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.

thoughts: Me Too, Flower! (Korean) -- to whom it may concern

In keeping with my recent need to blog about these K-drama series in the (freakin') middle of broadcast, here is yet another post. Episodes Nine and Ten really DID seem to slow all the way down upon hopping into the "let's reveal secrets all around" bandwagon, in connection with the "evil love rival set to action" cliche. I seriously swear that I've got too many thoughts floating around in my head sometimes. I guess this is at least making my initially expected December somewhat more exciting. AND I didn't have to resort to randomly publishing intro info articles for older drama series.

We've got spoilers and some ranting, so move in carefully.

First note:
To Jae Hee,

Thank you so much for not being the typical male lead. (Aside from the constant man-handling of our main female lead, you're perfect; we'll let it slide just because you're so Pretty and this IS K-drama after all, not that it makes it okay. We'll talk later about that.)

First of all, I appreciate that you stood there silently (at the beginning of Episode Ten) and took the scolding like you deserved, because you SO totally deserved a verbal lashing from Bong Sun (you looked like a child guilty of stealing a cookie when Mom said no, so that was cute and I liked it). Unfortunately, that spell didn't last long and you seem to be under the impression that all would be well if you just apologized and explained the situation. But I'm not asking for much, so AGAIN, we'll let that slide (am I maybe too forgiving?).

Secondly, thank you for being so persistent, because since Bong Sun still loves you, persistence WILL pay off in the future. This brought a smile to my face to watch you continue to try getting Bong Sun to come back to you. I was almost worried that your history of misery and distrust would make you lose hope too quickly. Or that you would pull the standard: "If she won't forgive me, then there's nothing I can do about it but let her go," big man action. I would have really also hated it if you decided to be a Noble Idiot again and choose to give up on Bong Sun because of the misunderstanding as well as that dormant feeling of self-worthlessness that you've been carrying around all these years. And I'm glad that you've recognized that she's important enough to you that you don't want to lose her (at least this is the vibe I'm picking up, so don't make me believe otherwise).

Thank you for not easily forgiving that evil scheming piece of work who calls herself a friend; Park Hwa Young doesn't own you and, yes, she was totally at fault for ignoring your personal decisions just to get what she wants. I understand that you must still feel obligated to take care of her, but the sympathy can stop at that. There is no need to treat her like a friend anymore and your coldness towards her, maintaining a "business only" relationship is much appreciated. Please continue your upset and draw that line where it matters most. I'm sensing a slight bit of softening towards her though and it's worrisome, because I know that you still see her as an important person you must protect. However, sooner or later you'll have to cut ties, because two sassy women in your life is NOT going to help your survival rate. As we can see, Miss Representative is fully capable of taking care of herself (if she can pull a lame stunt like that and scheme to break up a happy couple, she's capable of surviving on her own, case close).

As for the man-handling, please stop it. Just because you are in a K-drama doesn't mean you must follow all of their rules; I had figured your non-standard male lead type to be better than that (or at least I was hopeful). The wrist-grabbing must stop. The yanking Bong Sun out of cars and forcing her to talk to you must stop. The forcing her onto your little motorbike and practically kidnapping her must stop. The demanding tone you take with her must also stop. And thinking that she'll forgive you easily... well, let's just say that you and I both knew that she wasn't going to be all giggly "Oh my boyfriend's actually a billionaire" about it. Buddy, she's GOING to remain angry at you for a while, so we'll just have to accept it. You have a ton of groveling to do, so let's get started and realize that you were at fault for keeping secrets. It's not easy to trust someone when you find out he's not being completely honest with you. Especially with Bong Sun having trust issues already.

Does that look like a happy girlfriend to you right now?
That's just a prettier, more saccharine version of the'WTF' look.
But it's NOT a good WTF.

And so becoming a puppy and following her around with hopes of reconciliation wasn't a bad move. HOWEVER, be careful that your joking around doesn't end up blowing her fuse. We all know that Bong Sun has a very short one and may try to pull a gun on you once again. Throwing your glove at her like a jilted child while sporting an insipid grin probably won't win you any points (even IF I found it kind of cute). Bong Sun is a LOT less forgiving and you should know better than to act like a five year old around her. Also, don't play around with guns by pointing loaded ones at your head just to make a point; you and I both know that you wouldn't have done that if you knew Bong Sun would really shoot you. Still, guns are not toys and accidental death really isn't the way to go if you wanted to make an unnecessary over-dramatic statement. Let's be adults about this (even though you look like you're pushing twenty, you're role is supposed to be closer to thirty).

Finally, thank you for coming clean with the most significant secret in your life (we will overlook the fact that your other secrets were NOT revealed by you in a timely fashion, which pretty much forced you to speak up about the last secret; okay, maybe I AM too forgiving). Now that you've put all your cards on the table and have made all your steps in apologies and reconciliation, the decision is in Bong Sun's hands. I only hope that this will finally help lead you two back into love-dovey territory, however, since there are still about five episodes left, we might not be through with the rom-com "angsty tropes built to keep couples apart until the last dire minute" yet. If we employ a time skip, I might have to abandon ship (though it might be too late by then). (Of course, this aspect took place at the beginning of Episode Eleven and I got a little confused, but it's still an appreciated gesture, so can we overlook my mistake? I don't want to completely delete this paragraph from my note.)

P.S. I really DO appreciate the range of emotions presented here, because it at least helped me to understand exactly what you're feeling without even hearing you utter a word. (In which case, kudos to Yoon Shi Yoon, cause you're awesome! Kid emotes really well.) Oh yea, about that perm: I'm getting used to it, but I'm still not liking it.

Second note:
Okay Bong Sun, I understand that you're angry. I would be too. As I said before, "Too many lies and too many secrets does not a lasting relationship make." You have every right to be angry and shocked and betrayed. I also understand that you've also grown up in a melancholic environment where Mom left, Dad left, and now you're fending for yourself as Mom tries to wriggle back in with her new daughter and Dad just keeps criticizing and criticizing. It's enough to make anyone crazy and require the expertise of a shrink. I'm also quite proud of you for not immediately forgiving Jae Hee after the first apology... or even the second. You need to stand your ground and let him know that he can't always have what he wants -- this is certain since the kid's been jerking you around for a while already.

But I also think that it's time to stop being stubborn and start thinking with your heart. After the third apology (done by a playful Jae Hee with an insipid grin) I started to soften, but that's beside the point. What you are doing is simply hurting yourself and hurting Jae Hee. And for what? Because now Jae Hee lives in a world you don't understand filled with wealth and riches and expensive designer hand bags? And so now you feel like the two of you don't have anything in common and won't be able to live in the same world together? You're putting yourself down and not trusting that it'll work out just because statuses are suddenly publicly different. Don't you think that HE already knew all of this when he first fell for you? Is your sense of such self-worthlessness still lingering around only to be saved by someone who's NOT a chaebol prince? His true identity doesn't change his person and he is still the same Seo Jae Hee who confessed that he wants to be with you. What happened to not caring who he was because you liked him as a person? It was much easier to say when you thought he was at the same financial status as you, right?

