Fight My Way

Fight My Way

7/10

Fight My Way

Genre:                                Episodes: 16                          Year: 2017

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Four friends have been together since childhood and have grown into adults together. Go Dong Man wants to be a professional fighter, Choi Ae Ra an announcer, Baek Seol Hee a housewife, and Kim Joo Man a businessman. As Dong Man and Ae Ra set out to achieve there dreams, Seol Hee and Joo Man’s six-year relationship gets rocky.

Cast:

Park Seo Joon (Go Dong Man)

Kim Ji Won (Choi Ae Ra)

Song Ha Yoon (Baek Seol Hee)

Ahn Jae Hong (Kim Joo Man)

Lee Elijah (Park Hye Ran)

Kim Gun Woo (Kim Tak Soo)

Pyo Ye Jin (Jang Ye Jin)

Jin Hee Kyung (Hwang Bok Hee)

General Thoughts:

It’s a cute, breezy drama with enough substance in it to keep it memorable. The plot is essentially entirely character driven- there’s no huge overarching event, no ultimate evil- only a group of adults struggling to find their feet in the world.

The Fantastic Four

It was a smart move to have the friends each focus on different aspects of their lives rather than just having a show about four people chasing their dreams or finding love or developing their careers. While Dong Man and Ae Ra had storylines about following their dreams, Seol Hee’s story focused on figuring out who she was and what she wanted, and Joo Man’s story was about realising what was most important.

100% Relatable

Simple slice-of-life stories are becoming more common now in K-Drama (Radiant Office, Age of Youth, Weightlifting Fairy), and there’s a reason why. Characters in these types of stories are just far more relatable than stories about the super rich or the super poor or the super talented. It’s easier to connect with these characters because they feel more like ourselves, and they also tend to act much more reasonable and adult-like than characters in other genres. This was certainly the case in ‘Fight My Way’. All of our main characters acted their age and had reasonable, rational decisions behind everything they did (which we actually get surprisingly little of in K-Dramaland). Although we might not agree with their choices, the choices are still understandable. For instance Ae Ra’s ultimatum. I’m never really a fan of ultimatums as they are essentially an illusion of choice or a threat, with Ae Ra leaning more towards threat. It felt a bit like she was using their relationship to crush Dong Man’s dreams for her own piece of mind. Even if you viewed it as a low and dirty tactic, you could still always see Ae Ra’s point of view. She doesn’t like seeing Dong Man get hurt with the very real possibility that he could be permanently injured or even die, so she has every right to take a step back and distance herself from something that is very likely to cause her considerable pain in the future.

I may not agree with it, but at least I get it

It’s not the action I’d take, and it’s not particularly the action I wanted Ae Ra to take, but it was understandable all the same. Another good aspect of this drama is that it didn’t have any gimmicky villains the way rom-coms can sometimes have. Tak Soo was our biggest threat, and he wasn’t unnecessarily involved with our hero’s story. He was there as an obstacle to overcome, and he didn’t lie down and make it easy, but he also wasn’t a character that was obnoxiously in the way making trouble for Dong Man simply because he’s the hero and bad guys need to make trouble for the hero.

Golly gosh, Park Seo Joon's got beefy

Hye Ran was a character that was also used very effectively. She was involved when we needed her to be and was just present enough to make Ae Ra feel nervous. Despite what K-Drama writers seem to think, we don’t actually like b*tchy second leads who use up a bunch of screen-time- particularly if our hero is somehow ridiculously oblivious to her b*tchy ways. Hye Ran was always present in the story, but the writers knew when to pull her character out of the main focus and give our leads space to breathe and be cute. And boy were they cute.

