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.

***

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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intro info: Scent of a Woman (Korean)

Kim Sun Ah as Lee Yeon Jae
Lee Dong Wook as Kang Ji Wook
Uhm Ki Joon as Chae Eun Seok
Seo Hyo Rim as Im Se Kyung


Yes, I held off on finishing Scent of a Woman for a long time after it's finale was broadcast. I'm a pansy and after having sat through an extremely depressing climactic turn in My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, I chose to avoid anything tragic or angsty for a while. I told myself that it was too close to be watching Scent of a Woman -- a story line that I had convinced myself would end up sad and depressing. I mean, the series is based off of a woman finding out that she has cancer and then living for the next sixteen episodes (well, fifteen, since she finds out at the end of Episode One) trying to make the most of her few months of life left to her.

Scent of a Woman was set up to be tragic from the get-go, and unless some sort of seriously lame miracle of god (a la THE ALMIGHTY PRODUCTION STAFF) chooses to somehow cure her cancer and let her live, happily ever after, I was ready for a tear-jerking ending.

And so for the next two weeks after finishing My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, I avoided Scent of a Woman, telling myself I would watch something more light-hearted first before completing my watch of this series. And so what do I do? I chose Warrior Baek Dong Soo...

Yea. That went well too... -_-

Needless to say, I was not in the right mindset to keep watching these extremely depressing scenarios, more than once in a row. For Gumiho, it hadn't started off with melancholic expectations, but halfway through, it was a given and I was ready for the angst -- but I hadn't expected it to be so tumultuous. Nonetheless, I'm not saying it was a bad thing, because in my own opinion, the execution of that full on hit of tear-inducing sadness wasn't too inappropriate. Unforunately, Warrior Baek was a different story altogether -- nonetheless, it included a tragic end (see link above).

And so, once again, I found myself avoiding the ending of Scent of a Woman. Having grown to care about the love line as well as Lee Yeon Jae and her two potential love interests, I wasn't ready for another cry-fest. But after finishing up two more series that were less angsty in comparison and then beginning other series randomly, I finally decided that it was time to stop putting off the ending of Scent. I had to brave it and what better way to do as much than to ready myself all over again by reading all those nice recaps from Dramabeans. I read about the series to re-aquaint myself up to where I had left off, as well as giving myself a better understanding of the series, storyline and characters and all.

And then I dove right back into the series.

The most recent Scent of a Woman post chronicles only my thoughts about the story line up to Episode Ten, but it doesn't give much in the sense of detail about the entirety of the first ten episodes. More thoughts on the entire series as a whole will be discussed in a future article (as is typical of my formats).

Scent of a Woman, as mentioned already, is a sort of journey to self-fulfillment. Lee Yeon Jae is a woman who has lived a dull life with that "I can wait until tomorrow" mentality. It had never occurred to her before that there would come a time when "tomorrow" may not exist at all until she is diagnosed with gallbladder cancer and told that she would only have six months left (at the most) to live. And so she quits her life-sucking job and vows to live the rest of her life to the fullest, including falling in love and being loved.

The beginning of the series was quite exciting as the story sets itself up for Yeon Jae's embarkment into "fun and exciting last days of my life" territory. She goes on a vacation, tries to seduce the main male lead, pampers her mother, seeks revenge on her evil coworkers, and even starts maintaining a bucket list of all the things she wants to do before she dies. It was a very A Walk To Remember (the movie, not the book) nostalgic progression.

Of course, this is not saying that the series was anything like A Walk to Remember outside of the dying female protagonist base plot. The American novel had cutesie moments and the movie was a guilty pleasure paradise with pretty people. This series had heart and passion and a really good message within a message that sneaks up on you by the end of the story line. It also had pretty people as well, but that's not the point. Both were great in their own rights, but Scent of a Woman had a bit more depth than just the "live like there's no tomorrow" idealism.

By the end of the series, Scent became so much more than just a story of a dying woman and her decision to live her life to the fullest. By the end of the series, a whole new message comes full circle to beat us over our heads as something we would have never thought of. Basically, while there's a grand "live like there's no tomorrow" concept going on, there's also the need to remember to "live like you will STILL have a tomorrow" for those who have truly been given an ending date.

And because of this, for the sake of needing to be complete in my review of this series, I will simply say that, Scent of a Woman had a pretty much perfect ending. At this point in the series, the way that it had wrapped up, I don't think it would have made much of a difference whether or not we know what Yeon Jae's end was. The message that came with her entire experience was fairly inspiring and surprisingly refreshing at the same time. And this is why Scent of a Woman may be one of 2011's best gems in kdrama land.