Now is NOT the time to be falling into that low self-esteem pool filled with self-loathing. What you have begun to convey are hints that you think someone of his financial standing will soon get tired and leave you and so you chose to leave him first. It's fine that you don't want to be a Cinderella case; it fits your personality. But does the rest even really make sense to you? I understand the anxious feeling of possible abandonment. Having been abandoned by the two people who are supposed to love you the most in this world probably didn't help secure your self-esteem. However, you are only reinforcing that dratted line drawn between a modest working woman and a wealthy chaebol prince; you are outright admitting that you couldn't possibly be good enough for his standards. In doing so, you are also telling Jae Hee that you doubt his love and you cannot trust that the two of you can have a happily ever after. And that's upsetting.

Because in reality, the more someone chastizes herself, the more irritating it is to hear about for other people. (I would know. I've always been the depressing "woe is me, I'm not good enough" type of person and almost ALWAYS got eye rolls and awkward silences when I'm negative about myself.) Because, sure, they feel sorry for you, but they don't know what to do for you besides remain silent. I only hope that you can finally pluck up the self-confidence to love yourself enough so that you can trust that Jae Hee won't change his heart.

Don't get me wrong. You're a very plucky person and I sincerely admire your out-of-the-ordinary temper and sarcasm. So maybe at some point in time you'll be able to pick yourself up, as I have all the confidence that Cha Bong Sun is strong enough to survive against the world.

And also, it's not like Jae Hee has always been wealthy since the boy actually started out at poverty level before making it where he is today. You two aren't living in different worlds just because your current statuses are a bit different. And if we really WANT to get technical, it's not like Jae Hee has a foundation of inherited wealth to back him up if business goes awry. Miss Representative could do a one-eighty and withdraw her financial padding if she gets pissed off enough, which would land Jae Hee back into the penniless category (in fact, this might make a pretty interesting turn of events, so file that cliche away and present it to the production staff when you get a chance, thanks).

Besides, all of this stubborn refusal to accept Jae Hee back into your life is EXACTLY what old Miss Evil Scheming Witch wants and THAT is ONE satisfaction I am unwilling to give her (yes, I am seriously NOT liking the love rival for more reasons than just because she's meddling). So you get yourself together and show that immature brat (both of them) that you can't be pushed around. Plus, the drunken puppy dog look in Episode Ten sort of won me over already -- I mean, how silly sweet is it that being completely smashed he still has the nerve to demand that Officer Cha come pick him up? Others may not think so, but I found it kind of amusing and cute -- I'm strange like that. And I know that we've established that I'm probably a LOT more forgiving than you are, if only because I don't have the same depressing history that Cha Bong Sun had AND I already knew the big secret and wasn't taken by surprise (one of those advantages of being a viewer, right?).

P.S. Don't let him off the hook that easily even if you take him back, though. Lay down the law that you're still mad at him. It IS okay to remain unforgiving and angry and still stay together as a couple. Stay mad at him if you want, but also get back together since that would TOTALLY throw Miss Representative into a frenzy (which is what I want to see as long as she has no more control over your happy couple relationship). It's called "a difference of opinion leading into cold war negotiations" and ALL couples do it at some point in their relationship. Love can't always sail smoothly like a fairy tale, you know. Boy needs to be put in his place, really.

Third and Final Note:
Dear Drama,

Please lay off on all these frustrating cliched devices -- as if it wasn't enough that Park Hwa Young gets to play string puppeteer with everyone, now we're also pulling Dal into this mess? The old cliched "She's not good enough for him so I need you to break them up" secret mission usually leads nowhere good. And then to also tell Dal that she can be made into a real life Cinderella sans Prince Charming? Yea... I'm sure Miss Screechy Materialistic Model would totally go for that. And this only continues to make Hwa Young seem meaninglessly pathetic in her childish attempts to keep Jae Hee by her side. She sounds like a catty future mother-in-law, but worse because Jae Hee isn't even her son; I don't know if she's noticed, but she DOESN'T really own him. I had a feeling that Hwa Young would end up becoming the crazy possessive uber bitch, but to top it off with an immature "Even if I can't have him, no one can take him away from me either," spiel? Once again lady, you don't own him, so technically you have no rights to keep him. Dear Drama, please allow SOMEONE to realize that Park Hwa Young cannot continue on her power-trip like this; our main leads have enough emotional baggage keeping them apart to create angst without you adding a potential main villain into the mix.

Episode Nine dragged out after a major unveiling event. While I feel like it was high time that Jae Hee's identity be revealed, what about that deflating mess following it? What happened there? Everyone is just parading around being angry or betrayed or angry or betrayed... It got frustrating. Episode Ten didn't fare any better either, although as I've already told Jae Hee, I DO appreciate his sincere initiation of the persistent apologies as well as his final confession about the accidental death of Hwa Young's husband seven years ago.

Anyone else find this "Pretty Woman"-esque make-over scene a little awkward?

What I DON'T appreciate is making Dal into a complete moron, accepting Hwa Young's deal and not realizing that her fortune can just as easily be taken away as it had been given. I thought Dal would be a bit better off in this chaotic mess (because I love Seo Hyo Rim) but she's falling right into Hwa Young's traps as a chess piece. She's totally unable to recognize that her own cattiness isn't enough to fight against Hwa Young's evilness. I'm pretty sure that Park Hwa Young isn't above finding a way to break contract if Dal pisses her off enough -- which I'm sure Dal is bound to do because she wants to be Cinderella WITH her Prince Charming, not according to Miss Representative's plans. These two may fight each other to the death for all I care, but I'm sure that Dal will just end up as collateral damage and Hwa Young will come out of it with few bruises.

HOWEVER, with this new twist, I AM quite interested to see how Dal will react when she finds out who she's scheming with Hwa Young against. Even though the step-sisters aren't exactly snuggling and telling each other stories about their first crush while eating ice cream together, it seems that they've learned to tolerate each other to some extent (almost like real sisters tend to do). We can see that Bong Sun has grown into that nagging elder sister figure already and I only hope that Dal has as much care for Bong Sun as Bong Sun seems to have subconciously developed.

And so, Drama, as I have told Jae Hee already, now that all the secrets are out and we have no more reason for misunderstandings, it would be nice if you don't take the series into the standard inanity of dramaland. I would like for Jae Hee and Bong Sun to step over the barrier that defines both of their depressing personal histories so that they can work together to make it through their relationship. I would like for Hwa Young's scheming to amount to nothing in the face of a strong loving couple. I would like for Bong Sun to realize that Jae Hee's confession about his most fragile memory is indication that he wants to share his world with her so that she can trust him not to abandon her. And I would like for Jae Hee to continue leaning on Bong Sun for strength and hopefully not try to pull another Noble Idiocy ploy again to push her away which would totally continue to fuel those feelings of possible abandonment that Bong Sun is anxious about.

Of course, then I'm not quite sure how to bring this chaotic mess to an end, so at this point in the series, Drama, I am willing to trade off one trope for another if we can wrap everything up neatly. I would like for the main characters to retain their unique-ness as the less than standard male and female leads, at the very least.

Oh, and please give Dr. Park a good conclusion as well; I've really grown fond of him despite the inappropriate "doctor/client" snuggly bits that managed to worm its way into the story line.

