Drama, drama, drama
So, it's been a while since I made a post on the ever fabulous K-drama. Since then, I've seen a bit more dramas. Some old, most new. I'm completely addicted; when the right drama is airing, it's what I look forward to every week. So, I shall introduce to y'all some of the more memorable ones I've seen in the last few months. My aim is to get at least one person watching so I can have somebody to fanperson with. Hey, at least I'm honest.
Pasta
Pasta is the story of a an aspiring chef, who works at the lowest position in a famous Italian restaurant in Korea, and the new head chef who moves in to said restaurant. From the get go, the two butt heads. He (the head chef) is, well, to be blunt, an asshole. Think Gregory House/Anthony Bourdain/Shinichi Chiaki. He hates female chefs and has never allowed one into his kitchen. Our aspiring chef is naive, bumbling, but incredibly ambitious. And female. Over the course of this 20 episode series, the two find themselves drawn towards one another despite the healthy misgivings they have.
Warning: Pasta will make you h-u-n-g-r-y when watching it. This is as much an ode to Italian cuisine as it is a romantic comedy. Pasta may not have the most gripping of tales, but it doesn't set out to. This is slice-of-life about the people in the kitchen and the ups and downs they go through.
Although I still have misgivings about the ending (it feels like a disservice to the characterizations of the main leads), I ate up Pasta and recommend it to those looking for something light and easy to digest.
Fun fact: Alex of Clazziquai Project plays the all-too-relate-able second male lead.
Oh! My Lady
Another series featuring a popular pop artist, Oh! My Lady stars Super Junior's Choi Si Won as a bratty man-child actor. Chae Rim plays a 30-something single mother who finds herself working as the maid of Si Won's. The two don't hit it off initially, but the sudden appearance of a secret love child of Si Won's brings them together in a way they never imagined. The child has to be kept a secret from the public, after all, lest a huge scandal breaks out which could affect our actor's career.
Oh! My Lady is, essentially, a housewife's fantasy. A single mother begins a relationship with a rich, handsome, and younger man. It may not be the most original series, nor does it reach great dramatic heights, but it's a sweet and charming little show. The greatest strength it has is the relationship between Si Won, Chae Rim, and the young child playing Si Won's offspring. Over the course of the series, they become a little family. That's the real dynamic to watch this drama for.
My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox
My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox (also known as My Girlfriend is a Gumiho) is the third series I've seen from the Hong sisters writing team. They're the writers of You're Beautiful and Couple or Trouble. The main pairing in this series is, without-a-doubt, the cutest out of the three series.
What is a Gumiho? A Gumiho is a nine-tailed female fox that is prevalent throughout a lot of Asian cultures, Korea being no different. The Gumiho is able to take on a human shape and possess the hearts of men with her unearthly beauty. It's believed that the Gumiho does so to feast on human livers.
So, it is with this background information in mind, that Cha Dae-Woong (played by Lee Seung-gi) ignorantly frees a Gumiho (Shin Mina) from an ancient scroll. But, there's more to the Gumiho than superstitious folk tales - she wants to become human. And, so, Dae-Woong finds himself as the pretend boyfriend of the Gumiho when their fates become intertwined.
My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox is the single cutest drama of 2010. It will give you diabetes - it is that overloaded with ohmygodcute. In particular, Shin Mina as the Gumiho is a living, breathing avatar of the cute. I fell in love with her in the first episode, head-over-heels. And so did everyone else. Her innocence, straight-forwardness, curiosity, temper, everything... She stole the show. And paired together with multi-talented star, Lee Seung-gi, they have a chemistry many actors can only dream of. This modern fairy tale is one that should definitely not be passed up. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll find yourself grinning like an idiot throughout every single episode. And you won't regret it. I definitely don't.
Dr. Champ
My personal favourite series of the year, Dr. Champ is a slice-of-life story about regular people aiming for greater goals. In life, there are those who make headlines, win medals, and gain recognition and prestige; Dr. Champ is not about those people. This series is about those we don't hear about - the guy constantly in second place, the woman working a thankless-but-fulfilling job, the underdogs. And for the underdogs, life never goes exactly as planned.
Jung Kyeo Woon (on the left in the photo) stars as Park Ji Heon, a bighearted, ambitious, honest, jovial, and uber dorky Judo athlete with aims of winning gold. He's the first male lead in a Korean drama that I was able to fully identify with and root for. Most leads are of the brooding asshole variety - Ji Heon is not. He's an endearing character who isn't afraid to express himself. And Jung plays him fantastically; and he is a large reason why I kept watching.
Our other lead is Kim Yeon Woo (on the right) played by the spectacular Kim So Yeon. She's a hard-working, no-nonsense orthopedic doctor with a strong sense of right and wrong who finds herself out of a job when she is sacked by the hospital she's been trying to earn tenure at. She and Ji Heon cross paths on the very day she is fired and it's love at first sight...for him. Both characters are trying to make something better of their lives and achieve their dreams. Love, friendship, and rivalry come along and lead them in surprising directions.
Dr. Champ is a great character-driven show that lets its two leads grow naturally. Compared to other dramas, the characters are so down-to-earth and believable. There is no terribly forced angst; no deep, dark secrets; and no over-the-top melodrama. Is it perfect? No, of course not. The relationship between two supporting characters eats up too much screen time and doesn't really go anywhere. And one actor is rather disappointingly underused. But, I feel Champ's strengths trump its weaknesses. The chemistry between the two leads, for example, is incredibly sweet.
Dr. Champ is an easy-going show that, much to my surprise, managed to work its way into my heart (sounds cheesy, I know, but it's the truth). Like its two leads, Dr. Champ is the little engine that could, and did deliver. And I miss looking forward to it each week.
