It’s raining MEN!

Oh yes, it’s pouring men all over.  I want all of em! <333

None of the fluff dramas I’m watching atm are of any good class quality, none of them. I love my Shin Ha Kyun to death but All About My Romance just doesn’t cut it as much as I’d expected it to or wanted it to, its brand of OTT and silliness grates me and writer just craps writing politics. Gu Family Book bore me to tears the 1st 2 eps I nearly wanted to drop but persisted for my yearning to see Seung Gi puppy again. Jang Ok Jeong’s better than the rest but still has glaring flaws sticking out like sore thumbs of all. Nine is probably the most intriguing one for me right now but I’m kinda iffy on how the time traveling thing works. TBVH, I would have concluded this drama season a slump…

…if not for my eternal weakness, my weak softy spot for the men in K-dramas. I know, pathetic me, my heart’s that weak.

Swoon Meter:

High Through The Roof

Boiling Hot Love

Crushing Puppy Love

Blushing Crush

All About My Romance‘s Kim Soo Young

The thing about AAMR, it’s not really a good drama. I don’t expect much from the Protect The Boss team, I adored PTB for different reasons but that drama certainly did not annoy me as much as AAMR did in its first few episodes. Everything bordered on forceful slapstick comedy, the depiction of political play between different parties muddled me into HUHWHAT?! territory. And the performances (particularly LMJ’s) made me thoroughly uncomfortable. Everyone acted like 10 year old kids! Nothing in the story makes good or reasonable sense. I should have seen it coming.

No I didn’t, certainly, for a different reason now. This drama is about Romance after all, and little did I know after 5 Eps, I would end up like the same ol’ Shin Ha Kyun fangirl in Brain, swooning over another SHK played character Kim Soo Young. It just happened, SHK’s magic. I’m a goner all over again.

You know how much I love SHK, so much so to the extent that I can’t even bear to criticize his performance in here. I really think this man has all it takes to nail any character given with his devotion and dedication to his craft. But sometimes he takes everything too seriously, goes overboard and over-emphasizes details that should be kept intact and reigned in. It’s OTT and I get why. I can understand why his unbridled and mis-control of emotions can irrate and turn off some, it’s a brand of comedy and slapstick that’s been following him ever since JSA.

Warts and all however, I cannot deny that this actor does have something on me. Soo Young isn’t an entirely easy character to play. He’s erratic, eccentric and sometimes mad crazy you cannot really pin-point how he’d act or react in situations (hence the OTT). He can be brash and yet he can also be the sweetest person around. He’s also got a quieter and pensive side, a sensual side of him that never shows whenever he’s with others. If a lesser actor had been cast, I doubt Soo Young’s fluctuant and shifting personality can be as fleshed out.

I still stand by my point that LMJ’s a miscast in this drama, with no conviction whatsoever in her portrayal of a politician. I don’t dislike her as an actress but she’s not fit out for a politician character requiring certain level of gravitas and poise. And it doesn’t help I couldn’t see her chemistry with anyone in the drama. But this is when SHK and some drama cliches start to cast their magic on me. Ep 5, watch it and you will know why. How Soo Young approaches Min Young and confronts her about his feelings for her and hers for him. How he “seduces” his way into the poor confused girl’s heart. How he plays the game of love. My heart hasn’t pounded and beat so hard for ages. <33 Even though I still don’t feel a thing for Min Young, I imagine myself in her place, I find it hard to resist the man before me. How can one not fall in love like this?

SHK is not what we’d call or term, the perfect tall handsome chaebol looking guy. someone that’d make your knees weak right off the first glance. But try him, try Soo Young, just watch Ep 5, and you will know that attraction doesn’t just come from first look. It’s natural charm. It’s the confidence that comes from within. Soo Young may be clueless about his sudden interest in NMY, and may be a bit of an oddball when trying to express his affection, but you know it when you see and feel it from his eyes. Trust me, you can skip the entire first 4 eps and watch Ep 5 alone, you will squee swoon a lunatic.

Swoon Meter: High Through the Roof

GFB’s Choi Kang Chi

Seung Gi, nothing he does bugs me. Even if his drama characters annoy.

GFB is probably the least of quality amongst the bunch in terms of writing, acting and direction. There isn’t any particularly good point worth discussing because everything is pretty much touch and go, on the surface kind of story telling. Even the acting doesn’t make for a good watch because most of the leading actors aren’t ready and fit for sageuk. Their speeches are so modernised that you can almost feel their forceful efforts to sound like a person from that period. But you know what, I’m surprisingly and shockingly, not turned off by anything yet (Ep 3 and 4). And the only reason I can think of why, Lee Yeon Hee. Who had given me possibly the worst acting performance in recent memory (she wasn’t that bad before but her Seo Hwa was horrendous!), that anything bad or mediocrity after I can live with easily.

There’s a pattern in Seung Gi’s acting in almost all of his dramas, and we all know it. He always always starts off as a a jerkish brat who knows no boundaries. Playful and always a nuisance to others. Stereotype much?

But there’s something in Seung Gi that always gets to me. He doesn’t have innate talent, or even good skill, and he always, like SHK, tends to overreact. Critics who have a good eye can tell he’s not cut out for acting because his fundamentals are not grounded at all, he can only rely on over-punctuation to get his points across. I feel the same way, but somehow or rather, I’m not at all bothered by his style of acting. I think it’s got something to do with my soft hearty spot for him, and the genuineness and endearment in his performances (regardless of whether they’re meant to be annoying or irritating). There is always a hook no matter how lackluster or trying he can be in getting his characters across. I am always able to connect.