Sincerely,
You're Hopeful Viewer

P.S. More cute lovey-dovey couple montages with some more hot kisses would be much appreciated if we can find a way to fix this angsty separation issue. I'm not above too much fluffiness.

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Related articles:
first impression: Me Too, Flower!
thoughts: Me Too, Flower! -- mid-series

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thoughts: Me Too, Flower (Korean) -- mid series

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

Unlike the other "short and sweet" this one really WILL be short and sweet, but only because all of my thoughts have escaped me after an eight-hour work evening followed by a small after work drink fest with the co-workers. Without having written anything down from those randomly flying opinions in my brain, some of them have managed to slip away.

Mainly, at mid-series here for Me Too, Flower! we've come to a peaceful lull for our main couple, which is nice. Obviously (if the formula persists the way it's going) there is going to be some tumult in the near future. So some cute and sweet moments are welcome.

And yes, I know I hadn't intended to write about this series until the very end (not that THAT ever stops me), but here it is with Episode Eight, which is beginning to reach into the typical rom-com grab-bag of tricks. Before Episode Eight, we already experienced a short duration of Jae Hee's Noble Idiocy (which thankfully didn't last long and made the Noble Idiocy sort of reasonable). Jae Hee is caught between his newfound care and love towards Bong Sun, but at the same time he knows that he's got too much baggage from his past to truly be able to love freely. He's guilt-ridden over the death of Hwa Young's husband and feels that he doesn't deserve much of a life because of that. But along comes Bong Sun who seems to start making him feel otherwise.

We are starting to pick up on the standard "evil female love rival" trope (who is actually bordering on crazy possessive with a possible emotional instability to boot). While Hwa Young keeps insisting that she doesn't want Jae Hee to live in the past and continue to feel guilty for what happened, her actions really counteract her own words. Indirectly forcing him to remain by her side through the use of guilt (even if she doesn't admit it) is enough to continue causing Jae Hee torture over that terrible accident from so long ago. Subconsciously, I think that this is her punishment to him for causing her husband's death; her need to control him is blatantly obvious and her constant clinging to him using her son and their past is a little frustrating. She's under the impression that she owns Jae Hee and so any chance that he'll meet someone and fall in love is a threat to her.

As orangy911 mentions in the Episode Eight recap at Dramabeans, "she relies on Jae Hee's guilt to keep him from leaving her. She tells him that he needs to accept that her husband's death was an accident but her actions contradict her words. [...] If she really wants to absolve him of guilt, she needs to let him go." I totally agree with this and it is summed up much better than my own half-baked thoughts. Hwa Young is already a strong woman, but her emotional instability is keeping her from being able to see this about herself, thinking that without Jae Hee, she won't be able to survive.

So either she's fully convinced herself that she's not strong enough to live on her own, or she really HAS fallen for Jae Hee and is using some really twisted methods to keep him by her side, knowing full well that his feelings towards her are simply obligation and nothing more. This is only a shame, because there are moments when you can really tell that Hwa Young isn't all about being a meddling love rival. She's not a bad person; she just wants to keep Jae Hee at her side forever and Bong Sun's presence comes as a conflict to her desire. And so because of the budding romance, Hwa Young very readily equips her fangs and claws and changes her attitude. Without this complication, Hwa Young had been a good-natured person.

Example point: At the ending of Episode Seven and beginning of Episode Eight saw her conflicting need to pacify a disgruntled client, but at the same time she knew that neither her own employee nor Bong Sun was at fault. As the representative, she was trying to come up with a good resolution without forcing Bong Sun to apologize on her knees nor losing out on a wealthy customer. But then Jae Hee shows up to defend Bong Sun and immediately, Hwa Young arms her claws against the girl she HAD been trying to defend.

Moving further into the rom-com bag of tricks, I'm sensing a slight possibility of what K-drama netizens have coined as "The Full House Effect." Having never seen Full House, it took a while for me to realize what this term actually means: our main male lead pretty much chooses remain with a woman he does not love due to guilt and obligation. Either he owes this woman a massive debt that can never be paid off (as in Jae Hee's guilt towards Hwa Young's husband's death), or the woman has suffered a terrible duration or will be suffering in the soon future and needs someone by her side (as in Hee Jin's martyr-dom in My Lovely Sam Soon). I'm cringing at the possibility that Jae Hee would fall victim to this trope.

Basically, we're seeing that while this series started off on a quirky and unique type of basis, the rest of the love line has begun to pick up a lot of those usual tropes. I'm hoping that I'll be proven wrong; that the continuation of the latter half of Me Too, Flower! won't result in more Noble Idiocy and one crazy love rival pulling all sorts of god-given (or writer-given) strings to make life miserable for our two main leads. After all, with the both of them having their own past history struggles, it's already enough to make the conflict a rising angsty one. When the entirety of everyone's happiness rests in the hands of one single scorned female love rival, things start to get really frustrating, because we wonder why the rest of the characters can't just ignore her and move on (like they did in Personal Taste wherein our female love rival did multitudes of interference, but to no avail).

I mean, how much push and pull did Jae Hee go through of his own accord until he could finally admit that he had fallen for Bong Sun and wanted to be with her? It got aggravating with all of his fake-outs and the entire obvious "I'm interested in you, but I'm going to treat you like crap so that you don't know that I'm interested in you, while at the same time I'm going to draw your attention regularly because I still want you to look at me." It took me a lot of discipline not to scream out in frustration at how many times I wanted Bong Sun to just turn around and walk away so that she could keep her dignity -- if the guy is being an ass about it, you might as well just leave it alone and wait for him to grow up and accept his own half-assery of the relationship. Because HE'S the one who keeps showing up and HE'S the one who keeps making her waver and HE'S the one who keeps pushing for more, and then HE'S the one pulling away mercilessly and laughing it off as if it were just a joke. For a woman like Bong Sun who's already emotionally fragile, playing with her feelings is probably NOT the best way to get her attention. And I know that Jae Hee has his reasons for being warm and cool, back and forth, but no girl deserves to be dangled like a string puppet like that for the sake of one man who can't seem to make up his mind on a relationship.

He insists that he's just joking, but then he also keeps showing up and doing things that would prove otherwise.

And so what a relief Episode Eight was for me when Jae Hee's Noble Idiocy dies almost as soon as he'd chosen to pull that trick. Openly admitting that he DOES indeed like Bong Sun and also realizing that his baggage might be better carried with one more person who is willing was a big, huge and reassuring step for him to make; it tells Bong Sun that not only will he take responsibility for her, but he's also asking her to help him through his tough time as well. He's asking for an equal weight relationship, which is quite refreshing for a K-drama main male lead, because, let's face it, men tend to think that they can take on the world as well as "their woman's" world all alone. And they think that all the girl has to do is sit back and watch as he solves all the problems.

Yea... if that were a possibility, we wouldn't have Noble Idiocy or wars.

Jae Hee's had a bad past and the fact is, he's in a fragile state, much like Bong Sun. And being able to see him let Bong Sun take care of him as he sobs into her shoulder was, well, it was just plain refreshing. Because we are shown a different side of the typical rom-com male lead; one who is willing to admit to his pain and willing to let the girl be there for him.

Asking Bong Sun to shoulder his problems with him if he'll promise to cross her bridge with her... I liked that.

