That Winter, The Wind Blew Me Away

And back from my kdrama hiatus, I finished this stunning, stirring and affectionate “I pretended to be a long lost brother to a blind heiress because I needed money to continue to live only to find myself waking up wanting to protect my fake little sister every single day” in between anti-histamine and sleeping.  Given the drama bucket I’ve piled in the past few years, making me stay sitting on a drama was a feat hard to achieve, and this year, “That Winter, The Wind Blows” was the first one to notch it, and no candy crush nor any other distraction can compete with Jo In Sung oppa for my attention.  *wink

This is how a melodrama should be done, enough emotional scenes to stimulate the heart and tear ducts, but not bordering to weep fest.  This spectacle was like Innocent Man, but what was half-achieved by the former, was strongly fulfilled by this winter romance show.

Loving someone when you are literally blind takes faith beyond reasons, and finding a reason to live because you love someone takes bravery beyond faith.  These are the two love lessons I have learned from Oh Soo and Oh Young, and so far this year, they are my favorite love couple.

A tale of not really brothers and sisters who were entangled by fate, unexpected fondness, blind trust, and true love, this drama blew me away on the early episodes and the intense scenes when the revelations were surging up.  It took me a while to be convinced on how the lead girl’s firm grasp of things disregarded how her hero abnegated his own happiness because he got infected with the love he was feeling for her, but as I realized, I without disability have insecurities and would really feel awful if I will be betrayed, how much more for a blind girl like her.  It always help to step on the character’s shoes to see through their perspective.

Oh Soo together with his sidekick brother by affinity Jin Sung were famous gamblers in Gangnam, but when he can’t reciprocate the love of his sponsor’s mistress, So-ra, he was framed embezzling Mr. Kim’s money and was imprisoned for a year.

When he got out of jail, he was forced to pay for the debt he didn’t acquire by Moo-chul who loathed him because he blamed him for the death of the woman they both loved in the past.  Time was ticking and when Oh Soo learned that his dead friend who has the same name as his was a long lost heir to a big conglomerate company, he seized the opportunity and assumed his dead friend’s identity.

“Operation get some money and pretend I am my dead friend” proceeded and thanks to Oh Soo’s nimble mind, he was able to escape compromising situations requiring memories of his old friend that of course he didn’t have.  For him to settle his business, he has to deal with his supposed heiress-sister Oh Young who became blind after the separation of their parents.  She was taken care of by Secretary Wang, who was also the cause of divorce of her parents.  People around Oh-young are nice to her because of money so she shielded herself with a strong-this- is-what-I-want facade.  Oh Soo slowly broke the fortress her fake little sister put around her, and has made her understand that given her challenge in vision, she has to accept help from other people and be grateful and put confidence on them.

Soon enough he gained her trust, but the pressure from the gambling world he came from were also building up.  Oh Soo discovered Young’s hiding place where she kept her video diary while she was growing up, and from there, the urge to protect the innocent girl who was putting a brave front all her life grew in his heart and blossomed to pure love.  He also learned how her condition would have been resolved from its early stage if not for the selfish reason of Secretary Wang, who really cared for Young as her own daughter but has made her live a life in prison.

And then So-ra came back to spoil everything, in her little exposure in the story, she has managed to chafe me to a hilt as her selfishness pointed to Soo and Young’s suffering.  I abhorred her character.  She gave a whole new meaning to obsessive love. 

So when Oh-young was dubious of her frailty condition, and she was really being pushed to get the surgery by Secretary Wang and Oh-soo, So-ra dropped the truth bomb that he was not her real brother.  At that point of the story, Oh-young was already having a hard time because she has fallen romantically in love with her brother.  So I was thinking that she would initially caved in after feeling she was stabbed in the back, but her blind whims and unreasonable and irreconcilable trust issues let it lingered and made her even more jaded.

But since unrequited love can cure almost all kind of pain, on Oh-Young’s last attempt to make a fool out of herself, Oh-Soo in his knight-in-shining-armour self managed to rescue her suicide attempt, and I cried when she said… “I was not feeling scared of dying, I was actually waiting for you to come to me”.  When she woke up, they has a very heartfelt talk, and acknowledged that they both needed each other to live happily in their lives.

The finale episode was a combination of exquisite moments for me as the blind heiress and the conman finally sealed their love with a kiss, but Oh-soo has to deal with his final gambling showdown on the night when his girlfriend would also undergo the surgery.  Soo and Jin-sung were able to slap back Mr. Kim to avenge the unfounded grudge they didn’t deserve, but the vile villain took his last card to threaten Jin-sung.  Jin-sung stabbed his hyung in order for his family to live.

Since a lie started the web of deceit, the swinging of how to keep it up moved to degrees of annoyance and appreciation to me because I got a heroine who was frail but not gullible at the same time. I have always liked Song Hye Gyo, and this is her “I’m sorry abby for making you watch A Reason to Live peace offering”, I supposed.  When the illness-dying twist emerged in the story, I was shouting, “why is she in the brink of death drama scenario again?”, but I was appeased with her superb portrayal showcasing a vulnerable character who has learned when to turn off her protective bubble to bring the best of her and to reconcile with the idea that bravery can also mean trusting people wholeheartedly without a hint of hesitation.  But, in the finale episodes, I detested her stubborn self, I mean, “hell I know you are blind, but stop being proud! and just live happily ever after with Oh-Soo oppa!”

I have slight issues with how In Sung oppa exaggerated his acting sometimes, but given his hotness and knee-crumbling appeal, I let it slide and because at the strong scenes he was seamless in nailing it.  He was way beyond Cullen or Grey or the rest of the fictional sexiest man alive list.  He smiled.. he smirked… I fainted.  His every move in the camera was a justification of my korean drama addiction. *hearteyed

The supporting people helped in maintaining the crisp and throes of the storyline.  Oh-soo’s bromance with Jin-sung was amusing and cute as Hee-sun’s bossy-ing around to the darkside-brothers was a breather on despondent situations where Oh-soo was involved.  There was also that double sided hyung-villain that I despised and then learned to love in the end because he died.  I just can’t comprehend why he can’t move on when he didn’t even have the Oh-soo’s ex-girlfriend’s love in the first place. 

A lot of misplace love for the supporting villains, something that helped in strengthening the main lead characters and solidifying the conflict, but neglecting the redeeming point or karmic justice that would have been served for them.  I just want that So-ra girl to be crushed by a 10-wheeler truck, the way our local drama payback time always does.  *giggles

I would be honest that there were dallying episodes after the mid-part of the story and Young’s indecisiveness which you have to tolerate because of her disability was the minus factor in the story.  There were inconsistencies in her character that were just salvaged because she was blind, but since I grew tired empathizing with her, I disliked how she saw through her visual impairment and felt how the people around her move to please her so as to gain favor from her, only to not rely on her instincts when it was needed.  All throughout she was in a battle of who-to-trust-and-not, and had she not submitted to weighing the twinge of trust properly, I would have been disappointed because the building of this drama was impeccable, but the fulfillment should be at least satisfying.

I almost had an asthma attack in Oh Soo’s breakdown scene and how he was blaming himself on not just playing the con he started instead of making love complicate all things.  It was such a strong memorable moment that sent me to weep island, and will be on top of my favorite scenes this year on kdramaland.

It was a safe ending.  It was not a happy-yey!-ever-after closure, but at least they were together.  And I’m happy about it. There were hanging questions that were not explained and karmic justice that were not served to some of the characters like Mr. Kim and So-ra, and they only focused on what the ultimate yearning of the love couple was —  for Young-i to see Soo oppa.  So they ended it in her quarter-blindness, it was like… “Okay, blind girl, you can be happy now, but don’t jump!”  Other than this puny finale episode sulking, I really loved this drama because it didn’t give me the satisfaction of getting a fairy-tale ending.  And because at those scenes that really mattered I was able to feel for the characters and the struggle they were hurdling.  It drove to the path of how Oh-soo and Oh-young’s self-contemplation on what they have to offer with each other to be worthy of each other’s love.  Oh-soo who has never saw meaning to his life has found it when he met a woman who was also sharing the same sentiment as his.  Sometimes it’s really the pain that makes the love so worth it, because without it you can never differentiate if you are willing to let go or to love the person.

“That Winter, The Wind Blows” was a poignant love drama that will make you remember how you were scared to start a love you were unsure of, and how you took the odds to claim it.  This was a cure for people with “trust issues” and its delightful and piercing romance take will definitely appeal to people wanting to love… wanting to be in love and wanting to be loved back.  It was a splendid romantic drama ride for me.  It was not perfect but it was emotionally astonishing.

 

 

The Romance We all Need

It was like watching my very own love story in the television screen (less the ever-after part)… I cried… I reminisced… I laughed and for a moment, I yearned how it feels to be in a blissful, addictive, sometimes-painful-yet-binding and worth taking a risk kind of romance.  Before the love month wanes, “I Need Romance” filled me up with so much retrospection and argued with my existing love standpoint and rules of dating. 

 

This love drama was tailored in a sex and the city vibe and narrated the modern love stories of women in their 30′s and how they struggled to keep a romantic relationship and the lack of it. 

The funk and the feistiness of the story and characters, the importance of sex, love and honesty in a relationship along with the sassy girl friendship were enough for me to be drawn and stayed peeking at these lovely women who covered the different faces of a relationship love boat.

 

In-young has been in a 10-year relationship with Sung-soo, it was your typical because-we-have-alot-of-memories-we-can’t-break-up kind of love, but their commitment was shattered when Sung-soo entertained a fleeting romance.  He liked both girls but in a different degrees.  His love for In-young was seasoned through time, and sealed by the familiarity, comfort and memories, whereas the new love was making him refreshed, it was thrilling him and was attacking his basic instinct.  He tried to fight it off, but a moment of laxing his guard has caused him an affair that broke his long-running relationship.  *pffftt *feltFamiliar

 

Sung-soo finally got his break as a Film Director, it was for him a great opportunity for his sort of bum activities all those years to make the woman who has stick with him happy, but his heart got swayed by a young, vibrant lady… And before him realizing it, even if nothing intimate has happened to them yet, his girlfriend’s instinct knew it and ended the relationship.  It is true for people who has been together for a while to be lost after a “trust” issue, for a woman at best, she will pretend that it will be okay, but then eventually she will sort to giving him a chance to recycle the love.  After late nights and sinking down the blame though, when you see the person standing in front of you, sometimes it would just take him merely standing there to wipe all the pain away.  Sung-soo and In-young survived the preliminary unfaithfulness surge until… The real infidelity happened.

 

They resumed their couple life, but when someone has cheated on you, paranoia are like internet pop-ups, it will annoy you.  And when the Juliet-stricken third party who went extra mile with her idea of love succumbed to the mistress position because of the clouded love she felt towards Sung-soo, her hardwork paid off and they engaged in a covert affair.

 

That moment when In-young saw in her very eyes the man she loved with all her heart happily chatting with his mistress in a place and day she thought was reserved for them because the day was special for them, will touch and make any woman who has been cheated on cry big time, because of the weight of the scene…  The thing about cheating is that women will try not to believe the lie and will stick to the person but when they get the concrete confirmation, it will break them in the most unimaginable-no-icecream-can-cure-painful way. There were no words, just tears agonizingly falling down her face… It was a perfectly hurting scene I was crying all along.  And when she tried to battle it making her busy in the day, the night time was killing her.  She was also in a spree of bargaining and justifying that she didn’t deserve that fate but sometimes you just really wake up and it’s as if you don’t know the person and as if you never loved each other.  I sympathized with her badgering her ex-boyfriend, because it’s how typically women tried their very best to move on.  She wanted to make him feel the same hell she was feeling, but in reality, it will never be like that, when you can’t find yourself time to sleep, that other person actually can do it.  *sniff sniff

 

A man knows a woman loves him by the usual saying of “I Love You” and when he sees her at her most “love-me-begging” state… Sung-soo knew these truths with In-young and to be fair with him, even after the damage, I would really forgive him because he realized his mistake and he knew he could never turn back time but he has all his lifetime to love her even more than he did before.

 

But to make their love realized fully, In-young met someone who helped her renewed her faith in love… That someone who appeared to be like her when she was with Sung-soo.  She has learned to love him but at the end of the day, sometimes the love we felt for someone can’t make us choose to sacrifice what we really are and what we really feel. Not all love begins as if it was meant to be, but In-young relied on giving up a new love because she wanted a love that has been happening.

 

After all the pain, you will eventually learn that you either love someone or not love anyone at all.  When In-young saw Sung-soo kneeling at her father and begging for forgiveness at what he did to his daughter, I knew right there and then that In-young will be back in Sung-soo’s arms.  There’s just a familiarity and unbreakable connection when you’ve been with someone for a long time.  When trust has become an issue, it will be a haunting wall between a couple, but as long as there is love… Love will always forgive and give second chances.  What would make love go away?  Time and Acceptance.

 

I Need Romance was a very fulfilling love drama to watch.  It drew the depth of commitment and the pain it comes when loving so amazingly and truthfully.  It has been bound realistically that the problems and happiness made the story so moving that I was able to relate to it.  When a drama can make me sit to finish it in one sitting, that drama is definitely superb and brimming with exciting-real-world love, Sung-soo and In-young’s adoration did it to me.  I strongly vouched for this romantic series, women should watch it, and men should learn a lot from it.

