Kdrama update: Sign

[alexandral]

Like almost everyone else, it seems, I am in love with "Dream High", this season’s high-school drama that gets it right. The drama has it all: young fresh actors, musics numbers and even Taecyon. One and only possible minus is the fact that Bae Yong Joon is only in the first 4 episodes: even my 11-year old daughter thinks that he is awesome beyond belief as enigmatic director, scene-stealer, Jung Ha Myung .

For the record, after episode 6 my predictions for the ending of Dream High are:

1) I am quite sure HyeMi is going to end up with Jin Gook, after much angst and many misunderstandings.
2) I think that mysterious K is Song Sam Dong, but I am not as sure about this as I am about the pairing prediction.


Sign


As much as I like “Dream High”, the current drama episodes of which I await the most is CSI-like "Sign". I don’t even like CSI all that much, but it seems that dramas written by Kim Eun Hee ("When it's at night", "The Winter Queen", "Winter Sonata") often hit the right spot with me. It is all in the balance between dark human story, police story and love story. I tend to get a little distracted when watching dramas that are romance only. Also, this writer tends to create powerful female characters, which is always a big plus with me. Sign is no exception, and especially if you are a fan of whodunit or serial killer stories, I would really recommend to try “Sign” as well-written drama with good acting.

As far as acting goes: I think both female leads, Kim Ah Joong and Uhm Ji Won are all shades of great, and to my huge relief, the secondary lady is not "traditional Korean secondary lady full of evil bile", but an interesting multi-dimensional individual. She is my favourite so far: Uhm Ji Won, playing a prickly prosecutor Jung Woo Jin. But Kim Ah Joong is also really good as rookie pathologist Go Da Kyung.

I have always been the Park Shin Yang’s (Sign’s male lead) fan, and he hasn’t disappointed me in "Sign" , as mad professor of pathology Yoon Ji Hoon. BUT! I must confess that I am much more interested in the second lead, police investigator Choi Yi Han, played by hunky Jung Gyu Woon.

My predictions:
I think this drama is going to go the way of two separate OTPS, Go Da Kyung/ Yoon Ji Hoon and Jung Woo Jin/ Yoon Ji Hoon, at least I hope so. In the episode 4, we had both couples performing the act that spells OTP like nothing else in Korean drama: namely, piggy-backing. YAY! I love two separate OTP stories in general, and it will be particular nice to see the gorgeous Choi Yi Han getting the lady!


Mad genious Yoon Ji Hoon:








Tenacious and funny Go Da Kyung :






Prickly and gorgeous Jung Woo Jin :




Choi Yi Han. YUMM:

Comments

[timescout.livejournal.com]

So you are watching Sign too. \o/ I like procedurals and Sign gives a slightly different, local spin to the genre. So far it's been intersting and I hope they keep up the pace and direction. I haven't had time to watch the latest epis yet though. Too many ongoing dramas....

I'm still madly obsessed with President and I'll do a little pimp post as soon as I've done re-watching the first 4 episodes with subs. OMG, it so good, I don't even ff much even when I'm watching raws.

Re. your predictions for Dream High. I'm with you on nbr 1. As for nbr 2, I think it's SamDong too. I mean, K is a singer (right?) and I'm not sure how good a singing voice Taec has. He's a rapper and I've never heard him sing solo . Not that I've watched every program 2PM has been in.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I am watching this! I thought that in the episodes 5 and 6 the drama really came into it's own, and I loved the serial murder case. I like the fact that the old case is an over-reaching arch, as well.

I am going to watch President as soon as subtitles start appearing properly -it looks really good.

yep, i think taecyon is set to win the girl ,and iin Kdrama land the guy who wins the girl won't be K at the same time. The only thing I am not sure about - Baekhee owns the pendant at the moment, and K is shown to own the pendant at the end. I wonder if K is Baekhee.

Ooooh butting in...

[intermezzo]

Is Sign anything like When it's at night? You know how much I loved it and I wanted to watch Sign but between hearing bad reviews about the acting and being overwhelmed with so many other shows/dramas, I put it aside. So, question, do I re-add it to my to-watch list?

PS: I snagged the first ep of President and the subs. I WILL get on with it and let you know, okay?

Re: Ooooh butting in...

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I find "when it's at night" and Sign to be quite similar - both look at some specific area of police work (pathology, in the case of "Sign") in depth. I think "Sign" is well-acted, you might remember Uhm Ji Won from "Woman who still wants to marry".

Re: Ooooh butting in...

[intermezzo]

YaY, awesome. WIAS was SO refreshing IMHO. One of the things I liked best was how the writers managed to create many characters and even though they didn't get to have much screentime, they all felt real and layered. I loved both teams and I still remember fondly each and every character.

Re: Ooooh butting in...

