law, Lee Gyu Won enters the scene comprising of the one and only girl who doesn't care for his arrogance and uncaring attitude, especially during situations that seem to matter to her. Watching him very rudely reject girls and then blow her off as just another girl vieing for his attention, Gyu Won is determined to hate this guy. But as fate would have it (as dictated by the ALMIGHTY DIRECTOR) Lee Gyu Won eventually ends up falling for Lee Shin's mysterious and somehow attractive bad boy attributes after becoming his slave for one month.

Having been described as a girl who easily puts people's hearts at ease as her main attractive trait, it would only be a matter of time before Lee Shin also falls for Gyu Won.

Included in the story line alongside the main love story are two other side romances as well as the 100th Anniversary Celebration musical for the college to participate in. Kim Suk Hyun, a successful director who just returned to South Korea from Broadway, has been asked to help put together this musical because he is an alumn from the university. A predictable meeting with his ex-girlfriend, Jung Yoon Soo, currently a dance professor, catapults old feelings as well as the anger and sadness from their unsettled break-up from long ago when Yoon Soo left him to pursue her dancing dreams in New York.

Yeo Joon Hee is the adorable young drummer of The Stupid who has the appetite of a starved bear and always runs around dressed like a mess unless he's performing with his band. After a chance encounter with Han Hee Joo during her dance practice, it seems to be love at first sight as Joon Hee immediately claims her as his goddess and pitifully follows her around, deciding that they are meant to be a couple. Han Hee Joo, unfortunately, seems to think differently, only caring about her dream of becoming famous. As the daughter of the school board director, she has been given the advantage in her dreams as well as a spoiled and arrogant personality that pretty much causes her to have no friends or allies in her battles.

Heartstrings had started off as a gift from Korean drama to insiginificant little me, just as it had been for nearly all the fangirls out there who hoped and prayed for the fated pairing of Jung Yong Hwa and Park Shin Hye after their excellent chemistry from You're Beautiful. It was a delight just to be able to watch these two people interact as the developing main couple and when the time came for them to officially get together, I'm sure all fangirls were squealing in delight.

It is unfortunate, however, that Heartstrings is just like any other romance series with the same plot devices and the same formulas, following along the same predictable trail. After the couple got together, while there were a lot of entertaining and fun, sweet moments, the series itself seemed to lose all steam. In fact, even before the couple got together, Heartstrings was slowly becoming "just another common anecdote on the streets." Without a fairly stable, strong story line to follow, I suddenly began to recognize this series for it's intended value: a place where everyone's favorite people could come together and tell an attempted outstanding story; a place where everyone's favorite couple could become a love story.

This is not to say that I didn't really enjoy Heartstrings... because I did find it a nice experience from beginning to end. There were not too many complicated love triangles or strange conspiracies, and aside from the ending, there weren't too many unnecessary conflicts occurring. This story, was a straight forward, "How we got together" type of deal and it worked out just like that. It touches slightly upon the importance of pursuing one's dreams and how hard work and persistence may or may not pay off in the end. But then again, what series doesn't touch upon some inspirational quote like that sometimes?

The actors were good solid talent as far as Asian drama standards, although there was a lot of stiffness coming from some of the more amateur actors such as Jung Yong Hwa and Kang Min Hyuk, one who seemed to have trouble conveying more than one emotion and the other who seemed like the was simply reading directly from the script, respectively. Park Shin Hye was her utmost charming self as a more experienced actress among the crowd and sparkled in her role. The adults were kind of insignificant, really, and the Kim Suk Hyun/Jung Yoon Soo romance really didn't do anything for me.

The music was wonderful to listen to as it was probably the more significant element in the series, comprising of songs sung by Jung Yong Hwa, Park Shin Hye, C.N. Blue, F.T. Island, and many others. I especially liked to hear the combination of The Stupid and The Windflowers playing, fusing modern music with traditional music, giving off some very beautiful sounds for the audience to enjoy. Comedic antics weren't always the laugh out loud type, but were nonetheless good attempts at humor, and the chemistry between the cast members was undeniably wonderful.

While not the best drama series this year, it is an enjoyable experience if you're looking for something entertaining to keep you occupied before the next big thing.

