Korean Romantic Comedy Drama

Another romantic comedy “The City Hall” from the famous Kim Seon-Ah and Cha Seung-Won.

If you are a “Kim Sam Soon” fans, you will notice immediately that there are two major changes on Seon-Ah, first she has slim down a lot and she came back with  a very professional look.

This round Seon-Ah is Sin Mi-Rae, who has been working as a secretary for 9 years. While awating for the opportunity to be promoted she is holding a tiny role and doing odds job like brewing coffee for the rest of the team. Does this sound familiar?

As always be assured she is as hardworking as before in the role of “My name is Kim Sam Soon”. With all the hard work and thanks to the available apportunity, she is then promoted. Surprise to many people she is elected as the mayor of the small town she is living. Of course, she will not have done it without Jo-Gook help (played by Cha Seung-Won) the youngest state congressman. There is where the relationship flowers.

Jo-Gook who is cold and a strategist has never thought that he will love the so-so lady Mi-Rae. He was only helping Mi-Rae to the Mayor position in order to control her as a puppet with the pupose of having an un-lawful factory built in the town.

Before watching this drama, viewers should watch “My name is Kim Sam Soon” first or else you will miss some jokes in this drama. For example, Mi-rae  mentions that her ex-boyfriend looks like Hyeon Bin, isn’t this sound familiar? You can expect some similarity in both Sam Soon and Mi-rae characters. Seon-ah acting skill  is definitely better than the last round and Jo-Gook who is mature and handsome enough to help Mi-Rae overcoming a lot of dificulties from behind has made them a compatible good-looking couple all together.

All time couple with a guy helping a gal on her career and growing to lover her character as well. You can expect lots of laughter and some heartfelt tears in this drama, you won’t be dissapointed. Happy watching!

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The City Hall (SBS TV Drama)

One of the most expensive romantic Korean drama has ever made in the history “Boys Over Flowers” had caught eyes of the millions even before it is on screen. The making and the scenes captured are the envy of others.

 This is not the first time that the super famous Japanese comic book had turned into a foreign drama. Even though there are differences but this Korean series had successfully made F4 looks extremely rich especially in the character of Joon-pyo (stars by Lee Min-ho) the leading actor in this drama where in one of the scene Joon-pyo arrives at school by helicopter, this must be very eye capturing compare to other foreign series.

Yes, this is a Cinderalla beautiful story where an ordinary girl like Jan-di (Goo Hye-seon as the leading actress) admitted to a rich and famous school and gets entangled with the famous F4 ended up being in love first with Ji-hoo (played by Kim Hyun-jeong) and then Joon-pyo the richest and idol of the school. Of course we are not talking about the school basketball nor baseball leader here, what we are looking here is the heir of the Korean multi-billionaire from the gigantic “Shen Wa” while Jan-di is just the only daughter of a small laundry shop owner. This drama shows a big contrast between the rich and the ordinary folk but this drama also brings out the warmth of Jan-di family.

This romantic drama really start with a big bang, you can expect some waves and few HIGHs especially in the first few episodes when the relationship between Jan-di and Jun-pyo has just begin. The second last part are really heart wrenching with the separation of the two follows by the sincere Ji-hoo who always stands by Ji-dan side when she is down. Relationship between Ji-dan and Ji-hoo who turns from potential boy-girl relationship to friends must have tears millions who likes Ji-hoo.

 Overall, the happy scenes are too few to be true considering of the characters of Joon-pyo and Jan-di are pretty comedic sometimes but probably this is the way to capture the emotional side of the audience as well.

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Boys Over Flowers (KBS TV Drama)

Before reading too much into the synopsis, you will feel that you are watching another guy meet girl story.

Isn’t it too ridiculous for a 33 yr-old dating a 24 yr old guy? Well, before watching this, you will never believe that such relationship will work. For your info, we are not bias we just don’t feel it is right, WAIT, don’t think of any comment first, read about this first.

Frankly, the 33 yr old Byeong-Hee also does not believe herself either, when she found herself falling in love with her best friend younger brother Cheol-Su. How can a woman her age willing to give up a good potential boyfriend who has a car, an apartment and a good career like Hee-Myeong and choose the one who is 9-years younger Cheol-Su who lives in the basement of her sister?

Yes it is a big contrast, a huge contrast here, but you will find yourself grow to love Cheol-Su more and more in each episode. Trust me! After we finish watch this we knew another Hallyu STAR is born.

Cheol-Su though is young but he is a very confident young man with very good mechanic skills. He has the charm with the x-factor (you will get what I mean after you watch this drama). Well, you can imagine how bold is he when he tries to woo Byeong-Hee and how he tries to convince her that their relationship will work. Of all the dramas till today we have watched, this is the character we like most because he knows who he loves right from the very beginning and keep working hard to win the woman of his dream overcoming the opinions of others and barriers.

As for Byeong-Hee, when you are a single woman with a so-so career and you meet the first man who has everything like Hee-Myeong, how can she let go? Of course she thought that she was in love with him, a guy who has everything with the right age. But Cheol-Su ask her to listen to her heart just for once. (This is the most beautiful phrase). How many gals out there really listen to their hearts nowadays? Love usually comes with career, house and etc.

