– Baker King, Kim Tak Gu: One of the better dramas of this year. I have plans to write a review but school has gotten in my way (again). But if you want to share your view of the drama, do drop me a message/email. I’ll be delightful to post it up here. The driving force for me throughout this drama was Tak Gu’s love for his mother and how he has faith until the very end. Betcha the ajummas love this boy to death. And of course, I wanted to see his fluffy romance with Mi Sun (more on this later…).
– Mary Stayed Out All Night: This is truly a disappointment. You know what? Mary reminds me of “Cinderella’s Sister“, except this is Torture Part 2. In Cinderella, the writer went in circles about wine, and here the writers go in circles about marriages, kisses, and dads fighting. The plot is going NO WHERE and I’m seriously about to burst at the writers. This drama could’ve been a better drama if given a great writer because we all know the great acting chops from its 3 main leads. I feel cheated. For now, I’m only watching because of the Geuns’ natural chemistry and for Kim Jae Wook. I hope I can hang on till the end and not drop the drama like what I did for Cinderella. And the ratings? I feel so bad for the cast and crew. What a waste of talents. 🙁
The Characters:
Initially, I thought Seo Jun was going to be the cool, chic, and independent second female lead seeing how she dealt with Mary’s misunderstanding at work. However, she has been irking me the last few weeks as she slowly slips behind the stereotypical personality of a second female lead. When she slapped Gu Myul, I was literally screaming at my laptop screen. Girl, are you on crack? You have no reason to be angry! Don’t EVEN talk to me about the ending to episode 9! It’s like they’re trying to get even with each other’s lips. T.I.R.I.N.G!
The Parents? Should be tied and thrown into a cave until responsibility and compassion hit them. The rich is obsessive and abusive. The poor is submissive and irresponsible. The last one comes for money and leaves when her boyfriend calls. Gah!
Mary is the sweetest girl in your neighborhood and you can’t go wrong with that. I love that she’s docile at times but will nail her stance when she feels intruded (telling Jung In’s dad to stop). Perhaps, she should blow up on him and set the man straight herself. “I ain’t my mama, so stay clear!” Moon is playing Mary charmingly, though I wish she would pick better scripts to work with next time. Sigh.
Jang Geun Suk and his beautiful, perfect waves. I don’t mind the long hair but short hair anyone? Anyway, there should be a rule to separate Gu Myul from Mary because clearly, when they’re together, sparks shoot everywhere attacking a bunch of fan girls to squeal endlessly. Their chemistry is just overflowing and I’m pretty sure a lot of people are on board just for them two. As carefree as he is, the boy has been enduring a lot because of his mom….ugh!
And finally, Jung In, my poor baby. You know what? Second Lead Syndrome hurts. Moon Jae Shin, I’m looking at you! The thing I want to complain: Writers, why are you so CRUEL to the second male leads? They sacrifice, stare, and…wait and wait. And what’s more frustrating? Yoonhee never acknowledges Jae Shin’s selfless love for her. She only sees Sun Joon. T_T The part where they hug while Jae Shin is being slashed outside KILLED ME. Yep, that’s me. I refuse to watch the ending! I’m not going to!
Back to Jung In, I don’t even know why I’m so attached to him. When he’s sad, I’m sobbing. He hasn’t done much but the things that he has done touches me deeply. Something about a robotic rich boy slowly evolving into a real person attracts me. To make matters worse, I squeal when Moo Kyul and Mary are together…but my heart breaks when Jung In is by himself, being haunted by the nightmares and coldness, wearing a suit to sleep. Aww! What’s more? He has become thoughtful of Mary…a library to a book nerd? I’m sold. Here is my heart, just take it!
What do I want to see from Jung In? I want to see him EXPLODE and tell his father to shut his trap. That will be the day he shines. Seriously, how long do I have to wait for that kind of awesomeness? Will I stay on this boat until then? *edit: New writer for this drama? Heck, Count me in folks!
– My Girlfriend is a Gumiho: If this couple (MihoXDaewoong) doesn’t win “Best Couple” this year at SBS Award Ceremony, someone’s going to get hurt. Their storyline was touching, their tears were genuine, and heck, their dimple smiles were infectious! I can’t get over how cute and compatible they are together. Woong-ah! 😉
– Secret Garden: A breath of fresh air. I enjoy the intense staring and screaming between Joo Won and Ra Im. I embrace Oska’s whining and hilarious antics. I laugh my head off every time Yoon Seul uses random English phrases in her speech. I rolled from side to side at her embarrassment when she was owned by Director Lim. Priceless!