Choi Kang Chi is no different. The moment he appeared in Ep 3, it’s all love and crush and blush for me. Seung Gi is one important factor, but again, it’s the element of endearment he infuses into KC’s personality. He is as playful naughty brash and confident as the rest of his drama characters, but there is always a warmth and thoughtfulness in them, and he nails those pretty damn well. I’ve mentioned the best of Seung Gi in my year end review post last year, and I still stand by my view that he can do so much more. I love it when he does serious and when breaks down in frustration because you could see the flex of almost all his emotive muscles on his face. I may be calling the shots too fast, but I already want to see Kang Chi transform, I already want to see him drown himself in gamut of  emotions because of what will be revealed to him sooner or later. I want to see Seung Gi cry (oh how sadistic I am). He’s good at it and only one can tell if they’ve seen how much he’d been through in the later eps of K2H, it was a shocking revelation to me. I expect he’ll be bringing it all the same in later eps of GFB, and though I predict drama will not live up, I am hoping Seung Gi will and hopefully I’ll be there to see it and give me puppy a hug.

Suzy is no means an effective actress, especially in a sageuk setting. When a lot of actors over-ham their emotions, she somehow restrains too much of it and looks stilted in trying to get something acros. But I think she fits the personality and quirks of her character very well and has considerably good chemistry with Seung Gi. We’re 4 episodes in and I already feel a good amount of rapport in the likes of comradeship and friendship between them. They do not need to sell to me any buddy romance vibe or chemistry right off the bat, all I need is the connection baby.

Swoon Meter: Crushing Puppy Love

GFB’s Gon

You know I won’t miss Sung Joon in a post whenever I can, how can I possibly do that? Coming off CWGM where he’d displayed one of his best acting performances to date, I couldn’t fathom at first why he’d pick a role that had minimal importance. Why a third lead after such a fantastic year 2012?

I won’t know and don’t plan to find out. I just know I’m already loving his character Gon to pieces in here. I guess it’s a thing about the silent and protective bodyguard role, how they always look after and pine for their master knowing that they cannot possibly end up together, that always evokes some sympathy and liking from me. He has one of the worst lines in the drama and doesn’t appear a lot, but he still manages to mark his presence thruout. Maybe it’s his eyes, maybe it’s because Sung Joon’s playing him. He’s just as ineffective as Seung Gi and Suzy in his acting in here, but somehow he manages to sound more convincing than the former when it comes to their speeches. I have a hunch that he will exhibit some jealousy soon and may turn to the other side, but either way, it’d be good to see him stretch his acting a lil bit more.

Swoon Meter: Blushing Crush

Jang Ok Jeong’s Lee Soon aka King Suk Jong

Ain’t Lee Soon adorable?

I’ve spoken pretty much everything about Jang Ok Jeong and my love for Lee Soon aka King Suk Jong in my earlier post so I will not reiterate. Just know one thing, Yoo Ah In. Want a performance with poise and aplomb but with also a lil bit of naivete and innocence, you’ve gotta watch the man perform. I don’t think he’s perfect or doing really really well yet, but I def can see him play the ambitious and charismatic King Suk Jong with the required amount of conviction.

More pics to prove my point:

Now that’s fierce!

Crush Meter: Boiling Hot Love

Nine’s Park Sun Woo

Lee Jin Wook is a hottie and a cutie, and he’s so totally up my alley type. But compared to the rest here, he’s not as popular, as recognised, or if I may say it, not even as good or effective an actor. His acting in Nine isn’t anything to call home about, and honestly does stilted a lot more than usual. But thankfully he’s got a drama which writing is intriguing and engaging enough for for to follow, and a character which I cannot possibly hate or not love – Park Sun Woo.

I know QIHM’s writter messed up minds of a lot of people last year. Those who loved it banked and supported her to the very end, regardless of the lost of sense or logic. Some transformed the love to disregard because of that very factor. For me, I gave it an 8 out of 10 because of what it managed to do for 15 episodes – engaged and had me hooked sunk into its magical territory of love and romance. Nine, writer’s follow up drama after QIHM, isn’t as engaging or heart-fluttery as the former, has none of the heart-pounding moments in the likes of QIHM (that may have been due to the OTP’s real off-screen affections tho). But story wise, it maintains the same level of edge-seating adrenaline and mystery. The time traveling mechanism still bothers me because I don’t know why it works the way it does, but if we talk about the past present factors and consequences of it all, this drama sells it well and effectively.

I don’t really care about the romance though the OTP is cute, I don’t even care about the leading girl Min Young (oops, there’s No. 2 now) because she’s not interesting enough to make me bother. But what gets to me, is how Park Sun Woo’s character is written. It’s the selflessness and magnanimous heart in his character which piques me and makes me unable to resist him. He is witty and sarcastic in his words, and knows his manly charms inside out, but beneath the exterior lies a man who loves and treasures everything precious to him, to the extent of being sacrificial. I know it’s idealistic and ridiculous, and he sounds boring. But given the amount of truly thoughtful and gracious leading men in our dramas, Sun Woo’s one I’m willing to keep.

Sun Woo’s actions are debatable, as he indirectly changes the course of history with his own hands. What he does, affects and changes the course of everyone of his loved ones’ lives (and causes some huge damage to his own). But his intentions are pure, they stem from the most selfless and earnest of his heart. The yearning to see his brother happy again, the  restraint when it comes to the woman he loves (because of what has changed in history), it’s something that one cannot imagine even if put in his shoes.

The time traveling mechanism in Nine has reached newer heights in recent episodes. I don’t know if writer nim will give us the same BS like before (though I accepted it at the end), I hope she won’t, but I truly earnestly hope Sun Woo will get the happiness he yearns for, his own and things will be put right back on its true course.

The only thing I care for, is for Sun Woo to be happy for once.

Swoon Meter: Boiling Hot Love

credits: all pictures from owners @ tumblr/ facebook/ AAMR SHK DC/ baidu