Hwarang

Hwarang

8.5/10

Hwarang

Genre:                                 Episodes: 20                          Year: 2017

Historical

Romance

Synopsis:

Queen Jisoo has ruled the Kingdom of Silla since the death of her husband. She keeps her son hidden from the people under the guise of wanting to protect him while she remains in power. Men from noble families plot against the Queen and the unseen young King, desiring to take the throne for their own families. In order to force the nobles to be loyal, the Queen creates Hwarang- an army of young men whose sole purpose is to protect the unknown King, and is made up of the sons of the noble families. Amongst the Hwarang is Ji Dwi, the young King himself, and Sun Woo, a nameless peasant posing as a nobleman’s son.

Cast:

Park Seo Joon (Moo Myung/Sun Woo)

Go Ara (Ah Ro)

Park Hyung Shik (Ji Dwi)

Choi Minho (Soo Ho)

Do Ji Han (Ban Ryu)

Seo Ye Ji (Princess Sookmyung)

Jo Yoon Woo (Yeo Wool)

V (Han Sung)

Kim Hyun Joon (Dan Se)

Kim Ji Soo (Queen Jiso)

Sung Dong Il (Wi Hwa Gong)

Lee Da In (Soo Yeon)

Lee Kwang Soo (Mak Moon)

General Thoughts:

Okay, I’ll admit- this show was definitely not without flaws. In fact, there were many, many flaws. So why did I rate it so highly? Because despite some of it’s plot-holes and dropped story-lines, it was still highly entertaining.

Yes...highly entertaining.

Though I do believe that those who disliked the drama were far louder than those who liked it, I can agree that it is by no means flawless and understand how some people were disappointed with it. But I liked it a lot. It was just the thing I was wanting at the time- a lighthearted youth drama set in a historical period.

Cute youth romance. Plus swords. And death.

I really like historical dramas, but I always find myself getting bored by the wordy political goings on in the second halves when there are swords and poison and you can kill people and make things interesting, but they tend to…not. The lightheartedness of ‘Hwarang’ meant that I could enjoy the things I like about historical dramas (the clothes, the rules, the dangers) without having to sit through looooong stretches of our hero and our villain exchanging hard-to-follow (particularly if some of it isn’t translated as well as it could be) banter about how they will bring each other down, while in actuality nothing much happens. It’s one of the great reasons I like this drama- things happened. While one conflict came to a close, one or two more were already jumping up to take centre stage. So yes, the writing may not have been as smooth or as flawless as we would have liked, but I could be happily distracted by other aspects of the drama. The greenness of the writer (this is her first drama) became quite apparent at the end of the series when things didn’t tie-up quite as nicely as they could have. While I adored Han Sung and thought his death was brilliant (both the way it occurred and the acting behind it from V and Kim Hyun Joon), it didn’t actually add anything to the story, and ended up being quite a meaningless death when it could have been so much more.

What do you mean you have to finish telling the story after he's dead?

Sun Woo wasn’t really impacted by the death of his friend, and it didn’t motivate him to any action. He was sad for a scene or two, then got over it. Similarly, it didn’t seem to have any great impact on Dan Se- he was sad, tried to kill himself, then nothing. Then suddenly he’s a Hwarang- how did that happen? The story of the brothers was deeply enjoyable, but sadly lost its way at the end and fizzled out. On the other hand, Ban Ryu’s side-story was just brilliant. It had the perfect amount of comedy to balance out the more serious parts of the drama, and the story arc had a nice complete feeling.

100% best Hwarang boy side-story

The smaller love-line wasn’t without its bumps, but those issues were never blown out of proportion, and it was a cute little deviation away from the main plot-line. I was never disappointed to have screen time given to Ban Ryu and Soo Yeon. Also, on an unrelated side-note, I think the reason I enjoyed this drama more than other viewers is that I watched the episodes back-to-back rather than waiting a week in between.

Funny, when you watch 8 episodes a day the plot just seems to move quicker

This meant that the small pieces of new information came relatively quickly- I didn’t have to wait weeks for one new development. I can understand how some people became frustrated with the slow pacing and spaced out reveals. This is definitely a drama to marathon rather than waiting. I guess another reason people were so vocal about their dislike for this series is that fallen expectation is a bitter pill to swallow (as I discovered myself in ‘Legend of the Blue Sea'). A lot of people were hoping for a lot of different things from this series, so expectations were pretty high. The key to enjoying this drama- expect nothing and thus avoid disappointment. Anyway, moving on. I didn’t quite see the necessity for the Princess at all, except that there really should be more than one female character. But the Princess didn’t do all that much, and her motivations were extremely unclear. It didn’t help that I’m not a fan of Seo Ye Ji. It’s not that I think she’s a bad actress, I just find something a little lacking and it puts me off both her and her characters.

