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

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho

6/10

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho 

Genre:                                   Episodes: 16                                   Year: 2010

Romance

Comedy

Fantasy

Synopsis:

Cha Dae Woong is a college student studying to become a stunt double in an action school. After accidently releasing a legendary nine-talied-fox sealed in a painting, he has an accident while the fleeing the scene. He is saved from his near-fatal accident after the gumiho he released gives him her ‘fox bead’ to heal his injuries. When Dae Woong wakes up, the gumiho scares him into letting her stay by his side until he recovers, so she can take back her bead. While Dae Woong slowly heals, he attempts to keep the gumiho, Gu Mi Ho, from accidently revealing herself to the world. Mi Ho then meets Park Dong Joo, a half supernatural being, who plans to return her to the painting, or kill her, while pretending to help her become human.

Cast:

Lee Seung Gi (Cha Dae Woong)

Shin Min Ah (Gu Mi Ho/Gil Dal)

No Min Woo (Park Dong Joo)

Park Soo Jin (Eun Hye In)

General Thoughts:

First of all, can we all just take a moment to appreciate how much Lee Seung Gi looks like Rupert Grint? Anyone else? Just me?

C'mon, he's basically Korean Ron Weasley

Moving along. The drama starts off well. Shin Min Ah is adorable. Lee Seung Gi is adorable. Together they are double adorable. There are some other characters, but no one really cares because the insane amounts of cute between our main leads is hard to look past. The plot, while not enthralling, is passable.

Who cares about anything else when you have this much gorgeousness to look at?

It’s a typical simple rom-com storyline: some event draws main couple together, some event keeps main couple together (even if they don’t want it), main couple must overcome some mundane obstacle, main couple are happy. And of course, the whole thing is doused in cute-sauce to distract from the rather minimal plot. Which is totally fine- the world needs happy-go-lucky, fluff dramas as much as it needs heavy, emotional ones. But then this drama takes a turn for the angsty and never comes back. Angst itself is not a bad thing, but honestly this drama didn’t do it well. All the drama basically comes from our two main leads being dishonest with each other (because they both think they know best), and making stupid choices. I just struggle to stomach it when our leads are total buffoons- particularly when they haven’t been retards for the first half of the drama.

We all knew we had a pair of selfless, stupid noble idiots on our hands

What Was Great:

Adorable Leading Lady:

Who can even be this cute? Seriously.

So I think we can all come to the agreement that Shin Min Ah is basically the cutest thing in the whole world, yes? Not only has she got the perfect face, but she pulled of clueless, innocent supernatural being as if she were born to play this role. As well as adorable, she could also pull out terrifying, soul-eating monster. Top stuff. Paired with Lee Seung Gi, they’re really just cuteness personified. Her desperate attempts to win his affections paired with her bold willingness to take what she wants is just a recipe for laughs. Seriously, if she and Lee Seung Gi ever had a child it would just be one giant dimple.

Gradual Shift to Love:

I really enjoyed that our main man had less than zero interest in Gu Mi Ho at the start of the drama. It basically just sets the floor for allowing in as much cute as is possible.

Woong-ah is NOT KEEN (at first)

We get all the cute of Mi Ho being head over heels for him mixed with the sadness when Woong-ah is mean to her- which only makes the moments he's nice to her that much more rewarding. Then we get the delightful progress of Woong-ah’s feelings as he starts to fall for Mi Ho. Yay. Adorable.

Soundtrack:

I adore the soundtrack to this drama. It’s cute and unique- exactly like the series, and is just a perfect fit. ‘Fox Rain’ still makes my heart happy whenever I hear it.

♪ Dubirubiru dubirubiru dubirubiruaffa ♪

What Wasn’t:

Noble Idiots:

About halfway through, this drama made a turn from rom-com to angsty melodrama. I don’t mind a bit of melo, but for hours and hours we had the same old melodrama revolving around the same old plot. “I’ll die for you”, “No! I’ll die for you!”, “If you die, I’ll die!”. Oh good lord, have mercy.

On the other hand- who didn't love all that angsty foxbead-swapping?

The only time this setup really worked for me was the first time it was tried, and the last time it was tried. The first time worked because it was a new turning point for this drama (even if we have seen it in countless others). With two characters like Woong-ah and Mi Ho, I had no doubt in my mind that we would at some stage reach the inevitable ‘separated to spare the other pain’, even though all the separation does is bring more pain.

Oh the pain...the pain of being a moron

I could live with it once, but when the idea kept recurring and the whole drama basically disintegrated into arguing about who would die, it just became exasperating. The last time the angst worked as our two main leads (finally) just decided to try and be happy with the cards they were dealt. I find this type of melo pulls at the heartstrings much more than grumpy separation, as the sad comes from some form of external force- rather than just having the leads make crappy decisions and making each other miserable. One noble idiot is more than enough in any drama. Two is just…yikes. And honestly, this drama bordered on three- Park Dong Joo sure had his noble idiot moments.