 

No one is born a complete person.  You live your life half-finished and become complete as you get older.  A lot of things will happen when you are young, even if things don’t work out, don’t drag yourself on it.

 

PS.  Images are from HanCinema.net

 

 

The twisted romance of Alice in Cheongdamdong

What would you do if you truly love the person but you started not with the right intention?

Alice in Cheongdamdong joined the romance ride in Kdramaland this year obliterating the fantasy trend from 2012.  This Cinderella-like tale brimmed with interesting characters and have splashes of mirth, reality slaps, gold-digging lessons, PTSD nonsense and thought-provoking love arguments.  With a rich-girl-poor-guy love affair premise, this was not a case of true love, but a love that was proven to be true.

Cha Seung-Jo came to Korea with the intention of getting back at the girl who loved him because of his rich man’s son’ status and then left him after getting paid by his father.  He led a Fashion company based in France and has affiliates in Korea and his “operation-ex-gf-payback” involved business dealing with the son of the family where his first love was married to. 

Han Se-Kyung  who dreamed of entering the Fashion world surprisingly got hired by GN Company.  Her lack of Fashion education abroad has always overlooked her potentials and innate abilities.  Little did she know that her old High School nemesis was the wife of the son of the company who hired her, and that she was not hired because of her qualifications but because of her old classmate’s emotional caprice.

Se-kyung and Seung-jo met when they got into a traffic accident, Seung-jo who was the President of Artemis, a Fashion company, pretended to be the Secretary of the President when they bargained on the aftermath of the minor accident. 

Then Seung-jo proceeded to his plan and as his ex-girlfriend who turned out to be also Se-kyung’s frenemy arranged a welcoming and special treatment for their guest for the family’s business venture, color ran out of her face as she faced the man he left for money and ambition.  Yoon-joo who has used her pretty face to get what she wanted broke up with Seung-jo when they were living together in Paris.  She accepted the money offered by Seung-jo’s father and used his father’s recommendation to enter the elite society world.  Her hardword paid off as she eventually married a chaebol family son.

Se-kyung eventually learned how she got accepted in the prominent Fashion company, but because of financial concerns she swallowed her pride and wallowed in the unfairness of life.  She was also facing problems with her 6-year relationship with her boyfriend.   When her boyfriend took off and stole products  from the company to sell illegally, she wrote a sincere letter to the President of the company to forgive her man’s mistake.  Moved by the feeling enclosed in the letter, Seung-jo let it go and admired the unfeigned love of that girl.  The break-up scene of Se-kyung and her 6-year love broke my heart and I was all tears because relationship like that really existed, relationship where you still love the person but you can’t do anything for him anymore.

But Se-kyung got tired of trying to achieve her goals through her effort so she settled to going through a shortcut with Yoon-joo’s gold-digging lessons.  She asked Se-kyung to look for a white rabbit (an insider in the elite world) to chance upon a potential prince.  She was able to get Tommy Hong’s attention, a famous matchmaker in the A-list society, but because of the remaining non-defiant attitude Se-kyung has, they ended on the wrong foot.  It was a blessing for Se-kyung though because she got rescued by Seung-jo whom she doesn’t know the real identity yet and humiliated Tommy Hong in public.  She then decided to have Seung-jo as her new white rabbit.

Se-kyung grew fonder and closer with Seung-jo-Secretary-Kim-identity and realized quickly that she doesn’t want her for a gold-compass anymore but Seung-jo revealed his true self first and declared his earnest love for her.  Clouded with her ambition regardless of the honest love she was really feeling for him, she hid the truth that she already knew he was rich.  Now Seung-jo suffered Post-traumatic-disorder from the emotional stress he got from his mother who left him at an early age and Yoon-joo, at that time that Se-kyung’s guilt to come clean was surging, she got a video message of Seung-jo’s past full of hurt and she also learned that the woman who left him was her friend and gold-digging teacher.  Yoon-joo confronted her and that scene was secretly recorded and submitted to Tommy Hong. 

Now Tommy Hong was commissioned by Seung-jo’s father to fix the marriage between him and GN fashion’s daughter (Yoon-jo’s sister-in-law) Shin In Hwa and when he learned that Se-kyung will impede the nuptial talk he’s working on, he threatened Se-kyung with revealing her social-climbing style, but Se-kyung didn’t submit to his taunting and was firm in going on with her come-what-may attitude because she was worried on how Seung-jo won’t be able to take another stab on his heart because of his money.

I had hair-tugging moments when Se-kyung was confused with the lie she started but she convinced me with her tenacity and justifying that even if her love was ugly, it was still love.  I love that line she mentioned about how poor girls were looked down because they married a rich man when rich girls who arranged marriages also marry for money.  There are a lot of reality check scenes in the drama inferring love disparities and that has made the texture of the story different from your typical you-and-me-against-my-rich-family premise.  Se-kyung was blatant with her intentions even if she knew that it will destroy her.  She was not your typical “I don’t care if you’re rich I just love you” girl because she’s been through a relationship saddled with financial constraint, and in the real world when you build a future with someone, love will be a foundation but money will sustain it.

Cheongdamdong Alice have many Korean drama clichés and if I may add product placements but it didn’t annoy me the way it typically annoys me because they bribed me with Park Shi Hoo’s smile.  *chuckles  The stuffed toy, the-airport-don’t leave-me-scene, and the pathetic-rich-girl-who can’t buy love were inserted strategically to when it was needed. 

When all the rest knew except Seung-jo what her girlfriend’s charade was, Se-kyung doesn’t know how long her protective bubble can take it and when the truth was finally revealed and Seung-jo kept blocking her to affirm it, I can only imagine how someone’s heart will be shattered to pieces when they are willing to accept the lie because they love the person so much.

That scene when Seung-jo was walking away from Se-kyung brought tears to my eyes because he was already prepared to accept that he was fooled again and was blocking it to sink deeper in him but then he got the confirmation from the person he doesn’t want to hear it from. 

Se-kyung who thought she was ready to take the bullet out of her indecisiveness relied to the very thing she didn’t believe would work on the onset – LOVE—She thought love without fear does exist, but she was not prepared that the moment you love someone, you will also fear of losing him.

This drama was like a sandwich, the middle part was the best of it but you won’t taste the best part without the beginning and the ending covering it.  Although the finale episode was sort of lecturing and safe, explaining the casualty of falling in love for the wrong reason was very well said.  The thesis-analyzation paper of Seung-jo sent me in laughing spree because if all love conflicts can be resolved with drawing probable causes and what-if’s there will be no Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club.  *giggles

Seung-jo passed through 5 stages of grief in overcoming and renewing the love he had and he raised the most important message of the story.  There are always reasons why you love someone and you can never ask for a proof of it.  When love fails, you can never go back but you can always start again.

Jane Austen said something about a single man of fortune universally acknowledged needing a woman to marry, yet she forgot to mention that a woman of pure love would also want to marry a man, not just because of love but his money.

Romance stories were evolving in kdramaland, and I’m happy they always take notice of opportunities to improve the quality and creativity of the drama productions.  Park Shi Hoo occupied a big space in my heart dedicated to my imaginary boys.  His voice, his face, his eyes never fail to make me drool.  Mom has already approved of my marriage to him, we just have to meet.  *giggles  His blithe lead man portrayal here was far different from his sageuk vengeance-driven-Princess-man, but I liked him more here because of his awkward humor and dorky packaging.  Next to bad boys, girls swoon over dorks… *wink

Alice in Cheongdamdong depicted a typical love story but twisting not just the conflicts and the characters, and in doing so it raised an imbalance that has made the story true.  Women dig any Cinderella-story because they wanted the feeling of being rescued.  In this love tale, the girl started the conflict, she made the the person who will rescue him part of the conflict, but she found the way to overcome it.  Way to go girl!  You rock! 

It’s sort of refreshing to see the reversal of roles, to have the man as the vulnerable character in the story and the one needed to be saved.  This has been the strength of this love story. 

The daddy-and-first-love-issues, the brave but twisted love of the heroine, the circumstances of why the main love was in a tug-of-war setting, the opposing beliefs in romance were detrimental factors in imaginary and real-life ever-after.  Cheongdamdong Alice was able to hit all those considerations of people who are looking for the kind of love they deserve.  Sometimes love started because it was meant to be but it has to end because we have to get the love we deserve.  If you are looking for a romance, this drama will show you the love at its purest, vilest and fulfilling appearance.

 

Swift, straightforward and sweet.  Cheongdamdong Alice will be in my romantic drama favorite list.  -jediprincess

Gaksitaaaaaaaaaalll!!!! You are officially my favorite local hero. *wink

Move over Ajussi, City Hunter, Masked Rider Black, Shaider, Spiderman, Superman, Batman… and all the rest of those superheroes who took the imaginary world by storm… Gaksital has only a  flute and superb martial arts move, but for the first time in my life, I fell in love with a local hero.

Dear Gaksital,

I follow Lunar Calendar year, can I make it up by saying “I was saving the BEST for last”.  *sheepishsmile  I judged too soon.  I know that.  I was all swept by Lee Min Ho’s pretty face that’s why I set you aside, and what a sweet payback for you because you will make me update all my 2012 year-end ramblings. 

A bromance defying all bromance invented… *giggles  Every episode, if not the same intensity as the last, always ended at a very strong note.  Boasting with its powerful stunts and whoa!-fight-scenes, my feminine lines were stripped.  Actually I don’t know what martial arts they used but the camera caught fist throwings, kick stretchings, gun shootings, sword wieldings in a thrilling and perfectly executed fashion that my jaw literally dropped and I just found myself immensely enjoying the gun shots, punch sounds, skin rips, sword slashes, blood spatters, and cat-and-mouse chase… In other words I embraced the dark side while I was watching it.  *evilgrin

The mise-en-scene of this drama really got me feeling what it was like 60-70 years ago.  I love the wardrobe and fashion.  I love the club entertainment scenes and the circus acts.  Sigh I love everything about the production design. Period.

Gaksital went to this milieu… “I accidentally killed my brother because our mother was killed by my bestfriend’s brother.  So I killed my bestfriend’s brother, but he caught me doing it and because of the circumstances and my family’s past which was just revealed to me when I have already denounced my patriotism to favor the Japanese empire, I’m not sorry I did it.  A test of best-friends-forever pledge.  Yes, that it was.  How’s that for a conflict?  Not to add that they both love the same girl whom they met when they were young.  Avenging the death of their family members, first love duel plus fighting the Japanese regime.  If this looks crazy in writing, it was astonishingly gripping in action.

Staged in the post-Joseon-Japanese-Annexation era, Gaksital surprised me with its quintessential story and screenplay as well as the stellar portrayals from the characters.  I was reminded of the overwhelming feeling I got when I first saw the costume and set design of Gone With the Wind when I finally submit to liking Gaksital.  And while I was surmising and digesting the circumstances of the story’s premise, I marvel at the pace and intensity each episode rendered all throughout.

Gaksital was a people’s champion protecting the Joseon people under the abusive Japanese regime.  He was hiding his identity as Lee Kang To’s deranged brother Lee Kang San, a once brilliant youth leader who was tortured by the Japanese empire due to his freedom movement campaign.   After his brother’s supposed mental breakdown, Lee Kang To worked his way to the police ladder thru Shun-ji Kimura’s Kendo teaching lessons.  A special appointment to become a police officer will be given to the winner of a Kendo match, Kang-to and his sensei-friend Shun-ji faced off in the finals but Shun-ji lost in purpose because he wanted to teach children and he knew it was Kang-to’s dream to provide for his family.  Kang-to became a prominent police but infamous to his fellow Joseon people because of his loyalty to the Japanese Governance.

For him to catch Gaksital, he deduced that the key is to find the girl, Mok Dan/Boon Yi/Esther, whom he has already saved twice.  Once from the deposed Joseon leader’s burial where she threw a stone and the other was when she created a disturbance to the trial of another freedom movement leader Dam Sa Ri, who turned out to be her father.  Mok Dan was finally caught but she was able to flee again after Kang-to saw the knife she was trying to retrieve which was the same knife he gave to his first love Boon-yi aka Mok-dan.   Mok-dan treasured the knife so much because it was given by the young master-friend from her childhood.  Unbeknownst to her, that young master was Lee Kang To of present time, the man she despised most because of his cruelty to his fellow Joseon men.

Kang-to eventually became best buddies with Shunji Kimura, a local teacher from a famous Samurai family.  His father was also the police chief and his brother was the superintendent in the police station where Kang-to was serving as a Lieutenant.  He has an unrequited love with Mok-dan.  He met her when they were young because she helped him when his nanny was hospitalized and in a twist of fate it’s the same girl Kang-to also loved when he was young. 

Shunji’s older brother looked and acted like your pro-villain and has been picking on Kang-to because he envied his skills.  His wily thinking accidentally uncovered the probable connection between Kang-to and Gaksital (Kang-san), but Kang-to was not aware that his brother was using his mental retardation front to hide his local superhero role and shot his brother who was beating Ken-ji after the latter shot their mother while she was trying to conceal Kang-san’s identity.  When the truth of what happened dawned on him, in his fury and angst he donned his brother’s mask and clothing to assume Gaksital’s persona to kill his bestfriend’s brother.

