The Best K-dramas of 2014 (And the worst. And all the rest too.)

Another amazing year full of K-drama magic has flown by, so before we dive into 2015, let's take a look at our favorite (and least favorite) 2014 K-drama moments!


Favorite drama of the year


Vivi: Let�s be honest: The dramas that are the �best� aren�t always the ones that end up being our favorites, but this year, I really enjoyed some dramas that seemed to be pretty good overall. For favorite drama, I�m going with Marriage, Not Dating. It was like summery crack, and it was the first romantic comedy I�ve seen in a long time that remembered it was a comedy through the whole show. At the same time, though, the emotions felt real and earned. Most people don't actually face crazy heiress mothers-in-law who throw water on your face, but the passive-aggressive scene in the wedding dress just about had me in tears with how real it felt. Han Groo was an absolute revelation.

Coco: I don�t know what you�re talking about. I have impeccable taste and the ones I love are the best.

V: You are still watching Greatest Marriage. Everything you say is invalid.

C: True, and it is definitely of questionable quality, but I�m not picking it as my favorite! I�m making the claim that It�s Okay, That�s Love was not only my favorite drama of the year, but is also objectively the best drama of the year!





V: How are we judging "best" here? Does it mean that the most people said it was the best? OR does it mean that it was a drama that no one really wanted to watch, but they felt smart watching it, kind of like the Oscars?

C: It just means that I said it was the best.

V: Oh, well then, It�s Okay, That�s Love wins then! Actually, that�s one that�s on my list to watch for later. The whole mental illness plot hit really close to home when it aired, but I still want to see it.

C: You will love it. So stop pretending you are going to watch it and just do it! And I�m not the only one who says it was the best this year. It was very popular all around. And I think it�s saying a lot that the drama debuted without a lot of hype but steadily increased popularity as it aired.

V: I now know what my New Year�s resolution is! New Year�s is all about realistic goals, right? Forget going to the gym; I will feel accomplished as I sit on my couch eating bonbons and watching this show. Where does one find bonbons? Because they are an integral part of my resolution.

C: I don�t know. I just know that�s what housewives eat when they watch soap operas all day, and I want them too.


Biggest Guilty Pleasure

V: So let�s skip to the other end of the quality spectrum. What was your guilty pleasure of the year? The one you were embarrassed to admit you enjoyed? Mine is probably a toss-up between You�re All Surrounded and After School: Lucky or Not Season 2. I'm not saying that I really love After School or anything, but there are so many poop jokes per capita that I feel embarrassed watching at all. Why am I watching? Because it�s short? I don�t know. You Are All Surrounded was okay quality with silly villains and bad writing, but I was obsessed with it to an unreasonable degree. It was the explosions. I�m an easy girl to please, okay?

You had me at hello.

C: And it was also Lee Seung Gi. You LOVE him.

V: I met him! And by "met," I of course mean "snapped photos from far, far away at KCON." We're basically besties.

C: I�ll go ahead and admit here that I do really love The Greatest Marriage. And hate it. Because it makes me laugh at the absurdity of the plot and cry at the over-the-top melodramatic scenes. I�ve never watched a drama so close to what I would consider an outlandish soap opera, and I hated every character, but it redeemed itself by exploring interesting and relevant gender themes.

V: But did they reeeeeeally explore them? Because I watched a couple of episodes, and it just looked like the crazy train.

C: It was the crazy train! But it�s Korea�s culture of suppressing women that makes everyone so crazy.

V: So like Emergency Couple. But with a less cute child than Baby Gook.

C: And a less likable second male lead, or first male lead, or even first female lead. Really there aren�t that many redeeming qualities. That�s why it�s my guilty pleasure!

V: But fewer poop jokes than After School Lucky or Not, so that�s definitely classier than me!


Funniest K-drama

C: Speaking of funny moments (that aren�t poop jokes), what K-drama made you laugh the most this year?

V: There is only one show that literally made me laugh out loud, and that was Mr. Baek. Watching Shin Ha Kyun make old man faces was amazing. Also, for some reason, I feel like if my husband were a 70-year-old man who turned 30, he would make those same faces.

C: I laughed so hard at Fated to Love You. Lee Gun's maniacal laughter is so funny and gets me every time! He really nails comedy with his physical presence.


Also this was a new drama that returned to much of the same old K-drama tropes but managed to make them fresh and enjoyable all over again.

V: Interestingly enough, Jang Na Ra is the female lead in both dramas, but I don't find her particularly funny. Unless you find downtrodden sweetness funny.


Biggest WTF moment

V: The ending scene of Prime Minister and I. Uggggggggggggggggggggh. Do I complain about this drama every chance I get? Yes, yes I do. And I don't feel sorry.

C: I am so on board with the ending of Prime Minister and I! That was the worst.

V: Never before have I felt so cheated over a handshake. I feel personally offended by the writers. I thought we were friends!

C: Also, I�ll add pretty much everything that No Min Woo�s character does in The Greatest Marriage, including his WTF outfits. But they kind of make me love him even more because he can be so cute sometimes.





V: I personally have no idea what you�re talking about. I think that wearing a shirt emblazoned with the word �LONELY� is a perfectly reasonable fashion choice for a date.

