first impression: The Moon That Embraces the Sun (Korean)

What better way to start off a series than with a short legend about the moon and the sun, some assassin killings in the night, a dash of political intrigue, a few significant deaths, a tragic prophecy, and some juicy court conspiracies? It's always a good sign when the first few minutes of a series manages to rein you right in, living up to all the hype that we've been hearing about over the past couple weeks. It's exciting and you get that spine-tingling thirst to keep watching (much like I had had when I was watching Tree With Deep Roots). While it's not the most original of plot devices hovering the first episode, it's really the atmosphere, the actors, the premise, and the tragic romance that's reeling me in (it's all about feel for me, really).

And yes, I know that I'm probably way late in putting out a first impression post for The Moon That Embraces the Sun, but I guess the term to use would be: "Better late than never." Right?

I DO apologize though (and we may skip the next two or three paragraphs if no one cares to hear my excuses and rantings) -- I had been planning on watching The Moon That Embraces the Sun since the very moment I heard about it. I mean, who could forego a series that was slated as a "from the makers of Sungkyunkwan Scandal" type of series? I loved Sungkyunkwan Scandal in all it's insightful, witty, beautiful and idealistic glory (shoddy ending included). And then after boarding the Dream High train and riding it all the way through to the end within two nights, I was hooked on the next Kim Soo Hyun project (because Song Sam Dong rules, doncha know!). Add the ever awesome Jung Il Woo into the mix right after I finished falling in love with him from Flower Boy Ramyun Shop.... I'm totally and permanently onboard this one!

And so it was unfortunate that so many factors had made it so hard for me to even start touching this series. And now I regret that I hadn't tried harder. The first English subbed online streaming version didn't even show up until about five to six episodes into the series. By then, I was in the middle of wrapping up thoughts on other series (which doesn't show since I've finished my articles and have yet to "complete" them enough for publishing). On top of that, I had this really overwhelming feeling that settled on my shoulders the moment I thought about watching The Moon That Embraces the Sun after I had already chosen to pick up Wild Romance, Color of Woman and Skip Beat! (none of which I have bothered to touch for a few weeks now).

I was under the impression that if I started watching The Moon That Embraces the Sun, I would have to blog about it (at the very least, a first impression post and some random thoughts as the series progressed). By the time I was resigned to start watching this series, the girls over at Dramabeans as well as all the media about ratings on this series had raved so much about the grandness of it all that I was worried I wouldn't know WHAT to write about it for myself. For me, it was a matter of: What good would I be if others are already putting such great recaps and thoughts on this series out for the public to bask in? Nonetheless, I still wanted to put my own two-cents in anyway and so I conflicted over how I would approach the series as a blogger. (Ultimately, I may end up rounding up the first impression post followed by random discussion articles, much like I had done so for Warrior Baek Dong Soo which was completely finished airing by the time I decided to get back to it.)

And then the following three series decided to start airing, all at the same time: Dream High 2, Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, and Operation Proposal. All three of these, I had been anticipating just as much as The Moon That Embraces the Sun; and while only two of them are really showing good promise to the series' progression and the story line development, I still had my plans to blog about them.

Finally, I told myself, I should just jump into this and not really think about it (it also helps that I've already gotten my first impression posts for the above three series posted). I'm not a professional critic -- I just write about drama series, movies, etc., because I like to write about them. The reason I stopped writing in my anime blog was BECAUSE I overwhelmed myself by trying to get too serious and too "professional" about posting regularly and in specific form. I told myself before that I would NOT do that with this drama zone blog and I intend to stick within my comfort zone.


***

So what did all of that above really mean?

It meant that I wanted to make sure I had enough filler to meet my "articles should at least be this long" quota. That way, I'm not tempted to reiterated in different ways how much I'm enjoying just the first episode of this series already. Vague phrases such as: "I really love this series!" or "The series is onto a good start." or "I will totally continue to ride this exciting train of mysticism and wittiness!" type of redundancy can tell just about anyone what I'm thinking so far. But that only gives me so many sentences to include in the article and then what good would it be for me to have a blog. Because we ALL know that I'm going to continue watching The Moon That Embraces the Sun, no matter what.

But anyway... enough about me and back to the actual series now, no?

On a side note, the scenes are all really pretty, from the interior scenes of the palace, to the outside references to the moon, etc.... Sungkyunkwan Scandal had the same feel to it as well, sometimes giving even the most hilarious moments a beautiful backdrop.

As an introductory, we start off strong with a nice little court conspiracy. The dowager queen tasks her court lacky, Lord Yoon Dae Hyung to get rid of the other "Sun" who may threaten her emperor son, Seongjo's position as the current (fictional) king of the Joseon era. And so the Prince Uiseong's death is planned along with some framework set to make the death out to be an act of suicide via guilt of treason. Our first encounter with a shaman, Ahri shows us a woman who senses "murder in the air" and rushes off to Uiseong's only to witness his death; escaping her own imminent demise at the hands of assassins, Ahri rushes off and ends up falling off a cliff. We cut to Seongsucheong, the Office of the Shamans wherein the Chief of the Shamans seems to sense something amiss in the air, confirming her discomfit with the absence of Ahri. We learn from a conversation between the dowager queen and Lord Yoon that Ahri may have been in a forbidden romance with Prince Uiseong since she used to be his slave and so decide to throw her into the conspiratorial framing of treason as well. Since the Chief of Shamans (for whatever reason) serves the dowager queen loyally, they task the woman to confirm that Ahri had part in wanting her "lover" to become king and had created talismans for this to occur.

We learn a whole lot of things within these first ten minutes of introductory story building (which is really nice because there would be a lot of questions otherwise). And the best part is that there is no dragging moment and we get through it all rather quickly; it doesn't seem rushed either since we're in the midst of WANTING to move onto the "present-day" story line (even IF the next part involves the kids instead of the anticipated "adults" of the series).

And so what else happens? Ahri escapes the assassins with the help of a noblemwoman, Lady Shin who is pregnant and kind. But it seems that the fate of Lady Shin's unborn child has already been written. Ahri foresees a tragic end to the noblewoman's unborn daughter, but cannot say anything about it. When we get flashes of the future, our suspicions are confirmed: the unborn child will be the future Wol (Han Ga In) who is known as Heo Yeon Woo until she is stricken with tragedy and loses her memory. Her life plays a huge role in the lives of two boys, Crown Prince Lee Hwon and his brother Prince Yang Myung, as the "moon" to both "suns".

With this event set in place, the story line takes off with a strong, solid foundation that I'm sure will continue to satisfy and fascinate (according to reviews and ratings) as the series progresses. While this wasn't exactly the best of the best in crop of pilot episodes, it had its attractiveness, though it feels as if it'll take another episode or two for the rest of the story line's excitement to pick up. Granted, there was enough excitement to kick-off the build-up of our world and our story, it doesn't stray far from standard historical court conspiracies and talk of fate and destiny and the like.

What I like about this first episode are the characters and a slight feeling of the mysticism, set up for all that symbolism of the Moon and the Sun references. Of course, I really DO hope that we don't overplay the Moon/Sun symbolism; because, well, I get it and there's no need to keep hammering in the connection of the Moon's (Wol) fate with the two Suns (Lee Hwon and Yang Myung). Don't get me wrong, the symbolism is excellently set in place, but too much harping about these Moon/Sun connections and it could get to be too annoying.

For the latter half of the first episode, we very quickly meet our three main leads in their "childhood" versions: Kim You Jung as Heo Yeon Woo, Yeo Jin Ku as Lee Hwon, and Lee Min Ho as Yang Myung. The three quickly become stand-out characters (of course with the excellent acting talent behind them, we've never had a doubt). More symbolism comes into play as each of the three have their own thoughts about each other's encounters: 1) Lee Hwon wonders if he'll ever get to meet Yeon Woo again; 2) Yeon Woo, upon learning that the boy she met is the Crown Prince, is relieved she'll never have to meet him again; and 3) Yang Myung watches Yeon Woo from afar, thinking to himself that it's great to be able to meet her again.

So it's another play on a forbidden romance in standard tragic rom-com glory with a couple who are fated to fall in love but cannot be together. All the while, we've got our third and fourth wheels diligently standing off to the side playing their parts. Of course, somehow I feel like Yang Myung's part will be much more significant than the part of the "other girl" who has yet to make her presence in the story line. But then again, what do I know since I've just started watching. I'm just going by simple standard romance tropes to make my predictions.

Other kids are also introduced as well, but not as in depth such as the teenage version of Seol, who is to become Wol (Yeon Woo)'s bodyguard in later story progression; Yeon Woo's brother Yeom, and the last boy to make up the best friend group a boy named Woon.