Episode 6 – 8 had me stitches, Hyun Bin was awesome acting as the girly Ra Im, which I find appropriate because she’s near her idol Oska! The real Ra Im has never been so close to Oska’s body before and hence Hyun Bin’s depiction was perfect to me. Also, you and I, both know what happens when a fan girl meets her idol right? (Insert Yoo Ah In here please!). The same goes for Ha Ji Won acting all smugly and perverted, I approve. People act differently in every occasion. Now just imagine all the naughty things you could do in another person’s body without getting caught!
– Sungkyunkwan Scandal: The drama that I will remember for a long time would be this one. The chemistry between all four of them were both endearing and entertaining, and the highlights of the show. Unlike F4 who were best friends when we saw them, these four hated each other (except for Yeo Rim’s love for Jae Shin) in the beginning. The journey of their friendship overshadowed everything else. My only regret is that Yoon Hee never saw Jae Shin more than a “senior”. Seriously girl? We are lining up here! And of course the ending which I won’t be seeing anytime soon….
– 
Alice: There, I’ve finally put down my thoughts and now I can go head-to-head with my finals next week. I hope you all enjoy reading them even if our opinions clash one way or the other. I’m looking forward to read what you guys have to say about the dramas this year since 2010 is coming to an end. It has been a great year!
Also, Good Luck to those who are preparing for their finals. Have a good sleep to boost your brain cells folks. A note, I most likely won’t be updating the dramas/shows until NEXT friday. Eyes on the prize, eyes on the prize…
NOTE: Feel free to use the banners and avatars, but remember the golden rule! Credit! AliceChen is fine with me.
10 thoughts on “[Personal] Artworks Display and DramaThoughts”
Ahh I love you for this! And I pretty much agree with most of them, except for Mary Stay Out All Night, because I haven't seen that yet. <3
10 thoughts on “[Personal] Artworks Display and DramaThoughts”
Hey, thanks for sharing your opinion on these dramas. I've refused to watch most of these until now, because I didn't think from reading the summaries that I'd like them. Now I might just have to give Secret Garden and My Girlfriend is a Gumiho a try. 🙂
I absolutely loved Sungkyunkwan Scandal as well! It totally surprised me, because when I first started watching it, I actually wasn't expecting much…. Shame on me, I know. 😉 Another Jae Shin shipper, huh? I never understood why everyone loves him so much (except when he laughs, I really, really like it when he laughs) – I was straight on from the first episode a Yong Ha fan. 😀
Did you only put summaries here for the most recent Korean dramas? Do you have an older post about other Korean dramas that aired this year? Because I noticed a certain lack of Stars falling from the sky… Now, if you haven't watched that one yet, I'm sure I can make some time to squeal your ears off. 😛
Good luck to you and everyone else on your exams!
Channah
PS: Well, this comment got a bit longer than intended….
10 thoughts on “[Personal] Artworks Display and DramaThoughts”
Anon, you're welcome.
Channah, I rarely write thoughts on dramas nowadays. I think this is one of the rare posts. 🙂
Yep! Another Jae-Shin shipper. He's too adorable and charismatic not to love. I love Yong Ha too! He's my second favorite. Love all his quirky actions and genuine care towards the people he cares about. I can't think of anyone else who could've brought the role alive the way Joong Ki did. He was fanTABULOUS!
Stars Falling From the Sky? I haven't watched it yet. Maybe after my finals! I have a month to kill…hehe =D
And I love comments! ^_^
10 thoughts on “[Personal] Artworks Display and DramaThoughts”
i love your comments & thoughts, i feel the same too.
10 thoughts on “[Personal] Artworks Display and DramaThoughts”
hey there alice!
i agree with a lot of your reviews/summaries for the dramas. i haven't watched Baker King yet… maybe in the future.
I am utterly disappointed with 'Mary…' I agree somewhat that there's adorable chemistry between the two leads.