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Related articles:
thoughts: Heartstrings - a more in depth look at the series in discussion
first impression: Heartstrings - a first look at the series from day one
news: Heartstrings dropped to 15 episodes

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thoughts: Heartstrings (Korean)

(넌 내게 반했어 - Neon Naege Banhesseo)
You've Fallen For Me

Jung Yong Hwa as Lee Shin
Park Shin Hye as Lee Gyu Won
Song Chang Ui as Kim Suk Hyun
So I Yeon as Jung Yoon Soo
Woori as Han Hee Joo
Kang Min Hyuk as Yeo Joon Hee

For more information on Heartstrings: Heartstrings @ dramawiki


With the ending of Heartstrings, of course, comes a whole new review post full of spoilers and personal opinions formed from various matters occuring, even within this simple college love story.

Because this post includes a lot of spoilers and may ruin the series' fresh viewing experience, a warning is now being issued to proceed with caution. For a shorter, less revealing article about Heartstrings, check out the related introductory post: intro info - Heartstrings.

If you don't like spoilers, I would suggest reading that one first for summary info and brief thoughts about Heartstrings by this blogger.



Heartstrings is a series that follows Lee Shin and Lee Gyu Won through their trials and tribulations (if you can even really call it that) as they meet, greet, and fall in love. Of course, their course isn't as simple as falling for each other instantaneously; however, their story isn't as complicated as a Romeo and Juliet melodrama either (although it could have been). The series begins as a simple college love story waiting to blossom and up to the very end, it remains a simple college love story developing into a happy ending.

My only complaints about the series include: 1) the sudden male ego trip that Lee Shin goes through at the end of the series that brings up the age-old soapbox of irritation that I try not to storm into too regularly -- although it may be addressed in another article at some other point in time; and 2) the fact that the story line sort of loses it's "go power" mid-way through the latter half of the series making it feel more like a "when is this story ending" type of deal rather than a "I can't wait to see what happens next" type of anticipation.

The backdrop of Heartstrings surrounds music and depicts the musical performance that comes as the most important event to occur for the university of fine arts students.

Jung Yong Hwa and Park Shin Hye release all of their charm and acting charisma for this sweet and fun series from beginning to end, presenting their characters in all their glory.

Lee Gyu Won is portrayed by Park Shin Hye as a bubbly, head-strong, sweet and duty-bound normal girl. Raised by her grandfather to respect and be influenced by traditional Korean music, Gyu Won really knows nothing else about the life around her. Because she loves and respects her grandfather, Gyu Won is hard pressed to do anything that will upset him, because ever since her father was kicked out of the home, there is no one else around to take care of the old, stubborn fool of a man, Lee Dong Jin.

On a side note, despite his stubborn traditional ways, Lee Dong Jin is actually a rather adorable, interesting, and entertaining grandfather figure. His relationship with Gyu Won really isn't as bad as it might have seemed and his way of caring about her is fairly different from even a tough parent. He worries about her and does his share of housework as well as spends his time fretting about Gyu Won's future in traditional music, playing the large stringed gayageum. He even goes all the way to the university to cheer Gyu Won on with her competition against Lee Shin's band, The Stupid; and then he shows up to the musical despite his dislike for it and claiming time after time that he would not bother with anything related to Western music.

He gives into Gyu Won time and time again, allowing her to do as she pleases, and forgiving her despite her blatant disobedience to his demands. Even though he openly treats her with loud commands and slave-driving force, it is all in his form of expressing his love and care. It basically comes down to, "You are Lee Dong Jin's granddaughter. If you're going to do something I don't approve of, you better make sure you be the best, no matter what."

It is a strange one, the relationship between Gyu Won and her grandfather, but it is also one that makes for a heart-warming trait in the series. As far as Lee Dong Jin goes, in spite of his stubbornness, I really did enjoy his presence and the series wouldn't have been the same without him.

Back to Gyu Won, despite her intended description as a plain and unattractive girl, I'm sure that no one in their right mind would believe the presence of Park Shin Hye to be unattractive. While Gyu Won seems to be a carbon-copy created character for Park Shin Hye, there is no doubt that the actress gives the role her own adorable spin and charm that brings Lee Gyu Won into the limelight readily. There is a certain charm that Park Shin Hye possess that makes it hard not to follow her closely in her role as Lee Gyu Won, and makes her a readily loveable main female protagonist. The onscreen presence of Park Shin Hye is something to reckon with and in the future, I have high hopes that she will become a big hit no matter where she goes.