And already I'm loving the interaction between these kids. If I hadn't been anticipating this series in the beginning, after the appearance of these kids, I would be totally sold on this train. For instance, Yeon Woo starts off quiet and all-noble-like so I didn't have much of an impression of her. But then she starts talking and I'm taken aback at how spunky and brave she is. She's a young girl filled with ideals, wit, logic, and tons of spunk to boot (and she kind of reminds me of a younger version of Kim Yoon Hee, only with less bitterness and pride). Lee Hwon is showing us how quickly he can go from Crown Prince mode, to "just another young boy with his own ideals" mode and I'm sure it will be intriguing to continue following him. As for Yang Myung, he's created very much for the role of the good man -- I'm already feeling kind of heart broken for him because of all the "illigitimacy" issues he's had to go through as well as all the hardships he will be incurring for the sake of his beloved little brother.

The kids are so much fun and so in depth already that I know I'm going to miss them when they're gone. I look forward to seeing the appearance of Kim Soo Hyun and Jung Il Woo, but the "kids" of this series are already laying such a great foundation that it'll be hard to decide what I prefer to be watching more.

Again with the common phrase: "This series is starting off on very solid ground." And I mean it too. And seeing as how people have been raving about the rest of the series, I know I won't be disappointed for its progression at all. Of course, I only hope that I will have more thoughts to come soon (and that I can find a healthy balance between five different drama series and a book I'm trying to finish).


On a side note, there is a fascinating connection between two of our Moon/Sun cast members. My parents had just recently finished watching Giant which featured Yeo Jin Ku and Kim Soo Hyun playing the childhood versions of two of the main male roles, a set of brothers. And so it comes as a surprise to me that these two were actually cast as a set of brothers in one series, but now, in Moon/Sun, Yeo Jin Ku plays the child version of Lee Hwon while Kim Soo Hyun gets to carry on the "adult" version. The age difference is NOT at all that big between both boys, so it's kind of interesting and I wonder what type of basis the production staff used for this casting. I mean, I'm not complaining since both are excellent actors; I'm just wondering how this happened. Yeo Jin Ku, while able to pull off many child versions of main male leads, I would have never placed him as the child version of a character who's "adult" version is played by Kim Soo Hyun, just because neither of them look like they're passed the stage of young adult-hood anyway.

No biggie though; just a connection that I found amusing.

Anyway, I'm now off to finish the rest of what I can for The Moon That Embraces the Sun with high anticipation for its glory.

***

Props to Ahri (Jang Yeong Nam) who turned in a really creepy awesome performance in her dying  moments during torture.

first impression: Operation Proposal (Korean)

As many would expect, I have been looking forward to 'Operation Proposal' since the first time I heard news of it from Dramabeans. For the record, while I haven't seen everything that had cast Yoo Seung Ho in it, I have most definitely picked up two drama series and one movie because of him. And one of my thoughts for the future of this talented young one was that I hoped he would star in his own romantic comedy sometime in the future when he gets older (he's currently only eighteen... oh, so young!). And so I was fairly ecstatic when I learned about Operation Proposal because, while it isn't listed as a rom-com, it's close enough and Yoo Seung Ho gets to be center stage.

The first episode starts off with a little monologue/feel-good moment of sorts with a bunch of kids bullying a young boy. Not soon after, a girl shows up and chases the other boys away with a broom. The two then walk away hand-in-hand after one of the bully boys gets pelted in the head with a snowball, promptly cueing him to run off bawling. And then we get a little voice over by the man who's been watching this introduction; we later learn that this man is the Conductor played by Ki Tae Hoon who will give our leading man the chance to travel back in time.

Currently, there is a bit of speculation that the Conductor may or may not be Kang Baek Ho (Yoo Seung Ho's character) at a later future come back to help his younger self redo his past. Of course, there are a lot of flaws in that theory, because if the Conductor really were Kang Baek Ho from the future, why on earth would he come back to tell Kang Baek Ho to go back in time? Why not just go directly back to his high school self to redirect the future's turn of events? Or are there a lot more rules to time travel than I actually understand? I mean, setting aside the obvious fantastical elements, of course.

But anyway, back to the series...

"Miracles. Extraordinary events that occur without explanation. We call these miracles. A miracle could also be our urgent desire ringing like a bell. All of us have the chance to ring that bell at some point in our lives. Whether the bell rings or not depends on our choices and effort." This is what we hear as the scene ends, which cues in that we will be seeing a LOT of the philosophical ideals based off of fate, miracles and whether or not one would take the chance to change his or her life given the chance. But it also emphasizes that even with miracles, people do not necessarily have it in them to take that chance to change anything.

The series is already starting off on solid ground, with witty, meaningful dialogue and exchanges between the characters. The interaction between the characters are done very well from the group of friends to our main couple, and also between Baek Ho and his love rival. It also helps that the characters are presented wonderfully by their respective cast members. The story line is already headed where we expect it to go and the pacing is keeping time with the story line. The cast are doing great with their line delivery and timing of emotions and comedy. I especially like the interactions because, in this sense, it isn't just two people talking to each other to narrate event. Instead, you actually see more than just dialoge through Baek Ho's conversations with various people; we get a feel for both his own repressed feelings as well as a glimpse at the ideas that could have been.

The conversations that Baek Ho has with Yi Seul's father and with the groom, Kwon Jin Won, separately really speaks loads about what the present could have been if Baek Ho had acted differently in the past. Because Ham Yi Seul (Park Eun Bin) and Baek Ho had been best friends since they were young, probably everyone who knew them thought that they would end up together. Yi Seul's father even says as much. Kwon Jin Won voices his insecurities as well, telling Baek Ho that he'd always been jealous of the best friends' relationship and history: "If you had liked her too, I would never had had a chance."

It realy puts into perspective the entire situation within those two simple exchanges coupled with Yoo Seung Ho's emotive melancholy and his narration throughout the first episode. There is just so much hinged on these conversations that make us realize how much the present would have been different. Yi Seul would probably be marrying her best friend instead. Baek Ho wouldn't be saying the words: "I had twenty years to make up my mind. In those twenty years, I kept looking for that right moment. The perfect time to confess my feelings to her."

Because it is a frustrating situation at best. On the one hand, we feel bad that Kang Baek Ho just lost his first love to another man and had to watch as they got married right before his eyes. But on the other hand, we wonder what the heck he's been doing all this time pre-wedding that he still couldn't decide to at least let Yi Seul know how he felt about her.

And THIS is what I've been worrying about for our main male lead. A lot of people have voiced scrutiny about the main male lead being a non-ideal man for the fact that he happens to be too wishy washy about his feelings. Why had he never bothered to say anything in the past? And so now he's hoping to go back in time and try to win back the girl he loves? So what about the man Yi Seul is marrying? What happens to him? Just push him aside and give a half-hearted apology? And so, yes, I feel like the main male lead pretty much dug his own grave and has no one to blame but himself for losing his first love. And so this main male lead (despite being Yoo Seung Ho) already has a pretty disadvantageous character trait going for him as the series opens on the first episode. So we are under the impressio that: A) Either he develops greatly into a much better person that we don't care that he'd lost his chance already and should just live with his non-decisions; or B) He DOESN'T get the girl in the end and learns a valuable lesson about not taking what you have for granted. Since this series is categorized as a melodrama, I have a feeling tht the conclusion can go either way.

Nonetheless, being Yoo Seung Ho, I DO hope that the story line works in his favor, because there is still so much vagueness to the relationship between Baek Ho and Yi Seul. We have only seen what is on the surface: Yi Seul gets married and Baek Ho laments the fact that he never told her that he loved her despite being with her for twenty years.

This set-up (upon following the story through to the end of the episode) is done in such a way that you cannot completely condemn Baek Ho for having been too late. Because what I started to understand is that even Yi Seul had been in love with Baek Ho, but had never had the courage to confess her feelings either. And so basically we have a set of best friends who love each other, spent twenty years skirting the issue, and finally just letting what could have been a traditional romance slip out of their hands. And so this isn't simply a journey of Baek Ho returning to change the fate of the future, but we also are given a chance to see how their friendship had progressed to the point of no return. Why did neither party ever attempt to take that initial step? How could two best friends, in love with each other, never feel the other party's feelings despite knowing each other so well? Somewhere, something must have gone wrong. Or was it truly just the plain and siply mutual misunderstanding propelled by the entire "falling in love with my best friend" taboo wherein the two individually worried about ruining their harmonic best friendship?

This is a very touchy subject and I guess that only through the rest of the story line will we be able to see how things turned out (or rather, how things will end up changing, hopefully for the better). It's probably better that we've set up the relationship between Baek Ho and Yi Seul in this way so that we don't feel that Baek Ho was the jerk who should have stepped up earlier; or that Yi Seul was the one who chose to leave Baek Ho in the dust. There may have been more to the story than what is being let on and I'm interested in knowing what that story is.