Having her be too involved could have totally ruined the show

I didn’t think the leads had chemistry that was off the charts, but they had an easy and relaxed vibe between them that made the friends-to-lovers angle feel genuine. I liked that the second leads had interests and conflicts outside of the two main leads, as so often we’re given a big ol’ love square. It was refreshing to have not one, but two couples with different concerns, and gave the second leads more depth than they otherwise might have had. It’s a good way to ensure that there’s always some cute going on- before Dong Man and Ae Ra got together Seol Hee and Joo Man were happy and adorable. When Joo Man and Seol Hee started to have some pretty big relationship issues, Ae Ra and Dong Man were in the stages of a newly budding romance. It’s an easy and effective way to ensure that the drama maintains its lighthearted feel throughout, even when something meatier was happening in the plot. While I did enjoy the distinct separateness of the two couples, I still wish that the writers had included more of the supposed ‘fantastic four’ all together. There was certainly a sense that these people had been longterm friends, but it would have been an added bonus to see them interacting with each other a bit more rather than just pairing off. I will admit that at times it felt kind like we were just watching two couples’ stories that happened to exist in the same K-Drama Universe. 

More scenes like this would have been excellent

What Was Great:

Small Moments:

It was definitely the small moments that were the heart and soul of the show- as it so often is in slice-of-life dramas. While big declarations of love and loyalty can be pretty swoony, there’s something golden about an act of real love that goes unannounced and doesn’t draw attention to itself.

Small moments can often have a bigger impact than large-scale declarations

It makes the relationships feel deeper when the characters don’t make a big deal of their actions, as it translates as a desire to simply do something good for the other, rather than gain recognition for the good that they do. I found this was particularly the case with the parents in ‘Fight My Way’. The episode that had Dong Man’s father come and visit him was full of these quiet, understated moments that showed how much these men loved each other, even if they didn’t always say it out loud. Similarly, the scene in which Ae Ra has her MC gig taken away from her by Hye Ran leads to a beautiful moment between Ae Ra and her father. While Ae Ra is feeling wronged and highly humiliated, her father knows exactly how to comfort her without coddling her. By telling her that the stage wasn’t big enough for her he simultaneously tells her that it’s okay that she lot this one job, and that he’ll always support her dreams. It doesn’t sound like much on paper, but him knowing exactly what to say to his distraught daughter spoke volumes of how well he knew Ae Ra.

Parent bonding can be a bit hit and miss, but 'Fight My Way' totally nailed it

Seol Hee and her mother also had a few touching moments sprinkled throughout the series. The scene that stood out most for me was the scene when Seol Hee’s mother sees her getting ordered around by Joo Man’s relatives. Again, it showed great insight on the parent’s part to know how to handle the situation in a way that was least likely to hurt their child. Seol Hee’s mother quietly backs away and pretends she doesn’t know anything, which leads to a touching heart-to-heart once Seol Hee finds out. The four friends themselves, particularly Dong Man and Ae Ra, have a bunch of small, warming moments that make them characters that you are drawn to and feel attached to. 

Though admittedly my love for Seol did mar my affections for Joo Man

Cast:

This drama was perfectly cast. Park Seo Joon is so wonderful that I don’t doubt he could do anything, so it’s really no surprise that he fits our Dong Man character perfectly. He plays the honest man with sincerity and heart and delivers another wonderful lead performance. This is Kim Ji Won’s first leading role (I know, I can’t believe she didn’t get one sooner) and boy did she deliver.

I wish I could be at least half this cute

I sometimes find that K-dramaland struggles to hit that place of indepentent-but-not-b*tchy, but Kim Ji Won found the perfect middle ground. Ae Ra didn’t feel like a doormat that could be walked all over, but she also wasn’t so fiercely independent that she became hard and unlikable. It has to do with how the character is written, but a lot also comes from how the actor portrays the character, and Kim Ji Won was just perfect. I remember in a guest appearance on ‘Running Man’ she felt quite awkward when she was asked to do aegyo, so I was super impressed when as Ae Ra she could bust out the most finger-curling baby voice and pouts- she really wasn’t afraid to throw herself into the character. While the role of Joo Man wasn’t particularly fascinating, I was glad to see Ahn Jae Hong in a big role. Typically leads and second leads look like…well like Park Seo Joon, so it was nice to see an actor who doesn’t typically look the part to be playing our second male lead. Usually actors and actresses who don’t fit the stereotypically defined ‘pretty’ get made fun of in the roles they take (see Lee Do Yeon in ‘Let’s Eat’), so it’s exciting that Ahn Jae Hong was not only the second male lead, but that his character was viewed as someone desirable- for both personality and looks.