Go away Princess. You're awkward and weird and not in a funny way.

It’s almost as if she can bring all the right emotions on her face, but there’s something hard and almost robotic underneath that prevents her characters from having any likability (for me).

It's like he's making up for all that lack of emotion in 'She Was Pretty'

Which doesn’t work so well when the character is also a giant hard-ass who supposedly learns to soften up a bit (I saw no softening).The rest of the acting was pretty fabulous. Park Seo Joon was amazing as our leading man. I love him when he gets to emote. He brought a lot of emotion to the story, and starting out with him and his friend in so much danger really stuck us right into his mindset- screw the nobles and the King who think they’re so much better than everyone else. Park Seo Joon held Sun Woo’s anger well, even as he started to grow friendly with the Hwarang boys. Even though he was starting to love these kids, he was still horrifically scarred by what had happened to his only friend and wanted some sort of revenge. Park Hyun Shik also acted well, and managed to hold his own next to Park Seo Joon. While I don’t think they’re on the same level, Ji Dwi had far less emotional scenes than Sun Woo did, which made it easier for Park Hyung Shik. I found his confliction between wanting to hide and wanting to step forward as King believable and though I didn’t appreciate his insanely pushy and assertive attitude towards our heroine, I did believe his affection for her.

Maybe I'd like you more if you weren't such an entitled weenie. Who knows.

Go Ara was okay as our leading lady. She was fantastic in parts of the story that let her character have any sort of personality, but was reduced to a typical heroine that needed saving for most of the show’s run. I’m pretty accustomed to female characters in historical dramas being pretty darn useless, so the inactivity of the heroine didn’t really bother me that much.

Please save me...again.

I do find it funny that so many people were out to criticise Go Ara and the character she played when she was no more useless than the heroine in ‘Moonlight Drawn by Clouds’ which everyone loved and raved over. Park Bo Gum effect, I guess. While I wouldn’t say the romance here was one of the greatest romances I’ve ever seen, it was cute and enjoyable and I loved the hero enough that I was happy for him to be in a relationship with the girl he liked, even if she was constantly being used to control him. The drama was very pretty to look at- the costumes, actors, and sets were all phenomenal and wonderful to look at. The music was a nice blend of traditional and modern. The modern twist on the series added a sense of youthfulness to it, and made it feel much more lighthearted than your typical sageuk. I’m not sure if it happened in the whole series and I only noticed in the last three episodes, or if it only occurred in the last three episodes, but sometimes I did find that the drama was relying a little too heavily on its soundtrack, and I started to notice the absence of other sounds (such as footsteps or doors closing) as the only sound that was being played was the music. All in all, I found ‘Hwarang’ to be an extremely enjoyable watch despite its shortcomings. I found the story very addictive, even if it wasn’t perfect, and look forward to this writer developing her skills and coming out with new dramas.

Did these boys ever actually learn how to fight? This is the most poorly trained militia ever.

What Was Great:

Cameo:

Lee Kwang Soo was magic at the beginning of this series. I was pretty disappointed when I saw he wasn’t in the main cast meaning his appearance was but a cameo. But what a cameo it was.

You total star- I hope you get more serious roles soon ★

Lee Kwang Soo’s character basically sets the stage for everything to happen. Mak Moon is the one who brings Sun Woo into the city, and it’s Mak Moon’s death that sparks Sun Woo’s desire for revenge. The story could have totally fallen apart if the character of Mak Moon hadn’t been strong enough, but Lee Kwang Soo delivered an absolutely stunning performance. He was delightful in his happy scenes, and the chemistry between him and Sun Woo was so sweet and so engaging. And then Mak Moon’s death was just carried out perfectly. Lee Kwang Soo acted the scene with the perfect amount of fear and love and his death really ripped your heart apart. His performance was so strong and so memorable that the character remained a constant presence throughout the whole drama. It was clear that Mak Moon was often the driving force behind Sun Woo’s actions, and where his love for Ah Ro started. It was brilliant that the drama didn’t shy away from being bloody. While Mak Moon’s death was pretty gory (by K-Drama romance standards), it did ensure that we as the audience felt horrified and offended by the murder just as Sun Woo did. It never felt like Sun Woo was overacting in his revenge because the scene was so vivid and so heartbreaking. Lee Kwang Soo really owned the character and gave a spectacular (albeit short) performance.

