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alexandralI am back in the fannish land of living! I have seen quite few good Korean dramas recently and it feels like a good time to make a "My top 10 favorites" list.
1. The Legend – it is a truly great piece of TV, Eastern, Western and otherwise.
2. Lovers in Paris Cinderella's story! Dimples! (read more below :D)
3. Goong (aka Princess Hours aka Imperial Household) – The greatest love story in Korean drama for me. EVER.
Usually in Kdrama love stories develop the following way (I take 20 episode drama as an example) :
a) Episode 1: They meet.
b) Episode 4: They are in love but they don't know it yet themselves.
c) Episode 10: They discover that their feelings are mutual and that their love is BIG LOVE.
d) The rest of the episodes: Many obstacles on the way of Their Big Love.
My personal favourite parts are from a to c and because part d doesn't interest me much I usually end up lagging at the end. In "Goong" part c lasted up to the episode 22 (I think) with Shin never being sure that CG loved him and throwing fits of jealousy. I loved this. Plus the best costumes.
4. A Love to Kill – Tragedy that is psychologically very true. Best angst. Best kissing scenes. Rain.
5. Winter Queen – SO lovely. Snow! Winter! Hyun Bin boxing! Dimples again!
6. Full House – Rain! Young and pretty! And the good ending!
7. My name is Kim Sam Soon is the most "Western" Kdrama I have seen. I loved the main herouine. Add Hyun Bin and dimple obsession.
8. Capital Scandal – May be the best made drama after "The Legend", devoid of the usual Korean cheesy music, cheesy costumes and unnecessary secondary characters. But I am not sure about the flippancy with which it dealt with murder for terrorist purposes.
9. Lovers – I adored the main couple but at the end the storyline with the pregnant girlfriend left me with heavy feelings. I am not sure if I feel that Kang Jae should have been more responsible for his girlfriend instead of going around staring at Mi Joo with puppy-dog eyes. I know – BIG love! But we are in charge of our feelings, right? At least to the point where we don't show them to our pregnant girlfriends who can miscarry our child? In short, losing a child is a really big subject for me and I rather don't have it in a drama.
10. My Girl – The best "third man" in the history.
11. Tree of Heaven - I have forgotten this one! It has to make number 11. Forbidden step-sibling love with Lee Wan totally deserves it.
Hong Gil Dong
I really quite liked Hong Gil Dong up to a point and was hoping it would make it into the top ten, but the ending with everyone dying and killing each other is just NOT ON for me. Trying to make HGD's implied death into a "his life will go on" story or leaving it as an open ending makes the bad ending worse for me as it seems to be a cowardly gesture devised to make the fans of the series "happy". Seriously, I am so angry with the ending I am not going to watch the rest of the episodes (I am on the episode 16). Fortunately I have been so busy with the house cleaning/the church convention/Lovers trilogy that I am not feeling too personally involved anymore.
Lovers in Paris
Her dress is so pretty:
Big promotion for Lovers in Paris, in Pictures
This is by far the most understated drama I have watched. I have never heard of it prior to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
joonni (to whom I am forever thankful) recommendation but it was one of the best dramas I have ever watched. It is one of the highest rated dramas in the history scoring 58% on the last episode. I loved loved loved it and finished it in one big gulp without forwarding.
Story: Cinderella done Korean Car manufacturing way. They meet in Paris (but they are not there for long) .
She: Kang Tae-young (palyed by Kim Jung Eun) is adorably plucky herouine but without usual clumsiness of adorable herouines. She met her "fated one" by working as his housemaid.
He: Han Ki-joo (played by dimple-bearing Park Shin Yang) is cold but ready to melt president of a Korean car manufacturing company. Contrary to the usual "cold" type he has a sense of humour in buckets; in a dry dead-pan way. I fell terribly in love with Park Shin Yang, the actor I initially didn't find attractive at all. There is something irresistible in his bearing and mannerisms.
The third guy: His nephew, an artistic drummer type.
Continue with the pictures:
Scene of awesomeness number 1: Ki-joo has a meeting with one of his French business partners. He discovers that the guy's wife is Korean and was born in the same city as Ki-joo's housemaid, Tae-young. Ki-joo makes a contract with Tae-young to be his partner for one evening. THEY DANCE.
Scene of awesomeness number 2: Ki-joo is forced to fire Tae-young (who by that time works as a journalist in his company) by his father. This is the SCENE BY THE POOL, with Tae-young falling into the pool and Ki-joo rescuing her.
The scene goes like this:
Tae-young: Why are you firing me?
Ki-joo: Because I don't want to have you close to me. I don't want to see you.
Tae-young: Can you swim? I can't. (falls into the pool)
Ki-joo: (after he has jumped into the pool to discover that Tae-young CAN swim) : You lied, you can swim.
Tae-young: Yes, I lied. But you lied too that you don't want to have me close to you. ** THEY ANGST **
Scene of awesomeness number 3: Kissing.
Scene of awesomeness number 4 Engagement:
Scene of awesomeness number 4 After-engagement getaway:
Scene of awesomeness number 5 Smiling together, they smile together it a lot (when they don't angst):
Scene of awesomeness number 6 With the "Third man", Soo-hyuk. He was a good lad at first but unfortunately became bitter in the latest episodes.
Miscellaneous Just because I like Ki-joo's ties.
Summary: IT IS A GREAT AND FABULOUS DRAMA!!!!!!!!! A MUST WATCH!
Lovers in Prague I have started this drama (and it took me a while to find it! I learned how to use Clubbox just for this occasion!). Very good, but not as good as "Lovers" or "Lovers in Paris" so far.