C: And the crazy things the second female lead does! Kidnapping your husband�s secret half child so that you can raise it as your own and win your rich in-laws� love is never a good idea.

V: Speaking of odd dating behaviors in second female leads, I want to add the second female lead from Marriage Not Dating to my WTF list. She might even be at the top. I mean, she tried to blackmail a guy for his sperm. (???!!?!) Please tell me that this is not a real thing that reasonable people do. No, seriously. I need reassurance.

C: One thing I will give the K-dramas this year is that they had the most punch-worthy female second leads ever.


Character you wish you could punch in the face the most

V: Ok, I need to think about this. I only get one punch for the ENTIRE year? I need to use it wisely, or I�ll regret it for all of 2015.

C: Ooo, I know who I pick! The evil mom from Pinocchio. What a *itch! I mean, the lady completely ignores her child for 12 years and then after finally seeing her and having her hug her and tell her that she misses and loves her, she says she hasn�t even thought about her once because she has been too busy and then walks away after tearing all her career dreams down. Not to mention the fact that she�s responsible for destroying the male lead's family with her crazy and dishonest ambition as a news reporter. She�s so evil!

V: Ok, that�s pretty deserving, but I think we should do this by Hammurabi�s code. An eye for an eye. Because I think the person who actually hit other people the most in a drama was the Birkin bag villain in You Are All Surrounded, so getting punched in return seems really fair. Punched with a fake designer bag. Smells like justice.

C: Only as long as you hand the designer bag back to me afterwards so I can fill it with bricks and hit the Pinocchio lady over the head!

V: We might have to invest in a real designer bag in that case. You know, so the handles don�t fall off while we�re delivering high-class justice.

C: I like the sound of that!

V: Let�s move on to the people we don�t want to hit over the head with a bag o� bricks, shall we?


Favorite couple

C: We all know that this is usually the real reason we stick around for an entire K-drama. Who was your favorite couple of the year, Vivi?


V: Birth of a Beauty. Birth of a Beauty. BIRTH OF A BEAUTY!!!!!!! Best couple ever in the entire universe. Period. Times ten million.

C: Oh wow! Now I must go back to watching it!

V: The plot is absolute nonsense half of the time and the villains might as well be cardboard cutouts, but WOW, the leads make up for it. I just love how they do normal things together, like shopping or cooking or whatever, and it�s the best thing ever. And they�re really supportive of each other and have actual conversations about things and apologize when they fight like normal adults, and I luff them.

C: My favorite couple is It�s Okay, That�s Love all the way! Their chemistry was off the charts and they were just all-around a really believable couple.

It made me kind of obsessively wish they were together in real life and I got really excited when it came out that both of them had recently broken up with their real significant others.

V: Sooooo, what you�re saying is that you�re a homewrecker at heart.

C: Isn�t every K-drama fan? I mean, pretty much every K-drama female lead is a homewrecker. Or at least the male lead. I�m not at the part where he breaks up with the second female lead in Fated to Love You yet, but based on what I�ve seen so far, I think it�s going to be really sad. This doesn�t stop me from wanting him to end up with the female lead, though.

V: Nope, I�m still judging you. Even if you�re right.

C: Fine, then I judge you for liking poop jokes. Moving on!


Best and worst kiss

C: I would consider my pick to be the best and the worst kiss at the same time. The �toast kiss� in Pinocchio looked absolutely ridiculous and seemed like another excuse for Park Shin Hye to never have to actually kiss anyone, but the scene itself was so funny and oddly was kind of sexy.



V: Yeah, the Pinocchio toast kiss was just weird and awkward. SO MANY CORNERS! At least choose a food that isn�t so pointy. But actually the worst kiss for me was in Pride and Prejudice when he was like �Want proof I�m not a murderer?� *KISS* Not sexy. Just terrible.

 The best one was probably Miss Korea just because he was trying to do the whole noble idiocy thing and she was like, �Nice try, buddy!� and then they kissed. I cheered at my screen for that one. Actually, there were a lot of things about Miss Korea that were pleasantly surprising. If I had to nominate the most underrated drama of the year, it would be that one for sure.

My Love from Another Star also had some massively romantic kissing, obviously. That�s part of the reason everyone is so obsessed with it.


Favorite side character

C: My favorite side character has to be Kwang Soo�s character in It�s Okay That�s Love. Kwang Soo is always funny in everything he does, but he�s turned out to also be a really talented actor who brings depth to his characters. In It�s Okay, That�s Love he manages to play someone with turrets syndrome who isn�t just a trope, but is a charming person with realistic responses to life.

Also, I have to mention Baby Gook from Emergency Couple. Let�s be real; he�s actually my favorite character of all time!

V: Well, I was going to say Kim Seul Gi in both Surplus Princess and Discovery of Romance, especially since she made Discovery of Romance watchable, but now that you had to go and bring up Baby Gook, it�s a no-brainer. If I could meet one Korean celebrity, it would be Baby Gook. And I would squish his little cheeks. And I shall call him squishy and he shall be mine.

C: No, he�s mine! I challenge you to a hand bag duel!

