K-Drama Reivew: Reply 1994

Written by Kidge.

Although this review feels a few days late, I think I needed that amount of time to process and recover from the experience of Reply 1994. It was at times the best and at other moments, most frustrating show of the year. I have no desire to upset anyone with my review, given the crazy nature of the fan wars. But I feel enough time has passed. Surely we are all just happy campers now…right?

Having given myself a few days to get over the several months of chain yanking that the writers of this show put us through, I can now comfortably say that I still loved this show. The fact that the whole, ‘who is the husband?’ drama was the central conceit of the show frustrated me. In fact I’m pretty sure most of the people watching this show were completely fed up by the end with the way they kept stringing it out. I won’t comment much on the husband thing, (don’t want to start any arguments now do we), but I will say that I was happy with the ending because I felt that was the way the show had been directed from the beginning. All the side streets during the middle half of the show and towards the very end, felt just like that, side street detours that would ultimately lead us back to the main highway. Not to say I don’t love those side streets. I would happily put my hand up for someone that nice and that freaking beautiful to look at, never mind adores me. Sigh. But I still loved both! How could I love the lead as much as the second lead? This is unheard of. Why show why??? My heart is still recovering.

Moving on. The thing that made this show great was the family that had been created at the boarding house. If not for the secondary characters, this show would have sunk under the weight of its own love triangle. It did sink to a slow crawl at times because of the crazy length of the episodes and some scenes, which the editors obviously didn’t take the snipping tools to. Despite this, I loved Haitai with his ridiculous hair and constant battles for love. His friendship with Na Jung was extremely cute and made for some truly heartfelt moments. Normally involving yelling and Samchunpo ora stupid dating decision by Haitai.

Speaking of Samchunpo: I really thought I was going to dislike this stick in the mud character. But who knew that when you mix straight laces with a terrifyingly controlling, tiny fan girl, you had comic gold and cute moments galore. Not I. But I have since been converted to the trend.

The parents are also comedy gold. Dad, why must you always yell? But apart from that, these two show a realistic marriage which has ups and downs but basically you live with each others faults. I love that. Plus they really are surrogate parents to the kids. I freaking love the fact that they all call them Mum and Dad. It is so comforting that Mum worries over them all and feeds them all waaayyy too much.

Binggeure. He was a character that I turned out loving, although wished that they had managed to do a little more with him. I really liked the way he pondered his sexuality because of his hero worship of Trash. Their puppy/mentor relationship was really cute.  It was a shame that they didn’t play out his relationship with DieDie over a few more episodes in order to make it land better with the viewers. As great as it was, I felt a little cheated because once they got together we like never saw them actually together. The cute cake scene was not enough for me.

If we could have spent more time on these side storylines and less on jokes that needed to be edited, and less time yanking our chains about who was the actual love line, this show would have been even better. I still loved it, for all the moments it did give us, like Reply 1997 cameos. I don’t think I have ever loved a cameo quite so much. I realised how much I missed those characters and was so glad to see them again. Sigh. Must re-watch.  

All told, I love this show. I love the characters, the music, the nostalgia, the substitute family and friendships which last a life time. The fact that I wanted to be a part of that family tells me that this show did most things right, even if there were a few frustrations and disappointments along the way.

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K-Drama Reivew: Shut Up Flower Boy Band

Written by Kidge (with interruptions by Aimes).

How much do I love this show? So, so, so, so, so, so much. Like a whole lot. It has got to be one of the most heartfelt shows, with fantastic chemistry between the cast, and really some of the best bromance out there.

Quick Summary: a bunch of delinquent friends find themselves ousted from their school because it closes down. They are in a band together, and after an altercation with the current hot band from their new school, they decide to compete to show them whose boss.

Thoughts:

Any summary of this show doesn’t really do it justice. When you read the description I feel like it is a turn off, not to mention the name of the show, which makes it sound like a bunch of pretty boys attempting to play music. But this show has so much more to offer than just its initial premise. Do not be put off!

