Quiz: Which Sungkyunkwan Scholar Is Your Ideal Match?

I'm in the middle of Sungkyunkwan Scandal right now (right around the point in the show where I'm throwing things at the TV and shouting "JUST TELL HIM YOU'RE A GIRL! AAAAAAAAAHLJSFDLJF;KSJHGHSDKGHSDKJHFLKSDH!"), and I am having some serious trouble deciding which cast member is my favorite.  That actually says something about how well-rounded this show is, but it's nice to know which character you're rooting for over all the others.  To save others from a similar predicament, I have composed a (ridiculous and completely unscientific) quiz to help you figure out which member of the Sungkuynkwan community is your ideal love match. For those who haven't seen the show, there is some spoiler-y stuff in the questions, but nothing that you couldn't guess pretty early into the series.

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The rules: Just keep track of your answers and tally the number of times you answered A,B,C, or D.  Then, BEFORE you look at the results, vote in our poll. The results are underneath the poll.  NO CHEATING!

Which Sungkyunkwan Scholar Is Your Ideal Match?

1. Which style do you find most attractive?
A. Tousled and scruffy
B. Clean-cut
C. Metrosexual
D. Conventional, but combined with a cold glare that tells you who's boss

2. Who was your favorite male character in Boys over Flowers?
A. I could never decide between Ji Hoo and Woo Bin.  If they could somehow combine the two into a clone who is very sad and also punches people, I would be in heaven!
B.   Jun Pyo.  I like tall, reserved leaders.  I just wish he had been more of a scholar!
C.  Yi Jung.  The sexy saxophone totally won me over!
D.   Remember Jae Ha?  Crazy Harry Potter kidnapper guy?  Swoon!

3. What primary life motivation do you find most attractive?
A. Revenge/honoring the dead
B. Principles
C. Entertainment
D. Power

4. When a man is unexpectedly attracted to someone off-limits and doesn't know what to do, how should he respond?
A. Nervous hiccups covered by sarcasm
B. Give the object of his affection the cold shoulder
C. Off-limits?  There's no such thing!
D. Threats--threats always work!

5. Assuming that they all suddenly transformed into attractive Korean men, which Beauty and the Beast character would you date?
A. Beast 
B. Cogsworth
C. Lumiere
D. Gaston 

6.  Everyone brings some baggage to their relationships.  Which one would you be most willing to accept?
A. He's secretly a ninja messenger trying to avenge his brother's murder and take down corrupt government officials. Think of him as Joseon Batman.
B.  He feels very strong filial loyalty, which would be great if his dad weren't actually a corrupt government official who was involved in your father's death.
C. You're pretty sure he's had more than a handful of gisaeng girlfriends.  STDs, anyone?
D. His father once tried to force you to be his concubine.  Awk-ward!

7.  You have to pretend to be a man for a while, but then your love interest finds out.  Which response is most endearing?
A. In order to protect you, he pretends not to know.  He then spends his time secretly making sure that no one touches a hair on your pretty head.
B. In order to protect you, he tries to make you leave and stop pretending to be a man. He also really, really wants to be near you.
C. He invades your personal space and makes a lot of sassy jokes involving double entendres, most of which you don't understand.
D. He tries to get you expelled--or, better yet--executed.


8. How should the ideal man feel about sports?
A. He's naturally better than everyone else at every single sport ever invented, but he only gets competitive if it will help others.
B. He has quite a bit of athletic training and natural talent, but what makes the difference is his dedication to practice for as long as it takes to succeed.
C. Sports make his clothes dirty.  He's better as a hilarious commentator.
D. Sports are an excellent opportunity to injure and/or humiliate enemies.

9.  Someone is causing trouble for you and your friends.  How would your ideal man respond?
A. Grab a lot of people by the collar and threaten to break their arms off.
B. Say something fancy about Confucius that shames everyone into leaving you alone.
C. Schmooze in the background to find a way around the problem.
D. Again, threats.  Threats will almost always be the answer.

Okay, tally up your answers and select the letter you most frequently chose in the poll below:

Which Sungkyunkwan Scholar Is Your Ideal Match?
	A
	B
	C
	D
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Results

A. Moon Jae Shin ("Geol Oh")

You like a little danger in your romance.  Geol Oh ("Crazy Horse") is rough-and-tumble on the outside, but he will do anything for someone he loves.  He is loyal, thoughtful, and he's great at comforting you when you feel down.  The downside?  You may have to bandage him after some of his midnight bandit exploits.

B. Lee Sun Joon ("Ga Rang")

Lee Sun Joon is an upright scholar.  He believes in the rules, and he wants to make the world a better place through order and logic. He may seem a little uptight at times, but when he's in love, even Confucius goes out the window.  He would be a great Scrabble buddy--unless, of course, you want a chance to win. 