By the end of Episode One, we've successfully brought Baek Ho back to his freshman year in high school. The cars are all out on the table now and he needs to figure out how to play them properly. And maybe if he redirects his fate (as well as the fate of others around him, I'm guessing), we might be enticed to feel a little more resolute in rooting for him to win the girl. Because I'm feeling a tug-of-ship-wars pending due to the fact that Baek Ho had been indecisive about his feelings and because Kwon Jin Won seems to be created as the perfect husband type (with money, education, status... and all that Prince Charming jazz that we get to see in every rom-com male lead). Lee Hyun Jin is a recent favorite of mine ever since seeing him in Heartstrings as a side character with more substance than the main characters; so it'll be a slight fangirl crisis for me if I find that I can't be completely devoted to Yoo Seung Ho's main male lead.

So we will simply just sit back and wait and see how the love triangle dukes it out. I've been playing hopscotch with ships lately and I really hope I don't have to do so with this one too much. I could drown really easily and it doesn't help that I don't know how to swim.

But anyway...

On a side note, the high school setting is really a part of the series that I am really looking forward to; as always, those dratted, all-too-dramatic teenage years are some of the most amusing, exciting story lines to follow along with. Youth going through growth and developing into young adults, loving, dreaming, fighting and just plain having fun with all of their friends and their frenemies and their rivals... It's a nice little innocent change from watching adults lament over crises that they know better can be easily fixed with some control. But watching a bunch of teenagers make mistakes and go through their high school turmoil -- somehow, this is where the fun is always at!

It really DOES help that our cast are young enough to actually play high school kids (because watching those twenty-four to twenty-seven year olds TRY to pull off being sixteen is sometimes a bit painful). The cast is young enough to pull it off which helps in the asthetics department. And as far as acting goes, I'm really loving it; everyone pulls off their characters very well and I haven't had any complaints about any of the cast or characters yet. The series is already showing a lot of promise and substance in just the first episode alone. We don't dilly-dally around with filler material; it's all straight up: wedding, regret, reminiscing, crying and then BAM! Time-travel and we are back in high school! And by the time you realize what's going on, the main basis of the story line has already begun. As far as pilot episodes go, this is probably one of the better ones I've seen in a long time, getting the set-up and the backstory taken care of all in one episode without any lag or drag and it also doesn't even feel too rushed either.

Yoo Seung Ho defintely lives up to my expectations (and anyone else's who happen to love him and picked up Operation Proposal because of him). His range is so great that he can go from emoting depression, to full-out bawling, to comedically exaggerated expressions, and then to that young, high school boy excitement. He truly does not disappoint.

As for Park Eun Bin, I don't have previous series to refer to for her, but as far as I can see, she's presenting her character quite well. The only unfortunate thing about Ham Yi Seul, as far as I can see, is that she was created as a perfect and flat Mary Sue type: giving, loving, caring, smart, pretty... I hope that there's more depth to Yi Seul as the story progresses through their high school years because I have issues with Mary Sues and tend to check out of their plights rather early (especially if the actress pegs the Mary Sue character too well, because then I don't even have anything to complain about aside from the character BEING a Mary Sue). Then again, if this series is fully Kang Baek Ho-centric, then maybe it won't make too much of a difference whether or not Yi Seul is a perfect princess type; this formula certainly seems to work for a lot of people when the genders are reversed...

I'm interested in seeing how the relationship between Yi Seul and Kwon Jin Won might start as well. Because as we are given backstory, Kwon Jin Won is a teacher at the high school that our kids attend; a young coach of sorts (I'm almost hoping that he's just a student coach or something cause Lee Hyun Jin standing next to Yoo Seung Ho in this first episode looked like two same-aged kids hanging out more than a teacher/student combo). And no matter which country you're from, a teacher being in a romantic relationship with a student has always given off a squicky factor that many people cannot accept. So even with Baek Ho trying to change his future, I'm still wondering how a student would end up with her teacher and everyone be able to accept this type of relationship. Then again, the kids from present-day are supposed to have graduated from college and all, so the idea of Kwon Jin Won still being at teacher-status might be a moot point by the time the wedding came around.

But anyway, I guess we just kick back and see how things will develop and unfold. Whether it'll be worth rooting for Kang Baek Ho to win his best friend's heart, or whether we'll continue to think that this journey of his is just a big, glorified, fantastical lesson on life for him will be up in the air for another fifteen episodes. At this point as the very beginning of the series starts the story, I think I'd be able to accept the conclusion either way. This series is labeled as a melodrama after all, so I'm sure the ending may not necessarily be all flowers and sunshine (my typical preferences).

Finally, as much as I don't really like narrated voice overs, the one that occurs through out main male lead's point of view isn't too awkward. Yoo Seung Ho meanders around in thought very naturally that makes it easy to follow rather than seem like a distraction from the rest of the series (like action, dialogue, and the like). While I'm hoping that there isn't too much of the first person narration, if it's done adequately, I don't think I'll mind too much.

The series is shot in what I feel is sort of a melodramatic, comedic flair, which is doing very well in setting the mood from the random flash-back scenes to the background music. The computer effects for the time-travel sequence was a little weird, but it's not like there would be other ways to make it happen. Otherwise, direction, setting, lighting... it's all done very well.

As far as this series is concerned I'm on board and ready to conquer the next episode. I don't know if I'll ever be disappointed in a Yoo Seung Ho project (even God of Study had it's good points; Warrior Baek could have been grand if the story line was tweaked a little; and Blind was just extraordinary). I haven't seen the Japanese version Proposal Daisakusen, so I won't be doing any comparisons; and I've seen Yamapi acting before, which was always a bit flat at best, so I'm not too bothered about seeing the Japanese version or anything like that. So I'll be able to watch this series without too many biases (the only big one being my admiration for Yoo Seung Ho which will probably ultimately cause me to lean in his favor).

Here's crossing my fingers and hoping that we aren't too disappointed with the outcome!

***

news: My P.S. Partner, Rom-Com Movie

Clicky to read at Dramabeans

This just sounded interesting.

Too bad Korean movies aren't as accessible to me as K-dramas are. It'll probably be a few months after the movie hits the big screen before I'll be able to get a hold of it (online streaming, downloading or buying the DVD from YesAsia.com). It was a long time for me anticipating Yoo Seung Ho and Kim Ha Neul's crime thriller Blind before I even got to watch it at all (with English subs).

I'm interested in this one if only because I enjoyed Ji Sung's comedic portrayal in Protect the Boss. And the premise (though a little strangely kinky for a rom-com) is pretty intriguing.

This could be a fun one.

thoughts: Dream High 2 (Korean) -- Ep. 2: First Impression follow up

So, okay... There are specific reasons why the random musical numbers worked in the first Dream High. And now there are less specific reasons why the random musical numbers aren't working as well in (specifically Episode Two) of Dream High 2.

Let's start with the latter:

It starts off rather cutely. First we have the 'Trouble Maker' music over while OZ President is explaining the new rules to all of our Kirin students (the non-idol status ones). Basically he's going to forbid anything related to having fun, which pretty much would kill the mood of an arts school created for the sake of breeding future entertainers. But I'm sure OZ Agency has already got in mind what they're going to do with the original students of Kirin anyway -- the good ones may get to stay, but for the most part, Kirin has just become another branch of OZ for the sole purpose of letting their pet idols continue practice, training and have a place to stay. It's more business-oriented than it really is a place for youngsters to fulfill their dreams, so this will probably be a point that is addressed in coming story progress (if we get there). I thought the musical number for this was kind of neat; of course, it was also a bit strange, but in a more comedic sort of way. The OZ President and his assistant are doing a little twist on an MV-like number with dancing included. So I went with it -- it didn't cost me anything and it got its point across.

But then we enter into the second random musical moment in Episode Two... and somehow, we go a little overboard. And to be totally honest, I thought it was cute... the first part of it. The Kirin students welcoming the idol group with a little MV-style performance of T-ara's Roly Poly. It was pretty ingenious because it is a means of presenting a random music number in a 'musical drama' type fashion that suggests that, yes, Dream High is a musical drama after all. And it pays tribute to both T-ara members who are part of the Dream High franchise, Jiyeon and Eunjung. And it was cute.

But then it just kept going...

Onto yet another music video-like rendition of a song with our JYP's character Yang Jin Man in center stage.

And then even more continued musical numbers, fake microphones, different stages, backgrounds and dance numbers included.

It got annoying fast and the next thing I know, I'm sitting with my chin propped on my hand wondering what was actually going on and whether or not I'd stepped into a whole different series. There was no point going across except for "Extremely Long Welcoming Ceremony Comprised of Mashed Musical Numbers in MV Format." I was okay with the first part of it; I really DID think it was really cute. And I would have been okay with the part where two members of HershE sang back to the Kirin students. But any more than that and we find ourselves asking: "What the heck? What's the point in all of this b.s.?" Because unless those musical numbers served another purpose, it was just plain silly and a waste of time. We could have gone into more story development with those wasted five to ten minutes.