When Kang-to delivered the final blow to end Ken-ji’s life, Shun-ji witnessed it right on cue.  He chased after his bestfriend, but Kang-to fell to a cliff and his body was not retrieved.  He woke up later in the hospital badly beaten and bruised and in his still grief-stricken self, he vowed to make the people responsible for the death of his family pay for it ergo double agent Kang-to-Gaksital was born.

Shun-ji torn between his filial responsibility and saving the woman he loved was left no option but to take over his late brother’s vacated post to protect Mok-dan who was standing as Gaksital’s bait.  He was switching from stern to defiant to why-am-I-in-this-position identities just so he can assure Mok-dan’s safety.  Kang-to on the other hand was tasked to guard Mok-dan 24/7 and decided to agree to Dam Sa Ri’s request for him to help them out in their plan to oust the Japanese.  But because he was Kang-to he can’t just walk in and tell them that “my family’s unfortunate death changed me overnight, so I am a good boy now”.   So yes my favorite boys here were in a game of who gave up everything for the woman they both love.  *giggles

I liked that Shun-ji took over the conflicting villain role because Ken-ji was a bore, I hate his evil-looking face but he was a tofu-brainer so at least having Shun-ji faced off Kang-to was a relief because more than the reversal of the bad image role, my new favorite frenemies were on an equal footing when it comes to their skills, intellect and temper.  *chuckles

So off Kang-to-Gaksital to avenge his father’s death who used to be a member of a covert brotherhood but his brothers betrayed him killing him and his people.  The brotherhood thought they wiped out his family but Kang-to’s family survived.  He also continued his brother’s intentions while using his police badge as a cover and because Boon-yi abhorred him in his uniform, he can only communicate when he’s in Gaksital mode.  She plead him if he can help her father in the plan to cause ruckus in the anniversary of Japan-Joseon annexation, and (because there’s a contest for Mok-dan’s hand) just kidding… because he’s really trying to live upright, he chose to help them.

Dam Sa Ri and his comrade woman befriended the Joseon royalty couple, thus they were able to get an invitation on the event.  They were plotting a bombing to the event so they needed to raid the police armory to get bombs and guns.  They were able to cause trouble but Dam Sa Ri was captured.  The police went back to Boon-yi because of her connection with Gaksital and Dam Sa Ri, but she already escaped with other freedom movement members. 

But then Shun-ji’s suspicion of Kang-to was cemented when he overheard him pleading with Dam Sa Ri to spill Boon-yi’s whereabouts.  When Mok-dan escaped with Gaksital in the previous chase by Shun-ji, she left a letter for Gaksital and signed it Boon-yi, and as Kang-to said her childhood name, Shun-ji linked the connection.  Shun-ji put a shadow on his best friend but everytime he’s close to catching his true identity, Kang-to was able to raise arguments to protect his cover.  Shun-ji plotted a trap to catch Gaksital by setting them up in a supposed meeting with Mok-dan’s fellow freedom fighters, Kang-to terrified of what might have become of her went to rescue her in his Lee Kang-to’s persona declaring his love for Mok-dan.  He got interrogated again, but was able to sway his bestfriend’s convictions thanks to his acting skills worthy of an Oscar, Shun-ji again believed him.  Then came their general who commanded Dam Sa Ri’s execution and even asked her to enter the cage full of nails.  (Omg if I lived in that era, I won’t survive long)Stubborn Mok-dan refused to give the information on their fellow freedom fighter’s whereabouts so she bravely agreed to it.  While Kang-to and Shun-ji battled to the horror of seeing the woman they love get tortured, the General decided to send her in the Prosecutor’s office and Dam Sa Ri to the penitentiary.

On their way to the penitentiary, Dam Sa Ri’s people tried to ambush Kang-to and the rest of the police force, and in the brink of finally getting their leader, Shun-ji fire a gunshot so the exit strategy was thwarted.  Dam Sa Ri was put on extreme surveillance while Mok-Dan was sheltered in the hotel as Shun-ji bargained to retrieve pertinent information about the freedom movement from her but she didn’t budge.  Kang-to tried his luck too, and showing his vulnerability, he finally admitted to Mok-dan that he was the young master she knew from when she was young. 

Mok-dan can’t accept how the man she was waiting for grew up to become a ruthless person, and remembering how she suffered in his hands, she despised him even more.  Ra Ra, the adopted daughter of Kishokai’s president (an elite dark organization) kidnapped Mok-Dan because she deemed she was a distraction to Shun-ji’s heart and because she was cherished by Kang-to the man she also kept in her heart.  But of course, Gaksital always saved the day and he can’t let his damsel be in distressed so he rescued her and wielded sword towards the non-smiling samurai bodyguard of Ra Ra.  Barely surviving Ra Ra and her protector’s grip, he was carried by his horse to where Mok-dan was. 

Then fireworks, winged horses and angels sang in the heaven… *giggles Fighting for his consciousness, Mok-dan approached Gaksital and take off the elusive mask… and yes Bingo!  She got the biggest surprise of her life.  In 24 hours, her hatred became a full blown love that defied Japanese torture, pain and time.  Kang-to revealed why he turned 360 degrees from his old vile self and they reconciled and make up for the lost times.

To avoid Jong Ro (police station) noticing her absence and also Kang-to’s absence, Mok-dan showed up to Shun-ji while Kang-to rested.  Shun-ji was preoccupied with the upcoming public execution plans for Dam Sa Ri and was very determined that he will catch Gaksital if he rescued Dam Sa Ri this time. 

Public Execution came up and the circus leader stirred a slight upheaval that sparked the spectators emotions, my Shun-ji who I swore was really showing bipolar condition shot the ajumma in Mok-dan’s circus club so the crowd roared and ramble with the police.  The people were contained a little so they proceed with the death sentence. In split second timing, gaksital showed up to strut his heroic act but the officers subdued him to put him in the middle on the spot.  Then he undressed himself to reveal attached bombs in his body… then boom!  Surprise detectives!  You didn’t see that coming!  Then came another Gaksital, this time the true one, and off he rescued the freedom leader leaving Shun-ji wounded and frustrated.

Time for Kishokai to make their move after failed attempts of the members.  The easiest path was to kill Konno, the police commissioner who favored Kang-to.  So now Kang-to has no family and no friends and will have to rely to his father’s bodyguard, Dam Sa Ri and Mok-dan.  Kishokai placed their people to the upper echelon, appointing Shun-ji’s father in the vacated commissioner position and another member as Jong Ro chief.

Kang-to saw the man who killed Konno and remembered that he was the same Samurai he fought with when he was trying to save Ra Ra who was then a lowly gisaeng.  He drew the probabilities of what’s happening by the pieces of information he was getting with Ra Ra. 

Shun-ji learned from Koiso (police officer) that his brother killed Kang-to’s mother and because he was not yet sure whether his friend knew about it, he decided to have his frenemy closer.  It’s good that the characters were quick to uptake.  I lost count how Shun-ji went back and forth to his inference relating Gaksital and his friend that I settled to the idea that well eventually he will know it.

Yang Baek, a famous Joseon patriot and hero came back with Dam Sa Ri to Kyeong-seong.  They are set to make another attempt to fight the Imperial government.  While they were regrouping with other Independence campaign groups, Shun-ji’s growing doubts of Lee Kang-to’s identity reached finally the peak after failed attempt to make Ra Ra confessed about it.  When Gaksital helped rescue a reporter working for Joseon Independence group, he purposely used Kishokai President’s samurai warrior to hurt Gaksital, and when he laid motionless after barely escaping the fight, he finally… yes finally!  confirmed his suspicion.  For a moment there, I saw that glint in his eyes of still hoping that it was not the friend he treasured, but insanity, cruelty and betrayal got into him… so there I have to let go of Shun-ji.

So they resorted to jedi-mindtricking now… anticipating each other’s move while knowing that they have to outwit each other.  Shun-ji feigned ignorance of Kang-to’s front to try and get the rest of the freedom people but they lost their track to the liberation legion.

Before the waning of the story, I was still hoping that Shun-ji would go back to his smiling and good-natured self.  I was wishing that you know friendship and rationality will make him realized he’s on a wrong boat.  But then again Gaksital has always been a story of patriotism, friendship, love, family bond and how much you value those things.  So given his Ilbon roots, I understood that there was really no way out for him but to yield to what has been previously decided fate by his father.

So freedom movement was all set in their plans while their counterparts were trying to capture them.  I love how the mind games formed the building of final conflict in the story.  They were misleading and leaving false trails to confuse the police department, but the strength of the Imperial force was not that easy to be defeated.

When Gaksital sided with freedom fighters, it was a relief for him to finally get people to fight with him, because hello?   I’m tired of making him fight bunch of people ALONE.  `

So it all comes down to frenemies Shun-ji and Kang-to both realizing that they know what’s the score and it would a contest of “may the best man win”.  It’s Kang-to with the Freedom Fighters and Shun-ji with Kishokai members.  Freedom Fighters needed money and weapons to proceed with their plans, they were able to secure the money by defeating Kishokai but when they robbed the police’ armory, Shun-ji finally took off Gaksital’s mask.  He was rescued from the torture chamber by his fellow freedom group and gave a meaningful there’s-no-going-back-goddbye-bestfriend look to him. 

Freedom alliance camped at Dong-jin leader’s group to prepare for the uprising.  Yang-baek will leave Kyeong-seong to get help from China as Dong-jin’s men will launch a rebellion inside the country.  Meanwhile the evil group will be baiting the insurgents by killing the comrades they imprisoned so Kang-to-Gaksital was left no choice but to take care of so it won’t hinder the main plan.  Shun-ji tracked his hide-out so Kang-to was also determined to finally get a payback from Shunji’s father who set up the ambush to kill his father.  In the end, it was Gaksital can’t live while his villains survive… aw So Harry Potter-ish. 

The finale episodes saddened me because in the end Kang-to killed Shun-ji’s father to avenge his father’s demise.  It was so heartbreaking how their friendship has come to an end and after their fist fight where Kang-to still can’t make himself to kill his bestfriend I was worried on what would become of Shun-ji. Oh and the samurai fending Ra Ra finally talked declaring his love to her… better late than never huh?  I don’t know why they got so stressed out with that old man villain who just sat in the duration of the series and just went furious on their failed attempts to stop the mutiny… Duh? He’s old!  Ra Ra could have just thrown a knife at him.  *giggles

It was a closure befitting to the brilliance of this narrative.  I liked how both parties maneuvered the spies they plotted at the most important arcs of the story.  When Freedom Fighters interfered in the sending of college students to join the Imperial army battling Manchuria, Shun-ji schemed student-spies on their side to report the other camp’s plan.  While Mok-dan was walking down the aisle to marry Lee Kang To, the Imperial police were also marching to raid the hide out.  Shun-ji rushed to where the wedding was happening and saw the bride and groom blissfully smiling.  He triggered his gun pointing at Kang-to but Mok-dan saw it and covered her body on him.  *sniff *sniff  At this time my aunt was annoying me because the rest of the men in the camp were pulverized by the army.  I kept telling her they were taken by surprise and more than fighting back they have to back off for the mean time.  When the heroes’ spirit were shattered into pieces, I don’t know how they will bounce back because they only have 45 minutes to wrap up the series and all I got was the lead girl dying to shield the man she loved.

It was a series of retaliation where you can’t even question its impetus.  It was an incessant exchange of killing for both Kang-to and Shun-ji.  After mourning over his beloved’s passing, Kang-to stood up to fulfill Mok-dan’s dream to become a beacon of light to his fellow Joseon people.  He set forth to kill the old man leader of Kishokai who has been influencing the fortifying of the Japanese governance. 

Then he went to Shun-ji’s house and they had some drama and tea.  Shun-ji gave him their wedding picture as both of them felt the searing anguish of realizing her death.  Then they went to business as Kang-to enumerated how many people died in his hands.  They agreed on their final duel and if I may say bitterly and calmly.  Shun-ji asked Kang-to to go to the yard, and as Kang-to was walking away, he shot himself to die.  *sooooob 

Then we switch to freedom fighters in full swing with their final attempt for Independence and we saw a montage of Joseon people marching to claim their freedom.

1 night and 2 days depicted Joo Won in his human adorable self, and in his bad boy and impeccable Lee Kang To performance, he won me over convincingly.  He gracefully danced, he sweetly sang in a humiliating-PSY-kind-of-way and he gorgeously kicked asses.   He was reckless, uncaring and has put up a strong face because of the hard life he’s been through.  Temperamental outside but frail and kind-hearted inside…

Another second-lead-syndrome, Shun-ji broke my heart by how fast his escalation from goodness to Voldemort-self was.  He was teaching children how to sing one day and the next day he was beating people to death like a mad man.  *facepalm Why?  Why do I always fall in love with the wrong guy? *sigh  Shun-ji slowly destroyed himself in his effort to please his father and to find the culprit who ended his brother’s life.  His failing to connect the dots on Gaksital’s identity was more of because his mind was not accepting a feasible ill-fated confrontation with his best friend.  His unrequited love with the woman who loved his nemesis triggered his complete embracing of the dark side.