☆Congratulations on breaking the mould☆

Hopefully we’ll see more of this type of casting in the future, and for female roles as well. As for Song Ha Yoon, she was just delightful. I adored that her character had such a simple dream- not everyone wants to be something unique or extravagant. Television can sometimes inadvertently shame women who aspire to be housewives/mothers as an unfortunate side effect of trying to empower their female characters.

Meanwhile she's dreaming about smacking you with a bunch of kimchi

By ‘empowering’ the female characters they tend to make them career driven rather than family driven, so in this modern age of strong, independent female characters we actually rarely see characters like Seol Hee who aspire to be a mother. Seol Hee was a delightful character all round and it was wonderful to see her stand up for herself and really figure out what she wanted. Yes, she wanted to be a housewife and a mother, but she didn’t have to let Joo Man hurt and ignore her feelings to achieve her goal. She knew when to forgive and she knew when was enough, and that made Seol Hee a strong, steady character in her own right. It’s a delicate role to play as Seol Hee could have quite easily become an ignorant, boing character, but Song Ha Yoon had excellent expressions and always had a way of letting us know that she was aware of what was happening, and was choosing to forgive (until she didn’t), rather than simply being naive. She played the character with the perfect amount of fire and cute. Kim Gun Woo was quite impressive when you consider it’s his first drama. He didn’t come across as one shade of evil, but played the spoiled brat who was used to getting what he wanted well. It wasn’t a super easy role (nor was it super hard), but he gave a good antagonistic performance.

Epilogues:

The epilogues were so, so cute! While the epilogues that added little extras of them as adults were nice, it was the childhood epilogues that really grabbed my attention.

These kiddos were just plain gorgeous

The kids acted just like the adults, and it was a nice way to remind us that Ae Ra and Dong Man had been close for a very long time, as there were actually not that many references to the group’s shared history. Not to mention they were just downright hilarious.

What Wasn’t:

Didn’t Capitalise:

Okay, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I didn’t enjoy the way the romance played out, but I did feel that the drama didn’t exactly capitalise on the whole friends-to-lovers angle.

When I hear friends-to-lovers I think an abundance of casual skinship

Dong Man and Ae Ra’s interactions were certainly cute, but they somehow seemed to lack that complete familiarity that long term friends have. I think a lot of this is due to the two lead characters being so aware of their feelings, which made for a nice honest relationship,

Most of the cute came once they started officially dating

but also took away a little of the comfort of the friendship- because the two were so hyper aware of skinship as they knew they liked the other. One of my personal favourite things about friend-to-lovers stories is the way that the couples tend to already be dating before they even realise they like each other (à la Weightlifting Fairy and 2 Outs in the 9th Inning). So while it wasn’t a huge downer as it actually brought something a little bit unique to the show, I was a bit disappointed at the lack of careless skinship and such between the leads that tends to occur in friends-to-lover romances. It felt more like a first love story to me.

Slight Mum Confusion:

And by slight I mean what the banoonoos was going on there. The reveal was clever as I kind of discounted Ae Ra being the Landlady’s daughter as it felt too obvious- I was expecting it to somehow be Dong Man, or even Tak Soo, with the Landlady looking out for the kid whose life her secret son ruined.

I just don't understand...

As Ae Ra seemed like the obvious option it was easy to discount her, but it also didn’t feel like a cheap trick when Ae Ra did turn out to be the daughter- because it was my own mind overcomplicating things rather than the drama doing a switcheroo.

Like, she just found a random Korean kid in Japan and decided to adopt him?

