The obvious answer is a lot of people, but that's not what we're going for here. The more precise answer (and the one that should be obvious if you read the post title) is that WE ARE GOING TO KCON!
That's right. I'm so excited about about it that I resorted to shouty capslock writing to tell you about it. Last year, KCON was a blast, but this year, it's going to be even better because they have amped up the K-drama side of things quite a bit.
As part of that general amping up of K-drama activities, Coco and I will be panelists this year, which is pretty exciting! Should you happen to be going to KCON and want to stop by and say hi (or heckle us, or whatever), here are our panels:
1.Women in K-dramas:
Chunkeemonkeeato made this awesome poster for our panel. Isn't it great?
Description: The one thing that probably makes K-Drama stand out from all other TV genres are its portrayal of women characters. Top K-Drama bloggers and vloggers discuss the many faces of women in K-Drama. (That's from KCON's website. If I wrote that about my own panel, it would be weird.)
Time: Saturday, August 9 at 11:30 a.m. in Panel Tent 2
I don't have a poster for this one, but I DO have a sad Ji Hoo crying in the rain. Does that make up for it?
Description: Bond with your fellow K-Drama fans over the most heartbreaking second lead relationships. Just what is it that makes us suffer from acute second lead syndrome? Why does it seem like the “good guy” never wins? Let’s tackle the K-Drama second lead types and share our favorites in this must-see panel!
Time: Sunday, August 10 at 11:00 a.m. in Panel Tent 2
I've heard that a lot of bloggers will be heading to KCON this year. We should all chat and be nerdy about K-dramas together! Or just wave to each other on our way to the port-a-potties or something.
After watching both Emergency Couple and Sly and Single Again this week, I've been thinking about Second Lead Syndrome again. Both shows feature a woman caught between two men, and in both cases, the female lead is clearly destined to go back to her ex-husband from episode 1. Neither ex-husband is exactly a shining paragon of awesome boyfriend-osity, but hey, he's rich and he's on the promotional poster, so it has to be true love, right?
It's no secret that Emergency Couple is giving me what might be my worst case of Second Lead Syndrome yet (We're talking Young Do levels here, folks. Things are bad.). In the case of Sly and Single, I feel sad for the second lead, but he doesn't have me clutching my heart and sighing at the TV or anything, either. The comparison of two very similar shows has got me wondering what it is that sparks Second Lead Syndrome (SLS) and why it is that I catch it for some dramas and I just don't care for others. There seem to be a few different factors at play in my self-diagnosis of this ailment:
Go ahead. Just stab my heart with little daggers, why don't you?
What could have been...
Second leads are notoriously bad at spitting out their feelings. While the first leads are dragging women around by the arm and forcing kisses onto them, second leads are always stuck forming painstakingly cautious love declarations, only to be interrupted at the last minute by a phone or something equally infuriating. (Seriously. Stop answering the freaking phone.)
If viewers are already favoring the second lead, an interrupted love declaration is basically the worst thing a writer can do. It ensures that we will spend the rest of the show wondering what could have been if only the man spoke at a pace slightly faster than one word every thirty seconds. How can we feel satisfied that the female lead made the right choice if she didn't even know she had another option until it was too late?
Oh, Geol Oh, if only you had overcome your girl-instigated hiccups...
On the other hand, there is such a thing as waiting too long, and second leads who beat around the bush for a million years tend to lose my sympathy at some point. Take You're Beautiful's Shin Woo, for example. Yeah, she got interrupted by a phone call on their pseudo-date, but he could have said something a little earlier instead of just staring at her and talking in thinly veiled "stories."
Then again, if she was too stupid to figure out that the story describing her exact situation was really about her, maybe Shin Woo dodged a bullet on that one.
It takes two to tango
Mutual interest is the next big factor in second lead syndrome. Sometimes, I want to give male leads a copy of the book He's Just Not That Into You and send them on their way. I'm thrilled when they confess their feelings, but if it's obvious from the start that there's no interest from the female lead, it makes it a teensy bit easier to let the relationship die in my mind.
If the show develops the possibility of a relationship with the second male lead, though, all bets are off. I think that's what got so many Boys over Flowers fans. She was completely interested in Ji Hoo one minute, and then suddenly she's dating Jun Pyo. Why? Because he shouted about his feelings more adamantly? His family had slightly more money? It's a mystery. Add in a fortune teller announcing that Ji Hoo is her soul mate, but Jun Pyo is her husband, and you've got a herd of angry fans on your hands.
