Looking Ahead: What Will You Be Watching?

Confession: I started five different dramas this cycle, and I didn't end up sticking with any of them. For some reason, the only one that stuck was Heart to Heart, and even with that one, I'm still four episodes behind. Do you ever have drama cycles like that?

The upside of suddenly becoming insanely fickle is that skipping out on a full round of dramas almost acts like a palate cleanser, and it makes me even more excited for the upcoming shows. Since it feels like every drama for the rest of the year is in the middle of casting right now, I'm extra excited, and I want to know what dramas have caught your eye.

Let's weigh some of our options, shall we?

1. Angry Mom

Premise: A feisty mom (Kim Hee Sun) discovers that her daughter is being bullied, so she goes undercover as a student to get back at the bullies.

Premiere date: March 18 (Next week!)

Impressions: In no universe would Kim Hee Sun ever pass as a teenager. Also, I'm not sure how I feel about what appears to be a loveline between her and Ji Hyun Woo. So he gets to feel icky for the first half of the series for having a crush on his student, and then he gets to feel icky for the second half of the series when that student turns out to be a married ahjumma? Poor guy.

But then. This trailer.

Ok, so maybe Kim Hee Sun still doesn't look like a teen, but holy moly, she did pretty well. And I have a soft spot in my heart for female leads who love to swear.

Verdict: Probably yes, but only because it premieres two weeks ahead of anything else I want to watch.

2. Falling for Innocence

Premise: A cold corporate headhunter (Jung Kyung Ho) gets a heart transplant and then finds himself falling for his secretary (Kim So Yeon). They're also in a love triangle with her lifelong best friend (Yoon Hyun Min).

Premiere date: April 3

Impressions: I'm in love with the posters and teasers. They're playful and sexy and have Jung Kyung Ho and Yoon Hyun Min on them. What could possibly deter me?

Oh, yeah. The whole "the organ I got from a dead person is still in love with you" thing, which might be my least favorite thing of all the things.

Verdict: Sigh. My heart says yes, but is it only saying that because it came from the dead boyfriend of this drama? This one reeks of "fun romcom turned into a cryfest" from a mile away.

3. Divorce Lawyer in Love

Premise: A cutthroat divorce lawyer (Cho Yeo Jeong) has a prickly relationship with her office manager (Yeon Woo Jin). The tables turn when she loses her job and has to become an office manager for a new lawyer, who happens to be none other than her former employee.

Premiere date: It was going to be March 14, but rumor on the streets has it that it's been pushed back to April?

Impressions: Typical opposites attract romcom, which are always fun.

Verdict: Did I mention that Yeon Woo Jin's last role was in one of my favorite opposites attract romcoms?

Via

Yep, count me in!

4. Ex-Girlfriend Club

Premise: A webtoon artist (Byun Yo Han) writes a story about his four ex-girlfriends. When the webtoon gets picked up by a movie studio, he has to work with a producer (Song Ji Hyo) who just so happens to be one of those exes. Awk-ward!

Premiere date: May 

Initial impressions: Song Ji Hyo and I are going to be best friends someday. In order to make that happen, I have to watch this. You know—to prove my friendship.

You see that smile? She's totally laughing at a hilarious joke I made.

5. Descendants of the Sun

Premise: A UN peacekeeping officer (almost 100% certainly played by Song Joong Ki) and a doctor from Doctors Without Borders (Song Hye Gyo is considering) initially don't get along, but then the fall in love because of danger or something.

Premiere: Fall-ish

Initial impressions: I know this is really far away, but I already feel so conflicted. On the one hand, remember how I started my Song Joong Ki obsession right around the time he left for military service? Siggggggh I luff him.

Via

On the other hand, it's written by Kim Eun Sook. The same Kim Eun Sook who wrote Heirs.

I actually find the premise kind of interesting, and who knows? Kim Eun Sook tends to do better with bigger plots (body swapping in Secret Garden) than she does with basic ones (rich kids go to school in Heirs), so maybe having a background of war will force her to do more than end every episode with a wide-eyed love triangle formation.