At the same time I really like the character relationship between Maeri and Jungin. Their little past that was sparked again from the photograph of the boy carrying the girl. Maybe it's bc I like Jungin's character – the coldhearted rich boy whose heart is slowly captured by the pure/innocent girl. hahah. although so far Jungin's role isn't doing much I hope he gets to show more of the character's personality.
and for the second female lead i also agree that i thought she would be a cool character from the beginning. like how she chose to believe Mary wasn't the one talking behind her back in the bathroom. but again her role went to the stereotypical jealous ex.
i haven't finished watching episode 9 yet. actually i'm not motivated to finish watching ep 9. while i do like the two main leads together, i thought the two getting together was kind of fast. at the same time i understand that since the two were handcuffed and running from the fangirls, it might have helped the two to confess/kiss/get together easier. still, i thought it was too abrupt. plus imo i haven't seen much of Moo Kyul's love for Mary. it might be due to the director/script/editing of the drama.
idk, i might even stop watching this drama since tbh a lot of parts seem ridiculous.
I have to say I really like Kim Jae Wook since Coffee Prince.
and i'm definitely going to give 'Secret Garden' a try! with the high ratings and storyline i hope it's hilarious and entertaining. i have a good amount of high hope for this drama.
and to save the best for the last.
I absolutely LOVED Sunkyunkwan Scandal.
truthfully i don't watch many drams, usually the dramatic/melodramatic plots bore me or i feel like i would get depressed watching those type of dramas.
anyway, knowing Yoochun was in the drama, truthfully I was expecting him to be horrible in the series. just like i watched the first few minutes of Yunho's soccer drama, that's why.
but wow…Yoochun's acting really…exceeded my expectations. while he is a bit stiff at times, i feel his role suited him perfectly. Yoochun doesn't have much acting experience right? i feel he's very charismatic, and definitely hold up as being the 'leading male' for this drama. of course this whle series doesn't only rest on him and Yoonshik, but Yoochun was the 'lead LEAD' afterall. maybe bc the role doesn't require too many expressions/emotions, so it might have been easier for him. but why not? i think for newbies, they should be given roles that can slowly build up their acting chops. and i think this role was a good one for Yoochun. i do think Yoochun lacked variety of expression a lot of times, but then again i'm reminded of his character, and then it's not tht bad.
10 thoughts on “[Personal] Artworks Display and DramaThoughts”
continued from above as my comment/review was too long haha
Kim Min Young was surprisingly very good as well. while she looks really pretty and feminine with her big eyes, her approach and character for this drama was a bit different compared to a lot of the "girl dressed up as boy etcetc" type of dramas. i liked min young's interpretation of this character, as well as the director and his vision for such a character. for some reason, i thought she was convincing enough as a male. usually her expressions in the drama wasn't too girly or over the top that one would be able to tell she's a girl right away.
plus i think Kim YoonShik's (or yoonhee) chemistry with Seon Joon was really beautiful. their love story was pure and ugh…just wonderful.
i think i'm one of the few girls who did not find JaeShin utterly hot HAHA. while i do find him entertaining, and his protection of YoonShik endearing, I wasn't really rooting for the two together tbh. maybe it was bc there wasn't that much alone time/interaction for the two. and JaeShin's character wasn't developed as much as I would like. but a good character and definitely a good contrast to the other 3 in the Quartet! 😀
hahah i have to say my heart was captured by the adorable of YongHa! lolol. both the role and Joongki is so adorable gosh! i definitely sense YongHa's madly in love with JaeShin. It's pretty cute…and if you think back throughout the entire drama, YongHa never said that he was against 'homosexuals'…in fact I think when Seo Joon asked him about it, he said that 'loving the same gender isn't wrong' or along the lines of it.
i wonder if the director/screenwriter was hinting of Yongha as being bi? maybe it wasn't their real intention but they certainly didn't mind it. also i remember Yongha mentioned to that woman that it would be almost impossible/miracle for a woman to truly capture his heart.
anyway, i loved this Quartet, the drama.
10 thoughts on “[Personal] Artworks Display and DramaThoughts”
still continuing…
i really liked how this drama became so much more than just an idol drama. there was a lot of history involved, and although it may bore ppl at times, i thought this drama had more substance. i am disappointed with the ratings…such a fulfilling drama should have deserved a higher rating.
this drama has a very romantic/indealistic outlook on trying to create a nation that can let every class be equal, and maybe including the topic of women in this series.
and i really think this drama was artfully made and filmed. of course the eyecandy and the entire set was so nice. love love love it. i really hope there will be a sequel w/ the same cast in the future!
while there were a few loose ends for the ending, the ending totally cracked me up.
bc i notice a lot of times when the ratings are not so good for dramas, the editors/directors might decide to quickly film/end the drama so they can then focus on a new one. and you can usually tell by the quality of the last episodes if a series is being neglected due to low ratings, I.E. MARY STAYED OUT ALL NIGHT. the ratings confirm the poor way the series is continuing…
yet Sunkyunkwan Scandal was not like that. i feel the writer/director and all the actors were completely focused on this series and gave it their best to film this series of a high quality. when i watch this series i feel a sense of patience and timelessness for everything. i can feel the director's vision and what he wanted to tell/show for each episode. i love Seo Joon's character development. how he changed so much after meeting YoonShik. i really love the pure lovestory. and the kissing scene when they were stuck on the lift.
i want to say more but i'm definitely blabbing. anyway i totally recommend Sunkyunkwan Scandal to everyone. while it is 20 episodes the romance might be developed more slow compared to other dramas but, this series is totally worth it!