Where Lee Kwang Soo died and everyone cried

Tightening Tension:

One of the better aspects of the writing for this drama was that they knew how to build tension. There was never any point in the story where nothing was happening- there was always some sort of conflict for our hero and his boys to face. And as the story progressed, these conflicts gradually intensified.

Fight, fight, fight

While there’s nothing boring in any of the conflicts our hero faced, it could have been a bit of a let down and led to a slow in momentum if some of the bigger situations happened before other smaller ones. However, all the conflicts seemed to happen in the right order at the right time, so it really felt like our characters were growing as people and learning how to step up and face bigger, more complicated tasks. My favourite piece of tension was definitely our foray into foreign territory with Sun Woo stepping up and claiming to be King to save the lives of civilians. It was a fantastic climatic point in the story, and served as a successful tool to switch the focus from external forces trying to damage Hwarang to the internal struggle between the two kings. I do think the writing was pretty good overall, the writer just needs to learn how to neaten up and tighten a few aspects of the story.

What Wasn’t:

What’s With the Queen?:

The Queen made no sense. None whatsoever. I spent most of this series thinking she was a villain only to find out that she…wasn’t? Was? I don’t know, I’m still confused. We were never told what the Queen’s motivations were for keeping Ji Dwi off the throne, and that just made her character too confusing.

So much screen-time, so little sense

Sure, there can be grey characters who aren’t just good or just bad, but it wasn’t like that for the Queen- she just had no idea what she wanted to be. It never felt like she was trying to protect her son from assassination attempts, but it also never quite felt like she was trying to steal the throne from him.

Oh wait, this was a thing? Let's just ignore it and hope the audience forgets...

It was quite awkward. The backstory between the Queen and Sun Woo’s father (the fake one, not the real one) was dropped pretty early and didn’t really get picked up again, which just left a bigger question mark over the Queen. Who is this lady? What does she want? Why’s she being such a b*tch to everyone? Alas, some questions have no answers. It also didn’t help that I didn’t think the actress was doing such a great job (which is understandable, the character was difficult). She never felt all that threatening, but she also never felt all that loving. The weird love-line (crush-line?) with Soo Ho was also confusing as hell and super weird. She’s old enough to be your mother. She is the mother of one of your mates. Yeah, could have done without that one.

Where’s the Promised Bromance?:

Yes, we’ve arrived. The biggest issue with this drama and the main reason for the malcontentment of the masses. There was no bromance. Well, there was some- but very little.

There was a bit- but not nearly enough

It is very much a story that focuses on the main love-line and the love-triangle. Not so much the young men growing into independent shapers of the future. Which, I guess, it kinda did promise to be. Whoops. Friendships always make a story meatier, and this drama would have been much more compelling if relationships between the boys had been given more screen-time and development. The boys were all introduced in such rapid concession that I had some trouble figuring out who’s who (I wasn’t a religious follower of the casting news, which kinda seemed necessary during the character introduction phase).

This isn't bromantic at all

Then the side boys didn’t get a lot of screen time so it took that much longer to mark down all the characters, who they were, and what roles they’d likely be playing in the story. While I didn’t mind the romance, I did find myself wanting more about Hwarang as a whole, rather than just the King and the Fake King who just so happened to be in Hwarang. There was also very little friendship between the King and the Fake King. Ji Dwi was a total toss-bucket at the start of the show, and was really quite rude to Sun Woo- especially when you consider that Ji Dwi believed Sun Woo was the biological older brother of the girl he was interested in. The friendship between the two boys was really pretty shallow and pretty short. Unfortunately this meant that the drama’s final conflict lacked a lot of substance. 1- I never truly believed Sun Woo wanted to be King as it was so out of character for him. 2- there was no ‘oh no I might have to kill my best mate for the good of the nation’ because, well, they weren’t really best mates. The final conflict could have been so much more compelling if the drama had spent a little more time focusing on the friendship of these two boys, rather than only on their rivalry.

Imagine how intense this would be if I thought you guys actually cared about each other at all

Re-watch?