I mean, right now I'm dying for some more of the developing self-conflict that Hye Sung has been given: her pursuit of a dream that she might not be able to accomplish because she doesn't have even the basic talents to back her up. I found myself wondering, "Aww... So what's gonna happen to her?" In standard "Fight For Your Dreams" genre, we hope that something will happen and Hye Sung will either get an epiphany and suddenly have a better singing voice so that she can fulfill her dream. Or we hope that the story will come up with some other form of dream she can pursue in the same category so she doesn't feel like she's lost out. Or are we going to dash all those dreams altogether and just wonder whether or not she'll end up picking up a completely non-related dream and end up going for that?

I'm interested in what'll happen to Hye Sung in that aspect. Dream High 1 had given us a bunch of already pretty talented kids who just needed a chance to debut. Everyone from Jin Gook to Jason had decent singing chops and dancing talents, and even Sam Dong, the country bumpkin, ended up being a musical prodigy. I'm interested in seeing how Dream High 2 will deal with Shin Hye Sung's lack of musical basic skill and whether we'll be able to cultivate her from a talent-less dreamer into a top star. But in Episode 2 I wish we would have had a little more development and see some more emotional insight rather than just presenting the situation and then letting it roll right over. Give us more story so that I can care more about Hye Sung than the little that I care about right now (which doesn't really amount to much, honestly).

Instead, all we get is a whole lot of "let's dump all the characters' issues into a pile after the silly extended MV and try to go somewhere with it in one hour". And so I'm confused as to whether or not Dream High 2 really cares to show us what's significant in a more eloquent way, or if it's confused as to what conflict it wants to make use of first.

Because the only other aspect of this series I care for so far is truly the budding love line (or lack thereof, presently) between Hye Sung and Yoo Jin. I'm under the impression that these two will be the main couple already. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it because the promotions as well as the chemistry makes it quite clear. Yoo Jin is already showing signs of care (and possibly more?) towards Hye Sung, because if a guy like him didn't care about a girl in his school, he wouldn't be making such a strained, concerned expression about her well-being. He's already shown signs of annoyance at her fangirl love for JB, and then he goes and offers her his sleeping corner when she can't get back into the dorms. If he really DID find her that annoying, he wouldn't care that Hye Sung's dreams had just been shattered; he'd just jeer at her for picking up a dream she can't possibly fulfill. It's getting somewhere already, the love line, and it's cute enough for me to get little smirks in here and there.

And so because of that, in my mind, this series has just been downgraded to standard rom-com set-up with nothing much else to look forward to aside from our main couple coming to terms with their feelings, and then a few randomly scattered side plots to propel the story forward. It just so happens that this rom-com takes place in the Dream High alternate universe with music, talk of dreams, and the like.

And so, at least I'm liking the two main characters even if I don't care a lick about the rest of the kids in this school (except maybe Jiyeon, but that's because I'm being biased). I'm glad that these two have great chemistry together and that, as I'd already mentioned in the first impression post, we're not averse to showing a sillier, less elegant side of Kang Sora as Shin Hye Sung (cue random seance scene gone bad). It's also a plus that Jung Jin Woon is showing the world that even idols can present good enough acting skills for you to follow him through; coupled with Kang Sora, I'm not at all worried for the fate of emotions being tied in with both their respective stories as well as their love line. They're delivering just fine, even if not the best (at the very least better than the rest of the idol/actors in the series).

And that's about it.

I mean, I see the main conflict... but it's like all I really see is a recapped summarization of it. Jung Jin Woon is carrying his half of the character conflict really well, and so despite Jin Yoo Jin being a pretentious prat, I'm sailing in his camp because I'm feeling HIS dilemma. On the other hand, JB... I see his point. However, since I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel for this guy, his character does not make a very convincing, passionate, self-confident argument. And then what it ends up coming down to is that I really just DON'T care about the conflict at all now. Although I DO see the potential of it now that the idol group has moved in with the underdogs and maybe some light will be shed between one side and the other with Hye Sung propelling a possible "make up and get along" movement? I don't know, I'm just making random predictions, but this is the typical course of action for a lot of set-ups like this.

Which is why I'm not excited about it.

But I'm still holding out that Dream High 2 is just starting off on rocky footing like the first Dream High had done. Despite the fact that I was hooked immediately to Dream High 1, I will admit that it wasn't the best of build-ups, although by the time Episode Two of the first Dream High rolled around, we already had some foundation to work with: the Misfits class, the more emotionally deep rivalry between Baek Hee and Hye Mi, the love line developments, a more convincing anticipation of our Underdogs' dreams, and the side love line with Jason and Pil Suk...

Right now, in Dream High 2, I'm not exactly sure I know WHAT I'm looking forward to seeing aside from the love line (because, and I repeat, even the central conflict between the two leading men does NOT entice me). I'm hoping that JB can contribute to his role a little bit more; he has a cute little scene wherein he's scared to death that someone has found his questionable CD with possible adult-rated material on it (yes, I blanked at that one too, but it WAS extremely hilarious in a silly way; and Kang Sora's expression is great upon discovery of what the CD has on it) and he plays that role rather well. But give him a lot of angsty emotion and the like and I'm head-desking (if everyone thought that Suzy was unable to emote, at least HER character role was written to actually BE robot-like and emotionless). JB is a well-thought out character with a great central conflict and some interesting little personal quirks that can be seen in hindsight; but JB as an actor is just not grasping that part of the role very well. Which is disappointing because I WANT to know how he's feeling and what he's thinking.

But let's do some back-tracking to my intended point of this article to begin with: the musical numbers.

In Dream High 2, Episode One, the musical numbers made sense. Two stage performances, one street performance, a random serenade... In Episode Two, the musical numbers were cute... But what the, huh? The extended music video was lost on me. Completely.

In Dream High 1, I don't think I had a problem with ANY of the random musical numbers. The auditions were purely a talent contest so singing was a must; same goes for the examinations. So they weren't really random since Kirin Arts School in the first Dream High really was a school that tried to cultivate young talents for the entertainment world. Even the random street performance by Sam Dong and Hye Mi was cute and served a purpose -- the kids were lost, needed to find a way back to their hotel, needed money for taxi fare and food, and so they did what they did best: they sang and performed on the street for money. I mean, it would have been a lot cooler had the series allowed an acapella performance for that, but I bought it anyway because it was fun and cute (and didn't last for twenty minutes). The random dance off that happened afterwards was... well, it was random, but it was also really cool and ALSO served a purpose. I mean, as much as I love Sam Dong and Hye Mi, they really were trampling into the Japanese street performing group's turf to begin with and so the dance off wasn't too bad.

Some of the musical numbers may not have made sense; but for the most part, they were actual musical numbers performed by our kids in the series rather than like that long-drawn out mash of music video in Dream High 2, Episode 2. The musical performances in Dream High 1 may not have all been purposeful, but at the very least, they were presented in a way that made sense to me. The street performance of SNDS's Genie by our Misfits was golden! The school showcases were pretty nice to watch, and otherwise, the only other random musical number that I remember from the first Dream High was in the beginning when Hye Mi sang 'Only Hope' while trying to go to the bathroom out in the middle of nowhere (because no matter what, I wouldn't be able to carry a tune very well if I was taking a dump).

Dream High 2 is only into its first few episodes, and I guess it's still too early to give it so much grief. But the fact is, if this weren't part of the Dream High franchise and hype, or if it wasn't a sequel or if it were some other series altogether with no connection to Dream High... I might have already checked out of it. I understand that a lot of people are saying: give it some time to get better. But really now, with so many other series airing in the next few weeks and so many other series currently airing that I haven't gotten to, do I really have time to waste on a series that's not going where it had promised to go in the first place?

Nonetheless, I will admit that for the mere fact that I'm waiting on Hye Sung to have her dream realized and for the resident love line, as well as even for hope that Jiyeon's role will become more significant with time, I'm sticking with Dream High. I just hope I'm not putting too many false hopes into this; and I'm also really doing my hardest not to make too many comparisons, but damn if it isn't a difficult task. And so I apologize for not being more objective, but then again, did anyone really expect the comparisons NOT to be made in the first place?

I will say that I liked some of Dream High 2's "behind the high school idol" concepts, such as the entertainment news at the beginning of Episode 2 interviewing the OZ kids, HershE and Eden, about transferring to a new school. It incorporates things like this rather well only because I'm sure this is how things are in the entertainment world anyway. I also like how Ri-an's (Jiyeon) conflict is coming about too: the fact that she has wanted to become an actor, does not have the skill for it, and so debuted as a singer in order to short cut into acting, but is getting her opportunities dashed because her acting skills are NOT improving. And so this ties into the same boat with Hye Sung's desire to be a singer, although not having the vocal chops to make it happen. At the same time, JB is shown as wanting to be a "true" musician rather than an idol who dances along to techno-style music with flashy lights in the background -- he wants the talents that Yoo Jin has, but lacking that, he takes the short cut to stardom as well to try getting there.

