We really haven’t had a chance to blog much what with life keeping us busy and birthday season in full swing but thankfully we can return to our obsessive drama ways- yay – three big birthdays in one week! Let’s just say we’re glad it’s over and we may have gained our body weight in cake alone.
Anyway with the end of Dream High this week, we had to of course comment/gush/ rage about the most pleasantly surprising drama of 2011 (so far). We would have properly recapped the last few episodes but now it’s over, it feels kind of pointless so instead we’ll make this a long rambling/ rant about our thoughts and feelings on this drama.
First of all- how gutted are we that Hye Mi picked Sam Dong!!!
Poor Jin Gook, to be honest we knew it was going to happen but still…we naively held out hope. The worse thing is the fact that the writers gave him a lame arse consolation prize – his Daddy’s love and acceptance- how dull. Although we really liked how his father acknowledged Jin Gook, sacrificing his own career for the sake of his son. How sweet was their father/son date? Also making him so reasonable and considerate about the issue just made us more annoyed by the whole who will she pick scenario? Was it really necessary to drag out the Sam Dong vs. Jin Gook options for so long, we would have preferred it if the writers gave Sam Dong and Hye Mi’s relationship a better foundation and made their fateful goodbye all the more touching but instead it just missed the emotional mark for us.
As well as Sam Dong getting the girl, we also have issues with the fact that he is the Grammy award winning ‘K’. Ummmm, don’t think so. The power of love is a mighty thing but even if we stretch our imagination, it’s hard to believe that this guy who was clearly the worst dancer and singer on the show turned out to be the drama’s famous ‘K’. Frankly we would have preferred it if Hye Mi or Jin Gook were ‘K’ simply because it’s more believable and hell Sam Dong got the girl, it’s not fair!
Speaking of lack of talent, did anyone watch the Dream High Concert special? Yikes, there was some BAD singing in that concert. If anyone has any issues about what we said about Kim Soo Hyun’s musical talent, check out the concert, it might change your opinion. Don’t get us wrong, we ‘re fans of KSH, he’s a wonderful actor and has a bright future ahead of him- seriously he was so utterly perfect and mesmerising in Will it snow for Christmas? but as a singer and dancer…nope, he needs to strictly stick to acting.
Jason and Pil Sook rant ahead:
Why the feck did the writers do that to the sweetest and most engaging secondary OTP we’ve seen in ages? Okay, yes their relationship was firmly established in the last couple episodes but what happened in the last episode? The writers invested so much time with this couple throughout the drama and then suddenly decided to completely not bother with them in the last episode. Their conclusion felt flat, incomplete and unsatisfactory. There was so much fan love for this couple that it felt wrong that they weren’t properly concluded. So annoyed.
Although it was a given, how pleased are we that Jason’s phone photo was of Pil Sook pre-diet! Cute.
Baek Hee’s transformation:
We really liked how Baek Hee was redeemed. We were so certain that Hye Mi was going to come to the rescue and make everything right in regards to the sexual assault issue but we were so pleasantly surprised by how it was resolved. It felt so authentic in how it was handled and as a result it made redeeming Baek Hee’s character that much more realistic. We really liked the scene where Beak Hee was going to the police station and she got Hye Mi to sing to her over the phone. It was such a touching scene and the perfect way of showing the 360 degree transformation of a character’s attitude. Loved it.
Points that turned this from drama love to drama meh:
Up to episode 11 this drama was pitch perfect- we loved everything about it and we happily tuned in every week to watch this all dancing, singing bunch of misfits strive to make it. We can’t resist a good underdog’s story and when there is such a lovely mix of characters, how’s a girl to resist. Plus we liked Hye Mi pretty much from the get go- feisty, strong and someone to root for. Then the tide slowly turned for us and we went from utter love/ obsession to meh.
1. Irrational fandom. Seriously anything that becomes too famous and has lots of fandom surrounding it suddenly becomes unexplainably unappealing to us. Plus, when mass groups of people suddenly start praising/ kissing arse elements/ actors that really don’t deserve it, it just makes us go- ummmm, are we really watching the same drama here? My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, My Princess and You’re beautiful come to mind. Totally don’t get it.
2. Angsty Sam Dong. Yes, Sam Dong lovers, we know we’re in a minority but we hated the Sam Dong angst fest. It was so misplaced and far too dramatic for a musical drama about school kids.
3. The moment we knew we wouldn’t get our OTP. Childish we know but still as soon as we started watching this drama we were loyally rooting for Jin Gook and Hye Mi and when that didn’t happen, our love for the drama drastically decreased.
4. Will she leave for America, won’t she leave scene in episode 15? OMG THE DRAMA! Please tell us that we weren’t alone in laughing at our silly Sam Dong looked when chasing after the bus. All we heard was blah, blah blah. It felt so Boys before flowers, in the fact that it was soo dramatic and stilted. It wanted to present a really emotional scene but instead all we kept thinking was: seriously, Sam Dong, you really don’t know her better than you she knows herself, dumbo!
Okay we’ve bitched enough about what we didn’t like but we did actually really enjoy this drama for the majority of its run.
Here is a quick rundown of our favourite scenes/ things from the drama:
1. The SNSD performance. This was the one of those moments where we went from like to utter love for this drama. So much love for this scene.
2. Hye Mi singing Happy Birthday to Jin Gook. This scene screamed OTP moment. The scene was so sweet and the look on Jin Gook’s face is priceless.
3. The helmet scene and every other scene associated with the helmet.
4. Pil Sook and Jason – CUTE!
5. Jin Man was hilarious and he easily stole every scene he was in. Come on the MC Hammer scene and Robot teacher – so funny.
6. The flash mob scene and the dance off was brilliant- looked so good and was one of the reasons why this drama rocked.
7. We adored pretty much all the characters but how great were Kang Oh Hyuk and Ma Do Shik in this drama. Loved them!
8. Although we didn’t like Sam Dong and Hye Mi together we really liked what he said to her in their final scene together:
‘’I’m not going! From the beginning, you were music to me, and music was you. That’s why I came this far. If you’re not there, there is no music.’’ – So sweet.
Despite not getting what we wanted, we were satisfied enough with how it panned out and would happily welcome a season 2 if it’s on the cards.
Final thoughts: This drama is well worth tuning in for. It’s got so much heart and charm that you will no doubt fall head of heels for it (as long as you root for the right OTP anyway!).
How much we liked it: 8/10
How good it is technically: 8.5/10
musthavesubs 