The Prime Minister and I (The Prime Minister is Dating) Korean Drama Review

The Prime Minister and I happens to be one of the few recent dramas that both of us watched together, so we’re going to do a joint review on this one. A warning: spoilers will most definitely abound in this review. Here we go!

The Story: A spunky female paparazzi reporter is assigned to write a story about Korea's most eligible bachelor, the Prime Minister, a very serious, overworking widower who is out of touch with his three children. Through a series of misunderstandings, a scandal erupts where the public believes she is his lover. The only way out of it? A pretend marriage, of course! Which is also in her favor because she has a terminally ill father whose dying wish is to walk his daughter down the aisle. Will this contract marriage turn into real love???
Answer: Obviously, yes.

Coco: I fell in love with Prime Minister and I in the beginning because of the personality of the female lead. She was smart, fun, and adventurous. 

Vivi: Same here. She was so sassy! Even though there was an age gap between the two, she didn’t let the male lead push her around.

I do have to say, though, that I’m still upset that she just dropped her scooter in the middle of traffic. Spunky, yes. Safe? No. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SCOOTER?

Coco: It was just a casualty of the trade. One reason I loved her was because she had the funnest job. Who wouldn’t secretly love to be paparazzi? Even though everyone “hates” them, you know you peek at tabloids while in line at supermarkets. I think sneaking around and taking photos of people and prying into their personal lives sounds like a blast. Right? I was just sad that this side of her so quickly disappeared.

Vivi: Look, I was just happy that she started with a job, period. At no point in time was she on the brink of homelessness! That’s female empowerment right there. But yes, I feel like they set her up with a unique, rooftop-sneaking personality, and it just disappeared the second she got married and started straightening her hair. Is she like Samson or something? The curls give her power? In the end, she was this deflated version of her former self. Typical bland, nice female lead.

Exhibit A: Curly and sassy on left, Straight and dull on right.

Coco: Agreed. It was kind of strange because we didn’t even get to see the transition or makeover. Suddenly she was wearing dresses instead of jeans and it barely mentioned that leaving her job and becoming a housewife was any kind of a loss for her. She mentioned that it was hard for her to be in the house all day once, but there was no talk about it after that. As much as the ending plot device of the female lead venturing off on her own to find herself gets tiresome, in this case it made up for it a little.

Vivi: No way. She ventured off to become a successful author, which appears to be the new Kdrama version of the “fashion designer.” Remember Marry Him If you Dare? She did the same thing.

Coco: Plus, if I think about it, it was really more of a sign of her domestication. Since she was struggling with becoming a mother to these children, becoming a children’s book writer is the tamest version of her former career.

Vivi: Yes, exactly that. But what makes it even worse is that they domesticated her into a nice housewife, and then SHE ABANDONED THE CHILDREN! What kind of logic is that? “You know what would totally help these poor, abandoned children? If I ALSO abandoned them! Their mom is in town--this is the only possible answer!” Because we all know that kids can only handle one loving person in their lives at a time.

Coco: Yes, that seemed like the worst idea ever. As if they weren’t traumatized enough. I don’t think that piece of writing was true to her character. I think they just fell into the noble selfless love plot device, which as we’ve already discussed, is stupid and awful. Not to mention that it just led to the whole thing evolving from a fun romantic comedy to a lackluster melodrama.

Vivi: Yeah, aside from the deflated female lead, that’s the second big problem with this show. It turned into a melodrama, but it was a shallow melodrama. Instead of going into depth with the actual real-life problems they were facing (him dealing with his wife’s death, her dealing with her dad and struggling to fit into her new role), it felt like the writers were just saving up random plot devices (He got stabbed!) that they could toss in for emotional impact. It felt cheap. I hated all of the boooooooring political intrigue, and the whole side story with the wife dragged everything down so that I didn’t really care about any of it.

Coco: Yes, I wish they had never brought her back to life. It would have been much more interesting if they had just focused on him dealing with his wife’s betrayal and death and the guilt he felt, and her dealing with the fact that she was giving up her life and personality while also dealing with her dad’s terminal illness. It makes me think that the writers just added that storyline in because ratings were slipping and they thought people might be more interested in a melodrama. I would have instead liked to see their relationship develop as they each find identities that make them happy with each other’s help. 

Vivi: The one consistent positive for me was Lee Bum Soo as the prime minister. Yes, there was a patch in the middle where the writers made him shout at his wife a little too much for my taste, but I thought he handled the role really well overall. I genuinely liked the prime minister, and that was 100% due to acting. Yoona did well with what she had, but she didn’t get much to work with for the last third of the drama. They were so cute together!