Lesson of the day: Don't trust random island fortune tellers.
Emergency Couple is another example. Jin Hee and Chief Gook had fantastic chemistry for most of the show, which made it that much harder to figure out why the writers wouldn't just cave to their obvious connection and kill Chang Min in a freak bench pressing accident or something. (I'm joking! Sort of.)
Variety is the spice of K-dramas
This one's a biggie. It wasn't until I watched the recycled mishmash that was Nail Shop Paris that I realized just how predictable male characters are in Dramaland (or at least the romcom segment of Dramaland). I know that we've talked a lot about female leads on this blog, but if we want complex, interesting women in our dramas, don't they also deserve complex, interesting men to date?
As it currently stands, many romantic dramas have two tropes: the chaebol lead and the supportive second lead. The male lead has two personality traits: haughty and rich. (Rich isn't even a personality trait, but that's the best we've got, so we'll take it.) As time goes on, he becomes less haughty, and he falls in love. But that's it. Beyond haughty, rich, in love, and maybe sad about daddy issues, you don't have much to work with, personality-wise.
Then you have the second male lead, who is (slightly less) rich, kind, and supportive. His main characteristic is his willingness to follow the woman around and serve her with his invisible love.
Now, I love a good old fashioned chaebol love story, but every once in a while, I wish Kdrama male characters had just a little more personality. Haughty vs. nice makes it tempting to root for the nice guy, but you have to admit that some second leads are just a teensy bit boring. How can you blame her for having no interest if he's kind of a snoozefest?
Sorry, not sorry, Jaejoong fans. His character was like watching paint dry.
When Kdrama writers break the mold and offer complex, intriguing second leads who break the basic mold, that's when I really can't resist. In Dating Agency: Cyrano, the main lead was doing typical male lead shenanigans, while Master was having long, heartfelt conversations with the female lead. They laughed together, cooked together, talked together, and he was secretly a gangster in disguise. It was a refreshing break from the norm, which automatically prejudiced me against her boring grandpa of the boyfriend.
Similarly, in Heirs, Young Do might have been a violent maniac, but if your only other option is another violent maniac, why not at least root for the one with multiple facial expressions and a motorcycle? (Remind me not to become a life coach for teen girls. Something tells me that I would be bad at it. Teens, don't actually date violent maniacs with motorcycles, okay?)
Whatever the reason, Second Lead Syndrome is always lurking around the corner of every romantic K-drama. As far as I can tell, the only cure is to demand a higher quality of male lead to leave their competition in the dust.
Guys, this is it. For all of its ups and downs, Heirs was a fun community experience. Even when it was a complete train wreck in the middle, at least we all got to laugh at the train wreck together! Because we live blogged the Heirs premiere, we thought we would round out some of our thoughts on the final episode in the same way. Here we go!
00.10 V: This show has turned me into Pavlov’s dog. I hear the Young Do theme song, and I’m already clutching my heart at the computer screen. CURSE YOU AND YOUR CHARISMA FOREVER, KIM WOO BIN!
I can’t help but wish, though, that they had just consummated this bromance with one last round of “Love Is the Moment.”
6.05 C: Did Young Do’s dad just make a joke? What? It’s a little late for father/son camaraderie don’t you think?
V: Yeah, waaaay too little too late. You can’t just give people strokes or send them to jail in the last episode to make us feel sad!
C: But I did feel sad though. When Tan’s dad reached out to fake little Tan….FEELS
V: Me too. Stroke + small child flashbacks? I can’t resist. But I still felt manipulated the whole time.
C: Agreed. Those writers are pulling every trick in the tear generator book.
8.10 C: Aww, Young Do is trying to make his peace with the world! Now he’s bad-boy-turned-sad-boy-turned-rad-boy, but still kind of just sad-boy, FOREVER.
9.11 V: LSKJDFFSKHLJFSJLSDFJKLFSDJKL I’m never ever going to recover from Young Do-itis.
C: Me either. They better do him right by the end of this! I FORGIVE YOU YOUNG DO! (and please marry me).
9.50 V: It wouldn’t be Heirs without some unintelligible English, would it?
C: Funny how it’s all coming full circle, even the engrish.
