Shut Up Flower Boy Band

Shut Up Flower Boy Band

4/10

Shut Up Flower Boy Band

Genre:                  Episodes: 16                  Year: 2012

School

Romance

Music

Synopsis:

Six free-spirited, rough-around-the-edges boys are part of a garage rock band called ‘Eye Candy’. After their leader and songwriter dies in an accident, the remaining boys are determined to let the world hear his music- as was his dream. Kwon Ji Hyuk steps up as the band’s reluctant leader, as the group of outcasts struggle against many conflicts, both external and internal.

Cast:

Sung Joon (Kwon Ji Hyuk)

L (Lee Hyun Soo)

Lee Hyun Jae (Jang Do Il)

Yoo Min Kyu (Kim Ha Jin)

Kim Min Suk (Seo Kyung Jong)

Jo Bo Ah (Im Soo Ah)

Jung Eui Chul (Yoo Seung Hoon)

Lee Min Ki (Joo Byung Hee)

General Thoughts:

Not even my combined love of Kim Min Suk and Jang Eui Chul could push this drama away from ‘barely bearable’ and into ‘good’. Though I do feel as though I’m in the minority when it comes to disliking this drama. In all honesty, there were a lot of things about this drama, and a lot of aspects of it that I really loved. However, towards the end there, my frustration just became too much to handle- and I found myself praying that the darn thing would hurry up and end. It’s a totally different feel from ‘Flower Boy Ramyun Shop’.

Yeaaahhhh...the vibe was completely different

While ‘Ramyun Shop’ did have an emotional story with insightful commentaries on life- these were covered by beautiful comedic fluff. However, ‘Shut Up Flower Boy Band’ was anything but fluffy. It was edgy, gritty and not nearly as funny as the title implies. But this isn’t a bad thing. What initially caught my interest was the way the drama was shaping up to be an underdog story about a group of lost boys who don’t quite fit in anywhere and want to bring their music into the world's attention. What the drama managed to express incredibly well were the invisible boundaries that exist in society.

It's fairly obvious why they don't fit in with the rich b*tches

This was portrayed excellently in the school setting, where our rough boys were completely on the outs due to their less than ideal backgrounds, and poor financial status. But it’s a two-way street. The boys also judge the other students around them, including Soo Ah, as arrogant, privileged, rich kids, who have never experienced hardships. However, these social commentaries and the feeling of fighting to be accepted without compromising character seemed to disappear once the boys entered the entertainment company (around episode 12 is where it really started heading south). Admittedly, the drama did need internal conflict to keep itself interesting- the boys couldn’t be happy-chappy bromance buddies for all 16 episodes. But the internal conflict was based purely on misunderstandings and miscommunications. Which is the type of conflict I hate most. When the majority of problems in a drama can be solved by one character simply opening his gob and actually explaining what's going on, I can’t help but feel that the writers are choosing to be a little lazy. I digress. The acting was actually pretty good. I always knew Sung Joon was a star (no matter how irritating his character) and I was pleasantly surprised to see that L was fairly competent as well. I wasn’t sold on Jo Bo Ah as a leading lady. Her movements and facial expressions were more than acceptable- it was her voice that didn’t sit well. A lot of the time she came across too slow and breathy. I’m sure this was a result of Jo Bo Ah trying to put extra emotion into her lines- but it felt a little like she was on drugs and flying high as kite.

Requirement 1 for 'Flower Boy' drama: several flowery (?) boys

The rest of the boys were all compelling as the support characters. They didn’t grab a lot of screen time, but still managed to give the impression of fully formed, fleshed out characters. You could really feel the chemistry and energy between the boys while they were on screen.

What Was Great:

Thankfully the Music:

All the music in the drama was fantastic. Which is awesome, because it would totally blow having terrible music in a drama that was all about music. All songs that were performed by Eye Candy were fun, enjoyable, and extremely catchy. The duets between L and Kim Ye Rim were adorable, and did an excellent job at providing insight into the relationship between the two characters.

Sh*tty music would have been a death sentence for this drama

Boys Against the World:

All my favourite parts of the drama were the parts where it was Eye Candy vs. Everyone Else. The way the boys’ characters were presented, it was totally believable that they would be written off in society and have to fight tooth and nail for acknowledgement and/or acceptance from anyone.