Gaksital has held me at the edge of my seat on how they perfectly executed the endings where Shun-ji almost-but-not-quite uncovered those Gaksital-could-be-my-bff attempts.  The ladies gave a decent performance although at some point Mok-dan’s stubbornness annoyed me but I cried when she died.  I was hoping for an ever after but a hero needed to bleed and the pain of losing her will inevitably strengthen him to defeat the baddies.  The rest of the supporting cast helped out to make the presentation the most fluid and chemistry-filled cast ensembles. 

There are a lot of reasons why I would highly recommend this drama but I’ll start with its strength to depict a stimulating story brimming with facets of history and layered with conflicts and resolutions that disheartened and made me happy at the same time.  It was as if my father’s World War stories came to life, and I can only imagine how life was hard back then.    I’m enjoying period dramas lately, there’s just so much to learn that’s why maybe.

Gaksital was the best written and directed drama for 2012.  It has so much depth and substance and youth of today will learn a lot from it.  It was an epic tale that perfectly bloomed along with the characters and was so successful in sending out the Patriotic theme where love, loyalty, family and friendship where at stake.  Gaksital made me realized how living at present time in comfort was such a blessing knowing that the way we are living right now was because of the sacrifices and hardwork of our ancestors. 

A must to watch… I hope they will continue producing dramas like this.  -jediprincess

Living a life while looking at someone who can’t love you back is misfortune.

The price of sin, though slow, will be paid without fail. 

I will be missing “I Miss You”

You know that child story about the princess who can’t cry?  If I give her a copy of “I Miss You”, she will cry all those tears she missed in her life.  After time-travelling expeditions last year, it’s romance after romance coaxing me, teasing me in different faces and approaches this year in kdramaland.  So here I am, love-filled, all-smiles, happily camping in the shower of rose petals.

Staying away from the chaebol-love-you-hate-you love stories, “I Miss You” plunged to a dark and painful romance between a girl who was left behind by her friend and first love, and the man who waited for 14 years to make up for letting go of the girl he first loved.

Tissue, more tissue and a lot of tissue.  Prepare for the weep fest and constant swaying and sighing over why Harry placed himself on that love triangle when he could have stayed by my side.  *chuckles  This is a sure headache that even Sherlock won’t resolve.  We normally get a love triangle where the third wheel stood as the villain because the main couple’s love is really unrequited, but this time, I was weeping, confused, annoyed and don’t know what to do on thinking how complicated their love was.  The people involved in the agonizing love triangle just chose to dwell on hurting each other’s feeling because of the depth of the reasons why they were holding back what they really felt, and why they were taking that path.  They were unaware that they were hurting me in the process because they were crying at any chance they can… and so did I.  *pout

You remember Winter Sonata?  When I was watching it on the local channel, my brother was always complaining how Choi Ji Woo cried every episode?  I Miss You almost broke that record but the story it was threading sufficed the sort of emotional outbreak that spited the vulnerable side of me. 

You have to prepare for the selfishness and development of the characters moving through the story.  Heck you just have to understand all of them because they all suffered from the trauma of their past.  On the 16^th episode, I was shouting, let’s just have Harry reunite with his mom and have Su-yeon and Jung-woo live happily ever after, but after Harry’s revelation, I was tugging my hair, broken hearted on how far his obsession went.  He could have just gone here to marry me, but going to that extent… sigh…

I felt like I was a part of the family that has waited for Su-yeon to come back that when she got reunited with her family, I was also crying incessantly.  And although I really want to comfort my Harry, I have to give space for him to reflect on his actions.  His noona romance really has gone way beyond revenge but I, my mom and my aunt were still siding on Harry.  My mom because he’s eye-candy cute and my aunt because he lived a hard life.  I know right?  I really came from this family.

When my mom was complaining how cheesy they were on the 17^th episode, my aunt replied in teary eyes… “If you have known how far they have suffered to finally be together”.  It’s different how generations explain love.  *giggles

So the story goes like this.  Shadowed by the notorious reputation of her father who has also abused her physically, Lee So Yeon was your typical wallflower at school and was the resident go-to girl for the bullies’ power tripping.  When her father was caught by the police, So-yeon and her mother suffered from the harsh treatment of the neighborhood and only when Han Jung-woo became her friend that she saw life in a different perspective.

Han Jung Woo was studying in the US but decided to come back to Korea and while he was walking one night, he saw So Yeon at a park and approached her.  So Yeon was surprised that he didn’t know that she was the infamous murderer’s daughter.  So Yeon tried to run away, but the rain fell and feeling happy that for the first time another person acknowledged her, she went back to the park and lend her umbrella to Jung-woo.  He promised to return the umbrella the next day but his grandfather passed away.

On a dark battle of inheritance quest, Jung-woo’s grandfather died which caused the tension in the family as his father and his grandfather’s mistress fought for the old man’s money.  Jung-woo’s father shoved his father’s mistress even damaging his half-brother’s leg when he let loose of his vicious pet dogs to chase him.  The young master was able to escape and was hidden by her mother’s friend and landed as So Yeon’s neighbor.
 Jung-woo transferred to So Yeon’s school.  Watching her being bullied, he decided to be her only friend even after hearing the stories about her.  Confused that for the first time, someone has treated her nice, Lee So Yeon found her first friend.

But the new-found-friends would become the eventual casualties on the money war Jung-woo’s family was waging.  Jung-woo’s grandfather’s mistress ordered him to be kidnapped and because So-yeon chased after the plan, they were both captured in an abandoned warehouse.  The two suffered pain, assault and unimaginable trauma.  Jung-woo’s father intervened , and the young man was able to escape leaving So-yeon behind who was almost hit by a car.  She was rescued  by the kid with a wounded leg who was the son of Jung-woo’s grandfather’s mistress.  He escaped his brother’s vicious dogs and was hidden by his mother’s friend and their family’s nurse.

Cut to years after and we saw So-yeon changing her name to Zoe Lou, she has become a famous designer and has been with wealthy debonair Harry Borrison.  After years of premeditated payback Harry Borrison set forth to Korea to face the long lost brother who almost killed him.  He was planning on making his son who became a police officer catch his father’s evil doings.

Jung-woo left his rich life and lived with So-yeon’s mother and has been living in the hopes that someday she will come back because he knows she was alive somewhere but what he was notprepared was the fact that his leaving her behind has made her hated him so much.

The obsession, longing and all those things you can do for love were the prime movement drawer of the story, and one man’s greed of money set the story to happen.

Harry Borrison/Kang Hyun Jun felt like a Math equation for me with no geek help I can try to lure to help me out solve the problem.  It’s just so hard hating his villainy obsessive self everytime the camera zoomed in to his super princey face.  I, my mom and my aunt felt the same.  That’s 3 generations of women, that’s a prolific charisma draw.  This is why I prefer it when they put ugly-faced or crazy-faced villains because it’s very easy to hate them.

Han Jung-woo has made Hachiko looked like he was not loyal with the amount of years he waited for So-yeon to come back.  He was yielding and leaning to his role effectively shielding the vulnerable lead girl but making her strong at the same time.  For some reason, Yoo Chun has really a knack of choosing good projects that can showcase the best of his side as an actor. 

Zoe Lou/Lee So Yeon was what the Beegees was describing in Melody Fair.  I was piling a mountain of tissue every episode each time she will break down and cry.  I have sort of anticipated and almost in the brink of hating why she has to cry every time but then again the story calls for it.  I really missed her performance in the old drama favorites and she really came strong here after her abysmal previous dramas.

This trio main character has ardently explained what a complicated love was.  My favorite line was So-yeon’s “I have always loved you, just not the way you wanted it.  That pretty much tells the gist of their love discord.  It’s always hard to be the receiving end of unfulfilled love, and even harder to know that you can’t love a man who has loved you more than his life.

I thought all of them will go crazy in the finale episode, and I was scared that they might pull a memories-in-bali closing of just killing the love triangle characters so there will be no problem anymore.  I was a bit annoyed by that confrontation and negotiation with Harry to stop his foolishness, but that was one of the best scene in the whole series.  All three of them were in to their characters.  They settled everything right there and then, and that’s what I liked about it.  They were the main characters entangled in that conflict, and in the end they must find a way to end it.  And they resolved it in a tearful, blame throwing, why-can’t you-love-me-manner?.  I liked it. period.

The romance of Jung-woo and So-yeon eventually kicked a well-deserved ever-after, after all the things that happened,I don’t want them saddled by my family doesn’t like you surprise ending conflict.  Good thing father who doesn’t know anything but money got jailed, I just hate him, he did all the problems and there’s no redeeming concept for him in the end.  You see I love all the tears in this drama, but there are neither black or white concepts on the motivational conflict.  The ending wishful thinking of what if the three of them met each other differently was a nice ending trick.  It was a cushion for a safe, well-explained and goodness-prevail-in-the-end windup.  What I can’t understand is how Jung-woo’s father was.  I mean he was all about money and evil all throughout that there was no character development.  I thought Harry was set to avenge his past but his hatred vanished and he even conspired with him.  That was not explained well, I won’t buy that because he loved the girl thought that’s why his priority changed.  I’m stubborn.  I won’t.

I sympathized and understood why So-yeon chose not to be reunited with her family and Jung-woo and I’m glad she decided fast to face herself without prejudice.  You see a kiss always change a woman’s heart.  She was so vulnerable considering the trauma she had with her father that she won’t really be able to put up with her strong face without hurting herself in the process.

Harry, my Harry showed a different meaning to the word antagonist.  Much as I want to hate him and when all his best laid plans were executed for his vengeance streak, I was still faithful and can’t bring myself to hate him.  Sweet-unrequited-one-sided love, that’s what it can do.   Tssss You loved the wrong girl!

“I Miss You” appeared to be a bundle of contradiction for me as I was fighting for my tears not to fall to no avail and at some point the emotion rush exhausted me.  There were moments were I was like… Don’t cry!  Don’t cry!  I said stop crying! And then I just ended up drawing the tissue roll to join the cast on their episodic sob fest.  To be honest, it was bordering to melodrama overkill where it was really living to the tears and more tears vision.  If not for the sad tone on the onset that has had me prepared as well as the painful love premise, I would have not lingered.  I know I’m such a lousy liar it was really because of Harry and his devilish handsome stare.

I mentioned that I’m on a love roll this year.  So far, I Miss You would be the yardstick for the romantic melo drama this year.  Strongly portrayed and definitely worth the tears. ^_^

Oh puhlease! Let them Get Married!!!

A single 29 year old lady-in waiting like me who sat on a 20-episode marriage-plot drama was supposed to be evading the kind of drama pill I took, but strangely I did enjoy this lively, feisty, emotion-draining and chatty love and marriage eye feast.  It was as if the contemplative and witty writing of all my favorite romance movies was made to a drama.  From the director of My Lovely Samsoon and Que Sera Sera, I found a no-frills-this-is-really-what-happening romance story of loving someone, breaking up and becoming brave to love again at the cost of once deciding of giving up on love because you can’t be brave enough.

It felt like a getting-married-staying-married-leaving-marriage instructional video for men and women entertaining the idea of committing their lives with someone.  I vowed myself my parents and in-laws-to-be should watch this before my own wedding preparations for them not to meddle on how I and future-hubby would want our wedding to be.   

HAE-YOON AND JUNG-HOON

“The love that defied their outspoken mothers”

After 3 years of dating Hae-yoon and Jung-hoon decided to get married but on the course of planning the wedding, their mothers got entangled on a series of misunderstanding that involved Jung-hoon’s salaryman status and Hae-yoon’s family background.  Jung-hoon was a regular employee and was born from a rich family while Hae-yoon was raised by her single mother and was working as a grade school teacher.   Even with their incessant bickering what I love seeing about them is they reflect on their actions and they talk about it even at the expense of hurting each other.  They are the classic strong-weak couple.  Hae-yoon who took after her mother’s sometimes unreasonable selfishness loved calculating what her decisions and the thing around them might impact their forthcoming wedding.  She can submit to being submissive just to please her future mother-in-law to be, but when she got too emotionally consumed of the conflicts raised by their mothers, she decided to end the relationship blaming the situation she was put onto.  Good-natured Jung-hoon whose spine grew later in the story accepted her decision and chose his solitary pain not because he can’t fight to be with the girl against his family but because he loved her so much, he was okay to be pushed over.  Their conflict was the main premise of the story and it was exhausting to watch a meek guy and his adamant girlfriend go labyrinth bound because they were both protecting their parents.  Sometimes there are reasonable situations that can make a person forget their filial duties, in their case, the parents have been so overly protective and thoroughly dissecting their future with their thinking and not with how their children were feeling. 

I have to cover my ears whenever Hae-yoon’s mother starts talking and ciphering Jung-hoon’s family’s action as I have to cover my eyes when Jung-hoon’s mother looked down on Hae-yoon’s family background.  Had they not finally conspired and forcedly comprehended that it was really true love that hit their children, and finally providing a way for them to get back together and get married, I would have not forgiven them too, nonetheless I promised myself I won’t get a mother-in-law like them nor will I become a mother-in-law like them too. 