And because I love it so much, here's a promotional video featuring one of the most prominent songs in the soundtrack - "Fall In Love With You" by Bobby Kim - and the gorgeous photography of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II:
Pasta
Pasta is the story of a an aspiring chef, who works at the lowest position in a famous Italian restaurant in Korea, and the new head chef who moves in to said restaurant. From the get go, the two butt heads. He (the head chef) is, well, to be blunt, an asshole. Think Gregory House/Anthony Bourdain/Shinichi Chiaki. He hates female chefs and has never allowed one into his kitchen. Our aspiring chef is naive, bumbling, but incredibly ambitious. And female. Over the course of this 20 episode series, the two find themselves drawn towards one another despite the healthy misgivings they have.
Warning: Pasta will make you h-u-n-g-r-y when watching it. This is as much an ode to Italian cuisine as it is a romantic comedy. Pasta may not have the most gripping of tales, but it doesn't set out to. This is slice-of-life about the people in the kitchen and the ups and downs they go through.
Although I still have misgivings about the ending (it feels like a disservice to the characterizations of the main leads), I ate up Pasta and recommend it to those looking for something light and easy to digest.
Fun fact: Alex of Clazziquai Project plays the all-too-relate-able second male lead.
Oh! My Lady
Another series featuring a popular pop artist, Oh! My Lady stars Super Junior's Choi Si Won as a bratty man-child actor. Chae Rim plays a 30-something single mother who finds herself working as the maid of Si Won's. The two don't hit it off initially, but the sudden appearance of a secret love child of Si Won's brings them together in a way they never imagined. The child has to be kept a secret from the public, after all, lest a huge scandal breaks out which could affect our actor's career.
Oh! My Lady is, essentially, a housewife's fantasy. A single mother begins a relationship with a rich, handsome, and younger man. It may not be the most original series, nor does it reach great dramatic heights, but it's a sweet and charming little show. The greatest strength it has is the relationship between Si Won, Chae Rim, and the young child playing Si Won's offspring. Over the course of the series, they become a little family. That's the real dynamic to watch this drama for.
My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox
My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox (also known as My Girlfriend is a Gumiho) is the third series I've seen from the Hong sisters writing team. They're the writers of You're Beautiful and Couple or Trouble. The main pairing in this series is, without-a-doubt, the cutest out of the three series.
What is a Gumiho? A Gumiho is a nine-tailed female fox that is prevalent throughout a lot of Asian cultures, Korea being no different. The Gumiho is able to take on a human shape and possess the hearts of men with her unearthly beauty. It's believed that the Gumiho does so to feast on human livers.
So, it is with this background information in mind, that Cha Dae-Woong (played by Lee Seung-gi) ignorantly frees a Gumiho (Shin Mina) from an ancient scroll. But, there's more to the Gumiho than superstitious folk tales - she wants to become human. And, so, Dae-Woong finds himself as the pretend boyfriend of the Gumiho when their fates become intertwined.
My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox is the single cutest drama of 2010. It will give you diabetes - it is that overloaded with ohmygodcute. In particular, Shin Mina as the Gumiho is a living, breathing avatar of the cute. I fell in love with her in the first episode, head-over-heels. And so did everyone else. Her innocence, straight-forwardness, curiosity, temper, everything... She stole the show. And paired together with multi-talented star, Lee Seung-gi, they have a chemistry many actors can only dream of. This modern fairy tale is one that should definitely not be passed up. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll find yourself grinning like an idiot throughout every single episode. And you won't regret it. I definitely don't.
Dr. Champ
My personal favourite series of the year, Dr. Champ is a slice-of-life story about regular people aiming for greater goals. In life, there are those who make headlines, win medals, and gain recognition and prestige; Dr. Champ is not about those people. This series is about those we don't hear about - the guy constantly in second place, the woman working a thankless-but-fulfilling job, the underdogs. And for the underdogs, life never goes exactly as planned.
Jung Kyeo Woon (on the left in the photo) stars as Park Ji Heon, a bighearted, ambitious, honest, jovial, and uber dorky Judo athlete with aims of winning gold. He's the first male lead in a Korean drama that I was able to fully identify with and root for. Most leads are of the brooding asshole variety - Ji Heon is not. He's an endearing character who isn't afraid to express himself. And Jung plays him fantastically; and he is a large reason why I kept watching.
Our other lead is Kim Yeon Woo (on the right) played by the spectacular Kim So Yeon. She's a hard-working, no-nonsense orthopedic doctor with a strong sense of right and wrong who finds herself out of a job when she is sacked by the hospital she's been trying to earn tenure at. She and Ji Heon cross paths on the very day she is fired and it's love at first sight...for him. Both characters are trying to make something better of their lives and achieve their dreams. Love, friendship, and rivalry come along and lead them in surprising directions.
Dr. Champ is a great character-driven show that lets its two leads grow naturally. Compared to other dramas, the characters are so down-to-earth and believable. There is no terribly forced angst; no deep, dark secrets; and no over-the-top melodrama. Is it perfect? No, of course not. The relationship between two supporting characters eats up too much screen time and doesn't really go anywhere. And one actor is rather disappointingly underused. But, I feel Champ's strengths trump its weaknesses. The chemistry between the two leads, for example, is incredibly sweet.
Dr. Champ is an easy-going show that, much to my surprise, managed to work its way into my heart (sounds cheesy, I know, but it's the truth). Like its two leads, Dr. Champ is the little engine that could, and did deliver. And I miss looking forward to it each week.
And because I love it so much, here's a promotional video featuring one of the most prominent songs in the soundtrack - "Fall In Love With You" by Bobby Kim - and the gorgeous photography of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II:
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