It's a great concept that I wish the story would just jump into rather than dragging out so much build-up detail for two episodes straight. A lot of things could have been cut, down-sized to Episode One, and then we'd be able to start the heart of the story line and the conflicts in Episode Two. I would totally be less frustrated.

But I guess, to be fair to the Dream High franchise overall, I admit that there's a big difference between one series over the other. My mindset, walking into Dream High 1 was of the bored and "Do I really want to watch this teeny-bopper dribble?" type of thoughts. And so it was surprisingly satisfying when Dream High 1 ended up being such a great sixteen hours worth of cracktastic fun. My mindset walking into Dream High 2 was of a more expectant type akin to "Yay! Dream High, redux! More musical fun!!" crossed with "Let's let the glory of Dream High continue one!" with a dash of "I hope all this hype lives up to its expectations." And so unfairly, I might have actually expected a whole lot more of that grandness and glory that I had not expected from the first Dream High.

However, it still doesn't deny the fact that, even by the end of Episode Two of the first Dream High, I was already feeling the heart that it had; whereas in Dream High 2, I'm really wondering where that heart went, which DOES make things a little disappointing.

***

Related articles:
first impression: Dream High 2

***

news: Teen Girl Detective drama series

Clicky to Read via Dramabeans!!

I have no idea who Nam Ji Hyun is, but I'm on-board this series just because it has the words 'mystery' and 'teen detective' in it. It's called Girl Detective Park Hae Sol and centers around the young teenage girl getting caught up in an investigation involving her father's death years prior. Her father, in turn, had been caught up in another more serious crime involving a politician and some shady business. He is killed because of that and everything sort of gets buried until the taped evidence he had had surfaces again.

While I'm all for the teen mystery detective bit, I'm also hoping that we get to see more than just the one criminal case being investigated. Or if all we get to see is that one case, we get a sense that there are possibilities for an extension or a sequel. For instance, build up the nice little girl detective team with her police officer and prosecutor teammates and set them off on a wonderful collaboration.

I have always been a sucker for mystery and crime type story lines, especially the mystery part: Nancy Drew, The Boxcar Children... anything mystery case-like has always been up my alley. So hopefully this will be a fun one as well as one with great substance. A lot of crime and mystery projects lately have been rather disappointing -- no suspense or thrill of being the detective in the audience along with the character roles.

first impression: Shut Up Flower Boy Band (Korean)

Before I start into the series itself, I've discovered something that has crossed my mind a few times in the past week. When a series is hyped up and promoted to death, as well as anticipated like crazy by the fans, it carries a disadvantage, both for the viewer as well as the series itself. For the series, if it doesn't live up to the grandness that we as viewers expect, then we become disappointed too quickly; for the viewers, we anticipate too much and forget to watch the series as a separate, individual entity apart from its predecessors. To add onto that, as a personal issue that I have: When I'm anticipating a series AND blogging about it at the same time, it occurred to me that I get flustered because I want to make sure I don't miss important aspects, while at the same time I'm hoping dearly that the series doesn't flop. And thus, this is one of the reasons why it takes a long time for me to start up a series I'd been anticipating for so long.

Shut Up Flower Boy Band is certainly riding on the coattails of its "Big Brother Ramyun Shop's" popularity as the second installation of cable channel tvN's Oh! Boy project of drama series. I'm going to say that there will be some comparisons, but unlike Dream High 2, the comparisons will be few. For one, Shut Up Flower Boy Band is obviously a whole separate entity from Flower Boy Ramyun Shop, and possibly nothing in either of those fictional universes will connect (or at least, if they do, it won't make a difference). Unfortunately for Dream High 2, the series has already garnered a lot of criticisms from netizens around (myself included) being compared and contrasted to the first in its franchise.

But anyway, back to Shut Up Flower Boy Band and how my opinions played out during the viewing of the first two episodes.

We start off with a rather cutesie introductory of all our band members, cameo by Lee Min Ki as Joo Byung Hee included. It is a self-shot documentary that band leader is putting together about his "beloved friends." We are introduced off the bat to each person in the rock band called (loosely translated by netizens as) Eye Candy. Lee Min Ki, of course, is the lead of the band followed by his best friend and "right-hand man" (who really just seems to be a same-aged guardian) Kwon Ji Hyuk played by Sung Joon. The rest of the band include L as Lee Hyun Soo, the second guitarist; Lee Hyun Jae as Jang Do Il, the drummer; Yoo Min Kyu as Kim Ha Jin, the bassist; and Kim Min Seok as Seo Kyung Jong, the keyboardist.

All introductions complete, we immediately catapult into a live performance by Eye Candy in a club wherein a ticket girl Woo Kyung (whom we later learns has a mega-sized crush on Ji Hyuk) is trying to get the girls aligned for the performance while taking care of all other back-stage aspects as well (e.g. lights, audio, etc.). And what should happen but the music get too loud, heard in the streets by passers-by who call the police and the performance gets shut down. By the end of this scene, we get to see the first of Byung Hee's craziness as he and Ji Hyuk get trapped above the crowd and decide to jump in order to escape being arrested. They are minors, after all, mere high school students (in much more believable appearance than Jung Il Woo when he was a high school boy in Ramyun Shop) and so being caught in a club was probably going to create some trouble.

Not soon after this debacle, we get introduced to the boys' first story arc conflict wherein they are transferring from their dump of Dong Nae High School, to the more prestigious, rich person paradise, Jung Sang High School (which really DOES look more like a fancy three-tiered mall rather than a high school). In this case, our central conflict is already brought into the limelight as we can clearly see where the rift will occur. It's going to be a classic case of rich versus poor, high class versus thugs, model student versus delinquents, and so on and so forth. And as we start to see between both Episodes One and Two, there is that obvious delineation of how the rich and the lower class segregate themselves. While Byung Hee and his little band of raucous kids are simply free-spirited band members who want to do what they like to do, the rest of the rich seem to have already drawn their opinions about them being worthless, uneducated thugs.

With the introduction of Jung Eui Chul's almost perfect Prince character role, Yoo Seung Hoon, we've got a great Underdog story presenting itself piece-by-piece. Yoo Seung Hoon is the static asshole of a rich boy if there ever was one. He's got that nobleman's mentality wherein since he's able to obtain anything that he wants and since he's wealthy and powerful, then he's pretty much made as a god-like figure for everyone else to worship. He's bored of his usual activities and he's of the mindset that no one crosses him in anyway at all; he pretty much owns the world.

The rich, of course, are depicted as the typical ignorant rich who look down upon those who are (for the lack of better expression) less fortunate. Our main boys are all the delinquent type because of their own individual family problems pertaining to lack of care and lack of finances. And of course, because of this, our rich society, from students to teachers, all believe that these kids will not be able to do anything with their futures and will never be good enough to do anything with their lives. So instead of helping these kids find a better place for themselves, the teachers condemn our boys without even trying to help them or understand where they're coming from. Like I said, ignorant, arrogant rich-folk.

And so it's quite nice to see that our main lead as well as his neighborhood and his friends are actually on the opposite end of the spectrum as opposed to being a rich chaebol or tycoon's spoiled brat son. And to top it off, these boys are polished in a way that, despite their flaws or even their misfortunes, we readily side with them and relate with them. Because, in one a sense, they are created ever so realistically.

What's making Flower Boy Band so successful already, within these first two episodes, are a combination of things put together.

First of all, I really love just watching the six band mates hanging together, whether they're just talking, or planning their next move for rock band success, or simply doing ridiculous things such as sitting on the street in freezing weather to await Byung Hee's muse. There is already an awesome sense of chemistry comprising the bromance and friendship between the six of them that you sometimes forget that these kids are mostly newbie actors and entertainers. Sung Joon really gets the chance to shine in this series as the leading man, much improved from his supporting, almost insignificant role as Hyun Sang Hee in last year's Lie To Me (which really wasn't his fault since the character pretty much got written into the shadows midway into the story line).

The mutual bromance between Ji Hyuk and Byung Hee is squeal worthy ("Wait, I like being in the band to be with you -- are you telling me I was in a one-sided love"). Even the rest of the boys are interacting with each other as if they're even closer than they could be with family (which I'm sure is a fact with them). That said, there is something just purely awesome about watching a series that can rely on human interaction with one another, presented very naturally at that, that exists within a makeshift group of friends or family or the like.