Hae-yoon and Jung-hoon love story circled on how a couple can take the punches of a relationship with opposing beliefs their family and confusing themselves by weighing how good they are as a person and if they are worthy to be with the person.  At the end of it all, it was still how much they love each other that saved the day.  And just like any relationship, you might go against what you have promised someone, if you do, and you want to take it back, you can always will.  It takes a lot of courage to share your dreams and to love someone.

KI-JOONG AND DONG-BI

“The love that got sweeter the second time around”

Dating for 5 years both Ki-Joong and Dong-Bi were showing strong faces not to believe they really love each other.  Both coming from rich families, they have wounds that can’t be healed no matter how rich their parents were.  I like how real and painful their story was and that both protected each other in ways they didn’t allow one another to realize it.  In the end they both get the love while meeting their conditions.  It is always a happy feeling to get back in a relationship no matter how bad the past was.  The love won’t entirely cover the scar it created but the people in love will grow together with that experience.

HAE-JIN AND DO-HYUN

“The marriage that got away”

I got most of the tears from their love story.  The man loved his wife but his ego can’t bear following his manipulative mother-in-law.  The divorce settlement procedure showed how pride can ruin love, and I’m glad that they didn’t let them get back together because that’s what makes sense considering the man cheated on his wife.  I’m not siding with Hae-jin because I’m a girl but because any man who was pushed to his limit and because they have a son to be protected, I was really wanting Do-hyun to get a dose of his own medicine because he was given a lot of chance to make it right but his stupid hubris won’t concede.  While both of them know how their situation was affecting their son, they were wise to really be firm on their decision.  There are relationship that really needed to be ended even if the casualty will be damaging not just for the couple involved but for their children.

“Can We Get Married?” was a very ruminative tale that presented varied reasons, delusions, confusions, pain and happiness when intending to share a life with someone officially.  It sent me to pensive state in justifying my own stand of not believing that love is forever and acknowledging the happy truth that while relationship can be very moody at times, there are things like two-way happiness, warm embraces and sweet kisses that love can only define.

Grrrr I should have not watched this at all, now the love nerves that I put in coma is starting to annoy me.  *giggles  I think this will be a nice watch for people having second-thoughts to tie the knot and couples who can’t figure out why they are staying in love with the wrong person and wanting to be in love after break-ups. 

This is a love video pill in Before Sunrise, Love Actually and 500 Days of Summer witty screenplay vibe plus nagger moms and great support cast on the side.  It’s not your cheesy romcom but it’s oh-so-full of realistic romance that has happened, will happen and happening to all of us. –jediprincess

and the Pink Lightsaber goes too… (Abby’s 2012 Korean Drama Picks) Part 2 of My Year-end Korean Drama Review

Last year, I started on looking back and giving my hard-earned thank you’s for these dramas and characters I really liked.  I never thought of a name, just your regular, year-end awards something, and then since my world wide web name calls for it, I guess I would have to acquiesce.  This will be my First Pink Lightsaber year-end appreciation day.  Let’s roll in my 2012 DRAMA FAVORITES.

PS:  My Basis for Choosing… Well, let’s just say if I will be asked about these dramas in 2 or 5 years, I will still remember everything about them.

♥  HISTORY OF THE SALARYMAN – I watched Yoo Bang and Yeo Chi just as I was running out of time this year, and the splendid story and cheeky characters has earned an applaud from me.  This is the most DARING and the SNAPPIEST Drama this year.

♥ OPERATION PROPOSAL – No matter how many times Baek Ho made me joined him in his “renovatio spree”, I remained faithful and intertwined in this I-realized-too-late-I-love-you-please-give-me-a-chance-to-prove-we-are-meant-to-be-kind-of-love.  This is the most TIME-DEFYING Romance Drama this year for me.

♥  A GENTLEMAN”S DIGNITY – This blow-up F4 swept me off my feet with their unmatched friendship and opening anecdotes.  The wit, humor and love maturity was ever present until its culmination.  This is the Most FULFILLING Romance Drama and the Best Ensemble Cast this year.

♥ GHOST – Riveting and Stimulating, GHOST was able to put me on an addictive level while stalking it.  This is the Most THRILLING and SMARTLY WRITTEN drama this year.

♥ FAITH – Although slowly-paced the lingering effect of the romance, the villains and the story itself won my heart in a slow but surely and no looking back manner.  This is the Most HEARTFELT ROMANCE drama this year.

♥  QUEEN IN HYUN’S MAN – Drawing a well-pieced plot and nailing the best time-traveling trick from the time voyaging drama pack this year, Queen In Hyun’s Man Abby’s Man was an exceptional love yarn that made me giddy-ish, girly-ish and princess-ish.  This is the Most MEMORABLE and SUPERBLY WRITTEN Romance this year.

♥ FIVE FINGERS – I felt like I was in a trance while my usual romantic self enjoyed my favorite dysfunctional family ever. Five Fingers has managed to surprise me with the retaliation battle among the characters.  This is the Most FEISTY drama and the Most WELL-ACTED Drama this year.

♥  ANSWER ME, 1997 – Nostalgic and a sure humor pill, Answer Me, 1997 sent me back to memory lane reliving the sweet feel of falling in love for the first time.  This is the Most CHEERFUL Romance Drama this year.

♥  KING 2 HEARTS – The situation that brought Hang Ah and her Prince took a “now or never approach” and elevated to a strong commitment because of the efficiency of the villain.  This is the Most POLISHED Drama this year.

♥ ROOFTOP PRINCE – Addictive and very pleasant to watch, my Joseon Beatles replica made me root for them throughout the story.  Park Ha, Prince Lee Gak and the 3 Adorable sidekicks have given me so many laughter and induced plenty of love sighs.  This is the Most REFRESHING Romance Drama this year.

♥ THE MOON THAT EMBRACES THE SUN – It was a bracing romance that played and won over fate.  It was not that perfect but was very persistent in what it was trying to achieve.  This is the Most FATED and FULFILLING Romance this year.

♥ GAKSITAL – A bromance defying all bromance invented… Gaksital stripped me of my feminine lines and has made me at the end of my seat because of its thrilling pace, engrossing mise-en-scene and resonating characters.  This is the BEST WRITTEN and DIRECTED drama this year.

And Now Here’s to the Winners of Pink Lightsaber

FAVORITE SUPPORTING MALE ACTORS

Eun Shi-kyung in King 2 Hearts

Jo Eun Sung in I do, I do

FAVORITE FEMALE SUPPORTING ACTRESSES

Kim Dong Ah in Wild Romance

Im Me Ah Ri in A Gentleman’s Dignity

BEST SCENE-STEALER CHARACTERS

The Three Musketeers of Prince Lee Gak in Rooftop Prince

HALL-OF-FAMER-CHARACTERS

Kim Bong Gu in King 2 Hearts

Chae Young Ra in Five Fingers

FAVORITE KICK-ASS CHARACTERS

Kim Woo Hyun in Ghost

Baek Yeo Chi in History of the Salaryman

FAVORITE FEEL-GOOD CHARACTER

Arang in Arang and the Magistrate

Kang San in May Queen

FAVORITE BLUSH-INDUCING CHARACTER

Jung Jae Hyuk in Fashion King

Lee Ja Ha in King 2 Hearts

FAVORITE CUDDLY BEAR CHARACTER

Park Moo Yul in Wild Romance

FAVORITE LOVE-YOU-HATE-YOU CHARACTER

Kim Kyung Tak in Dr. Jin

Yoo In Ha in Five Fingers

Shunji Kimura in Gaksital

FAVORITE LEAD MAN KISSER

Seo Joon in Love Rain

Kim Boong Do in Queen In Hyun’s Man

FAVORITE I-WANT-TO-SEE-YOU-IN-MY-DREAMS-CHARACTER

Choi Young in Faith

BEST FIGHT SCENES

Gaksital

FAVORITE BROMANCE

Shunji and Kang-to in Bridal Mask

F4 in A Gentleman’s Dignity

Kenji and Kang-to in Gaksital

FAVORITE ROM-COM COUPLES

Park Ha and Lee Gak in Rooftop Prince

Sung Shi Won and Yoon Yoon Jae in Answer Me, 1997

FAVORITE UNYIELDING ROMANCE

Kang Baek Ho to Ham Yi Seul in Operation Proposal

Choi Young and Yoo Eun Soo in Faith

FAVORITE PICTURE PERFECT ROMANCE

So Yi Soo and Kim Do Jin in A Gentleman’s Dignity

Choi Hee Jin and Kim Boong Do in Queen In Hyun’s Man

FAVORITE VILLAINS

Jo Hyun Min in Ghost

Ki Chul in Faith

FAVORITE STORY

Queen In Hyun’s Man

FAVORITE SCREENPLAY

A Gentleman’s Dignity

BEST EDITING

King 2 Hearts

FAVORITE ENSEMBLE CAST

A Gentleman’s Dignity

Five Fingers

BEST IN CINEMATOGRAPHY

Love Rain

BEST DIRECTING

Queen In Hyun’s Man

King 2 Hearts

FAVORITE DRAMA

Queen In Hyun’s Man

Gaksital

FAVORITE CHOCOLATEY-SWEET DRAMA

A Gentleman’s Dignity

FAVORITE TEARS-AND-BLISS DRAMA

Five Fingers

FAVORITE PERIOD DRAMA

Faith

FAVORITE TIME TRAVELING DRAMA

Queen In Hyun’s Man

Operation Proposal

FAVORITE TEAR INDUCING CHARACTER

Yoo Ji Ho in Five Fingers

Eun Shi Kyung in King 2 Hearts

FAVORITE SEE-HOW-MUCH-I-LOVE-YOU-SCENE

The Skin-care Gifts to Hang Ah in King 2 Hearts

The Beach Painting Gift to Park Ha in Rooftop Prince

FAVORITE COTTON-CANDY DARLING SCENE

Lee Tae Sung painting Go So Ra’s finger nails in Haeundae Lovers

FAVORITE DRAMA ONE LINER

“I’ve never felt this way before” in Haeundae Lovers

BEST KISS

Love Rain Fountain Kiss

Queen In Hyun’s Man Neck-tie-tip-toe Kiss

BEST LOVE DECLARATION SCENE

Jo Eun Sung stethoscope Will you marry me? scene in I Do I Do

Ki-Joong and Dong-Bi’s Common Law Marriage Scene in Can We Get Married

BEST FINALE EPISODE

King 2 Hearts

Ghost

FAVORITE LEAD ACTRESS

Kim Hang Ah in King 2 Hearts

Chun Hae Joo in May Queen

FAVORITE LEAD ACTOR

Kang Ma Ru in Innocent Man

Lee Kang To in Gaksital

FAVORITE DRAMA CHARACTERS

General Choi Young in Faith

Kim Boong Do in Queen In Hyun’s Man

Sung Shi Won in Answer Me, 1997

It was so hard deciding on what I should pick, but I will stick to my simple rating rule.  My final stop for this year-end review, I’m hoping to accomplish before the year literally say goodbye.  

The Love in the Dramas, and the Dramas full of Love: A review of 2012 Korean Dramas

This is the year of Time-traveling, supernaturals, determination-driven characters and hotties parading… enticing and beautifully gracing effortlessly the place where Oracle Abby resides.  And because Love brought me to this Korean drama binge, I will be rating my drama picks this year based on my very own definition of love.

PS:  I have decided to include I Miss You, Jeon Woo Chi and Cheongdamdong Alice for next year.  I would have wanted to add them on the list but I don’t want to rush my self.  This will be the first of my 3-part year-end review.  And let us all wish 2013 will be as good as this year. 

2012 KOREAN DRAMA RECAPS

THE FIRST LOVE DRAMAS

This was the kind of love where all the emotions you haven’t felt came rushing for you to define.  It will be sweet if it endures, but will be painful when it fails.  Thus the dramas I pondered to belong here are two-faced, these are dramas that started well, blossomed reasonably and could either hit an ever-after or a parting of ways.  These are safe dramas, it will always be there in your heart, sometimes you want to reminisce it… sometimes you just want to forget.

♥ Love Rain – It was a “first love” drama festival that made me wept plenty of tears.  I always cry when the lead man is left no choice but to hurt the lead girl for some reason I don’t understand.  The director really made the scenes in such a way that it will hit your emotions.

I liked that this drama has only one conflict – how to defy your parents’ love to get your one true love… I know what barrier they will have to break and I was excited on how they would be able to overcome it.

Love Rain… less the oldies’ side love story turned eventual conflict you made me smile and somehow you let romance rain… You are relaxing and very eye-pleasing to watch… you may not be the best romance drama yet so far this year, there’s a lot of opportunities to insert romantic interludes and took out unnecessary story arc… but hey, I did took time watching you…  and for that I blame it to your sweet and simple love take. 

