news: Lee Hyun Jin as Yoo Seung Ho's love rival

Clicky to Read!
source: Dramabeans

Okay, so this is kind of cruel. I was so looking forward to this series because of Yoo Seung Ho... but now production throws me into the pits by casting the love rival as Lee Hyun Jin? We all remember this guy from the youth romance You've Fallen For Me or Heartstrings, playing the role of Ki Young who had to overcome his short stage fright story arc; and I remember him as a surprisingly refreshing character as compared to the rest of the cast. Frankly, I liked him -- good-looking, good skill, good voice, great smile (and not to mention that killer minute duration of the shirtless-ness that made me go O.o...). I was looking forward to the day that he would be cast in more major roles.

But I wasn't expecting two little Pretties to be competing for my shipping affections. (I've already exhausted my squee-ing heart in Ramyun Shop and Dream High by jumping from ship to ship too regularly; I really wish I could just ship one guy and stick to him.)

I guess we'll just have to see how his character turns out. Because we all know that I LOVE Yoo Seung Ho, but now we also know that I have a soft spot in my heart for the cute little Lee Hyun Jin. Man, this is going to be a hard one.

Click on the link or picture above to go to javabean's news post about the series.


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In other news... yes, I am slacking off immensely. Things in the Real Life area have been catching up and I've had little time to put the finishing touches on some planned and written articles. Me Too, Flower!'s end of series discussion post is almost finished and Flower Boy Ramyun Shop's intro info article is also finished. I just haven't had time to go back and edit or add pictures. I haven't had the chance to start watching The Moon That Embraces the Sun yet despite having finally found a streaming site that is presenting it. But mark my words, I certainly WILL partake in it simply for the fact that I've grown fond of both Kim Soo Hyun and Jung Il Woo, both adorable young men with exceptional acting talent. At the very least, I'm going to try to watch the first few episodes and then post my opinions about it, but that might be it since I won't have time to do an episode-by-episode discussion on it.

I haven't touched Wild Romance yet since Episode One, but from netizen reactions, it seems that many are enjoying it. I'm probably just going to check it out as leisure viewing. I've gotten pretty far in Color of Woman and I have half the mind to start watching What's Up? just because it seems interesting.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I've got a couple other things going on now that need my attention.

That said: Happy New Year to everyone out in Asian drama land!

I hope that I can continue to keep up this blog casually, but I know that my posting will slow down immensely in the next few weeks or months depending on how things are going in Real Life. There's also a matter of how accessible Asian drama will be to me in the coming days as well (YOU all know what I mean). But I'm sure I'll figure something out.

news: "The King", Cast Confirmed

Click to Read
source: Dramabeans

Okay... finally. And I still have a headache (but about other stuff).

My sentiments are the same as girlfriday's, some of which I'd mentioned in an earlier post anyway. So I have little else to say about this news now that we've been going back and forth with the cast. Confirmation is good though, so I'm keeping an eye out for this series. Although it is a little disconcerting that the premise of the series has yet to have a stable foundation -- aside from it being a romance between the South Korean king and a North Korean special forces agent, what else is going on?

news: Musical Casting Continues for Rom-Com "The King"

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source: soompi

Okay, I seriously just have a headache right now. Between this and the whole megaupload issue, the day has just been a bit of the pits. Just this morning, it was said that Lee Seung Gi will be starring in the main lead role after his two-year hiatus and now it's unconfirmed? Oy... I think the production staff for this new rom-com really needs to make a decision somewhere because with so many rumored main male lead castings, there's more buzz than a series really needs. And since Ha Ji Won isn't exactly confirmed for the female lead role, so far it means that "The King" is run by a lot of rumored stars.

Whatever though, I'm apathetic today.

It may not be long before blogs all around get shut down because of pictures and videos that may or may not be pirated. There goes our online freedom of expression. So who knows how much longer I'll be blogging.

Click on the link to read about the newest info.

news: Lee Seung Gi and Ha Ji Won to star in "The King"

Clicky to Read
source: soompi.com

Well, here's more news to pique my interest. Lee Seung Gi and Ha Ji Won will be appearing in a new romantic comedy, soon to air, about a fictional contemporary Korea where monarchy still exists. This will be fun! When I was thinking of the title, "The King", I was wondering how Lee Seung Gi would look in historical attire... but since this is a fictional contemporary Korea, then he won't have to look historical. He just needs to look his utmost "royalty", which he already gives off a somewhat regal image with his nice boy vibes, although I'm pretty sure that (since this is K-drama) he'll be an arrogant prince just like 90% of all the main male leads in K-dramaland.

The challenge: not repeating his rich boy, second-generation chaebol 'tude from Brilliant Legacy.