Lee Shin is a cold-hearted (supposedly), indifferent guitarist and singer. As his biological father notes, the life of a musician is a lonely one, which is what it seems that Lee Shin is trying to project to the audience as well as his fellow college mates. He does what he wants and doesn't bother to care about anyone else, speaking little and ignoring what he wants to ignore. Jung Yong Hwa pulls off this personality quite well, being his second series in a major role; instead of acting out the charming and sweet princely character that his debut in You're Beautiful is loved for, he manages to do a complete one-eighty with Lee Shin and simply act out a jerk face without a care in the world.

And so it is no surprise that Shin and Gyu Won start off on the wrong foot with one another starting from episode one. Gyu Won plays witness to his arrogance when he rudely rejects a girl asking him out, telling her simply that he doesn't like "ugly girls." Even I had thought, "Ouch, that was harsh." He even goes on to call Gyu Won an "ugly girl" as well and I was shocked that anyone, even in the fictional world, would call a woman like Park Shin Hye "ugly." And so, no doubt, it was definitely NOT love at first sight for these two. Because even with Gyu Won's attempts at being a civil and sincerely kind person towards Shin, he doesn't reciprocate and continues to treat her like dirt; even after he starts to warm up to her a little bit due to their little master-slave contract.

Of course, Shin is the type who can't seem to figure out his own feelings anyway. He's obsessed with being in love with the dance professor, Jung Yoon Soo, who has hinted time and time again that she doesn't want him acting that way. She claims that his love for her is more like having pity for an injured animal than anything else and so even the viewers wonder: did Shin really harbor real feelings of love for this woman like he claimed? Because after meeting with Gyu Won and slowly letting her grow on him, he seems to very easily switch his heart's direction towards the bubbly girl. He's pretty easily moved by her confession as well as her declaration to him that she will forget and move on when he doesn't reciprocate her feelings. He starts to look for her all the time, wondering how she's doing and worrying that she's struggling with her feelings. And then eventually, he starts to fall for her.

Lee Shin might have been attracted to Jung Yoon Soo in the beginning, but before he even moved on from the dance professor, he'd already slowly allowed Gyu Won into his heart, even if he wouldn't admit it. Because throughout their hostile relationship, he still seems to find the time to look for Gyu Won or think about how he will tease her or the like. For an indifferent guy like Lee Shin, to even put that much effort into another person is a rather significant feat.

In a sense, it could really be said that Lee Shin's feelings for Jung Yoon Soo really were just a simple child's crush for a woman he couldn't have. They weren't strong enough that he could smile so warmly at the thought of Gyu Won's strange and petty actions like claiming that she'd spit in his coffee.

And so, even as it is evident that our main couple is none other than Lee Shin and Lee Gyu Won, the series does a rather good job of laying the foundation for their eventual getting together plot. The fact that they come together as "frenemies" who bicker all the time, then as Gyu Won harboring a crush on Lee Shin, then onto being awkward friends, and finally lovers... It just seemed like a really natural process.

The rest of the characters and their side plots play off rather nicely, but seemed like they were just a bunch of anecdotes that didn't quite know where they were headed. And so before things could become more complicated for anyone else, a considerate resolution was presented to them, courtesy of the ALMIGHTY DIRECTOR AND HIS WRITERS.

Kim Suk Hyun, played by Song Chang Ui, is a former alumn of the series' university, a man who has returned to his country after a successful run as a director for Broadway musicals. He has been asked to return to the college and help put together the 100th Anniversary Celebration performance. Using his name, apparently, will bring in the fame and really good sponsors. Opposite him is So I Hyeon's Jung Yoon Soo, the dance professor and choreographer for the celebration performance.

Very early on, we discover that these two have an untold, melancholic past wherein Jung Yoon Soo, due to her pursuance of her dreams, leaves Kim Suk Hyun to go to New York. Of course, then she comes into a bad accident and ends up coming home to teach at the university. But because of her abandonment, the now Broadway director has been harboring ill-met feelings of hostility towards her, even rewriting the celebration performance to mirror the history between the two of them just to humiliate her. This hostility between the two seem as if there requires an act of god to fix since neither of the two are willing to talk things over despite still having feelings for one another.