Secondly, the story line is totally keeping great pace with direction. We aren't being introduced to too many things at once and so we know exactly what conflicts are arising just by some simple flitting scenes. Despite there being an immense number of characters to follow along with (each seeming to have their own family conflicts in hindsight), the series doesn't overwhelm by trying to cram each and every little necessary back story into the progression. There is plenty of time along the way to give us snippets of each boy's background and individual conflict, and so it's a breath of relieve that we don't have to be confused by six different sets of conflicts all at once. Instead, we focus solely on the central conflict (Underdogs versus Rich Snobs) as well as a simpler, smaller conflict (Su Ah's family financial problems) which will soon tie in with the main love line as well.

We get to see a glimpse of other little conflicts as well, such as Ji Hyuk's family issues with Mom, Hyun Soo's possible dilemma with his parents which can go in any direction, as well as Do Il's troubles with family life. It almost seems like we've got some sort of pattern happening here between the six friends in that family issues are pretty prominent. This would probably explain the lack of parental interference in their rock band pursuits as well as school transfer and uniform buying problems. For the most part, I'm not too fond of the fact that every school delinquent on television from a dingy, trashy school has family problems up the wazoo. But then again, it's the reality of the situation that makes me completely sold on this aspect of Flower Boy Band -- not everyone's lives are pitch perfect like the standard K-drama Prince Charming. At the very least, these are a bunch of kids with more realistic problems in contrast to moody chaebol brats who are just angry at their parents for trying to control their lives. And for the most part, these are kids who probably all came together in support of each other BECAUSE of that mutual factor -- and so it's an awesome set-up for all of the boys.

The final factor about Flower Boy Band is simply a combination of little details that makes this series so addictive, only two episodes in. The moody atmosphere, shot in an almost noir inspiration film-like way really impressed me; the camera angles are incredible and the music score is spot on. It's not all pretty and chic like most rom-coms try to be, and it's also a completely different atmosphere than what Ramyun Shop had presented. Instead of being the over-the-top comedic manga-like hilarity that Ramyun Shop had given us chock full of symbolism and attention to detail, we get all of that symbolism and attention-to-detail packaged in a different type of setting. It's got a subtle humor to it, with some parts that are almost darker (in a twisted dark comedy type of way) than you would have expected, and by the end of Episode Two we even unfold a shocking tragedy that I'm sure no one had expected at all.

Finally, there's Jo Boa, who is actually doing a lot better than I had expected. She's natural enough and cute enough and she quietly fits right into her standard girl-next-door character as Su Ah quite well. But in this case, Su Ah (aside from actually living next door to Ji Hyuk) isn't at all such a simple girl-next-door figure. Her family's financial problems have lead her to renting out a rooftop room to live in, miles away from the rich Powerplex district where every other rich child lives off of Daddy's money. But Su Ah doesn't carry herself like a spoiled brat daughter who only knows how to spend her parents money or have people waiting on her hand and foot. She quietly accepts her fate, she knows that she's no longer part of wealth, she rents her apartment and even does her own chores from laundry to cooking. And as much as this is too cliched, she seems to be a very realistic Mary Sue of sorts. She's extremely congenial (even to the "Wacko" Byung Hee who's been taking advantage of her passive personality to cop some hugs and kisses) and doesn't seem to lose her temper or get all high and mighty when faced with the resident delinquent transfer students.

I would even go as far as to say that she's a little flattered to be getting so much attention from Byung Hee. If she really resented by dragged around by him, I'm sure it wouldn't have taken much to chase him off with some standard "rich chaebol daughter attitude". And she also seems to take offense that Ji Hyuk keeps assuming she's a snooty, materialistic rich girl who has no idea about the realities of life. While she's quite friendly in some aspects, I'm glad that at least one person riles her up, even IF it's because he won't succumb to her beauty or grace like every other boy does and ends up actually being openly tart with her.

And for this strange, simple reason, she becomes a rather relatable girl, easy to like and easy to follow with. You don't always have to be crazy spoiled or domestically challenged to be a rich man's daughter. And it's a breath of refreshing change that our main female lead isn't a bumbling idiot (despite having grown up in a wealthy atmosphere and being a highly sought after high school pretty girl). And it's also nice that she doesn't fall into the standard reverse harem category of female lead wherein every boy falls in love with her immediately (since we can clearly see that Ji Hyuk is anything BUT kind to her). Of course, since these two are the main couple in the love line, it'll only be a matter of time before he DOES start falling for her; it'll just be fun to see how his 180 happens.

Finally, she just doesn't seem to have any arrogant airs about her -- in the long run, this type of personality could either be a good thing or a bad thing. But as this series has set up such a great two episode introduction already, I'm leaning more towards the fact that there has to be much more about Su Ah than meets the eye. At the very least, she isn't a crying mess of "I've lost everything" and rather than trying to win sympathy points, she just resignedly gets her life on track however she can, in the most discreet way possible.

If we were to give her a flaw, it would be the fact that, indeed, she cares too much about how other people see her. And in this aspect, she even admits as much when she indifferently asks Ji Hyuk to keep the secret that she lives in the same district that he does. She doesn't want to lose her friends if they find out that she's no longer wealthy, which is a conflict that preys heavily on her pride as well as her own self-conscious need to remain in her own comfortable rich-girl setting without complications. To those of us who didn't grow up with money on silver platters, it's a rather superficial flaw, but if we keep in mind that Su Ah seems to be a fairly sheltered girl who grew up in a superficial world, one can't blame her for feeling so insecure.

As for the obvious love line (outside of the Byung Hee-Ji Hyuk one, of course), Flower Boy Band is already throwing in one "destined" meeting after another between Ji Hyuk and Su Ah. Even being the first person to find out that she is no longer the rich chaebol's daughter everyone else believes her to be will play a main factor on how their relationship turns out in later episodes. As is dictated in rom-com universe, having a mutual secret is the first step to the romantic turn out. Their chemistry as perfect strangers is pretty tame, but they seem to naturally talk to each other like friends (or bicker with each other like misunderstood enemies), so one can only imagine what it'll end up as when their love line begins to develop. For this, the hopeless romantic inside of me is starting to get her giddy fangirl squeals in line.

For the most part, I'm really just digging the character interactions and the central conflict more than anything else. While I DO find the boys quite pretty to look at (as in, yes, they are handsome), I'm not a huge fan of the rocker look. It's a personal preference really, and I'm the type who either prefers the clean cut look, or the roguish sexy-man look. But the rocker style really bugs me -- and I can't help but admit that the only part of Ji Hyuk that I DON'T like is his hair; aside from that, I really love his sass and his sarcastic comebacks. The same goes for Lee Min Ki -- I find him attractive and hot, but his guy-liner really is a tad on the heavy side (of which I'm glad we get some teasing jabs at it by the rest of the boys too). At the very least, it really IS the character's personalities that are drawing me to the series -- while there doesn't seem to be much emphasis right now, each boy DOES have his own distinct personality even if the show hasn't touched upon much of it yet.

Of course, I will admit that the rest of the boys look a bit less outrageous. L as Hyun Soo is quite the cute and pretty little thing (and my favorite Pretty to look at so far). Lee Hyun Jae as Do Il could pass for a girl anytime, and the other two have their cute charms as well.

There was a true reason why I'd been dreading and anticipating Shut Up Flower Boy Band for a while (as stated with the reasons on my post opening). I was hyped up about the series and the project, in general, but I had my misgivings about how well Sung Joon will be able to manage leading male status in the wake of Jung Il Woo's crack-wreck of Cha Chi Soo from Ramyun Shop whom I fell in love with. And then I was worried that all the hype was really just glamor with no substance (like what Dream High 2 is currently giving me).

Ultimately, I'm just glad that Flower Boy Band proved to me that there IS no need to make any comparisons at all. We are setting up a different type of story line, in a different type of atmosphere, with completely different types of Flower Boys. My worries were unfounded and now I can gleefully continue my addiction to this series as I had done so with Ramyun Shop. If everything else in the rest of the series continues in the same fashion as this introductory set-up, then we're Golden!

On an end note, I do feel a bit depressed that Lee Min Ki is only an extended cameo (and even the surprising tragedy in the end hurt a bit). Joo Byung Hee is an astonishingly strange and intriguing character in this series and I loved his heck-care personality. Back at Dong Nae, Byung Hee had somehow managed to slip his girl's dress (a result of having crashed at a female friend's room for the night) onto a different school gang leader's minion. Upon being questioned about it, Byung Hee is just so nonchalant that it's hilarious in a very twisted way. "Did you do this to him?" "Yep." Commence angry threat of "Do you want to die?" And Byung Hee just simply shrugs without missing a beat, "Yep." And that pretty much shuts the other guy up.