Lee Seung Gi may be charming and full of noble charisma, but his acting skills are still fairly raw. He was fairly cute in My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, and he pulled off the asshole to learned brat in Brilliant Legacy pretty well. But I still can't overlook the fact that it DID take quite some time for him to settle into his character, and there were always a lot of stiff moments. His comedic timing has only ever been good when he's hosting Strong Heart, so I hope that he can manage in another rom-com.

Of course, since I love Lee Seung Gi like the adorable puppy that he is, I'm willing to overlook a bit of awkward acting just for The Cute. Yes, I'm shallow like that, because he is truly every noona's dream younger boyfriend we would love to dote and love on.

As for Ha Ji Won, I have yet to watch anything with her in in save for the two episodes of Damo and one episode of Secret Garden. I know she's good from what little I've seen, so even if Lee Seung Gi is a bit stiff, I'm sure Ha Ji Won can bring it right back. This will be an interesting pairing, though, and if all goes well, in a few weeks I will be happily enjoying lots of new Cuteness.

Of course, for the sake of Ha Ji Won, I really wish they wouldn't typecast her so much. Despite having never really seen anything else she's in, I'm under the impression that she's stuck with pretty much ALL "action-like" character roles. I mean, "North Korean Special Forces female operative"?

Although the premise of the series DOES sound interesting even if I'm getting some Spy Myung Wol vibes (and no, I haven't seen that one, but isn't that what the premise turned into anyway?). I just hope that this series turns out better than what netizens ended up critiquing about Spy Myung Wol.

Here's also a link to the same story at Dramabeans wherein it seems that the game of musical casting has us wondering whether or not this pairing will actually be confirmed. Apparently there have been multiple actors rumored to be up for the main male role in "The King" and Ha Ji Won's participation isn't really confirmed. I'm actually quite interested, so I hope that we're done with the rumored cast and that this will be it.

first impression: Wild Romance (Korean)

Another round of K-drama Russian Roulette (sort of) brought me to picking up Wild Romance, currently being streamed by Drama Fever. I guess if not for Drama Fever, there are multiple series I would have never thought to start watching. (Case in point, I've recently finished Once Upon a Time In Saengchori, which I've only seen on Drama Fever. But I digress.)

Wild Romance isn't one of those series that's a must see, in accordance to what little promo there has been. Lee Si Young isn't someone I'm familiar with at all, but Lee Dong Wook has been a dramaland favorite ever since My Girl and Scent of a Woman. And so I couldn't help but to wonder what his next project would entail. After the semi-melodrama that was Scent of a Woman, I figured that it wouldn't hurt to see a little bit of Lee Dong Wook in a true form rom-com with hopeful laugh-out-loud humor, cheeky character personalities, and typical rom-com logic that gets you where you need to be. I was looking for something light-hearted and fun.

Having only seen the first episode so far, I have to say that I'm a little bit disappointed. The premise was a pretty good set-up (as all rom-coms usually are), but the build up and the execution of the main couple's relationship is starting off a bit too awkwardly shaky for my liking. What really makes me wince is that, sometimes what you need in some story lines really IS that initial set up -- the means to bring our two main leads together in some way, shape or form. We can always supply personal relations, forced working and/or living environments, or the infamous contractual relationship.

Wild Romance went for the contractual relationship, except, in this case, the contract happened to be a bodyguard/clientele relationship with no tie-ins to romance. The romance, I'm sure, is supposed to come later on when the two start spending more time with each other. Except, after Episode One's childish debacle, I'm not sure how we expect to get these two people to actually like each other outside of continually pulling each other's hair and throwing someone over a shoulder.

While I saw the set up as necessary, it still ended up dragging quite a bit. That was fine, I sat through it and waited patiently. The only advantage was the rush-rush of the set-up which lasted a whole of around ten to fifteen minutes; that's typically a good thing if the set-up doesn't drag on for two episodes and so this worked in the series favor. Unfortunately, somehow it still felt a bit draggy; maybe there are certain times where I'm actually hard to please. As soon as the set up was done and we've signed our contract, however, I was expecting some lively and interesting interaction. Instead, we get two immature twelve-year-old mentalities battling it out over who's baseball team is the better one by utilizing the most childish antics possible: name calling and a whole bucket full of "anything you can do I can do better."

Needless to say, I got a little frustrated and pretty much stone-faced it until the end of the first episode where I was relieved to see it finished.

It could have been a good bit of bantering, really. Both main leads had great comedic timing (especially Lee Dong Wook, true to form of his multiple random facial expressions). The antics could have been fun and witty. But it was like the series was trying way too hard to be funny and ended up just coming off tacky. I couldn't laugh cause I found the rest of the episode more nonsense than funny (which is usually NOT a good thing).