Coming from the director who gave the “season dramas” (Autumn in my Heart and the rest of the bunch), you are worth the hype even if some of the adorable scenes I already saw from other dramas.  What stood out in this drama was the beautiful cinematography as what the director’s trademark is and of course this is Jang Geun Seok’s way of bouncing back to my boyfriends’ list after the disappointing ride with Mary.  You are soothing and serene… a nice watch when you want some time to be alone.  ^_^

♥Arang and the Magistrate – The one-sided love of the magistrate, the too-late-reciprocated-and-realized-love-for-Joo-Wal-to-Lee-Seo-Rim/Arang, and the restricted-by-full-moon-love-of-Arang-to-the-magistrate illustrated a heart piercing and yet understanding kind of love that I greatly appreciated because for a change, I saw characters not ending up twisted because of the love they so wanted to have.  Instead, they respected whatever emotions they are feeling and they are getting, and for that reason I found the romance in this drama compelling.  Whatever they said about “letting love go, and if it returns, it was meant for you” was achieved by the main players of the love entanglement.

It was an incessant shower of disappointing sighs as I groped my way to finish Arang and the Magistrate.  Halfway through the drama, it was still bland and bleak with a plot not coherent to the characters or shall I say, the characters were all good but the story moves in literally a mysterious way, that I ended up mystified and wanting to know why it kept withholding the covert truths indispensable to the movement of the plot.  But then alas! On the 13^th episode it became lucky and started showing signs of promise.

Although Arang and the Magistrate showed languid episode movements, it sustained a convincing closure that has made it escaped a drama disappointment tag.  The main characters vibrant portrayals attributed to my not giving up on the drama, that being said, it helped that there are not that much characters to munch, and them being effective to their personas has helped the drama survive its slow-footed premise.

Arang and the Magistrate was able to evade an almost drama fury on my end.  It was a safe drama, period.  It goes down to the point of how you manage to end something, no matter how unsure and average the narration of the story was, as long as you give a decent ending that would suffice.

 

♥ Haeundae Lovers - The hotel-tug-of-war, the quirkiest-quasi-mafia-ish-fisherman family I have ever laid my eyes on, the stubborn-quick-to-anger-but-adorably-handsome-prosecutor, and the love story that was brought about by a criminal chase and one after another jumping into wrong conclusions were reasons enough to enjoy this light drama from the writer of one of my last year’s favorite — City Hunter.
  
This drama totally deviated from the supernatural-time-travelling trend this year to settle to a realistic love narrative that built up so perfectly I was almost falling in love at the same time as the couple was feeling it… amnesia plot and all that off-beat elements, I ended up appreciating it.

It stayed on low key but was consistent with the romance and mirth all throughout.  So I guess the City Hunter writer was not a fluke at all, she was a real thing.  I liked that they gave the couple love hindering conflicts and made them so strong with their convictions to overcome it.  They took one step back and then 10 steps forward to claim what is rightfully theirs.

It was swift and well-paced.  It was predictable and yet so fun to watch.  Amidst the 3rd quarter drama, Haeundae Lovers was not that conspicuous, underrated if I may say, and the irony of it is that it has the biggest heart so far from what I’ve seen… tapping on love, family and friendship in an uncomplicated and stirring way of defining life’s real moments.

Just like the serene ocean background setting, Haeundae Lovers was an endearing, calming drama that will drown a stressful week.  I am sure right now that it will certainly not be one of the best this year, but at least it didn’t disappoint me at all and was always making me smile while I am watching it.

♥ Wild Romance - It was one hell of a sweet, wild ride, and although the romance manifested itself in the latter part, I found this drama charming and endearing. I will miss the humor, the bickering and the adorable geek and geeker second leads, more than that I will miss Dong Wook oppa in his childish but still melting hot prince-like self. I will miss the heartfelt, true-about-love sweeping lines and the simple and yet vibrant attitude of the drama itself.

With amusing deutero-couple in their amazing wit, extraordinary relationship and erotic fantasies. check. A villain who sent me to annoyance but redeemed herself in the end because she threw the-best-who-do-you-choose-to-love-on-the-spot-situational-quizbee in the KDrama History. check. One of the best episodes I’ve seen and I hope I can justify it in recap well. check. This was another memorable love story full of fun, transparency, understanding and realization that “love is choosing to make a change with your feelings to the point of even defying fate”. check. This is a love tale you won’t overlook and will make you appreciate love even more. 

This deviated from the usual male domineering “I’ll protect the girl” kind of thing as I marveled on how Eun-jae candidly grace the TV screen. And while she took charge, she manifested her cute girly side when Aphrodite forcedly gave her girdle to the bodyguard who in time fell for Moo-yul’s devilish but adorable charm.

 It has a simple scriptwriting, it was not that super neat, in fact there were some frustrating notes. It was nothing fancy but I love that they were able to inject crisp and fresh ideas. A few oh-so-worth-it quotes here and then and the danger of leaning to “the habit of assuming when in doubt with someone’s love” was presented in a piercing my love veins approach. 

To be honest, I felt like I’m Paris while I’m trying to decide on my take about this drama. But like Paris, because I have a soft side on everything “love” even if Wild Romance was not barbie-like pretty, I loved it.

THE LOVE-AFTER-THE-FIRST-LOVE DRAMAS

A kind of love where you took a risk to open your emergency door and let someone in your heart again.  This is being brave to the possibility of being hurt again after failing on the first love you had.  Thus this is the kind of love that has the maturity to deal with repercussions that will not question the decision of why you let yourself love again.  This is when a person accepted the reality that love has two sides and is prepared for what will happen.  The picture-perfect commitment and love vow that fulfilled the yearnings of your heart.  This has made you a happy person claiming the love you deserve and giving back the love that was given to you.  On this note, the dramas I will include here are cheeky dramas, feisty and vibrant.  These are dramas you loved because you not only thought about it but felt that it was rightfully yours.  These are dramas which tapped successfully in your system causing you to be dreamy and full of love.  Wrapped with exceptional acting and perfectly executed story, these are superb series that your mind and heart won’t ever forget.

 

♥ Queen In Hyun’s Man - It’s over and done but Queen In Hyun’s Man Abby’s Man has left me insatiable.  Your drive to bring your viewers to your spontaneous romance binge whilst holding the reign to an incessantly bewitching plot was quenchless and I thank kdramagod for that.  Joining the KDramaLand time pilgrimage this year is  Abby’s Man.

I just so love how it deviated from the typical KDrama conflict norms of unresolved unfinished love issues, family problems, useless vengeance driven characters, personal exhausting battles and all those other tiring fillings they would insert to make the spectators just go with the flow.  Apparently though, I ain’t gonna go with something unless it is worth clinging to.

I have this habit of focusing on camera movements when I’m watching something, in short I’m particular to editing, so given the time-voyaging premise of the story, I was amazed on how the production team worked on the smooth transitions.  It was playing at past and present ends without losing the spontaneity and fluidity of the story.  The writer whom I will be stalking from now on was a delightfully mischievous conceiver who got down to the nitty-gritty of the screenplay and pulling off the conflicts and its deliverance in a make-sense and you-got-me-there kind of vibe.  Quintessential writing, editing and directing.  period.

Queen In Hyun’s Man has managed to outwit me and convincingly swayed me with what story drive I imagined to be achieved… He was playfully smiling at me in a “and you thought you had me figured out abby” kind of way.  With the time travelling and fantasy parade in the KDramaLand, he has managed to surprise all the players with his neat time transitions enabling a consistent and enticingly appealing plot.  Rarely would you remember equally the story and the characters, but with Queen In Hyun’s Man, the characters synchronized well with the story and strangely the characters would be able to stand alone as the story retain its brilliance and vice versa.

It was a supernatural and reality love drama at its best and is a romance story that is so worth my time and even curing my recently running emotional-limbo-bound-self.   It definitely deserved a slot in my hall-of-famers.  Yes it did!

♥ A Gentleman’s Dignity - From the production team that brought Secret Garden, City Hall and Lovers in Paris comes an addictive, relationship contemplating rom-com drama in a Sex and the City male version vibe.  The quirky and engaging cast and the quaint story made me a doper of the best F4, blow up middle-aged-hotties F4, that graced the kdramaland.

These quadruplet 40+ men grew up as friends since Highschool and nurtured their friendship since then.  The morning breakfast forums, the constant cover ups to survive the feisty wife, the one-sided love, the mischievous-kiss-may-december-love-affair, the now-we-break-up-tomorrow-we’ll-get-back relationship, the opening hilarious anecdotes, the sweetest, heart-wrenching love declarations and love-believe-me’s, and the bromance were some of the reasons why this would be my “MUST-WATCH ROMANCE DRAMA” this year.

Every episode was humor and wit overload.  Each character can stand alone and has his own remembering note.  All throughout there was never a dull moment.  It was exceptionally comic when the four main leads do their antics and so heartfelt when the scenes require them to tap on their emotions.

For a woman’s perspective, I never thought I would enjoy this so much and I felt that even if Jang Dong Gun was the main attraction among the boys, having them all together were the strongest points of the drama.  All four of them were a big pile of mirth and love. 

They say life begins at 40, and these men who were friends since Highschool rocked it.  Having their own stable life, they have to balance personal, family and relationship issues while maintaining the best bromance I’ve seen so far.

The 20 hours I spent with this drama has made a very jumping on the air happy girl.   The only thing that hindered me from liking Do Jin oppa and eventually erasing Kim Boong-do in my heart is because he looked like a boy I used to date.  *giggles

I have very positive feelings towards this drama.  All those minor so-what-situational-supporting-conflict I just disregarded because the story and the characters have such reverberating resonance that has made me reflect on how I’ve been dealing with my own relationship and commitment issues.  Come to think of it, they made this to make you remember how vulnerable and how defiant you can come after because of love.  This will definitely make it to my top 3 this year.  So I only have one slot left to give.   Come on kdramas indulge me.

♥ Ghost - There were no guns triggered… no swords drawn… it was a battle between heroes and villains equipped with digital powers. It was an enthralling power game that involved, system hacking, all-knowing CCTV cameras, secret bugging, and heroes and villains almost equally genius to take one step ahead of each other.

Ghost/Phantom broke my love drama binge 360 degrees and I was left dumbstruck and on a cliff hanging state all throughout the series. I was like in a trampoline were I was bouncing up and down without the rush hitting the bottom level.

Ghost/Phantom will hold your interest in a very gripping fashion. The cunning powerplays and counter measures were ever present to the story as it progressed. The brilliantly done ending emancipated the withheld secrets that were carefully and nifty hidden so as to achieve a closure befitting of this cyberworld investigating drama classic.

The race on who gets to maneuver efficiently the power of the computers will earn the opposing team an instant digital karma so all the while, the villains and heroes have worked double time to raise the bar in outwitting one another.

 If you want a breather from rom-coms, this cyber crime drama should be on your list. The dexterous cast and perceptive plot will take you all the way to an exciting oblivion where you will feel like you are also part of this buffed cyberspace police officers.

♥ Five Fingers – When you have your protagonist, villains, counter-villains living inside the same roof scheming on how they can make each other suffer and retaliating at the same time, you get the best drama ensembles acting wise.  I present you Five Fingers – a story of a dysfunctional family that burned each episode with intense unlimited angst thrown at each other in a battle where money is thicker than blood and first love.

The main conflict centered on a horrible case of Oedipus complex.  The mother and brothers whose grudges elevated and paced in a dangerous manner made this mellow drama so compelling to watch.  It was overflowing with dark tones, and yet it was heartbreakingly beautiful.  The characters were all driven, the story was full of surprises and wicked impulses.  Five Fingers was strong in balancing the protagonist and the villains.  It didn’t make the protagonist so annoying.

I vouched that this was the best tears and bliss drama I saw this year.  Everything was in coherence to the main theme, the actors pushed their limit in the scenes they were required to step up and not quivering at the same time on the middling notes.  It propelled a lot of emotions in me – impossibility, nostalgia, fondness, fury, remorse, and forgiveness.  Full of flavors and sentiments, fiery Five Fingers will be my favorite mellow drama for 2012.

♥ Faith – Assimilating the action plot with the supernatural spices and decorating it with folklore, having a band of villains equipped with mojos and x-men powers, a sassy and bubbly modern day doctor that was lost cutely to a new kind of living she was forced to live and of course the Thor-ish General who made my Kenshin Himura looked so inferior… were the essentials that made this drama such an enthralling TV experience.  The provocative plot matches the annoying villain assaults and the firm, arresting retaliation of the underdogs.  I know that goodness will prevail in the end, and I’m so looking forward to how the protagonists will take their final stand considering how smooth the pounces were of the bad guys.

This year most of the things in kdramaland involved paranormal activities and strongly portrayed characters.  A k-drama-addict like me was preoccupied year long because of these devastating beauties I uncovered.  Having Lee Min Ho in this drama really triggered my adoration, but more than that it was really the effective way of how the drama sweetly chained my easily bored self by presenting an astonishing picture of a balanced treatment between the characters and the story itself.  The story was there to make the characters shine as the characters made the story span.

Faith is a remarkably premeditated tale where notwithstanding the consistent dawdling and sageuk clichés it successfully notched the path where it was directing the audience – hope, holding on faith and happiness.  Faith’s ability to balance the transcendent elemental nonsense was plausible and cohering to how it mounted to the story’s peak.