V: Does this mean we might get a closing cameo from Tan’s surfer drug addict thief friend?
C: PLEASE dear drama gods, YES!
11.40 C: NO YOUNG DO! Don’t do it! They better not make him commit suicide. THIS IS NONSENSE!!!
Also, poor little rich kids. Boooo hoooo. Go cry me a river that I know you’re just going to make your servant clean up.
V: Yeah, yeah, we get it. Everyone is sad except for Eun Sang.
C: What? She’s sad for like 19 of the 20 episodes. I thought she only knew how to make one face.
V: Is that why she’s text message rubbing it in that she’s the only non-sad one now? Oh, wait, she’s STILL making her cry face.
18.40 C: It’s making me nervous that Young Do is traipsing all around trying to make amends. He better not die! And if he’s not going to die, then is this just the writer’s evil plot to make us fall even more in love with him so it sucks that much more when he NEVER wins?
V: I can’t even talk about him anymore because it hurts my heart too much. I’m just going to listen to his theme song on repeat instead.
C: That will do you no good. Nothing good ever comes from listening to K-drama theme songs on repeat. Trust me, I did it with Master’s Sun and it wrecked me, like a wrecking ball, that’s how it came in.
V: Well, the writer will just have to take responsibility for any Miley Cyrus happenings around here, then. She’s the one who wrote a male lead with the personality of a potato and matched him against this guy!
C: Yes that was so shortsighted, or genius. Not sure which, but I’m in love so I don’t even care! Young Do *V*! (*V*= the emoticon for FIGHTING!)
21:43
V: The chairwoman is wearing a Snuggie to an important meeting. Hey, at least she dressed it up with her best neck bow, right?
C: I wonder if I can pick one up at Walgreen’s. My mother would love to have one to watch her K-dramas in.
V: I don’t know, Coco. This one appears to be her most formal snuggy. It might be too fancy for casual Kdrama viewing.
C: Are you saying my mom is not classy? You know what happens when people diss each other’s mothers. We’ve just witnessed 20 episodes of it!
V: Don’t hit me with the chair, Coco! I take it all back!
C: Ok, 4 year feud averted.
V: I’m just glad I won’t be forced to rock angry Elvis hair for the foreseeable future.
C: Yes, and I am glad that I won’t have to wear 20 different ugly sweaters. Wait, why do you get to be Young Do?
V: Because Kim Tan is always the one getting his feelings hurt over “your momma” jokes.
C: Ah, ok. Fair enough.
26.00 C: Not the DOUBLE single tear! One single tear rolling down two people’s cheeks at the same time?!? This is getting real!
V: Seriously, people, you’re killing me here! I’m thinking of starting a coffee table book entitled The Many Sad Faces of Young Do. Any takers? And it’s a TRIPLE single tear if you count the one slowly rolling down my cheek.
C: Oh no, then that makes it a QUADRUPLE single tear for my little tear running down my little cheek too!
V: It’s really hard to gaze pensively into the distance and watch the show at the same time.
C: That’s true, but this is Young Do we’re talking about, so if anyone deserves quadruple single tears, it’s him.
29:55 V: FINALLY, a Rachel and Hyo Shin scene! I have been waiting for ANYTHING that doesn’t have to do with stupid boring people and their stupid boring companies.
C: Yes! As much as I hate Rachel, I do want to see her happy. It’s only kind of her fault she’s such a heartless rich girl. Tan did her wrong, there’s no denying that!
I'd say she got the better consolation prize.
42.36 V: I feel like I should be more sad about Won’s breakup. Too bad I can’t even remember this girl’s name. I’ve just been calling her Whazzerface Orphan Lady.
C: Yeah, their relationship never felt particularly real and gripping to me. But I am sad for Won. Did he learn nothing about reckless love from Tan?
V: Well, lest we forget, everything is always all about Tan. If Won had done the same thing, they would have lost that vote (52% to 44% is close!). We can’t have poor little Tanny losing all his stuff, can we?
C: True. Someone has to take one for the team, and apparently Won chose to bear the weight of the power and greed crown!
V: One advantage of this show ending is that we never have to hear anything more about crowns or weight ever, ever again.
45.42 V: Has Young Do been carrying that bandaid around in every pair of pants since he got it? Or has he just never changed his pants? Gross.