As I would like to mention, the premise is a good one. Lee Dong Wook is Park Moo Yul, a popular baseball player with a temper and bad attitude (surprise, surprise), and Lee Si Young is Yoo Eun Jae, the tomboy bodyguard for hire with a stubborn, spunky personality (again, surprise, surprise...). Neither of these two characters are anything outstanding and we seem to be taking a safe route in story line progression and character development department. As with all rom-coms, we have an arrogant bastard of a main male lead and the eternally cheerful yet also stubborn and hot-headed female lead. Oh, and she also sports the intelligence of an elementary school student.

Okay, not that I'm asking much, but for once in a rom-com, can we NOT employ the standard female lead with no brains trope? I understand that she's supposed to be a tomboy bodyguard, but does being brawny mean that she can't be quick-witted as well? And just because she's a bodyguard, why does she also have to look like a teenage boy? The short hair? The lack of modern fashion sense? Really?

And, Omigod! The maturity level of BOTH main leads! I could throw fits if I had been anticipating this series (which I'm glad I wasn't).

And then the main male lead: MUST we employ more arrogance, bad tempers and absolutely no charm? I mean, don't get me wrong, Lee Dong Wook is very charming and handsome, but the character role is once again the type that doesn't seem to mesh well with women. He's just ill-tempered all around. I'm starting to get some standard K-drama "Daddy Problem" vibes though, and I'm half hoping that this isn't really his issue.

But I get it; this is standard rom-com device. Even if our main male lead is supposed to be a gentleman, he'll be nice to every other person around him EXCEPT for the main female lead. This is where we lead into "sparks flying as a result of bickering" romance, which I don't mind if it's done correctly. It's a little illogical for the main male lead to be a gentleman to every other woman but the main female lead for the sole reason that she got on his nerves at first impression, but I accept those because of the love line's direction.

Unfortunately, the hostility between our main male lead and female lead in Wild Romance isn't so much "sparks flying with bickering" as it is punches and verbal not-so-witty bantering going back and forth without any sense of meaning, mostly centering around their passions for their respective baseball teams. As I repeat myself, these two are so far, just two kids looking to fight each other for no reason other than the fact that they don't like each other because they both stand on opposing teams. Park Moo Yul is the celebrity player of one baseball team and Yoo Eun Jae happens to be a diehard fan of the opposing rival team.

I personally don't know much about sports team rivalries since I'm not one to really follow sports. I know we get a lot of tough competition between fans (football season in America is pretty antsy). So I don't know if hostilities really run THAT deep to the point that a bodyguard would disregard her post and let her client be egged just because he's an arrogant asshole (okay, maybe he had it coming to him anyway). What I'm saying is, however, that I don't know if I've seen so much childishness within the last ten to fifteen minutes of an episode. I'm almost not even wanting to touch the next episode, but I know I should at least give it a fighting chance. A lot of other netizens seem to be enjoying it, and I'd hate to check out of it so quickly just because the first episode got off on a bad start (in my opinion).

I mean, I'm the girl who managed to sit through Hero, God of Study, AND Lie To Me (even if with little enthusiasm and a lot of frustrated eye rolls).

We shall see where the rest of this series is headed though. Because as I've already stated, the premise is a good one. Two people who start off hating each other end up in a bodyguard/client relationship and antics ensue. It almost made me think of Protect the Boss, but the ultimate premise of Protect the Boss wasn't so much a bodyguard type relationship, and despite the shaky story line, the world of Protect the Boss was still rather uniquely built with each main character being pretty non-standard and lots of fun to follow.

The side supporting characters of Wild Romance seem rather non-existent so far, but I'm a little drawn to Park Moo Yul's manager Kim Tae Han (Kang Dong Ho) who seems the more calm and level-headed part of the series. Lee Won Jong as Yoo Eun Jae's father does an excellently comedic, die-hard baseball fan who is also loud, unreasonable, and a bit manipulative. Oh Man Suk is also a personal favorite and I'm waiting to see what his character role will turn out since it seems he may be more of the secondary male lead with a rather charming and genteel personality. And then Hwang Sun Hee (whom I only recognize from her role in City Hunter as the strangely charming veterinarian) has made an appearance, but not much about her character is known yet aside from being romantically tied to Park Moo Yul somehow.

I'm hoping that Wild Romance can at least rope me in for a good first half ride and then I'll let it spiral out of control after that. I don't like dropping series mid-way in, but I've already had to do it once in K-dramaland, and I know that there is always a possibility for it happening again. But we'll see where this series leads me. There are already a LOT of new series I've been anticipating and I'm not too averse to dropping a faulty series in favor of one that I would be more excited about.

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news: Sam Dong's Dream High 2 Cameo

Hell yea!

