Saturday, February 19, 2011

You're Beautiful


You're Beautiful (He's Beautiful, 미남이시네요, Minami Shineyo)
Korean Drama
16 Episodes
Starring Jang Geun Suk, Park Shin Hye, Jung Yong Hwa, Lee Hong Ki, UEE

The management company of the idol group A.N.JELL insisted on adding a new singer to the group as the lead vocal, Tae Kyung's voice was hurting. However,the new member, Mi Nam, had to go to the States to repair a botched eye job just before signing the contract. His agent came up with the idea of having his twin sister, Mi Nyu,to stand in for him and pretend that she was her brother. The two of them grew up in an orphanage and Mi Nyu, who was all set to become a nun, agreed to this charade as she didn't want to spoil her brother's chance of fame which would make it easier to look for their mother.


Pretty much the best drama ever. I really fell in love with the characters. Especially Mi Nyu. The main girl isn't usually my favorite character in dramas, as they are totally eclipsed by the awesome male lead. But Mi Nyu was definitely my favorite. She was just so adorable, I wanted to pull her out of the screen and squish her!! Tae-Kyung was perfect for her, and it was so cute when he would be sweet to her, even though he usually acted mean and reluctant about it. And Jeremy, oh Jeremy. Jeremy was AWESOME. I am a big FT Island fan, so seeing the lead singer in such a funny role. He was so...stupid. I can't say I cared much for Shin Woo, though. He was nice and everything, but he was also kind of boring. I could also tell that Yong Hwa was new to acting.
This show is great because there are no characters to really hate. Though Hae-yi was a jerk, I could see from her point of view and sympethize with her. I also laughed a lot in this drama. The Hong sisters, the writers of this series, never fail to entertain. Everything was perfect; the plot, the characters, the ending. There were cute moments that just made me roll around on my bed squealing. Pig Rabbit, AAAAW, Pig Rabbit!! I'm getting fuzzy feelings just thinking about it. I highly suggest this drama to anyone.
Five stars!! Heh, stars.


Full House

Full House (풀하우스, Pool Ha-woo-seu)
Korean Drama
16 Episodes
Year: 2004
Starring: Rain, Song Hye Kyo
Han Ji Eun is a naive writer who got swindled out of everything she owned including her house by her best friends. Stranded in China, She managed to borrow money from an actor Lee Young Jae to return to Korea. On her return, she found out that her house was bought by Lee Young Jae. In an attempt to get her possessions back, she entered in a contract marriage with Young Jae for one year. In spite of losing all, Ji Eun manages to be cheerful and takes things in strike and the business relationship between the two becomes personal as they start to rely and care for each other.
Okay, this is one of my favorite dramas. Rain, as I have stated before, is an amazing actor. And Song Hye Kyo's character is COMPLETELY different than she was in Autumn in my Heart. She's sassy and drives Young-Jae crazy.
THERE IS SO MUCH CLEANING. All the time. I've never seen anyone so picky about a house as Young-Jae. I really felt bad for Ji-Eun. Though she really did need to fix those dirty habits.
In this drama I was perfectly fine with Ji-eun being with Young-jae. Usually I feel a little bad for the second guy, in this case Min Hyunk, but not this time. I didn't really like him.
Rain was really, really funny and cute in this drama. He's such a jerk, and is so good at picking fights. What I really loved was when he realized he was starting to like Ji-eun and she started giving him the cold shoulder, having given up on him. She hurts his feelings and he goes off to pout and it's adorable. And the part when he acted like she was pregnant to ward off Min-hyuk...I laughed really hard.
I definitely suggest watching this drama. Four stars!


Friday, February 18, 2011

Autumn in My Heart


Autumn in My Heart (가을동화, Gaeul Donghwa, Autumn Fairy Tale, Endless Love)
Korean Drama
16 Episodes
Year: 2000 Starring: Song Seung Hun, Song Hye Kyo, Won Bin, Ha Na Na

Yoon Joon-suh and Yoon Eun-suh grew up as siblings, but Eun-suh was in fact from a different family as there was a mixed up at the hospital when she was born. The switch came to light when Eun-suh was involved in a car accident and it was discovered that her blood type was different from her parents. Eun-suh's life took a complete turn when the 2 girls were returned to their respective families. Soon after, the Yoon family left for the States and Eun-suh was left living in sordid condition with her real family in Korea. Years after, Joon-suh returned to Korea and by chance the two former siblings were reunited.

Okay, so the reason I watched this show is because this is considered the ULTIMATE Korean Drama. It pretty much single-handedly started the Hallyu, aka the Korea Wave. It was a huge it and brought tears to the eyes of millions.
Honestly, I thought it was...lame. And creepy.
It would have been okay if Eun-Suh and Joon-suh had gotten separated earlier, like at age seven or eight, then met years later and fallen in love. But instead they are around fourteen or fifteen, and things are already kind of 'cesty between them while they think they are siblings. When all the drama happened where she got seperated from all her family, honestly that made my cry a little. It was sad, and I felt really bad for her parents. But couldn't they call each other? Write letters? Why would they just pack up and leave the girl they thought was their daughter for fourteen years and not communicate with her?
And what was really weird was when it goes forward ten years and Joon-suh was engaged and you find out how he decided to marry whats-her-name. Seriously. I can just imagine how that conversation went.
*Joon-suh is with a friend and they go to a restaurant to meet some collegues. Whats-her-name spys Joon-suh and, attracted to his extremely square hair, goes over to strike up a conversation*.
What's-her-name: Hi, I'm What's-her-name. Nice to meet you.
Joon-suh: Oh hello.
What's-her-name: So, how do you like -
Joon-suh: What do you want to be reincarnated as?
What's-her-name: Excuse me? Uh... well...uh... a tree, maybe?
Joon-suh: Let's get married.
Yeah, that was kinda ridiculous.
But what really freaked me out was then Eun-suh dramatically finds Joon-suh on the beach and they are automatically in love. INCEST, PEOPLE. I could not get past the incest feeling. I mean, if you lived with a guy for fourteen years thinking he was your brother, then found out he wasn't, would you think it was normal to suddenlly want to marry him? No. And if you did, you are messed up in the head.
And then there was the ending. Anyone who has ever watched Kdramas has heard of this show and already knows that Eun-suh gets leukemia and dies. First off, SHE DIES ON HIS BACK. He is giving her a piggy back ride on the beach and she DIES. He asks her a question, she doesn't respond, he knows she's dead, he starts crying, and keeps walking into the sunset. And then, the final scene...call me heartless, but I seriously laughed out loud. So Joon-suh went back to their hometown where all their happy memories were (cuz they seriously had NONE when they were adults, they cried the ENTIRE time), and as he is crossing the street, he just stopps. Then you hear a truck honking. You look, and Joon-suh is about to get run over. The thing is...THE TRUCK IS GOING LIKE TWENTY MPH. SERIOUSLY. Even though Joon-suh WANTED to get run over, what truck would just keep going like that?! It honked its horn like twelve times! IT COULD HAVE STOPPED. But instead you just see it coming for a solid minute while Joon-suh cries some more, and then you cut to a slo-mo scene of Joon-suh flipping backwards. Yup, he got hit by a truck and died.
I thought this show was dumb. How did I watch it for sixteen hours? It was so pathetically written, and the acting was so lame, but somehow you just kept watching.
Two stars. Watchable, but stupid.