But then that act of god (a la the ALMIGHTY DIRECTOR) really DOES step in and has Suk Hyun forgiving Yoon Soo out of the blue and asking her if they could start their love story all over again. She agrees and the two start seeing each other as a more matured version of the love story, wherein Yoon Soo will take a level-headed stance on their relationship so as not to screw things up with Suk Hyun again. And so it seems that no matter what happens with our beloved Director, Yoon Soo is willing to stick it out with him, standing by his side to support him. Even the rumors that are spread about him and Gyu Won don't do anything to destroy this newly reformed perfect romance. And from then onward, their relationship continues to progress in a very stable fashion without unnecessary complications or the like.

It is a very refreshing concept in terms of the drama land romance genre. Once they got together, these two just stayed together and it was nice. Granted, it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference if they'd hated each other at the beginning or not since their relationship sails smoothly for the rest of the series. This is a striking contrast to a lot of different young romances which allows both sides to easily let go of their anger and their misunderstandings so that they could be together once again; the adult way of handling a relationship, no doubt and allowing for none of that BIG MISUNDERSTANDING turning point, even though there were hintings at a possible complicated "love rectangle" between this couple an the main couple.

In a way, even though the series kept trying to hint at that complicated love rectangle, I'm glad that it was easily dropped and forgotten. There was no need for a strange Kim Suk Hyun/Lee Gyu Won/Lee Shin mix up at all. Kim Suk Hyun's interest in Gyu Won remained strictly professional -- he saw her as the next big hit in musicals and that was all.

To the rest of the school, to Gyu Won, and even to Lee Shin, Kim Suk Hyun was merely the mature and wise Broadway director who would mentor and lead them through one anecdote in their lives. At first, while he seemed like he would be an arrogant man who thought he was good stuff just because he'd come back from Broadway fame, his encouragement, his actions and his words were actually really rational and professional. He knew what he wanted and he knew how to treat the "kids" in order to have progress in their goal rather than causing problems.

Of course, his talent doesn't go without complications. And so we can see that, whether as young teenagers, adolescent college students, or even full blown adults of society, there are always petty jealousies and the tendency to use back-handed methods just to get rid of what you don't like. Im Tae Joon's role was very apparently the failure of an antagonist to Kim Suk Hyun who seems adamant that things should not be left up to the Broadway director if he has anything to do with it. But time and time again, his methods seem to be blown off, and aside from the Gyu Won/Suk Hyun scandal, nothing else he does seems to work and he eventually has to admit defeat to someone's who has always ousted him in his own department.

"He's just like a puppy!" - Cha Bo Eun

Yeo Joon Hee, played by Kang Min Hyuk who is a fellow C.N. Blue member alongside Jung Yong Hwa, also plays the role of a drummer in the college band. He is friends with Lee Shin and encompasses an adorably fun character with an appetite that can never be quenched. Of course, his character's existence, aside from looking pretty and being cute, is rather flat and insignificant. I'm sure rabid fangirls out there will disagree with me, but the fact of the matter is, what does this guy actually contribute to the series by being in random scenes where he's reciting strange poems and crushing on Han Hee Joo? I agree that he is a very adorable, puppy-like boy and I enjoy every scene that he's in. And maybe his existence is to help counter Han Hee Joo's selfish, rude, arrogant, spoiled personality and turn her into a better person. He certainly DOES manage to slowly change Han Hee Joo's heart as he persistently wiggles his way into her life, showing her the friendship and care that she's probably never seen before.

But ultimately, there's nothing else that he does, which very easily renders him as a very minor supporting character. Because even Han Hee Joo (Woori) has a much more significant presence than he does -- her homework is to allow the character to develop and grow into a nicer person. Yeo Joon Hee, on the other hand, starts off as an adorable puppy and ends off as an adorable puppy with the same sweet, friendly, and strange personality from beginning until ending.

Moving onto Han Hee Joo, I will definitely say that this girl has, tacked on her forehead, "A List of Reasons Why You Should Hate Me." It's very blatantly obvious why she has no friends and why so many girls talk about her behind her back. As the school board director's daughter, she is arrogant and rude, looks down on almost everyone else, and truly believes that she's better at what she does than anyone else in the school. And she's petty too, using meaningless prattle to try to put other people down, but ultimately making herself look kind of stupid.

And so it's not very clear to me why Joon Hee falls in love with her so unhesitatingly. Is it because she's pretty? Because she was a dancing goddess when he first saw her? Does love at first sight really work like that? And even if so, wouldn't her personality eventually repulse even the strongest of men? Or is this something that men actually like to be around? Or maybe it IS just Yeo Joon Hee's strange taste in women...