Clicky to Read!!!
source:  Dramabeans

Yes, I watched Dream High in a two day sitting. Yes, I really enjoyed it A LOT. And yes, I would love a Kim Soo Hyun cameo in the upcoming all over, hyped up Dream High 2. This is totally an excellent marketing ploy since people who loved Dream High also loved Song Sam Dong in all of his cute country-bumpkin-turned-hot-guy glory. I certainly was impressed by the character as well as Kim Soo Hyun's portrayal -- and his singing voice was nothing short of excellent as well. Even though Dream High wasn't exactly what I would call the best drama series (since it felt more like an idol marketing promo that lasted 16 hours), it was like guilty pleasure crack and I was sold on it every minute.

So, yea, I'm looking forward to seeing Dream High 2, although I will admit I've had my reserves. Sequels usually don't hit the spot as well as the original, and I've seen many a drama series suffer from the "Bad Sequel Syndrome" wherein it either doesn't live up to its former, or it tries too hard to be individual and ends up planking. So with a now known cameo of Kim Soo Hyun, I would start watching it just to see his appearance.

Oh, yes, then there's Jiyeon too. I like her, but I've only ever seen her in God of Study, so it's not like I can really critique what I feel her acting should be like. Although the poster seems to lean heavily on the fact that she might be the "main antagonist" -- like the first Dream High's Yoon Baek Hee, played by fellow T-ara member Ham Eun Jung. A little disheartening, but we'll see where the series takes our kids.

Anyway, in other Kim Soo Hyun related news from Dramabeans (which is more heavily Jung Il Woo centric), the "adult" cast of The Moon That Embraces the Sun will be appearing in the next few episodes. And here I am, not even having seen the first episode at all yet. I'm having some issues finding any streaming where there are English subtitles (or I'm not looking hard enough), and I'm sighing up a storm of silent tantrum at the fact that I can't follow the series at the same time as everyone else. Drama Fever won't even be streaming it until about a month from now. I guess by then I'll just have to watch it all the way through without getting to blog about it too much -- there's good and bad about that, I guess.

thoughts: Special Affairs Team TEN (Korean) -- first impression follow up

To finish off my thoughts for Episode One of this series, here is a short and sweet rambling of what came to be.

There will be few SPOILERS, but to ruin the entire experience with ANY form of big giveaway would be cruel, in my opinion. So proceed with caution, but I assure that the ultimate conclusion to this first murder case will NOT be discussed in this article. This is assuming that I give anything away at all.

It's beyond my own expertise or even my own abilities as a blogger to even start forming my opinions about how ingenious this entire first episode fell together by the end. So this is a fairly crude throw-together of some thoughts I managed to come up with.

I'm under the assumption that this will be a one case per episode type of series. So, for one, I'm glad that there will be multiple criminal mysteries to follow through; and secondly, I'm at the edge of my seat in anticipation for the next episode and its accompanying crime thriller mystery. Oh... here's a plead to those who can make things happen to have English subtitles for this series appear quickly for my own excited pleasure! Because after polishing off the rest of Episode One's murder mystery, I'm just taken aback by the insanely gripping, edge-of-my-seat excitement that the rest of the series is promising.

There's little I can really mention about this particular murder case without completely giving it away (which would be cruel even for spoiler standards). But I will say that it was a truly thrilling and wonderful experience for me to be able to guess and think as the entire case unfolded itself before my eyes.

The story opens up (to add onto what I've mentioned already in the first impression article) with two murders and a missing persons case.

Case #1:
A man has taken a dive off a cliff where a sign stating "Suicide Prohibited" hangs ominously (and uselessly, I might add since, really, what's the government gonna do to someone already dead if they break that law?) as police crowd around to work the scene. Detective Baek Do Sik immediately clues in that this was not a suicide, but a homicide and so let the investigations begin.

Case #2:
A woman is found dead in her own apartment, a murder mimicking a case that had taken place nearly seven years prior. Her hands and her face has been taped by common industrial-use green tape and her fingers have been cute off as she lays in a gory pool of her own blood. This case is being reviewed by a board of law enforcement as it brings into play what they have dubbed the Tape Murder Case. Yeo Ji Heon, an expert professor who used to be a detective with undeniable ability has been brought in to help investigate the case, partnered up with rookie Park Min Ho.

Case #3
A woman has gone missing, reported in by her fiance. Detective Nam Yeri is brought in to find this woman, and using her expertise in psychology, begins her investigation. What she learns is that things haven't been going too smoothly for the engaged couple and that the missing woman has been conducting some secret activities out of character from her normal dealings.

When all three cases begin to converge together into one, and all three sides realize that they might be looking for the exact same person, the ultimate intrigue begins to unfold. The murderer of victim number one, the murderer of victim number two, as well as the missing woman from the third case... all the evidence starts pointing at an obvious connection between the three cases.

