Top 5 Hilarious Cameos

Top 5

Hilarious Cameos 

Seeing as it’s just been Easter, I thought we’d all celebrate by remembering some of the sidesplittingly funny easter eggs K-Drama delivers in it’s shows. Cameos are something you remain rather oblivious to until you’ve got a few dramas under your belt, and suddenly you become aware of a whole new layer of comedy. It’s not uncommon for PDs to call on actors of past series to cameo in their new drama, or for past co-stars or friends of lead actors to show up in their new works. While there’s nothing wrong with an unexpected appearance of a loved star, the best types of cameos are those that go beyond ‘oh look who it is’ and give a sly wink and nod to viewers who are in the know. It’s a wonderful combining of K-Drama worlds that never fails to delight viewers. Although there are many fun cameos (both that I have and haven’t seen), here’s my Top 5 pick of my favourite funny cameo appearances.

5: Minho (Drinking Solo)

One of the three students who constantly fail their civil service exams in ‘Drinking Solo’ is Key from Shinee. The drama makes a couple of sly references to the boyband, particularly in regards to Minho. Key’s love interest in the show mentions that Minho was her first love, which brings on some wonderful hilarity as Key goes on to say how Minho was a thug and bully back in high school. Key claims to have taught Minho how to dance and even does a wonderfully terrible rendition of Shinee’s choreography to ‘Lucifer’. It’s in a high school flashback where Minho makes an actual appearance in the drama where he’s shown bullying his bandmate by making him dance in front of the class, and even preventing him from using the bathroom. Later on, Key’s character even sates that if he were in Shinee he would be a hundred times better than Minho. The cameo is a delightful wink at those who know of Shinee and show just how cute and close the boys are. And it’s really just SO funny.

4: Yoon Doo Joon (Let’s Fight, Ghost)

‘Let’s Fight, Ghost’ and the ‘Let’s Eat’ franchise share a PD. There was a smattering of cameos from the ‘Let’s Eat 2’ cast throughout ‘Let’s Fight, Ghost’- admittedly most went over my head as I’ve only seen ‘Let’s Eat’ and ‘Drinking Solo’ from that franchise. However, the cameo I did grasp, and probably the funniest of the lot was Yoon Doo Joon. He was the hero for both the ‘Let’s Eat’ dramas and appears in ‘Let’s Fight, Ghost’ as the same character- Goo Dae Young. Which is hilarious. He sits with the heroine during lunch, and describes the cafeteria food in the same drawn-out, mouth-watering, food porn way he did in ‘Let’s Eat’, and even invites the heroine to join his collage club. The name of the club? Let’s Eat. 

3: Kim Seul Gi (Moonlight Drawn by Clouds)

For those unacquainted with ‘Moonlight Drawn by Clouds’ (is there anyone?), it’s a drama about a young girl who pretends to be a eunuch (ie- a man) and ends up in a relationship with the crown prince. In the final episode of the show, the head eunuchs make note of a strange new eunuch- and it’s Kim Seul Gi from ‘Splash Splash Love’. It’s just a tiny cameo but loaded with humour. Kim Seul Gi played a girl transported to the past who disguises herself as a eunuch and falls in love with the King in ‘Splash Splash Love’. It’s a small nod at those who’ve seen the mini-series, but it’s not too weird and obvious for those who haven’t.

2: Bae Suzy (My Love from the Stars)

One of my favourite cameos of all time has to be Bae Suzy’s cameo in ‘My Love from the Stars’. I totally missed it the first time around (it was my first K-Drama so I didn’t know ANYONE), but the second time around it was a delightful, hilarious surprise. In the cameo Bae Suzy meets Kim Soo Hyun’s character and introducers herself as Go Hye Mi- her character from ‘Dream High’ in which she and Kim Soo Hyun were the leads. She even goes on to say that Do Min Joon looks like her first boyfriend Sam Dong, which is Kim Soo Hyun’s character from the show. It was a cute dose of meta humour and totally reminds us why we loved the two together in ‘Dream High’. The two are so cute, and the cameo was just charming.

1: Kang Gary (Emergency Couple)

My number one cameo of all cameos ever! ‘Running Man’ is the first Korean anything I ever watched, and is what got me into K-Drama in the first place. I adore both Kang Gary and Song Ji Hyo and I am a huge fan of Monday Couple. In the show, Song Ji Hyo’s character gets totally drunk and calls a driver- and it’s her other half on ‘Running Man’ Gary! Song Ji Hyo keeps calling him Gary and he replies that he’s actually daeri (driver). He grins while Song Ji Hyo flirts with him (‘you’re totally my style’) and he even throws in that he thinks he might see her on Monday (the shooting day for ‘Running Man’). It’s all kinds of hilarious, and fit in well with the show rather than just being forced in there. It was so cute and so delightful and the perfect use of a cameo appearance.

