Review on Korean Drama: Take Care of the Young Lady (2009)

Title: Take Care of Aghassi/My Fair Lady/Take Care of the Young Lady

Genre:  Comedy, Romance

Duration:  16 episodes

Cast:

Yoon Eun Hye as Kang Hae Na

Yoon Sang Hyun as Seo Dong Chan

Jung Il woo as Lee Tae Yoon

Moon Chae Won as Yeo Yi Joo

Yoon Ye Hee as Jo Mi Ok

Synopsis: Kang Hae Na belongs to the richest family in Korea and the most sought after by men and hated by women for her looks and her background.  She is the sole successor to the largest conglomerate company, Kang-san Group and has always lived her princess-like life in her castle-like house.

She lost both her parents when she was young and was brought up by servants who scamper to fulfil her every demand making her ill-tempered, rude and obnoxious.  Her grandfather could never say no to her demands further encouraging her princess-type attitude. 

Being the sole successor of the company, her grandfather had been pressuring her to marry and to take over the company but she continued with her devil may care attitude with the mentality that her grandfather would always shield her from everything and she would always have the money to make everything right.

When she met Seo Dong Chan, Yoon Sang Hyun, in a traffic accident, she refused to apologize for cutting him and threw him some bills to pay for the inconvenience.  Dong Chan’s pride was ruffled and a car chase ensued that ended in the police station after Hae Na tried to run his truck over. 

When Dong Chan and Hae Na’s lawyer was negotiating the price for settlement, Hae Na refused to settle and struck Dong Chan’s pride again telling him that he was really only after the money.  Instead of accepting the money, Dong Chan decided to pursue the case which led Hae Na to do community service and was humiliated in the tabloids. 
After that, it was an act of revenge after another for both parties that eventually led to Dong Chan rushing over to Hae Na’s house to demand an apology but meeting her grandfather instead.  After hearing the whole story, her grandfather decided to hire Dong Chan as Hae Na’s butler hoping that he could change her attitude for the better. 

In the process of changing her, Dong Chan eventually realized that Hae Na’s princess image is a ruse to protect herself from the hurt from others.  In reality, she is very lonely, clueless and wanting to trust someone without the fear of them being after her money.  Gradually, he started to fall in love with her and wanting to sincerely protect her instead of his initial plan of making her fall in love with him and pay for his debts.  Against his better judgement, he helps her develop a relationship with the Human Rights lawyer Lee Tae Yoon, Jung Il Woo. 

After some time, Dong Chan has developed his innate sense of knowing when Hae Na needs his protection; Hae Na started to depend on him more and more.  She even trusts his advice on how to run her company.  She was however devastated when she learns that his initial purpose was actually to seduce her and get her money.  She also learned that he was previously a gigolo and that made her doubt his sincerity from the beginning.

While she was debating whether she would trust him again or not, Tae Yoon begun to notice that she might not just be feeling friendly towards Dong Chan and begins to feel pangs of jealousy.  In the end, he demanded that Dong Chan stay away from his girlfriend specially when he learned that he had developed real feelings for Hae Na.

Hae Na realizing that she has fallen in love with Dong Chan was determined to give everything up just to be with him.  She however changes her mind when her grandfather suffered a major stroke after she confesses her love for Dong Chan and insists on marrying him. 

In the end, will their love be able to conquer all?  Will Hae Na give everything up for Dong Chan including her beloved grandfather?

Review: I felt bad for Il Woo.  His character was neither given any depth nor any chance to really shine.  Sadly, the story revolved only around the two main protagonists.  I wonder why he decided to go with this project specially after being the lead for the Return of Iljimae.  Although he looked so much better in his previous drama, he didn’t look bad.  Just too bad that he did not display any particular strength for his character in this drama.

I just felt that the drama lacked a cohesive story and an eventful ending.  It was simply a story of two people falling in love despite their past and their backgrounds.  I wished the writers gave it more depth and gave Hae Na’s character some growing-up pains and changing for the better besides realizing that she loves a man against everything she believed in.