Coco: I loved Yoona, and I think she did a great job even though her character degenerated. And it’s not like her character became totally unlikeable. There were aspects of her that were lovely and admirable, but she just lost the spirit and feistiness that would have made me want to be her best friend. I will definitely watch her next drama because she is really cute and fun as an actress. Let’s just hope that next time she has better material.

Vivi: I felt the worst for Yoon Si Yoon, though. Poor guy got nothing to do the whole time. I guess he got to practice his worried face a lot?

Coco: The only other drama I had seen him in was Flower Boy Next Door, and I wasn’t a fan of his childlike, slightly annoying character. This drama actually made me like him a whole lot more. He’s really pretty good at crying. But he played a second male lead that I only felt somewhat torn over. At the end when he’s like, then just date me, I was like, ok that would be pretty good, but I wasn’t crying inside that she chose the Prime Minister instead.

Vivi: You’re right. I liked him even though he just had to be sad all of the time. How I feel about these characters is how I feel about the drama in general. It wasn’t actively bad; it just lost the magic towards the end. I certainly wasn’t nearly as angry with this drama as I was with some others that I’ve seen.

Coco: You know what was actively bad though? The fact that there was NO KISS! A handshake? SERIOUSLY?

Vivi: I wonder if it’s in Lee Bum Soo’s contract that he can’t go past a hug. The same thing happened in History of a Salaryman. Maybe his wife gets too jealous?

I actually didn’t completely hate the handshake at the end. (*waits to be attacked). I mean, I didn’t love it, but I got that it was trying to be symbolic. Besides, I was much more upset that we didn’t get a scene with the kids at the end.

Coco: True! How cute was that little boy? He sent me into some serious baby hungriness as only really adorable Asian kids can.

Vivi: Man Seeeeeeeeeeeee!

Coco: If I had stopped watching The Prime Minister and I halfway through I would probably have added it to my favorites list, and maybe even to the recommendations list, but it took a nosedive due to writing and I honestly struggled to make myself watch the last couple of episodes. 

Vivi: Ditto to all of that. 

What did you think of The Prime Minister and I? Comment below!

The Prime Minister and I (The Prime Minister is Dating) Korean Drama Review

Some More of Something Completely Different: Youtube Review of The Master's Sun Episodes 1-4

Remember how Coco recently tried doing a Youtube review of Who Are You? And I said I would never, ever do it?

Yeah, me too. 

And then Coco tried to convince me: "But someone has to review The Master's Sun and you're already doing it!" "I can't do it by myself!" "C'mon! It won't be that bad!"

And then I caved and taped a review. And then I gave Coco one of my kidneys. Because she might just be the most convincing person on the planet.

Yep, that's...a lot of my face. And a gigantic cat tower in the background. Don't judge.

If you don't love awkward things, a better option might be to head over to DramaFever to check out my Drama Club reviews of the series. I'm working with Rosie and Drama Debussie in this Drama Club, and so far, we're just having a grand ole time! There was a hubbub over on DramaFever's facebook page when they featured the one negative quotation from my first article, but I promise I'm actually enjoying the show!  (Pats angry fangirls on the head soothingly.)

Who else is watching The Master's Sun? It's my first time watching an ongoing series, and I don't know how I feel about this whole two-episodes-a-week thing.  Wait, I do know.  It's killing me!

And, for those of you who caught the Monty Python reference in the title:

Some More of Something Completely Different: Youtube Review of The Master's Sun Episodes 1-4

Summertime Funnertime: Dating Agency: Cyrano Review

Dating Agency: Cyrano just finished its run in July of this year.  Looking for something light and fluffy to watch in what feels like billion-degree weather, I started watching it pretty soon after it ended.

Doesn't this poster just scream "SUMMER!" to you?
Source

The posters didn't lie.  This drama was like a little creamiscle: a light snack for the summer, but so light that it won't stay with you for long.

Your Typical Flower Boys

This show is actually part of tvN's larger Oh!Boy series (which also includes Flower Boy Ramyun Shop, Shut Up! Flower Boy Band, and Flower Boys Next Door).  In line with the other shows, this one was originally called Flower Boy Dating Agency before they settled on Dating Agency: Cyrano.  This change might have been a way to connect it to the 2010 film on which it was based (Cyrano Agency). Either that, or the producers realized that a title containing the term flower "boys" was a little misleading since both of the male leads are in their 30s (and Flower Boys Plus a Couple of Flower Ahjussis Dating Agency doesn't have quite the same ring to it).

Some Flower Boys is better than none!

Even though there aren't flower boys in the title, this series still captures the same spirit that fills the other Oh! Boy shows.  It's a breezy comedy bursting at the seams with quirky side characters and cute romance. In fact, fans of Jo Yoon Woo's "Angel Boy" in FBRS will be thrilled to see the same actor play Do Arang, who is basically the exact same character--nerdy sweaters and all. 