C.  Gu Yong Ha ("Yeorim")

If you picked Yeorim, you've got a soft spot for the ladies' man.  He's a smooth operator who can sweep you off your feet with just one wink and a charming little grin.  Beware, though.  Yeorim knows how to show a girl a good time, but you can't fall for him too easily or he'll get bored and move on to his next conquest.

D. Ha In Soo

Yes, he's Sungkyunkwan's clever, handsome, wealthy, athletic student body president.  He's also a sociopath.  You should probably rethink your taste in men.

Quiz: Which Sungkyunkwan Scholar Is Your Ideal Match?

Thirsting for More: Vampire Prosecutor Review

Look at this poster:

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If you love Twilight or other vampire-themed movies, you might see this and think, "Huzzah!  Finally, a k-drama that combines my love of vampires with my love of Korean television!"

Then there are people like me.  As I said in my introduction post, I never really hopped on the Twilight train, and I'm somewhat ambivalent about vampires in general.  Why does being undead make them so angsty all the time? Why are they always lounging around mansions in slightly unbuttoned shirts? Don't they get bored?  I think it's meant to play to the whole "mysteriously sexy" persona, but to me it just feels like they're trying too hard. Nobody wants to see your glowing white chest, okay?  Give me a straightforward zombie any day.  They don't try to seduce you.  They don't stare at you uncomfortably as they try to decide whether to kiss or kill you.  They just want your brains.

Does sitting like this become more comfortable once you're dead?

That's why, when I first saw the poster for Vampire Prosecutor in my Netflix suggestions, I groaned out loud. "Look!  He's a vampire!  AND a prosecutor!  Look how sexy and tormented he will be!"  K-dramas tend to lean on the broody side anyway, so imagining an extra broody hero sitting in his lair sipping blood and staring tormentedly into space for 12 episodes didn't seem all that appealing.

Then I finished watching Queen of Reversals and faced a major k-drama crisis.  I tried the first episode of 2 or 3 basic rom coms, and I just couldn't get into any of them.  That's when I remembered a friend of mine recommending this show a while ago, and I decided to give it a try for a change of pace.  So here's what I learned:

DON'T BE A JUDGY-PANTS.

For the first few minutes, I thought, "I don't want to watch this stupid vampire show."  Then, for the first few episodes, I thought, "Hey! This is a pretty decent crime procedural! I will just watch it gradually as I eat dinner and stuff!"  And then, I don't know how or when it happened, but suddenly that sentiment morphed into "WHAT IS THIS WIZARDRY AND WHERE CAN I FIND MORE OF IT??? MORE! MOOOOOOOOORE!"  

What Won Me Over

The Episodic Nature

This show, despite initial appearances, isn't really about a vampire who happens to also prosecute crimes.  Instead, the focus is really heavy on the crime solving aspect of the show, and the vampire stuff is pretty peripheral for probably the first 9 episodes (and there are only 12 episodes total in the season).  In fact, I felt like Min Tae-yeon didn't even need to be a vampire in order for the show to work at first.  Sure, he could see some stuff by drinking blood, but most of the time it wasn't even useful to solving the crime. Instead, they relied on good old fashioned teamwork and ingenuity most of the time.  Some of the early episodes had obvious solutions, but the more intricate crimes in the middle episodes were really interesting.  

This format worked for me because I happen to love crime shows with strong ensemble casts. It may not work for people who 1. want a ton of vampire lore (I still don't really understand much of the vampire rules in this series.  They can die by getting shot? Does sunlight not bother them?) 2. want a lot of romance, or 3. hate gore.  There is quite a bit of blood here (as well as disturbing themes like child molestation), so it's not for people who get queasy easily. I would compare this series to Bones in the sense that it is filled with witty characters, some grisly but interesting crimes, and there is some hint of romance, but it isn't the point of the entire show.  

Only one of these people is a vampire.
The rest are just good at catching murderers.

Even though I didn't care about the vampire stuff much, one of my complaints about this show was that the vampire elements were pretty fragmented at first.  We would get maybe one significant conversation about the underlying mystery each episode, but those conversations were so vague and scattered (maybe this was also a translation issue?) that I really felt like I had no idea what was happening until the last couple of episodes.  Be patient.  Everything will make sense in the end!

The Female Lead

This is another one that took me by surprise. When Lee Young-ah showed up as Prosecutor Yoo Jung-in in episode 1, I thought,  "Great.  Another peppy-but-awkard female sidekick with a stupid bowl cut."  Don't be fooled, my friends!  This character surprised me with the many levels of her personality and her ability to convey them all persuasively just through her facial expressions.  In one episode she would be bossing around gangsters, and in the next episode she would blush naively when teased about boyfriends.  Somehow, all of the many sides of her personality worked together to create leading lady magic.  Okay, maybe it's just new-drama-love euphoria talking here, but she might be my new favorite female lead of all time.  That means more than Secret Garden's Gil Ra-Im.  Somebody pinch me.  Am I talking crazy talk?

