thoughts: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop (Korean) -- mid-series thoughts

This article contains spoilers, but mostly opinions; proceed with caution.

Regardless of whether or not this series will be slapped with an extension, Episode Eight is where the intended central turning point seems to be located. We are well on our way into the Flower Boy Ramyun Shop's (official shop title now) business success, and our characters all seem to have reached some sort of climax in their development. Then again, I might be looking into it too much and really just want to be able to blog about this series in the middle, so I'm reaching for significance.

And yes, the above picture isn't from Episode Eight, but there's something giddily amusing about the way that Eun Bi is silently analyzing the two items, symbolically representing the two men (boys?) entering into her life.

But anyway, one thing IS for sure: Even if no one else will admit it (Cha Chi Soo included), our Pretty has finally come to the conclusion that he is indeed physically attracted to Yang Eun Bi and has developed feelings for her. I don't know if Eun Bi has picked up on this, but there's no doubt that her column of a "husband", Choi Kang Hyuk, has figured out as much. And so we now let the little love triangle fall into place.

I love how this series deals with plot devices and story arcs, as well as all the symbolism and dialogue. While there's a very hilarious, almost comic tone on the surface, the heart of this series' emotion and meaning is very well conveyed at all the right times. Plot devices wrap up quickly without being drawn out for too long and so the pacing and editing is fairly awesome; we get right to the point and then we keep moving right along -- there are no unnecessary fillers or strangely awkward details forced into it. ALL of it is purely story line and the transitions from one mood to another aren't at all forced.

For example, Cha Chi Soo's demand to see Eun Bi immediately because he's starting to hallucinate again (comedy) is cut short by Eun Bi's run in with her ex-boyfriend (melodrama) which then leads to resurfacing memories and eventually the angry confrontation between Chi Soo and Eun Bi (angst). Following, we get a little glimpse of the impending love triangle between the three main characters as they all reflect on their own thoughts (melodrama and romance). And all of this falls right into place without seeming too awkward.

It's a very smooth ride from the highs and lows of our mood, coupled with a very extreme hilarity and nonsensical devices that just seem to work for this story line.

While the main base plot of the ramyun shop took some time to build-up (about six episodes), everything that went into it was rather essential to the rest of the story line. Because even though the ramyun shop is what will eventually bring us all together, there is so much more to the series than just the ramyun shop alone. But we've incorporated so much backstory (that doesn't feel like backstory at all as we watch developments) into the necessity of both Yang Eun Bi and Cha Chi Soo to be a part of this ramyun shop despite the entire concept being out of their own elements.

Eun Bi has spent her life trying to distance herself from the ramyun shop because not only does it conflict with her wish for a "normal" lifestyle, it also brings back painful memories of her childhood. Her days as the scary "Eun Bi Spike" volley ball player is viewed as something unfeminine to her coupled with her anger driven strength that seems to scare most men away. Her mother's death, she even ties in as a woe of the ramyun shop because she felt that her father had cared more for business than for family. But the death of her father seems to instill some sort of clarity in her life and she begins her development early, giving the ramyun shop a chance to be in her life again.

Cha Chi Soo has lived in a delusional, second-generation chaebol world wherein his questionable upbringing by an overly doting father has rendered him... well, incapable of being a "normal" human being with "normal" human compassion and thought processes. He's arrogant, spoiled, and extremely silly to the point that it's hard not to feel frustrated with him, but at the same time adopt an adoration for his egocentric ignorance. As much as a jerkface as he is, I hate him AND I love him, but most importantly, I feel sad for him. Because of this, I'm most drawn to Chi Soo's comically outlandish behavior. The boy thinks that he's refined and mature, but he couldn't be more far from it.

I totally don't mind that he's a little badass because he does it so hilariously. And it really DOES just make you want to see how he turns out in the latter part of the series. Is it strange that I find his wildly immature behavior kind of adorkable? And this has nothing to do with the fact that Jung Il Woo is the resident Pretty of the characters; the character of Chi Soo himself is just so layered in depth that it's hard not to pay attention to him. It's like he has some sort of switch where he goes from one mood to another, almost too quickly but naturally.

Being the first series I've seen with Jung Il Woo, I have to hand it to him and all of his fans; he definitely knows what he's doing with this role and he definitely knows where he's taking Chi Soo's character. His comedic flair is strange and loud, but not in a scene stealing way; for the type of person that Cha Chi Soo is, the level of noisy and funny tantrums are just right. But at the same time Jung Il Woo can switch Chi Soo's insane outbursts, hallucination scenes, and strange logical deliberations into the depth of vulnerability and seriousness you would have never expected from Chi Soo's arrogant persona. And it works -- at the push of a button, you see the deep thought and the sad struggle and it all goes right with Chi Soo's characterization.

I've found my new fangirl obsession. Jung Il Woo does it all excellently!

The best part about Cha Chi Soo is that he can easily go from a character you want to hate, but almost immediately change into one that you can't help but love. He isn't the resident jerk face main male lead only because his world and his logic are so skewed as a result of his upbringing. He doesn't intend to be a crass asshole; the way he acts just makes sense to him even if it shouldn't make sense to any normal person. But he seriously doesn't understand why it is that his actions are bringing about so much hostility, while at the same time he recognizes that hostility.

It's like he's still having trouble making that connection no matter how much he wants to get there. The vulnerability in Chi Soo's ignorance doesn't stun me at all, though. Because while I'm frustrated with his second-generation chaebol delusions that money can solve all problems and people shouldn't take feelings too seriously, at the same time, you kind of pity him. I mean, his logic makes sense to HIM.

So I guess that it's high time that he finally starts to learn what real life is all about. Maybe this is why I'm loving this series so much. It's more of a journey for Chi Soo (as well as Eun Bi) in a sort of twisted self-discovery type of plot device. It's a sadder process for Chi Soo, mostly because the rough treatment he's receiving isn't undeserved; he's been quite the brat after all and needs to be taught a good lesson. But the wounded look on his face really DOES make one ache for his ignorance and wish that he would change soon, or that someone will at least give him the benefit of a doubt and understand where he's coming from.

Tough love is hard, so it's a good thing that everyone is being so difficult for him; hopefully they can all be standing on the same plane soon.

Finally: How much do I love the more light-hearted happenings in this series? How much do I just adore every single character in this series? And how much do I absolutely LOVE Cha Chi Soo's deduction of his feelings concerning Eun Bi, trying to make that connection between his logic and these new emotions he's developing? It's awesome, hilarious, AND heart-filled all at the same time!

Kang Hyuk's tendencies to be lazy and outworldly strange, while at the same time showing so much more depth in his mind's workings in a sort of "all-knowing being" way has started growing on me. I didn't really care for him at the beginning despite his already saintly presence; there was always something awkward about him that bugged me. I also didn't take to his claim on Eun Bi as his wife (without her knowledge) as well as his cohabitation with her (also without her knowledge). It almost made it seem like Eun Bi wouldn't have a say in her future, and if this wasn't a comedy, I'd call it creepy stalking. But now, he's coming off adorably sweet, and frankly, I think this is going to be a tough triangle to battle with.