This series amps up the fun factor with a million different cameos from other kdrama stars. Since the series revolves around a dating agency, each new "case" features a new set of actors as the agency's romantic targets.  I didn't recognize all of the cameos, but the ones I picked up were pretty enjoyable.  My personal favorite had to be Gong Yoo because, well, it's Gong Yoo.  'Nuff said.

Boom.  Doesn't this basically make the whole series worthwhile?

The Leads

I was pleasantly surprised by Sooyoung's portrayal of Gong Min Young.  She has a smile that absolutely lights up the room, and Gong Min Young was delightfully confident and pleasant and normal--almost unheard-of in a kdrama female lead! She was comfortable in her own skin from episode 1 and didn't feel the need to apologize for her personality.  Even though I would probably be initially intimidated by her snazzy style and outgoing personality, she's definitely someone I would want as a friend in real life.

Wait, she knows basic personal hygiene?  What kind of kdrama lead does she think she is?

I also appreciate the way she initially handled the relationship. Yes, she confessed her feelings first, but instead of staring into space and crying after Byung Hoon ignored her, she told him to just man up and be more mature about the whole thing.  In fact, every time he used a trick that would make most kdrama females freeze up (firing her, asking if she likes him, etc.), she turned the tables on him.

As great as Sooyoung was, I had a hard time with the chemistry in this show.  Part of this is my own fault.  Yes, the drama recognizes the age gap between Min Young and Seo Byung Hoon (15 years between the actual actors, in case you're wondering), but they don't ever spell out the difference, and they try to balance the characters in terms of emotional maturity.  For me, though, the age gap was a little distracting.  It wasn't the actual age so much as the difference in life experience.  She is a bubbly youngster just out of college, and he is a jaded middle-aged man with an increasingly ridiculous bowl cut.  It didn't help that the last time I watched Lee Jong Hyuk was in A Gentleman's Dignity, where he played a cheating 40-something-year old (who, if I remember correctly, checks out Sooyoung's legs at some point in the show).  Even in the final scenes of the show, it just felt more like a teacher-student relationship than a sizzling partnership of people on equal levels.  They had some cute moments (like the play fighting below), but most of the chemistry just didn't fall into place for me.

Out of curiosity, I asked Coco what she thought about the pairing after watching the first episode.  She had never seen A Gentleman's Dignity, and she didn't really register the age difference, so I really might be the only one who felt this way.  I can't help it!

I'm also starting to realize that I will probably never get through a Flower Boy series without a serious case of Second Male Lead Syndrome. I don't know what it is about these shows, but it happens every time (except for maybe FBRS, where the second lead was nice, but the random narcolepsy threw me off).  How can I possibly appreciate Seo Byung Hoon when Master is around?

I think he should win just on the basis of all that delicious food he made.

Short answer?  I can't. 

The Plot

As I said before, the basic premise of this drama means that we get a new love story (with new star cameos) every 2-3 episodes.  These side stories were adorable, and they helped keep the show moving at a decent pace.  I didn't notice the time dragging in the middle like I sometimes do because I was excited to see what each new case would bring.

The big exception here is the last few episodes, where the show's writers made a beeline straight for Crazyville and didn't stop until it was time to wrap up the series. If you're writing a fun, lighthearted series about the hijinks in a dating agency, WHY would you think that tossing in a kidnapping with two episodes to go is a good way to wrap things up?  I can understand using kidnapping as a last-ditch plot device if you have to fill 50 episodes, but this series only has 16 episodes, and they're only 45 minutes long. Now that's just lazy!  

I sometimes wonder if kdrama writers have a giant wheel of plot twists sitting in their office, and every time someone gets writer's block, they just gather around and spin the wheel, a-la Wheel of Fortune. "Come onnnnnnnnnnn, amnesia! Awwwww, man! Not another illegitimate child!"

I also felt like the underlying conflict was a little underdeveloped for the amount of drama it caused in the show.  Seo Byung Hoon kept agonizing over things, and then Yi Seol would just be like, "Yeah, I knew that 15 years ago.  NBD."

Random Observations

• It's hard to choose a favorite side character in a drama filled with side characters, but I have to give a shout out to Master's bumbling henchmen and their attempts at matchmaking.

• What's with Seo Byung Hoon's trench coats?  Everyone else is wearing shorts and t-shirts, and he's decked out like Inspector Gadget. 

Is this supposed to help him blend in?  Because it's definitely not working.

• (Spoiler) Can we please talk about that scene with the bomb?  Master is BLEEDING ON THE FLOOR, and everyone else is just going all starry-eyed in love? SOMEBODY CALL KOREAN 911! But nooooooo, they go ahead and stab him in the heart right after he's been stabbed in the stomach.

Wait, remind me why she chose the other guy again?  Because I forgot.