What's going on with this scenario? Where is this new evidence leading me? Maybe this is what happened? Each new truth had me dropping gasps and excited deductions about the murder case. And then there was the deeper emotional stigma of what had been going on behind both the victim's and the murderer's eyes. One sister dead, one sister missing; a set of twins separated after being adopted into two different families. A darker secret about their origins than would have been expected. There were lost speculations about motive and even new, heartbreaking discoveries about the sisters themselves.

The dead woman in Case #2 turns out to be twin sister to the missing woman from Case #3. The dead man from Case #1 happened to be the step-brother-slash-sexual-partner of the dead woman in Case #2. Everything starts to fall together and we start to wonder what might have happened to the missing woman from Case #3. Is this really part of a serial murder case of the Tape Murder from years before? Could it be a copy cat case? Did the other twin sister kill both victims?

How does the death of the step-brother come into play? And what about the scene of the sister's murder? Why doesn't the re-enactment add up? What are we missing? And what kind of darker secrets does she hold that might have propelled the entire mystery in the first place?

How could a simple, two-hour episode touch upon something so delicate, and make you feel so much from repulsion, to anger, and even sadness?

As the case developed, I found myself enraptured in the fact that my own speculations might be right. And when they turned out the way I thought they would be, I was so giddy with excitement. However, when the ideas turned out different, I was still amazed at what ended up being the truth.

You know that feeling you get when you're just holding your breath waiting for that new twist to inspire you to keep watching and wondering? And then when a new development occurs, it hits you so hard that you're actually silly ecstatic about how things turned out? And then you sit back and literally clench your fists because you know that this isn't the end and that more secrets are yet to be revealed?

This is how I felt watching the entirety of this first episode, the first murder case. The copy cat Tape Murder Case, if you will, that takes what seemed to be a simple crime mystery and turns it into a much more intriguing psychological battle of reasoning, wits, and deduction.

I'm just sad that I cannot form anymore words on this mystery lest I completely ruin the experience for anyone else.

Nonetheless, the story telling and the criminal case wasn't without its faults; the episode wasn't completely perfect, really. There were moments when enough evidence was given so that you had an idea what was to come in the end even before the characters could find their resolution. And then there were certain aspects that required a bit more suspension of disbelief. There were moments that made you wonder how it contributed to the overall murder mystery or even to the series itself. Each new turn, however, DID manage to keep you guessing.

I had immense fun just watching these first two hours of the series and I hope that the rest of it will follow in kind.

The team will be forming next episode, I assume, and what I love more than a gripping story line is the character relation dynamics. Four completely different types of investigators coming together to solve the most perplexing, brutal cases known. I know I mentioned that I'm not too keen on unnecessary side plots for a series like this (since it would take away from the fascinating criminal mysteries), but now that we've set up a pretty good direction and foundation for the series proper, I wouldn't mind seeing how our team of four, newly formed detectives will go about among each other. If they worked together so well without even meaning to, coming together from three different starting points, how well will these guys work as a unit, focused on one destination?

I am totally, totally excited! (I've no other way to describe this series, sadly.)

Here's crossing my fingers and hoping that things continue as smoothly as they are now.

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Related articles:
first impression: Special Affairs Team TEN

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first impression: Special Affairs Team TEN (Korean)

This series will be finishing up its broadcast with ten episodes soon (according to sources), but very little of it has been subtitled for us non-Korean speaking viewers. So I hadn't been planning on watching it yet until more episodes became available with English subtitles for my own understanding. But when I came across it one more time at Viki, I couldn't help but to give the first episode a go.

First of all... well, I don't even think I'm experienced enough in any type of media story telling (K-drama or not) to give a proper critique of the beauty that totally wow-ed me with just the opening credits. The series opens up with a random musical montage of a random woman (whom all viewers probably suspect will be a murder victim soon), and then immediately dives into two murder cases and a missing persons case. All three cases are tied together and we aren't even given any inkling that this is the reason except that the three investigations are taking place at the same time. A gut feeling (as well as the way the story unfolds) pretty much tells us that we're just waiting for all three investigations and all three of our investigators to fall together by the end of this first episode.

There is no dilly-dallying around with filler detail or random trivial moments. We get right into the main point; there's nothing flashy or distracting to deter our attention either. This is important in mystery crime thrillers because if we start getting complicated side plots and relationships that are unnecessary, then that takes away from the power of following the criminal mystery. This is what I totally loved about the first episode alone (or rather, the first half of the first episode) -- because I walked into it expecting a crime mystery and that is all that I want to see.