Tae Yoon’s character started really well but went down flat and became a mere third party in the story.  Although his character lacked depth and story, I still loved seeing him smile.  It could melt my heart just seeing him smile and wishing earnestly that he would end up with YEH in the end.

I give this show 6 out of 10 stars because I like YEH but her hair drove me crazy.  It was just too red, too dry and too painful to watch specially that she’s a princess that could have gotten everything with money.  She could at least have her hair rebonded, fixed or could have worn a wig.  

Review on Korean Drama: Princess Hours or Goong (2006)

Title: Princess Hours aka Goong

Genre:  Romance, Comedy

Duration:  24 episodes

Cast:

Yoon Eun Hye as Shin Chae-Kyeong

Joo Ji Hoon as Prince Lee Shin

Kim Jeong Hoon as Prince Lee Yul

Song Ji-Hyo as Min Hyo-rin

Synopsis: The series started with the King being seriously ill.  Preparing for the worst, the royal family hurries to have the crowned Prince Shin (Joo Ji Hoon) married so he could take over the throne at any time. Prince Shin initially proposes to Min Hyo-rin (Song Ji-Hyo) but she rejects him thinking she would not be able to fulfil her dreams of being an excellent ballerina if she is confined in the palace.  Prince Shin then accepts to marry a commoner Shin Chae-Kyeong (Yoon Eun Hye) to whom he was betrothed by his late grandfather in an old agreement with the girl’s grandfather.  Chae-Kyeong, an awkward, clumsy high school girl, hesitantly accepts the agreement since her family were hounded by loan sharks.  Thus, even though she knew the Prince is in love with another girl, she accepts the marriage in order to give her family a better life.

The marriage to the royal family instantly turns her life upside down as she has always led a carefree life, she now realizes that being a Princess means everyone is watching her every move.  Being a Princess means she can’t just go home to her parents anytime she wants or be with her friends without her bodyguards or Prince Shin.  Against her will, she starts to fall for her husband but the crowned Prince seemed to find it hard to let go of his feeling for Min Hyo-rin. 

To complicate matters further, Prince Shin’s cousin, Prince Lee Yul (Kim Jeong Hoon) and his mother, Lady Hwa-Young, who was once the Crown Princess before the death of her husband who is the older brother of the present King.  There was a scandal that led them being chased out of the palace with Prince Lee Yul growing-up in Britain.  Lady Hwa-Young returns specifically with grand plans to restore her son back to the throne to the point of creating havoc in the palace to achieve her goal. 

Meanwhile, Min Hyo-Rin realizes her mistake, declines her dream offer of studying ballet abroad and goes back to pursue Prince Shin even though he is already married now.  Chae-Kyoung knowing of their past history, watches helplessly as Hyo-Rin entices the Prince Shin back to her.  Prince Lee Yul seeing the hurt in her eyes, tries his best to console and comfort her but in the process, falls in love with her as well while Prince Shin is struggling to deny his growing feelings for Chae-Kyeong.

It is a beautiful story of love, sacrifice, and politics.

Review:  At first, I was doubtful about the series since they used high school students as the main protagonist.  Chae-Kyoung was so awkward and unrefined that even I felt she did not deserve to be a Princess.  However, the transformation of her character was very subtle that before I realized it, she has transformed herself to become someone deserving the crown and Shin.  Shin was so rude and awful to her but when he realized his feelings for her; he realized it was pure love.

I never for one moment sympathized with Min Hyo-Rin primarily because I felt her character was so wooden and dull.  I guess I have never been really fond of Song Ji-Hyo even in Jumong or in Frozen Flower.   The characters she portrays seem so unreal, wooden and dull in whatever role she does.  So even if she has such a beautiful face, I can’t feel any sympathy for her.