Shut Up has a fantastic cast with amazing chemistry. I am mainly talking about the boys here. I fell in love with Sung Joon in this show, his broody bad boy image and his portrayal of a guy who has made his friends his family. Really the boy’s relationship is the heart of the show. It is their sacrifices for one another that makes your heart stop and melt into a puddle. The fact that they cast mainly unknowns, (barring L from Infinite – who actually managed to impress me, although I still can’t understand his bizarre way of walking – it can only be called a strut) meant that the brotherhood had this feeling of unity because they were all working out this thing together. Honestly, the bromance will practically make you cry. Hands up if you replayed the scene where they go to Lee Hyun-soo’s house after his injury about a million times. Yup, I thought so.

The show just has this really nice almost grungy realist feel to it, thanks to Lee Kwan’s directing. It matches the music that the boys like to play, which can I say is another highlight of the show. The tunes are so catchy that I found myself singing them on and off for many weeks after I had finished watching the show (and not in an annoying ‘Almost Paradise’ way). And yes, Sung Joon, my heart does go thump when I hear you sing. In fact it practically leaps out of my chest.

Another great aspect of this show is its female lead. Jo Bo-ah is a freaking goddess. But more importantly, her character is not a wuss, doesn’t get dragged around by the men in her life, and actually survives on her own and makes her own decisions thank you very much. All I can say is that she was a welcome breath of fresh air after watching so many female roles that honestly felt like the classic Robin Hood damsel in distress. Never mind that most females don’t really fit into that category anymore. Anyway, putting my hobby horse back into its stall. Suffice to say, I was gutted that there was only one kiss, but there were so many other adorably sweet moments between the two that I forgive the production team. But good grief, when those hands intertwined for that kiss I just about keeled over. Oh and the scene with the earphones and Kwon Ji-hyuk unable to contain his grin because she loves his voice – yep I was practically (actually) squealing on your behalf.

Suffice to say that I adore this show, and cannot recommend it highly enough. First loves, best friends, rock bands and a seriously attractive cast – what’s not to love about that?

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I Hear Your Voice

This show finished a couple of months ago, but was one of the stand-out dramas of the year. Who knew noona romances were so darn addictive? Not I. But I have since been educated.

Quick summary: A teenage girl witnesses a man being murdered. The man’s son witnesses his murder and mysteriously develops the ability to hear peoples thought when he looks at their eyes. The murderer goes to jail, but is released eleven years later and seeks revenge against the boy and the girl who helped to put him there.

Thoughts:

So I didn’t write this in the summary because otherwise it would no longer be quick, but the main plot line of the show is the fact that the girl who witnessed the murder becomes a cynical public defence lawyer, while the son is a senior in high school who has been looking for the girl for the last eleven years. If you’re thinking first love etc etc, then you would be thinking right – despite the fact that they are like nine years apart. Now it’s not like I have a problem with largish age gaps, or even necessarily the woman being older, but I do take issue with basically a teenager being a serious romantic interest for a woman in her late twenties. That was stretching my ability to take the love line of the show seriously.

Having said all this, Lee Bo-young and Lee Jong-suk have great chemistry, and by about half way through the series, I couldn’t help but be sucked into this romance. Do I still think it fairly unrealistic that a high schooler and a twenty nine year old could make it together? Yes. Do I think that this has probably happened for someone and ended well? Yes. Therefore, I won’t complain and simply say - I don’t blame her for falling for him. Lee Jong-suk is fiiiine.

The shows format during the middle section became a little formulaic, particularly as there is no way that Lawyer Jang is the only defence counsel in that particular court, with the same judge and same prosecutor, who low and behold was an evil teenage nemesis. Sigh, oh the trappings of a court house procedural. Anyway, generally speaking the cases had some kind of significant learning feature for our heroine so it wasn’t all pointless. 