What are your favourite funny cameos?

Top 5 Entertainment Industry Romances

Top 5 

Entertainment Industry Romances

One of K-Drama’s favourite scenarios has to be the entertainment industry. Most often set as a rom-com, dramas that take place in the entertainment industry are usually full of sharp wit and tongue-in-cheek humour. As the writers themselves are pretty deeply ingrained in the entertainment world, these dramas can be pretty rich in detail, and give us outsiders a bit of a peek into the world of glitz and glamour and scandals. Of course, they can also be completely unlike reality, but that’s almost the point- anything could be going on behind the scenes.

5: Dream High

‘Dream High’ is more like Entertainment High School rather than straight up Entertainment Industry, but it’s along a similar vein. Rather than focusing on characters that have already made it big in the entertainment world, this drama follows the lives of a bunch of young kids working to get there- much like an origins story. It depicts the cut-throat world of those trying to become stars, and just how many hoops you have to jump through until you can start choosing your own hoops. Each of the kids has a different struggle, and each story is filled with heart and laced with humour. The cast are all brilliant, most of them being successful idols themselves, and deliver endearing characters. The romance is admittedly rather light, but it's there in a sweet, high school, first-love kind of way. The love-triangle is super convincing, and it’s hard to pick which guy will win the girl’s heart. In the meantime, IU and Wooyoung have an adorable secondary love-line that will keep you satisfied until the main love-line kicks in.

4: My Love from the Stars

There’s so much else going on in this drama that it can often be easy to overlook that one half of our killer romance is actually a super famous top actress. While creepy murderers and alien shenanigans are definitely more in-your-face than the entertainment industry, our heroine being a top actress is actually what drives much of the plot. Our heroine is an actress that has fallen out of favour due to scandals and has to claw her way back to the top- of course she also has the help of her mystical alien Do Manager. The romance is absolutely on fire, and having one of the leads as a famous actress gives the romance the usual hiccups- can’t be seen being romantic in public, hero gets to swoop in and save the day when anti-fans try and spoil everything etcetera, etcetera. 

3: The Producers

When you think ‘entertainment industry’ you usually go straight to actor and idols, but ‘Producers’ takes a nice little look in on those that work behind the scenes and the different stories they have to tell. The drama is shot in a deeply funny mocumentary style, and is enhanced with tasteful cameos of famous actors and singers portraying themselves. Again, this is one of the dramas with better crossed love-lines as it’s never clear who’s going to end up with who. Our main characters are mostly PDs, and show us what kind of work goes in behind the scenes of our favourite music and variety shows. The drama has the typical entertainment hierarchy with the entertainment companies on top, PDs and behind the scenes workers down the bottom, and the ever-changing fanbase holding a hell of a lot of power. 

2: You’re Beautiful

Everything about this drama is entertainment industry. The main characters are a bunch of boys (and one cross-dressing girl) that are part of a hit boy-band. Of course, scandals are the big issue in this drama with most of the tension coming from the fear of the members being found out (both because one's cross-dressing and also because they are maybe sort of dating each other). Our hero is absolutely delightful as a completely stuck-up star, and it’s endlessly fun to see his softer side start to show once he started to actually feel things. The soundtrack is particularly good, and the whole show is totally caught up in the magic and mayhem of Korea’s entertainment world.

1: The Greatest Love

Of all the K-Dramas I’ve seen, ‘Greatest Love’ probably explores the entertainment industry in the most depth. It goes a step further than a drama that simply shows the hierarchy, and shows the hierarchy within the hierarchy. Not all actors are the same level, and ‘Greatest Love’ depicts this by having each half of the romance come from completely different levels. Our hero is an A-Grade actor at the peak of his career and our heroine is a has-been idol who hasn’t done anything decent in years. While work flows naturally to the hero, the heroine has to fight hard for every appearance and every shred of work. The drama focuses heavily on the opinion of the public and how it can either make or break someone’s career, regardless of what the truth behind the scandal actually is. The romance is extremely addictive, and hits most of the entertainment-industry-romance-complication bumps in a fresh, funny, and heart-tugging way.

What are your favourite Entertainment Industry romances?