On the surface, I'm rooting for Chi Soo just because of everything I've said about him already, faults included. But deep down, I know that Kang Hyuk is the better man and I wouldn't be surprised if Eun Bi develops any sort of attraction towards him -- or has her own struggle. I hate triangles... but sometimes, they're not so bad, I guess.

Kim Ba Wool is by far my favorite "Flower Boy" if only for his off-character cutesie childishness when dealing with the people around him. His relationship with Eun Bi is a wonder that I love watching, just because you rarely get to see this type of dynamic between a non-blood-related-opposite-gender sibling pair. People always assume that men and women cannot be "just friends" but these two radiate all sorts of noona-dongsaeng goodness without even remotely tying themselves up with complicated romantic tendencies.

The scene in which they are both begging Kang Hyuk to comply with their desires by clinging to his arm and pouting like children -- Golden Moment!

The only unfortanate deal with Ba Wool is his wussiness giving in to all of Yoon So Yi's "OPPA-WIGGLE-POUT" (a term coined at Dramabeans) actions. Yoon So Yi is still an enigma to me (as well as to many, many other viewers, I'm sure) with her somehow managing to convince herself that two-timing is for the greater good. Yes, she's a big fat "huh" in terms of her strange logic, even IF she's starting to grow on me only because I'm not quite sure how to file her persona. She IS quite cute, if only I can get passed her strangely blissful ignorance the same way that I managed to accept Chi Soo's immature behavior. This girl pretty much lives in a book of her own logic, which somehow, she manages to promote levelly, but no matter how you look at it or over analyze it with references, none of it makes ANY sense. A team of politicians couldn't get around this one at all.

Lastly, I totally love how Chi Soo can't seem to fathom the slightest about why he's so fixated on Yang Eun Bi. I mean, yea, obviously the kid's never been in love before (but I haven't either and I'm sure I could recognize feelings better than he can). HOWEVER, to have somehow concluded and convinced himself that he's suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to rough treatment by Intern... It's just interesting how the more logical reasoning of having developed feelings WASN'T his first conclusion (nor his father's) while every other person around him has probably figured out that he's attracted to Yang Eun Bi. This is such unique and classic new territory that it's just fun, fun, fun! I totally love, love, LOVE watching him struggle like this! (I know, I'm sadistic, but it's cute.) It's so silly and bizzare and Jung Il Woo hits all of Chi Soo's tantrums and hallucinations and strange ideas so, so perfectly.

(Standing ovation!)

Here's looking forward to the rest of the series now that we're rolling right along. The ramyun shop is open for business, feelings are coming out into the open, the aggressive triangle has begun to settle into place, and our story has thankfully scooted the "ex-boyfriend returns" plot device through resolution within two episodes with a rather amusing conclusion to it. The fast pacedness of the telling is so great that I'm sitting on the edge of my seat in excitement waiting for what happens next.

When was the last time I was so engrossed in a series? Oh yea... City Hunter.

Drama series, don't fail me now! Please wrap up cleanly and wonderfully without regrets; because you're moving along oh so well right now that I'd hate to walk away feeling unsatisfied when it ends.

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Related articles:
first impression: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop
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
thoughts: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop -- the final showdown (sort of)

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news: music dramas and SKK Scandal

Sungkyunkwan PD and writer reteam for campus music drama; read at Dramabeans.com.

And yes, I borrowed their image too. I hope it's not a big deal, cause I'll give it back if it is.


I'm not so much for up-to-date news articles as most other fan sites are, mostly because I only have so many resources. Mainly I rely on K-Pop Express, Drama Fever, and Dramabeans for my Korean entertainment news fix, or any other K-drama related items of discussion. But every once and a while, I come across something that gets me a little hyped up, and despite not having a large reader-base, I like to share.

According to the article above at Dramabeans, the producers of the wonderful Sungkyunkwan Scandal are hitting up the music drama theme with their own production, slated to air in 2012. If the premise is anything as great as how SKKS ended up being, I'm all for following this bandwagon. Of course, I haven't quite gotten around to watching Dream High yet despite its popularity, but I am considering giving it a go. I mean, I watched K-drama God of Study, and I also watched Taiwanese drama-like show Brown Sugar Machiatto -- which pretty much means that I am not above watching ANYTHING else in this world.

As mentioned by other sites, musical dramas seem to have hit this year and had a few within the past two years as well. Of recent is the already stated above Dream High, and also the recently finished broadcasting Heartstrings.

While I'm new to the K-drama land scenario, there IS one thing I am certain about: in Asian drama, sometimes when an idea sticks and gains popularity, every producer, writer and director will jump on that bandwagon and try to churn out their own piece to put to the test. For instance, Hong Kong drama had a long run (and still going) of power struggles among court women in historical China -- basically, the fight with consequential death to be the King's favorite wife. And yes, I think it's gotten old.

So hopefully a flood of musical dramas won't end up becoming too over-hyped or too bland after the fifth or sixth one. I'm always up for good music in a drama series.

first impression: Tree With Deep Roots (Korean)

This article is about fourteen episodes too late; the series has been airing for quite some time now and we've already moved well passed that story line build up of childhood to adulthood. It's all the rave around kdramaland world about the awesome performances and the intriguing story line. So having read so many articles praising Song Joong Ki's excellent performance as the young King Sejong as well as getting positive reactions from netizens about the continuing intrigue of the series' storyline itself, I finally decided to jump into the bandwagon as well. It wasn't like I wasn't entertaining thoughts of watching Tree With Deep Roots -- the summary was interesting enough and the presence of Song Joong Ki is usually a good way of getting me to seriously consider partaking in a genre that I normally wouldn't touch too willingly.

Tree With Deep Roots, while promoted as a mystery/thriller type of story, also involves a lot of political struggle and the like (as is usual with many a sageuk, it seems). And the first few episodes of this series (even though I've only seen the first one) details a battle of power and wits between the young Lee Do (King Sejong) and his father, King Taejong as well as each of their personal supporting cabinet members.

I'm not a fan of political intrigue -- I don't really understand government that well. The only reason I made it through so many Chinese historical series was all due to famed author Jin Yong's wuxia novels and my own father's detailed descriptions of government and Chinese history as they pertain to Jin Yong's wuxia novels. Otherwise, I would have been quite lost -- spending over ten years basking in the excellence of Jin Yong novel adaptations has gotten me quite familiar with the Chinese dynastic history.

But I know little about Korean government and historical Korea; I even suck at understanding modern government, which is why I steer clear of any types of series that have to do with politics (yes, that means I may never touch something like Daemul).

And I'm pretty sure that even after the political struggle between King Daddy and King Son, there will still be political intrigue amongst cabinet members and the king -- this is how almost ALL historical story lines work when it comes to the centering a plot around a king and his subjects and court officials. There will ALWAYS be power struggles. It's typical in Korean sageuk and it's also quite prominent in Chinese wuxia.

And so I'm still hesitant about watching this series despite that magnetic force telling me that I really, really DO want to continue watching.

I jumped into Tree With Deep Roots because of Song Joong Ki; I wanted to see that amazing performance that everyone has been raving about. And I also had a small desire to see this mystery slash thriller that was advertised. And while I didn't much become enraptured with the opening of this series (the imaginary "Kill King Sejong" scene that Jang Hyuk's character frames was kind of amusing) the following intensity of the story line felt like that magnetic force on my consciousness -- I couldn't pull myself away as the first episode progressed.