Sure, we've got a few side thoughts and some random scenes that aren't related to the criminal cases, but they are incorporated so naturally that you don't really mind. It's a very realistic way of conveying the investigations; once again, none of that CSI flashy and commercialized fun stuff that people have become addicted to in recent years. The facts roll out slowly, we get a lot of interesting problem-solving methods and reasoning, and no one simply looks at a piece of evidence and says "Okay, I know who did it!" It gives us, as viewers, the chance to really think about the mystery along with the story characters. And so I love how the story is unfolding bit-by-bit without some random clairvoyant detective who seems to know exactly what to do and what to look for.

Okay, maybe one guy, Yeo Ji Heon (played by Joo Sang Wook) seems to be moving along with his instincts. But he's investigating a case similar to one that he'd already worked on years ago which was unresolved. There are certain things he knows to look for (which totally shows in experience rather than just luck and intelligence). So I buy it, because it's not like he's pointing fingers at things and retelling the crime scene with a few blood stains and some magical evidence.

It's been a while since I last took my Forensics classes, but I can clearly say that the way that TEN is going about the murder cases is a lot more realistic than I've seen in a lot of other television series. And also, it's kind of refreshing not to see police officers jumping over cars and blowing things up. Despite the series being shot in a very western-ish, movie-like quality, at least the sequences aren't trying to sell nonsensical action. What we've got here is a lot of detective work based on problem solving and reasoning.

I especially liked the little time-line tree that Nam Yeri (played by Jo An) had set up during her investigation of her missing person. A lot of time and effort goes into something like that and it shows that she's not just looking at random papers and making hypothetical yet also magical guesses that work in her favor. She's constantly documenting, taking pictures, shooting videos, highlighting statistics, going through listings... It's just refreshing to see something so much more meticulous than pretty.

And speaking of The Pretty, I wanted to make mention of the resident maknae of the impending team, Park Min Ho (played by Choi Woo Sik). His first impression on me was kind of amusing because he was the young newbie who would follow with the more seasoned now-professor "detective" Yeo Ji Heon who was tasked to take on the Tape Murder Case. Trying to get all chummy with the professor wasn't really working for him, but it was cute nonetheless. The kid's REAL calling came when he was actually doing more reasoning work and questioning a known witness about murder events -- THEN he just seemed even cuter and pretty slick and cool and not simply The Pretty maknae. I'm looking forward to seeing what else he'll impress with in following episodes.

Kim Sang Ho is the only name I'm familiar with in this series so far, as the detective with about 24 years of experience under his belt (as summaries supply), named Baek Do Sik. We are, of course, familiar with his Shik Joong ahjusshi role from the crack-tastic City Hunter earlier in 2011, so there's no refuting his skill as an actor. As a detective, he fine-tunes things really well and I'm glad that we're incorporating a top-notch detective into this team who shows his years of experience rather than just letting the story narrate it.

All-in-all, I think that when I can finally watch the entirety of this series, I'm really going to enjoy it. Unfortunately, I wish there was a way I could understand Korean just a little bit better, because while the subtitles are decent, it still feels like there are a lot of things I'm missing out on just by not knowing the language (the same feeling I had when I was watching the first episode of Joseon X-Files). Already, while I had an inkling of what was going on, there were a few things that I think got lost on me by the end of the first episode (which may require a re-watch if I REALLY want to analyze this series by detail, which I don't, thankfully).

This series has given me a big "Awesome!" factor already. The camera angles are done excellently, the lighting is amazing and natural, and even the background music isn't distracting or trendy, but sets the right mood. It's a very simplistic form of filming for a series and I'm totally digging it.

I guess this might be the beauty of cable channels in Korean television. I know I'm totally buying the murder cases since we are seemingly sparing no forms of conservative shooting: realistic blood pools and corpse deformation and the like really help set the suspension of disbelief.

Finally, the mid-episode "crossing paths" slow-mo (I guess, symbolic) scene wherein our three investigators are in the same place at the same time for the first time in the series was actually done really well. As the police van passes by the other two investigators, I just held my breath. You would think that something as tactless as setting up a "fated encounter" sequence would turn out kind of tacky, but in this case, it really worked. When the scene came to an end, I really just let out a breath and said, "Nice!" And that was as simple as that.

So if the rest of the series follows the same form, direction and telling as the first episode, then I'm totally riding this one until the end. And I'm going to have to update my Favorite K-dramas list too.

As a final note, during the writing of this particular article, I hadn't realized that this series was actually broadcast as two-hour episodes in originality. And so the first episode I ended up watching was actually just the first half of the first episode. Even so, it was still excellently done and had me wanting to continue (I guess since the episode isn't quite finished, but whatever) onto the next. And so that I don't spoil my own thought process, we'll leave this first impression article as is and throw in random thought articles where necessary (especially if I have something to say after actually completely watching the entire Episode One).