And so Episode Eight was very refreshing with the "cute" phase for our couple and I'm glad that they were given at least that much. It was very light-hearted and I don't know if I've ever been this giddy about the sweet couple, lovey-dovey moments since I started watching K-drama. I get a lot of squeals and bright smiles for some love lines, but nothing like this giddy, giggly mess that I was in throughout Episode Eight. I seriously, could feel my skin crawling with embarrassed goosebumps at all the sweetness that was oozing from Episode Eight's few "dating montages".

And so as as far as the love line goes (which is usually what I'm all about) I just hope that the rest of the series can either pick up the tropes tastefully, or prove me wrong and things will NOT fall into the usual predictable twists and turns. Because while Jae Hee's Noble Idiocy was typical of a rom-com hero, it was expected and I'm glad it didn't last long. And right now with the evil schemings of Park Hwa Young, we're walking into more predictable territory, which could either turn out angsty and exciting, or just typical and frustrating. We'll see how it turns out.

I'm also glad to see that the supporting characters are getting some depth as well, but as far as story line goes, I'm not seeing how they tie in, which is a shame since I really like Seo Hyo Rim. Dal is turning out to be a really likeable (despite spoiled and arrogant) character and I look forward to the moment where she and Bong Sun can actually sit together and be sisters. I'm also glad that Bong Sun is beginning a short self-journey to facing her family problems concerning Mom (Dad is a completely separate issue all on its own and I'm not sure how she'll be able to manage that one).

On Jae Hee's side, I hope he starts being honest with Bong Sun soon. Too many lies and and too many secrets does not a lasting relationship make. I feel like he just needs to come clean with his true identity as well as his relation with Hwa Young -- otherwise, we're about to cross into the standard rom-com BIG MISUNDERSTANDING plot point. And that can get a little messy.


On a final note, the kiss scene:

Yowza! Are K-dramas getting more and more brazen lately or what? I'm totally NOT complaining, but I've come to associate Asian dramas (with TW drama as an acception) with chaste love lines and uber-conservative kisses akin to putting two pieces of paper together and holding them there for five minutes.

HOWEVER, both kiss scenes that occurred so far, in my opinion, were fairly forced into the story line. The events leading up to the kissing wasn't exactly meaningful nor did they make any sense to suddenly jump into a kiss like that. While I thoroughly enjoyed the "SQUEE!" factor at the little make-out scene in Episode Six, it was kind of forced in there as if for the sake of having a hotter than hot, open-mouthed, "Whoo Baby!" make out session.

What was the point of that kiss anyway? We're talking about stealing bags and being arrested and the like, but then suddenly Jae Hee grabs Bong Sun and kisses her? Heat of the moment? There hadn't been much heat going on, really. Or was he just trying to fluster up Bong Sun, fluster up himself, fluster up the viewers, and self-indulge at the same time? I guess it worked. But in the end, I really don't know what's going on through ANY of these character's minds. They don't think very normally except for our standard evil love rival (now I KNOW what SHE'S thinking, because it's very standard and predictable).

So maybe some of these actions don't need to make sense. It certain falls into character for them.

Anyway, once I get going, it's like I can't stop, and so this supposed "short and sweet" has once again become a not so short rambling.

In conclusion, I'm looking forward to the rest of this series, but I'm hoping that things don't fall short of it's initial quirkiness. I'm enjoying all of the unique characters and the fact that Jae Hee doesn't seem like the standard male lead makes me a bit optimistic that things won't become a chaotic mess of typical K-drama tropes just to finish off the series.

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Related articles:
first impression: Me Too, Flower!
thoughts: Me Too, Flower! -- to whom it may concern

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first impression: Me Too, Flower! (Korean)

And so I finally got around to actually watching this series rather than just reading recaps from Dramabeans. At first, it was merely curiosity that got me interested in just reading the recaps. The first episode sounded interesting, but not quite enough to hook me. Of course, the snarky, sardonic female lead was pretty neat to see. A little bit of "Hey, you dropped something. [...] You're eyes. Watch where you're going." Well, that was straight up cheeky, but I'd take it. And then the male lead was just as cheeky as his female counterpart with his University of Confrontation as well as a little dabbling of "this and that" in the job area.

Needless to say, the humor of the series was a sure win with two fairly non-traditional main leads in a rom-com. Our female lead, Cha Bong Sun is pretty, but she's also got a flying temper and some text book psychological problems which her shrink has noted as Bipolar Disorder. What better way to introduce a female lead than having her lose her cool around her superiors, but then get giddily excited when she is convinced she can't have Depression? To top it off, she's a police officer too. So, anger problems, unstable moods, crappy childhood past, AND law enforcement power?

The math adds up in a rather nerve-wracking combination.

Our male lead is Seo Jae Hee, who seems to be a playful, cheeky, young spritely thing at first. But then we end up learning that not only does he have his own horrific issues from the past, but that he's also not just any young carefree spoiled brat. The guy helped to build a company with his talents and so he's not even a second generation chaebol riding on Daddy's coattails. This makes it all seem so strange since we're so used to the male lead always being from a rich family of sorts; but here we actually have a young man who worked his way into his own wealth with his own skill and had to go through a ton of hardships just to get there.

I'm impressed.

The two main leads are almost immediately collided together in classic rom-com confrontational relations; which isn't surprising considering both of their personalities. However, it can be noted that Jae Hee seems to be the party holding more interest in the other while Bong Sun is simply just wanting to be left alone.

While part reading and part skimming the recaps, I slowly became very interested in watching this series, especially seeing how the relationships were developing. And so I finally made myself search out where I could find this one with decent English subtitles to watch. While I've only actually viewed the first episode, I've read enough through recaps to have an idea about characters and their back stories as well as the premise of this series.

The first episode sets us up for the impending love line as well and gives some sporadic plot devices to work on. Upon judging from the recaps, it occurred to me that the series seemed to be a little scattered and chaotic, which doesn't seem too different from watching the actual series itself. It made me wonder if this was done as a tribute to the psychiatric issues theme that's being waved around in the series wherein both of our main leads seem to have unhealthy mental stress due to their past, despite both having suffered a different type of terrible history. Or maybe it's just the editing, but the scattered-ness doesn't really bother me too much.

In essence, what's keeping me wanting to continue watching this series is really the plot devices. While I'm not quite certain what the main story line is yet, there are so many little arcs floating around that makes you curious about where the series is taking us. The actors and actresses are great and the sharp-tongued female lead does wonders to make people enjoy a refreshing type of rom-com. This series is quirky and fun in it's own way, even though there are still some blatant flaws about it, such as editing and pacing; there are some awkward scenes in the first episode alone that made me cringe.

As for the developing relationships as well as the established ones, they're rather amusing. It's always fun to have a bickering couple star in the love line, but when both sides of the bickering couple are cheeky and sarcastic, then we've got some nice word play and dry humor involved that wins in my book ANY day.