Surely you all remember this. It was, after all, 40% of what happened in Heirs.

My biggest fear, though, is that this potentially intriguing plot will end up with Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Gyo doing a wrist grab stare-down at each other for five minutes while some poor guy's artery is gushing blood right next to them as I shout "MOVE IT, YOU IDIOTS! THAT MAN DOESN'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR LOVE" at my laptop.

...not that I have ever shouted that at a show before. 

I guess we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?

Okay, now it's your turn. What shows are all of you anticipating? I know I missed a bunch of upcoming ones, like Sensory Couple aka Girl Who Sees Smells aka Shin Se Kyung's Got a Fetish for Bizarre Superpowers, but the ones I covered are the ones tugging at my heart (for good or for ill) at the moment. What about you? If there's something else I should consider, by all means, convince me so that we can watch together!

K-drama Dream Casting: Who Would You Choose?

A while back, Kathryn, one of our readers, sent me an email asking who our "dream cast" would be. Her ideal was a romcom staring Ha Ji Won, Gong Yoo, SSH (Song Seung Hun?), and Hee Ji Jin with a Yoon Eun Hye cameo where she plays a professional woman for a change of pace.

I have to admit that Kathryn's  selection sounds pretty enticing, and I'm not sure if I can top it. I almost emailed her back right away saying it was too hard and I could never decide with all of my favorites, but now, after spending way, way too much time imagining different pairings, I have come up with the...wait for it...


ULTIMATE K-DRAMA DREAM CAST OF ALL TIME 
(according to the completely biased Vivi)


Are you ready for this?

Here we go...

Since this is my hypothetical dream cast and I can do whatever I want, I'm going to have two main pairings because I can't choose. Think of it as interconnected stories with separate romances instead of a love square with two losers who get dumped and then pick each other as a consolation prize. No consolation prizes here! In fact, there are NO SECOND LEADS ALLOWED in my dream cast scenario. You Are All Surrounded is an example of what we're going for here. Some bromance and friendship between Cha Seung Won and Lee Seung Gi, but ultimately they're involved in their own individual romantic stories.

My two leading men would be Song Joong Ki and Ji Chang Wook. Why those two? Song Joong Ki has been a favorite of mine for a while, and Ji Chang Wook...well, let's just say I've caught a little case of Healer fever these days....

Really, I chose these two because even though they're relatively young, they both have an incredible ability to express volumes with a tiny facial expression or gesture. If you want to see what I mean, watch Nice Guy again. Half of the time, Song Joong Ki is saying one thing, but he'll do the tiniest little things with his face to express how he really feels. I don't necessarily want my dream K-drama to be a super soapy melodrama or anything (NO PEOPLE FALLING IN LOVE WITH SIBLINGS ALLOWED), but I would want to give them roles that allow both actors to stretch a full range of emotions, even if it's under the broader romcom genre umbrella. Oh, and this K-drama might become a musical where Ji Chang Wook belts some songs. I'm just tossing that in there for good measure while we're dreaming big.

So who are the lucky leading ladies? I went back and forth on this a lot, but I thiiiiiink I finally settled on Han Groo with Song Joong Ki and Song Ji Hyo with Ji Chang Wook.

Both of those actresses have an on-screen presence that pushes past the typical wide-eyed Candy girl, and I would love to see more of them. Plus, I secretly want to be best friends with both of them, so casting them in my K-drama is the first step in that secret plan (mwahahahahahahaa).

Now, because I can't just quit at 4 characters and my imaginary K-drama pocketbook is limitless and my script is so amazing that no one would ever say no, I would use Park Seo Joon as Song Joong Ki's wild younger brother (don't they seem perfect as brothers?), and Yoo Ah In and Jung Ryeo Won would be antagonists.

Notice I didn't say "villains" because they would be funny at times, terribly tragic at others, and always magnificently nuanced. You would probably walk away from the show crying buckets of tears over them and still not being sure if they're good or bad.


Add in at least one adorable little child actor who you wish you could kidnap and keep forever in real life.

