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!

When All You Need Is a Good Cry: Scent of a Woman Kdrama Review

My natural inclination is to watch Korean romantic comedies, but sometimes I just need a good cry, and there's nothing like a good korean melodrama to make your tears run dry. It's hard for me to get into most melodramas because I am not really in to being sad during my escapes from reality. However, one day my kdrama fangirl mother recommended that I watch Scent of a Woman, and I followed her advice because I'm 28 now and past the stage where you think everything your parents say is stupid. It turns out that my mother was right and I really enjoyed my first melodrama. There, I said it! Mothers do know everything. Thanks mom! So here are the top three reasons you should watch Scent of a Woman:

1. The Transformation of the Female Lead
The thing that almost made me quit this drama was ultimately the thing that made me love it the most. In order for it to be a fulfilling and worthwhile story, the characters in dramas must experience some kind of growth and change. Along this line, most kdrama female leads start out as either passive, or socially awkward, or badly dressed, or selfish, or any combination of these traits. The pitiful, awkward, and badly dressed female lead in Scent of a Woman, Lee Yeon-Jae, irritated me so much at the beginning! It was painful to watch how passive and downtrodden she was.

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I almost gave up on the show because I couldn't stand her, but then she made a magical transformation. One day, she finds out she has terminal cancer and throws all care to the wind. The newly empowered Lee Yeon-Jae tells off her boss in a satisfying scene and decides to live her life in the moment to the fullest by creating a bucket list of all her dreams. Plus she makes a pretty outstanding physical transformation in not only hair and clothes but also in her overall demeanor.

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The only criticism I have in this regard is that she maintained far too much of a pouty, teary eyed expression throughout the whole drama. However, it is a melodrama after all, so what do you expect?

2. The Inspirational Moments
This drama really did make me feel like I wanted to get out there and live my dreams. Our heroine has some pretty cool items on her bucket list of things she wants to do before she dies and she goes out and accomplishes them. I wish I could write a wish list that included taking an amazing vacation, meeting my celebrity crush, falling in love, and getting married and that it would all come true in a couple months! Where is this magical notebook and pen? In the meantime I guess I'll have to just work hard to make my dreams happen and live like there's no tomorrow just like Lee Yeon-Jae.

3.  The Tango
One of the goals on the female lead's bucket list is to learn to Tango. This provides plenty of opportunities for steamy moments between the OTP. I love this OTP, even though they did not have as much chemistry in my opinion as I like my OTP's to have. However, the Tango scenes definitely made the chemistry more believable.

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The pitfalls of this drama probably have more to do with my personal aversion to wallowing than being the drama itself's fault. The episodes lagged and felt a little drawn out in the middle. Also, theres were times where I couldn't handle any more dramatic gazing and crying and wanted to poke my eye out.  But if these are a deterrent to you, then there is always the fast forward button and recaps for what you don't want to watch on Dramabeans. Like I've said before, I am not a kdrama cryer, but this drama did make me cry a little, and I liked it!

There Will Be a Lot of This Expression Going On
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All in all if you want to expose yourself to Korean melodramas in a safe and friendly environment then this is the drama for you. Nothing too intense to handle, and there are lots of uplifting and inspiring moments that make Scent of a Woman worth giving a try!

Spoiler Alert: Don't Read if You Haven't Seen It Yet
Did the ending kill anyone else? Man, I really thought she died and was sending all her loved ones that stuff as a final goodbye. I was so mad and sad and was yelling, "What?! You've got to be kidding me!" at the screen. But it was a dirty trick and I kind of loved it.

Finding My K-Drama Alter-Ego: A Gentleman's Dignity Review

I have this theory that you can learn pretty much anything you need to know about a person by asking them which Disney character they relate to the most (not which one they wish they could be, which is very different).  For example, my friends have told me on more than one occasion that I remind them of the evil asylum man in Beauty and the Beast.  Enough said.

Over years of asking people this question, I've noticed that 90% of women will claim that they most resemble Belle or Mulan.  At first, this seemed like complete arrogance because, let's face it, no one is as great as Belle, but then I realized that it wasn't a lie: for all introverted nerds out there, Belle really is the best (though idealized) Disney character match.  For socially awkward tomboys, it's Mulan.