Everyone loves an underdog

The false bravado and ‘I don’t care’ attitude used to mask their insecurities made the characters feel real and relatable, and is completely accurate to teenage emotions. The boys are drawn together because they are people that the world has deemed ‘unnecessary’, and the drama is about their struggle to find their place in this world without giving up who they are as a person. The boys want to be accepted- but they also don’t want to have to change themselves in order for that to happen. It was fantastically entertaining to watch the group fight against the school that wanted to expel them because they didn’t fit the school’s ideal image, and then the entertainment company that wanted to turn them into shiny, made-over, money-making machines. 

Best Cameo Out:

Lee Min Ki was absolutely dynamic. I went into this drama knowing absolutely nothing about it. I honestly believed that he was our main male lead for the series. You now, until he died. Brutally. In episode 2.

They wouldn't really kill him off, right? Right? RIGHT?!

Lee Min Ki was a complete show stealer- he was able to create a whacky, eccentric character that was strangely likeable. He dominated whatever scene he was in- partly because his character was so larger-than-life, and partly because Lee Min Ki himself was so dedicated to his role that he seemed to fill Joo Byung Hee, and the drama at large, completely on his own. Thankfully, the writers played out the death of Lee Min Ki’s character well. His death impacted on the other boys in different ways, and his presence was always felt throughout the drama in the decisions the band made. Byung Hee’s death gave the boys of the band incentive and courage to pursue their goals and, his memory was a great motivator. 

Cue confused wailing

What Wasn’t:

Male Lead is Meh:

I couldn’t connect to the character of Kwon Ji Hyuk at all. I understand that the drama was supposed to be about how he was unwillingly thrust into a leadership position and wasn’t quite up to the task.

Guess who's an asshole! If you guessed this guy- you'd be right

However, I never felt like he was really making an effort. After the boys first performed Byung Hee’s song, it appeared as though Ji Hyuk then emotionally checked out of the band in favour of pursuing Soo Ah. Yeah, I also didn’t really feel much chemistry between them, but whatever- it was the friendships I was invested in, not the romance. I found Ji Hyuk to be far too selfish for my tastes, never giving much thought to what the other boys wanted (until the final episode). It was torture to watch Hyun Soo, who was so motivated and so determined, battling with Ji Hyuk to take command and tell the boys what they needed to do- because they would have listed to Ji Hyuk in a way they never listened to Hyun Soo. But no, Ji Hyuk did nothing but mope around, ignore the boys and get grumpy with Soo Ah for talking to Seung Hoon. Lame, lame, lame. At least try and take control, you doofus.

So Much Frustration:

Unfortunately, as well as being generally dislikable- Ji Hyuk was also a large source of frustration. My absolute least favourite type of angst is withheld information and miscommunications caused by Noble Idiots. And Ji Hyuk was a terrible Noble Idiot. I just wanted to whack him over the head. He never properly talked to the other band-members about any of the decisions he made regarding the band, and completely failed to see how his actions would impact on his friends. 

Ji Hyuk, for the love of all things good and righteous- PLEASE STOP AND THINK ABOUT YOUR MATES

Even when he finally (sort of) figured out what was going on with the other boys, he didn’t communicate, he just sat there in silence mulling over his own bruised feelings- even when his friends were basically screaming at him to give them the slightest bit of information on where his head was at. What completely killed the drama and any warm feelings I had towards Ji Hyuk was Hyun Soo going solo and the initial breakup of Eye Candy. Because it was just so darn unnecessary.

I wanted more bedtime snoodles and less angry cold-shoulders

By simply giving the other members of Eye Candy a heads-up on Hyun Soo’s situation, and why Hyun Soo desperately needed to go solo at the time, there would have been a whole lot less hurt feelings, a whole lot less band-breaking up, and a whole lot less frustration. While I suppose this also would have cut out the conflict for a good 5 episodes, I would like to trust that the writers could come up with a plot device that went beyond ‘I really don’t feel like explaining anything to you boys right now’. Is that too much to ask? It also felt weird that these boys who were originally such rebels and troublemakers became so complacent to their parents in the middle there. Their kids wag school, get into fights and their friend dies, and not one parent cares. But then suddenly they’re in a band that’s sort of famous, and every parent gives a sh*t and they become the most controlling people ever. Huge lack in continuity there. It also became a little tiresome that the bromances dropped out for such a large portion of the show, as that was what was really driving the drama and made it interesting to watch. I can only take so much of our buddies being grumpy with each other before I lose interest in their relationships completely. It didn’t need to be all angst, all the time. But that’s what we got for a good stretch there. And then all the bromance I wanted to see was given in quick flashback in the last two episodes. 

