Sunday Rambles

As A Thousand’s Day Promise has had such mixed reviews, we’ve decided that maybe it’s best to leave it on the shelf for the time being and see how it plays out. Also, we confess the concept kind of scares us silly, we’re not sure if we can stomach all that angst. The news of this drama did prompt us to finish off A Scent of a Woman– our last unfinished melodrama and boy are we glad we stuck around till the end. We adored it beyond words.

If you haven’t watched A Scent of a Woman– we demand you watch it. It is THAT good.

The Musical: episode 7

Granted we haven’t watched the next episode yet but all we have to say about this episode was- seriously???? We finished the episode and turned to each other dumbfounded by the fact that absolutely nothing happened…NOTHING. It was dull. The OTP were boring together (again), Yu Jin had zero airtime with Eun Bi and yes, they happened to sing the same songs again. For a drama about the production of a musical, you’d think there would be more than one song sung across 9 episodes, just saying.

We know we’ve been generally positive about this drama and that our comments may seem random but we were sitting there and we realised that:

– What is a drama without a decent OTP? Nothing and as we’re shipping the wrong couple that really don’t have a chance of being together- why are we bothering?

What’s Up

Yay!  We’ve wanted to watch this drama forever now and it’s finally been picked up, let’s hope that:

1. it’s subbed – please, someone take pity on us. 2. It meets our expectations or else we’ll cry!

We’ve got our fingers crossed that it’s a winner. We really did think that this drama was going to be permanently shelved after everything that happened with Deasung earlier in the year and the fact that it couldn’t get a slot on one of the main TV stations. However getting aired on Cable is better than not being aired at all, so no complaints from us. Heeeeee, we’re so pleased!

Office Girls: episode 10

He’s finally realised that he loves her! Yay. Watching him come to this realisation was an absolute pleasure.  Plus, we love it when the guy falls for the girl first- we never get bored of that setup.

Ring Ring Bell: first impressions/ episodes 1-4

It’s been a long time since we tuned in to a T-drama, little lone two at once. However now that we’ve dropped The Musical for being BORING and we’re scared of A Thousand Day’s Promise, we’re only really watching Office Girls, which really isn’t enough for our greedy drama addiction.

Ring Ring Bell doesn’t hit the spot like Office Girls but we’re still charmed by how sweet and sentimental it is. Naturally the characters are all messed up and have plenty of issues between them but we love the OTP and think they are wonderful together; natural, sincere and have a healthy spark.

The premise is rather ordinary but that’s okay when we care enough about the characters and their conflicts. So far we haven’t between wowed but it’s a nice, easy watch and it’s definitely a drama worth watching if you’re looking for something pleasant to escape to between your angsty dramas or real life dilemmas.

Final thoughts:

-Me too, Flower boy promo shots are plain disturbing. What were they thinking?

-Thinking about much anticipated dramas- Is the live action version of Skip Beat! ever going to be aired? We want to watch Ren and Sho now!

The Musical: episodes 3-6

Damn it, we want Eun Bi to get together with Yoo Jin. Not again. It’s been a while since we shipped the leading lady with the love rival but damn it, the more we watch, the more we want them to be the OTP.  They are just so interesting to watch. Plus it doesn’t help that we think the actual OTP of this drama is as interesting as watching paint dry. Seriously, the whole ‘love at first sight’ scenario just isn’t quite working for us. Jae Hee and Eun Bi have been thrown together too quickly, their interactions are yes, cute but that’s about it. It’s missing that spark, that element that makes you want to root for them. We’re watching Jae Hee with Eun Bi and we’re questioning his feelings for her, we shouldn’t be doing that in a Kdrama! As viewers, we feel uneasy rooting for a OTP that we’re not really convinced by.

Our feelings aren’t helped at all by the fact that Yoo Jin’s relationship with Eun Bi has been developed so nicely as the weeks have past. It’s as if the writer is forming the real OTP with them. We love how they started off misunderstanding each other and slowly they’ve formed a friendship through similar experiences and shared ideas. Their openly hostile relationship was fun to watch but now seeing their relationship change ever so slightly into unchartered territory is even better. We love how Yoo Jin is unnerved by her presence. Its fascinating watching such a cold and serious character be flustered by a girl who he feels is so insignificant in his life. For us, he is by far the most interesting character in this drama, with his moody stares of intrigue and surprisingly spontaneous actions.  He’s definitely elevated the standard characterisation of the cold chaebol that doesn’t get the girl into something so much better.