Maaaaybeee. It’s one I’d probably like to watch again, but as I’m discovering on an occurring basis- there are so many dramas and so little time. If I won the lotto and never had to work again and suddenly had more time than I knew what to do with- yes, I would revisit ‘Hwarang’.

It would have been pretty cool if the guys had done something as a team too

Because It's the First Time

Because It’s the First Time

6/10

Because It's the First Time

Genre:                            Episodes: 8                                Year: 2015

Romance

Synopsis:

Five teenagers have been friends since childhood. As they grow older, they begin to become more aware and interested in romance. Relationships between the friends begin to become more complicated as the dynamics between them change.

Cast:

Choi Minho (Yoon Tae Oh)

Park So Dam (Han Song Yi)

Kim Min Jae (Seo Ji An)

Jeong Eu Gene (Ryo Se Hyun)

Lee Yi Kyung (Choi Hoon)

Cho Hye Jung (Oh Ga In)

General Thoughts:

It’s a sweet and entertaining youth drama. Emphasis on the youth. The awakening of feelings and the ensuing confused emotions beautifully captures the choppy waters of adolescence. 

Said every 20-year old ever

The five friends are cute and have an easy, relaxed chemistry between them that makes for some wonderful relationships. Plus the drama is a step in the right direction for SHINee’s Minho- who encountered a bit of a conundrum in his last drama. 

It's not super exciting- but it is cute

‘Because It’s the First Time’ is a much more humble project- with a less known cast, less promotion, and overall less hype. Which is awesome as it sets us up more to be delightfully surprised rather than bitterly disappointed. I wouldn’t exactly say that the series is delightfully surprising- but it does deliver what it promised. A short and sweet watch about how relationships change once friendship starts hinting at romance. Beyond the relationships, there’s absolutely nothing going on plot-wise, but that doesn’t really matter in such a short series. That being said, adding Se Hyun into the mix provided a much needed shake-up, both for Tae Oh and his friends. Adding in new blood brought out the biggest question for Tae Oh- does he want a girl that’s new and exciting, or close and comfortable? All in all, it’s a sweet little watch about friendship and growing up. 

What Was Great:

All Those Relationships:

Seeing as it was the whole point, it was nice that the writers were able to interweave all these relationships so smoothly and intricately.

The magic of friendship. And beer.

Very early on we learn to understand the differing dynamics among our group of friends and how those dynamics change depending on who is present. I loved the way the relationships were set up, and adored all of the pairings. The writers really displayed their manipulative magic in the way they set the viewers up on the path for the final pairings they had planned. The cast was wonderful. While the actors are far from seasoned veterans, they also didn’t reek of inexperience.

The only time it's okay that our leading man didn't get the girl. Or any girl.

The drama’s plot was easy and relaxed, as were its characters, which let the slightly green cast settle into their roles easily.

This is where it's at

The End: 

So rarely do I enjoy open-ended conclusions to K-Dramas, but it this case I really appreciated the inconclusiveness.

Being that it’s a drama all about youth, it would be mildly unsettling if the writers tried to make out that our characters’ lives were all wrapped up and concluded. Some people may have been disappointed at the wrap-up for our hero, but I actually liked that our main guy didn’t get the girl. In the end it wasn’t really a story about romance, but a story about friendship. Tae Oh needed the time-out and a bit of space to try and figure himself out, and he would have had to go to the army eventually anyway- so why not now? It was a wonderfully bittersweet conclusion to our very youth-filled drama.

What Wasn’t:

A Little Slow:

Seeing as there was basically no plot, the drama wasn’t exactly fast-paced. But it also didn’t drag too much. It was entertaining enough to watch as a simple slice-of-life drama, but looking back…nothing actually happens.

Have some more friendship

Re-watch?

Probably not. It was simple and relaxing, but kind of gave off a one-time-only vibe.

Worth the first watch though

To the Beautiful You

To the Beautiful You

5.5/10

To the Beautiful You 

Genre:                                   Episodes: 16                                   Year: 2012

Romance

Comedy

School

Synopsis:

Gold medallist high-jumper, Kang Tae Joon, has entered a slump in his sporting career after an injury. Rumours start to spread about his inability to continue with the sport, and his company begins to contemplate pushing forward his retirement. Koo Jae Hee is an avid fan of Tae Joon. In order to encourage him and help him get over his slump, she disguises herself as a boy and enters the all-boys high school that Tae Joon attends.