There were some dull moments in the series as it progressed, but some of it was probably because we veered off the concept for a while. But when we re-entered that attractiveness wherein Scent had drawn in the majority of its faithful viewers, the story line came back together rather beautifully.

Cast were chosen excellently. As stated on an earlier post, Lee Dong Wook and Kim Sun Ah exhibit extremely passionate chemistry. I held my breath during their tango scene because of the intensity of it -- who needs graphic love scenes when you've got tango to substitute for it as both a lovely and a sensual symbol of our main couple's raw emotions? I was worked up about it and I'm sure that fangirls all over the world felt rather flustered just watching the tango scene.

Uhm Ki Joon was absolutely endearing as the "best friend and doctor" role -- he was a man who loved Yeon Jae, but he was also a man who understood what was best for her. Here is one of the few series wherein you DO feel rather bad that the other man won't be getting the girl. Chae Eun Seok had wanted to become closer to Yeon Jae, but he also knew that in her condition, the best source of support would come from the man she loved who also loved her, rather than simply from a man who loved her without her reciprocated feelings. And in this sense, Chae Eun Seok was a fabulous person. The love line no longer mattered in a "who gets the girl" sense; because in the end, it wasn't like getting the girl meant "happily ever after." And so the love line became a very beautiful "how can we make sure that Yeon Jae can live happily for the remainder of her life?"

It was a much more touching concept than forcing a love triangle with meddling love rivals (this doesn't describe the Im Se Kyung role, but we'll ignore her for now).

I loved seeing the interaction between Yeon Jae and Eun Seok just because of their "would be love". They are close friends and they treat each other as such and care about one another very much. I'm sure that Yeon Jae loves Eun Seok as well, if only as a friend and like a family member important in her life. Uhm Ki Joon did a wonderful job portraying the caring, yet socially awkward doctor who just doesn't quite seem to know how to express himself and so hides it with terse coldness.

The relationship between Yeon Jae and her two men truly thrived more on how her presence in their lives helped to change the two of them. It wasn't so much the romance line and who she would end up with, nor was it only about her own self-fulfillment in life. The heart of the relationship was in how, because of Lee Yeon Jae, Kang Ji Wook ended up finding direction in his life while Chae Eun Seok learned the value of friendship and open kindness.

While I fully enjoyed Seo Hyo Rim's portrayal of the rich chaebol daughter, arrogant and terribly skewed in her ideals about status and wealth and power, I didn't much care for Im Se Kyung as a person. She had potential for depth, but through her consistent meddling by using her father's power and wealth, she became just another rich brat who threw grand temper tantrums if she didn't get what she wanted. I truly thought that there would be more to her than that, but she turned out to be rather tiresome (as did her and Ji Wook's fathers) and sometimes almost psychotic.

As a romantic comedy, there is very little that isn't already predictable about this story line. But in general, the series survives on the heart it shows through character development and portrayal by the actors and actresses, as well as that delightfully surprising new message at the end of the series. Background music and some richly shot scenes were also quite crucial to this series' success -- see the Okinawa trip in Episode Two as an example.

The only disadvantage that Scent may have had would be it's lack of memorable value; because while the series began with heart and ended with heart, it also had a case of lull-ing towards the middle. And because of this, it ended up being just like any other series with a dying woman presented. In about two or three months, I may not remember the series, even if I can recall a few details about it that might have stood out: sensual tango scenes, the already mentioned Okinawa vacation, Chae Eun Seok, the overall message given as the series wraps up...

Finally, the last thing I will comment about would be Yeon Jae's transformation from "ugly duckling" to "fashion model" that took place well into the beginning of the series. I like that it was incorporated as a will of the female lead on her own. She knew what she wanted to do for herself and so she went and did it. Her makeover scene wasn't an act of a Prince Charming showing her how to be beautiful -- Yeon Jae already knew that she could be beautiful and took advantage of her savings and that newfound sense of self in order to live her life on a grander scale. But her transformation (unlike most romance genre female leads) doesn't change who she is aside from making her a braver person with more clarity in her life.

In other words: I like that she changed herself FOR herself and not for a man. It was a much more refreshing concept to see in a rom-com.

I will proudly say that Scent of a Woman was a wonderful series. I regret having put it off for so long, but really, who could blame me after so many run-ins with angsty tear-jerkers? However, with certainty, I will vouch that Scent of a Woman is worth the watch -- one of few drama series that, aside from having some dull moments, ended up being quite an amazing and beautiful experience.

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Related articles:
first impression: Scent of a Woman
thoughts: Scent of a Woman - a gem among gems -- mid-series brief thoughts