♥ Operation Proposal -The fantasy element fusing to the reality was layered in such a way that you don’t question the magic pull they put in the drama.  In the latter episodes I was also begging for more chances of going back to the past because like most of the people around him Kang Baek Ho grew fond in my heart. All throughout I was feeling what the lead girl was — “there’s this man I’ve loved all my life, I’ve sent signals for him to realize that I like him, but he’s so clueless about it.”  Being a lady-in-waiting, I was able to relate to what she was feeling… it’s hard to be in a situation when you love someone all your life, and in that long span both of you are groping if there will be a romantic future that you can both share.

Operation Proposal was sweetly and richly narrated that even if I went to a lot of time travelling this year, I enjoyed it so much.  I love how they moved the romance from young childish love to a taking time to realize kind of love to a love that didn’t understand reasons but felt what’s important and to a love that was meant to have and to give…

There were a lot of love situations tackled in this drama but it all goes down to two main points:  How far you are going to wait for someone for them to realized your worth and that you are waiting?  And being brave to fall in love and discarding the what-if’s and saying it at the very moment you are feeling it.  I’ve seen a lot of beautiful love stories this year but Operation proposal took me from blushing to crying to understanding that in love someone can run to you that’s why he might have let you wait.

The time-space continuum voyages of Baek Ho was an endearing journey full of twist, oh no’s and romance.  It was a refreshing feel to have a conflict that was not evil motivated that’s why I loved the supernatural spike in this drama.  The lead character was competing with himself – with his past self for that matter and his forebearance endured his painstaking drive to be with the girl he loved.

THE LOVE-THAT-GOT-AWAY DRAMAS

All of us have that “one that got away”, sometimes we confuse it with our first love but I believe otherwise.  This is that person you have let go but will always belong to your heart.   Most of the time it’s a two-way thing but regardless both of you decided not to pursue the commitment because both of you are contented knowing that the love will always be there.  In dramas that I have seen this year, this will point out to dramas that has caught my attention without me realizing it and has made me happy in a way I can’t understand it… These delights you will put inside a vault and in moments that you wanted some pills to lighten you up, you will visit it again to bring you out of that predicament.

♥ Answer Me 1997 - Answer Me 1997 sprinted all the way to my heart with its vibrant characters, nostalgic premise, fan girl foolish escapades, friendship we all have at some point and we still have at the moment and of course the crazy first love.  It was suave, witty and comic, the kind of what I want for an ideal love.  I know nothing of the actors in this drama and surprisingly, they have hooked my very elusive heart.

Kdramaland was all out and has maximized the use of time element in the dramas this year, and this time for Answer Me 1997, it was nostalgic… I sighed, cried and laughed out loud as I joined the characters in their younger years memory delving.  Nothing magical, mythical and supernatural, just a pure trip down to the moments everyone watching can totally relate.  Spicing the flashback element, the drama will be switching from present to the later part of the ‘90’s showcasing the trademark of that generation where tamagotchi, flip top phones and the rest of the ancestors of the modern technology in their conceiving stage.

The familiar feeling of first love if given another chance could become a “fated love”.  I finished the drama in one sitting, that’s how engrossing and fetching the story was.  It was just there sharing a wonderful friendship and love story without hassles and annoying conflicts but the emotions were resonating and striking at the memory veins that it will make you recollect the good old times when you first passionately and recklessly fell in love.

This is a wistful memoir of that point in time that we first fell in love… and when you finish the story, you might wonder what if you tried to go back.  “The reason why first love is always special is because you kept the memories… because you can never go back”.  Answer Me 1997 will prove this quote otherwise.

♥ History of the Salaryman – Playing on deceit, out-foxing and counter-scourging, I say this is the Most DARING and the SNAPPIEST Korean Drama for 2012.

History of the Salaryman was a very intelligent story of people moving around the corporate world.  The recent World Wars would fail in comparison to the forming and disbanding of alliances in this drama as they race to who will snatch the contest for “the most ambitious of ‘em all”.  The corporate world is such a big, dangerous world and what this drama achieved was to present a miniature version of it that will leave life lessons that we always reap what we sow and that greed has two sides, when you became passionate in doing good you’ll earn a reward, but when you overwhelmed yourself with things you did not work hard, you’ll face your downfall.

The outwitting deals in kdramaland keeps getting better and I’m a happy camper because of it.  With the most vivacious cast for this year, and a story well plotted with no loose ends left hanging, it would be a waste not to see the story of the Salaryman.

A consistent gripping drive culminating to a fulfilling kick-ass who’s the boss now finale? — History of the Salaryman is a stimulating watch that will taunt you while leaving you inspired at the same time.

♥ Rooftop Prince  – Initiating the time space warp trend for this year’s Korean drama was this delectable treat of time-travelling Joseon Crown Prince Yi Gak and his adorable ducklings to literally learn a lesson from destiny.   The time portal brought them to vivacious Park Ha’s rooftop house, and the latter was forced to help the men to adapt in modern living.

The blithe and cheerful tones of this drama and the weaving of the plot as it converge the time elements amazed my already drowning from the cuteness of the characters self.  I don’t know how Koreans can easily pull fresh and new romantic love scenarios even if they have the past productions to contend with.  Cupid might be lurking in their country to inspire their writers so well.

Compelling, addictive and full of laughing out loud scenes, this will be one of my favorites for 2012.

♥ The Moon that Embraces the Sun  - This drama opens the year with a grand fireworks display.  The ratings stay up even if there were times that I was wishing for it to speed up.  But the production team sure know when they should wake you up when you are about to doze off so I remain positively raving. The young love which blooms and defied time, reasons, and political issues are what makes the production applauded I believe.  The strong and consistent character portrayals, supernatural seasonings, family issues and brotherly love cemented the viewers’ loyalty I say…

I like that the villains annoyed me to a hilt and made me scold the King when I felt he was not realizing he has actually the power to use as a King, but since he was really caught in between a not so good eventual outcome for the people he was protecting and the evil ploys of the head queen, I let his state of being caught off guard pass, and just prayed hard to heal his brother’s pain.  The second leads I can’t really complain much.  They have justified whatever their roles require to help the story spinning.

The series as a whole was creatively conceived, but I won’t say I’m all praises to it compared to what I felt with the recent sageuks I saw (Tree with Deep Root and The Princess Man).  It was euphoric on its strong notes and contemplating on its sad tones.  My verdict?  This is a drama full of love and anguish, but you will eventually CHERISH it.

♥ King2Hearts - King 2 Hearts was staged in a quasi-utopian Korean world where the North and South Koreans are sort of in peaceful communicating terms. 

King2hearts has always been polished, calculated but never failing to entice and push me to my assumed outcomes. That being said, what I applaud about this drama is how it seems predictable but will prove the viewers otherwise. But I would have wanted a different closure for Bong-gu… I could think of a lot of possible evil ways to end him because I was closed to calling the Criminal Minds team to help the North and South pin him down because of so much annoyance. Seriously I think they are now tired of having the male leads fought over the lead girl, so they are killing the second lead now… give way to the new face of the second-lead syndrome… It was a perfect Korean drama for the second quarter, all criteria were met… began well and ended with conviction.

THE FLEETING, ALTERNATIVE LOVE DRAMAS

Intense, thrilling and something new are what passing romance normally promised.  It is what we call “loving in the moment” kind of thing.  There will be no guarantee but it’s fun and refreshing.   It is the familiar love that you strategically keep in your life but you don’t put much adoration on because you know that he is your fall-back person.  In cold nights and periodically in a year if you are not in a relationship, you sort of hang around.  It is a relationship that can be turned on and off depending on your choice.  These are dramas that can cure the boredom, break the monotony and just pretty much indulge you.   Dramas like this are breezy, sweet and serene.  Feel-good dramas that will make you smile but not remarkable enough for you to remember.

 

♥ Panda and Hedgehog -It was basking in brightness and breeziness that all throughout I felt really good watching the predictable story unfolds.  It was underacted but heck I still did enjoy it that at some point I thought of becoming a patissier… a charming one for that matter.  *giggles

Panda and Hedgehog was an epitome of a predictable drama and there are a lot of opportunities acting wise.  It was an easy watch, you will just go with the flow and will never trigger a negative feeling in your veins.  It won’t promise you ohlalas but it won’t disappoint you either.  It worked well that they limited the characters, they simplified the conflicts, but they added zest in the romance and relationship of their main players.  That I think was the reason why I finished Panda and Seul-ji’s love story, they didn’t dig on misunderstandings.  They know what they want all throughout, they withdrew when they can’t, but they took a stand when they have to.  It was a realist romance, and even the sugar-coating was true to life.

♥ I Do, I Do - I do I do was very endearing to watch and for people like me whose emotional involvement can be swayed by our love of our independence, it was a sweet somewhat reality bites nudge. 

It was a smooth flowing 16 episodes with the right insertions of peevish soon to be mom who struggled a lot with her emotions and equally disarming male leads whose love runneth over and yet the woman they are wanting to have it don’t know how to reciprocate.  It occasionally have made me asked what I’m going to do if I’m on those situations.   (I bet I will sleep *giggles)  Will I be firm like her?  Will I falter to be rescued?  Will I let fate decide what’s next to happen? 

I say this is a passing drama, nice to watch when you are doing it, but is forgettable.   It was a story of a love that you can almost have, but you can’t have because life intervenes and throws in circumstances were you have to decide if it really matters.  But if you did bravely choose, you’ll learn that an ALMOST LOVE is one of the sweetest love… you can have and you will have.

♥ To The Beautiful You – this will be the 3rd adaptation of the Japanese shojo manga “Hana Kimi” and my favorite of ‘em all I say.. Well Koreans have this knack on doing their adaptation even better than the original.  I think Apple will agree on that. *chuckles

I was in constant tug-of-war between Eun-gyul and Tae-joon that I deviced a “who-abby-really-likes” scoresheet to break the sweet confusion.

This is another teenage love drama at its best… no worries, just purely cuteness, sassiness and first love vibes. I will miss Eun-gyul’s social media shout-outs and weird mind wanderings, Jae-hee’s radiant smile and pure heart, and Tae-joon’s… well everything about him.  *giggles

Candid and totally charming, To the Beautiful You will promise you smiles and refreshing feel.  If you are looking for something serious or evil induced story, then you won’t find it here.  Everything about it was lightly done even the conflicts.  Simply laid, progressed smoothly and stopping at a happy ever-after note… this drama will be one of my favorite among the rom-coms this year.

♥ Shut up flower boy band – The friendship and the boys were what I will remember most from this teenage drama.  It was simply laid, and I have nothing much to complain, but Eyecandy failed to charm me in their boyish, cute ways.  I love high school rock group, they bring so much excitement, and maybe that’s where the driving edge of this drama.  It was vibrant, full of fun and thrilling.  I like it while I was watching it, but I know in my heart that soon enough I will forget them.

THE HALF-HEARTED-LOVE DRAMAS

You don’t know why you fell in love while you were actually in the relationship, and when you broke up, you also can’t answer the same question.  It was the kind of love that commenced in the hope that it could get better, but it failed to cling on that possible reality.  On that note these are half-baked dramas.  Fairly done and would only hit a specific audience that can understand the underlying essentials of the plot.  The premise was good, but the entirety was not that strong enough to create a complete package drama.

♥ Innocent Man – Last quarter in the kdramaland is a melodrama short stop where vengeance, money-tug-of-war, misplaced love primarily span the main ingredients to watch out. 

Tutututut…. I neither liked nor hated Innocent Man, I loved Kang Ma Ru so much, but the story was not able to engross me…  I’ve been there in that kind of story a lot of times, the only novelty was that the main character was given the ability to hold both the yin and yang torches and rescue the people around him, and he did the rescuing unfavorable to him.  He wants a one-man show in becoming the best sacrificial lamb ever.

After catching the viewers in a web full of deceit, hatred, annoyance, angst, and the rest of the negative vibes they can think of they settled to a bright, happy ending.   My take on the ending was fair but considering the dark tone set in the story all throughout, I would have preferred a retribution deserving to the characters. The redeeming ending  for Han Jae Hee realizing too late her being ambitious didn’t leave her happy after all was I think not matching her style.  I love it when “yin” prevails, but I didn’t like how they placed it in the concluding episodes – “okay sleep now tomorrow morning everything will be alright.”  She went as far as killing someone, letting someone took the blame on it, and then suddenly because she apologized and ready to be jailed, we have to forgive her because of it.  It just didn’t make any sense for me.  Actually that’s what I learned from Jerry Yan hubby.  There’s no such thing as I’m sorry.

Innocent Man was able to bring out an excellent protagonist, even with unequal footing and at times annoying goodness, he still managed to bounce back from the evil doings the villains shot at him.  On that note, I didn’t like that all of the players are on the same level but the retaliation for the protagonists was snail-like when the villains weren’t that even scary compared to the bad guys I’ve seen in the past.  In short, Ma Ru’s support team was not efficient enough to make the story worth remembering for me.  Even if you have a star player on your team, he still need some help.

I’m not a fan nor did I dislike “Innocent Man”.  It was safe to a point that I liked so much the texture of the main lead’s character Kang Ma Ru, but I won’t vouch for how they contemplated on the movement of the story.  I liked that it gave us a feeling of relying that there’s always another day to hope and believe in life even if you’ve gone through days of tears, pain and sacrifice.