Cast:

Sulli (Koo Jae Hee)

Choi Minho (Kang Tae Joon)

Lee Hyun Woo (Cha Eun Gyeol)

Kim Ji Won (Seol Ha Na)

Kang Ha Neul (Min Hyun Jae)

Ki Tae Young (Dr Jang Min Woo)

General Thoughts:

The drama starts off fairly well- a sparkly cast and cross-dressing hijinks set the scene pretty well, but all too soon it becomes evident that that’s all the drama really has going for it. Which isn’t even close to enough substance to stretch over 16 episodes.

The star-studded cast

Sigh, yet another drama doomed to gradual decline after the mid-way point. I’ve seen enough idols acting to know that many of them can act well enough. Unfortunately, I just don’t believe that Sulli and Minho fall into this group.

I adore you- but I wasn't buyin' it

While I wouldn’t go as far as saying Minho was straight up bad- he was just drastically outshone by the two professional actors playing support characters. It’s hard to blame Sulli for the weak performance as Koo Jae Hee, as the character herself is just so bland and poorly constructed. Would a more experienced actress have been able to breathe more life into our leading lady? Maybe. Or maybe the boring Jae Hee was going to be a flop no matter what poor, innocent actress took her on. The plot was equally as weak as the acting. There is no sufficient reason given (until halfway) to why this young girl has gone through all the trouble of entering an all-boys high school- except that she’s a massive fan. Even when we’re given a snippet of the motivation behind our leading lady’s actions- the reasoning feels weak, forced, and totally unrealistic. While the whole drama seems to want to centre around Jae Hee reigniting Tae Joon’s passion for high jump…it doesn’t actually crop up that often, except whenever Jae Hee needs to formulate a reason to stay in Korea.

We'll just ignore that it's glaringly obvious that she's got a V where there
should be a P

Instead, the drama chooses to focus on the budding relationship between the two main leads, and our second main lead’s homosexuality crisis (which is actually hilarious and endearing). This shift in focus may not have been as boring as it was, had there been continuous development. Alas, once Tae Joon discovers Jae Hee is a girl all development screeches to a halt and we spend a substantial amount of episodes rehashing old information, and begging someone to tell poor Eun Gyeol that his crush is indeed a lady. At the end of the series, I was relieved it was over, as the second half seemed to serve no purpose other than to infuriate its viewers. The whole drama reeked of wasted potential and ‘if only’s’.

If only this muppet got the girl

What Was Great:

Pretty People:

It was like playing 'Where's Waldo Woo Bin'

I don’t doubt that the point of the star line-up was to jag the attention of fans. I, myself, fell victim to this ploy. Being rather new to K-Drama and the K-pop culture scene, I was pretty excited to see a cast line-up where I knew not only the two main leads, but a handful of the supporting cast as well. I was surprised however, to see that Kim Woo Bin did not play a large role, but merely an extended cameo, considering that when you Google (yes I Google K-drama casts, don’t judge) this drama- Kim Woo Bin is one of the first cast-members noted. For the first half or so of the drama, the writers successfully manage to cover the rather lacking plot by simply dragging its stars into the spot-light and saying “Ooo! Look who it is!” We were all fooled.

Bromance:

The bromance turned out to be a bit of a double-edged sword for this poor drama. I’ll tell you right now, it’s not the very minimal bromance between lead character Kang Tae Joon and Cha Eun Gyeol that won hearts- but the sweet, heart-melting friendship between Cha Eun Gyeol and Min Hyun Jae. It was truly a wondrous thing to behold. While it may have taken a while to kick into gear, it’s definitely one of the highlights of the drama. From the moment Hyun Jae so easily accepted the potentially gay inclinations of his roommie, we all knew we were in for a treat.

I could watch a whole drama about these two

The two boys absolutely shone in whatever scenes they were in, so it came as no surprise to anyone that the scenes with the two together were shiny, sparkly gold. Unfortunately, this did lead to the unintentional downside of Tae Joon looking like even more of a bland, emotionless robot. While we’re on the subject, both Lee Hyun Woo and Kang Ha Neul rocked my socks off in this drama.