Or even the scene where the boys are watching Su Ah cross the road wherein she trips over the curb in true rom-com female lead fashion, and predictably lands in Ji Hyuk's arms. Byung Hee's short moment wherein he stares at his own open arms that are empty and mutters, "She was supposed to fall over here." And for some odd reason, between the timing of his reaction and the expression on his face, that short, simple little moment was just pure ingenious hilarity. I have to admit, I laughed and I totally loved Lee Min Ki's presence for both episodes.

And so I'm a bit reluctant to let go of the character of Byung Hee, but we've known that he wasn't staying with Flower Boy Band for the long run anyway and we knew that he had to leave soon. Of course, I hadn't been expecting him to leave the series in such a shocking way, but his end really DOES set up a bigger, more ambitious fire in the rest of the Eye Candy band members' hearts to succeed where Byung Hee won't be able to go. It was a bitter end that I hope isn't a wasted beginning for the rest of our boys, because while it was sad, it also sets up a nice stage for our boys to fight for for the sake of their fallen comrade. And so now I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the boys get their chances to shine, especially Ji Hyuk, because I'm digging his personality, which is just as free-spirited as Byung Hee and just as indifferent, but he's got a calmer, quieter expression. Now if only I can get passed his bird's nest of hair then I'm sure I'd love him just as much as I loved Cha Chi Soo (pending later episodes and character progression, of course).

Finally, one last comment: The boys and girls in this series, you'll have to admit, aren't the only Pretty factors. Living on a rooftop apartment, the view is admittedly gorgeous even if the lodging itself looks a little shabby. The camera angles and the natural lighting and the effects are wonderful!

***

first impression: Dream High 2 (Korean)

The all too hyped up sequel to 2011's cracktastic smash hit, Dream High has finally come to the little screen (and I'm not kidding when I say little, since streaming's all I got and I'm not fond of the 'expand screen' option). But anyway, very looked forward to and as far as I can see, at the very least, the sequel isn't trying to reproduce Dream High verbatim; it's got its own little twist to it in a newly fashioned fictional world where high school age Idols have suddenly been given a curfew of 10 PM (yes, 10:00 PM, which I find amusing since citywide curfew where I live for high school students had always been 11 PM and now it's midnight), and we’re watching the happenings OF high school aged idols rather than a few nobody’s working to make their first debut as an idol. This is not to say that there aren't the regular high school students studying at Kirin to become idols in the future. Unfortunately, Kirin Arts School has seen better days.

The opening scene of Dream High 2 is already a winner, giving us the extremely anticipated Kim Soo Hyun cameo, reprising his role as Song Sam Dong in Dream High's ending scene coupled with his famed song Dreaming playing softly in the background... only, when Jiyeon is the girl who rushes to the bus as Hye Mi, I'm sure everyone was anticipating some sort of twist to this particular scene. And sure enough, a director off-screen in the series yells "Cut" and then commences to berate Jiyeon's character for being an idol who can't act: "Is it that hard to get a tear?" The scene is a re-enactment telling (possibly a drama or a movie) of either Sam Dong or the collective Dream High team and their glory is what I'm guessing from the dropped script on the ground with the words "Dream High" on it.

And then everyone, Kim Soo Hyun's character included, all look awkward and tired. Kim Soo Hyun very adorably just leans against the bus window with a bored looking face and that is the last we get to see of him (cries).

Following, it seems that not only the high school kids, but their agents and the people around them are now suffering from the new 10 PM curfew. Park Kahi of girl group After School makes her debut rather smoothly as Lee Kang Chul's (Kim Jung Tae) partner in the agency OZ. Soon after, we start being introduced to our main players of Dream High 2, one after another, starting with the rest of the ficiton girl group HershE, comprised of Jiyeon as Ri-an, Hyorin (from Sistar) as Nana, and Ailee as Ailee. We only really get to see Ri-an in character form with dialogue and whatnot, but HershE performs onstage, so we get to see glimpses of the other two girls doing their singing and dancing thing too. The boy group counter to them is named Eden, a two-man beast-idol group containing the likes of JB as JB and Park Seo Joon as Shi Woo (both boys are rookie actors).

And yes, I've noticed that we aren't bothering to be very creative with fictional names, but I'm going to overlook that for the fact that it probably won't matter anyway as long as the story line lives up to all the hyped glory that's been going on for the past two months.

Finally, enter Kang Sora as Shin Hye Sung and Jung Jin Woon (of 2AM) as Jin Yoo Jin, two students of Kirin who are undoubtedly our main female and male leads, neither of which have debuted and so are simply students of the high school. Hye Sung starts off as just a face in the crowd of fans all waiting on the more popular idol boy group, Eden. When HershE steps onto the stage, of course, we get our standard "fangirl crazies" with the booing and the jeering and the "get off the stage!" heckling. HershE isn’t without their own following of fans, though, and so despite the outraged fangirls, there is still cheering and hooting for the three idol girls.

As the resident main female lead, Hye Sung is less of a frightening fangirl and merely looks confused and disappointed (and is it a little too delirious of me to connect that she has the same name as Go Hye Mi's little sister even if the family name is different?). One thing about Hye Sung is for certain, however, and that’s the fact that we readily recognize her as the female protagonist who has a good heart; readily relatable, is what I’m saying, despite the fact that her character description is standard rom-com female. Also note: Hye Sung has shown that she cannot carry a tune to save her life, which I’m very sure will be addressed and she’ll end up with some kind of awesome entertaining talent by series’ end.

On yet another side note, one thing I DO find amusing about Hye Sung is her little "Shrine to JB" set-up in her dorm room. She might be a bumbling idiot with no talent, but she reeks of true-to-form fangirl antics. At the very least, we aren't too proud of a series to keep Kang Sora looking spick and span, pretty and cool at all times. The comedic timing is just as Dream High had been; quirky and innocent fun and Kang Sora pulls it off quite well. The scene where Yang Jin Man dumps a bucket of water onto Hye Sung wherein there is no fire in her dorm room save for the small roast in a glass bowl was noteworthy. And then to top it off, Yoo Jin takes a picture with an insipid grin on his face.

Coming to him, Jin Yoo Jin makes his entrance as a street performer, simultaneously cutting through scenes of Eden's performance. It seems he is quite loved; of course, he has the scent of a delinquent or a lazy troublemaker, as he tries to wriggle his way out of getting in trouble due to missing curfew (and his street band mates also don’t seem to know that he’s a minor, so when the secret is out, he gets cut from their team). Following, he sneaks into the school dorms right after Hye Sung. In the morning, he awakens in Yang Jin Man (Park Jin Young's reprised role)'s room as if it was the most normal occurrence. Yoo Jin, it seems, is a genius singer songwriter, performing on the streets by night and selling his music to students in need for their assignments by day. And so in contrast to Hye Sung, he's not too fond of the Top Dog idols from their school. However, his dislike for idols goes much deeper than just some petty rivalry, because this guy really just DOESN’T like the idea of young teen idols since he believes that being popular and well-known means that there is no honest love for music. He’s a bit pretentious, merely hating the popular because it is popular and claiming that a real musician shouldn’t rely on packaging and flashy lights to be a real musician. But it’s not like he doesn’t have his points, so while he’s a bit of an asshole, it’s not like he’s making things up for his own benefit.

As must have been theorized as the case, Hye Sung and Yoo Jin are more than likely the resident underdogs of Dream HIgh 2. Hye Sung is modeled after the likes of a bumbling fangirl idiot (which makes me wonder how she got into Kirin Arts School, until we realize that Kirin doesn't seem to be as fabulous as it had been in the first series). I haven't quite grasped Yoo Jin's personality yet, but I have a few "bumbling cheery idiot girl meets cool and cold, arrogant prince charming" vibes to this love line. I hope to any god in the universe that this isn't the case, and if it IS, I hope that the relations are done tastefully at least.

Because despite the fact that the entire net-world had misgivings (and criticisms) about Suzy's acting and Go Hye Mi's character and personality, I found that I actually really liked the character as a person. Sure, she started off as a Class A, arrogant bi-atch, but the saving grace of Go Hye Mi was that she developed throughout the series and she also had the vocal talents to BE an arrogant snob AND she wasn’t an idiot. Also, I always thought that she was quite resourceful and witty to boot, even if she IS quite the robot in terms of emotions and friendships.

I'm not too fond of the bumbling nice girl, but since Kang Sora is part of the acting class rather than the idol class, I'm hoping it'll show as the series progresses. So far, all I'm seeing is "stuttering, bumbling, nervous bag of wreckage who has a crush on a top star" for Shin Hye Sung. Her comedic timing is great and Kang Sora does quite well, but unless something else happens with her character, I might be inclined to check out of the underdog team early. At the very least, Jin Yoon Jin is keeping me interested despite his asshole-ery (if that were a word).