While I'm not sure WHAT it is that I'm looking forward to, I simply know that there's SOMETHING I'm attracted to about Tree With Deep Roots. (And no, this part has nothing to do with pretty boy Song Joong Ki... although it IS a bonus. And I'm not in it for Jang Hyuk either -- I know little about his acting and have not seen any of his projects outside of the first ten minutes of Chuno, which I haven't been able to go back to after watching the first half of the first episode. I know only that he's a very handsome man, and my knowledge of Jang Hyuk stops there, so he holds no appeal over me.)

Instead, I think it's the atmosphere, the suspense and the progression of this very first episode. The base story line has yet to be revealed, but I'm feeling the need to continue watching just to find out exactly WHAT that base plot will entail. Again, it's this strange feeling wherein I just NEED to continue watching the series for some unknown attractiveness reason -- I'm not even sure how to describe it, but I'm sure it might have to do with the intensity of the entire first episode as well as Song Joong Ki's portrayal of a tortured king.

Coming to him, Joong Ki was absolutely amazing. It was like, he's no longer that playful, adorable, loud and flamboyant Gu Yong Ha I fell in love with in Sunkyunkwan Scandal. Just seeing his eyes and his expressions and the nervous shaking of his shoulders and hands when faced with King Taejong... It's hard to describe outside of... well: "Wow!" In SKK Scandal, he was simply fun and pretty and cutesie (and yes, I fell for that charm), but without the aid of such an attractive character as Gu Yong Ha, Joong Ki could have easily been overlooked as "just another pretty boy." Sure, he did his part and brought Gu Yong Ha to life... but it wasn't like his acting skills were anything beyond that. He did good, but he didn't stand out and instead, Gu Yong Ha was the one who stood out because the character is a memorable one.

However, in this particular series... I'm totally speechless -- I just want to keep watching him as the tortured young king and I can't wait until the moment when he can stand up to his father and show an even more attractive intensity.

Without much that I can say to give justice to how well Tree With Deep Roots has been produced (from scenery, to editing, to atmosphere, to camera angles, and finally the cast and characters...) I can only really give an impressed "Bravo!" If the rest of the series is as thrilling as the first episode, I might remain onboard. Again, I'm not familiar with Jang Hyuk outside of the fact that he's quite handsome. So it's still up in the air for me to decide what to do with Tree With Deep Roots after Joong Ki's last appearance. I'm hoping the series itself will continue to reel me in even without the Song Joong Ki bait.

So far, it's proving its potential, so I'm hopeful. It's based off of an actual written book, so the story line of the series can't possibly veer too far into WTF territory like a lot of other drama series.

Unfortunately, at the same time...

Too many series to watch, too little time to watch them.

Something's gotta give.

news: Lee Jun Ki's scheduled return to drama

"Lee Jun Ki to make a drama comeback next February" @ allkpop.com news


This is totally out of the blue, but I'm really excited to see this guy back in action. Check out more accurate and detailed news through allkpop.com.

Of course, while I've only ever watched two drama series wherein Lee Jun Ki participates, I still find him an interesting part of Korean drama entertainment. Also, with the new found knowledge that most artists returning from army service are slated for topless fan service scenes in their return dramas, I'm in the midst of gearing up my giddy for seeing some shirtless Lee Jun Ki. Of course, this comes in play with whether or not I actually want to ruin my impression of him as the pretty boy (because once I see those abs, there's no turning back and Lee Jun Ki will become a manly man; that pretty boy image WILL be forever out the window).

I walked into the Kdrama scene recently and so Lee Jun Ki was already off serving in the army, so it's a good time for me, getting to see his comeback into dramaland -- much like I got to see Lee Dong Wook's comeback drama series, despite not really knowing who he was.

Anyway...

In other news, maybe I'll be able to get around to watching Time Between Dog and Wolf and Iljimae before Lee Jun Ki's return in February 2012. I'm also really contemplating watching The King and the Clown as well as all other Lee Jun Ki movies -- he may be the first Korean artist wherein I actually indulge in every project he's been associated with.

But we'll see how my obsessions with kdrama holds in the next three months. Until then, I'm keeping an eye out on what his return drama project will be: rom-com, another action thriller, or even something historical? I'm sure this guy can do it all quite well. No matter what, I'll check it out, just because he's nice to look at no matter what.

random thoughts: Ahjumma(?)-hood Blues

Age seems to be a perpetual problem when it comes to women in kdrama fiction land. In fact, age comes as a BIG issue (yes, with the capital letters and all) when it comes to MANY an Asian drama fictionland rom-com. I only ever thought it was just me and my own same-age friends (you know, I've never used that term before kdrama) lamenting the fate of rushing head-long into our impending thirties. In one of my friends' case, it feels akin to racing straight at a semi reluctantly, but with no other choices.

Yes, we have wasted many hours pathetically sobbing about becoming another year older for the past couple birthdays. Sometimes, we get superficial like that... and yes, it kills me to admit it. There are so many other things in life that we should be more concerned about.

However for me and my friends, the idea of growing old and slipping out of those youthful adolescent years had become a big sob story. Of course, when faced with a lot of the women I work with in real life who have long since trudged through the years that I am currently complaining about, I DO shamefully cringe and apologize about my dramatic agony.

After all, there is always someone older, and aging really isn't that big of a deal. But to my friends and I, we had spent the past four or five years trying to avoid talking about the big three-oh.

Not long ago, after watching a couple kdramas with gusto, I finally talked myself into admitting that I am twenty-seven years old and it's not the end of my life. It took a while, but I finally got there and proudly proclaimed my hold on my true age without wincing or trying to pretend that I'm about three years younger or that I will only ever be twenty-five for the rest of my life.

For one thing, I blame television (even if I really should be blaming one particular same-age friend for her own dramatic woes of "pushing thirty"). Television, especially Asian media, has brought to us the fictional fantasies of excitement and entertainment while only ever showing us eternally young faces of those very people who are enjoying their drama series' lives. After all, it's a good market -- younger generations prefer to see younger faces on the screen -- and who is the entertainment industry not to cater to their most rabid fanbase?

But really, it ISN'T all just a "for the fans" thing. Nor is it really a marketing ploy. In the past couple years, Asian media HAS been quite socially defining as a young people's paradise, even IF we still get to see the older generation make their talents and their faces seen regularly. But for the most part, because of the young new generation of talents, society has begun to stress the ideals of getting your life on track while still young enough to enjoy it. And this is where that stubborn "life before thirty" deal gets blown out of proportion.

The first time that I ever even saw age as an issue was upon watching interaction between Taiwanese Idols. Whether men or women, age seemed to play a big role in both popularity as well as reputation and dignity. I guess it was my own fault for having even submerged into the Taiwanese Idol arena in the first place; after all, the defining characteristic of the Taiwanese Idol is their eternal youth. After a certain age, even those former idols choose to move onto bigger projects and distance themselves from the title of "Idol."