 Oh, and Lee Min Ho as a murderer. A terrible, irredeemable serial killer who haunts your dreams at night. Just because it's my drama and I can. And I would like to see the fangirls squirm a little.

Via

But he also doesn't have a very big part because we're too busy focused on the other, more interesting and awesome, characters.

So that's my dream cast. I would absolutely and completely watch the crap out of that show. What's yours?

Mini Reviews: A Werewolf Boy, Boys Before Friends, and Shut Up Flower Boy Band

Sometimes, I just don't have the energy to write a full review of something, but I also don't want to completely ignore it.  Instead of leaving these things on my "to review" shelf indefinitely, here are just a few mini reviews of the things I've been watching lately:

Mini Review 1: A Werewolf Boy (2012)

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AN IMPORTANT PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Song Joong Ki's 2012 film A Werewolf Boy is finally available to stream on Netflix.  Huzzah!  So much rejoicing!

Given my love of Song Joong Ki in both Sungkyunkwan Scandal and Nice Guy, I was just biding my time until I could get my hands on a subtitled version of this film.  Thanks for making all of my dreams come true, Netflix!

General thoughts: I loved it.  Loved it.  LOVED IT.  The premise (a teen girl finds a handsome-but-feral teen boy with secret powers) sounds a lot like Korean Twilight, but aside from superficial plot comparisons (fine, okay, and some runnin' through the woods scenes), they aren't very similar.  Instead, I would call this the summer sibling to Edward Scissorhands.  It's a warm and tender film, and I thought that both Song Joong Ki and Park Bo Young knocked it out of the park as the leads.

If you care about things like convincing special effects or villain motivations or back stories that aren't riddled with plot holes, maybe skip this.  If you care about things like first love, laughter, and friendship, watch it.

Mini Review 2: Boys Before Friends (aka "the American Boys over Flowers," aka "the end of the world as we know it")

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When all the anti-American remake hullabaloo came around, I defended the right to re-adapt Boys over Flowers for an American audience.  I still stand by that assessment, but I never said the outcome was going to be good by any means.  It's currently three episodes into the show, and they're doing it as a live shoot, true Kdrama style, which is kind of cool.  If you want to watch, it's available on Viki and BoysBeforeFriends.com.

General thoughts:  Out of the three available episodes, I have watched exactly one out of sheer curiosity.  I hear that it got less ridiculous after the first episode, but I haven't mustered the will to watch more.

Let's put it this way: I kind of wish that Mystery Science Theater 3000 were still a thing because if any work ever deserved to be mocked by snarky talking robots, it's this one.  It got into "It's so bad, it's good" territory pretty fast.  I was laughing my face off for most of the episode, so that's something, right?  Like when they busted out this Paul Revere hairpiece for a bullying scene:

"No, that's totally my real hair--I promise!"

Or when "Liam" accidentally washed off his ponytail in the shower:

Maybe his shampoo was really strong?

Actually, I feel kind of bad picking on this show.  I think a lot of problems just stemmed from budgetary and time constraints, so it wasn't entirely their fault that it felt kind of like watching someone's school project.  I was rooting for ya, kid!  They also apparently swapped out the lead actress in episode 2, although the original lead kinda grew on me by the end of the only episode I saw.

Oh, and the world didn't end just because a small production company used the general plot to Boys over Flowers in an English-speaking version.  Whew!  What a relief!

Mini Review 3: Shut Up Flower Boy Band/Shut Up & Let's Go!

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This was the only one of the "flower boy" shows that I hadn't seen, and I finally decided to start it one afternoon.  I'm a teeeeeeensy bit embarrassed about how fast I got through the whole thing from start to finish.  Between this and White Christmas, Sung Joon has won me over--which means that I'll probably start I Need Romance 3 pretty soon here (though I'm pretty relieved that he won't be rocking the emo perm this time).

General thoughts: If Dream High had an angry older brother who grew up on the streets (and no, happy-go-lucky street kid Taecyeon doesn't count), it would be this show.  I loved the gritty aesthetic and the realism that they managed to inject into the characters even though it was a pretty typical "sudden rise to fame" band story on the surface.