V: I was gonna suggest joint custody, but if we�re jumping straight to duels, so be it!


Best Eye Candy

V: I always feel kind of creepy being like �Ooooh, look at this man all alone in his shower!�

C: I don�t! Sorry, not sorry.

V: That being said, I recognize eye candy as a major part of the drama-watching experience. (Can you hear me trying to make this category legit?) My most swoony moment wasn�t even chocolate abs-related. It was Lee Joon Ki�s sweet ninja outfit in Joseon Gunman. I just did a high school girl sigh just thinking about it.

C: Despite My Lovable Girl being the biggest disappointment of the year for me, Rain sure does look good in it!

Sigh�


V: While we�re sighing, can I nominate the best ear candy of the year? Because I could listen to Choi Jin Hyuk or Lee Sun Gyun talk alllllll day.

C: I second that emotion!


Worst Second Lead Syndrome of the year

V: Can you guess who I�m going to say for second lead syndrome?

C: YES! And I agree with you! Poor, poor Chief Gook in Emergency Couple.

V: SIGH. (But not Lee Joon Ki in a ninja outfit sigh. Clutching my heart because I�m sad sigh.)

C: DOUBLE SIGH. Oh the agony of his puppy dog eyes and wistful, heartbroken glances.

V: Let�s stop talking about it. My heart can�t take it! Second place goes to Lee Joon in Mr. Baek. Talk about the surprise of the year! I had no idea he could act like that, and his character ended up being way more nuanced than I thought. But does coming in second place in the second lead contest just make him the saddest loser of the year?

C: Not as sad as the one who gets third place: L�s character in My Lovable Girl. It made it so much worse because it was such an obviously better match. Krystal with Rain, who by the way plays her much older dead sister�s ex-boyfriend. Weird and wrong. And L is also a K-pop boy who is shaping up to be a decent actor.

V: We�re using the term �decent� kind of loosely here, right? But yes, L�s character seemed like a much, much better fit.

C: Yes, by decent I mean entertaining and surprisingly tolerable, but mostly just cute.

V: But what�s worse? Dating your dead sister�s ex, or dating a high school student who your little sister loves (King of High School)? Because if this year taught me anything, it�s that love conquers all kinds of slightly awkward obstacles!

C: Fighting!

Thanks for spending another great year with us! What were your favorite drama moments?

-Coco and Vivi

Fashion Face-off Friday: K-drama Women's Office Wear

I know you've probably forgotten all about the tracksuit fashion face-off we had because it's been so long, buuuuuut in case you've been dying of curiosity this entire time, Secret Garden's Joo Won won in an absolute slaughter in the battle of trendy tracksuits. I can't say that I'm surprised, but I thought having FOUR tracksuits in Rooftop Prince might put up a better fight.

This time around, I want to talk about women's office wear. K-drama styling often drives me insane. Okay, so I get that the hardworking poor girls have to dress like they picked up an eight-year-old boy's hand-me-downs because it will make the inevitable makeover that much more effective, but there are women in dramaland who have real, actual jobs, and their styling often goes to extremes.


In my observations, the styling for female leads in the professional world tends to fall into a few categories:

1. The Dorky Slobs. Their shirts are never tucked in, they have weird mullet-y ponytails going on, and they wear the largest glasses humanly possible just in case anyone missed the memo that THEY AREN'T COOL. We get it.

Prime examples: King of High School, Scent of a Woman


2. The Serious Girls.  Next, you have the girls who just want to be taken seriously. This, in the drama world, means wearing dark suits. And only dark suits. Then they get androgynous bowl cuts to go with said black suits. Because bowl cuts = respect.

Prime examples: Pride and Prejudice, Prosecutor Princess (the second female lead)


3. Power-hungry Monsters. Powerful women are scary! And can't control their need to accessorize! It seems like the more competitive the female lead becomes in the business world, the more over-the-top her outfits get. Fur trim, sequins, rhinestones--you name it. If she can buy it, she will wear it.

Prime examples: History of a Salaryman, Queen of Reversals

What strikes me as odd in all of this is that it's not like there are no normal, classy, professional outfits in K-dramas. In fact, they're all over the place, but for some reason, office-appropriate clothing is usually reserved for the villains. Want to wear a tailored pantsuit? Well, you'd better get ready to murder some people because that's second female lead territory right there.

But there's hope! Recently, some female leads have actually been allowed to look--gasp--stylish and professional as they go to work! Let's celebrate these fashion-forward females with a face-off:

Contender 1: Yoo In Na as Nam Sang Hyo in My Secret Hotel

I gasped when she first came on the screen. It's something people might actually wear to work in real life! It probably doesn't hurt that Yoo In Na hosts a beauty show, so she had a reputation to maintain.

Contender 2: Yoo In Na in My Secret Hotel

This white-on-white ensemble is gorgeous. Given my own habits of dropping half of my food on my lap, I would never dare to wear white pants, but she's a fancy lady at a fancy hotel, so she does what she wants!

Contender 3: Yoo In Na in My Secret Hotel

It's shockingly normal. Pants and a blouse. Who knew that was so hard?