And needless to say, the barrage of side character students are also all rather eye-catching as well (in terms of looks as well as acting). Jung Ui Bong (played by rookie actor Jr. of JYP Entertainment) is the back-up dancer for Eden who got cut from the team because he was performing on stage when Eden rebelliousy broke curfew; I'm already wondering whether or not he'll be having anymore screen time and since he seems to be Yoo Jin's best friend, I'm sure we'll be seeing more of him. And then there's Park Soon Dong who is quite amusing in her role as Hye Sung's best friend; I'm hoping to see more of her. Lastly there's another support, a singer-guitar strummer named Park Hong Joo who initiates the "random song performance" quota for Dream High 2 by singing SNDS's "Genie" (as a tribute to the first Dream High and one of the most memorable scenes, maybe?)

And as I had thought of the adults in Dream High, I'm not too intent on caring for the adults of Dream High 2 either

I'm enjoying what Dream High 2 is giving out so far. There's no doubting that we will all be doing a bit of compare and contrast here and there (the single disadvantage to ALL sequels, whether or not the same cast is in it and whether or not the story is the same). I just hope that Dream High 2 can show up with its own individual flair and at least stand out as its own individual series separate from Dream High with references. If it tries too hard to outshine its predecessor, I'm almost afraid it might overdo things.

On a more random aside, Jiyeon's character Ri-an turned out different than what I was expecting. I had totally been expecting her to be the stuck-up, cool and antagonistic type of entertainer with high ambitions. I was expecting Yoon Baek Hee v2.0, (yes, mostly because of the way she was set-up in the poster shots, and also because of the fact that she and Eunjung are both from T-ara). So now I know not to judge a character role so quickly based on my own knowledge of standard storyline tropes. Ri-an gave a surprising "Oh my god, I'm so glad I don't have to do anymore idol activities anymore thanks to you guys breaking curfew and ruining it for the agency!" giddy squeal because she'd been so exhausted from being overworked. Her personality is quite adorable from that simple scene wherein she tries to act with a plastic sword, but fails miserably, even being made fun of by fellow agency co-idol JB (which is only amusing to me since from what I've seen so far Jiyeon seems to have a better range of acting skill than JB does). And then she actually thanks the two boys of Eden for causing trouble and ceasing all activities for the young minor idol groups.

That was totally unexepected. I don't want to judge too quickly, but I have a feeling I won't be disappointed with Jiyeon. We’re focusing more on Hye Sung, Yoon Jin, and JB right now as they seem to be at the heart of the impending conflict, but I hope we get to see more of Ri-an in coming episodes too.

In another set of general thoughts about Dream High 2: It seems that we are already touching upon a lot of more, shall I say "reaslitic" subjects of groups and idols working together. Eden are two boys who DO NOT get along with each other, and while we always see news of one group member of a popular band choosing to release a solo album, we are also usually given the disclaimer by them that they are not going solo and that the group is still together with no plans for disbanding. Here on the other hand, JB is all for going solo and ready to ditch his lazy, irresponsible partner so that he can move more smoothly into the entertainment world without someone holding him back. We can already see a rift pulling up quickly, setting up a nice little story arc to work with in the future.

What I'm curious about is what Hye Sung's relationship will end up being as connected to Ri-an, Yoo Jin, as well as our Eden boys. I'm also interested in seeing whether or not another cutesie side couple will appear to rival the lovely "Milk Couple" Jason and Pil Suk from the first Dream High's fame. And speaking of Pil Suk, IU makes a short appearance already as the more senior student from Kirin signing an autograph for Hye Sung, reprising her role as Pil Suk (I assume).

As is already a "tradition" with Dream High, this makes us all wonder how many more celebrity cameos we'll be seeing. I DO appreciate that they don't draw the cameos out and merely let a famous face show up for a whole of thirty seconds or so just for fun.

On a final note, as the episode wraps up, it seems like we're getting a shadow of the original Dream High crosses over with God of Study. Kirin Arts School has gone to the crappers after a switch of principals, apparently, and now OZ Agency's president might be stepping in to help revive things? High School age idols are being transferred to Kirin Arts School left and right due to that mandatory 20 hours that Kirin is exempt from, and we're about to have a clash of the Top Dog Idols versus the Underdog Commoners. It looks like a lot of fun is about to be had, and we even have a high school dorm included in the mix. Excuse me while I get excited, because dorm-living totally hits my scale of favorite story-line elements. It’s a more realistic version of the “Forced Living Arrangements” trope and I love, more than anything, watching a bunch of kids interacting with each other while living together (ALSO one of the winning points in some series and stories I’ve been attached to in the past).

And it looks like we've got our resident hostile rivalry brought about; both boys are equally arrogant and have their own ideals about talent and music. It's a gender role reversal from Dream High, because now the two main boys are the ones at each other's throats rather than the girls (as was the case in the first Dream High). The difference is that I feel that this rivalry won't be as deeply moving as the rivalry/friendship that Baek Hee and Hye Mi had had going on. Yoo Jin believes that idols are just images and pretty faces with no talent (pretentious prat), while JB is adamant to show that he's the one with talent because he's the famous one (arrogant ass). So it's a battle of ego versus ego, with one unfounded ideal versus another.

On the other hand, the rivalry between Hye Mi and Baek Hee had been more in-depth of personal emotion, a need for self-worth to be acknowledged, and a matter of realizing better human character. Baek Hee lived and fed her ambition and drive off of the need to be recognized and be better than Hye Mi; Hye Mi developed her personality around the fact that she's always believed she was the best. And in the end, between these two girls and the rest of the six of Dream High, we ended up building a very warm, close-knit friendship who check and balance each other really well. Even if the story line of Dream High 1 was stock promotional tact for K-pop, it still had a lot of depth and insight and the characters still had a lot of heart that drew us all into their lives.

So I'm catering to the fact that we'll hopefully be able to capture that same attractiveness in Dream High 2. However, I'm willing to overlook the fact that you can't find another group of six "check and balance" friends like Dream High 1 had built if Dream High 2 manages to throw out a storyline with more substance. Unfortunately, so far I'm not quite buying the rivalries and I'm also not quite sure where the build-up is supposed to be taking us.

As far as acting goes, Kang Sora is pretty much showing up her fellow idol and rookie actor co-stars, but it doesn’t seem as if she would be able to be on par with Kim Soo Hyun’s glamor of acting status from Dream High 1 (and yes, I know it’s unfair to make that comparison, but I'm still waiting to see how it turns out). JB is slowly proving that rookie stars really AREN’T cut out to be in a major role as their first project, being weaker even than I had expected. I was expecting "idol"- level status since both JB and Park Seo Joon are probably in the makings of becoming an idol soon as recruits from JYP. And we all saw how the idols managed in Dream High 1 with Taecyeon and Wooyoung (even though there was still a bit of depth in Taecyeon's acting from time to time). While watching JB’s performance, I haven’t quite figured out how I’m supposed to be feeling for this guy. Jung Jin Woon as Jin Yoon Jin is faring a whole lot better, which would probably make it easier to follow the main conflict if I can get passed JB’s acting. At the very least, the love line between the two main leads will be much more bearable and hopefully JB’s act will pull itself up gradually.

On an aside about the love lines in Dream High 1, while Kim Soo Hyun managed to pull Suzy into character, when we put Suzy and Taecyeon together, it got a little frustrating. And I was really only frustrated because both characters and both situations were written VERY well, but the emotion that went in with the acting was NOT felt. And THAT’s why I was so frustrated with those two, if only because I wished they had better acting skills (I never wished for better actors because it would feel wrong, but I just wanted those two to pull it up a notch so that I could feel like I was watching a romance develop rather than watching someone reading a book about a romance). But anyway... I digress (as I always do).

Nonetheless, I'm sure something will come of all of this soon as Dream High 1 had taken its own sweet time building up the story in its first episode (although by episode's end, I was already hooked). By episode’s end of Dream High 2, I can't say that I'm as hooked as I should be, but I AM curious and I am definitely hooked to the hype of the Dream High franchise anyway. I'm fully planning to do my best not to do too much comparing with the grandeur of the predecessor and just enjoy the hopeful crack-like fun of the Dream High franchise. At the very least, good music will check itself in and I'll start to grow accustomed to the faces (since none of the boys seem as appealing to me as Taecyeon and Kim Soo Hyun did immediately from the first season of Dream High; I'm not saying that they're not good looking... but I'm just saying that I'm not interested in The Pretty this time around).

As a hindsight thought, I had honestly NOT been on the Dream High bus until news about Kim Soo Hyun's newest project The Moon That Embraces the Sun began promoting and I got interested. But once I boarded that ride, it was like one of the most interestingly, surprisingly addictive trips I've taken in a long time. So my hope is that Dream High 2 can prove the same type of hook and feeling.

***

And here's Sam Dong again!!

Related articles:
thoughts: Dream High 2 -- first impression follow-up

***