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Related articles:
thoughts: Special Affairs Team TEN -- first impression follow up

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first impression: Color of Woman (Korean)

So I finally got around to watching the very first episode of this series (and we are currently about ten episodes into broadcast, so yes, I know, I'm late). And I will say that I'm glad I finally chose to watch it -- the promos for this series (at least what I bothered to read about it) were kind of bland and I wasn't sure what the story line was going for. Aside from being another "homely poor girl meets hot chaebol prince" piece, I hadn't been expecting much. The only thing that continued to pique my interest however, were Yoon So Yi and (surprisingly) Jae Hee (who looks fabulously handsome compared to the last time I saw him in Delightful Girl Choon Hyang).

The humble plot summary was a curiosity for me as well, but it's not like it was one of those series that I had to watch no matter what. And so I cheerfully cleaned up my viewing list for the end of the year as Flower Boy Ramyun Shop and Me Too, Flower! both came to an end. With holidays and family and friends taking up my time in Real Life, I decided to push Color of Woman back until after the New Years festivities were tied up.

But then that ended up going into another week of waiting since I also chose to jump on another speeding train (a two day marathon of Dream High which I will speak of at some other time and a bit of lazy "what do I want to watch next" withdrawals that I didn't think Dream High could do to me). Also factoring in an unfortunate (yet planned) Wisdom Teeth extraction surgery, I admit that I've been more interested in being lazy and watching random drama series without having to blog about them. I'm hoping to be up and running again now that I've started the new year off with my first official drama series article for 2012.

Anyway, onto Color of Woman...

The promotions for this series had been rather to the point, but not quite accurate. It described this series as a story where two working women face some fierce rivalry on the business front as they both work for the same company. There are indirect implications to also fighting for romance from the same guy (which is typically the case in all rom-coms anyway) and we are made to believe that this is the typical formula that I have mentioned above: "homely poor girl meets hot chaebol prince" and then we ensue with the standard antics and love rivals.

And so I was expecting a totally unbelievable Yoon So Yi as the unkempt and "drama ugly" main girl who will go through her make-over transformation some time mid-series. And then on the other side you would have Lee Soo Kyung as the more beautiful, cooler, and arrogant scheming love rival to fight against her.

What we end up getting however, is a much more interesting relationship dynamic than I had been expecting. Because even if these two girls end up fighting a fierce office battle (which I highly doubt considering their character descriptions) they have already been established as roommates and strangely fitting friends.

Yoon So Yi is Byun So Ra, a highly intelligent, to the point type of woman with no tact, but with credentials and logic up the wazoo. Having had a professor job at a university in place for her, it is unfortunate that her no-nonsense personality manages to get her fired wherein she then goes to the cosmetics company where her friend Kang Chan Jin (Shim Ji Ho) works as a brand manager and becomes part of the marketing team.

The best part about So Ra's character, I think, is the fact that she's not branded as the typical "drama ugly" heroine who needs a severe make-over to entice her future prince chaebol. Instead, So Ra's take on life is pretty much that hiding behind cosmetics and high heels is not her style because it doesn't really make sense. But we are given the example that So Ra is able to don a coat of lipstick and furs and strut around with the best of the gorgeous models out there. Considering the fact that no one in their right minds (k-dramaland world or not) would think that Yoon So Yi is ugly, I'm glad that we've set up her character role in this fashion.

Byun So Ra can look beautiful if she wanted to, but she just chooses not to take any notice of her own image. This is fitting since real life independent women tend to stray into this area as well: they know they can look good, but since it's a waste of time and effort, they don't bother and it doesn't make much sense anyway.

Lee Soo Kyung is surprisingly adorable as the materialistic yet gorgeous and one-tracked roommate and friend of Byun So Ra, named Wang Jin Ju (let's ignore the coincidence). She's not standard female rival with evil scheming tendencies, but she's not above trying to take what isn't hers or being a little manipulative to get what she wants. The best part about this girl is that she's not an idiot even if she plays off being a little airheaded for the rest of the world to wonder about. Her goal is to marry a rich, handsome prince (which isn't completely unorthodox, but could be better) and she seems to home in immediately on her prey without batting an eye.

Between Byun So Ra and Wang Jin Ju we have a strangely fitting friendship wherein, even though the series immediately starts off with Byun So Ra's boyfriend two-timing her with Wang Jin Ju, the two women still manage to get through that hurdle (though not without a lot of verbal sniping at each other) and continue to be friends. Jin Ju even gives So Ra a nice little make over by episode's end so that she can go act revenge upon the cheating ex. And to top it off, when Jin Ju is given a modeling opportunity at the cosmetic company, despite So Ra's annoyance with her superficial roommate, her expression seems to show it all when she snaps photographs of Jin Ju: genuinely, sincerely impressed as well as happy for the other girl. This is suprisingly a friendship dynamic you don't get to see much of in rom-coms, mainly because the female lead is always the type who either has bumbling idiot friends, lackey friends with no lives of their own, or no friends period. And so to put these girls as both rivals and friends at the same time -- I like it because it's different.