I don't really get it. She certainly didn't win ME over. But then again, I'm not a young, naive, hormone raging boy. No offense to the Yeo Joon Hee lovers, but I'm afraid there's a bit of judgement impairment in his choice of female suitors. Granted, she DOES redeem herself by the end of the series, but throughout the entirety of the beginning of the series, I couldn't really find anything about her that I liked, except for maybe her undying determination to be the best. But even THAT I ended up finding rather annoying.

Her case against Gyu Won was actually pretty reasonable, though, since it's true that she's worked hard her entire life to see her dream through, whereas Gyu Won's intended contribution to the celebration performance was merely in the music area to begin with. And then suddenly she gets thrown into the acting division to take away what she never really wanted in the first place. But then I thought, who is Han Hee Joo to decide who's worthy of being in the acting division and who's not? So my one attempt at finding something about Han Hee Joo that I could admire was dropped heavily into the ocean.

Because Gyu Won was right: Han Hee Joo worked hard to attain her dreams, but she's not the only one who has worked hard. And so her consistent attempts at putting Gyu Won down were simply without rationale and kind of futile anyway, making her seem more like a fool than anything else.

I think the last straw for me and my attempts at finding something to like about Han Hee Joo were broken when she used Joon Hee to help secure her position as main female lead and to get rid of Gyu Won from the performance altogether. Joon Hee is an innocent boy who really only wants to love and be loved by his "Natasha" goddess. Even though I don't know why he started liking Han Hee Joo in the first place, there's no questioning that as he continued to pursue her, he began to admire her strong determination and her hard work and her passion for the arts. Joon Hee is a kind young man with a very, very good heart, but because he thought that he would get Han Hee Joo into trouble, he agreed to lie for her, telling people that he was not with her on that fated day that the students were to perform for the sponsors. Han Hee Joo, being lured away by Joon Hee's kindness and lots of "non-fattening" foods, misses the practice performance showing, allowing Gyu Won to shine in front of all the people. And so she is even more determined to get rid of Gyu Won, and in order to do that, no one could find out that she'd snuck away with Joon Hee and had her phone turned off.

And so she goes and tells him to lie for her, not even bothering to tell him that because of this, very dire consequences would come to take place. And so when Joon Hee realizes the seriousness of the situation, he begins to feel guilty and stressed out about it. It is even described that he has stopped eating -- for him, the stress was really just too much to cause him to lose his appetite like that.

How can you possibly let such a sweet and pretty boy go through this kind of trauma? He's an innocent and he doesn't deserve to be made into a guilty party like that. How could anyone stand to watch as the poor guy stops eating like he normally does and is constantly conflicted over his own little lie? I would never be able to watch such an innocent puppy look depressed and traumatized by his own guilty actions.

And so despite her repentance by the end of the series wherein she merely stops being a rude and bratty girl, I still can't really forgive her for what she did to Joon Hee. He may like her a lot, but I don't really harbor any feelings of like in this girl at all.

But of course, just like the rest of the series' side plots, this little side romance is resolved rather flatly. Basically, Han Hee Joo just grows accustomed to having Joon Hee around and is touched by his constant kindness towards her. And then the two unofficially get together. Case closed.

Han Hee Joo's mother suddenly has the need to admit that she'd been too hard on her about being the best and being the most popular girl. This really came out of nowhere. Im Tae Joon, the guy who was causing all the rumors and wanting to get Kim Suk Hyun out of the picture suddenly just stops trying to make trouble and accepts defeat and so along with him the rest of the professors admit their defeat as well. But this is never really shown and is actually assumed when no one tries to fight Kim Suk Hyun's ideals about the celebration performance anymore. Hyun Gi Young's stage fright tendencies were solved before the series even started rolling and there were no signs of relapsing for him, so really, was that anecdote even necessary to appear in the series at all?

Lee Dong Jin stops opposing Gyu Won's desire to do something else with her life rather than playing the gayageum because Grandfather wants her to. This happens because Shin's younger sister has a sudden interest in traditional music and so Grandfather decides to raise a whole new apprentice, finally giving up on his own granddaughter. And so all is forgiven and fixed.

The awkward tension between Gyu Won's father and Lee Shin's mother happens and then just disappears as quickly as it appeared. They were two lovers in the past who missed out on an opportunity to be together, ended up regretting it even after all these years of marrying other people and having children. And then they reunite as friends. Are there really no more strings attached to the relationship that could have been? No lingering feelings of regret? This side plot was let go of almost too instantly.