The other thing about this show that I enjoyed was that it wasn’t afraid to pull big punches when they were necessary to the story line. I won’t give them away because that would ruin the whole thing, but I did appreciate that the script writers were clever enough to know what the audience could handle and the way in which the characters would realistically react. It made for a much more interesting drama because unlike many shows, I Hear Your Voice had flawed characters. In fact, that was the whole point of the show really. It forced its characters to reflect on the idea of what makes us the way we are? If we take revenge for wrongs done to us, does that sink us to the same level as the one who hurt us in the first place? These broad philosophical questions made the show more interesting to me than just a simple procedural drama with a noona romance thrown in.

Jung Woong-in should get major kudos for his performance as the baddie in this show. He honestly terrified me. Not just because he was a murderer (don’t worry that isn’t a spoiler, it’s in the first episode), but more importantly because he was a sympathetic villain. We knew why he ended up the way he did, and even though it didn’t excuse his deeds, it made them so much more reasonable, and therefore more terrifying, because really, he is just a normal person who chose a path with no positive end. He was just another flawed human being.

That’s what this show does well. It creates characters that you end up caring about more than you thought you could, mainly because they are so flawed. The romance is wonderful, I won’t lie. But if that was all this show was, it would be much less interesting. Instead we are left with seeing the impact that our choices have, and particularly the importance of believing in those around us and loving them, even when they make mistakes.

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MV Troublemaker 'Now' Uncut

Written by Kidge and Aimes.

Can I first point out, hit men don’t shoot people in the stomach.

But well done for having a silencer.

I don’t understand Hyuna’s white top … she’s missing half of it.

It must be pointed out that this is super sexy for kpop.

At least there's a storyline. 

Ok, what’s with the anglo women?

And what’s with the gun!?

It's in his crotch! Symbolism!

Honestly, it’s even pointing upwards. It’s pointing at her face! Who get’s into bed with a guy who has a gun and it’s pointing at your face!!

What was that, you want us to drink some Budweiser?

And why’s she wearing a blue fuzzy thing in front of an open fridge! Who leaves an open fridge when you have that many Budweisers your trying to cool? And why the union jack? Budweiser’s American. Who drinks them anyway?

What’s that? You forgot your top? But you didn’t forget your hat or your pink jacket. Oh and Budweisers.

Honestly, she just doesn’t wear a top! Why is she going around telling girls ‘it’s ok, you don’t have to ever where a top and you will never get raped. Ever’

What is that, and why is she in it?

Bahahahahahahahaha 
Is that a boot? Of a car?
Why yes, yes it is.

That's ridiculous. 

Did you understand the thing with the joker.

Not really.

I thought it was kinda cool.

Yeah same. I think it’s a split personality thing.

But he doesn’t have a split personality. He’s not a very nice person the whole way through!

I really like the way it was filmed; I just didn’t really understand it.

And now they are really just creating as many opportunities as possible for him to take his shirt off.

Let's be honest, we aren't really complaining about this.

Awww she’s waiting for him to come home.
Yeah, he ain’t comin’ home honey.

Ok, so I don’t understand the way they shot the ending. He wouldn’t have time to drive anywhere after getting shot in the stomach.

He’s driving off to some place so he can slowly die.

What, like an elephants graveyard? He even thought to park nicely. And what’s with the indicator, as if he thought to indicate while he was dying!

Happy moment with the sparklers.

That makes it even more sad. I know this is terrible, but the cuddly moments totally win you over. 

Aaaaaaand cigarette. Cause your dying, so obviously you want to make sure you really killed yourself off.

So it’s sad that he dies, because you like the idea of them being together. It’s a good song, but the message of the video clip is terrible. The worst thing is that it sucks you in.
I feel like we need an after school special saying ‘stay away from alcohol and drugs kids’.

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K-Drama Reviews: The Heirs

We thought we should write this together because Kidge watched the show from the day it started airing, whereas I waited for the entire series to air (bar the last two episodes) and watched it over the course of three days. Trust us when we say that this had a dramatic impact on our attitude towards the series. So here are our thoughts, take what you will.

Aimes: I definitely enjoyed this series and didn't feel like I had wasted my time at the end of it. 

Kidge: I didn't think I had wasted my time as such. I just felt like I had been robbed of what tho show could have been. I was left with slim pickings in terms of character development and really a story line. It's a shame they left all the big drops till the last 48 hours of the show. 