Contender 4: Yoo In Na in My Secret Hotel

If I owned this lace skirt, I might never take it off. Seriously.

Now that you've seen the worthy challengers, it's time to vote! Who do you choose as the queen of work wear?

Best K-drama Women's Office Wear

Yoo In Na in My Secret Hotel

Yoo In Na in My Secret Hotel

I feel like this poll might be rigged.

I prefer working women in bowl cuts.

  

pollcode.com free polls 

pollcode.com free polls

Okay, okay, I know that My Secret Hotel wasn't the only drama with normal female office clothing, but it was the first and only one where I have literally clapped at my screen upon seeing an outfit, so that's got to count for something.

Sadly, as much as I enjoyed the styling and the first few episodes of this series, I dropped it around episode 10. As I said when I started watching the show, I appreciated that it was a reconciliation drama where they had regret and longing, but they weren't complete jerks to each other. Unfortunately, I felt like Hae Young gradually got worse and worse in this regard until almost all of his scenes involved him shouting "Nam Sang Hyo!" and dragging her around. The whole thing just got sluggish after a while, and when I went out of town and missed a couple of episodes, I didn't have the energy to keep watching.

Did you enjoy the series? Did you enjoy her outfits? Let me know!

Can We Please Talk about This? (SPOILERS)

If you're not caught up on Pride and Prejudice and dislike spoiler-y things, go ahead and stop reading now  or just skip to the postscript. If you ARE caught up, we need to talk about this scene:

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? *Rage punches nearest thing that is not a human or a cat*

Now under normal circumstances, Choi Jin Hyuk is pretty swoon-tastic, and I quite like both his character and the romantic buildup in this series so far. That being said, surely I can't be the only one who felt that there was nothing--nothing swoon-tastic about this scene, right?

Both from a logic perspective and a romance perspective, this is bad writing. Her character is trying to decide if he murdered her little brother, and THIS is his response? Ok, let's break down alllllll of the reasons why this is a terrible idea:

1. If you don't want her to think you're a murderer, perhaps instead of accosting her, you could explain what really happened that night. You're supposedly a genius prosecutor, right? Isn't offering a plausible alternative a thing?

2. She thinks you are a murderer. How is invading her personal space against her will going to make her feel more comfortable?

3. She lost her brother, and it has obviously caused severe emotional and psychological pain for both her and her family members. It's not an appropriate setup for a pickup line.

4. MURDERERS CAN KISS PEOPLE TOO! Cut the "What's your heart telling you?" nonsense. I know that gut feelings can be legit. But serial killers who seem like nice people while their freezers are full of human bodies are also legit.

/endrant


P.S. While we're on the topic of consent and rape culture and all that stuff, can we talk about something that happened today? Okay, so yesterday, I was asked to write this article about Park Shin Hye and her awkward kissing, which I did. I meant it as nothing more than a lighthearted joke about something that comes up every time she's in a new drama.

As anticipated, the hardcore PSH lovers came out in full force, which initially didn't bother me much. I didn't mean it as an insult to PSH, and I'm pretty sure I didn't insult ALL of South Korea, as one commenter claimed. But then I came across this rant on Tumblr, and, as someone who takes feminist issues in K-dramas pretty seriously, I thought it merited some discussion. Forgive me for hijacking my own post.

The author's points about director input are valid. I never meant to imply that Park Shin Hye and Park Shin Hye alone is responsible for all wide-eyed kissing in Korea. She is, however, one of the most well-known actresses who embodies the trend, which is why I chose her. I think that the double standard between male and female acting in dramas is an important discussion. I don't necessarily think that having a set of GIFs poking fun at PSH making the same face over and over and over in all of her dramas undermines that discussion.

I also don't think that director input means that PSH has NO control over how she acts in romantic scenes. Yes, her characters are socially awkward, but there are ways to be awkward and also express attraction at the same time. I would know. I'm one of the most socially awkward people I've ever met.

Just because I poked fun at her kissing also doesn't mean that I don't understand the difference between actor and character. In fact, it's because I believe that PSH isn't the same person she plays on-screen that I feel comfortable commenting on it. She has built an entire career around one type of character, and she consistently chooses to play that character. I'm hoping Pinocchio will be different, not just for her as an actress, but for the world of K-dramas in general. When one of Korea's top actresses consistently plays the role of the meek, wide-eyed girlfriend, it perpetuates that ideal.

I want PSH to be able to kiss better, not because I think that she should want to jump on any hot guy who happens to be her costar, but because if PSH can demonstrate female desire as a positive thing, maybe other actresses can, too. It's not about her becoming a "blow up doll to service your favorite actor"; frankly, it's the opposite. When she stands there, petrified and still as a board, all while the music in the background makes it out to be one of the most romantic scenes in the show, that, to me, suggests that women should hold still and take it. If her characters feel uncomfortable being kissed, they should reject it. If they want to be kissed, it's okay to express it. And yes, I also have major, major problems with that closet kiss in Heirs. And basically everything else Kim Tan did in Heirs.