But I still remain baffled as to why the Landlady left her daughter in the first place. I get that she was a porno actress and that a show was coming out naming Ae Ra as the daughter of a porn star, but it also seemed like the guy running the show was gong to play it regardless of what the Landlady did, so I never really understood what leaving Ae Ra accomplished. Was it simply because if she wasn’t around it would be hard for people to pinpoint Ae Ra as the daughter on the show? I dunno. There’s probably a really obvious answer and I’ve just missed it completely. I also wish the show had spent just a little more time on the relationship between the Landlady and Nam Il, as there was a whole bunch of cute relationship development there that we just never got to see.

Recommend?

Yeah, I’d recommend this drama to people who like simple love stories. It’s not overly dramatic and not a whole lot happens, but it has a sweet story at its centre. It’s got enough content that it’s more than just a fluff drama. It feels easy and familiar without being boring- like your favourite comfort food.

A rooftop bar- the ultimate Korean dream

Descendants of the Sun

Descendants of the Sun

8/10

Descendants of the Sun

Genre:                           Episodes: 16                            Year: 2016

Romance

Melodrama

Action

Synopsis:

Dr. Kang Mo Yeon meets army Captain Yoo Shi Jin after an incident leads him to enter her workplace. The two have an immediate attraction, but after several dates fail due to Shi Jin being called away for classified work, the new relationship begins to struggle. The two decide to end their relationship when Captain Shi Jin is sent on deployment to a foreign country. Eight months later, Dr. Kang is sent as a volunteer doctor to the recently war-torn country of Urk after upsetting her hospital’s Chairman. In Urk she once again encounters Captain Shi Jin.

Cast:

Song Joong Ki (Captain Yoo Shi Jin)

Song Hye Kyo (Dr. Kang Mo Yeon)

Jin Goo (Seo Dae Young)

Kim Ji Won (Yoon Myung Joo)

Onew (Lee Chi Hoon)

Kim Min Suk (Kim Ki Bum)

David McInnes (Agus)

General Thoughts:

Pshaw, what a great drama. And what a way for Song Joong Ki to mark his return from military. It took a few episodes to get to the meat and potatoes, but once our characters and situations were set up, it was a non-stop ride. One of the best aspects of this drama is that it really could have been a story about any one of our characters. It felt almost as if a whole group of writers fully fleshed out complete lives of all these characters and then decided who our leads were gong to be.

Welcome back Song Joong Ki...but does it really feel like you've left the army?

Every individual gave off a completely authentic feeling, and added something extra to the series- no matter how small their role or how limited their screen time. Every solider, every doctor, and every villain had a story- and we got to see snippets of all of them. Song Joong Ki was just phenomenal as the Special Forces Captain. While still maintaining his cutely charming flower-boy face, he has returned to drama with a new-found sense of maturity and masculinity.

His acting did not deteriorate- if anything, it got even better

His acting left nothing to be desired, and as an audience we felt every drop of emotion that Song Joong Ki expressed, even in situations that weren’t fleshed out as well as they could have been. It’s a huge testament to Song Joong Ki’s acting ability that we felt conflicted and saddened by Agus’ death even when we knew virtually nothing about the character or his relationship with Shi Jin. Song Joong Ki has basically taken a very underdeveloped relationship and poured so much emotion and sincerity into acting his character that the scene is still heavy and emotional, and somehow feels complete, even with hardly any information to go on. And that’s just one scene. Good job on a fantastic return Song Joong Ki. Song Hye Kyo did well as Shi Jin’s love interest, but I wouldn't go as far as calling her outstanding. However, she did a good job and wasn’t completely blown out of the water by Song Joong Ki- and that’s a task and half in itself. For the female characters I really felt as though Kim Ji Won playing Myung Joo really brought her A-Game. She’s proven previously that she’s a competent actor, but this series was a huge step up from her past works. Myung Joo is a complex character with many complex relationships, but Kim Ji Won handles the character with great care and finesse, and delivers a shining performance. Jin Goo doesn’t fall behind in the acting either. While his character, Seo Dae Young, may have a pretty brilliant poker-face- that only meant that every tiny movement and change in expression from Jin Goo had that much more meaning.