Half-Blood:

I'd be a lot madder if you weren't quite so pretty

Speaking of Park Dong Joo. What even. Why is he here? At first he’s set up to be a badass mystical beast slayer. Awesome, why didn’t you role with that show? While being a supernatural vet was kind of cute, it didn’t add a whole lot to the show. Dong Joo was always a character that never really got explained properly beyond ‘he once killed a gumiho he was keen on’. He wasn’t even close to evil enough to be considered a villain, and he wasn’t active enough to be considered Woong-ah’s love rival. Basically all he does all drama long is follow Mi Ho around with sad-eyes on, and whisper about how she’s making a mistake. The single time he actually does anything relevant to the plot is…oh yeah, that time he lied to Mi Ho and basically f*cked everything up and opened the gates for the angst and melo to come pouring in. Thanks d*ckwit. If you were any less-pretty I’d probably really hate you.

Re-watch?

Unfortunately, no. There was a lot I liked in this drama, but the pointless angst just killed it for me. 

The cute was great. Melo, not so much

Producers

Producers

8/10

Producers

Genre:                                   Episodes: 12                                   Year: 2015

Romance

Comedy

Mockumentary

Synopsis:

Baek Seung Chan has a crush on a KBS employee and decides to enter the same field of work as her. He enters the KBS entertainment division as a junior producer, where he is devastated to find his crush is involved with Ra Joon Mo, head producer of ‘2 Days & 1 Night’. Things worsen for Seung Chan as he begins having difficulties with Tak Ye Jin, head producer of ‘Music Bank’ and close friend of Ra Joon Mo. After Seung Chan is assigned to Joon Mo’s variety show as a junior producer, he meets popular singer Cindy, notorious for being stubborn and cold, who has agreed to join the program out of a growing interest in Baek Seung Chan.

Cast:

Kim Soo Hyun (Baek Seung Chan)

Gong Hyo Jin (Tak Ye Jin)

IU (Cindy)

Cha Tae Hyun (Ra Joon Mo)

 General Thoughts:

It’s a funny, endearing drama with funny, endearing characters. At first I was worried that much of the drama would be lost on me, as the only experience I really have with Korean Variety is 'Running Man', but I was happily surprised. The jokes presented in the drama are pretty universal and avoid being too ‘insider’. The humour and mockumentary style was helped along by tasteful cameos.

It's cute, and delightful, and emotional

The cast was delightful. As usual Kim Soo Hyun was magnificent, displaying his amazing acting abilities and embodying the awkward, honest man that is Baek Seung Chan. Gong Hyo Jin is wonderful as Tak Ye Jin- her straight-faced shamelessness and unwillingness to admit mistakes flowed effortlessly. But the real star of the cast is definitely Cha Tae Hyun.

All the pairings were adorable and plausible

So far I’ve only watched him in dramas where he is cast as a baddie, so it was marvellous to get a taste of his comedic flare (which I might add, is excellent). The main characters are just so real and believable- it’s hard not to become emotionally invested in their struggles. The lovelines flip-flop all over the place, which make the drama that much more compelling. Anyone could end up with anyone, and it would still make a satisfying conclusion. The mockumentary style of filming is unique and adds a great deal of humour- with scenes that directly oppose what our characters have said, right after they say it. Sadly though, this style seems to fall off the bandwagon a bit, and becomes a bit of an afterthought as the drama progresses.

What Was Great:

Earnest Maknae:

Kim Soo Hyun so perfectly fits the role of the hardworking junior with absolutely no social graces. His character, Baek Seung Chan, is developed nicely from the get go, with each scene seeming to add something new, no matter how small.

Kim Soo Hyun slays it in whatever role he plays

His inability to read sarcasm and his blissful obliviousness to social cues pair nicely with his childish pettiness, and make him a character that is a joy to watch on screen. He has wonderful relationships with the other main leads that continue to develop throughout the whole drama. The love-hate relationship with Ra Joon Mo is hilarious, as is his confused puppy-love relationship with Tak Ye Jin. The only fault in this character is that I wish they’d spent a little more time and effort developing Seung Chan’s relationship with Cindy. His sheer determination for Ye Jin and awkwardness towards everyone else wore a little thin towards the end, when I was really hoping his character would have a little burst of mature growth that propelled him from being a ‘boy’ character to a ‘man’ character.

So Many Lovelines:

At the risk of becoming vague and irritating, the show keeps our four main leads in an ever-tangled mess of feelings. And it works splendidly. All our characters seem to be looking lovingly at someone who is looking lovingly at someone else, but there are enough moments of semi-reciprocated feelings that we as viewers are never left feeling high and dry with no romance.