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

The same in "Sigh", there are good comic relief characters in pathology team. also - 2 OTPs! Now I remembered "When it's at night", I think both OTPs will play out.

Re: Ooooh butting in...

[intermezzo]

They did and they were adorable in their own ways. \o/ Good to hear about Sign. Man, now I feel like rewatching WIAN *and* watch Sign. *sighs*

Re: Ooooh butting in...

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Just to keep you updated: Sign (I have just watched the episode 7) is getting better as it goes, and definitely reminds me of "When it's at night" now, I adore all the sidekicks, as I did in WIAN.

Re: Ooooh butting in...

[intermezzo]

Awesome! Thanks for the heads-up. I'll definitely watch it. Maybe I'll need the FF buttons for the first few eps, but *shrugs* I can handle that

Re: Ooooh butting in...

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

You will need to watch the first episodes too, I think, it is one of these dramas which can be hard to understand otherwise, I think!.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I agree with your DH predictions :)

Sign is not my thing but looks very pretty.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Yes, they cut bodies and sniff corpses, and all such things - doesn't seem like your thing. Good drama , though, very much in the style of "When it's at night" (I seem to remember you liked it).

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I did love WIAN but it was notably lacking in corpses :P

(Also, don't kill me, but I find PSY awfully unattractive for some reason).

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Oh, I can get it that PSY is not everyone's cup of tea, I don't think I like his looks per se, I just find I like all the people he plays. Also, in "Sign"'s case, the secondary guy is an eye-candy.

[singing-tree.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I should check out Sign. I love police/mystery dramas. And I also get bored easily when a drama only focuses on romance, I guess it just gets old real quickly..

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I can get very involved with something like "Dream High" where they sing and dance, at least do something interesting. I realised after last year's "Personal taste" and "Oh, my lady" that I do get bored easily with romance-and-only-romance. i must be getting older or something, I used to adore rom-com films in the past, but I notice that I hardly watch any nowdays.

[enagwolo.livejournal.com]

lol. But there was barely any romance in OML (even though it was still boring).

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

True, the main problem with OML , the problem waay bigger than it's non-existing plot is that the main couple has no chemistry together whatsoever.

[intermezzo]

I started DH, but I'm not all caught up with it, nor have I hit ep 5 yet, which is, from what I hear, the ep that suddenly kicks the drama into high gear. So far, I wasn't that much impressed or interested though I did like Taecyon (then again, he was soooo cute in CS so that could be my bias talking). I didn't like the heroine much (I do feel sorry for her, but then she is too full of herself and grrr). Anyway, I need to watch more eps.

Are you watching/are you going to watch My Princess?

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

DH is pure eye-candy-rest-for-the-brain, it is lovely. I am watching it with my daughter, which is additional plus. Taecyon is sooooooo good at playing white knight type of guys (thought his character in DH is more complex)

I decided to leave My Princess until all the episodes are out, then marathon. It sounds like a good rom-com, but I am finding myself not in so much mood for rom-com only recently, must be me getting older.

I am also at the beginning of watching "Yasha" - I tell you, this is an interesting one!

[intermezzo]

I love that kind of guys. What can I say, I'm a romantic at heart. :)

Oh it's good. It's my current feel-good drama. It's light and fun and I SO didn't expect it to be this good. Not after the latest disappointments in the romcom area. :[ BTW, I have a feeling I'll never get tired of romcoms ^^

Oh it is. I liked it. It's techno/mystery-scifi type of thing. As much as I liked it, kdramas are more my thing.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Oh no, I mean the new Kdrama Yasha, it seems to be a period drama, so far looks like "Chuno"/"Gladiator" type of thing. I will post about it when I know if I like it or not. it is one of the experimental Kdramas, 12 episodes only.

[intermezzo]

Ah. *headdesk*

Well, if it's anything like Joseon X-files, if it's THAT kind of experimental, it'll be good. *crosses fingers*

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Note to self: watch X-files ASAP. I will start it when I finish Secret Garden

[intermezzo]

Just so you nkow, I haven't watched it yet so I can't vouch for it, but I've NEVER read a negative review. It was amazing: it was the single kdrama that got an unanimous consensus on ow good it was. I haven't watched it simply because I loooove Kim Ji-hoon and I horded the eps in order to survive his military service so when withdrawal hits real hard, I'll have something to watch.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I like him too!

[timescout.livejournal.com]

Joseon X-Files was AWESOME! :) It's one of the best, if not the best drama I watched last year. It does not let you go easy and it makes you think. You really have to pay attention or you are sure to miss something, so not to be watched with your mind on other things. Some of the episodes were rather scary too but in a good way. XD

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I am going to watch it next. I have started "Fugitive" because singing_tree was posting about it, and to my huge surprise I am tentatively loving it. It is really funny and it is rather a spoof than a serious drama. It doesn't take itself seriously, that's for sure.