                              

                                       She makes an awesome sarcastic "Stop giving me crap, you murderer!" face.
                                          It completely makes me forgive her bowl cut.

The Humor

I was surprised at how many times I laughed while watching this show.  I thought it would be straightforward and dramatic all the time, but sometimes it was outright hilarious!  The credit for the humor mostly goes to the supporting characters, Detective Hwang Soon-bum and intern Choi Dong-man (once he got rid of the crimped hair).  Their interactions with each other and with the rest of the cast were unexpectedly fun.

Even Tae-yeon had some humor to him.  Yeah, he spent a lot of his time looking cool and aloof like any good vampire would, but every once in a while a little smirk would appear and he would join in on the fun.

Awww look at our little vampire smiling and stuff!

A Little Bit of Nitpicking

I already mentioned the fragmented vampire story and the lack of explanation on how vampires work in this world, but the other major plot holes came from the crime procedure.  Let me give you a little quiz to illustrate my point:

1. You are a prosecutor who wants to gain information from some thugs.  You:

A. Tell them that you are a prosecutor.  Since they don't want legal trouble, they will give you info.

OR

B. Walk up to their group antagonistically without saying anything and then hope they attack you one by one so that you can beat them all up before asking for information.

2. You have evidence that someone is a murderer.  You also happen to be a vampire.  You:

A. Get a search warrant and bring a team to find additional evidence that will be admissible in court

OR

B. Break into the house, almost strangle the suspect (who knows your face) with one-handed vampire strength, and then sneak around looking for stuff.  Oh yeah, and you don't wear gloves.

3. You have discovered the hideout of a serial killer who may or may not also be a vampire.  You:

A. Call for backup so that you can storm the place and get evidence

OR

B. Drive to the remote location by yourself and wander around with nothing but a gas gun for protection.

If you answered B to all of these questions, you are apparently qualified to be a member of Korean law enforcement!  Now, I know that Korean law and American law aren't identical, but since they mentioned things like search warrants and police brutality, I can't help but wonder why they weren't more careful in their process. If this were Law and Order, every single thing they found would be inadmissible in court!  

The Verdict Is In

Overall, the only true downside to this show is that I amcompletely addicted and now have to watch the second season.  Why would I do this to myself?  I watch k-dramas for immediate closure, and now I'm stuck with this craving I can't stop for the rest of eternity--just like poor Tae-yeon.  Except at least my craving involves less blood.

Thirsting for More: Vampire Prosecutor Review

Kind of Like Exercise: Flower Boy Next Door Review

In order to explain my feelings about Flower Boy Next Door, allow me to make an analogy. Flower Boy Next Door is like exercise; I had a very hard time getting motivated to actually start each episode, but then once I got started it felt good, and I remembered that I actually did enjoy it. This in contrast to things like childbirth and puppies, which people think are a good idea until they do it and remember how terrible it actually is (I've never actually given childbirth or raised a puppy; they just seem like terrible ideas that people have.) Unfortunately, Flower Boy Next Door was one of those Korean Dramas that I just couldn't quite get into and struggled to finish. However, it had a lot of really great moments for me that made it mostly worth it. I typically give up on kdramas that don't make me battle with my inner 5 year old self to go to sleep over, but this drama had such a strong beginning that I felt compelled to see it through.

(Vivi's note: I also watched most of this series recently, but since I never actually managed to finish the last two episodes, I'll let Coco take this one!  I liked the series, but I got distracted with other things.  I'll add some of my observations here and there.)

Main Plot Summary:

Flower Boy Next Door stars the "Queen of Romantic Comedies", Park Shin-hye, as as Go Dok-mi, a young woman who becomes a recluse after a devastating event in high school makes her a social outcast. One of the only ways she connects to the outside world is by spying on her attractive neighbor across the way. She is caught in the act of peering through binoculars one day by the neighbor's cousin, Enrique Geum, a whimsical video game developer played by Yoon Shi-yoon. He decides to help her rejoin the world and open herself up to love and friendship, along with the help of three other attractive neighbors.

Reasons why FBND is worth the 16 hour investment.

1. The Poetic Themes

The female lead, Go Dok-mi, is an aspiring writer so we are able to listen in on her inner monologue as she writes about her experiences with coming to open her heart back up to love and being loved. She makes some beautiful observations about human relationships that make the show very touching. My favorite example of this is when she realizes that the reason that Enrique appears to be able to read her mind is because, "To that man, love is seeing with both people's eyes and feeling with both hearts, seeing the world more deeply." Once she realizes that this is what love is really all about, she can then read his thoughts as well. This moment really pulled the whole show together for me on an emotional level.