Again, this is obviously a problem beyond the scope of just Park Shin Hye as an actress. After all, PSH can't exactly kick Lee Min Ho in the nuts and run out of the closet if that's not what the script says. It's a writing, directing, AND ACTING issue, but a humorous article didn't seem to be the place to tackle that whole can of worms. Maybe I got too carried away in my snark (which, I admit, I tend to do), but I dunno. A least poking fun at the problem has opened a conversation.

This doesn't need to be a feminist-off here. We all clearly have similar goals for gender representations in K-dramas. We just approach it in different ways.

New Dramas: Pride and Prejudice, Birth of a Beauty, and Mr. Baek

New drama time! New drama time! New drama tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime! *Jazz hands*

Can you tell I'm a little bit excited about getting a new crop of shows? In case you can't tell from my incredibly sporadic (read: nonexistent) blogging of late, I didn't have time to pick up any of the dramas in the last round. Plus, none of them really grabbed my attention. But now life isn't quite as chaotic, just in time for a new set of shows! Thanks, universe!


I checked out Pride and Prejudice, Birth of a Beauty, and Mr. Baek. Realistically, I won't be able to keep up with all of them, but I haven't been able to make up my mind on which ones I'll watch yet. Here are my thoughts so far:

Pride and Prejudice

An ensemble cast! My favorite!
Image via

What it's about: A genius ace prosecutor (Choi Jin Hyuk) and a hardworking rookie prosecutor (Baek Jin Hee) end up on the same team years after they dated. Romance, mystery, corruption, and pretty much everything else you would expect from a legal drama ensues. And no, despite what the title implies, it has no relation to Jane Austen, though they do have a little nod to the book in the second episode.

Initial thoughts: As someone who has watched more than her fair share of Law and Order marathons on TNT, I feel qualified to say that the case-of-the-day format here isn't the most compelling I've ever seen. It's fine, but I'm hoping they move to the central mystery and drop the procedural style soon. 

But who even cares about plot when you have Choi Jin Hyuk? I wasn't enthralled with his character in Emergency Couple, but for some reason, I can't stop watching him here. It's not like his character is that interesting, so I don't get it. Is it the suits? Is it his melodious voice? Am I really that shallow? Quite possibly. His banter back and forth with Baek Jin Hee is delightful to watch.

This is my first time seeing Baek Jin Hee in anything. Is it just me, or does she look a lot like Yoon Eun Hye from certain angles?

You all see it, right? I'm not just making things up?

I like her character fine so far, but I really wish she would stop running around in high heels. Just stop and take them off. Please.

I want to pat the second male lead on the head and give him a cookie.

Birth of a Beauty

I know that this is completely hypocritical given my feelings about the premise,
but I have massive hair envy. Don't hate me.
Image via

What it's about: An overweight woman (Han Ye Seul) finds out that her husband is cheating on her and goes to a genius (Joo Sang Wook) for help transforming herself. She undergoes massive plastic surgery and then vows to get her revenge.

Initial thoughts: When I first heard this premise, I wanted to smash my face into my keyboard. It sounds pretty similar to the premise of 200 Pounds Beauty, which I really didn't like. I know the movie is popular, but sorry, I can't get behind this one. The movie seemed pretty confused, and it kept sending mixed messages about body image. (Be true to yourself! But if you're sad, you should get pretty, and it really will fix all of your problems.) 

Still, I gave the show a chance, and while it's too early to say how it will handle body image issues, it has some promise. The first episode was a big hot logical mess, but once they got past that initial hurdle, it settled down into enjoyable romcom territory. 

This show wouldn't work at all with the wrong leads, but Joo Sang Wook and Han Ye Seul have some crazy chemistry together. That's pretty important because I hate pretty much ALL of the other characters right now. Like if I were in a room with all of the secondary characters and had the chance to give one and only one of them a terrible wedgie, I would be paralyzed with indecision. Ok, so that's a pretty specific scenario, but it encapsulates how I feel.

Mr. Baek

Image via

What it's about: A 70-year-old hotel owner (Shin Ha Kyun) is a complete Scrooge (no, really, there's a hilarious sequence of him bathing in gold in his tub). Due to a meteor/fate (?), he suddenly ages backwards into his late 30s. There's also some corporate intrigue and stuff going on if you're into that sort of thing.

Initial thoughts: This show may be worth it just to watch Shin Ha Kyun make grumpy grandpa faces. I don't know how long they can play that card, but seriously, this casting is perfection. The show itself is a bit too slapstick for my usual tastes, but he's clearly having so much fun hamming it up that it works somehow.

I haven't seen any of Shin Ha Kyun's other stuff, and he isn't completely handsome in a traditional flower boy (flower man?) way, but he has some interesting charisma that makes me want to keep watching.

Although I'm loving his acting, I'm really glad that we're done with the old man makeup portion of the show (for now) because that makeup made him look 102, not 70.

Lee Joon actually looks like his son, so that casting was pretty great, as well. I feel completely ambivalent about Jang Nara's character so far. She's basically as Candy-like a character as you will ever see. I guess she has a mom so she isn't an orphan, but it's all pretty familiar territory for anyone who has seen more than a handful of dramas.

