If This C-Novel Was a K-Drama: "Full Marks Hidden Marriage: Pick Up a Son, Get a Free Husband"
Editor's Warning: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS! Proceed at your own risk, or wear half a blindfold. ;)
It's the end, and we're all saying, "Ohh... I loved this... Oh, I loved that." Well, while I was thinking of all that... what popped into my mind was, "Ohh... that was SO BAD... close enough to drive me insane!"
We have some of these every year. Dramas that have a promising cast, an interesting plot, eye-catching promos, and you have high hopes for them, only to have them come rolling down the hill once they air. And somehow, you watch the first few episodes hoping they'll get better. And the next few, because you're a K-drama addict who believes that no matter what happens, you have to finish a drama once you've started. Finally, you crawl and creep and kneel and beg as the drama comes to its finale, hoping it might surprise you. And then you find yourself beating your head against the wall for the next few days, asking what on earth was wrong with you that made you pick that drama up. The problem is they are wrapped so well that you won't ever know that it's a smelly sock inside or like I read somewhere else: it's like eating a delicious bowl of soup only to find a worm at the bottom of the bowl! Did I go extreme?
I've tried to compile a few of the dramas that made ME feel drugged or poisoned by an alien as I suffered through them. Please don't pelt me with stones or throw me out of MDL after reading this. I have even made a CPR feature that is the only life-saving thing about the drama!
THE ONES THAT WILL MAKE YOU REGRET BIG TIME...
1. BIG
Regret big time? What else than BIG?!
It made me lose all hope in Korean dramas, and I sulked for days for actually watching it. I still want to believe that it was only a nightmare or else the world might lose faith in Korean dramas!
Ahh... you guys know how to act even without a story!!
Gong Yoo, Lee Min Jung and Suzy dazzled in the promos. Do you think anyone would ever have second thoughts over a cast like this? Shin Won Ho, OH MY GOD!! That boy is a cutie! And after watching Secret Garden, soul swapping was an exiting plot. The drama started and I was rolling on the floor laughing at all the "Poing Poing" and "Kam-sa-hamnida". It slowly advanced and got interesting. You have to admit, Min Jung and Gong Yoo had brilliant chemistry and had me hooked to this drama. And then came the drama finale. What is going to happen? Will Seo Yoon Jae and Kyung Joon return to their bodies? What will happen to Da Ran and Kyung Joon? Will Yoon Jae forgive them? Will they remember what happened in the swapped periods? Why? What? Waasshhhaaaaa?
And if not for such good chemistry...
But alas! These questions remained in the minds of the viewers while the ending seemed like the scriptwriter had an amnesia stroke or made his/her 2-year-old daughter write the ending because what was before us was a hodgepodge. The drama ended without summing the key notes that it started with, and the questions will hang in the air forever. It seemed like the writers at the very end of the drama drew a doodle and left it for the actors and viewers to interpret!
And if not for this cuteness... I might have hung myself!!
From what I read, the possible conclusion was that they couldn't show a student-teacher affair, because of the vast age difference, so they showed someone with Gong Yoo's physique as opposed to Shin Won Ho. Does that change the fact that he was still younger?? And wasn't that the whole concept of the love story between Kyung Joon and Da Ran? A teacher falling in love with her student..in her fiance's body? DUH UH! Have they not shown people with an age gap in love before? Guys, remember I Do, I Do? And if that was the concern, you should have thought about it before starting the drama? That was the love-line of the drama. This show had no direction. Ahh... just talking about it makes me fume!
For me, BIG was the biggest disappointment of the year 2012. A total waste of talent and screen time!
CPR Feature: Unless you've read reviews, till episode 15, you will never anticipate something this bad. Both Park Min Jung and Gong Yoo had hot chemistry, Shin Won Ho was pretty cute for a newbie, and Suzy was full of life. Perfect casting's wasted effort!
2. Dr. Jin
Song Seung Hoon, Park Min Young and Jaejoong - we're talking big names here! And BIG disappointments. I won't be as harsh as I was with Big, because many people like it (to my utter horror!), but halfway through the show, I felt I would have to refer to medical journals to understand the show.
After a show like this... hiding your face is a good move!