Eun Gyeol > Tae Joon

I felt more connection to these two side characters than I ever did with our two main leads, and I can’t help but wonder if it really was poor construction of the main couple, or simply an obvious difference in acting ability. Cha Eun Gyeol was an easily likeable character, and his character arc was enjoyable enough even if it did become a tad repetitive. He bore a striking similarity to Gong Yoo in ‘Coffee Prince’- willing to switch up his sexual preferences for the ‘man’ he loves. But unlike Gong Yoo, poor Cha Eun Gyeol reaps none of the rewards for his bravery and unshakable heart. Sadly, this also makes Koo Jae Hee come across as a bit of a selfish, heartless b*tch. Yet another unintended drawback of making a side character far too loveable. And Kang Ha Neul- I was already predisposed to love Kang Ha Neul’s character because (surprise) I love Kang Ha Neul. He displays his brilliant acting chops as an angry high jump rival to Kang Tae Joon, while also carrying problems of his own. Despite his few scenes in the spotlight, Kang Ha Neul grabs whatever chance he’s given on screen to completely own his character. Through his excellent displays of emotion, we always knew there was more beneath the surface of the disgruntled, hard-working rival, and it was easy to sympathise with his situation and understand his actions. And these actions just opened the gateway for so much boy-bonding, whether it’s between himself and Eun Gyeol, or himself and Tae Joon. Surprisingly, Min Hyun Jae was the driving force behind a lot of the quality moments in this drama. Poor Minho, Lee Hyun Woo and Kang Ha Neul really left him in their dust.

We totally watched for the 'plotline'

No Dramatic Flip-out:

While there is a lot this drama didn’t do well, this is one moment that really must be applauded. I was unbelievably happy when Tae Joon didn’t lose his sh*t upon discovering that Jae Hee was a girl. Instead, he set out to watch over her and protect her secret- a much more pleasing relationship turn than getting irrationally angry at this ‘betrayal’.

Way more fun than fights

Granted, we did have this moment with Eun Gyeol- but unlike Tae Joon, he had fallen for Jae Hee thinking she was a guy and not a girl, and literally so many people already knew her secret that it was drastically unfair not to tell him. Oh well, Tae Joon handled it well. Snaps for Tae Joon.

Minho’s Dedication:

Personally, I didn’t find Minho to be the most convincing actor, but I have nothing but respect for his complete dedication to the role. It would be easy enough to let a stunt-double do all the high jumping scenes, but Minho put in a huge deal of effort to do much of the jumping himself, and worked hard to be physically fit for the drama. Who wasn’t amazed by the 105 camera spin-shot of Minho high jumping in Episode 1?

It was top-notch

What Wasn’t:

Zero Chemistry:

Awkwaaardddd

There was NO believable chemistry going on between Koo Jae Hee and Kang Tae Joon. None. This is surprising seeing how Sulli and Minho seem to get along extremely well off screen. While there were plenty of cute moments- it was all in the set up, and not much oomph came from the execution. And yet there seemed to be so many sparks with Lee Hyun Woo. Granted, he was playing a much more open character, but I felt much more connection between Jae Hee and Eun Gyeol than I ever did with her and Tae Joon. Perhaps the awkwardness between two stars from the same agency was too much to squash completely. Perhaps the acting experience of Lee Hyun Woo made Sulli feel more comfortable. Who knows? All that’s obvious is there wasn’t a whole heap of zing between Minho and Sulli on our screens.

Plot Disintegration:

Boy did that storyline slow to a crawl. There wasn’t much going on plot-wise to begin with, and with no new conflict introduced, the series was heading for disaster. For a few episodes the writers seemed to think they could ride on the dramatic lead-up heading towards Jae Hee’s discovery with a bit of pitiful, gay (or so he thought) Eun Gyeol thrown in. But no, this is not enough to sustain several episodes of drama.

"Is that our plot? But...where's it going?"

As loveable as Eun Gyeol was, his constant whining and depression did start to grate on nerves. Also, whatever happened to Woo Bin? Talk about an abandoned plot-point.

America:

What. Is. This. Rubbish.

Okay, why the hell was it necessary for Jae Hee to return to America? Was it that inconceivable an idea that she attend a girl’s school or a co-ed school in South Korea? Apparently so. K-Drama’s just love their long separations and what-not, so though it was massively infuriating and a wildly bad end to a drama that wasn’t all bad- off to America she goes. Oy.

Re-watch?

Absolutely bloody not. I still maintain a lot of love for the stars of this drama, and there were definitely points that were enjoyable to watch. But the second half was excruciating and more than slightly maddening, and I just don’t think I could ever do it again.

What is lacked in substance, it (almost) made up for with pretty