C: I knew all the men in this show were strangely stalkerish and obsessive, but that does take the cake.
50.30 C: WTF? Nothing changed? Another shot of Tan and Young Do long walking past each other without looking up? WAE? What was the point of Young Do’s character if he ends up with NOTHING? No girl, no best friend, no company! *throwing table over*
V: Maybe he can go for the new chicken delivery girl?
C: I thought that was what was about to happen and got really angry for a second. Like, that is not an ok cop out last minute.
V: You’re a party pooper. At least Young Do wouldn’t be forever alone, but let’s face it, we all knew this was coming from the first time he showed up. That’s why they started him out SO evil.
C: But every other male lead starts out evil and gets the girl. Just look at Jun Pyo!
V: Or, dare I say it, Kim Tan? Oh wait, he starts out kind of nice and goes downhill from there.
C: How dare you?! You’re right. He’s kind of a controlling and violent maniac.
V: Remember how in Episode 19 he said that he loves to be obsessive? Because I do.
54:27 C: KISS, KISS, KISS! And I mean a real one now! I just really need for a normal, lovely, kiss where no one looks like they’re in pain or being forced to happen.
54.39 V: I LITERALLY LOLd at that ridiculous (and slightly creepy) lip bump.
C: That was NOT a real kiss! That was a freeze frame so that Park Shin Hye doesn’t have to ever learn how to kiss on screen.
V: At least PSH was smiling! Also, are they getting married? Also also why are they living in Tan’s childhood bedroom ten years down the line?
56. 35 V: I can just imagine the writer saying, “You know what we all need here? A recap of EVERY TIME Kim Tan and Eun Sang cried at each other!” You know, in case we forgot.
C: No, I’m pretty sure that was the abridged version. A whole recap would take 10 of the 20 hours.
V: But, you know, eighteen, and pain and stuff. So that makes it okay.
C: Oh to be young! Young Do! Our favorite part of this whole experience.
V: And Bo Na/Chan Young! (Why couldn't we cut half of the boring company stuff for more of them in the finale?)
Dating Agency: Cyrano just finished its run in July of this year. Looking for something light and fluffy to watch in what feels like billion-degree weather, I started watching it pretty soon after it ended.
Doesn't this poster just scream "SUMMER!" to you? Source
The posters didn't lie. This drama was like a little creamiscle: a light snack for the summer, but so light that it won't stay with you for long.
Your Typical Flower Boys
This show is actually part of tvN's larger Oh!Boy series (which also includes Flower Boy Ramyun Shop, Shut Up! Flower Boy Band, and Flower Boys Next Door). In line with the other shows, this one was originally called Flower Boy Dating Agency before they settled on Dating Agency: Cyrano. This change might have been a way to connect it to the 2010 film on which it was based (Cyrano Agency). Either that, or the producers realized that a title containing the term flower "boys" was a little misleading since both of the male leads are in their 30s (and Flower Boys Plus a Couple of Flower Ahjussis Dating Agency doesn't have quite the same ring to it).
Some Flower Boys is better than none!
Even though there aren't flower boys in the title, this series still captures the same spirit that fills the other Oh! Boy shows. It's a breezy comedy bursting at the seams with quirky side characters and cute romance. In fact, fans of Jo Yoon Woo's "Angel Boy" in FBRS will be thrilled to see the same actor play Do Arang, who is basically the exact same character--nerdy sweaters and all.
This series amps up the fun factor with a million different cameos from other kdrama stars. Since the series revolves around a dating agency, each new "case" features a new set of actors as the agency's romantic targets. I didn't recognize all of the cameos, but the ones I picked up were pretty enjoyable. My personal favorite had to be Gong Yoo because, well, it's Gong Yoo. 'Nuff said.
Boom. Doesn't this basically make the whole series worthwhile?
The Leads
I was pleasantly surprised by Sooyoung's portrayal of Gong Min Young. She has a smile that absolutely lights up the room, and Gong Min Young was delightfully confident and pleasant and normal--almost unheard-of in a kdrama female lead! She was comfortable in her own skin from episode 1 and didn't feel the need to apologize for her personality. Even though I would probably be initially intimidated by her snazzy style and outgoing personality, she's definitely someone I would want as a friend in real life.
Wait, she knows basic personal hygiene? What kind of kdrama lead does she think she is?