Does he just not care that he sent a major sh*tstorm towards his best buddies?

Sort of the Ending:

I have no problem with the actual way the drama wrapped up- I just wish we’d been given some hints on how we would get there throughout the series. I know that the writers don’t want the drama to be predictable, but I don’t want to watch a drama where the end comes out of nowhere.  

First proper bro-chat comes halfway through the last episode

I thought the wrap up for the band was realistic and satisfying- not all the boys wanted to be famous. They had different goals, and they’d only stuck with the band because of their friendship. Awesome. What a fantastically bitter-sweet way to wrap up the boys’ time in the band, and their brief brush with stardom. However, I had absolutely no idea that this wasn’t what the boys had wanted. It was clear that Ji Hyuk was confused- he loved music but didn’t know what direction to take it. Hyun Soo knew exactly what he wanted- music, fame and money. But the other boys…no clue.

I feel like I don't even know you guys anymore

Ji Hyuk and Hyun Soo spent so much time in the spotlight that it was a little difficult to get a grasp on the other boys. Frankly, I knew more about our antagonist, Seung Hoon, than the other three members of the band. It was clear that Do Il had no desire to be famous at all, and his discovery of his love of studying was actually pretty cute and acceptable. But I honestly believed right up until the end that Ha Jin and Kyung Jong wanted to make it as part of the band. Sure they kind of goofed off all series long- but they’d never been serious about anything before, so I just assumed it was because they had no idea how to pull their heads in and go after what they wanted. But no, apparently it was because this wasn’t what they wanted at all. It was only in the last episode that us viewers were given any clue into what Ha Jin and Kyung Jong wanted to do with their lives. Kyung Jong wants to learn how to manage a business? For real? That came out of nowhere. Ha Jin wants to be an actor? Seriously? I thought that was just what his sisters wanted for him. It was a very good ending and wonderful tie up for our boys, I just wished they’d shown us the journey. All series long it had been a drama about struggling to make it with music and find your niche in the entertainment world, then suddenly it was about growing up and finding your place in the world at large.

Just block out everything else and focus on Hyun Soo

I felt just the teeniest bit ripped off to find out in the last 5 minutes that the band I’d been supporting all drama long weren’t actually serious about music at all, and didn’t even want to be in a band. 

Re-watch?

Sadly, no. I really wanted to love this drama, and I really did for a while there. But my frustrations with the main male lead and the way the conflicts were set up just became way too much to handle.

So... it's not actually about music...at all?

To Be Continued

To Be Continued

3/10

To Be Continued 

Genre:                                   Episodes: 12                                   Year: 2015

School

Fantasy

Music

Synopsis:

The day before their singing debut, three boys from a new boy-band travel back in time to their high school days when their band was just forming.

Cast:

Kim Sae Ron (Jung Ah Rin)

Cha Eun Woo (Cha Eun Woo)

Moon Bin (Moon Bin)

MJ (MJ)

Jin Jin (Jin Jin)

Rocky (Rocky)

Yoon San Ha (Yoon San Ha)

Yeo Reum (Yeo Reum)

General Thoughts:

I still have no idea what the actual point of this web drama was. Like, I understand that it was to launch boy-band ASTRO and build curiosity for them- but plot-wise…I’ve got nothing. The whole story just didn’t make any sense. All the boys (and the two girls) seemed happy enough when the drama started- they were about to head onto their debut stage and everyone was chipper.

That's what I'd like to know- what did we just go through?

And then they go back in time. Um…why? No clue, because it doesn’t get explained. Why do only three of the six boys time skip? Again, not explained. And nobody knows what the hell Kim Sae Ron’s character Ah Rin has to do with anything. Whew, okay, deep breath and let’s all go back to the beginning. The series just jumps right in. There are no gradual character introductions nor relationship explanations. It’s as if the writers just expect you to know who the boys from ASTRO are.