I think I've found my Belle of the k-drama world in Seo Yi Soo of A Gentleman's Dignity.  I have a hard time relating to most k-drama leading ladies because they are either sassy loudmouths who are infinitely better at beating people up than I am, or they are sad puppies who don't understand even basic social cues.  In fact, this is why, in spite of her mad chemistry with lead actors, I can't quite join the Yoon Eun Hye fanclub like Coco has.  Eun Hye's characters are often so blatant and socially unaware with their emotions that it makes me uncomfortable as a viewer. (Stop standing in front of his car and crying like a maniac! He doesn't even know you're a girl!)

Fine, Yi Soo, you win me over with your poise and your charm
and your potted plant!  Now give me those clothes!

Seo Yi Soo, on the other hand, is someone I can understand.  Although she has much more charm and silkier hair than I will ever have, I felt myself relating to her. She cares about education and loves to teach (Since teaching is what my daytime non-kdrama watching alter-ego does for a living, this one really made me root for her).  She also loves sports and doesn't mind being all sweaty and gross in front of other people. She understands basic social cues without being a doormat.  Also, her wardrobe is amazing.

And therein lies the entire charm of A Gentleman's Dignity.  I can't recommend this show wholesale because I know it will bore a lot of people, and I don't have any argument against their boredom.  I should have been bored watching what could have been real people with real emotions in real relationships (aside from some manufactured drama at the end) episode after episode.  Interestingly enough, I used my fast forward button far less than usual with this one.  I also became insanely emotionally invested in the characters, which is saying something.  I actually caught myself clutching my heart at one point. Clutching my heart!  Someone needs to stage an intervention.  What is this nonsense melting my evil asylum man heart?

Come to think of it all of the clothing in this show was stellar.
No sequins or fur capes here!

This goes along with the idea of the show's charming realism, but the bromance was a major high point in this show.  I know that I already said the same thing about Rooftop Prince, but I guess I'm just a sucker for hilarious male friendship!  I remember seeing some reviewers who felt like the friendship was unrealistic for 40-year-old men, but I disagree.  I think everyone has those friends who always make you revert to a past version of yourself, no matter how much time passes.  I didn't like all of them all the time (Okay, I sometimes hated Jung-Rok), but I enjoyed the group dynamic.

Last thing that I appreciated:  the OST.  Who can resist a slightly off-pitch indie love song or a ballad that one of the characters sings to earn money in the streets?

Minor Downsides

Sure, there were some downsides to the show.  Although these might not have been the biggest problems, they were the ones that hindered my enjoyment the most:

1. As I said before, there was some pretty manufactured drama for the last few episodes, and I'm not sure the characters reacted in reasonable ways.  Why was all of this stuff such a big deal?  Then again, if Coco tried to marry my (currently) 16-year-old brother in 10 years, I would probably punch her in the face, too, so maybe I shouldn't judge? 

Just fast forward all 3 hours of this.

2. Speaking of Im Meari, her crying face is the worst. Happy Meari is endearing, but wailing Meari is terrible. I know that they're trying to highlight the age/maturity difference between her and Yoon, but why did she have to hop around and sob all of the time if she's 24 years old?  Even back when I was 18 and my friends sometimes cried over boys (*cough*Coco*cough*), I don't recall any of them jumping up and down or screeching at birthday parties. 

3. Jang Dong Gun's cheekbones are distractingly pointy, which made him look slightly skeletal for a while.  I got over it once his character grew on me a little.

With all of these elements combined, I enjoyed this show far more than I think I should have.  Like I said, I can't blame you if you hated it, but it won me over big time.

P.S. If Yi Soo is the idealized k-drama Disney princess most similar to me, Secret Garden's Gil Ra Im is the one I wish were most similar to me.  Who's yours?

Time Travel and Track Suits: Rooftop Prince Review

As I mentioned in our "Best Kdrama Recommendations for Beginners"  post, Rooftop Prince is a great place to bridge the gap between rom coms and full-on historical dramas.  It mostly takes place in the present, but it has just enough major plot points taking place in the past that you can't just fast forward through those parts. So let's take a look at what makes it tick.

This was a drama that I almost quit after the first episode.  A lot of stuff happened, but I just felt so bored by the whole thing that I wasn't sure if I could continue.  As it turned out, once I just sat back and enjoyed the ridiculous ride, I had a grand ole time.  Am I going to watch Rooftop Prince over and over and over again?  Probably not.  But I would still recommend it to others.

The Best of the Best

Awwww. I want to be their best friend.