This is one of the romantic story that didn’t involve money, power and prestige, it is just a simple pure love story that many envys. Just indulge in this drama and you will know what I mean.
This is also a good drama to remind all that love is for the heart not the mind.

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Is this another memory loss typical Korean Drama? You would have expect lots of tears in this drama. Wrong! Why?

Because this is not just another romantic comedy.

In this story, it will be the opposites, where the lady is filthy rich, we are talking about super rich here, just the first few scenes you will feel how rich is Anna Jo.

Anna Jo, has everything. Well ordinary right? But, she is a far from adorable lady. Why? Because she is a proud, unruly and unbearable person. Though after the drama, I find that she is actually an exquisite lady but she is just too demanding, from her workers to her only family, her husband.

So when she went missing in a yacht trip, her husband somehow happy that he is finally free from her grip. Though her husband feels guilty about his own feeling but when he thinks about how bad she treat him, he is free of all guilt.

After missing and losing her memory Anna met her enemy Cheol Su. Cheol Su was mistaken as a freak and was beaten by Anna before. He wanted revenge so he takes Anna home and treat her like a maid.

As usual in all drama, he falls in love with Anna. Anna changes a lot during the time she stays with Cheol Su, she learns to cook (great funny scene here watching her cooking), clean the house (fantastic way of putting things away here) and also to maintain the whole household for Cheol Su and his nephews.

The touching part is where she starts to change and fall for Cheol Su who is just an ordinary guy with a very small construction business and treats every cents as his life. The stingy Cheol Su starts to spend for Anna unknowingly that he himself has fallen for her.

It has a nice ending but really breaks my heart when Cheol Su starts to miss Anna. The couch that she had slept before, the place where she had hid her money, the dog that she used to walk, all small gestures, he remembers clearly. This is really a very heartbreaking scene.
 
Well, it is pretty true that people do change for their loved ones, after watching this drama it makes me believe that love conquers all.

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Kim Sam Soon Character

SAM SOON is a sincere and direct person. In the movie she is a Patisse or more commonly known as Baker. Her objective in life is to search for a good man and get married. Her principal of being a baker is “the cake she bakes has to put into box which she made herself”. Her passion of becoming a baker comes from an old French dessert book which consists of different kind of pastry.

Her way of looking at her life in the beginning comes from the movie Forrest Gump.

Life is just like a box of chocolates you will never know what you will get. Sam Soon interpret them as in a box there are many types of chocolates, there are some with nuts while some comes with rum. She doesn’t like chocolates in rum so as she grows older and wiser she tries not to choose those in rum.

However, the manager in Bon Appetite told her that since she had tried the run chocolate the numbers of it in her box is getting lesser.

She wanted her love life as a book she had read before

“There is a writer, every night before going to bed, the writer will write a letter and put on top her husband desk so that the next morning her husband will be the first reader. I will bake my first cake for Sam Shik and I will also let Sam Shik have the best cake I can bake too. I will love him like this and I will love Sam Shik this much”

Sam Soon encouragement on Sam Shik niece Meijo is based on a book called Momo, which has the similar character as Meijo.

Her relationship with Sam Shik is hard to come by and is disagree by Sam Shik’s mother. She dreamt of her father and told him that she is afraid that all the good things will end. Her father told her “Don’t be stupid my daughter, you have not enough time to go through your happy life, why think about other things that haven’t even happen. Live your life bravely and when you encounter any problems later in life, have faith in overcoming them.”

Books mentioned by Sam Soon

1. Momo by Michael Ende

2. In search of lost time by Marcel Proust (the book that she recommended for Henry)

Comments on her acting in My Lovely Sam Soon

Reading the original script of ‘My Lovely Sam-Soon’, she felt this is the kind of TV Drama which she could strongly relate to. She also feels that with Sam Soon character she could adapt to any situation and communicate just anything to any people, even like joys and sorrows of life.

Before shooting and at production meeting, people asked her why she didn’t try to change her image and kept doing similar roles. Back then she used to ask them enjoy the show first then only comment. She doesn’t know why people always think of transformations as something so important. She admitted that many of her roles were in the same classification. But without the opportunity to star in this drama, she would never been able to act the role that way which she gained a lot of experience from the drama personally. She is also thankful that a lot of people give her those encouragement at that time, she also admitted that she becomes more mature and wiser after acting in the role.

She also said that she still can’t re-watch the drama yet because the feeling is too strong. She feels that the most important thing is that, through the role of Sam Soon, she is able to show the kind of sincerity and feelings she never able to relate to in the past. She also says that for example, she used to think about a lot of ways of approaching crying scenes in the past, but she didn’t need that even once for ‘Sam-Soon’. She can go on acting without having to think of how the approach that she has to do because through this character, she was able to let a lot of things buried within her prevailed. She don’t know if the viewers could see when there is a scene that had Sam-Soon in an angry mood, she was really angry. When they shot the scenes of Sam Soon ‘talking’ with her dead father, she couldn’t sleep later.

Overseas promotion is just starting, so it looks like that feeling will linger on for quite a while. Maybe this show will have a strong effect on her career.

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