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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Unemployed Romance

Written by Kidge.

Could someone please explain to me why they chose to make this show only 10 episodes? Everyone wants to see more of Namgung Min. I feel totally jipped. It actually prevented me from being able to enjoy this show because it meant the storyline had to be condensed into a measly ten hours!

Quick summary: A man and woman who once dated are reunited in the unemployment benefits office as a result of Im Seung Hee’s recent unemployment. Kim Jong-dae is none to happy to see the woman who tore out his heart, so drama ensues. 

Thoughts:

I was so excited for this show to air because I love Namgung Min, plus the promos looked super cute. But I ended up feeling unfulfilled, mainly because of the number of episodes this show was slated to have. I knew this from the start but went in with hope, only to feel like a fluffy bunny had been taken from me.

There were things to love about this show, namely the central romance. We spent a lot of time seeing their relationship in the past, which was filled with some adorable scenes. Watching Namgung Min being frazzled and love whipped pretty much made my day. But unfortunately we always returned to the present, which was so incredibly slow. We don’t even see a single shot of Kim Jong-dae until like episode four. I was practically chaffing at the bit wondering when the actual plot line was going to begin.

That is what I found frustrating about the show. If it had been sixteen episodes, I wouldn’t have minded the slow build up and introduction to the central romance. But it was just frustrating, and ultimately a waste when there was only ten hours to work with. The result was a rushed ending which gave us no time to enjoy them as a couple in the present.

Unfortunately I can’t stand characters not being together for the good of the other, and being weak willed in going after what is obviously the right person for you just grinds my gears. So I found myself lacking a certain love for the writers of this show. However, I congratulate them on the oddity that is Park Jin-joo. This assistant writer stole most of the scenes that she was in.

Ultimately, I think if you go in knowing that the show is a slow burn, and mainly focused on working through issues from the past, rather than seeing a huge amount of progress in the present, then you will enjoy this show more than I did. Plus if you watch it now, you won’t have the frustration of only one episode per week, which makes me remember why I don’t watch Western TV series live.

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K-Drama Review: Mirae’s Choice/Marry Him If You Dare

Written by Aimes.

So this will definitely contain spoilers.

I’m going to talk about the end first because that’s what everyone is going crazy over. For all you realists out there, I understand your explanations of the ending. Really, I do. But when Yoon Eun-Hye is in a drama and there is no kiss, consider me displeased. Having said that, I still thought it was a pretty good drama. Like with most dramas, I did skip stuff, but I do that with everything I watch.

What I was impressed with was the ability of this show to convert me to a Kim Shin fan. When Jung Yong-Hwa rocked in as Park Se-Joo, I didn’t think Lee Dong-Gun stood a chance of becoming my bias, but as the show wore on, I was completely converted.

Hands up if these scenes had you squealing like a small child at Christmas.

Now this isn’t to say I didn’t love Se-Joo, because I totally did, but I think it was a bit of a friend-zone situation with him and Mirae. Such a great guy, they seem totally natural together, but the deeper relationship chemistry isn’t quite there. They did have some really cute/funny moments though. I totally approve of all their skinship.

Big brother Na Joo-Hyun (Oh Jung-Se) also gets a mention for his protectiveness of Mirae and their great sibling chemistry. 

Another thing I loved was the character growth of Seo Yoo-Kyung. It wasn’t that you saw her family and situation and felt sorry for her –I hate the idea of anyone suddenly feeling bad for/liking her just because of pity. She had already won me over during the Pandoras Box interview with the family who’s house was renovated. This scene also holds a special place in my heart.

Overall, it was worth watching. It's a good drama with some great character development, cute and fluffy moments and displays of manly sadness. Too bad the ending sucked.

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