Conclusions

So far, it looks like Dramabeans won't be recapping any of these shows (aside from the first-episode recap they did for Birth of a Beauty), which means I need to find people to discuss the episodes with me. People of the internet! Please come talk with me! What are you watching? What should I keep watching? I think I'm in for Pride and Prejudice for sure, but I can't decide with the other two! Hellllllllp meeeeeeeeeeeee.

Where to watch

Pride and Prejudice: Viki, SoompiTV (formerly Kdrama.com), and DramaFever (premium users only)

Birth of a Beauty:  SoompiTV, DramaFever, Viki

Mr. Baek: DramaFever

Kdrama Review: Surplus Princess (The Mermaid)

Whoa, it's been an insanely busy month around here. I think I have watched maaaaaybe two episodes of any Kdramas over the last three weeks. the good news is that those two episodes just so happened to be the last episodes of Surplus Princess (The Mermaid), so I can actually write a review!


So, as we know, this is the show that decided to go way, waaaaaaay outside of the typical K-drama box with its premise of a cellphone-toting mermaid who becomes human. The initial show descriptions said that she hates unemployed people, but that turned out not to be true. Instead, she lives with a bunch of unemployed people, and they all try to find jobs together while the mermaid also tries to find true love before she disappears into a bunch of bubbles.

Now, the big thing to know about this series is that it started as a 16-episode series and then got cut down to 10 episodes�immediately after episode 8 aired. It's tough to judge a show properly when 40% of the series got cut off at the last minute, but I'm going to try anyway.

It's really a pity that this show got cut down because it was one of the few shows where I felt like the writers had planned ahead to fill the entire time. All too often, dramas rush ahead with the romance so quickly that they hit episode ten and end up twiddling their thumbs for the next six episodes, tossing in whatever groan-worthy plot twists they possibly can (*cough* Trot Lovers *cough*).

Given the zany first two episodes of this show, I was surprised that it didn't zoom ahead at warp speed. Instead, the early episodes focused really heavily on the group dynamic instead of the central romance, almost to the point where I sometimes felt like I had watched an entire hour where nothing happened at all. It's a pity that as soon as the love triangle really hit its stride, the show ended up getting cut.

When the Heirs music started to play, I almost peed from laughter.

What also struck me was the shift in tone. As I said after the first few episodes, one of the things that made the beginning of the show refreshing was the fact that it jumped into the odd premise with both feet, making fun of itself with its over-the-top characters. Now, you can't get people to care about a show full of caricatures, and I was especially relieved when Ha Ni toned down her shrill whine, so I understand why the show eased up on the ridiculousness after a few episodes. Still, though, when you have a show about a mermaid, is spending six episodes straight on a company contest your best bet? If I wanted to watch a show about people giving presentations, I would re-watch all 32 episodes of Queen of Reversals. None of those characters had tails. Surely, surely Surplus Princess had other options. YOU HAD A FREAKING MERMAID!

Still, even with the ongoing unemployment saga, the cast made it fun to watch. I loved all of the inside jokes, and the three leads were well cast. My husband always calls Song Rae Rim "Baby-faced Assassin" because he tends to pop up when someone needs some killin' (like in Gong Yoo's movie The Suspect, which is now on Netflix�eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!). It was nice to see him as a romantic lead again, although it makes me a little sad that he always gets stuck with these 10-episode shows.

Someday, you'll be in a full-length show where you don't have to stab anyone!

Spoiler time! Let's talk about the ending

Based on that beautiful opening scene in episode 1, it's clear that the writers had a bigger game plan for this series, and I'm pretty sad that we didn't get to see it all play out. Still, given how little time the writers had to tie everything together, the last two episodes were pretty fun. They hit a lot of sweet spots, and, if anything, the finale left me loving the characters and wanting more. What could have been a train wreck ended fairly cleanly, if quickly. I was irritated that our second female lead was in the picture at all anymore (She doesn't deserve a second chance with Chef!), but it's a minor quibble.

Of course, we have to talk about the closing scene, which left some questions unanswered.

Wishful thinking?

Under normal circumstances, it would feel annoyingly unfinished, but in this case, that closing shot felt like a giant middle finger from the show's producers to the execs who decided to pull the plug early. In that context, it mostly made me laugh and want to give them an awkward fist bump or something. Not that I advocate flipping people off. Of course not!

Conclusions

In the end, I'm sad that this series ended the way it did, and not just for the sake of the drama. Surplus Princess wasn't perfect by any means, but it took a risk by using a premise that wasn't about an amnesiac chaebol or siblings tragically separated at birth who later fall in love as they get revenge on each other. Cutting the series to ten episodes sends the message that trying something new isn't welcome, and that writers should probably stick to reuniting exes in the workplace.

Where to watch Surplus Princess:

Soompi TV (formerly Kdrama.com)

Viki

I Don't Care If He's Your Oppa: Victim Shaming and Celebrity Worship

Image via

We try not to take things too seriously on this blog, but every once in a while, it's time to get serious for a minute. Can we, the K-drama fan community, have a little heart-to-heart for a second?