Even though there was a romance involved here, this show is definitely about friendship more than love.  Frankly, I found the female lead pretty dull (and did anyone else notice how sloooooowly she talked?), but the interactions between the bandmates were a joy to watch.  

I'm a sucker for any show that includes the Babysitters' Club pose of eternal friendship.

I also have to just say that the show's theme song was insanely catchy:

My interest in kdrama soundtracks usually ranges from ignoring to clawing off my ears, but every time this one came on in the credits, it made me want to do all kinds of things, like clean the bathrooms or go for a jog or something.  Until, of course, I looked outside and remembered that it's freezing outside and just kept watching kdramas under my warm blankets instead. 

That's all for now.  Now go watch A Werewolf Boy immediately so that Netflix doesn't get rid of it! (Not how it works, but still.)

Nice Guy (The Innocent Man) Korean Drama Review

My soundtrack for writing this review tonight is this song:

It felt strangely appropriate.  You'll find out why in a minute.

Anyway, I've been trying to step out of my kdrama comfort zone lately.  I am normally a solid rom com kind of girl, and revenge melodramas aren't really my cup of tea. Dying and crying? Blech. Give me lovesick hijinks any day.

After Sungkyunkwan Scandal, however, I really wanted to watch more from the best bromance in the world. After accidentally (completely on purpose) reading a spoiler for Yoo Ah In's Fashion King and realizing that I would really, really hate it, I was left no choice but to go with Song Joong Ki's Nice Guy (also known as Innocent Man). Unfortunately, Song Joong Ki is just leaving for military service, which means no more shows from him for a while. Why now? Just when I've developed a mild obsession!

The basic plot is this: In a case of seriously flawed logic, a guy goes to jail for a murder he doesn't commit.  Once he gets out, he becomes a gigolo (whaaaaaaat?) and then revengey stuff happens. And love stuff happens. And revengey-love stuff happens. Ridiculous.

This is from the intro credits. He's shedding a single tear! And he dropped his watch! Because--time! And feelings!

Bottom line? I loved every single absurd, glorious, melodramatic second of it. I'm not even embarrassed. Here's the breakdown:

The Plot

When a murder happens in the first 20 minutes of episode 1, you know you're in for a wild kdrama ride, and this show's plot was crazy with a capital CRAZY.  I mean, at one point in the show, one of the characters starts to recover from amnesia, and the shock of her recovery--wait for it--gives her more amnesia. Because according to kdrama logic, what's better than amnesia? DOUBLE AMNESIA! What's better than a head injury? DOUBLE HEAD INJURY! What's better than blackmailing? DOUBLE BLACKMAILING! You get the picture.

The Characters

To be honest, the plot wasn't what really won me over because it wasn't that great. If you want to know why I temporarily stopped sleeping or showering and had some intense marathons with this show, here's the answer:

He's disappointed you even had to ask.

In my experience, most kdramas tend to be external.  What I mean by that is that exterior events incite change in the characters, and that change is manifested in outward action.  For example, a girl gets slightly cold and then--in a crazy twist of fate--faints. We then know that the man has developed feelings for her because he carries her home and watches over her all night long. 

As I just said, Nice Guy has a lot of external stuff happening, but at its core, it's actually an intensely internal show.  Even when Kang Ma Roo makes the outward gestures typical in drama romances, we can never be sure if it's sincere or not--because he doesn't even know if he's being sincere. His character goes beyond the usual  "I love you, but I'm also conflicted because I'm angry/guilty" conflict into something more complex, and Song Joong Ki does an incredible job portraying the character. Half of the time, I wasn't sure if I should be swooning or swearing at the computer because Joong Ki's Ma Roo is so flawed and messy and confused. That internal tension is what made this drama so engaging.    

Tormented sad Quasimodo face! Who wouldn't be intrigued?