Jalgeum Quartet forever! 😀
10 thoughts on “[Personal] Artworks Display and DramaThoughts”
@Alice: lol Before I found your blog I was reading the discussion in the forum for Sungkyunkwan Scandal and there was some kind of battle going on between Jae Shin and Sun Joon fans, and towards the end of the drama the Jae Shin fans got more upset after each episode. I had to laugh so much when I read there that the actor portraying Yong Ha was jealous of actor "Jae Shin"'s lips. Did you hear the rumours about a second season? Apparently quite a few people from the production crew want to continue filming, but the director is against it, or something like that.
Aww, if you watch it, I really hope you'll like it. Stars Falling From the Sky is one of my favourite Korean dramas of all time, right after Capital Scandal and Family's Honour. 😛
Just a thought, but did you ever make a poll on your blog for people to post their top three dramas of the year/of all time and why they like those dramas? Personally I'd find it interesting to read other people's opinions instead of only seeing on mysoju and dramacrazy the drama top ten list.
Ah, I forgot to mention Mary Stayed Out All Night in my last comment. And I absolutely agree with your comments. Second lead girl really got on my nerves. She literally only knew for about a day about the marriage, before already learning that it's fake, what right does she have to act like a cheated wife?! She didn't even see the guy for like a year or so (if I remember correctly).
To be honest, at the beginning I thought Gu Myul was kinda funny with how he just took over Mary's home like that and started living with her. But after the beginning of the fake marriage I kind of felt myself leaning more to Jung In. I don't know, I think it's just like you said: said, lonely, cold little boys just make you want to hug them and tell them the female lead is going to make it all better for them. Well, it seems like that is not going to happen here (pity, really) and the story is just boring and redundant. I haven't yet watched ep 9 and I don't want to. I'm going to wait till the reviews for ep 11 are out…
And there's one thing I really didn't understand: When Mary told everyone their marriage was fake, why did Jung In's dad slap him?! Why is everyone angry at the two boys, but no one at Mary?? After all, it was her who started the fake marriage.
And after everything is revealed to just jump back into wedding plans between Mary and Jung In like nothing happened is kinda unsatisfying. I'd hoped the dads would think a little after all that, but nooo, still only marriage on their minds…
And, yeah, your wish has been granted, because according to dramawiki there's going to be a new writer for the show starting ep 11. 😉 Not sure if there's much left to salvage after ten eps…
Channah
10 thoughts on “[Personal] Artworks Display and DramaThoughts”
Anon, you comment blew me out of the water with its length. 😀
Yep, I do hope you give Secret Garden a peek and then stay the growing number of fans. This drama is addiction, I tell you!
Regarding SS, I agreed with you. Micky chose his role perfectly. (I cringed watching Yunho in the Head to the Ground ).
Ah yesh, Jae Shin's character wasn't developed enough. As for his love Yoon Shik, it's like the writer's main goal for his character was to be her guardian angel while she studies at SS and nothing more. Because apparently, there wasn't any moment that Yoon Hee looked at him with feelings more than a "senior"….it's unfortunate. Just like how the ratings didn't reflect a gem that it was airing. X)
Channah, a battle between SJ and JS?! I guess I wasn't active in stalking those threads to realize. The thing is I understand perfectly why the leads came to love each other. I adore them. On Jae Shin, all I hope was for a bit of acknowledgment from Yoon Hee.
I think the fathers were angry at their sons instead of Mary because 1) Jung In's dad CANNOT blame/criticize someone who is a clone of his love. 2) Mary's dad is forever going to believe that it's MG who has ruined Mary's life. This old man and his logic.
I need to watch this week's episodes (10-12) and hope for an improvement.
10 thoughts on “[Personal] Artworks Display and DramaThoughts”
^oops, many typos and missing words. I'm incoherent after my finals. Forgive, forgive! ^^