In case you haven't heard, Kim Hyun Joong of Boys over Flowers and Playful Kiss fame is facing assault charges from a former girlfriend. I don't want to get into all of the details, but you can read the latest on it here and here. As is always the case with celebrity scandals, every article on the topic is covered with a wide range of opinions, from those who want to lock the guy up and throw away the key, to die-hard fangirls shouting, "Oppa, fighting!"

At this point, I don't really care to hash out everyone's theories on what may or may not have happened. Sadly, famous people--even handsome famous people--are capable of abuse. Sadly, it's also possible that she exaggerated or fabricated details to get a settlement. In either case, the outcome is disheartening and upsetting. The fact of the matter is that we don't know all of the details yet, though I will say that his admission to using physical violence even once is twice too many in my book. 

One thing I can talk about at this point is the fan response, which I find troubling. Hashing out all of the possibilities is one thing, but many of the responses demonstrate a lack of understanding about abuse. Here are a few samples of actual comments that just aren't okay. Let's discuss them, shall we?:

1. "I would like to know what made him so mad that he would hit. Did she hit him first?" 

and

"She probably provoke him and started to argue with him to get him to respond. Till he finally popped. Because normally nothing fazes him."

*Deep breaths**Deep breaths*  I'm going to try to keep my rage-o-meter down as much as possible, but things like this make it really hard. If Kim Hyun Joong hit his girlfriend, then he and he alone is responsible for his actions. Victims do not "make" abusers hit them. Even if she made him mad, she did not deserve to be hit. Period. 

2. "Hello, then she is an idiot, who stays with a man who is beating you up constantly? Another publicity hungry girl wanting to end someone's career. Does she know how to chew and walk at the same time? She so badly want to stay in the public eye so she is claiming abuse. Sorry, get a life which is your own."

and

"With the first slap she should have left, but she didn't. Since she admits this was happening more times than I care to know I blame her for not being smarter and not making the right choice. Anyone who stays in unhealthy relationship is not all there. I blame both parties never take side, since they are both to blame. One for hitting and the other for accepting it."

Still others questioned the validity of her claims because she didn't report him for two months. Here's the thing: When someone is an abusive relationship, it doesn't mean that she (or he, because abuse happens to men, too) is "weak" or "stupid." Why didn't she report him earlier? Maybe he apologized, and she believed he could change. Maybe she was afraid of the repercussions if she came forward about one of Korea's top stars (which is also probably why she's keeping her identity secret). You can read a full answer to this question here, but the "why" doesn't matter, and it doesn't undermine her claims.

There are many smart, talented, wonderful men and women who suffer abuse. It isn't our job to judge them for staying. It's our job to make it easier for them to leave.

3. "Idk but I will support him and I don't care about whats the true"

We should care about what's true. Withholding judgment until you get all of the facts is one thing. It's still seeking truth. Saying that you don't care what's true suggests that fame supersedes truth. When it comes to abuse, fame can't come first. If Kim Hyun Joong abused his girlfriend, she deserves to have the truth heard. She deserves to feel safe. If Kim Hyun Joong didn't abuse his girlfriend, then he deserves to have the truth heard. Either way, hiding the truth only multiplies injustice. 

I have to say that the vast majority of comments on the KHJ articles have been thoughtful and anti-abuse. Many of the comments I posted above had appropriate responses from other people. But these kinds of comments are widespread enough that we need to take a long, hard look at celebrity culture. Because if even one victim gets bullied into silence, it's one too many.

Noona vs. Noona: Witch's Romance and King of High School Kdrama Reviews

I'm happy to report that there were no actual metallic shirts in Witch's Romance.

I finally got around to the last episode of King of High School/High School King of Savvy, and as I thought about the review, I kept thinking about it in comparison to Witch's Romance. Because I'm really lazy  the shows are similar (noona romances airing back-to-back on the same network), why not just review them together?

Noona Romance 1: Witch's Romance

Overview

Ban Ji Yeon (Uhm Jung Hwa) is a single, 39-year-old reporter who her co-workers call a "witch" behind her back. Yoon Dong Ha (Park Seo Joon) is a 25-year-old part-timer with a kind heart and a secret past. When they cross each others' paths, they find mutual love and healing (or something equally corny).

Noona Romance 2: King of High School

Overview

Lee Min Suk (Seo In Guk) is a high schooler who--for some absurd reasons--has to pretend to be his older brother and play the role of a high-power director. He works with Jung Soo Young (Lee Ha Na), an oddball temporary employee.

We've already talked at length about the age difference in both of these dramas, so I'm actually going to ignore that part and review the other parts of the shows instead, Okay?

The Leads

Frankly, both of these dramas had stellar male leads. In the case of Witch's Romance, Park Seo Joon was a pleasant revelation. I had never seen him in a drama, and I ended up loving him in this role.(I know I wasn't the only one--just look at the header love at Samsoon Down the Rabbit Hole.) Is it just me, or does he have kind of a Song Joong Ki vibe about him? 

No? Is that just my wishful thinking because Joong Ki still has another year in the military?

In any case, I'm loving the current trend of male leads who act like second male leads. He was kind and caring, and I only wanted to punch him in the face once (I'll gt to that in a minute).