I also appreciate the way she initially handled the relationship. Yes, she confessed her feelings first, but instead of staring into space and crying after Byung Hoon ignored her, she told him to just man up and be more mature about the whole thing. In fact, every time he used a trick that would make most kdrama females freeze up (firing her, asking if she likes him, etc.), she turned the tables on him.
As great as Sooyoung was, I had a hard time with the chemistry in this show. Part of this is my own fault. Yes, the drama recognizes the age gap between Min Young and Seo Byung Hoon (15 years between the actual actors, in case you're wondering), but they don't ever spell out the difference, and they try to balance the characters in terms of emotional maturity. For me, though, the age gap was a little distracting. It wasn't the actual age so much as the difference in life experience. She is a bubbly youngster just out of college, and he is a jaded middle-aged man with an increasingly ridiculous bowl cut. It didn't help that the last time I watched Lee Jong Hyuk was in A Gentleman's Dignity, where he played a cheating 40-something-year old (who, if I remember correctly, checks out Sooyoung's legs at some point in the show). Even in the final scenes of the show, it just felt more like a teacher-student relationship than a sizzling partnership of people on equal levels. They had some cute moments (like the play fighting below), but most of the chemistry just didn't fall into place for me.
Out of curiosity, I asked Coco what she thought about the pairing after watching the first episode. She had never seen A Gentleman's Dignity, and she didn't really register the age difference, so I really might be the only one who felt this way. I can't help it!
I'm also starting to realize that I will probably never get through a Flower Boy series without a serious case of Second Male Lead Syndrome. I don't know what it is about these shows, but it happens every time (except for maybe FBRS, where the second lead was nice, but the random narcolepsy threw me off). How can I possibly appreciate Seo Byung Hoon when Master is around?
I think he should win just on the basis of all that delicious food he made.
Short answer? I can't.
The Plot
As I said before, the basic premise of this drama means that we get a new love story (with new star cameos) every 2-3 episodes. These side stories were adorable, and they helped keep the show moving at a decent pace. I didn't notice the time dragging in the middle like I sometimes do because I was excited to see what each new case would bring.
The big exception here is the last few episodes, where the show's writers made a beeline straight for Crazyville and didn't stop until it was time to wrap up the series. If you're writing a fun, lighthearted series about the hijinks in a dating agency, WHY would you think that tossing in a kidnapping with two episodes to go is a good way to wrap things up? I can understand using kidnapping as a last-ditch plot device if you have to fill 50 episodes, but this series only has 16 episodes, and they're only 45 minutes long. Now that's just lazy!
I sometimes wonder if kdrama writers have a giant wheel of plot twists sitting in their office, and every time someone gets writer's block, they just gather around and spin the wheel, a-la Wheel of Fortune. "Come onnnnnnnnnnn, amnesia! Awwwww, man! Not another illegitimate child!"
I also felt like the underlying conflict was a little underdeveloped for the amount of drama it caused in the show. Seo Byung Hoon kept agonizing over things, and then Yi Seol would just be like, "Yeah, I knew that 15 years ago. NBD."
Random Observations
It's hard to choose a favorite side character in a drama filled with side characters, but I have to give a shout out to Master's bumbling henchmen and their attempts at matchmaking.
What's with Seo Byung Hoon's trench coats? Everyone else is wearing shorts and t-shirts, and he's decked out like Inspector Gadget.
Is this supposed to help him blend in? Because it's definitely not working.
(Spoiler) Can we please talk about that scene with the bomb? Master is BLEEDING ON THE FLOOR, and everyone else is just going all starry-eyed in love? SOMEBODY CALL KOREAN 911! But nooooooo, they go ahead and stab him in the heart right after he's been stabbed in the stomach.
Wait,remind me why she chose the other guy again? Because I forgot.
Another entry into the "things I shouted repeatedly at my computer" column: "NO! DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON HAWAIIAN SHIRT GUY!" If somebody is cray-cray and straps a bomb to the love of your life and then tries to hit you in the head with a board, how about you don't turn your back on him unless he's tied up somehow? For being a gangsta, Master was an idiot with that one.
I want someone to let me deejay a high school prom so that I can play this song. Something about it just screams awkwardly shuffling teenagers.
If you love the Flower Boy shows, Dating Agency: Cyrano is a good choice! It might not suck you in quite as much as other shows do, but it's some bright summertime fun.