Let me hit the two lows, "Time Travel" and "Crammed-up ending". Talking about time travel, knowing that it's a fictional concept doesn't mean you'll give anything to the viewers. You need to be particular with the details to make time travel believable and not forget what you started with. The drama is already hazy in my memories, but what was that fetus kind of thing doing in the bottle? What was happening?! Forgive me, I still don't know! And then, the ending. It was all crammed up and all that escaped my lips was, "Who's Dr. Jin again?"
Trust me, girl, I was more shocked!
The only plus point of this drama was probably Jaejoong, because his character had soul. He had something going on and he knew about it. As for Dr. Jin, poor soul did not know till the very end what was going on around him. Actually, I bet he still doesn't know. And Park Min Young deserves applause. She played two roles in the show with one single expression. She can give Kristen Stuart pretty tough competition.
The one reason why this show scraped through.
CPR Feature: It did cover some intricate medical procedures that were good to know of, and for a medical drama it was pretty well done. Jaejoong's character was pretty interesting and intriguing at the same time and more that the OTP, he held the drama together.
3. Dream High 2
I wouldn't have known it actually came and went if not for having the same name of its predecessor. Frankly, I wasn't much of a fan of Dream High, but now that I think about it, that show was way better than this one. In this one, the highly revered Kirin High becomes a sloppy dump and the main characters are rivals who ultimately turn out to be friends...and that was it. It never went ahead of that.
Say "cheese" for cheesy!!
I dropped this drama mid-way and you can't blame me for that, so I don't have much to say. At times, the show was utter chaos and confusing. The greatest disadvantage that this drama had, was the fact that it was compared to Dream High at EVERY step. And when we make comparisons, one fails. Sadly for season 2, it did!
CPR Feature: It was overall a cute drama with good moments of its own. If it did not have a great name to match, maybe it would have been looked upon with less criticizing eyes. It had a fresh cast, but sometimes you needed to put in a little more to stand out in this world!
THE GOOD ONES THAT FAILED YOU
For this show, I don't know if it was the bad timing (it aired during the Reply 1997, Faith, and Arang and the Magistrate days), or that it had the Japanese and Taiwanese versions to match, but this show could have been so much better. I swayed from the manga version at times. It was overall cute and funny, but it wasn't totally grasping. There were loose ends, and the characters did not really bind you. The rivals and villains did not do anything to draw interest, and the dorm leaders weren't particularly needed. The whole concept of, "there's a girl living with the guys, for Christ sake!!" was not handled with as much zeal and fun as it could have - and has been in the other versions. And why did Jaehee enter the boys' dorm? She could have boosted his morale as a girl too, no? The story was a mess, actually, the story was missing, and it was just another bunch of teenagers hopping around. There was a lot of scope, but it wasn't a total blooper either.
Don't give me that look!!
2. I Do, I Do
I never intended to put this drama on this list, but despite the fact that this drama wasn't as bad as the others, it was surely a disappointment. Starting with Kim Sun Ah, I really don't know what kind of worm got into her head that she chose this drama. The lead couple had no chemistry. It wasn't even zero, it was a negative infinity chemistry. They touched topics, dropped them, picked them again...it became a mess. In short, the biggest drawback has to be the chemistry. Come on! How do you plan a romantic drama to work wonders with no chemistry between the leads?
I would have regretted it too Sun Ah!
What the drama world needs to learn from the year 2012 is that Time Travel is not child's play. Before planning a time travel drama, decide on the story--and for God's sake--on the ending. This show was one of the funniest shows of the year--no doubt--but in terms of story, it was completely lacking. Just loose ends everywhere! The drama elements were scattered all over the place and were picked up and dropped again and again. In my opinion (avoids rocks shot by fangirls!!), this show lacked in story, but the laughter it gave made up for it.
If not for moments like this..hahaha!!!! :D
So that's it. I've spewed a lot of criticism for the day.
This was just my opinion, you're free to tell me if you agree (^_^) or beg to differ (*sob sob*). I loved the year of 2012, despite some disappointments. Like I said, what is to be learned from this year, DON'T mess with "time travel" unless you have a pen and pencil to note down how and where you started.
This is neaa signing off! ☺
