This show be crazy, for better or for worse. All in all, I enjoyed watching the 14 episodes that were this show but I don't know that I would recommend it to anyone other than die-hard Kpop/drama fans. If you are just dabbling or need something meaningful to spend your time watching, this is not the show for you. However, if you are looking for some light, fluffy fare, this could be right up your alley.
More thoughtful thoughts after the jump
So I put this on my Netflix queue because I thought it was a reality TV show or some sort of documentary upon reading the summary (I didn't pay really close attention, I will admit). As I started the first episode, the first five minutes didn't convince me otherwise, but then it got into the "show" part and I realized I was watching a drama. That was fine, I am on pause from a few heavier K-dramas and between lighter ones so I figured I could spare 14 hours in my long weekend to watch this.
This is basically the story of You're Beautiful with slight tweaks and a less compelling overall story. There is nothing original in this show; you're not going to walk away from it and go "Hmm, that really didn't turn out like I anticipated." Everything in it is expected. That doesn't make it bad, just unoriginal. If you don't want the same ol' story lines, stay away from this show, there are far better versions of it out there (see You're Beautiful mention above). But if you need some time to kill, it's not going be a bad watch- I had fun through the whole thing.
There's no one here that's going to blow your socks off acting wise. There really isn't a guy in it that I find particularly appealing, to be honest. The main guy has the cutest dimples when he smiles:
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| How can you not think he's adorbs? |
The main girl, played by Ko Eun-ah was one of the least believable female "but I'm dressed as a dude so you think I'm a boy" characters I've seen to date. I don't know if the girl in You're Beautiful was less believable (I think so because she didn't even *try* to talk like a boy) or this girl. How you would think she was a boy, much less the best looking boy in the group, I will never understand. How Woo-hyun never saw her poorly hidden boobs, much less her co-worker "Juniors" I will never know.
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| I mean, not only does she not look like a boy at all, but BOOBS! Right there^^^^^^^ |
But, as is part of watching K-dramas, you suspend your disbelief and just go with it. Her acting was ok, but I will say she screamed an awful lot. If you know you're going to be living with boys in their dorm, you might expect to see them shirtless once in a while. I mean, as far as I could tell, no one was walking around with their wankers hanging out, so the screams were a little much. Avert your eyes and leave, or just deal with it. Screaming and running away flailing might give you away. Luckily for our protagonist, it never seemed to faze any of them. Go figure.
The biggest controversy is the ending of this show. While I would agree with it's high levels of suckage, because of all the negative comments about the end that I read before watching the show, I was expecting much worse. In my opinion, 95% of K-dramas end terribly; I can't think of one that gave me a full satisfying ending off the top of my head. I just expect the ends of all dramas to be disappointing by now. One of the reviews I read said that this show was supposed to be 16 episodes but got cut at 14 and was that was the reason for the sloppy ending. I can see that being the truth; it is unfortunate but the ending is bad for it's abruptness and leaving most things hanging- you can't watch this show with the anticipation of resolution. I'll talk more about it in the spoilers below, but all I can say is the ending is a rather "meh" ending. It's not great, but it's not the worst I've experienced.
So, yeah, if you are a big K-drama fan, especially if you also like K-pop, it's worth a watch in your spare time. If your time is fully precious and you can't spend time on tripe, then skip it, or go watch You're Beautiful (both my friends from work that watched YB loved it, so it has multiple personality appeal).
Manager Han gets no resolution with the President; we just get In-Young's "exposition fairy" story where she says she'll take the blame for the pictures and Woo-hyun is going to take the blame for the girl dressing like a boy thing. End scene. Whhhaaa???
And while we're on it, let's talk about In-young's character. Was I supposed to dislike her? Or like her? I mean, she wasn't terrible, usually the "bad girl" is like scary bad in these shows. Like, you hate her guts on site and wonder why anyone would even talk to the vile creature. But In-young wasn't too bad. She didn't turn the picture over immediately when she found out Seung-yeon was a girl and covered for them. Yes, she used Woo-hyun here and there, but overall she wasn't a complete witch about it. They were ramping up her character to be despicable, but in the end it was more like "eh."
Anyway, we got no closure on the adults from the company. I'm assuming Manager Han went to America or wherever, and the Pres got together with the flower shop chick, who I'm not 100% positive about what happened to her in the past but I know the President felt super guilty about it. So, may they live happily ever after, at least she doesn't seem like such a drunkard, which I can't say for Ms. Han.
Somewhere in this episode 14, it jumped forward a month?...?....? I think. SY left WH's place with a dying phone battery the same moment the news hit that she was a girl. No one could get a hold of her because her phone battery was dead. The next thing we know, WH is thinking about how she threw everything away even though she really, really, really, really wanted to be singer. I was watching and was so confused. I thought, "Dude, she literally just left your house and now you're contemplating her life decisions? Whaaaat?" I mean, I'm pretty sure he was wearing the same clothes he had on when she left.
Then, the Juniors are practicing in their little den area and SY walks in and they are all like:
"Where have you been?" And she's there, I am POSITIVE wearing the same clothes she had on when she left WH's house, and I expect her to be like, "I had to stop and get some snacks for you guys." Then you realize she's been gone a month, a MONTH! and is just randomly showing up now. I mean, did she not change her clothes in a month? Did she choose the same outfit to reappear in on purpose, or was that a coincidence? How could a super famous person, in the middle of a scandal, hide from EVERYBODY SHE KNOWS for a month? I mean, that was just weird.
And then WH shows up, apparently got asked to go to America, doesn't want to leave her, but she's says she'll wait for him (I think the America thing sounded pretty permanent. And just why couldn't she go with him?) and he decides....he's going to America I guess? They have another awkward kiss (I mean the girl looks like she expects him to punch her in the face every time they kiss, come ON) and a cute little head push battle, and then...it's over. The end. Finite. No closure for anyone at all.
So, do the Juniors make M2? Was M2 so scandalized that there was no hope for it and it disappeared, is that why WH is going to America? But wait, then why are the Juniors still practicing their Junior song with no M2 members. Are they just the new M2? Or, are they just their own new group (which they should have just done to start with) with their old school "Stand Up" song? I mean, you know NOTHING about how these characters you've invested 13 hours with prior, end up.
W
T
F
????
That's what the ending leaves you with. Just this unanswered question feeling. I guess you can make up your own ending, I think K-dramas prefer you do that any way. Yet still, it was very rushed, you can see the missing 2 episodes would have helped this show a lot. It's sad they couldn't hold out for the full 16 shows, I think we would have had some satisfying closure.
As it is, I don't feel like I've wasted my time. It was a fun ride while it was going. I'm not going to tell my friends from work to watch it, I don't think the time invested-reward for watching ratio is legit enough for them (they have limited time to watch) but my time is less strict so it wasn't so bad for me.
If you watch it, let me know what you think in the comments; do you agree with any of this? Am I just over analyzing some things way too much? I don't think I am, but maybe...I try not to nitpick. Sometimes my CinemaSins voice just can't be silenced, however.
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