Top 5 K-Dramas to Start With

Top 5 

K-Dramas to Start With

K-Dramas sure do have a lot of variety, and can be a messy area to navigate for new viewers. There’s so many to choose from- and popularity doesn’t always necessarily equal quality. Some K-Dramas also require a basic knowledge of Korean culture to understand the relationships and the plots- so some shows that can be absolutely fantastic can become confusing and unenjoyable if you watch them right off the bat. But on the other hand, there are also dramas that are pretty universal and easy to enjoy and understand regardless of your knowledge on Korean culture and customs- and are a great way to slowly introduce you to the world of K-Drama, and expand your understanding so you can appreciate a larger verity of the shows that K-Drama has to offer. Surely one of the saddest things is people being turned off something because they didn’t get introduced correctly. I mean, while historical dramas can be interesting and all, I definitely wouldn’t recommend any until you have some lighter, easier to follow K-Dramas under your belt first. So, from 5 to 1, here are my picks on the best dramas to get you (or your friends and family) hopelessly hooked. 

5: Reply 1997

The ‘Reply’ franchise has made a name for itself for creating beautiful, brilliant dramas that every man and his dog can relate to. ‘Reply 1997’ has shorter episodes than most K-Dramas, and is my personal favourite of the ‘Reply’ series. While there are a lot of cameos and hidden jokes that you’ll miss if you’re not Korean or an avid viewer of Korean dramas, there’s so much humour and heart in the show that is universally relatable. Pretty much any person who has been a teenager can understand our characters, as the story mostly takes place in their teenage years- a time of soaring highs and unbelievable angst no matter what country you live in. The tale is really about growing up and relationships with friends and family, and is told with a tone of wistful nostalgia. The humour is hilarious, the relationships endearing, and the characters are just so, so loveable.

4: You’re Beautiful

Cross-dressing is a pretty popular premise in K-Dramas, so much so that two of them have made it on this list. ‘You’re Beautiful’ is a drama that you’ll frequently find on favourite lists. It’s cute and fun, and while it’s probably the most juvenile of the shows on this list, sometimes you just want to watch something that’s deeply entertaining without requiring too much brain power. It’s an enjoyable little look in at Korea’s music industry, and despite it’s lack of deadly serious, life-or-death plot it remains entertaining through the continually developing characters and relationships. It’s a fun little piece that will introduce you to a lot of ideas that are common among many K-Dramas- Candy heroines, almost too nice to exist second male leads, boybands. 

3: City Hunter

A lot of K-Dramas tend to focus quite a lot on the romance, and can be viewed as a bit ‘girly’. While I argue that anyone can enjoy a good romance regardless of gender, ‘City Hunter’ is probably the best drama to snag the interests of boys. Westerners in particular are used to pretty high budget TV shows and Hollywood movies, and ‘City Hunter’ has a bit of a ‘Batman’ vibe about it, with its vigilante hero and despicable villains. It’s action packed with a slight mystery element to it, and even has a slight dose of romance on the side. The drama also does a great job at introducing a concept that rears its head in many K-Dramas- corrupt politicians. The drama goes into the corruption that exists there, but focuses on the journey of our titular hero. There’s never a dull moment, and the drama is just plain awesome.

2: Coffee Prince

There is a very good reason the this drama has remained on the top of peoples’ favourite lists for so long. Despite being a 2007 release, the drama doesn’t feel dated at all. It’s deeply hilarious, but also hits a few good emotional notes along the way. I would have to say that this is one of the rom-com K-Dramas that is more boy-friendly, as our heroine is a giant tom-boy and is actually confused as a boy for most of the series. It’s hard to really put your finger on the magic of ‘Coffee Prince’, but it’s got something in it that everyone can enjoy. Again, it’s a drama that doesn’t focus too heavily on Korean culture, but it does give you a taste. It’s a good drama to start wrapping your head around some of the age-related names that Koreans call each other that don’t exist in some cultures, like ‘hyung’ or ‘dongsaeng’. It also features one of the kings of Korean acting- Gong Yoo.

1: My Love from the Stars

This is the drama that hooked me into K-Drama- and I’m sure a whole bunch of other people were snagged by this one too. It really is a hit sensation- with Hollywood even wanting to remake it into an American TV show. It’s pretty, it’s fabulous, it’s pure gold. Celebrity status is something that everyone understands, but ‘My Love’ goes a little bit further in introducing it’s viewers into specifically Korean celebrities and how scandals work. Being a fantasy drama, there’s a lot of information presented that’s new to even Korean viewers, as one of our main leads isn’t even from Earth- so everything is spelled out pretty clearly. It’s a great drama to start on, as it also has some small historical segments in there as well- without being a dry, historical drama. It’s a wonderful, easy look-in on the beauty of the Joseon era that is easily understandable. It’s funny, witty and a phenomenal story with an array of brilliant characters and actors.

What were the K-Dramas that got you hooked?

My Love from the Stars

My Love from the Stars

9.5/10

My Love from the Stars

Genre:                                   Episodes: 21                       Year: 2014

Romance

Fantasy

Mystery

Historical

Synopsis:

An alien crash lands in Korea during the Joseon period and he is unable to return to his home planet for many years. While on Earth, he meets a young girl who is bright and innocent despite her many hardships.