Lovelines...lovelines everywhere

The two love-triangles, or love-square, or whatever it is, is massively unpredictable. As the show progresses and our characters get even more developed, it’s easy to see the story swinging either way. And while I’m sure everyone has their own favourite pairing, the drama seems to quite easily avoid stepping on anyone’s toes, even as it ventures out and explores other love possibilities. All these lovelines really helped to mould Cindy into a relatable, pitiable character, while providing mass amounts of cute. At first I felt nothing for IU’s character, but the second the lovelines start getting messy- I got so many feels for Cindy, and basically loved everything about her.

Every girl's been here at least once

It’s absolutely heartbreaking to watch her loving someone who won’t even look at her, and the show really digs the knife in there by showing the similarities between Cindy and Seung Chan. Both of them are in unrequited loves, and neither knows what to do about it. Seung Chan bounces around like a puppy- doing everything and anything he can to make the girl he likes happy, while Cindy takes more of a backseat approach. She drops little hints now and then (which of course the socially incompetent Seung Chan totally overlooks) and continually sneaks peaks at him while waiting for him to notice her, even just a little. I wanted so badly for both of them to be happy, which basically destroyed my emotions, because those were two conflicting outcomes. I adore Joon Mo as well- his quiet, unacknowledged acts of kindness for Ye Jin when no one is looking are just unbearably sweet. It’s appealing to watch our four leads dance around this one underlying complication- do you potentially damage your relationship trying to change it, or do you stick with what you have? The twisted, tangled lovelines manage to provide both mass hilarity and mass feels.

♫Baby, can't you see-ee-ee...you belong with me-e-e, you belong with me♫

Just Plain Good Story:

While the lovelines did deliver the bulk of the story, all aspects of the plot were great. Behind the lovelines were a group of people struggling to figure out the world and make meaning in their lives.

What figuring out your life looks like

The continually developed friendships between our four main cast members were simply beautiful to watch, and it’s so easy to become invested in every aspect of their lives: work, friends, love. The plot is continuously moving forwards- while not always at a ripping pace, there is always some change in our characters, their views, or their situations.

Aww yeeeees

Kookie:

My main Korean heartthrob makes his acting debut! I went into this drama knowing that Kim Jong Kook was going to be making a couple of appearances, and I was tickled pink to see how much screen time he actually got. While I didn’t actually get the point of his character (except for adding in a few extra laughs), I thought he did an excellent job with his role, and hope to see him take on more acting in the future.

What Wasn’t:

Abandoning Style:

I really loved the mockumentary style. It added some dry wit and stark contrast humour into the series that is rarely seen in K-Dramas. I can understand why the people behind ‘Producers’ decided to drop the risky mockumentary style for a more conventional type of presentation, because if people in South Korea don’t appreciate it, the show won’t do well. However, the series was managing to score pretty high ratings even if its mockumentary spin was taking a bit of criticism, so I really wished they’d tried sticking it out for a bit longer.

I sincerely wish they'd kept this style throughout

Halt in Seung Chan’s Progress:

The drama started out looking like it was going to be about this young man’s development from a boy into a man. It was awkwardly humorous, but I didn’t mind at all when the show started to lean more towards the relationship dynamics rather than focusing solely on Beak Seung Chan.

Basically Seung Chan after any social interaction

Unfortunately, towards the end of the drama Kim Soo Hyun’s character just seemed to skid to a stop. Rather than making the gradual transition into wrapping the drama up, we had continued melancholy- with Seung Chan constantly trying to win Ye Jin over, and Ye Jin constantly having to let him down gently. While Seung Chan’s bleeding heart, overflowing tears, and boundless passion are simultaneously fascinating and heartbreaking to watch, it did get old. We’d seen it before, and frankly I was hoping we would get more of a look at how Seung Chan develops past this setback- how he reacts and responds after realising that pure effort cannot gain someone’s affections. These scenes became even more cringe worthy when compared to Cindy’s scenes. I felt far more compassion and sympathy for Cindy quietly ‘building up and tearing down her house’ on her own, than for Seung Chan trying to force his way into Ye Jin’s heart. It got to the point where it felt as though Ye Jin had expressed herself clearly (and repeatedly) but the young maknae still couldn’t let her move away from him and be happy with another man.

Son, just leave the woman alone

It also adds a bit of salt in the wound to see that each time he behaved in this mildly irritating, clingy way, Cindy (who rapidly became my favourite character) was left even more heartbroken and lonesome. Those scenes where Seung Chan rushed to Ye Jin and abandoned Cindy while she waited for him- not needing a man, but simply a friend- practically made me disintegrate into tears. Open your eyes foolish boy!

Re-watch?

Absolutely. I loved every moment of this drama, and became invested in all four of our main characters. The end was pleasing and satisfying, and I can’t wait to experience it all again.

So many feelings