Cheer Up/ Sassy Go Go Korean Drama Review

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When Cheer Up! (aka Sassy Go Go) began, I was already prepared to give my heart to it, as long as it was the sweet, lighthearted school series it promised to be.

Well, it wasn't exactly what I expected from the trailers, but what I can say is that this series was an incredibly pleasant surprise, and it completely won over my heart even more than I anticipated.

Just how much do I love it? Enough to overcome my recent blogging laziness to gush over it the same day it ended. Now that's true love.


What it's about: Kang Yeon Doo (Jung Eun Ji) is the leader of her school's dance team, a ragtag group of outcasts who rank at the bottom of the academic barrel. Kim Yeol (Lee Won Geun) is the number one student at school, and he leads the "cheerleading club," which is really a study group for the top 5%, both academically and financially. The two eventually find themselves forced to mesh their two teams into one. Can they make it work?

Why I'm so in love

Well-written high school dramas manage to capture that feeling of being 16 or 17. That's what Cheer Up! did for me. It's been a long time since I was in high school, and my high school was pretty much nothing like Sevit High (thank heavens!), but as I watched, the characters transported me back to my own experiences in a sweetly nostalgic way.

The most obvious example is the handling of the romance. I will admit that it took me a few episodes to get a handle on Yeol's character because the idea that a K-drama character would actually flirt instead of being a rude and coldhearted was so incredibly foreign to me.

Gah this face! I can't.

But that's exactly how teenagers fall in love in real life. This drama showcased one of the most natural and comfortable K-drama romances I've seen in a long time. In dramas of all genres, I often find myself wondering how these people went from accidentally falling onto each other's lips to being willing to die for each other. I also wonder if they'll actually enjoy being around each other once they no longer have to defend their love.

Cheer Up was completely different. Sure, the leads accidentally fell onto each other a couple of times, but overall, their relationship progressed the way real relationships do. They became friends, flirted, and gradually developed feelings for each other. There was no pretending to hate each other. There was no noble idiocy. When they liked each other, they said it. When they wanted to hold hands, they did. And when they thought about each other, they burst into the giddiest eye smiles I've ever seen.

You just snuggle away, you two little lovebirds!

I saw some commentary from people saying they didn't know how much Yeon Doo liked Yeol because she hadn't expressed her feelings out loud, but I actually appreciated that their feelings were so obvious through the little details that we didn't need the screenwriter to tell us how they felt in the overt ways they do in other dramas.

 Instead of having Yeon Doo clutching her chest and asking the camera "Why is my heart beating so fast? Do I like him?" we saw her feelings in other ways. When I saw her grinning from ear to ear on the phone with Yeol, I didn't need to hear her feelings out loud because it was spelled all over her face.

This is what swooning at 16 looks like, folks.

I guess that's what made the drama fun for me — not only did the characters act in line with their personalities, but they also acted true to their age. Whenever they did something that I remember doing, it created the kind of connection that I don't generally feel with your typical chaebol/Candy stories.

 I don't know what it feels like to end up in a fake marriage while running away from loan sharks (shocking, I know), but I do remember when the boy I liked put a Valentine's note in my locker and I walked around the rest of the day with a dopey smile on my face. I'm a little suspicious that a Post-It company was sponsoring the whole show, but I don't even care because asking Yeon Doo to the movies with a sticky note was exactly what Yeol would do.

The romance was so cute that there was at least one squee-dorable scene in every episode, but there were a lot of other things going for this series, as well. The show was populated with a full cast of characters, all of whom had their own stories. Ultimately, it's a series just as much about friendship as it is about love, and it didn't disappoint on the friendship front.

Nearly every episode spotlighted a different set of characters, helping us see their joys and struggle. I admit that it might have been overly ambitious to tackle so many serious character arcs in a 12-episode series, but they still managed to make me care about an awful lot of people for so few episodes. It's impressive that I was so invested in Teacher Yang when he only really took center stage for one episode. But they managed it somehow, and I might have shed a tear or two over the empathetic educator. Or three. 

If there was ever a series that could have filled 16 episodes, this was it. Still, considering how many balls the show tried to juggle in such a short time, it was pretty smart with the pacing. I certainly never felt bored, and I found myself wishing that more shows would try the shorter format to cut all of the filler scenes that I didn't really miss.

Of course, there's also a downside to fewer episodes. For a straightforward romance (like Ex-Girlfriend's Club, for example), it's easy to wrap everything up in a shorter time. Cheer Up tried to do so much that they definitely had to rush some of the resolutions a bit. For how much time Soo Ah spent being a villain, her turnaround was pretty fast, and I almost wish they had left Dong Jae out of the series entirely since they barely skimmed the surface of his character.