Finally, I must say that I'm not sure about my impression on Yoon Shi Yoon who plays Jae Hee. I find myself wondering if I would have had a problem with his baby face cast in a pushing 30 role; and my answer is that I'm not sure. Because the issue was really only brought up when I read the recap and opinions on Dramabeans. I don't know if I would have noticed until part way in that, no Jae Hee is not in a full-out noona-dongsaeng love line even if Jae Hee is a little younger than Bong Sun. But I sort of see it -- that he looks like he's a spritely little 20 year old, so I was a little surprised that Yoon Shi Yoon's true age is actually at 25 (if internet profiles are accurate). The kid really DOES look extremely young. Another note about him: he really doesn't rock the perm look too well (not that too many guys are able to rock that look) so hopefully it doesn't turn up too many times; he's currently floundering between a perm and messy hair and I would prefer just to see the latter.

Nonetheless, I love the casting and the acting for all the characters so far. And I've grown to love Seo Hyo Rim, so I'm wondering how this spoiled-not-so-rich-brat-without-a-home character will be played out. Especially when she ends up becoming the tempered Bong Sun's little sister AND house mate.

Yoon Shi Yoon has hotness in his emoting eyes, which totally makes me melt for any male star who can emote silently like that. Lee Ji Ah is still in speculation for me, but she pulls off Bong Sun's heck care indifference and bipolar behavior quite well.

And then there's Jo Min Ki who is Dr. Park Tae Hwa, Bong Sun's therapist -- he's... well, he's also cheeky and for a shrink, he's also kind of an asshole, but in a good way. Han Go Eun as Park Hwa Young is kind of bland so far, but I have the distinct feeling she's going to turn ultra-bitch pretty quickly. There's this distinct possessiveness that you can see in her expressions concerning Jae Hee which I'm not sure is going to be a very healthy point for her. And Jo Ma Ru... is simply cute, but I'm not picking up anything else from him yet.

So there you go, a little chaotic first impression post to accompany the chaotic plot scatterings of Me Too, Flower! I found that it was kind of hard writing a first impression post for a series wherein I've already read up to Episode Seven of the series, but have only seen the first episode. The problem, I think, is that a lot of these opinions might not really be my own since I had a distinct idea what to look for while watching the first episode. So maybe this will be a note to myself not to ruin a series by reading about it before watching it.

At least through this experience, I have an idea how I feel about spoilers. They really DO ruin a viewing experience if you're not careful. So it's a good thing that I have only really gotten part way through the series in recaps before making myself find the actual series and watch it first.

See, THIS is why I like to warn people in advance if I'm about to give away spoilers. And THIS is why we should all think twice about reading recaps BEFORE actually watching the episode. But then again, everyone has their own preferences, right?

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Related articles:
thoughts: Me Too, Flower! -- mid-series
thoughts: Me Too, Flower! -- to whom it may concern

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thoughts: Goong (Korean)

Also known as Princess Hours or Palace
(宫 - Goong)

Yoon Eun-hye as Shin Chae-Kyung
Joo Ji-hoon as Lee Shin
Kim Jeong-hoon as Eui-Sung Yul/ Lee Yool
Song Ji-hyo as Min Hyo-rin

***

The following article is a very in depth discussion of the series and may contain multiple spoilers. For a less detailed summary and thoughts post, please read intro info: Goong if you haven't seen the series. Otherwise, proceed with caution.

***

There is always an annoying flaw on how women are depicted by a lot of Asian drama series. And I recently started noticing this because of the endless manga that I've read -- I don't think I'd ever viewed it as a problem before until going from one short manga story to another and continuously seeing the same type of girl presented through those plots.

The typical heroine is always some form of ditzy airhead. She is the cheerful, girl next door type that anyone would find cute upon first impression. It doesn't matter if she's not entirely beautiful or if she's entirely graceful -- as long as she's cute, innocent and sweet and always happy, then she makes the perfect heroine to any story. And then we always like to make them stupid and useless as well, needing to be picked up by her Prince Charming who is the exact opposite of her in every aspect.

And then if she's not a ditzy airhead, there's some other part of her brain that's stupid anyway; nonetheless, the girl is always so clueless it makes you want to hurl things at her. She NEVER picks up on romantic hints from male suitors and when she does, she thinks that there has obviously been a mistake.

After all, men love to see a helpless damsel in distress who's role is simply to bring sunshine into their lives. Right?

Why did I start this article with such an introduction? I'm not even sure, but the idea of the ever-happy and ditzy female protagonist kind of bugs me at times. In fact, in the near future, I might finally climb on top of my soap box and write an entire article on how much I dislike the typical romance story female main character -- especially in shoujo manga. We can even call it a crossover post and share it on my other blog as well.

Yoon Eun-hye is cast as that particular free-spirited, loving, cheerful, and stereotypical airhead, Shin Chae-kyung in this particular series. I had been expecting the entire stereotype for her character since this series came from Manhwa which is categorized in the Japanese's shoujo genre wherein almost all female protagonists are stupid, worthless ditzes who's only saving grace is her penchant for sunshine and bunnies. Thankfully, Chae-kyung isn't entirely that ditzy airhead and has other admirable traits aside from simply being an everlasting ray of sunshine -- but she DOES start off the series in that fashion and it was a little bit depressing, but at the same time, I didn't completely dislike it as she also has those comedic tendencies that make you smile cause you feel embarrassed for her continuously.

Before I get any further into my rant, you can find the summary of Palace, or Goong, or Princess Hours (whatever works for you) at it's drama wiki site: http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Goong. The wikipedia version gives away too much of the plot and is actually a little bit incorrect in some of its summarizations. Of course, after re-reading my written post, I come to realize that I might be giving away a few spoilers here and there, so beware, and maybe you might want to read my article AFTER you've watched the series? (see intro info link above -- actually, here it is again: intro info: Goong) I think this post ended up being a discussion rather than a "short summary and review" of the series. But anyway, pretty much, the series involves a common girl who marries into the royal family because of an arranged marriage and supposedly turns the palace upside down.

Anyway, I have only ever seen so many Korean drama series, and The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince was the very first one which also starred Yoon Eun-hye, but in a much different role than this one. I can definitely say that I saw the versatility that she displayed from one extreme of character to another. In Coffee Prince, she was an absolute tomboy, with the short hair, crazy strength and a skill for throwing people over her shoulders. In Coffee Prince, the character of Go Eun-chan also had a distorted sense of what was right and what was wrong throughout the entire series, all the way up to the end and a lot of selfish tendencies.

Shin Chae-kyung is a very easily lovable girl who has a strong sense of responsibility as well as undying loyalty to her friends and her family. While she starts off as a big klutz who knew absolutely nothing outside of her classes, her friends, and her family, she had a strong heart of gold and a passion for life that a lot of people now-a-days lack. Aside from being an airhead, Shin Chae-kyung was a very ideal heroine and quickly grew on you as you followed her through the series. She was loving and she was caring and she was sometimes insightful to how others were feeling. She also had a tendency to "inappropriately" act on her first instinct, doing whatever she liked to do despite all the palace regulations -- which is what I loved about her so much. In contrast to Yoon Eun-hye's character in Coffee Prince, Shin Chae-kyung in Palace was more girly and pretty -- this is emphasized by all the lovely and elegant outfits and dresses she wore throughout the series. No two outfits were the same, and they all fit her really well.