Case in point:

Taiwanese Idol, singer, dancer, actor and MC Show Luo, Luo Zhi Xiang, has been pretty popular during his reign -- and he still is. But there is a running joke about him cringing at every mention of his age because he's well over thirty years old. He looks rather young, but that's an advantage of being both Asian AND in the entertainment industry -- Asian people already look young, T.V. tricks can turn you five years back in time. Whenever people mention his true age, however, he does his display of pouting and unnecessary temper tantrums. At that time, I had always wondered: "Is age really THAT important to celebrities?"

Yea... that was definitely a redundant question.

Taiwanese cult fandom television program, Mo Fan Bang Bang Tang, which housed some of Taiwan's youngest talents at the time had also made multiple jokes about age. The eldest of the boys during the 2008 run had been pushing 26 years old, which really didn't make him just another little boy anymore. While to me, at the time, 26 didn't seem like a disastrously old number, the fact that he was about ten years older than their youngest member came as a big teasing point to run with. And so for the sake of comedy and entertainment, the guy's age was poked at regularly.

Because we often forget that for teenagers, often times being two years older to them is very much older. The age gap doesn't start to shrink until you're well into your late twenties and numbers just start running together in blurs. And so for a 16 year old boy on that television program, someone who was even 21 could have felt old to him.

Conclusion: Kids are cruel.

You can pretty much say that, for me, presently at the age of 27, as well as a woman, this poking fun of age was kind of grating on my nerves. After all, for men, joking about age is merely joking. But for women, joking about age is another matter all together -- it stands on par with joking about their weight, their physical appearance, as well as their marital status.

Of course, I'm glad that I've always been of the minority in women who really don't care about any of the latter stuff that gets thrown around. Unfortunately, the age issue has always been a matter of avoidance -- once again, I blame my friends because of all their negative exclamations about getting older. I also blame the little teenage girl who tried to bluntly and rudely point out that she was ten years younger than me and already getting married. "What? You're 27? That makes you ten years older than me?" "... The last time I checked, there are only 9 years between 18 and 27..." Not like my argument really mattered to her. Well, the joke's on you, honey; you're not even legal to drink at your own wedding. Not that THAT ever stops anyone.

But I had never truly had an issue with any type of image, attribute or the like. Age, however, began to hover around me like bad, spoiled meat and the so the next thing I know, I'm lamenting being anywhere too far away from 21. It's a depressing thought only because I had never really cared before and really SHOULDN'T be concerned with age.

Recently I started watching Lie To Me which is what brought up this "ahjumma-hood blues" article in the first place. For starters, the scene kind of came out of nowhere and pretty much beat me up senseless for about twenty minutes following. Yoon Eun Hye's character, Kong Ah Chung in episode one had just finished suffering a bad turn at work only to have it shown on the news. And so off she goes to get her hair done so that it can make her look different and unrecognizable (like that ever works). As she is leaving her home, a little kid points to her and tells his mom: "It's that ahjumma from yesterday!"

I was shocked really. Because in this connotation, the word ahjumma is typically used to refer to much older women who may or may not already be married and have kids. At least that's MY understanding of the Korean title. For a girl of Yoon Eun Hye's age, the more proper title would have been noona. But kids are so precious as to tell it as it is, that you often wonder what their cut-off age is for noonas and ahjummas. And so the only way that I ended up reacting was to very painfully utter, "Ahjumma....?" for the next ten to twenty minutes. Even after the scene had come and gone, I was still feeling the sting.

Yoon Eun Hye, if her profile is true to form, was born the same year that I was born, which pretty much makes me the same age as her. But Yoon Eun Hye also looks much younger than I do physically. And so the idea that (even in fiction land) the physical embodiment of Yoon Eun Hye could even be referred to as an ahjumma kind of raked on me.

Mind you, it wasn't really in a bad way... but it still stung.

As javabeans comments in her recap of Lie To Me's first episode: "Ouch, all noonas on the verge of ajummahood can probably feel her pain. (Unmarried = noona!)" And the "verge of ajummahood" is more correctly referred to as that age where women are ripe for marriage -- in ajummahood, you've passed that phase and, by societal standards, should really be married or seeing someone seriously. After reading that, I did a subconscious recall of the scene again and cringed. Because, yes, the idea was kind of painful. And this is after I had very proudly begun my settlement into being a young woman in her late twenties.

The show further escalated into "old age = doomed fate" territory when Kong Ah Jung runs into her old friend who very rudely emphasizes the advantages and the niceties of being married early. It was a jab at Ah Chung's currently single status since the two seem to harbor a very hostile friendship based on hitting each other where it hurts, but the underlying concept was still there:

A woman married young = good for her; a woman still not married at this age = something is seriously wrong. I do believe I wanted to hit someone, possibly Ah Jung's "stab me in the back" friend from old times?

This article had been intended to be a random, quick thought about the "ahjumma" comment from Lie To Me's first episode. But the idea kind of stuck and now I'm rambling on as I always do. And so while I'm at it, I might go ahead and throw in yet another example of age as a social issue in drama land.

Scent of a Woman starring Kim Sun Ah as a terminal cancer patient, Lee Yeon Jae, had started off the series with the big age problem. Before she even HAD her melodramatic story line thrown at her, all of her colleagues and even her mother were already beating her up verbally because she was over thirty and still unmarried.

In my first impression post for Scent of a Woman, I had written:

"Why on earth is 30 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."

To add onto that, I've noticed that even the five years leading up to thirty is referred to negatively as "pushing thirty." It makes me cringe to hear that, because you can't just be in your "late twenties", but instead, you're "pushing thirty." Double ouch! For some reason, the words "pushing thirty" just sounds worse than simply saying "thirty years old" or "twenty seven." I don't know why, but it hurts.

It's like, by 25 years old, if one has not gotten married, found true love, held hands with a boy or the like, then that woman forfeits her life out for criticism by the public. It's a bit scary when you think about it; especially when you're not even a public persona.

I guess that's drama land for you. The sad part is that, the age thing isn't even JUST restricted to drama land. The rest of the world also cringes from the fact that a woman is "pushing thirty" and hasn't done much with her life. The social standards of our world really DO manage to find ways to hurt a woman's pride thoroughly and mercilessly. I have a lot of friends in this age range getting married and starting families. I have other friends who indirectly inquire about my own single-dom and why I haven't found anyone yet; following, I get the all too annoying, "It's okay, you'll find someone sometime. I know there's someone out there for you. Everyone finds someone."

Why does everyone who's dating or married feel that someone who is single is simply miserable and needs to "find someone" so that I don't go home and drink myself into a lonely stupor? I don't get it, but that small tidbit only really has part to do with an age ordeal and is best left for a random soapbox in another time, so we'll move along.

I'm not even sure whether to blame society itself, or the forever young of Asian media portraying life as a refreshing and exciting youth's dream. If not the real world, I think rom-com world would be an even more cruel place to live in since the concept is emphasized upon even more as a story line rather than our true life anecdotes. At least in real life, I can tune out the issue since I'm not a main female lead no matter where I go.

intro info: Brown Sugar Macchiato (Taiwanese)

Here's a little filler for the mean time until I've finished writing a couple other pressing articles to publish which include those of drama series I've just recently finished. And yes, I admit, I'm procrastinating the endings of Scent of a Woman and Love Keeps Going. I don't know why. And on top of that, I'm in the midst of watching two different dramas starring Kang Ji Hwan.