All of these conclusions seem to just drop out of the sky from the ALMIGHTY DIRECTOR'S tablet of answers. Of course, this might have been forced out since the series was robbed of one episode due to Park Shin Hye's unfortunate car accident causing her to become hospitalized for a duration of time. The writers chose to rewrite some of the script and then had to rush a conclusion in order to wrap up the story within fifteen episodes.

Still, there was a very evident deflation in the story line's development as it progressed after the script change. Nothing else felt exciting anymore after our main couple got together. As Lee Shin holds Gyu Won's hand and tells her that he wished she would fall in love with him again, fangirls all over the world squealed in delight. Even I felt giddy for the newly formed onscreen couple's official getting together. But unlike the rest of the fangirls in the rest of the world, I found that the rest of the series lost steam after that confession was made.

All of the half-begun complications and side plots were forgotten. The series' main goal from then on was to finish off the 100th Anniversary Celebration performance and show a few trials that the couple has to go through in order to end the story with closure.

Sure, I enjoyed following Shin and Gyu Won on their random dates and watching their sparkling interactions with each other. But nothing seemed to excite me about the series anymore and it just felt like watching any other real life couple going around and having fun. It was nice and it was fun and it was enjoyable, but the story had lost it's power suddenly and the authors were trying really hard to fill in the vacant spots with substance.

And so rather than rushing those conclusions, maybe the authors could have used what filler scenes available to them to figure out better ways to finish off the series.

Then again, maybe this is the charm of Heartstrings up until the very ending. It's a simple love story and it remained as a simple love story. There were no extraneous complications and there were no reasons to make things more complicated. We want to end on a happy tone and that's what the fangirls truly want anyway. It's admittedly a refreshing way of bringing about a love story -- no third wheel, no love triangle, no strange conspiracies... just a simple ending. All other side plots tapered off with justifiable and decent resolutions and some side plots just tapered off without a proper resolution. This is real life anyway -- not everything can be resolved and we just have to deal with it that way.

A sweet and simple love story...

Or at least it would have been an ideal simple ending. Because -- SPOILER ALERT -- suddenly we input the BIG MISUNDERSTANDING into our main couple's love story as is apparently necessary in every romance which causes them to separate for a while and have to have a warm reunion where there are hugs and kisses and the like... Totally uncalled for, really, but if that's what the authors were shooting for... I guess... All the power to them. It certainly didn't really do much to make things any better.

Lee Shin didn't need to get hurt and end up having surgery. He also didn't need to push Gyu Won away from him or break up with her. And she should have been given the choice to either leave and pursue her career dream, or remain and pursue the man she fell in love with. That would be her choice ultimately. Or they could have come up with a good solution wherein Shin has his surgery and Gyu Won can STILL go on her one year sabbatical to become a popular celebrity and musical performer.

These kids are too young to be thinking that they don't have other opportunities.

It wasn't like Gyu Won would be leaving forever. After a year of being away for her new career opportunity, she can return to her home and return to Lee Shin and continue to be their lovey-dovey couple. At least during her year away from home, neither of the two would have been so sad and depressed as they ended up being.

So the ending separation and heartbreak was really unnecessary. Why couldn't we just let things be fine and Gyu Won just leave in peace and return to reunite with Shin after her career got jump-started? Why on earth did he think that keeping secrets from her and then breaking up with her would be the right answer? You know, maybe if you hadn't kept your problem a secret in the first place, she wouldn't have been worried to the point that she'd give up her opportunity at being famous to stay with you.

Honesty, apparently, is not common courtesy anymore. His heart was in the right place, but his methods were a little foolish. Once again, this type of plot device just opens up all sorts of soap box ranting that needs to be set aside for a different post later on. Really, this device is used so much for the necessary separation of the main couple that it DOES become kind of tiring sometimes. Especially if the separation was really unnecessary and the story could have just ended "happily ever after" without it and NOT making viewers wonder what the writers were trying to accomplish. In some instances, the BIG MISUNDERSTANDING resulting in their split-up is written rather well and runs smoothly and I find them pretty reasonable, but in other instances, you really just wonder why it was there in the first place.

In Heartstrings, it's obvious that the break up and separation was really unnecessary.

Nonetheless, the series ends on a happy tone and all is well.