For the first five episodes or so, Moon Chae Won also holds her own as Seo Eun Gi.  Sure, she's a little bit abrasive, but she's also sassy and powerful.  We all know how much I love that in a female lead!  Unfortunately, Moon Chae Won doesn't get much to do for the second half of the series once her character gets turned into an amnesiac plot device.  The show is really all about Kang Ma Roo, but I saw just enough of Moon Chae Won's abilities as an actress to make me wish they had used her a little bit better here.

I wish we got more of this "stop messing with me, or I will eat your internal organs raw" face.

And then we come to the character who made me angrier than any other kdrama villain has ever made me in my entire life: Han Jae Hee (Park Si Yeon).  I think what made her so upsetting was that she wasn't just horrible for the sake of being a terrible person.  She was an exaggerated version of someone you could meet in real life.  She was manipulative and selfish, but not out of some unreasonable desire to ruin other people's lives.  Instead, she's a Daisy Buchanan: beautiful and alluring, but completely self-absorbed.  She wants everything, but she doesn't want to sacrifice anything. (And now you know why that Great Gatsby song got stuck in my head. Any excuse for a nerdy lit reference!)  She's so self-absorbed, in fact, that every time she talks about Kang Ma Roo, she says something to the effect of "that man who I loved more than my own life" without realizing that he's exactly the opposite. She didn't love him more than her own life; she didn't even love him more than her own job!  Really? You need to commit suicide if you can't be a journalist? There are no other careers out there that you could do so that your boyfriend doesn't have to go to prison and become a gigolo?

Wearing glittery blazers is also a pretty surefire way to make me hate you as a character.

I want to talk about ALL of the characters because that's how engrossing this show was, but I'll stop here.

Other Things about This Show

Is it just me, or were the music choices for this show a little off sometimes?  I almost stopped halfway through episode 1 because, while I can handle dramatic murders and cover-ups, the over-the-top soap opera tango music was just too much.  You shouldn't be busting out the murder accordions (murdercordions?) until at least episode four!  I also recall one scene where two people were blackmailing each other at a cafe (I can't remember who it was because basically everyone blackmailed everyone else during the course of the show), and Jason Mraz was playing.  How are you supposed to drive fear into your opponent's heart with "I Won't Give Up"--possibly the most mellow song on the entire planet--playing in the background?

(Spoilers) Can we have a little heart-to heart about episode 20 for a second? I know that a lot of people just hated it outright, but I'm kind of torn.  Sure, it was tonally inconsistent with the rest of the show.  It was also kind of confusing and didn't mention anything about what happened to Tae San.  I mean, I didn't really care for most of the office politics throughout the show, but after 20 episodes of shouting OMO WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN TO TAE SAN???????, the writers should have included something about it!

The one thing that saved that ending for me was the relationship between Ma Roo and Eun Gi.  Throughout the show, Kang Ma Roo's obsession was his need to save the women in his life. His love for Jae Hee, Choco, and Eun Gi all grows out of his ability to protect them when they are vulnerable or helpless.  Because Eun Gi is a helpless amnesiac for over half of the show (Can you tell I'm a little miffed about this?), I wasn't ever entirely sure if Ma Roo could love her once she no longer relied on him. Even at the end of episode 19, he gets stabbed, and his primary concern is sending her off before she can notice. (Wait, how did she not notice that gigantic blood stain on his stomach?) 

Episode 20 resolved that issue for me.  Even if it was inconsistent with the rest of the show, I needed to see that he could love her without always having to save her.  They built a relationship on friendship and respect, not on an attraction that grew out of pity or guilt.

Am I suddenly converted to revenge melos?  Probably not.  Could I even handle watching this one all the way through again?  Probably not.  But it's still definitely worth a watch.

The Twitter Version of this Review

Song Joong Ki is awesome. Watch this show immediately. Don't let the murdercordions deter you. #...something clever. Aw, forget it. I don't understand how to use hashtags. Just watch this show.

Where to watch Nice Guy:

Viki

DramaFever

Hulu

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A New Favorite from an Old Story: Sungkyunkwan Scandal Review

Dear Sungkyunkwan Scandal,

Thank you.