1. The Legend – it is a truly great piece of TV, Eastern, Western and otherwise.
2. Lovers in Paris Cinderella's story! Dimples! (read more below :D)
3. Goong (aka Princess Hours aka Imperial Household) – The greatest love story in Korean drama for me. EVER.
Usually in Kdrama love stories develop the following way (I take 20 episode drama as an example) :
a) Episode 1: They meet.
b) Episode 4: They are in love but they don't know it yet themselves.
c) Episode 10: They discover that their feelings are mutual and that their love is BIG LOVE.
d) The rest of the episodes: Many obstacles on the way of Their Big Love.
My personal favourite parts are from a to c and because part d doesn't interest me much I usually end up lagging at the end. In "Goong" part c lasted up to the episode 22 (I think) with Shin never being sure that CG loved him and throwing fits of jealousy. I loved this. Plus the best costumes.
4. A Love to Kill – Tragedy that is psychologically very true. Best angst. Best kissing scenes. Rain.
5. Winter Queen – SO lovely. Snow! Winter! Hyun Bin boxing! Dimples again!
6. Full House – Rain! Young and pretty! And the good ending!
7. My name is Kim Sam Soon is the most "Western" Kdrama I have seen. I loved the main herouine. Add Hyun Bin and dimple obsession.
8. Capital Scandal – May be the best made drama after "The Legend", devoid of the usual Korean cheesy music, cheesy costumes and unnecessary secondary characters. But I am not sure about the flippancy with which it dealt with murder for terrorist purposes.
9. Lovers – I adored the main couple but at the end the storyline with the pregnant girlfriend left me with heavy feelings. I am not sure if I feel that Kang Jae should have been more responsible for his girlfriend instead of going around staring at Mi Joo with puppy-dog eyes. I know – BIG love! But we are in charge of our feelings, right? At least to the point where we don't show them to our pregnant girlfriends who can miscarry our child? In short, losing a child is a really big subject for me and I rather don't have it in a drama.
10. My Girl – The best "third man" in the history.
11. Tree of Heaven - I have forgotten this one! It has to make number 11. Forbidden step-sibling love with Lee Wan totally deserves it.
Hong Gil Dong
I really quite liked Hong Gil Dong up to a point and was hoping it would make it into the top ten, but the ending with everyone dying and killing each other is just NOT ON for me. Trying to make HGD's implied death into a "his life will go on" story or leaving it as an open ending makes the bad ending worse for me as it seems to be a cowardly gesture devised to make the fans of the series "happy". Seriously, I am so angry with the ending I am not going to watch the rest of the episodes (I am on the episode 16). Fortunately I have been so busy with the house cleaning/the church convention/Lovers trilogy that I am not feeling too personally involved anymore.
Lovers in Paris
Her dress is so pretty:
Big promotion for Lovers in Paris, in Pictures
This is by far the most understated drama I have watched. I have never heard of it prior to
joonni (to whom I am forever thankful) recommendation but it was one of the best dramas I have ever watched. It is one of the highest rated dramas in the history scoring 58% on the last episode. I loved loved loved it and finished it in one big gulp without forwarding. Story: Cinderella done Korean Car manufacturing way. They meet in Paris (but they are not there for long) .
She: Kang Tae-young (palyed by Kim Jung Eun) is adorably plucky herouine but without usual clumsiness of adorable herouines. She met her "fated one" by working as his housemaid.
He: Han Ki-joo (played by dimple-bearing Park Shin Yang) is cold but ready to melt president of a Korean car manufacturing company. Contrary to the usual "cold" type he has a sense of humour in buckets; in a dry dead-pan way. I fell terribly in love with Park Shin Yang, the actor I initially didn't find attractive at all. There is something irresistible in his bearing and mannerisms.
The third guy: His nephew, an artistic drummer type.
Continue with the pictures:
Scene of awesomeness number 1: Ki-joo has a meeting with one of his French business partners. He discovers that the guy's wife is Korean and was born in the same city as Ki-joo's housemaid, Tae-young. Ki-joo makes a contract with Tae-young to be his partner for one evening. THEY DANCE.
Scene of awesomeness number 2: Ki-joo is forced to fire Tae-young (who by that time works as a journalist in his company) by his father. This is the SCENE BY THE POOL, with Tae-young falling into the pool and Ki-joo rescuing her.
The scene goes like this:
Tae-young: Why are you firing me?
Ki-joo: Because I don't want to have you close to me. I don't want to see you.
Tae-young: Can you swim? I can't. (falls into the pool)
Ki-joo: (after he has jumped into the pool to discover that Tae-young CAN swim) : You lied, you can swim.
Tae-young: Yes, I lied. But you lied too that you don't want to have me close to you. ** THEY ANGST **
Scene of awesomeness number 3: Kissing.
Scene of awesomeness number 4 Engagement:
Scene of awesomeness number 4 After-engagement getaway:
Scene of awesomeness number 5 Smiling together, they smile together it a lot (when they don't angst):
Scene of awesomeness number 6 With the "Third man", Soo-hyuk. He was a good lad at first but unfortunately became bitter in the latest episodes.
Miscellaneous Just because I like Ki-joo's ties.
Summary: IT IS A GREAT AND FABULOUS DRAMA!!!!!!!!! A MUST WATCH!
Lovers in Prague I have started this drama (and it took me a while to find it! I learned how to use Clubbox just for this occasion!). Very good, but not as good as "Lovers" or "Lovers in Paris" so far.