Go figure.

***

黑糖瑪奇朵 - Hei Tang Ma Qi Duo

Lollipop
Ao Quan
Wang Zi
Xiao Yu
Xiao Jie
Wei Lian
Ah Wei

Hey Girl
Da Ya
Tong Tong
Mei Mei
Gui Gui
Ya Tou
Xiao Xun
Apple
Xiao Man
Xiao Jie

For more information on the summary of this series, check out any wiki page such as: Brown Sugar Macchiato @ dramawiki

The basic story line of this series involves six boys who find out that they all have the same father who is very rich and who is a womanizer. All six boys, apparently, are the same ages and have never met each other before nor did they ever really know what kind of a person their father is until he brings them together, tasking them to learn to live together and get along with each other. What kind of motivating factor could possibly get six stubborn boys together?

Of course, money. Apparently, after a specified duration of time as well as following very strict stipulations, if the boys succeed, they will all six become rich, wealthy millionaires, inheriting their father's money, home and many, many other things. But, of course, along the way, aside from their own rebellious personalities, lots of obstacles are encountered that keep threatening the boys' hold on their hefty inheritance.

To boot, the boys all transfer to a new school where they meet a group of nine overbearingly rude and "dominatrix-like" girls who pretty much rule the school with their selfish and irrational regulations. As the new students and as the male gender, the boys are certainly NOT exempt from the girls' wrath, but, of course, for the half-baked story line to progress decently, the boys are the type who will stand up against these girls where no other man has managed to do before, and usurp the Class President, Tong Tong, from her imperialistic rule.

And then more antics ensue involving silly romances, talks about dreams and the future, anecdotes about friendship and betrayal, and ideals about the rest of their lives.

Brown Sugar Macchiato is certainly not the best drama series I have seen. In fact, it's pushing it to even really call it a drama series since it truly settles under an advertisement or a promotion of sorts. Consisting of the six boys from young Taiwanese boy band Lollipop and the nine girls from their sister group Hey Girl, the series was produced with only one idea in mind: to promote the already highly popular young idol groups by telling the world that these boys and girls are here to stay.

In the far future, I DO plan to write an article about my brief obsession with the boys of the Mo Fan Bang Bang Tang television program that had broadcast in Taiwan for a little over two years. But as a brief introductory, Bang Bang Tang phonetically translates into Lollipop, which is why the six boys end up forming a group to the same name. The program that they hail from consists of a group of twenty boys wherein they had spent a few months competing, performing, and being observed and tested so that the final six could be chosen to represent them. And not long after that, Brown Sugar Macchiato was born. On an aside, the girls from Hey Girl were from a similar program and debuted a year before the boys did.

Brown Sugar Macchiato is definitely not my type of series and to this day I still question why I had watched it in the first place. In fact, I'm kind of questioning why I'm even blogging about it, but here it is. Short and brief, while the series itself survived mainly on a freakishly stellar fanbase, there were a few other aspects that could hook a viewer if one were inclined to watch the series at all. Humorous antics, silly and nonsensical ideals as well as pretty girls and handsome young men dominated the screen. While the story line was fairly non-existent, acting was pretty much on par with starch-stiff unnatural, and plot devices were thrown together almost too haphazardly, Brown Sugar Macchiato isn't a complete failure in entertainment value.

I certainly enjoyed bits and pieces of it despite it's intended promotion value. I was a fan of the television program after all, and thoroughly enjoyed the young humor that permeated the twenty young boys. This was merely cheap entertaining comedy, valued at exactly what it was worth. Very little else can be said about the series, but it sure did quite the job of helping the youngsters gain more fame than they already had. The uniforms were pretty good looking.

Otherwise, I would have just skipped over this series and still been happy.

***

Related articles:
thoughts: Brown Sugar Macchiato -- yea, there's more discussion for this series too; wait for it, I guess. It'll be published pretty soon.

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first impression: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop (Korean)

I know I've got a ton of other articles to complete and two drama series to finally finish watching, but who can help starting a fresh new series, especially when it's got so much Pretty (yes, Pretty with a capital 'P') advertised to its name? Of course, I DO have to say that my reasons for picking up a new series has nothing to do with the Pretty; in fact, it wasn't even really the first thing on my mind when I was browsing Drama Fever for SOMETHING to watch casually while eating my night time snacks.

After all, I have plans to begin watching such wonders as Joseon X-files and another Kang Ji Hwan project, whichever one it may be (either Coffee House or Lie to Me, but that's a moot point). What the heck am I doing jumping into a new series when I've got so many others to finish? My list is quite long and since I started the Hallyu obsession later than most people, I should be catching up on my kdrama classics; I mean, it took me long enough to watch all the Hong Sisters' glory and it seems to be taking longer still to attempt some of the more "high dollar" ratings' busters such as Iris or Chuno (both of which I'm still hesitant to touch just because neither are my typical genre).

Well... I guess it shouldn't matter. I'm strapped for time, so watching more than two or three drama series at the same time is a bit difficult for me.

Anyway...

Flower Boy Ramyun Shop is summarized (quite briefly) as a story where the lovely noona runs a ramyun shop and employs a bunch of very good looking young men. Pretty much, the title and the plot description is very straight forward. And so when I glimpsed advertisements and promotions for it, I wasn't too attracted to the concept. It reminded me too much of those shoujo-like reverse harems in Japanese manga world where a lot of sparkly young men work with one girl and everyone manages to fall in love with her. And to be traditional, the girl is usually a bumbling idiot whom NO MAN should even consider falling in love with save for her sunshine and bundles of bunnies charm that is SUPPOSED to radiate adorableness that also sparkles at the right angles; maybe with a little bit of help from a make up artist and cameras and lighting.

I hadn't really been that interested.

After casually watching the first episode of Flower Boy Ramyun Shop, however, I actually found it to be rather delightfully enjoyable; more so than I had expected from the promos. Granted, I guess I should have known better than to pre-judge. I was still stuck on my shoujo manga biases and wasn't looking forward to another superficial, teeny-bopper rom-com with ridiculous angst and crazy cheeses.

But now that I think about it, I had stepped into Coffee Prince with almost the same pre-biases only to find that THAT series wasn't too bad; turned out pretty classic in spite of its overdone cliches.

And so I was pleasantly surprised by Flower Boy Ramyun Shop.

Episode One proved to be quite an embarrassing laugh-fest laced with a few insightful babbles here and there, as well as a fairly thought-invoking ideal of modern day trends; in particular, we are shown the younger generation's concept of what Korean's call "cool dating", known to us Americans as "casual dating" also known as The Fling. To be totally honest, I really hadn't picked up that concept, although I kind of sensed it in the background and thought it was just one of those things in hindsight; I give a delighted thanks to javabeans over at Dramabeans who's reviews and recaps of drama series really help to enlighten me on what's going on with some series. After all, things get lost in translation a lot and it's not easy to pick up where those things get left out. This is why it took a little bit of absorption for me to grasp some of the dialogue despite pinpointing that the series isn't too wayward of witty story telling.