You might not be the perfect drama, but you were the perfect drama for me.

Much love,
Vivi

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The Cast

I feel like I'm the last person in all of drama-dom to get on the SKKS train, but in spite of my late arrival (fueled by uncertainty about historical dramas), I'm glad I made the leap.  

The only word I can think of to describe why I loved it so much is balance.  First of all, the cast was excellent all around. I put Park Min Young's portrayal of Kim Yoon Hee onto my list of smart kdrama female leads when I was only halfway through the series, and I never regretted my choice.  Her character was smart and capable without being a monster.  The men in the show did step in to physically save her quite a few times, but she also pulled through at enough key moments to prove that relationships are a two-way street.

I know that a lot of people initially gravitated towards this drama for Micky Yoochun's role as Lee Sun Joon, but this isn't one of those dramas that relies on the male lead by any means.  Let's face it: his role as a morally rigid scholar basically requires a wooden performance 90% of the time.  It fits his character, but it wouldn't be enough to pull the show through a full 20 episodes. I did, however, appreciate that his character was a decent person from the beginning of the show, much like the lead in Queen In Hyun's Man.

Fortunately, the writers balance his stoic nature by offering us the most dynamic duo in bromance history: Moon Jae Shin ("Geol Oh") and Gu Yong Ha ("Yeorim"), played by Yoo Ah In and Song Joong Ki, respectively. (For more on Song Joong Ki, head over to Crazy for Kdrama's Khottie of the Week post.)  These two add humor, friendship, and depth to the series.  Every time the two of them were on the screen, I was enthralled.

Can we please have a sequel to this drama entitled

The Adventures of Yeorim and Geol Oh? Pretty pretty please?

Given how much I loved these two, it would have been really easy to fall into second (or third) male lead syndrome, clutching my heart and wishing that the female lead would choose the guy in the background instead.  While I wanted ALL of them to find love (hence our "Which Sungkyunkwan Scholar Is Your Ideal Match" quiz), the two primary leads actually matched each other really well, and the romance grew on me quite a bit in the last few episodes.  Love notes hidden in library books?  Be still my nerdy heart!  

Reading books and holding hands?  True love!

The Plot

With a few exceptions (which I will get to in a moment), I felt like the pacing in this series was pretty smart. The tone was balanced between lighthearted and serious throughout the entire series as opposed to starting out fun and ending with a cryfest. They plotted out the big moments in the drama so that it felt pretty constantly engaging without becoming ridiculous--for the most part.  I did have a hearty chuckle every time they tried to identify the Red Bandit using that drawing.  ("Have you seen the Red Bandit?  He has eyes.") I have heard some reviewers complain that Yoon Hee becomes less interesting towards the end of the series, but I actually felt like that was one of the show's biggest strengths.  The first two-thirds of the series are really heavily focused on Yoon Hee's character development and the concerns she faces as a woman hiding in a man's world.  In the last third, however, the focus shifts to the other three members of the Jalgeum Quartet.  We get to learn more about each one of them as we see their progress towards the series finale.  That's part of what made me feel invested in the characters--it was episode 18, and I was still getting to know Yeorim and Geol Oh a little bit better.

Having stunningly beautiful backdrops to even the silliest of scenes doesn't hurt the interest level, either.

As I said, there are some exceptions to this rule.  The two or three episodes leading up to the finale draaaaaaaaaaaagged along, and then the last five minutes of episode 20 zoomed ahead at warp speed in an attempt to wrap everything up with a nice neat bow.  As a result, I had some problems with the conclusion of the show.  

(Spoiler) I was happy to see Yoon Hee teaching, but it seemed a little too tidy for the problems raised in the earlier episodes.  Based on the way the scholars reacted to her, it seemed like she was teaching as a woman.  That's great from an empowerment perspective, but it undermines the depth of discrimination that she faced.  So in the space of maybe a couple of years, women are suddenly accepted not only as scholars, but also as professors?  That solution is both anachronistic and simplistic. 