My only complaint about her is that, as the story progressed, she began to change her personality into a much more melancholic one. I'm not sure if this is truly because of the fact that "Palace life" was changing her, but it sure did catch me off-guard. I found that I missed the Shin Chae-kyung from the very beginning of the series -- wherein, even if she didn't quite have enough courage to stand up against people, she still was able to stand up for herself instead of letting people walk all over her. She remained bubbly and happy and figured out how to survive in a place that didn't seem to suit her.

Many even claimed that the palace was molding itself around her and learning how to adjust to her presence. She was the type who didn't let anything change her in the slightest.

Except until she finally fell in love.

After that point, it seemed to be downhill for this girl and suddenly, she was the damsel in distress who didn't seem to have any fighting spirit in her anymore. No matter how many times someone would say, "Our Chae-kyung is a survivor. If you left her in a desert, she would build her own oasis," I rolled my eyes. Because there were so many times when certain things happened that I wished that she would just say, "To hell with palace life, I didn't even want to be Crown Princess in the first place!" But instead, she swallowed the injustices and apologized profusely for something that she didn't need to grovel about.

The girl made many little mistakes throughout her life in the palace, as anyone would expect from someone who grew up carefree and nowhere near strict regulations and the like. For crying out loud, that palace was like some sort of prison, a dictatorship, even, that controlled the everyday lives of each and every person in the royal family as well as their servants. You were not free to do ANYTHING at all.

But I guess that's the life of a royal. Being born and raised in America and living a common, middle-class lifestyle, I guess it's hard for me to understand the direness of strict regulation among a family of royals who are watched and criticized by the public and the government regularly. I understand family duty, obligations and honor... but these guys were taking it a little more extreme.

But anyway, this is my rant on the unfairness of how some females are depicted. Because while I can stand the ditzy airhead of Chae-kyung's character in the beginning of the series, that was because her saving grace was the fact that she was strong of heart and had a lot of good traits going for her such as excellent comedic timing. She also wasn't a complete idiot as she was rather good at what she went to school for and didn't lose out in other parts of her education such as English or the like. She had a knack for catching onto things rather quickly, which is more than I can say for a lot of other shoujo manga girls who are pretty much lost causes from the start.

By the end of the series, having matured and taken on more responsibility, she lost a good part of her airheaded tendencies, but then she gained a whole new flaw. Shin Chae-kyung became a helpless girl who didn't know what to do with herself after falling in love with her prince. She spent a lot of her time being depressed and moody; she suddenly based her life around her prince, crying continuously about him, for him, and with him. She'd lost that strength she had started off with and replaced it with a suddenly dreary life. Her moping around about her unrequited love and the hard adjustment to palace life often got to become irritating repetition.

This is not the Shin Chae-kyung that I had expected. But then again, I guess not everyone can be perfect, right? The story would be too dull and the series wouldn't have it's inevitable environment of tragedy like the rest of the Korean series that everyone fell in love with -- someone has to go through turmoil to fit the trend; or in this case, everyone goes through hell and back again, when a lot of it could have been prevented had someone just stood up for themselves. And then endless crying and melancholy ensues.

Thus is the life of royals, I assume. I can't complain too much. I really DID enjoy the series despite a lot of things that irritated me. And since nothing is perfect, there's no reason for me to expect every series to be ideal in my favor because you cannot please everyone. Nonetheless, I really, really had fun watching Goong. While there were many sad parts, the happy ending and the enjoyable, endearing moments made up for a lot of it.

Setting aside the character of Shin Chae-kyung, the rest of the series was rather enjoyable.

Joo Ji-hoon was cast as the prince, Lee Shin, who grew up in the palace as the lonely and restricted Crown Prince since he was five years old. He knows little about life outside of the palace, and because of his position, has come to the conclusion that the world revolves around him. Unable to publicly allow his emotions to show due to the way he was raised, this young man is probably the loneliest, most depressing main male lead ever. This is Joo Ji-hoon's first main role, I think, and he really does an excellent job portraying the array of emotions and the arrogance and playfulness that the prince struggled with throughout.

While it may have seemed like Lee Shin had everything in the world, there were so many restrictions placed upon him that it was almost akin to having absolutely nothing. All he really wanted was adoring love from his parents, which he could not receive because of his position, and he ended up wanting to have a dream rather than having his life conclusively planned out for him up until his old aged demise.

Regulations are everything in the life of a royal and so every person living in the palace is pretty much controlled to be the same, boring and dull "doll". They are merely present for the public to admire from afar and idolize and respect throughout life. In fact, they don't even really have the power to govern, so it made me wonder why it was even necessary to have a monarchy if they don't even have power. Tradition, maybe? These people were like famous movie stars or something.

It's nice to live the life of a royal when you think about all the nice things they get. Summer palaces, extravagant homes, luscious meals, beautiful clothing, large bedrooms, personal servants... etc., etc.... But compared to the rules and regulations you have to live by just to have all of this -- is it really worth giving up freedom for luxury?

And then what's up with the women staff being restricted to be single for the rest of their lives like nuns? This is a more modernized Korean dynasty, but why are we still succumbing to age-old customs for these poor women? As far as I know, back in historical monarchies, there was a very unofficial law which pretty much said that if you are a woman working as a servant in the royal palace, then you are ultimately the emperor's woman and must remain as such until you either die or are discharged from the palace. This is something I learned from watching various historical Chinese series and I almost assume that this is true to Korean monarchy as well. This is why women working in the palace were never allowed to get married or to be around other men -- it was inappropriate for any of the emperor's women to be touched by others.

But with this modern monarchy and apparently the kind who only has one wife, one queen, you'd think this tradition would have already been abolished.

But anyway, back to the series...

As far as character goes, Lee Shin certainly had a lot of growth and development throughout the series. Going from being an arrogant, self-centered, dull prince to becoming a more caring, more understanding, and less childish man, it really did show as he interacted with Chae-kyung and her family as well as went through his own obstacles. Sure, he started off as the untouchable and charming noble who had a secret heart of gold; but he was spoiled and arrogant nonetheless and it makes one smile to follow his progress.

Granted, he still had his irritating moments. I totally wanted to flip when it seemed like he wouldn't move on from being angry at Chae-kyung for making her first serious mistake. He had been involved in his own scandals, he had hurt her relentlessly, time and time again, and he always pushed her away, being untrusting and being uncaring, and never really thought about things from her point-of-view. The worst thing he did was push her away when he should have just opened up to her.

I understand the need to be alone to think things over when your life comes across obstacles. I understand that he had been so used to carrying his burdens alone that he didn't feel he could rely on anyone to help him. But if you don't allow someone else to share your trouble and then expect her to come running to you at all times... I'm not sure how that works out. If he never really trusted Chae-kyung to be there and if he never bothered to show her that he really DID care about her, how was he to expect her to come to him with her woes and sorrows when someone else was willing to hear her vent and rant? And then when she DID turn to him, all he had to say to her were nasty words akin to, "Well, you dug your own grave, how do you expect to fix it yourself? Don't come crying to me about your problems."

Yea. I think our little Crown Prince had a lot of issue with communicating in a better way.

And as Chae-kyung said, all she really wanted was a sense that he cared, even if all he knew how to say was, "It's okay. Everything will turn out all right." A hug, and some comforting would have been a plus. But Lee Shin couldn't even give her that much.