400 years later, the alien is living as Do Min Joon- a quiet man who views humans as inferior and does not engage with the world. However, this begins to change when he meets Cheong Song Yi- a top actress with a striking resemblance to the girl he knew 400 years ago.

Cast:

Kim Soo Hyun (Do Min Joon)

Jun Ji Hyun (Cheon Song Yi)

Yoo In Na (Yoo Se Mi)

Park Hae Jin (Lee Hwi Kyung)

Shin Sung Rok (Lee Jae Kyung)

General Thoughts:

This was the first K-Drama I ever watched, and after completing it I wondered if I had ruined K-Drama for myself as I could hardly believe that anything I ever watched in my life would be as good as this.

This drama has the perfect amount of comedy to keep it from becoming too heavy, but maintains a continuously fast-moving plot (which I have found many other K-Dramas struggle with).

‘My Love from the Stars’ really takes a little part of almost every genre: with the mystery giving it an exciting edge over most other romance dramas.

The main female lead is also not your typical defenceless, weeping K-Drama heroine who is constantly in need of a hero, but is fiery and rather arrogant- yet never becoming an unlikable character.

Our Hilarious Heroine

The cast was basically pitch perfect- right down to the small roles, and paired with solid writing and a racing plot, it deserves its mass popularity and rave reviews.

What Was Great:

Oh so, so, so many things. But here are the main ones:

Kim Soo Hyun:

Kim Soo Hyun is superb (as usual) and is the perfect fit for this role. I don’t think any other actor would have been able to bring Do Min Joon to life the way Kim Soo Hyun did. He has the magical ability to be able to remain completely stoic and expressionless, be awkward, cry, or laugh just the exact amount for the character. And being basically physically flawless doesn’t hurt either. They virtually created the perfect man. Swoon.

Physical Perfection

Strong Female Lead:

Queen of Sass

As mentioned before, it was delightful to have a strong female character, as so many K-Drama heroines are pretty- yet delicate and useless. While at times Cheon Song Yi was harsh, rude, and a bit of a b*tch, she was never an unappealing character, and you looked for reasons to like her and be on her side.

Paired together with Kim Soo Hyun, the two made an onscreen couple that was a joy to watch. They just look so ridiculously good together.

People Logic:

So many dramas I have watched since this  lack a basic understanding of how people would actually react in situations. I didn’t fully understand the wonder of this until several dramas later when I realized I would often be left thinking ‘who would actually do that?’ while watching. All characters act in completely logical ways, and you can understand their motives for doing the things they do, and this was (thankfully) consistent throughout the whole drama.

What Wasn’t:

Logic Logic:

A lot of the science began to fall away a bit towards the end of the drama, and a lot of small questions were left unanswered. While all the main points of the drama were tied up nicely, there were little holes in the science story that bothered me. They didn’t really continue on with the idea that Do Min Joon got sick from human saliva. Towards the end he was snogging Song Yi with no apparent repercussions. Also (and this could just be me being dense) do Min Joon’s powers still weaken? I’m still not really certain how that plot-point was resolved as I was left thinking that he’d never actually returned to his planet, but was hanging out in limbo in a wormhole until he could make it back to Earth. Not major holes in the story, but would have been nice to know.

The Ending:

It's not a BAD ending, but it's not really GOOD either. However, when considering how often K-Dramas completely botch the final few episodes- it comes out looking pretty clean. But I still found it a little disappointing considering how stellar the rest of the series was. There were so many ways they could have wrapped things up- and the writers ignored all of them! It literally just kind of ends. Apart from Do Min Joon, Cheon Song Yi and Lee Jae Kyung, none of the characters get properly resolved- which is beyond irritating. Who is that with Yoo Se Mi on the red carpet? Is it Lee Hwi Kyung or not?

A little bit like how I felt at the end

And even with the two main leads, apart from them already being together (which we all knew would happen anyway), we aren’t given much. So Do Min Joon is just sometimes there and sometimes not? What about the media? Everyone saw him teleport- does the world know about his alien-ness? And how do Song Yi and Min Joon address the issue of her aging and him remaining the same? Even Kim Soo Hyun admitted that he would have liked the drama to address some of these issues before the end. Oh well, still a fantastic drama.

Would I Watch Again?

Yes, absolutely. If I hadn’t wasted so much of my life on things that weren’t K-Drama and didn’t have a huge amount of series to get through, I’m sure I would’ve watched it multiple times already. As it is, once I catch up on all the dramas I have, this will probably be one of the first K-Dramas I revisit.

So much cute