The other option is that she's actually teaching as a man, which is supported by the headmaster calling her "Kim Yoon Shik."  If this is the case, then how is she pulling off leading a double life married to another professor?  Nobody noticed her?  What happens when they use that little red book a little too efficiently and she ends up pregnant?  Either way, this drama deserves better.

The Message

As I mentioned earlier, Kim Yoon Hee is pretty progressive in terms of gender portrayals in kdramas.  This is why I appreciate most gender-bending dramas.  The relationships are built off of mutual respect and friendship before physical attraction even enters the equation.

Sungkyunkwan Scandal doesn't stop at feminism, though. It's filled with commentary on sexuality, politics, and socioeconomic status, which is interesting considering that it's set hundreds of years ago.  As I watched, I was reminded of an article I once read that compared Clueless to Emma (with Gwyneth Paltrow). Both films were adaptations of Jane Austen's work, but Emma was actually more progressive in terms of gender representations.  The author suggested that modern films don't feel the need to push boundaries as much as period pieces do.

I think that's what's happening here.  Maybe viewers (and producers) enjoy seeing Yoon Hee talk about the capability of women because they can recognize the oppression in her society, but they're less comfortable raising those same issues in a modern-day setting, where they resort to wrist grabs and floods of tears instead.  Just a thought.

She wouldn't be smiling so much if she got stuck with a million wrist grabs.

And Now for Some History

The major reason it took me so long to get to this drama was the historical setting.  I wasn't sure if I would be interested in a series that takes place in Korea's Joseon era, so I stayed away for far too long.  What eventually helped was that I eased into historical dramas with two time-travel dramas: Rooftop Prince and Queen In Hyun's Man. The combination of the two helped me get used to some of the costuming and customs before I watched a full series set in the past.

While time-travel dramas helped a bit, this drama can be hard to follow if you don't know much about Korean history.  Once the political intrigue began, I was very, very confused until I did some research to figure out what on earth was happening. (Dear Subtitlers: I love you very much, but when you translate "Geum-deung-ji-sa" differently in every scene, you aren't helping.)  In order to help others who may want to watch the show but are too lazy to use Google, here's a quick overview:

King Yeongjo had a son, Crown Prince Sado, who may or may not have been insane.  Rumor on the streets had it that Sado was going around killing random people in the palace, so, thinking that murderers don't make good kings, Yeongjo ordered his son to sit in a hot rice basket until he suffocated to death (eight days later--shudder).  Some people later argued that the prince's death was mostly a plot by the Noron faction, but Sado's wife (Lady Hyegyong) wrote some memoirs suggesting that her husband really was both mentally ill and violent.   

So how does this all relate to the events of SKKS?  Well, there were rumors of some scrolls (called the Geum-deung-ji-sa) that Yeongjo wrote at the end of his life, lamenting his decision to kill his son and explaining that it really was just a Noron play for power.  Sado's son Jeongjo (the king who appears in SKKS) really did spend his life looking for those scrolls and trying to clear his father's name (though they were never found).  He also moved the capital to Suwon and tried to open government positions to lower classes, though many of those reforms didn't totally stick.

The short version? These guys = bad.  Everyone else = good.

Got it?  Yeah, history is crazy.  Even though I tend to agree with Yoo Ah In's drunken tweets on the subject of historical accuracy in fictional stories, my nerdy side loved sorting out which events actually happened in real life. I also really, really want to read Lady Hyegong's memoirs now.

The other confusing historical part is some of the costuming.  Maybe it's just me, but  it was really hard to tell all of the government officials apart at first.  This isn't some  "all Asians look the same" statement.  It's more of a "When all of these middle-aged Korean men wear identical outfits and have identical facial hair, they look the same" statement.

With all of the Mickey Mouse hats and goatees wandering around the set, I ended up rewinding a lot and thinking, "Wait, is Long Face the Minister of War?  Or was that White Beard? I'm so confuuuuuuuuuuuuused!"  I ended up getting it all straight in the end, but it took a while.

In Conclusion

This series was just what I was looking for at this stage in my drama-watching life.

So long and thanks for all of the good times, Jalgeum Quartet!