I'm proud of myself to have even fathomed an inkling of interesting story lines when some of the telling wasn't making sense to me. In other words, I believe I was thinking WAY too hard about how to write my first impression post about this series and so ended up missing a few concepts here and there.

Moving into the story of this series itself, it would typically take more than a single first episode to figure out what the story will be about. But so far, we've got quite the foreshadowing as well as the establishment of our main couple and what their relationship dynamics will look like.

Lee Chung Ah is cast as Yang Eun Bi, a twenty-five year old civil service exam taker who has yet to pass her test. I'm not familiar with Korean job allocations, but I assume that civil service exams mean that you get to work for the government if you succeed (something that I guessed after watching the first episode of Lie To Me, but more on that later). Her life has been lived rather plain and, as everyone else in the series doesn't hesitate to so cruelly point out, "old fashioned." While I don't refute what these people say about her, I can't help but to empathize with the merciless jibes at being an old fashioned prude (because I'm a very, very prime example of one -- Prude with a capital 'P' and I even have my spinster mansion picked out).

So, basically, after Eun Bi's boyfriend dumps her because she's not living with the times, it was pretty much a big "Ouch!" for her. He pretty much told her bluntly that he had been seeing this other girl even while he was dating her and that she was stupid to wait around for him while he was in the army. To the dude, "Sorry for respecting relationships and wanting to make them last." Because Eun Bi was pretty much trusting in true romance rather than having flings so casually.

And hence the ideal of casual dating comes into light.

Everyone from her roommate to the random Pretty she keeps running into simply tells her to get with the modern trend. Old fashioned true romance is out; now we date freely and change significant others like buying new shoes.

Excuse me if I don't quite follow this concept, but I guess there's a point to it either way.

Right now, by the end of Episode Two, we get a small amount of peering into Eun Bi's history and there is a small hint that she used to be one of those high school delinquents with a nickname and everything; something about a "scary Silver Pot." (I get what I can from translations...) Whatever it was, she used to be badass, but as of current, she's really showing nothing more than tendencies of a doormat. After all, she's allowed her boyfriend of two years to just throw her away and the only retaliation she managed was ruining his current girl's nose job. And then she seems to let our Pretty walk all over her way too easily just because he's of the impression that the world should worship him (just like any spoiled chaebol brat) and she doesn't seem to want to start any scene or cause trouble.

I say, let's see badass Eun Bi come out and play. I'd like to see how Mr. Arrogant likes it.

Jung Il Woo is cast as Cha Chi Soo, the Pretty. He's the perpetually smarmy and good-looking (and knows that he's good looking) young chaebol who seems to be having some daddy issues. In spite of this, his father is quite the doting father, easily acquiescing to his son's childish pouting and manipulations. It's going to be a long road to maturity for this kid, despite how mature he LIKES to think that he is. A look into the darker side of Cha Chi Soo would be some form of moody "I don't like seeing women cry" type of possible childhood traumatic experience. Perchance he's had women troubles more than just being dumped by the hottest girl in school? Maybe some girl has used tears against him during his younger years or even recently? Or maybe it was just a casual comment to make himself out to be "The Man."

Whatever it is, as per rom-com and kdrama-land dictations, there will ultimately be SOMETHING dark in his history that would help enlighten us on his petulantly jerk-hole-like behavior. Why has this boy been allowed to be spoiled rotten by his doting father? Well, I guess aside from the fact that he's wealthy, good-looking and powerful (and knows it); there is ALWAYS something else about his history that would explain an underlying darkness to his chaebol arrogance. A few things seem to pique his anger here and there, and the crying thing especially made him flare.

I DO have to admit that any kind of crying would make me uncomfortable too. And it's a pretty widely known fact that men tend to become awkward stuttering messes when they have to face a crying woman. But, MAN was this kid mean about it or what?

Either way, I'm awaiting some potential depth for this kid, since the only description I can really come up with for him is "spoiled, arrogant, asshole chaebol." So being the resident Prince Charming, I'm pretty sure we're bound to see some development in him as a result of meeting our poor, old fashioned, true romance desiring prude.

In the near future, maybe a few more episodes in, when our young Pretty starts to develop feelings for the noona (which HAS to happen because this is a rom-com after all and they are the main couple) I wonder how he'll handle her hurt and pain; because this is a rom-com after all and there is bound to be some angst and more tears. How will he handle her crying at that point? And when he grows up and falls in love, how will he view the entire casual dating trend?

This is one of those predictable love lines wherein we are at the tips of our toes waiting to see how the jerk of a chaebol learns to be more sentimental through his resident love interest. Will noona teach him to love and learn how to respect others as well? This is stereotypical procedure for rich and arrogant, immature kids from wealthy families. We just wait and see how he turns out and we ALWAYS expect it to be for the better.

The only unfortunate turn off about this series so far is the fact that I'm not feeling Jung Il Woo as a young high school boy. His actual age is somewhere around twenty-three or twenty-four, I believe, and so that suspension of disbelief telling me that he's supposed to be teenage material isn't really hitting it in the right place. There's no doubting the presented story line age difference; this is set up as a noona-dongsaeng love line after all (which is another one of those social issues addressed as Korea, and many other Asian cultures still aren't too open about an older woman/younger man relationship).

Still, hopefully high school doesn't last long for our main male lead. Enduring Jae Hee as a high school student in Delightful Girl Choon Hyang had been bad enough.

On a final note, I can already feel the chemistry building between our main leads. Though I hope that Cha Chi Soo doesn't remain a perpetual asshole forever and that Yang Eun Bi doesn't continue carrying the embarrassing doormat persona either, the dynamics have been really enticing. Eun Bi has a temper, evidently, and a lot of strangely skewed logic to her defenses -- so she just needs to use it for the greater good rather than simmer it in the face of a pretty boy. Though I'm sure a lot of us would probably do as much just the same, it's not good to be too obvious about finding Jung Il Woo very pretty to stare at for hours.

HOWEVER, if he winks anymore than he has to, I might start throwing a fit.

The Pretty is charming and good to look at, but the amped up smarm isn't always a good thing and can easily make one's stomach turn when in excess -- the winking must be used in moderation. I'm not trying to be a killjoy since I'm sure a lot of fangirls out there are thoroughly enjoying the Pretty do his number. But if this guy can use his pretty face charms correctly, then he can present to us his Pretty without reason for excessive Winky. It kind of makes me shiver.

***

Related articles:
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
thoughts: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop -- the final showdown (sort of)

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intro info: Warrior Baek Dong Soo (Korean)

무사 백동수 -- Musa Baek Dong Su

Ji Chang Wook as Baek Dong Soo
Yoo Seung Ho as Yeo Woon
Yoon So Yi as Hwang Jin Ju
Shin Hyun Bin as Yoo Ji Seon

Choi Min Soo as Chun
Jun Kwang Ryul as Kim Gwang Taek
Park Joon Gyu as Heuk Sa Mo
Yoon Ji Min as Ga Ok
Lee Won Jong as Hong Dae Ju
Sung Ji Roo as Hwang Jin Gi
Choi Jae Hwan as Yang Cho Rip


***

Finally to be done with the whole Warrior Baek Dong Soo fiasco, here's the intro info post to tie everything together; brief summary, brief opinions, and more reason for me to splash Yeo Woon pictures everywhere! There are NEVER too many Yeo Woon pictures in my book!