♥ Dr. Jin – I’m beginning to think I could pass for a Korean History teacher, after dissecting all the tales of antiquities relating to the period dramas I’ve seen lately.  I’m not complaining, a little research helps in assimilating the plot.  I struggled in finishing this drama, as Dr. Jin really took time to have all the pieces fall together.   Most of the episodes were open-ended, switching from the blending of the medical plot, the political dissensions and the paranormal insertions, which in my unbiased opinion was a no-nonsense attempt to present a different blend of sageuk drama.

The metaphysical aspect of the storyline was at first nebulous but it was a feat they were able to overcome at the end even if they explained it on the tail episode and in just 30 minutes.  (Well at least, they did, BIG did not) The multiple identities of the characters time travelling to an alter universe but coinciding with a time from the past made me so bewildered if not for my Fringe TV experience knowledge where everything is possibly impossible. 

The ending epiphany talk with Lee Ha-eung at least tied the loose end of the merging of two different eras, but I hated how they sent back Dr. Jin to the real world!  Well, duh? Stabbing a man in the middle of the war and letting him fall of a cliff was a lame time warp move.   I deduced the connection of the runaway patient, the embryo and the headache attack when Dr. jin operated on his yet another soul living in the Joseon time, so when they swerved to the culminating Dr. jin realization that he was in fact that runaway patient, and that the fetus tumor was actually taken from him, I said “okay, make use of your multiple identities, time and space continuum plot every way you can and wherever you want!“  *pout

They really struggled in keeping hold of their paranormal twist, it was not that polished that it could either make or break the viewers understanding, if you are Fringe-bound like me, then you’ll be able to grasp it, if not, most likely you will be lost.

In the tradition of period dramas, the death of the main characters, the daring moves of the villains and the counter-attack of the underdogs, the double-crossing and last minute betrayals kept hold of the sageuk feel.  The bromance and the supernatural-defying romance were also present and spun the major conflicts of the story.  It was flowing and got there without minding the bridge.  Albeit the craziness and lapses, it was still a good watch for me, but incomparable to sageuk classics.

♥ Fashion King – Fashion King kicked off in a darth vader-ish tone… It was dark, cunning, treacherous and hindered.  It takes the realistic tone, no fancy playing and leaning to character driven conflict.

The usual fight-for-the-lead-girl was presented in the story in an annoying kind of painful way.   It was the girl who secretly loved the man who doesn’t want to love anymore because he has long lost faith on it and with the pathetic and shrewd Jae-hyuk between them, I have long set my mind that they could not possibly get to a point of loving each other happily and comfortably.

True to my words it was a sad ending, sadder than the Autumn in My Heart ending.  I was hoping that with all that painstaking and half-cooked victories, in the end it will be inevitable for the deprived lead couple to be blissful and at peace, but then again if that will be the case it will break the dark tone of the story.  You already have Vader so why did I u get Voldy for reinforcement? I want to blame it on the korean drama ending syndrome but my mind thinks otherwise. I know the closure has to be sad because the story tone is dark and cunning… and a happy ending won’t fit in.

But why a disheartening death?!  You could have just let him live alone planting crops in the suburb or be blind. You could have traveled back to Joseon era and get King Suyang to spite those loansharks… or had Young-gul on a shower scene for the entire finale episode for a mind blowing closure, yet you remained firm and snob.

The angst that the series has been carrying around the whole time I thought would be transformed to something light that sprout out of the bravery and forebearance of the lead characters, but it did not.  It disappointed me, yes.  But it is what was expected to happen.

It has been a long ride.  What I will miss about Fashion King is its straightforwardness and strong vibe.  It’s your typical underdog story and it gave us the reality that underdogs sometimes no matter how hard they tried, they will remain suppressed and bound by their limitations.

Fashion King had a lot of weak points and loopholes.   There were a couple of dozing episodes and it was predictable, but kept escaping from it because they thought of a different way out plan than what would have been normally done.   If not for the immersion of the actors to their characters the drama would have been a failure for me.  I stayed with it because of Yoo Ah In mainly, but more than that would be its maturity and the transparent feel.   It thrived on my emotions.  It stood there tapping on my emotions annoying me, making me feel giddy, making me sigh and making me anticipate.

Compared with the rest of the second quarter kdrama bunch, what set apart this fashion world themed production was its fixed conflict of power manipulation and struggle that was concluded in a heart-wrenching fashion.  It’s a drama I won’t recommend to watch right away, but I will recommend to someone if he wants some time alone. 

My verdict?   Watch.  Go with the flow.  Drool at Lee Je-hoo and forget he’s evil ways.  Munch Kang Young-gul as much as you can.  Be prepared for the ending.

♥ Equator Man – The outwitting game and the friendship that fell but found back its footing were some of the reasons why I gave a shot on this drama.  In a vengeance thriving and friendship betraying world, I was left moved and appalled.

This was a classic father-and-son love relationship spectacle.  A lot of faces of family attachment were shown… good and vile.
As for the ladies in the story, they supported well but their acting were mediocre… the main female lead was even on a stagnant acting note all the while, but then again the drama focused on the friendship so it doesn’t really matter.  The men really took the load to secure a strong story and a gripping ending.

Equator Man commenced on a dark vibe.  I sat on it because I want to know how everything will turn out fine.  I won’t say that it’s a great drama because I’ve seen a lot underdog bouncing back from the unfairness of life stories, instead I will say that it’s a decent watch, but something that you can see when you don’t have something to watch on priority list.

If it involves your family or a romantic attachment with someone no matter who is right or wrong, you will always be left to choose to turn your back on a friend…(felt familiar to me) That’s human nature and that’s what the Equator Man focused on in a drama fest where ironically the main leads are men. That’s what this got me hooked, it was thriving on emotions but not a weep fest. It was solid and steady and has never derailed throughout the series. This gave a different meaning to the word “Bromance”. Serious and stellar, this is a delight for its amazingly woven human struggle plot and friendship affirming vibe.

THE LOVE-YOU-WANT-TO-FORGET DRAMA

It was a love that was never good enough to begin with but you feel for it anyway.  You saw it will not go through but you’ve used the second-nth chances cards.  In the end though, it fell apart in a way that you lost yourself, making you shattered into pieces.  There was a good intention but the poor execution killed the potential of the dramas belonging in this group.  The viewers stayed with it most likely because of loyalty.  Talents were wasted and the plot was all over.  These are disappointing dramas.

♥ BIG - But really BIG?  What happened to the ending?  It was so flat and it didn’t really end.  You got all the watchers who dragged themselves to finish the drama really disappointed.  I stayed even when I was dozing the first 6 episodes, I said Gong Yoo oppa can make it up for it, and hope that halfway I’ll see a light… you obliged and I was close to buying the soul switching-secret siblings who were vitro fertilization twins born years apart and who fell in love with the same girl who was all confused and weak throughout the drama.

With the supernatural, time travelling and impossible stories I have seen this year, I was not surprised with how they wove the miracle conceived brothers.  I was not perplexed but I won’t applaud it.  I was groping what the main conflict they were trying to arrive… was it Gil Da Ran’s emotion and who-i-really-love-analyzation?  Was it Kyung Joon’s why did my long lost family forsake me questions?  They presented a love story and didn’t give a decent ever after?

I was waiting for Yoon Jae to come back and answer the million dollar question.  I was rooting for him, yes even in comma, because I thought that it was really their love story and his little brother was just someone who will make them realize each other’s worth, but it diverted 360 degrees forcing a May-December love affair that looked good but didn’t feel right.

BIG was half-baked story wise, and you can barely feel its romance because it was not meant to be.  Signature Hong sisters’ humor went in every now and then, but nothing much special like how they used to insert it.  To be honest I didn’t like how indecisive and somewhat faltering GIl Da Ran was and that’s maybe the reason why even if KKJ paraded the most adorable teenager trapped in a full grown man’s body I was not left fascinated nor interested on how their love has progressed.

I didn’t like the love story period.  I didn’t like how the characters went to play their part but failed to salvage the drama potentials.  BIG was “not big enough” to have held on my diverted self.  It made me crawl on my way to finish it.  It made me wonder if some evil spirits took over the Hong sisters’ body.  It made me sad that Gong Yoo oppa was all pretty and hot and funny there, but I won’t remember everything about it.

I hauled myself to get through it.  I went to 5 stages of grief to let go of it.  I ended up feeling lost, empty and not in love after seeing it, that being said you have to love Gong Yoo and the Hong sisters soooo much to finish it. 

 

The Time-space warping love proposals

Once upon a time there was a man who lacked confidence in declaring his love to the woman he loved since they were young so the girl was left no choice but to accept another man’s love.  Realizing too late that he let go of his one great love, the man cried and a bored time conductor was moved by his lamentation over losing the woman she cherished most.  So he was given a magical potion to drink and a weird renovation incantation to say for him to go back to the past to correct the wrong choices he made in his life and make room for the love he thought was meant for him and his girl.

Operation Proposal was sweetly and richly narrated that even if I went to a lot of time travelling this year, I enjoyed it so much.  I love how they moved the romance from young childish love to a taking time to realize kind of love to a love that didn’t understand reasons but felt what’s important and to a love that was meant to have and to give… 

Kang Baek Ho and Ham Yi Seul met when they were in grade school.  Baek Ho’s father died when he was young and his mother rarely do her duties so Yi Seul has been his rock while growing up.  Yi Seul kept her best friend in her heart as Baek Ho harbored the same hidden feeling, but she got tired of waiting and decided to marry another man.  After her wedding, Kang Baek Ho read Yi Seul’s “Ilikeyou” letter and cried like he has never cried before because of the pain of losing his everything sank deeply in his heart immobilizing his system.  Then a man handed him a handkerchief and introduced himself as a Time Conductor, he gave him a chance to time travel to make things right.  He did a lot of time wrinkling and was able to claim his almost losing of his baseball career but everytime he got back to the present time Yi Seul was still bound to be married.  In his desperate attempts to change the past it brought about a final blow in the present causing Yi Seul’s death and to alter what happened he begged the Time Conductor for a last chance to time warp even if it means not being able to see the Time Conductor who turned out to be his father.  He was able to save Yi Seul from the accident but woke up with a selective amnesia remembering all but Yi Seul.  On her wedding day, Kang Baek Ho’s final attempt to declare his love was played which was done prior to the accident, Yi Seul runaway and found the man she has loved all her life in their elementary school room waiting.  She introduced herself again to him.  After a house party Yi Seul and Baek Ho was again locked in Baek Ho’s small room, Yi Seul hummed the song Baek Ho liked to hear and she offered to teach it to him.  When Yi Seul woke up the next day, Baek Ho left a note for her to go to the playground.  He asked her to tell him about the letter she wrote when they were in 9^th grade, but she refused so he narrated all that was in the letter.  With his memory back, and taking all the chances to be with the woman he loved, the girl who has waited all her life and the boy who regret what he could have done threw themselves at each other’s arms.

I lost count of how many times he went back and forth to correct something in the past to avoid the eventual wedding of the woman he loved, but I was so fond of Kang Baek Ho that even when I was tugging my hair because he can’t do it right when it came to expressing how he felt… I still gave him a chance… actually he’s the only person I’ve given myriad of chances to prove his love, and it paid off…  it was such a fetching feeling to be with him in his rollercoaster ride to be with someone who has been with him all his life… to finally own what other people may say to be love written on the stars. 

The fantasy element fusing to the reality was layered in such a way that you don’t question the magic pull they put in the drama.  In the latter episodes I was also begging for more chances of going back to the past because like most of the people around him Kang Baek Ho grew fond in my heart. All throughout I was feeling what the lead girl was — “there’s this man I’ve loved all my life, I’ve sent signals for him to realize that I like him, but he’s so clueless about it.”  Being a lady-in-waiting, I was able to relate to what she was feeling… it’s hard to be in a situation when you love someone all your life, and in that long span both of you are groping if there will be a romantic future that you can both share. 

There were a lot of love situations tackled in this drama but it all goes down to two main points:  How far you are going to wait for someone for them to realized your worth and that you are waiting?  And being brave to fall in love and discarding the what-if’s and saying it at the very moment you are feeling it.  I’ve seen a lot of beautiful love stories this year but Operation proposal took me from blushing to crying to understanding that in love someone can run to you that’s why he might have let you wait.

The time-space continuum voyages of Baek Ho was an endearing journey full of twist, oh no’s and romance.  It was a refreshing feel to have a conflict that was not evil motivated that’s why I loved the supernatural spike in this drama.  The lead character was competing with himself – with his past self for that matter and his forebearance endured his painstaking drive to be with the girl he loved.

The pacing and the timing were injected smoothly in the movement of the time wrinkling happening in the drama.  It was neatly done that I didn’t lose interest in it.  If you are looking for a complete romance drama with a magical side dish – Operation Proposal would serve the purpose.  It will be one of my favorites this year and in the brink of making it to my Best 7 while I’m just waiting for I Miss You and May Queen’s conclusion.  – jediprincess ^_^