Two thumbs up

It’s either a carefully calculated, well planned movement, or a tiny scrap of emotion that’s accidentally managed to make it’s way past Dae Young’s steely exterior. And of course with four great actors, the chemistry was pretty solid. Shi Jin and Mo Yeon had a simple, flirtatious chemistry that was always underlined by far more serious emotions that the two often chose to cover with jokes. Dae Young and Myung Joo were all fire all the time- and it was insanely addictive to watch. The love and passion between the two characters is plain to see, and it’s mesmerising to watch the two butt heads and fight in order to reach understandings and grow together. Once the story really got rolling after the first few introductory episodes, the plot kept chugging along with pretty steady momentum. There were no real pauses or breaks in the way the story was told. Our characters moved from one stage in their lives to the next.

Here, as an added bonus you can have a bromance

There were several episodes that could have served as fantastic finales, but the plot kept growing and developing, shifting into a more thorough and complete story of our characters and their relationships. The soundtrack was good for the most part, but there were definitely times that it was a touch too in-your-face. There were a few scenes where it felt like the producers were relying more on the music to convey the message and emotion of the scene rather than the actors- which is totally unnecessary when you have such brilliant actors at your disposal. Thankfully, this did die down as the story progressed from it’s initial romance into the more action-heavy plot-lines.

What Was Great:

Everyone In It:

The series had a brilliant ensemble, and there was not one casting choice that could be complained about. The four main leads were wonderful and brought their characters to life excellently, but the support characters weren’t to be ignored either. The writers did a stellar job at giving every character purpose and depth.

Brilliant casting...brilliant casting everywhere.

Every member from the medical team had backstory and character traits and reacted in situations that were consistent with their character setup. The same can be said about the soldiers. Particular mention must go to Onew. I was a little sceptical about his acting- at most I thought he would be a cute, pretty-boy character who was only there for his dazzling smile. But what an amazing character Onew got to play, and what amazing acting he got to display.

Wouldn't pick him as an idol unless you already knew

The character arc of Lee Chi Hoon was perhaps one of my favourites among the support characters. It was plain to see how Chi Hoon was a man of privilege and how suddenly being in crisis situation affected him. I enjoyed that we got the conflict of interest- the dilemma of saving one’s self over another from somewhere in the drama, and Onew really delivered the dilemma in a relatable, understandable and emotional way. It was heartbreaking to see how he was unable to handle a crisis in a situation that he had little experience with. He demonstrated beautifully how all it takes is a single moment and a split second to make a decision that could impact another's life in unimaginable ways. On the other hand, it was wonderful to see how this same person who panicked and chose himself in one moment was able to handle crisis situations and put his own health and safety on the line in an environment where he felt confident in his abilities. 

Smooth Transitions:

One of the better aspects of the drama was the way the writers were able to seamlessly flow one situation into the next. It never felt like we had a strict structure of conflict-resolution-pause-conflict-resolution-pause, but instead we had constant emotional and relational complications interweaving with military conflicts.

So many storylines blended together so well

This steady stream of momentum kept the interest and excitement in the series while easily being able to move from one chunk of plot to the next. While there was no real overarching military conflict that extended for the whole of the drama, the continually progressing relationships between our four main characters gave the series enough continuity that the build-up and resolution of military issues never felt sporadic, or injected into the drama purely to add conflict. Every major event in the series felt real and believable.

It was So Pretty:

The drama really was simply stunning to watch. It was meticulously edited so that we got the best shots of every scene, and every moment was visually appealing. There’s not much more to say on that topic…the drama was purely extremely enjoyable to watch on screen. Casting Song Joong Ki sure didn’t hurt either.

