Ilyoil Dongsaeng - Lee Kwang Soo

I first saw Kwang Soo when I watched City Hunter.  That drama is in my absolute favorites list.  He played Go Ki Joon; the stiff, intelligent, and awkward tech for the Blue House.  He worked along side Lee Min Ho's character as he worked undercover in the same office.  He was just so utterly adorable that I wanted to squish him and take him home.  

After completing that drama I saw that he was a main cast member in Running Man, I must admit he's the reason I started to watch it.  I'm not much for variety TV, I don't watch any American variety TV at all.  However, from the first episode I was completely hooked.  That show makes me laugh so much that sometimes I cry.

I've only recently started watching Running Man's first episodes, I actually started somewhere in the middle.  After the cast members had already formed their particular roles within the show.  So Kwang Soo was already the Betrayer.  Every time they play his theme and he looks sad I want to swoop in and scold the others for hurting my hyung's feelings.

  

Kwang Soo is just adorable.  He is my first dongsaeng and will always hold a very special place in my heart.

City Hunter

I watched City Hunter immediately after having finished Boys Over Flowers.  Since I was pretty much clueless on K-Dramas and what to watch I only picked City Hunter because it had Lee Min Ho in it.  Also, it was the first suggestion on Hulu after I rated Boys Over Flowers so highly.  It was a lucky happenstance that I watched this next, but I’m pretty sure that I would have gotten to it sooner rather than later anyway.  This is in my top three best/most favorite dramas so far.  I’ve only watched fourteen dramas in the six months since I discovered Korean Dramas, so I’m sure that as I delve further into dramas my top three will change.

As with Boys Over Flowers it is difficult for me to look at City Hunter with an objective eye.  And since this review is just my opinion anyway I’ll just gush over it as much as I want.  I really enjoyed this one.  Prior to K-Drama’s my usual genre of movie/show was action and adventure.  So the fact that this is an action/spy based story line, well I fell in love even more.  The basic story is South Korean Spec. Ops group is sent to North Korea by politicians, once there a deal is struck with the States and the South Korean politicians end the mission and hide any evidence of its existence.  Then they kill off their own people, only one man survives.  He then steals his friend’s baby and raises the child for one purpose, revenge.  When the baby, now a man, returns to Korea he completes the revenge for the man who raised him.

I’m not even sure where to start because I loved everything.  So I suppose I’ll start with Lee Min Ho.  He did an amazing job.  The character grows from a rambunctious teen to a young man with a purpose and he truly did a fantastic job showing that.  Additionally, Lee Yoon Sung (Lee Min Ho’s character) is being asked to do some truly despicable things by the man who raised him.  You can really see the pain Yoon Sung feels at disobeying the only man he’s ever known as family.  And that pain only intensifies as Yoon Sung’s past comes to light.  He really pulled me in and I felt his suffering with him.

Kim Na Na is my favorite female lead in any drama so far.  So often when a ‘tough girl’ part is being cast the actress is not right for the part or just way over acts in order to appear strong.  It can ruin a show when the ‘tough girl’ is trying too hard or not believable at all.  Kim Na Na was just perfect.  She was an excellent mix of strong and tough woman with vulnerable and soft.  I truly believed that she could beat the snot out of anyone attempting to harm her charge (the president’s daughter).  Though on the other hand when she’s home alone I believe that she just wants someone to lean on and make her feel safe too.  Park Min Young did such a phenomenal job portraying Kim Na Na.

Sometimes the chemistry between the leads falls short, but not here.  The main leads and their secondary counterparts just had the perfect mix of tension, aggression, attraction, and sensual interplay.  Along with that, the supporting cast was perfect.  I especially enjoyed Ahjussi, he added just the right amount of comic relief to a story that was intense.

Lee Jin Pyo, who went by Steve Lee when he returned to Korea, was the man who stole Yoon Sung and raised him.  Oh I just loved to hate this man.  He was so focused on his revenge and so set in his ways that he didn’t care what it was doing to Yoon Sung.  He was an evil and horrid man who I hated with a passion.  Yet, he’s my favorite villain to date.  I loved him, he was so broken, but had such a strong will that he didn’t let his broken heart stop him.  And then at the end he redeems himself and I loved him even more.

Additionally I really loved Yoon Sung’s City Hunter look.  The face mask and the clothing he wore.  It was simple and easily obtained which makes it realistic in the sense that anyone could have those items.  He wasn’t wearing anything that was cumbersome or tacky just for the look.  It was clean and simple and functional.  Also, for me this is my favorite look of Lee Min Ho’s.