(Vivi's note: I would also like to give a shout-out to Go Dok-mi's POETIC HAIR.  Holy freaking cow. That is the best tousled hair I have ever seen in my life.  It almost made me want to become a recluse who doesn't shower.  Almost.)

2. The Humor

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Although I was not a big fan of the male lead, and was totally on the second male lead's side, he did have the gift of physical comedy going for him. There were some moments, particularly at the beginning, that made me literally LOL, and I don't use LOL loosely. I hate when people just throw out LOL's when you know that there's no way they actually laughed out loud. This drama was able to remain appealing to me because it played funny moments really well, especially thanks to the fact that several of the characters also star in Saturday Night Live Korea and other comedy shows.

(Vivi's note: The panda hat makes me super uncomfortable for some reason.)

3. The Side Characters:

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How cute were they? So cute! The webtoon artists next door were adorable and just really good guys, not to mention totally hot. I'm not really sure why the Japanese guy existed since he kind of appeared out of nowhere, did not push the plot forward at all, and then made an odd exit, but at least he was cute and added to the number of flower boys next door. The editor of the webtoon, played by Kim Seul-gie, who also stars on SNL Korea, was super funny and I really hope I see more of her. I feel like she's the Korean Emma Stone, and I freakin love Emma Stone. And the second female lead had the best facial expressions and over the top acting that actually made her character really great. All in all I approve of the casting choices and character development of the side characters.

(Vivi: Can we petition to have Kim Seul-gie star in her own drama?  I would love to see some of that sass and physical humor in a kdrama lead!)

Reasons why FBND is not worth the 16 hour investment:

1.The 10 long, repetitive, and uninteresting episodes in the middle

 Thinking back on these, I honestly can't even remember what happened. I think it was an awful lot of,
"You should leave me to go live your dream."
"No, I will never leave you, you are my dream."
"Fine I'll pretend not to love you so you will go."
"No, I won't go, jk, I will go, jk, I won't go, jk, I actually did go."
With me going, "What? Did he go or not? Just go already!"

All in all, Flower Boy Next Door had a lot to offer but just had too much time to do it in. This drama could have been a great 2 hour movie instead of a whole series. If they had cut out the unnecessary plot points and overdone scenes and just focused on the beautiful themes and character development, then it truly could have been a great drama.

2. The Male Lead

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I'm not a huge fan of Yoon Shi-yoon. Sometimes his man-child goofiness came off as endearing, but more often than not it came off as irritating and unattractive. I actually thought he was much hotter when he had a on serious expression than when he smiled. I need my male leads to be a bit more suave and manly. This was one of the first kdramas where I experienced no jealousy of the female lead for getting to kiss the male lead. I just really loved the second male lead so much and felt like he was a better match. I know that this drama wanted to play up the whole "opposites attract" thing, but let me just say that I once took a social psychology class, and that theory is pretty untrue. Humans actually love being with people like themselves. Hence the reason why we get so excited to run into other kdrama fans! The second male lead just seemed like a much better fit for the female lead, even though I know that the point was that he would have let her keep living the way she was living and never would have pushed her back into the world the way Enrique did.

(Vivi's note: But don't you remember how they beat the audience over the head with that nature metaphor? Something about trees?  Or wind?  And that was supposed to make us understand why Enrique was her true match?  I actually let the show convince me that Enrique was better for her, but that doesn't mean that he was better for me.  I'm sorry, but I will choose the outwardly sarcastic but inwardly thoughtful comic book designer over the hyperactive chipmunk who wears knee socks any day.)

3. The Unbelievable Plot Points

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The whole premise for the cause of her becoming an extreme recluse seemed over the top to me. Maybe I'm just not as sensitive as other people (although I'm sure Vivi would tell you differently) but it just seemed unlikely that her experience of being shunned and made fun of in high school would make an otherwise normal person become completely shut off from the world. Maybe they could have done a better job of explaining how severe her experience was to make it more believable. Mostly I just became irritated with how sullen and depressed she looked all the time for 14/16 episodes. I was like, "Get over it! You have 4 freaking hot guys being your friends/lovers. I could get over anything if that was me!" Also, the whole video-game-designer-crazy-sabotaging-fan-thing was a little weird and over the top too. Maybe it's just because I'm not a gamer, but I didn't really get it.

(Vivi's note: Her diary made the sullenness bearable for me. Sure she was terrified of everyone, but at least she had some personality inside her own head!  That's more than I can say for a lot of sad kdrama ladies.)

In conclusion, I loved Flower Boy Next Door for what it could have been. It started out so strongly and I couldn't stop watching for about the first three episodes. Then something happened and it became very tedious to watch until the last few episodes, which were funny and endearing, in which it redeemed itself.

What was your opinion of Flower Boy Next Door? Also, are there any other kdramas that were like exercise to you? Comment below.

Kind of Like Exercise: Flower Boy Next Door Review