Similarly, King of High School's male lead broke the typical male lead mold. He was a little rough round the edges at first, but he always had a caring heart. Most importantly, Seo In Gook killed this role. He was a convincing 18-year-old, but not in an obnoxious way. As I watched him, I felt like I was watching a complete person, which is a change from the typical one-note chaebol lead. That guy has some acting chops, and I'm excited to see what he does in the future. 

The two female leads are basically complete opposites. Ban Ji Yeon is assertive and pretends to be cold-hearted, while Jung Soo Young is a dorky pushover. Between the two of them, I think I preferred Ban Ji Yeon, although the writers did damped her character towards the end to the point where I felt like she forgot about her personality. Uhm Jung Hwa seemed to have a lot of fun in this role, and that always goes a long way. 

I didn't mind Jung Soo Young's quirkiness for the most part, but I did feel like the writers struck this weird balance between infantilizing her and making her act like a mother figure. It's like they couldn't quite figure out how to navigate the age gap, so they had her oscillate as a way of maintaining balance. I kind of liked that they didn't decide to give her the obligatory makeover and tone down her personality, though I would have liked to see a bit more character development over the course of the series. It's important to note, however, that Witch's Romance was a female-centric story, while King of High School revolved around the male character. I guess you're only allowed to develop one character at a time?

Plotting (Not the scheming to kill people kind of plotting--the narrative kind)

Uggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggh. Just thinking about the middle six episodes of Witch's Romance gives me boredom-induced amnesia. (Is that a thing? If not, I bet some drama writers will use it as a plot device soon!) That being said, thinking about the first six episodes makes me swoon. I started watching this series because the comments on this post about balanced relationships recommended it. All of those people were right. The friendship and comfort between the two lead characters was my kind of K-drama for sure.

Sadly, I guess you can't have 16 episodes that just revolve around two people falling in love (But whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?). Instead, they had to toss in a love triangle that was short by K-drama standards, but it felt eternal in the context of this drama. To be blunt, Shi Hoon's character had no depth. What did we know about him as a person? We know that he takes pictures of lions and war and stuff, but what about his personality? Wait, photographing lions isn't actually a personality trait? I guess someone forgot to tell the writers. It's really hard to devote 6+ hours to caring about a cardboard cutout.

The love triangle is just one case where the writers tried to attempt something good (filling 16 episodes with some plot), but executed it poorly. This same problem appeared multiple times throughout the drama, and one of the other most egregious examples has got to be the bedroom scene at the end of episode 2. The purpose of the scene is great. It establishes amazing chemistry between the two leads early in the series, it allows a female character to take the lead in the physical relationship (a rarity in K-dramas), and it also shows that Dong Ha doesn't care about the age difference even from the beginning. 

The problem? The one teensy weeeeeeeensy problem? Oh, yeah. She was drunk out of her mind, and he knew it.

First of all, there's the whole issue of consent. He knows that she's doing things she probably wouldn't agree to do sober, and he goes along with it anyway. Second of all, the entire scene flies in the face of Dong Ha's core characterization. He's always harassing his friend for being a womanizer, and then he has a one-night stand with a drunk woman? Let's not forget that he's also still grieving over his dead girlfriend, too. I was pretty torn because the scene had great chemistry, but it also made me a little uncomfortable and made so little logical sense that I actually thought it was a sexytime fakeout like in I Need Romance 3 and Marriage, Not Dating. (Seriously, tvN, stop doing this to us!)

Okay, so let's talk about King of High School. Again, I was much more engaged during the first half of the series. Sure, the whole premise was nonsense (either that, or being a director is a waaaaaaay easier job than I thought), but it moved at a nice pace with delightful characters. Once the couple got together, I found myself fast forwarding or reading my phone during scenes. I guess business machinations just don't interest me very much, especially when you build up an entire series with a mysterious scheming brother, only to resolve his storyline so easily that it might as well never have happened. Why was hyung even there?

You mean he had a purpose other than to show us what Seo In Guk looks like in lenseless glasses?

Side characters

This was an enormous strength in King of High School. It wasn't until the very last episode that I realized just how attached I was, not just to the leads, but to almost every side character, as well. From the high school buddies to the coworkers to Min Suk's dad, they all seemed like real people who I grew to love over the course of the series. 

There were two main standouts here who I have to mention in particular. The first was gramps, who made me laugh and cry on more than one occasion. The second was Jung Yoo Ah, who just might be my favorite second female lead of all time. She was playing a high schooler, but she handled rejection waaaaaaay better than most second female leads do. I was still able to root for her at the end of the show, unlike some other second female leads-turned-murderers I could name (Trot Lovers, I'm lookin' at you).

While Witch's Romance had kind of flat side characters in comparison, I adored Ban Ji Yeon's mother and Dong Ha's best friend. I appreciated that Ji Yeon's mother had a life story of her own outside of trying to find her daughter a husband, and every time I see him in a supporting role, Yoon Hyun Min grows on me more and more.

Conclusions

Both dramas were fun to watch at times, and both were incredibly frustrating at times. In both cases, charismatic male leads really pulled the shows together.

Where to watch:

Witch's Romance

Kdrama.com

Viki

King of High School

Kdrama.com