Even though he portrayed the bad guy, I still felt bad for Lee Yul and still found him hot.  If not for him, Chae-Kyoung would have had a worse life in the palace specially that Prince Shin constantly reminds her that he has no feelings for her.  Shin can really be a bad bully sometimes but I guess that’s because he wants to make sure he does not fall in love with Chae-Kyoung and feel guilty for keeping her in the palace beside him.  To the end, I still sincerely wished for him to be happy.  I guess if he’s guilty of anything, it would have been to fall in love with the wrong woman and I can’t seem to hate his character.

The two main protagonists acted so well that I can’t help but get immersed in the drama and cry my heart out when they’re in pain.  I believe the series did so well mainly because of the two actors and I can’t help but love both of them.  Yoon Eun Hye was so beautiful when she cries and Joo Ji Hoon looked so hot even when he was being bad and took my heart when he kissed her goodbye...so sad.  One of my favorite episodes was episode 13 when the sharing of room happened and forced Shin to take the tonic and he was fighting with himself not to touch her and started doing aerobics.CG was clueless with what's happening to him.It made me laugh till there were tears.

The plot was not so complicated but the execution was so beautiful that when the series ended, I fervently wished that there would be a sequel but I was bound for disappointment.

The show was funny, witty, romantic and sad.  I give this show 9 out of 10 stars and belong to the list of my all-time favourite dramas.

Review on Korean Drama: Coffee Prince

Title: Coffee Prince

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Duration: 17 episodes

Cast:

Yoon Eun Hye as Go Eun Chan

Gong Yoo as Choi Han Kyul

Lee Sun Gyun as Choi Han Sung

Chae Jung Ahn as Han Yoo Joo

Kim Jae Wook as Noh Sun Ki

Synopsis: Go Eun Chan (Yoon Eun Hye) works every possible job to pay off her family’s debts.  She works so hard that she even gave up her femininity and is often mistaken for a boy.  Choi Han Kyul (Goong Yoo) is an heir to a large corporation but his grandmother wants him to settle down and arranges blind dates for him. Desperate to keep his grandmother of his back, he hires Go Eun Chan to act as his gay lover. 

Feeling betrayed, the grandmother threatens Kyul to take away everything she has given him is not able to improve the coffee shop that is already on the verge of bankruptcy.  He decided to take on the challenge and hire only guys for the shop including Eun Chan.  Left with no option, she decided to continue the pretence so she could work on the shop. 

As their relationship deepens, Kyul develops a dilemma since he realized he was already falling for the eccentric, outspoken Eun Chan but he believed her to be a girl.  In order to control his feelings, he even took medicines just so he won’t turn “gay” and tries everything to affirm that he is not attracted to her which (teehee) all fails.  He eventually fires her and shut her out but she insists that she would not leave which dissolves his resolve.  Admitting defeat, he decided to pursue a relationship with her, even though he still believed that she’s a guy and Eun Chan did not have the courage to admit the truth.

Doesn’t take long though before the truth comes out and Kyul feeling devastated and hurt by her lies shuts her out once again.  When Eun Chan confronts him at the shop, he is cold and cruel and she almost felt like giving up.  However, Kyul realizes that his feeling for Eun Chan is stronger than the hurt he feels over her lies that he decided to forgive her.  He has fought so hard to have her by his side that the truth should have given him comfort.

The story does not end there though.  Han Kyul and Go Eun Chan will have to still face a lot of difficulties, one of which is to decide whether they would get married or should they continue to pursue their dreams?

Review:

I love how Yoon Eun Hye abandons her pretty image and goes all out for her character that she is even beautiful when she cries.  She is so dedicated to her role that one can’t help but love her hardworking character and root for their love.

It’s so funny that Han Kyul was trying so hard to fight his feelings and at the same time so freaked out by it as well.  It was very apparent that he was so in love with Go Eun Chan that even though he thought she was a guy, he was willing to forego his principles as a man, forgives her when he realized her lies and reluctantly supported her in her pursuit of her dreams even though they would be parted for years.

I just love this show and am giving this 9.5 out of 10 stars.