I know that Soo Ah's handling upset a lot of people, but even though I thought it was resolved really fast, I don't mind how it all fell out in the end. Yes, Soo Ah was terrible, but she was never an outright villain. Instead, she always seemed to be lashing out in desperation. Does that excuse her actions? No. But I think there's a difference between being forgiving and justifying bad behavior, and I always felt like the show recognized when Soo Ah crossed the line, even when her friends graciously extended the hand of friendship. 

In the end, I felt like the series took Teacher Yang's approach to Soo Ah: He told her straight out that having a hard time didn't make her behavior okay, and yet he was always there to offer a helping hand when she wanted to turn around.

In spite of some quick fixes and underdeveloped characters, I was genuinely surprised that the series managed to give us so much resolution at the end, even if it was a bit rushed. With every passing episode, I grew increasingly convinced that the finale would be a hodgepodge, unsatisfying, open-ended mess, and yet I finished the show feeling pleased overall. I would rather have a series that moves fast and quickly checks off a bunch of boxes in the last episode than one that drags on episode after episode and still doesn't manage to wrap up its story.

Even baby Ji Soo turned out okay! But next time can he not rip out my heart so much? Okay? Okay.

Conclusions

Driven by winning performances from Eunji and Lee Won Geun, Cheer Up is a surprisingly well written, heartfelt series that captures both the enthusiasm and the heartache of youth. If the fluffy teasers didn't seem up your alley, it's still worth giving a try — it very well may surprise you.

Where to watch:

DramaFever

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Cheer Up/ Sassy Go Go Korean Drama Review

New K-Drama Alert: Cheer Up/ Sassy Go Go

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Update: Final series review

You know how I was just complaining that there's nothing to watch? Well now, in the space of a couple of days, I'm having trouble deciding what to watch first!

I ultimately decided to go with Sassy Go Go aka Cheer Up! For the record, Sassy Go Go is the literal Korean title, while Cheer Up! is the official English title according to KBS and also the original Korean title. I'm just going to go ahead and stick with Cheer Up since a) it's shorter and b) Sassy Go Go is awkward and kind of makes my eyes bleed. Cool? Cool.



What it's about: Kang Yeon Doo (Jung Eun Ji) is the leader of her school's dance team, a ragtag group of outcasts who rank at the bottom of the academic barrel. Kim Yeol (Lee Won Geun) is the number one student at school, and he leads the "cheerleading club," which is really a study group for the top 5%, both academically and financially. The two eventually find themselves forced to mesh their two teams into one. Can they make it work? (If you've ever seen a sports movie, the answer is almost certainly yes, but only after some sweet training montages.)

Number of episodes watched: 2

Thoughts so far: I generally need four episodes to really get a feel for a series, but I didn't see reviews on the bigger recapping sites yet and and want people to talk about it with me, so let's just jump in a little early and chat together, shall we?

I have to admit that I have a soft spot for cheerful high school dramas, and I have an especially soft spot for cheerful high school dramas where people dance or sing or otherwise perform. Maybe it's because I inherited oh-so-awkward Finnish dance moves from my father (and by "moves," I mostly mean flailing off beat), so dancing of any kind is like watching wizardry to me.

No, really, is this magic?

In any case, I was already primed to like this series before the premiere, and so far, it's hitting exactly everything I want from this type of show. When done well, high school dramas manage to combine the lightheartedness and the angst of youth in a way that feels nostalgic and heartfelt rather than obnoxious. I would point to Answer Me 1997 as the gold standard of high school dramas, but even shallow fluff shows like Dream High can get away with being shallow fluff shows because they're filled with so much joy, energy, and friendship.

When done poorly, high school shows only dwell on the angst and forget the exuberance. Heirs strikes me as a perfect example of high school students spending way too many episodes dwelling on their annoying high school student angst without any kind of tongue-in-cheek recognition that having an angry love triangle face-off at the end of every episode is maybe a little bit silly.

What I like about Cheer Up's opening episodes is that they draw you into the emotion of high school when everything feels so raw, and yet the show does so in a way that feels natural to teenage life. I loved the moment in episode one when Yeon Doo burst into tears at the dinner table because it reminded me so much of the way I felt at 16. There's some nuance there that makes the series feel like it's populated with some living, breathing high schoolers instead of soap opera adults trapped in school uniforms OR one-dimensional cuties who have nothing to do for 16 episodes but look nice for the camera and go on dates.

We're only two episodes into the series, but Eunji really deserves a lot of the credit for making me feel so invested in Yeon Doo already. I know some people complain that Eunji tends to play similar characters over and over (if you can even make that kind of claim for someone who's only had 4 roles), but I don't really mind. Yes, her characters are similar, but they're also intensely likable, and they all go through such a full range of emotions that it never feels like she's playing a caricature.

Thus far, this is Eunji's show. We've seen glimpses of character depth in some of the other players (and my heart is already breaking — again — for poor Ji Soo), but they haven't really had enough screen time to show us what they're all about.