The only criticisms that I have are minor and really just a few nit-picking items.  Yoon Sung is supposed to be a genius and the Blue House is very pleased to have him there.  However, he just comes and goes whenever he wants without a word or a reason.  I would assume that the Blue House is tightly guarded, scrutinized, and watched.  It seemed a little improbable that he would have such free reign to do some of the things he did while there.  Additionally, speaking of improbable.  Being raised on a drug farm and then somehow managing to enter the US with valid identification to fabricate a past and go to school.  I understand that with most action flicks you need to suspend your disbelief, but this just seemed like to much.  Though I’m not sure what they could have done to make it a little more believable.

The last thing that I could possibly say as a negative was the fact that it felt like the characters were written to be particularly slow in figuring out who the City Hunter was.  Yoon Sung didn’t exactly cover up his actions very well.  I thought it would have been much better had they discovered his identity sooner and we could see the struggle they had in deciding what to do with the information.  They had the epiphany too late in the series for my tastes.

However, eve with those few small things this is definitely in my top three best dramas of all times.  I would absolutely recommend it to anyone and will most definitely watch it again. 

For a full synopsis of the story check out this link.

Noona's Rating
Overall: 9 (I rated this 5 stars on DramaFever.com)
Story/Writing: 9
Cast/Actors: 9
OST: 9
Sets/Costumes: 9
Feels: 9

Happily Ever After

My first foray into the world of Korean Dramas turned out to have a happy ending.  I was very lucky indeed.  Though I have a feeling from the words of netizens that a great many people’s first K-Drama is Boys Over Flowers.  Regardless, I feel pretty lucky that my first drama had a happy ending (for the most part).  Throughout the entire twenty-five episodes I was uncertain if there would be a happy ending, Jun Pyo and Jan Di kept encountering such immense obstacles that the ending was never definite.  However, the last episode wrapped it up in a sweet bow and I melted away from happiness. 

I am such a sucker for a happy ending.  Always have been.  This love of the feel good closure to a show/movie/book/graphic novel/etc has carried over to dramas.  I’ve experienced enough hardship and tragedy in the real world, I don’t like to end a drama on a note which rips my heart out.  Now, that isn’t to say that I don’t appreciate the twists and turns, ups and downs, and climactic moments within the drama itself which keep you guessing.  Those I absolutely love.  The moments where I am bawling my eyes out and unsure of the fate of the characters are some of my most favorite.  Yet at the end of that emotional rollercoaster I want to be left with a warm glow, a happy ending is a must.

Once I finished Boys Over Flowers I needed more, it was evident even then that I was obsessed and addicted.  Admittedly I chose my next drama because it had Lee Min Ho in it.  After watching him for twenty-five plus hours as Jun Pyo I really wanted to see more of him.  So I immediately started City Hunter, which was a completed different vibe from Boys Over Flowers.  It wasn’t until about halfway through City Hunter that I started to worry that the ending would tear my heart out and stomp on it.  It wasn’t enough to make me stop watching, but I found that as I closed in on the ending of the show I was terribly anxious.  I needed him to succeed and desperately wanted Yoon Sung and Na Na to be together with a happily ever after ending.  By the last episode I was so high strung with insecurity that it was a traumatic experience to finish the show.  It ended and I got my wish.  But boy was I exhausted after that ride.

That terrifying ride didn’t stop me from diving right into another drama.  This time I followed Kim Hyun Joong (Ji Ho from Boys Over Flowers).  I needed something light and fluffy and silly after City Hunter and Playful Kiss seemed exactly perfect.  Now, to say that I dove right in and started the show is a lie.  I took some time to research.  I read review about the show, well to be more exact I literally typed into Google ‘does Playful Kiss have a happy ending’.  Yup, I wasn’t going to commit to a show unless I knew that no matter how insane or crazy the plots twists and obstacles were that I’d get the warm-fuzzies when the show was done.  There were plenty of snippets out there and it was easy to ascertain that Playful Kiss would have a satisfying ending, so at that point I did dive right in… once I was sure I’d survive the ride.

Now before I commit to any drama I spend a few minutes searching the internet for a clue as to what I’m getting myself into.  Some people might say this is cheating or that I’m ruining the ending for myself.  I can’t deny that, I am ruining the ending because I go into the story knowing how it’s going to end up.  For me though I can’t handle the anxiety and chance that I’ll be left with this hollow pain because the characters I’ve fallen in love with end up dead or unhappy.  I watch dramas to escape reality and I want my fantasy to have happiness and rainbows at the conclusion of every tale.