That said, as much as we’re rooting for a Yoo Jin and Eun Bi romance, we do feel sorry for Ra Kyung. Her position is similar to Sang Won in the sense that both are in relationships with people who clearly don’t love them as much as they should. Watching them see the reality of this fact unfold every week is great viewing because we’re given a perspective from all angles and we know in great detail how all of these characters feel for each other. It’s really sad watching both Ra Kyung and Sang Won’s heartbreak week after week, especially as they are presented as nothing but really nice characters. The way that the drama handled this matter is once developed in a really authentic and realistic manner making us connect and root for these characters even more.

We think that Eun Bi’s role as a leading lady is really interesting. For us, this drama is less about following her journey to success and more about her role as a catalyst that impacts everyone else around her. Her sheer presence has evoked intense jealousy, inspiration and confusion and watching everyone in this drama cope with their feelings is fascinating viewing. It’s watching all of these characters come together and interact in such close proximity that really makes this drama interesting and sets it aside from other Kdramas. It’s less formulated and more natural. The characters actions, thoughts and even their expressions have that realistic feel to it that makes the drama on the whole more engaging to watch because it could quite easily happen in real life.

We hate to admit it but Kang Hee is a great character. She is a total tart but still so fascinating to watch. Her chemistry with Jae Hee is unbelievably hot. Seriously, the way she looks at him is intense and Jae Hee’s barely controlled resistance is great viewing. We like how she’s been presented as this character that is openly well respected and admired but in reality she is as broken as they come. She’s a sharp contrast to the role model that Eun Bi envisions her as. We love how Kang Hee can barely conceal her jealousy whenever Eun Bi is around. It will be interesting to see Eun Bi’s reaction to Kang Hee when she realises that she’s not as perfect as she once thought.  

To sum up:

We’re really enjoying this drama, it’s just a shame that we’re shipping the wrong couple and the leads are deadweight.

Sunday Drama Rambles

Are we alone in our total lack of interest in the upcoming Kdrama Man of Honor? It starts this week and well frankly the hype, the premise and pretty much everything else is beyond lost on our obsessive Kdrama ways.

Despite coming to the realisation that Baker King was to put it bluntly rubbish…we utterly adored it when we watched it the first time. We love to root for a worthy underdog that prevails against bratty, rich half siblings and evil parents. However, having seen the promo shots and the trailer, this looks just like Baker King but with Baseball.

The funny thing is, generally we don’t mind that this is a carbon copy of another drama because let’s face it, most Kdramas don’t really step outside the box too often and when they do it’s a hit and miss affair (49 days, anyone?). However, in this case it doesn’t help when we’re not really fans of Chun Jung Myung. Yep, we said it. How can we not like him, when he’s such a sweetheart, we hear you say? Well, we’re sure he’s a nice guy but his character in Cinderella Unni ruined him for us. Just thinking back to how much we hated that OTP and his character just makes us shudder in fury.

Also, Park Min Young is a great actress and we’ve loved her dramas in the past but there is something about her acting that makes it hard for us to completely and utterly love her/ root for her leading lady character. It’s a strange one. Mentally we know we should love her character but it always feels forced…once again people must think we’re just mad. This post isn’t called a ramble for no reason!

A drama we want to watch against our better judgement: A Thousand Day’s Promise

We know we shouldn’t. It’s a freaking melodrama about a woman that is slowly losing her memory and more importantly forgetting the man she loves but damn it, it looks so good! We might as well invest in a box of multi pack super durable tissues now to mentally prepare ourselves to cry buckets of tears. Our tear ducts have only just recovered from Scent of a Woman but hey, who said being a drama obsessive was going to be easy?

How utterly pretty does this trailer look? Also the OTP look like they’re going to be amazing together.

Currently watching rundown:

Despite our lack of posts in the last few months we have been watching dramas occasionally when we can.  With life being less manic, hopefully we can blog/ recap more often because we sure do miss it when we can’t!

My Love By My Side: This is our long family drama that no one seems to be watching, which is a shame because it’s so good! If you’re looking for a more traditional Kdrama that has plenty of secrets/lies then look no further. It’s a hell of a rid.

The Musical: We’re watched five episodes so far and we still think it’s great.