I swear if you make me cry one more time,Ji Soo...

Personally, I want to see much, much more of Kim Ji Suk's sympathetic teacher. How much do you love him? Because I love him a lot.

I'm particularly perplexed by Lee Won Geun's Kim Yeol. Why is he always smiling like that? Is it just arrogance? Does he have some secret reason for liking Yeon Doo? (Please tell me they are not long-lost first loves because I will throw my computer.) Is it just stiff acting from an inexperienced actor? I guess only time will tell. Lee Won Geun does seem to be a bit wooden so far, especially next to the firebrand that is Eunji, but the script hasn't given him a ton to do yet, so I'm willing to suspend judgment for now.

It's a perfectly nice smile and all, but why?
Years of drama watching has made me suspicious of any man who isn't glowering in episode one.

Even if he ends up being a little stiff, I can't say that I necessarily mind. Under normal circumstances, being pleasant and having a nice smile aren't enough to cover bad acting, but if there's anywhere to get some practice in a lead role before really jumping into the big leagues, it's a teen drama. I mean, Taecyeon and Suzy weren't exactly Academy Award-winning material in Dream High, but that never hindered my enjoyment like it would in a different genre.

We have some hints that Cheer Up can be more than just a fluff cheerleading piece, taking on some of the more serious issues that students face. If it can keep up the balance between serious and joyful, I think I'm going to enjoy this ride very much.

P.S. I know this series got abysmal ratings for the first episode in Korea, so let's all keep our fingers crossed that it doesn't get cut short, shall we? Please tell me that there are more people in the international audience watching this one! I'm not watching alone, right? ...Right?

Where to watch:
DramaFever
Viki

New K-Drama Alert: Cheer Up/ Sassy Go Go

A Breath of Fresh K-drama Air: Angry Mom Korean Drama Review

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I thought the premise of Angry Mom sounded terrible, and I didn't want to watch it. By the end of its run, I was obsessively counting down the days until each new episode came out.

The end.

What, that doesn't count as a review? Okay, let's get into it, then.

As I said before the show even started, I had some big qualms about how the premise could be executed in a way that wouldn't leave me rolling my eyes for half of the episodes. I mean, who in their right mind would believe that a 37-year-old actress could pass as a high school student? Not me!

I'm happy to admit that I completely underestimated Kim Hee Sun.

Without Kim Hee Sun, this show wouldn't work. Period. She not only managed to look much younger than her age through styling (though admittedly still not like a teenager), but she also carried herself like a teenager, taking on the swagger of her alter ego Bang Wool in a way that was both hilarious and convincing.

Of course, the humor of watching Kang Ja/Bang Wool take over the school isn't enough to carry an entire series. More than the fact that she made the show's premise possible, the series worked because she was its heart. Kang Ja felt like a real person, and a complex one at that—she was at once furious, fragile, temperamental, loving, jaded, hopeful, rash, and loyal. As someone who is often frustrated with one- or two- dimensional K-drama leads, I found Kim Hee Sun's Kang Ja to be a breath of fresh air.

It's possible that Kang Ja could have made the show bearable on her own, but fortunately, she was also surrounded by a full cast of well-rounded characters. The vast majority of the characters started with very realistic flaws (not just the all-too-common flaw of "I'm rich and evil and love to murder people!"), and they grew throughout the series. Even some of the characters who initially appeared to be stock characters surprised me with their development. Watching everyone in the core cast of characters learn and change together made the series immensely satisfying to watch.

Naturally, if we're talking about characters who won our hearts and made us care, we've got to give a shout-out to this guy:

I know I'm not the only one who developed an itsy bitsy Bok Dong obsession over the course of the show and may or may not have spent some time Googling actor Ji Soo just to find out what else he's been in (nothing, basically) and just how creepy a noona crush would be (For the record, he's 23, so not that bad)....

But in all seriousness, this was a breakout role for Ji Soo, and with good reason. Sure, he's a good looking guy, but that's not really what made me take notice—if looks were the only thing that mattered, they could have dropped any chocolate-abbed idol into the role and called it good. As the troubled kid with a side of puppy love, Ji Soo had a powerful screen presence. Even at the beginning of the series when his part wasn't all that big, I often found myself drawn to his character, even if I was just watching him react in the background.

It's kind of the same way I felt watching Ji Chang Wook in Healer. Honestly, Ji Chang Wook is not the "hottest" Korean actor I've ever seen, but something about him draws me in and makes me keep watching. The same goes for Ji Soo. As much as I may joke about having a noona crush, the kid's got some serious on-screen charisma that worked in tandem with an immensely likable character to create some K-drama magic, and I'm excited to see where he goes from here.