Enjoy!

***

It's hard for me to really dive into this one with a brief review and not give away anything. The way in which the series had been built up was truly an amazing experience with a wonderful cast of characters and actors to portray them. The imagery and scenery was mesmerizing and the music was well placed where necessary. Unfortunately, the build up of the intrigue to the story line quickly lost it's go power when it seemed that the writers weren't quite sure which direction they were trying to go. Ultimately, this is the only downfall of the series, because overall, the series itself could have been one of the most outstanding ones of the year.

It's not a perfect series, but it was definitely built to be memorable.

High ratings show that Warrior Baek was one of the most hyped and anticipated series during it's broadcast. While I don't really know the rest of the cast that well, Yoo Seung Ho's presence seemed to be quite the catalyst for fan appreciation, myself included. Ecstatically, the young boy does not disappoint in his portrayal of Yeo Woon, a lonely and tragic hero with a doomed fate.

The defining summary of Warrior Baek Dong Soo is hard to grasp. But the basis of the story line truly involves the growth and development of the titular character as he becomes the best swordsman in Joseon. And so along the way, we give him room to grow, we throw in a lot of political intrigue, a lot of side conspiracies, a lot of emotional troubles and issues, some romance and some bromance, and we get a rather amazing experience to follow along with.

For the sake of anyone else who would be interested in this series, the only thing I can really say is that it WAS a captivating series to follow along with. Each episode left you wanting to continue on to see what would happen next. The underlying friendship between Yeo Woon and Baek Dong Soo managed to hook any viewer into that desire to know how the relationship will end up after all the suffering, pain, and conflict goes away. A potential love line is even present for all those hopeless romantics out there who are also attracted to genres where romance isn't the main factor.

Warrior Baek mainly chronicles the life of Baek Dong Soo as he grows to become Joseon's best swordsman while at the same time circulating all sorts of obstacles for him to overcome as he trudges through his journey. Parallel to Dong Soo's adventure is Yeo Woon's own fight against his fate as the antagonistic foil to Baek Dong Soo's impending hero status.

Unfortunately, the series takes a turn for the worse and loses it's grasp on what should be to come. While the series in general was great in many different ways, the loss of many significant plot devices which dwindled into nothing kind of threw off the pacing and the direction of the story line. Where was production staff trying to go with some of these devices and why didn't they continue in that direction rather than just brush the entire thing aside and try a new tact?

There were a lot of issues concerning continuity and even things that made sense versus things that were developed magically by an ALMIGHTY WRITER's faux de machina tablet. The impending ending and rekindling of friendship was what kept me going, but for the most part, the rest of the series' devices dragged on senselessly.

There's very little that I can actually say about Warrior Baek without giving away a lot about the plot and the ending's utter disappointment. And so with this, my thoughts on this series are truly best noted with detailed descriptions of certain elements and certain devices in the series. (Refer to all three, extremely long and extremely detailed thought articles concerning Warrior Baek Dong Soo.)

The series ultimately survives on the cast of great actors and actresses as well as the decently choreographed action sequences. Some memorable scenes helped to entice, and the first half of the series was really not that bad to follow along with.

Being unfamiliar with any of the cast except for Yoo Seung Ho, the series truly did amazing things in terms of these actors and their portrayals. Yoo Seung Ho was amazing as Yeo Woon's tragic embodiment, and I don't feel ashamed at all for having picked this series to watch, 80% due to the presence of Yoo Seung Ho. The rest of the reasoning behind my choosing of Warrior Baek was really due to curiosity about a historical Korean drama series. But mainly, the reason why I continued to watch the series ended up being 60% for Yoo Seung Ho and his character Yeo Woon, and about 20% due to the opening scene depicting a fierce yet friendly sword fight between Chun and Sword Saint. The rest of the percentage can be divided evenly between the impending love line, the celebrated "bromance" and Hwang Jin Ju's possible plot device because I like strong female leads. For a while into the series, I was actually pretty ecstatic to enjoy it in it's ever-great glory without too much superficial influence. The casting was great and the story line was interesting even if the love line was kind of dull to begin with.

By mid series, my pie graph changes once again. It ended up being 90% Yeo Woon (no longer just about Yoo Seung Ho anymore), 2% hope for Jin Ju's revived significance, 3% "how will the political intrigue end", and 5% anticipation of the rekindling of brothership between Yeo Woon and Dong Soo. As you can see, I ended up caring little for the titular character of Baek Dong Soo himself, gave up on the love lines altogether, and pretty much just started worshipping the ground that Yeo Woon walks on.

To be brief, I personally DID enjoy watching the entire series. It was captivating. I had a lot of hopes for where the story line would progress and how the characters would develop. And in the end, maybe it was because I had too many expectations of Warrior Baek. By all means, it was not a perfect production and probably wouldn't have been even without the final, defining downfall of it's story line and ending. But in my opinion, the series probably would have faired better had a few things not occurred.

Would I change anything about the series? Definitely. Because unlike a lot of other story lines that bug me, the turn of events at many points in this series truly needed to be smoothed out and rewritten. The ending, for one, was truly unsatisfying and rushed and depressing at the same time. The female characters ended up being cast into the shadows, and some characters would have done wonders if they were allowed to stay alive.

Nonetheless, the series in general wasn't a bad one. There were just too many things that I would have liked to change about the events and plot devices and character development. Maybe in the future, we can find a common middle ground for me and I'll be much happier. But for the long run, I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive the final climactic ending even if anyone else can justify it for me in defense of the writers.

Noteworthy are some of the supporting characters. Chun, the Sky Lord of Hoksa Chorong pretty much owns every scene he sets foot in. Choi Min Soo was fantastic as the roguishly kickass, best assassin in Joseon. How he pretty much walks to the beat of his own drum is amazingly inspiring and it upsets me that others in the series couldn't learn from him and his ways. Yoon Ji Min as Ga Ok was beautiful and also kickass as the one and only strongest female character in the entire series (you will find that Hwang Jin Ju really pales in comparison, which is disappointing). Kim Gwang Taek is also noteworthy, but to be honest, I cared little for him.

What I DID harbor an attraction towards was the underlying love triangle between the three above mentioned, as well as the love-hate-battle-foil relationship between Chun and Kim Gwang Taek. As the best swordsman in Joseon and the best assassin in Joseon, these two had quite the understanding of each other with a fairly friendly rivalry. The fact that, in the end, only one could remain standing was a moot point.

Finally, while not really lending too much significance, I also happened to really enjoy the presence of Hwang Jin Gi, the bandit and Jin Ju's adopted father. He was an admirable man with strength and loving care for a rambunctious daughter.

The political scandals and conspiracies fell on deaf ears after a while, because things just started getting exhausting. I'm already NOT a fan of political struggles and battles for power in government settings; the politics of Warrior Baek just totally DID NOT appeal to me at all. Whether this was personal bias or an actual result of the way things were depicted in the series in general, I don't know. I just couldn't quite follow without feeling strained... or worse yet, bored.

I don't know whether or not to recommend this series. It was amazing from the get go. But I guess the only thing one would have to prepare him or herself for would be the ending. And I'll leave it at that.

