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.

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Related articles:
first impression: Dream High 2

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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.

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And here's Sam Dong again!!

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

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