Thanks for making me feel a million years old, boys

Which I totally didn’t. Oops. The boys are cute and…I wouldn’t go as far as saying they’re interesting to watch, but they’re not boring either. It’s just blaringly obvious that they’re a bunch of kids- I mean I’m older than 83% of that band…and I’m not old. Yoon San Ah and Rocky are just babies at 15 and 16 years old. Undeniably these boys can all sing/rap and dance amazingly well, but acting…not so much. They are cute and energetic 'lil babies though and truly give it their all. The girl characters Ah Rin and Yeo Reum don’t really have a point in the story, save to add a bit of estrogen to the set. Yeo Reum is acceptable enough as the female side-kick who’s around for the ride and will inevitably hook up with one of the boys, but it seemed as though the writers had tried to set up something more with Ah Rin. She was constructed as some sort of time skip master, with this having been her third trip into the past, and yet she’s at just as much of a loss as the boys. Not only that, but she fails to actually do anything. It was as if her whole purpose was to make sure everything went exactly the same as it did in the past. But then one begs to ask the question- why time skip at all? Kim Sae Ron is by far the veteran actor of the bunch. While being only 15, she’s been making notable appearances from around 2009/2010. She definitely delivers one of the most consistent, believable performances, but her character was bland and frankly a tad boring. The music was great (thank goodness) and the dancing was great, but that only added to the feeling of the whole drama just being a big music video or advertisement for ASTRO. Which would have been fine, had there been enough plot and substance to distract from what the agency was trying to do. As it is I just feel like their agency was bashing my head into the TV going “LOOK AT ASTRO! AREN’T ASTRO GREAT? THIS IS ASTRO! LOVE ASTRO!”

"IT'S A DRAMA FOR ASTRO!"

What Was Great:

Half of ASTRO:

So basically MJ, Jin Jin and Rocky were all pretty okay at acting. Yay! While occasionally the boys didn’t quite hit the nail on the head, these three definitely pulled their own weight.

Two okay actors and Cha Eun Woo

Being the oldest (and the character that stayed in the past longest), it was a relief that MJ could hold his own. His character was upbeat and refreshing, if a tad overacted- but that fit into the overall tone of the drama well enough anyway, as the whole series had an air of dreamy, juvenile wackiness about it.

Quadruple Threat

Jin Jin also gave a steady, believable performance, and the scenes that combined him with MJ were enjoyable to watch overall. The two boys were able to translate their pre-existing relationship from life to the screen which was delightful. And really, I doubt there’s anything Rocky can’t do. It was already clear that he’d be able sing, but he can rap too. Oh, and he’s a killer dancer. Then (in the few moments of the drama we see him in) he proves himself to be a pretty competent actor as well. And all that’s topped off with his gorgeous face. It should be illegal for someone to have that much talent.

It’s not Long:

The episodes were nice and short, rarely making it to a full 20 minutes, and there are only 12 episodes. While the shortness of the episodes does prevent any real complications or tension to build in the drama, I highly doubt that would have happened if the writers had gotten hour long episodes. The small number of episodes keeps the very, very thin plotline from becoming ridiculously overstretched. The few, short episodes allowed the drama to maintain its fluffy, youthful vibe without letting it sink into becoming flat-out boring.

Easy to ignore the plot for the cute, because the plot's not there

Bloopers:

Putting the bloopers in the credits was just delightful. It was a smart choice as us viewers get to see a bit of personality from the debuting boys beyond just who they were being in the drama, which could be a polar opposite of their real character. It was also good for a few laughs.

Best humor in the drama technically wasn't even in the drama

 What Wasn’t:

The Other Half of ASTRO:

Cha Eun Woo, Moon Bin and Yoon San Ha…weren’t that great. Which is surprising considering that two of them were given huge roles in the drama.