***

Related articles:
first impression: Warrior Baek Dong Soo
thoughts: Warrior Baek Dong Soo -- the childhood years
thoughts: Warrior Baek Dong Soo -- the hero and a twist of fate
thoughts: Warrior Baek Dong Soo -- the end and an overall review

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thoughts: The Relation of Face, Mind and Love (Korean movie)

Kang Ji Hwan as Kang Tae Pung
Lee Ji Ah as Wang So Jung

***

Ahh... my first movie review on the drama zone. I had figured that 4th Period Murder Mystery would be the first, but I hadn't quite gotten around to that, having wanted to watch the movie once more before reviewing it. Nonetheless, I guess this movie riled me up enough to write about it immediately off the bat.

As per usual, reviews will include quite the amount of spoilers. So read at your own caution. Although, for this movie, I'm kind of indifferent about giving away the plot...

***

The premise of this movie was a pretty good one for any romantic comedy formula, even IF it's a bit cliched and overused regularly without truly ever being able to redeem itself.

Man gets visually impaired and mistakens "ugly" for "beautiful." Man meets woman and does not see her facial flaws and addresses her breathtakingly as his "Goddess." Man and woman get together (and somehow fall in love within the timespan of one date and a one night stand). Man gets his vision back while woman is out of the country on business. Man goes to meet woman and does not recognize her because he now sees what she really looks like rather than the ideal Goddess he'd made her out to be. Man breaks woman's heart by explaining the situation about his visual impairment. Man learns the error of his ways for only seeing outer beauty as significance. Man reconciles with woman, claiming that he loves her for who she is and not because of her physical appearance. Man and woman will live happily ever after.

Had the movie gone through that formula, it would have been rather boring, but if executed correctly, I don't think I would have really cared. It's a cute cliche and the casting of Kang Ji Hwan with his dashiingly handsome Darcy-esque charm was a great bonus. I was looking forward to watching it when I found it. After finishing up drama series Hong Gil Dong and discovering Kang Ji Hwan's strange charm, I came to be interested in him.

The story was moving along smoothly and I wondered whether or not the producers would throw some sort of twist into to make it more exciting. But even if they didn't, it would have still been a cute watch. There's that obvious message about how "looks aren't all important" as we are given a spiel by Kang Tae Pung's friend, Eun Soo, even IF his logic was a little on the sketchy side. But the idea is there as the idea is usually everywhere in our world. These ideals area ALWAYS inspirational after all even if no one really bothers to follow them.

Unfortunately, a turn for the worse.

Halfway into the movie, I was already getting amped up for the impending break-up and the montages where man and woman mull over the failed "true love" because of such superficial issues. I felt bad for Wang So Jung; even if she DOES have some flaws, it's pretty rude to point out so blatantly that she's not the prettiest flower in the garden. Lee Ji Ah was adorable during the beginning with her strangely excitable antics and I hadn't even really found the costuming of her "ugly" Wang So Jung face ugly at all. She still looked rather pretty and I was even wondering whether or not the teeth and the blackheads were IT for the "ugly" factor. And I was pretty much like, "Really?"

This was a question I think I kept repeating over and over again throughout the movie.

Nonetheless, I was enjoying the dynamics. And Kang Tae Pung was pretty darn smitten with So Jung's adorableness during their short time together (although I wonder if all of that was because of his mistaken idea that she was the world's most beautiful woman). And so despite Kang Ji Hwan's uber sexy self, I felt myself thinking that he was handling Jerk-mode quite well after his vision was restored. After all, no one likes to be told that they're ugly so bluntly and Tae Pung does exactly that to So Jung. It was pretty heartbreaking.

But it's safe to say that So Jung lost ALL of her anger rights when she started raving about how her blind date is "Omigod, so hideously ugly," so much so that she can't even be bothered to really look at his picture. And how she didn't even want to think about picturing him naked. The foreshadowing of her preference for good-looking men at the beginning, I thought was just one of those off-hand comments you make. After all, who doesn't like a good looking man? Aren't we a superficial species who goes by first impression physical image before anything else?

I'm not saying that being good looking is everything. I certainly don't have the means to boast about physical beauty and I certainly don't put all of my value in physical appearance. However, as a fellow human being, I WILL apply compliments of physical beauty where it can be credited.

I would totally fall for a guy who looks like Kang Ji Hwan anyday.

But to be outright rude about someone else's physical appearance being flawed is a completely different topic altogether. For So Jung, (who could easily get her teeth fixed with braces and her blackheads cleared with proper skin care) having just been dumped because of her looks, you would think she'd have more of an open mind about other people's looks. I kind of lost the entire concept and face-faulted a couple times before I realized that the rest of the movie wasn't really going anywhere good.

To top it off, the movie itself doesn't do any justice to the so called "ugly" blind date guy; who by the way, wasn't as hideous as So Jung was making him out to be, even IF he's not the best prospect for Prince Charming. I think I would have been a little more forgiving had So Jung found the poor teacher witty and conversational. Instead, the movie chooses to approach it with a more ridiculously skewed eye than I am accepting of: they make the man a rather dull, dorky, and shallow dud.

The "Man learns the error of his own ways" montage was fine. I enjoyed Kang Ji Hwan's change in demeanor towards the supposedly ugly appearance of Wang So Jung (personality-wise, she doesn't turn out that great, really). And before her outburst about how men should be beautiful and handsome to be proper men, I was silently chanting "Don't take him back so easily just because he's handsome!" Because I was totally feeling for her. HOWEVER, even if she DID take him back easily, it would have been okay (because I'm shallow like that too and Kang Ji Hwan is good looking -- probably not the best time to be swooning over his soft smiles, I guess).

But then she goes on her field-day with the blind date and I lost all empathy for her. Who cares if she accepts the jerk back and gets hurt again? Lady, maybe this was just desserts for your own shallowness concerning physical appearance.

So she accepts him after he changes his thoughts, they get married and then the movie throws you for a loop with ANOTHER angsty BIG MISUNDERSTANDING spin so that our now mutually in love couple can be separated for a year. I thought stuff like this only happened in hastily tossed together kdrama endings for angst factors. Using another cliched "Am I just a replacement for your girlfriend" plot device, the bride runs away on the wedding date leaving the man feeling like an ass for... well, I guess he was being an ass? I'm not sure, because by this point in the movie, I they're both standing on equal ground in this playing field of who's a bigger jerk.

At least the man learned his lesson and stopped viewing things superficially such as focusing on good looks. If that last climacting turn was supposed to make the girl seem much more sympathetic, it kind of failed it's purpose.

So by this point, I was just too stark raving pissed about the movie to even really care about it anymore. But when the movie gives a new twist and makes our heroine come upon the same problem (visual impairment) as the guy, I thought that maybe she would be given a chance to redeem her own shallowness. Unfortunately, the ending finishes up quickly with a reunion and that very excited: "I still prefer cute and handsome men after all!" exclamation from So Jung.

This movie's final verdict: Beauty = everything; Ugly = just plain bad. It makes me feel like I should just go throw myself off a cliff right now.

On an end note, the voice of Kang Ji Hwan coming out of a balloon head three times bigger than normal was kind of amusing.