Whenever he hurt her feelings or betrayed her trust, she easily forgave him; but when she did it, it was like his world suddenly ended and he was extremely stubborn about forgiving her or even giving her the benefit of a doubt.

Some would say that maybe Chae-kyung was asking for too much. Maybe she could have been more understanding. Maybe she shouldn't have run into another man's arms just because he was better at comforting her than her own husband. Maybe she should have pushed harder for Shin's reciprocated feelings.

But the relationship that the prince and princess had was not built on trust to begin with. They continued on throughout the series doubting each other at every turn and every corner. Both of them were at fault for the problems that happened to them again and again. Because neither of them really quite knew what it was like to actually be in love and have that love reciprocated. On top of that, they lacked communication and honesty.

Nevertheless, the relationship between Chae-kyung and Lee Shin had its ups and downs. During the downs, it got to be somewhat irritating because this couple lacked a lot of communication and constantly got into one misunderstanding after another. They were the typical drama romance couple where, as soon as things started to look up for their love lives with each other, something happens, like an ex-girlfriend or a persistent suitor, and then the rapport they had built suddenly comes crashing down. All memories of having had fun and having had wonderful conversations with each other don't exist anymore. But during the happy moments, they were very cute together and knew how to be happy and have fun. It was rather interesting to watch two complete strangers get married and then slowly fall in love with one another, but battling that idea subconsciously just because they didn't think the marriage would last based on an arrangement by an already deceased royal king and a grandfather.

The rest of the characters were also interesting to follow. Chae-kyung's friends were more likeable than Shin's friends, I will personally admit. Kang Hyung was the typical nerd girl with priorities. I was almost expecting her to have a side plot romance for herself because of the fact that she's a pretty girl hidden behind a pair of glasses and a steel fist of duty and schoolwork. But I'm kind of glad that the story didn't do that, because it would have been pointless and kind of ridiculous to include something out of the blue like that. Tweedledee and Tweedledum were exceptionally wonderful as the comedic reliefs and best friends to our heroine -- I really enjoyed watching them. The three comprised a group of loyal friends until the very end, always supporting and looking out for Chae-kyung's well being and always lending an ear for her to vent her frustrations.

As for Shin's friends... I just kept wondering what the point was in having them around. They didn't share in any of his problems and seemed to make his life worse. They were the typical rich and spoiled brats who looked down on commoners, and aside from being a group of dudes for the main male lead to hang out with, I couldn't quite figure out the meaning to their existence. Their only redeeming trait was their sudden interest in Chae-kyung and Shin's welfare by the end of the series -- at that point did I realize that they actually DID exist as Shin's friends and not just as some guys that Shin hung out with randomly. They also seemed to exist as Hyo-rin's "gang of lackeys" when they were trying to help her bully Chae-kyung during random scenes -- these weren't really that significant though.

Lee Yool, also known as Prince Eui-sung, played by Kim Jyeong-hoon was the nice guy third wheel. As someone else had put it, he was a very admirable prince charming. He was sweet, caring, good looking, understanding, and he didn't act all arrogant like a royal normally would. And he fell in love with Chae-kyung and would have been the perfect man for her if not for her pairing with Lee Shin and a few unredeemable flaws that he ended up presenting. But he was a tragic hero. His love was doomed from the start and his life seemed to have been predestined to be miserable. As the former Crown Prince who lost his position at the tender age of five after his father died, he seemed to have lost everything in the world.

I'm not sure whether or not his greed or lust for something he couldn't have came with his fate or if it was just a trait passed onto him through his mother. But it was depressing to watch him continually pine after Chae-kyung, knowing full well that he shouldn't, but refusing to give up because some part of him was persistent to the point that he thought he had a chance at winning over a married woman who was obviously very much in love with her husband. It didn't matter that Chae-kyung told him again and again that she liked Shin, poor Lee Yool just didn't want to let go. And because of that, problems began to present themselves and in the end, his persistent love for Chae-kyung pretty much causes more trouble for her than was really necessary.

He was a very sweet and charming person; I will admit as much. But there is a very blatant flaw in his love for Chae-kyung that only serves to make me pity him rather than feel touched. In contrast, the role of Kang Shin-woo from a different series, You're Beautiful, was also a man who harbored a one-sided love for the main girl in the series; but his love for her was much more endearing and made me feel for him instead of pitying him. Like Yool, he was always there for the girl, lent his shoulder for her to cry on, and took care of and protected her in his own little way. He loved her secretly and due to circumstances, he never pushed for anything more than friendship until the very end when he knew he would never have another chance to tell her how much he loved her. This subject may or may not be touched upon later on in a different article.

Yool, on the other hand, selfishly forced his feelings onto Chae-kyung despite telling her that he didn't need any reciprocation from her. It was as if he thought that his passion would win her over if he kept moving forward and kept working his way into her life. He never heeded the warnings to keep at a distance, and he never seemed to step back to allow her the chance to breathe. Fighting for your love is commendable, but fighting for the heart of a married woman might be somewhat questionable, especially if she's already told you that she can only be friends. AND especially if her every move and action is being scrutinized by the public, by the royal family, and by the elders -- causing a scandalous affair to appear in the media because of his persistence probably wouldn't be the best way to show a girl how much he loved her.

Yool was plain and simply a selfish young man despite his princely attributes. He never once thought to look at how his actions would affect Chae-kyung and only thought about how he would show her how much he loved her. He only ever thought to make himself happy by winning over a girl who was unattainable to him.

In a different sense, the You're Beautiful role of Kang Shin-woo was in love with a single girl who wasn't receiving reciprocated feelings from the guy that SHE had fallen for. While she's still not hooked up or officially dating or serious with another man, Shin-woo had every right to try and woo her over to him -- and yet he still continued to give his girl the room and space she needed to breath. Lee Yool on the other hand, should have given up on the married woman from the start, especially after being warned, time and time again from Shin that he needs to stay away. Because, in contrast, there was much more at stake than just a lost love. Yool could just pick up and leave the country if he wanted to; but the world was watching Chae-kyung and a scandal about an affair would only serve to be disastrous.

The same went for Min Hyo-rin, played by Song Ji-hyo; except her reason for holding on was more legitimate. While Lee Yool fell for a warm and caring girl he had met for the first time and became attracted to because of his lonely history of having no friends, Hyo-rin had been Lee Shin's secret girlfriend for two years. Shin shared a history with Hyo-rin that cannot be replaced so simply. She might have been one of the obstacles in the way of our main couple, but she had good reason to be angry and jealous. In this aspect, I think Lee Shin's arrogant and spoiled personality had to do with their depressing end.

As a royal, he was being forced to marry a stranger in an arranged marriage. But he was also given the choice -- despite his choice being rather insignificant. He proposed to Hyo-rin, was rejected, and so out of spite for his family and the girl who chose her dream over her boyfriend at the age of nineteen, he agreed to marry another girl without even a direct objection. Nineteen is a very young age for a girl to have to give up her dream of becoming a famed ballerina and get married; aside from that, Hyo-rin had thought that he was just joking. I understand why Hyo-rin rejected the marriage proposal -- after all, it wasn't done as a means to tell her that he loved her and wanted to be with her forever. Shin proposed to her just because he didn't want to marry a complete stranger; he even told her so.