Minimalist Approach- one expression for all scenarios

But on the other hand, Cha Eun Woo is very pretty, and Moon Bin is probably the only one that could pull off anything close to a ‘bad-boy’, as the rest are just so cute you want to carry them around in your pocket. Cha Eun Woo plays a pretty pivotal character (well as pivotal as this drama gets) in that he’s the leader of the band and the composer. And yet, all he seems to do is sit around half dazed with a very blank look on his face. Sure he sings and dances a little (and he is good at that), but his acting was…well, it was why people complain about idols getting cast in dramas. Then there’s Moon Bin who was conflicting to watch. Sometimes his acting was quite sincere and believable- mostly in his chatting scenes with Kim Sae Ron where he was convincing as a youth with a crush. But then other times he was very awkward and didn’t quite know what to do with himself. I suspect that his character is probably quite different from his actual personality, whereas the other boys get to basically act as themselves.

Most innocent looking 'bad-boy' ever

And Yoon San Ha was definitely cute, but never managed to come across quite natural. His character wasn’t the brightest bulb and played up the aegyo, but poor maknae San Ha never quite made it to a convincing performance. Nevertheless, I still think the boys did a pretty great job with the cards they were dealt- even ignoring who was acting them, the characters themselves were sloppily written and not developed at all.

So Many Plot Holes:

16 at max.

Oh my goodness the story was bad. It was just horrifically, laughably bad. Nothing gets explained, and by the end nobody is any better, wiser, happier, or anything-er than when they started. First off, it’s a huge stretch for you to try and convince me that Kim Sae Ron is 18, let alone 20. I’m sorry, but when I look at her all I see is a young teenager. Sweet and cute, but a young teenager all the same. And then her character doesn’t even make any sense. She has a rather ambiguous relationship with all the boys, and no romantic inclinations for any of them. Biggest plot hole right there- no young girl is surrounded by that many cute, talented, friendly boys and doesn’t have a crush on at least one of them. Unless she’s a lesbian, and I just don’t think South Korean school fluff dramas are quite at the point of exploring homosexuality. For a good part of this drama I firmly believed she was some sort of time-jump angel sent to ensure that the boys made it to their happy, predetermined future with as few hiccups as possible. But no, she’s just a high schooler who unexplainably hops back in time now and then. Then there’s the fact that only three of the boys head back to the past, when all six were in the exact same situation when they were blasted through time and space. Is this explained? Of course not. And at apparently random intervals the boys then slip back into the future, leaving their past selves with no memory. Is a how and/or why given to us? No, don’t be silly. Then the biggest, and most irritating black hole of plot holes. In the end, the time jumping is redundant anyway because we’re back to where we started and literally nothing has changed.

BUT THERE WAS NO REGRET- JUST FAME AND PARTIES

The boys who had a brief stint in the past now apparently can’t remember it, except for MJ (what, why?), and the girl (who also randomly remembers all her time trip shenanigans) has learned and gained nothing from the experience. It’s actually the first ever drama I have watched that just plain doesn’t have a point. Y’know, beyond ‘This is ASTRO. Love ASTRO.’

Gypped Juniors:

I feel bad for Yoon San Ha and Rocky. Even in this sad little world of irrelevant, no-plot drama, their characters don’t matter. If the two boys hadn’t been there, the story would have carried on the same regardless- except the band would only have four part harmonies. For a series that was supposed to showcase the boys’ talents and introduce them as a new band, the two youngest boys were hardly in it.

Wait, what? Yoon San Ha's not an extra? He's actually in the band?

Yoon San Ha has maybe one big moment were he plays guitar and sings for a street concert, but that’s the only time he manages to sneak onscreen for more than a minute.

Well, the writers sure acted like you weren't there

Rocky gets a bit more TV time, but not much. Which seems horrendously unfair given his bags and bags of talent. He got a dance number (with Moon Bin) and a rap number (with Jin Jin), but never got a chance to really sparkle on his own. Boo, for a drama that really had nothing going for it except getting to know the new boys in K-pop land, it would have been real nice to get more of a look at the boys. It’s a shame, but they’ll undoubtedly get more attention down the track.

Re-watch?

No. Unless I somehow, for some unexplained reason, go back in time to when I was 15 and I can just ogle the boys for their young baby cuteness. But then they’d be 9 and this drama wouldn’t be out yet. Oh well.

ASTRO, please do continue boy band-ing...but not drama-ing