The series, despite losing it's power partway through the latter half of the story line was still a delight to watch, just for entertainment value's sake. Ultimately, Heartstrings is a simple love story of how Lee Shin and Lee Gyu Won fall in love. Once they officially become a couple in the series, the story pretty much is done and over with, and so this in itself might be the reason why the story loses its steam by that point in the telling. There's nothing else left but to figure out how to conclude the rest of the series.

The actors were solid and wonderful, the chemistry was great, and scenes were interesting even if the story didn't add up anymore. The date scenes between Shin and Gyu Won were fun to watch and the musical performance (what little of it you get to see) was rather interesting. Although without actually knowing what Kim Suk Hyun had intended to convey with his performance, I don't think I would have figured it out just following along with the musical's story line.

The Windflowers

The Stupid

One factor I wanted to point out were the two music groups introduced in this series: The Stupid and The Windflowers. The Stupid is the college band comprising of four boys who play regularly at a bar called Catharsis in the series; Lee Shin is the leader of the band and pretty much the main reason why the band is so popular since girls all over campus are in love with him. The Windflowers are the five girls from the traditional music department comprising of Lee Gyu Won, her best friend Cha Bo Eun and three others. The ultimate combination of these two bands, western music with traditional music, was a delight to follow along with and the interaction of the members of both groups, though seemingly little and insignificant, was quite nice to see.

"Excuse me.  Can I come back in?  I really don't have anywhere else to go."

Cha Bo Eun, played by Im Se Mi, was a wonderful friend of Lee Gyu Won's to watch during her appearances. Being a great source of comedic relief, I really grew to like her almost immediately, especially during the time she seemed to "keep interfering" whenever Shin wanted to be alone with Gyu Won. The scene where she makes up an excuse to leave the room so that the couple could be together was hilarious and I laughed out loud at her, "Excuse me. Can I come back in? I really don't have anywhere else to go." And she was directing the question at Shin, trying extremely hard not to get on his bad side; after all, the last time she'd done that, he took revenge on her by tricking her into sitting and listening to Gyu Won's harabeoji tell his tale about Lee Dong Jin's life story.

This series boasted a lot of fun and cute scenes, good looking faces and excellent talents and skills. The music was amazing and the singing was on par with excellent. There were little details about the story line that were simply enjoyable during the moment, such as when Gyu Won gets drunk at the senior citizen's home and Shin has to piggy-back her all the way home; or when the couple goes to the art museum for the first date; or even when the entire group of students stays overnight at the school for practice purposes and ends up trying to scour the school for a ghost. It was all in good fun and reminds you of those cute little young adolescent movies or series featuring a group of kids just hanging out at camp or the like.

Nostalgia much...?

Also, Lee Hyun Jin as Hyun Gi Young was a very delicious presence to squealy fangirls (myself included) because, well, aside from having a very radiant smile and a wonderful singing voice, the personality of Gi Young was pretty down-to-earth. He did not present as an obstacle for anything and he was... well...

O.O  Hmm....  O.O

There's you're fanservice, courtesy of an innocent and simple and sweet romantic comedy suitable for young girls. Have at it. I think I pretty much dropped my jaw, lost some breath and wrenched my eyes open to ogle stare at this boy when his shirt was torn off during the musical performance.

Yeah... I think I rather enjoyed the musical... fanservice...

But, moving along still...

The actors were what kept the series going, I believe. Despite this being Jung Yong Hwa's second drama series, he does a very good job of portraying his character to a very standard 'T', bringing out the character and then making it his own. I have high hopes for this guy in the future and will continue to follow him if he continues to pursue acting as a side career next to his music.

Does anyone else want that hoodie that Gyu Won is wearing?  So cute!

As for Park Shin Hye, there's no doubting that there is a certain charm to her onscreen presence that not very many actresses have nowadays. She's beautiful, adorable, and normal, all at the same time. You can't help but to be drawn into her character as she presents her role to the audience. No doubt, Park Shin Hye will become the next big hit following her various main lead roles from the past few years and will soon catch up to the likes of other romantic comedy queens or even drama series famous actresses.

Heartstrings... I would recommend this as a source of entertainment to follow along with when you're waiting for something else to watch. But for merely something to become hooked onto; I'm not sure if this would be the one. Highly enjoyable and good fun. Great music and lovable characters. But that's about it. This was, after all, evidently, a series created for the fans.

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Related articles:
first impression: Heartstrings (Korean) - a first look at the series' beginning
news: Heartstrings dropped to 15 episodes

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