In this aspect, the Crown Prince was in the wrong and acted on an immature impulse. Marriage, after all, isn't something to make light of, and especially for the life of a royal, it wasn't something that should have been played with in such a fashion.

I felt sorry for Hyo-rin throughout the series and even found myself trying to make up excuses why Shin shouldn't be romping around with Hyo-rin when he was married to Chae-kyung. I couldn't help but to continuously tell myself, "Hyo-rin shouldn't be interfering. Why is she being so selfish and taking away Chae-kyung's man like that?" But as much as I like Chae-kyung, Hyo-rin really did get the bad end of the stick in this messed up love rectangle. She was not to blame completely for a lot of the scandals and problems going on. If one were to pin a fault on her actions, it would be the fact that she didn't stop persisting when she should have and that she used some rather disagreeable actions to "bully" Chae-kyung. After all, if a girl's present boyfriend suddenly shows up on the news as a married man to another girl, it hurts and he really doesn't deserve to be forgiven.

Hyo-rin, I felt should be able to do better than someone so fickle. But she persisted and then she damaged herself and caused trouble for others. I found that, after letting myself see things from her side of the conflict, I ended up fully respecting and admiring Hyo-rin's courage to want to keep her relationship with Shin going. She's the heroine that I sympathize with because she had been jilted and was merely trying to take back what belonged to her, even at the expense of looking like a horrible person. I felt bad that everyone else was making her out to be the bad woman and the terrible home-wrecker. Granted, I don't condone some of her actions, but apparently when you're in love with someone, you do a lot of stupid things.

Unfortunately, she ended up doing something extremely unforgivable and irresponsible that caused me to completely lose respect for her. For the sake of not giving too much away (assuming that I haven't already spoiled the entire series), I won't mention what it is; but the selfishness of her act made my admiration for her disappear almost completely. Because then she just turned into another damsel in distress who didn't understand that there are much more important things in the world than romance. At that young of an age, there is so much more life to look forward to that such a selfish action can never be the correct way out.

This series emphasized something rather important that many young people don't understand. While devastating at the time, nineteen is an age where you can experience a lot of downfalls, make a lot of mistakes, and still be able to move on. Because you are still young and you are given the opportunity to make mistakes until the sun rises again and again. Because as the elder Queen Mother mentions, after suffering a pain at the age of nineteen, you still have the age of twenty-nine and the age of thirty-nine and so on and so forth to experience more in life and move on from that pain.

A lost love isn't the end of the world -- even at an older age. Mistakes were meant to be made so that people can learn from them and become stronger and wiser for that reason.

The way that these kids were crying made it seem like they only lived until the age of twenty and that life was over after losing things and causing problems.

It was refreshing to see the contrast between the young ones and the eldest grandma; to see the mistakes that the kids made as well as hear it from the wizened and experienced grandmother that, life still continues to move on. It's a matter of whether or not you chose to move on with it.

There is a definite air of melancholy in this script. I noticed almost immediately that each character aside from Chae-kyung's personality at the beginning of the series, liked to mope about how life is unfair to them. Everyone seemed to repetitively remind their fellow co-characters as well as the audience that they were in a state of misery because of how they had "lost everything". Every single one of the royals seemed to be wallowing in their own self-pity, reaching out to tell the world that they are a victim of some untold history. Lee Shin lost his freedom because he became Crown Prince, Lee Yool apparently lost everything in his life when he was banished from the palace, Lee Yool's mother, Hye-jung apparently lost her life as well, and so on and so forth. They were all just trying to prove who was more of a victim in this lifetime and it got old real fast. When Chae-kyung joined the ranks of the depressing, "I lost everything" crew, I think I let out a groan of frustration.

My goodness, life was disastrous and terrible for these people.

I'm glad that in the end, Chae-kyung managed to return to her bubbly personality and her former self.

The life of a royal just seems so depressing when you look at it through their eyes in this series. It makes me determined to take the life of a commoner over rich aristocracy any time. After all, not just the kids, the even the adults seemed to have too many complications going on: rules, restrictions, reputation, etc., etc., etc.... It was frustrating to think that, these people with money and power who can have anything they want, can't seem to enjoy their luxurious lives and just spend day after day wallowing in self misery.

In contrast, a simple and small family such as Shin Chae-kyung's, struggling to make ends meet and rejoicing in any simple achievement made life so much more worthy of enjoyment. Even though they couldn't afford to buy anything extravagant and even though they were always worried that they couldn't provide for the family appropriately, they were happy and they could express their love and desires to their hearts content. And in the end, that was all that really mattered; that they cared for each other, that they were happy with their lives, and that they didn't continuously worry about the non-tragedies of living in a restricted environment.

Palace, or Princess Hours, or Goong... whichever title you prefer to use, is a rather extraordinary series. It is meaningful on many different levels despite it's obvious target at young teenagers -- being that it was adapted from Manhwa for young girls. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, laughing at all the happy moments and crying along with the main characters. No one was essentially so malicious that you would end up hating them -- except maybe Lee Yool's mother, the Princess Hye-jung. But in that sense, I couldn't quite pinpoint what I thought about her.

The adults were really just there to propel the politics and family values and regulations. Chae-kyung's family showed up regulary to be supportive and show what type of hope there was for her outside of the palace, depicting the striking contrast between the two types of families. The King was a rather old fool and I really just got irritated with him a lot, and like with Hye-jung, I wasn't sure how I felt about the Queen's actions. At times, you understand why she does the things she does and why she acts the way she acts. But at other times, you wonder why she has to take things to such extremes and be so strict on everyone around her, including herself and her own blood-related family. She wasn't a very likable person from beginning to end and then her attempt at being turned into an understanding mother-figure was too sudden and too forced.

The court ladies were a lot of fun to follow, and I'm glad that Chae-kyung managed to remold her own two court ladies into friends rather than servants. By the end, even the overly strict and law-abiding, steel-faced Lady Choi ended up giving into Chae-kyung's persistence. It would have been fun if she also ended up finding a suitable male partner as well.

Each episode ended with a teddy bear modeling of our main characters which added onto the endearing feel of the series. I also liked Chae-kyung's Lee Shin pillow double that she made with a smiling Shin on one side and an angry Shin on the other.

Acting was great, direction was good, and the scenery and set of the palace was beautiful.

I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who is interested in a nice romance with a lot of good fun morale and friendship qualities mixed in. Despite a few of the unpleasant parts of the storyline that I question and well, ranted about, I really loved this series. I admit, without those parts that I've mentioned being faulty, I don't think the series would have been the same. Because not everything has to be cheerful and peaceful and peaches and rays of sunshine. Without a little misunderstanding and drama and semi-tragedy, the series would have been really boring. Because who wants to follow through a couple who's lives started off smooth, went by smoothly, and ended with a rainbow and a pot of gold?

As an afterthought, I may have mentioned a lot of things that irritated me, but as tradition has it, my blogs seem to get extremely long with series that I've actually enjoyed, despite the ranting. (For example, the City Hunter review from a while back which was the first review I posted on this blog.) It's the short ones that you'd have to worry about, because with those, I probably wasn't paying enough attention to the story to remember much about it. Of course, that's not always true, because I don't keep specific formats.