I heard some complaints about the writers adding in fan service scenes once Ji Soo's popularity skyrocketed. To be honest, I didn't see it as a detriment to the series. From a narrative perspective, it actually made sense to develop the character of Bok Dong, who was intricately connected to the major players in the drama. If they included random scenes of him shower brooding, that would be one thing, but making us care about his character arc? There are worse forms of fan service.

(Side note: If you loved Bok Dong as much as I did, dewaanifordrama over at Samsoon Down the Rabbit Hole kindly put together some translations of interviews with Ji Soo. Go ahead and feed that Ji Soo obsession!)

Of course, with a cast as massive as this one, there were bound to be a few cardboard cutout characters. I know they were trying to depict the scope of the corruption, but with so many bad guys, about half of them were regular ole villains with nothing really interesting going for them. There are only so many hours in a day to spend on baddie back stories, ya know?

Aside from the characters, the writing itself really shone in this drama. The premise came from a screenwriting competition, so I wasn't surprised to see some originality in the pilot episode, but I was delighted at how well the writing held up throughout the series without falling into too many typical K-drama cliches.

One example jumps out in particular. Everything I know about K-drama writing led me to believe that there was no way Ji Hyun Woo could be the lead male without the entire series revolving around an angsty romance between him and Kim Hee Sun's character. Then, after meeting the lazy husband in episode 1, I figured it was only a matter of time before he had an affair or did something else terrible to clear the path for True Love. I mean, that's K-drama 101, right?

He's as surprised as you are.

Maybe it says something about the state of K-drama writing that I was so surprised (and pleased) when the writers chose not to go down the obvious romance route. Wait, what? You mean to tell me that a man and a woman can work together and have a friendship without wanting to jump each others' bones? 

Shocking, I know. 

The lack of a romance allowed the writers to turn the series into a moving story of the love between mothers and daughters rather than love between men and women (though I did take some issue with the moms=good/dads=bad dichotomy that was pervasive through the vast majority of the series). It also gave Kang Ja's husband a chance at his own character development instead of shoehorning him into a villainous role out of necessity.

The lack of a Kang Ja/No Ah love story was a good move, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the series was impervious to the siren song of love. Honestly, one of the weakest plot points for me was the Baro/Kim Yoo Jung loveline. It almost felt like they got distracted by Ji Soo and then were like "Oh crap! We only have four more episodes, and Baro's been on the payroll this whole time! Quick, quick! Make the kiddos fall in love!"

Overall, though, the series was a really well-executed blend of serious subject matter injected with just enough humor to keep viewers from feeling bogged down. It was a smart series, and a series with a lot of heart.

Spoilerville! Read on at your own risk!

For those of you who actually watched the series, let's talk about episode 14 a little. I'm generally wary of big tragedies as tear-jerking plot points, but I actually thought this was (mostly) done really well. For the entire series, the characters (and the viewers, by extension) had been told over and over and over again just how dangerous the school annex was. Not only were the characters dismissive of the threat, but as a viewer, I also didn't take it that seriously. I just figured it would be used as evidence that the bad guys were corrupt, and then everyone would move along their merry way. Then when the catastrophe hit, I figured some anonymous students would die and it would be sad, but it would help them catch the bad guys. When they killed characters we knew and loved (like the glasses kid), I was completely blindsided. I don't know if they did that on purpose or what, but for me, it was like they pulled the rug out and said "SEE? We've been saying this was serious, and even you, the viewer, didn't take us seriously! This is exactly the problem!" The way the episode was set up in close proximity to the anniversary of the Sewol ferry tragedy especially made it feel like more than just a cheap emotional ploy and more like a serious reflection on society.

I'm on the fence about Jin Sang's death, though. The second he stayed in that school, I knew he was a goner. As I already said, I appreciated that the deadbeat husband got his own redemption arc. Unlike some of the people I saw commenting throughout the series, I never hated him. He wasn't as courageous as Kang Ja, but he made little comments throughout the series that made it clear—to me, at least—that he loved Ah Ran as his own and that some of what we saw as weakness was his own attempt to protect his family. That's why I was so happy to see him and Kang Ja moving towards understanding each other better before his death.

In the context of a redemption narrative, I can see why having the coward die to save his daughter makes for a satisfying ending, but it all felt a little too neat and tidy to me. He gets turned into a martyr, we all cry with Kang Ja for a scene, and then everybody's back to catching the bad guys again. I liked that they closed with Kang Ja's wistful tribute of "and the fathers" in the final scene, but the immediate effects of losing a spouse (and, in Ah Ran's case, a father) were handled in a way that made it feel too much like a plot convenience to make us cry. Am I the only one?

So what did you think of Angry Mom? Were you as taken with it as I was? Did you get caught up in the Ji soo hype? If Kim Hee Sun walked into a high school claiming to be a student, would you believe her? Let's discuss it all!

Where to watch Angry Mom:

Viki

A Breath of Fresh K-drama Air: Angry Mom Korean Drama Review