• Another entry into the "things I shouted repeatedly at my computer" column: "NO! DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON HAWAIIAN SHIRT GUY!" If somebody is cray-cray and straps a bomb to the love of your life and then tries to hit you in the head with a board, how about you don't turn your back on him unless he's tied up somehow?  For being a gangsta, Master was an idiot with that one.

• I want someone to let me deejay a high school prom so that I can play this song.  Something about it just screams awkwardly shuffling teenagers.

If you love the Flower Boy shows, Dating Agency: Cyrano is a good choice!  It might not suck you in quite as much as other shows do, but it's some bright summertime fun.

Summertime Funnertime: Dating Agency: Cyrano Review

Thirsting for More: Vampire Prosecutor Review

Look at this poster:

Source

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

Source

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:

Source

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

Source

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

Source

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

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Playful Kiss Review

I have a major love/hate relationship with the Korean Drama, Playful Kiss. Before I delve into the negative aspects, let me just tell you that despite hating its overall message, I was completely enthralled, couldn't stop watching, and actually finished it to the end. So, here is the good, the bad, and the ugly in Playful Kiss. I'll let you be the final judge for yourself. 

The Good 

This drama was rarely boring. It had a whimsical feel at the beginning that I really enjoyed, and kept a light hearted and fun mood throughout. The characters were funny and entertaining. The female lead, Oh Ha Ni, is played by the beautiful and charming, Jung So-min. The male lead, Baek Seung Jo is played by the kdrama hotty, Kim Hyun-joong. They had pretty great chemistry and I really wanted to see them fall in love and have a healthy, caring relationship. 

Source

The side characters were endearing and had their own interesting little stories, like good kdrama side characters should. I particularly loved Seung Jo's mother. She was hilarious and over-the-top, yet adorable. I can only hope my future mother in-law will be as great as her. She is pretty much the farthest thing from your typical kdrama matriarch. 

Source

The love triangle was believable, and the female rival was totally gorgeous and hate-able, like a good kdrama female villain should be. The story kept me engaged and wanting more at the end of every episode, and even at the end of the series. 

The Bad

Unlike most kdramas, I can explain the plot in one sentence: Playful Kiss is about a simpleminded high school girl whose sole ambition in life is to be with an arrogant, hot guy who despises her but eventually tolerates and loves her. That's it. I kept waiting for there to be more, but nothing. No real character growth for anyone. Oh Ha Ni is likable and pure hearted, which somewhat makes up for her simplemindedness, but she never has any pride or self respect when others put her down. This is so unlike typical kdrama female leads, who I love for their spunk and back bones. 

Characteristic, pouty, "I don'ts understand" face.

Source

I had so little respect for Oh Ha Ni for never standing up for herself that I actually had a really hard time understanding why the male lead ended up with her rather than the smart and beautiful, but evil, female in the love triangle. They seemed like a better match. That should not happen in a kdrama! I really thought that eventually Oh Ha Ni would gain her own dream and be empowered, but no. She claimed that her only dream in life was to follow Baek Seung Jo wherever he went. I had a glimmer of hope when she finally decided to apply herself to become a nurse, but it was only because he was becoming a doctor. At literally the last minute of the series, Oh Ha Ni seems to find her own motivation to become a nurse, but it was too little, too late for me.

Update: Need an Oh Na Hi antidote? Check out our list of smart kdrama female leads! 

The Ugly

Even worse, Baek Seung Jo was just plain mean and condescending to Oh Ha Ni the whole time. Most kdrama guys start out mean and arrogant, but they usually learn and grow and have a change of heart. This just never happened for him, so it made it hard for me to like him. I missed the old Kim Hyun-joong from the his Boys Over Flowers Days. This character was about as completely opposite from Yoon Ji-hoo as you can get. I'm not going to lie and say that he wasn't attractive at all in this drama. Every time he actually decided to be nice and flashed one of his cute smiles, I was suckered into liking him. 

But him smiling was pretty rare, and definitely did not counteract their emotionally abusive relationship. He treated her like a child, and she seemed insecure of his love for her even after they were married.

This Sums Up Their Relationship
Source

This being said, remember that Playful Kiss was one of those dramas that I could not stop watching against my better judgment. You could say I had an abusive relationship with Playful Kiss. I really loved it while I was watching it because I kept thinking it would change. Every time it did a little, I forgave it and fell back in love, but in the end it had never really changed deep down. My best advice for Playful Kiss is to only watch it if you can look past the sexist, unempowering to women message, and the lack of character growth, and just sit back and be entertained by cute, funny actors. I'm glad I watched it because it's one of those dramas I love to hate. 

What did you think of it? Comment below. 

Places to Watch Playful Kiss

Dramafever

Viki

Hulu

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Playful Kiss Review