The plot was pretty fast-paced, the murder mystery kept me guessing until the end, and the romance was cute, but I feel like all of these positive elements were massively eclipsed by the supremely awesome friendship between Lee Gak and his minions.  They're like a time-travelling F4, only their scenes are funny on purpose instead of on accident. (Can we all just pause and remember Woo-bin's gangsta English and Yi-jung's five-minute-long, super creepy old man saxophone solo in BoF?) These guys were the highlight of the show for sure, and I got giddy every time their wacky "adjusting to modern life" theme song started to play.

They even look the same when they cross dress.

Also, random observation, but speaking of k-drama Hollywood lookalikes, Chi San totally looks like Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot. 

....I just spent five minutes staring into space reminiscing about all of my favorite scenes with these guys while giggling to myself.  It has short-circuited my ability to think about anything else on this show.  Let's move on, shall we?

The Villains

Isn't he afraid his face
will get stuck like that?

This is both a strength and a weakness of Rooftop Prince.  Every single character is pretty much a cardboard cutout.  Don't go into it expecting depth or tons of development from pretty much anyone (I would argue that even the leads make pretty minimal changes), and you'll be able to enjoy things a lot more.  This means that every time Tae Mu's face appears on the screen, you can just fast forward until he's done clenching his fists for the time being. (Seriously, though.  So. Much. Fist clenching.) 

That being said, I kind of appreciate that they just went for pure evil with Tae Mu and Se Na.  I like character development, but I hate those halfhearted attempts to make us like the snooty female antagonist in the last two episodes (Kang "Bras-for-shirts" Hye-won from Full House, I'm looking at you). When they give us villains who give away their siblings and murder people within the first episode, I feel comforted knowing that I'm not going to feel guilty for still wanting to punch them in the face at the end of the show.

*Spoiler warning*  Okay, Okay, I know that they technically tried to redeem Se Na a little at the end, but in my book, being willing to help murder only some of the people instead of all of the people doesn't exactly qualify as gold-star material.

Random Observations

This is for the cool kids' club of people who have already seen the last episode, so stop reading if you haven't watched yet, okay? You can come back in the three days it will take you to watch the whole thing.

1. I don't know if I have just watched too many crime shows or what, but I couldn't believe how incompetent everyone was at catching criminals.  Seriously.  Tae Mu should have gone to jail in the first five minutes.  Remember how he framed Lee Gak for murder by sticking a bag of cash into his car?  Remember how he wasn't wearing gloves and his fingerprints should have been ALL OVER THE PLACE, but everyone kept saying they had no evidence?  Yeah, me too.

2. The other way they could have solved their problems was by finishing their sentences.  When the grandma accused Park Ha of stuff, I kept yelling at the computer, "Call your friends in New York! They will corroborate your story!" This drives me crazy in k-dramas.  If someone cuts you off while you're explaining something important, don't just look startled! Talk louder! Sheesh.

Apparently, being awesome at riddles
 doesn't translate into as many practical life-saving
 skills as one would have hoped.

3. Speaking of incompetence, can we just talk about how insanely idiotic Boo-young's plan was?  I mean, sure, it was selfless and noble and crap, but it was also the stupidest idea of all time.  Let's look at the logic: 1. You love a man enough to die for him, so you obviously don't want to get him killed off.  2. You know that there are at least three people plotting to kill him. 3. You are the only person outside of the murderers themselves who knows about this plot. And your solution is...to kill yourself without telling anyone anything? Because of some mumbo jumbo about how they won't get close to the prince if the princess is gone?

Two immediate holes in this plan: 1. They tried to kill the prince again approximately five minutes later.  2. Didn't they make a big deal about how scarred her face was in comparison to the princess?  How did no one notice this when they pulled her out of the water?  Based on all of the crime shows I watch, I'm pretty sure bodies don't decompose in a few hours.

4. And finally...

 Um, what happened in the end?  They were babbling about waiting hundreds of years for love and then Tae Young appears next to her, but then he's Lee Gak in his old-timey clothes? So what does that even mean?  Tae Young remembered being Lee Gak?  Lee Gak somehow gazed through the veil of time, but still had to wait 300 more years to  meet her? Lee Gak took over Tae Young's body? Did he live a lonely life and then die?  Did he travel through time again?  WHAT HAPPENED???  As someone who takes time travel physics very seriously, I need to know what that crazy ambiguous ending means.

All random complaints aside, I really enjoyed Rooftop Prince.  Go watch it right now and then come chat about it with me!