I wouldn't mind waking up to that every morning

What Wasn’t:

Small Mistakes:

I’m not well versed in medical science. I can sit and watch fictitious medical shows all day long and be happily oblivious to how scientifically wrong they are. However, even I sometimes felt that a scene or two weren’t quite medically accurate. I just don’t believe that a wounded solider who was virtually dead from multiple gun wounds is then majestically resuscitated and doesn’t need surgery. I’m just not buying it.

THOSE SHOES ARE 100% IMPRACTICAL

And I hate to say it, but every time I saw Song Hye Kyo’s ridiculous platform shoes, I was snapped right out of the scene. Surely, surely, no volunteer doctor who is involved in activities such as natural disaster rescue operations and virus control would be concerned about her height? I loved the moment where Mo Yeon broke the high heels off her shoes- it was as if she was saying ‘right, let’s be serious now’. Then Shi Jin comes and ties up her work boots so she can do her job properly, without the distraction of ridiculous shoes. But then I felt this moment was completely undone when the very next day Mo Yeon was walking around in those sparkly white platform sneakers. No, no, no. Put the boots back on girl. It was small things like these that weren’t major enough to actually impact the quality of the drama, but still managed to bother me enough that they took me out of the moment, and reminded me that, yes- this was actually just a made-up story. It’s the small details that make a great drama into an exceptional drama, and I’m afraid it’s the small details where ‘Descendants of the Sun’ fell just a wee bit short.

Conqueror of Death:

Hoooooo. Okay. I know that one of the main points of the drama was that our main man Shi Jin could drop dead at any time. I mean, that was basically the main conflict in his relationship with Mo Yeon. But he almost died just a few too many times, that it got to the point where you almost didn’t think he could, because he’s escaped death so many times. While this might not be such a huge deal to a lot of people, unfortunately for me it meant that I didn’t believe for a minute that Shi Jin and Dae Young died in that explosion.

Several gunshot wounds to the torso? Special Forces Captain doesn't need surgery for something as insignificant as that

Huge credit goes to Song Hye Kyo and Kim Ji Won for still making me feel the impact of what it would be like if the men had died, but I still didn’t believe they’d kill the boys off for more than a second. It’s the sad result of putting your hero in one too many life-and-death situations- he just appears invincible. I also didn’t really appreciate the way Shi Jin and Dae Young made their return to the world of the living.

Surprise- not dead! Won't explain how or why though

We weren’t really given any explanation as to why they were thought dead for a whole year. Maybe, had it been a couple of months you could give them a pass, but after a year you can’t really come swanning over the sand dunes and only say ‘yeah, I was in a prison and my North Korean buddy somehow knew I was there and busted me out’. While I sort of understand that he wouldn’t be able to explain the situation to Mo Yeon because it would definitely be confidential- as a viewer I still want to know what happened. I just felt like I was being jerked around by the writers trying to make me believe the men were dead and then surprising us. Sadly, the alive-surprise isn’t all that’s needed in the situation. While the end was satisfying and a great conclusion for the drama, I couldn’t help feeling gypped that I wasn’t given an explanation to the supposed deaths of these men- especially after I’ve watched a whole episode of how their girlfriends try and deal with their deaths and struggle to move on. 

All that Product Placement:

I usually don’t care about product placement- I’m not super observant to minute details. But a fair amount of the products in this drama were not minutely placed. Similarly to Mo Yeon’s shoes, seeing a giant ‘SUBWAY’ sign did a pretty great job of kicking me right out of whatever moment I was in.

Yeeaaaahhhh...that's kinda hard to miss

I don’t want to deny you your product placement- by all means, chuck it in there. But at least pretend to be subtle about it. I don’t love having objects and brands smooshed in my face, particularly in the middle of a drama I’m really enjoying.

Re-watch?

I wouldn’t say no to watching the drama again. I’m not busting my guns to see it a second time, but I did love all those characters so very much. I’m partly afraid that I’ll pick up more inconsistencies the second time around, and I don’t want to ruin how much I absolutely adored this drama. It’s really wonderful, and I want to keep the magic alive.

All in all- a quality drama

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