The last episode was a bit of a let down after the way they were wrapping everything up in the 19th. 

This is what I mean. They wrapped everything up in the 19th episode because the father has a lobotomy and randomly changes his mind, letting everything go that he had spent the past 15 episodes trying to stop. Suddenly it's all 'yay, the Kim Tan and Cha Eun Sung show'. And why were the political dealings of the company left until, literally, the last hour of the show? They had been setting up this titanic battle between the brothers, only to have it never actually occur.

I disagree on that one. I think we did see the battle between the brothers when Kim Tan finally decides he's not just going to roll over for his brother. There was a lovely moment of realisation on his brothers face when that happened. Then Kim Tan swishes his sword, everything goes to crap and he get his face all messed up. Titanic battle over.

I did actually love that moment when Kim Tan basically says 'I have loved you for the past 18 years and you have never loved me back! So screw you!' Run out, slam the door and have a cry like a 15 year old girl. I feel for you Tan, I really do.

One of the differences we realised when talking about this show was that Kidge had a very different view on how often we saw certain characters. 

Yeah. I frequently felt like most of the secondary characters that I actually enjoyed spending time with had about 2 minutes of air time every week, if they were lucky. I was always pleasantly surprised to see Bo-na and Chang-young gracing my screens. 

Loving the functional, dysfunctional relationship. Agreed. Highlight of the show. 

I did think there was some good character development. (Like what?) I feel like I will mostly want to talk about Young-do, because who doesn't love talking about him? I won't deny that some of my love for the character is a little about the actor, but I genuinely thought he was an interesting character, and I totally understand the idea of wanting someone to blame for a crappy situation. I also thought he had great chemistry with Eun-sang, and felt my heart break a little bit every time she rejected him. 

I on the other hand felt very little compassion for his character. He deserved to be rejected because he spent the first 10 episodes of their acquaintance terrorising her, tripping her, chucking her in pools and generally being a total jerk. (Wait I need to interject. Wait, wait.) Rejected. (Noooooo.) 

I admit that my heart of steel did crack a little towards the end when the writers finally decided to give him a reason for being an ass, and stopped giving him a string of (I'm trying to think of words to describe him but am limited by my attempt to keep this PG) hateful, hateful actions and reasonings for his complete and utter disregard for other human beings. 

I think watching his relationship develop with Eun-sang won me over because you could see him becoming a better person, though he sometimes went about it in the wrong way: Note: plan to throw soy milk everywhere, is not actually a good plan. (More like a five year old throwing a tantrum.)

I always hate bullies (ME TOOOOOOOOOO), and it disgusts me to watch them hurt others and have no one stand up for them. (Bystanders are bullies too.) I don't think their reasons ever make hurting others okay, but it gives you more understanding of why they are doing it. He had enough crap stuff in his life that his delinquent ways didn't seem completely unfounded. 

I guess I felt like all of this was too little too late. With so many of the story lines of each different character I felt like we spent so many episodes on setting up a plot that we understood in the first five minutes, only to spend the last few episodes actually dealing with the stuff that would have made the characters not only more likeable, but also way more interesting as well. I genuinely felt like there was no plot line for a good ten episodes. That's why the last episode was a series of shots, cutting between the fifteen different story lines they had set up, but only now had a chance to bring them to some kind of conclusion. Result = bad story telling and an even worse pay off for the audience. 

This is where watching it all in one go has its perks. Every time I discussed the fact that you hadn't seen Won for a million years, you would say, 'but I only just saw him 2 hours ago'. Yeah that was two weeks ago for me!

Ultimately, I didn't hate this show (as much as it might sound that way from this review), but I just felt that the show didn't live up to it's potential. There were so many great actors, and it could have been a really fun storyline, but every good moment in the show was accompanied by five frustrating ones. I couldn't love the show in the way I wanted to.

I definitely don't see this show as being one of my top favourites, but I know there will be scenes that I re-watch and gifs that I create in honour of the many funny and touching scenes that I had the pleasure of witnessing.

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