Protect the Boss: we got to episode 8 and we hit the wall. It’s like all the zany, funny charm dried up and suddenly we fell out of love with it. We plan to pick it again… (hopefully).

Scent of a Woman: We were awash in our own tears as we reached our tolerance level for melodrama. So we decided to stop for awhile and watch something happier like PTB. We definitely intend to return and finish off the last few episodes because seriously we adored EVERYTHING about it. This drama made Lee Dong Wook into a man and made us love Kim Sun Ah that much more. They are definite considers for the hottest OTP of the year, their chemistry was unbelievable.

We’re off to check out the first episode of Office Girls (T) because apparently it’s super cute and has catapulted our beloved Roy Qiu into a superstar.

One word: Finally! Hehehe. We love Roy.

The Musical: 1-2/ First impressions

Reasons we tuned in:

Daniel Choi- yep, Baby faced Beauty made fans out of us for this Kdrama actor. Plus if he’s half as lovable in this as he was in his last drama- we’re game.

Who doesn’t like a drama where people are striving to make their dreams come true? A bit of cheese is never bad for the soul.

It’s only once a week and its pre -recorded.  A Kdrama that is pre-recorded is a rare thing but one we hope proves to be a winner. Seriously, it can’t be just us that find major production changes mid recording a nightmare to stomach. We hate drastic personality changes for the leads, a bright cheerful drama suddenly becoming a weepfest and who likes watching the actors looking like zombies by the end of it….? shudder*  We’re hoping that The Musical manages to survive some of these issues and maybe just maybe other dramas will follow suit and take the risk with a pre-recorded drama.

 
First impressions:

The first episode was rather slow if we’re honest. It’s understandable as it has the enormous challenge of establishing the storyline, introducing the characters and most importantly making a viewer want to tune in the following week rather than the next day like most Kdramas. Despite it being a tad slow, we liked it and we tuned into episode two without much hesitation. We have to say that episode two was much better.

For us to like this drama we needed the following things to happen in the first couples episodes:

• We needed to care about the leading lady- her desire to be an actress was the key factor that would make or break this drama for us.
• We needed to like the OTP together and apart.
• We needed to see the potential in the storyline.

We’re happy to report we got all of the above and more!

 

Go Hye Sun as the leading lady is quite endearing, we worried that she would be unbearable and overact but actually we like her as this character a lot. Unlike other Kdramas where the lead is incredibly talented and just hasn’t got her chance to shine yet- Eun Bi could be you; her story is so much more relatable and realistic than the typical Hollywood story. This girl has a lot going for her already; she’s smart and from a loving family- she could be a doctor if she wanted, it’s not the case that her talent is all she has. We really like the fact that it’s not come easy for her. She is neither outrageously talented or had the chance to show what she’s got. She’s been rejected in every audition that she’s had and her singing is nothing to write home about but the thing that makes us root for this character is her desire. She wants it so much and despite risking everything that she has she’s going for it and we really want her to do well.

Daniel Choi is a refreshing change in this drama. We expected him to be all cute and adorable like he has been in the past but actually we like what we see.  He has this air about him that makes him intriguing- he’s smart, talented and has an honesty about him that’s interesting because you just don’t know what he might say next.

 

The scene we knew we wanted to continue watching this drama was the first real scene with Jae Yi and Eun Bi at the piano. They bounced off each other real well and despite being in a strange and unexpected situation you can already see the potential chemistry between them. We like his reason for helping her; the idea that she feels the same way he does/did for musicals.  Also the fact that he knew straight away that her love for musicals was pure and not sullied by money or fame.

We also felt that the scene where she explained her love for musicals was great. It felt natural and honest and it felt like something that we would say if someone asked us a random question about something we loved. A little embarrassed, unsure and half hoping that they don’t laugh at your explanation. We liked the look in his eyes as he listened to her talk. You could see him relate and connect to this person he didn’t know because they share the same love, even if he’s unwilling to admit it just yet.

Random thoughts:

Why did GHS take sheers to her beautiful hair?? She looked so pretty at the start of episode 1 and then she decided to literally become a boy. It’s such a shame!

We wonder if Yoo Jin will be a love rival- we’d love that. His character has a heart of stone and so far he’s come across as rather stereotypical but we’re hoping that he has more to show and that maybe he will surprise us.

Kang Hee is such a tart! Please tell us that she’s not going to be that annoying love rival you want to watch get run over by a truck?

Final verdict: So far so good.