Moving along to the male leads, we haven't really seen too much of them yet, but the descriptions are pretty straight forward. Shim Ji Ho is Kang Chan Jin, So Ra's college friend who is chummy to the point that he drops by for dinner unannounced regularly. We sense that there might be some attraction on his end, but he plays it off rather well, presenting a more player type of vibe. Jae Hee is Yoon Joon Soo who is described as talented and a possible male version of Byun So Ra wherein he's got facts and logic dominating his thought processes everywhere.

We get a short glimpse of a past romantic conflict between So Ra and Joon Soo, and so we are already certain that this will be the main play on the love line -- so it's not so much "poor homely girl meets princely chaebol" but these two already know each other and we will get to continue that tense romance conflict as well as some unresolved sexual(?) awkwardness. Yes, you read it right: unresolved sexual tension and conflict in a K-drama? Oh Noes!!

The cast is wonderful as far as I can see. Aside from the relationship dynamics being unique and fun, the cast are giving off good enough chemistry for the relationships to be believable. While I didn't quite care for Jae Hee in Delightful Girl Choon Hyang (even though he was more likable than Choon Hyang herself), I'm looking forward to seeing more of him in this series. Also... post army duty Jae Hee means an opportunity for some naked torso shots, which I am totally NOT against. Bring it on!

I am definitely looking forward to how things will end up playing out. The character relations are already building quite uniquely and now that everyone is working under the same company, we've got a lot of fun ahead of us. Let's just cross our fingers and hope that the rest of the series sails smoothly the way the first episode presented because I've already had my fill of disappointments from the past.

news: 2012 and some random things

So... 2012...

I'm a day late as it is now midnight on January 2nd, but it's okay. Nothing is supposed to make sense anyway (not even this post). The banner was long overdue for a change. Due to the holiday season and lots of work hours, I ended up with Slack-itis and made use of Yeo Woon for two months straight. No harm done, really since Yoo Seung Ho is very pretty and Yeo Woon is the embodiment of awesomeness.

My intention had been to utilize a Flower Boy Ramyun Shop banner... Again, Slack-itis hit pretty hard.

Anyway, as was stated in my 2011 Reflection post, the coming few months will end up a bit slower than what has been going on in the past five months. My obsession phase is starting to simmer into a mere "K-dramas are a natural part of life" type of thing now. I've decided that if I don't want to resent blogging about K-drama as well as K-drama itself, I should just post whenever I feel like posting. Because otherwise, we go on a two year hiatus which is now going on three years.

There are a lot of new series in 2012 that I'm anticipating (as noted by various news related posts in the past few weeks) and so we'll be hearing about all of that. Articles I have already written will find their way into publication when I finally get myself together and start working on them (or rather finishing them with pictures).

Two specific articles will be worked on (much like I'm "working on" that 'Dedicated to Running Man' page) as I have intentions of posting more than just thoughts on drama series. The third part of my 2011 Reflections may take a little longer to publication. Included in the "I need to get these done" category will be the intro info articles for Flower Boy Ramyun Shop and Me Too, Flower!, the latter of which will also be getting an ending and overall review as soon as I finish watching the rest of it (at the edge of my seat in anticipation because the series has taken a better turn for the ending episodes and there are still no English subtitles yet). I plan on starting Color of Woman now that my Real Life hectic-ness has simmered away and I'll have more time to work on this blog, so anticipate a first impression post soon.

A new series will be chosen to watch soon as well and it might end up being Dream High instead of a battle between one of the Jung Il Woo projects and the only other Yoon Shi Yoon work I've been considering. Although I DID start watching High Kick Through The Roof without any impression on whether or not I'll actually continue. I tried watching the first High Kick sitcom and really couldn't get further than the first episode because nothing really made much sense to me. High Kick Through The Roof has set up a better premise with more bearable antics than I'd seen in the first High Kick. Once again, the unanticipated battle between Jung Il Woo and Yoon Shi Yoon for my affection... Yoon Shi Yoon is winning out on this one though.

Back-tracking, since there is a Dream High 2 in the making and I kind of enjoy Jiyeon of T-ara since her days in God of Study, I feel it would only be right if I watched Dream High first. My parents seem to be enjoying it quite a bit and keep commenting on how "these young kids are pretty good at singing".

Anyway, that was just a brief update for what's in store, but I make no promises. I really DO have a lot of drama series on my list that I'd love to finish watching, but somehow it's just so hard to get around to everything.