Soap Report: “Boys Over Flowers”

You guys, I have so many KDrama reviews stacked up. And most of them are for shows I really loved! But good lord, this was not one of them.

Where to even begin? Boys Over Flowers is an insanely popular KDrama based on an insanely popular manga, which previously spawned multiple other popular tv adaptations. Basically, people love the crap out of this story.

My body was super ready to love this! High school rich kid drama! Baby Lee Min Ho rocking some ridiculous curls! Sadly, it was all kind of enraging and terrible.

What’s it about? A fictional Korean corporation has created a private school open solely to the one percent. The school is ruled by F4, a gang of four uber-elite seniors worshiped by the rest of the student body because they’re rich and hot and also will casually ruin the lives of anyone who looks at them sideways.

Soap Report: “Arang and the Magistrate”

Arang and the Magistrate is an off-beat 2011 Korean historical fantasy fusion drama. It’s kind of like Ghost? You know, if Ghost took place in old timey Korea and Whoopi Goldberg and Patrick Swayze fell in love. So… nothing like Ghost, really.

Look, she is a ghost and he has peacock
feathers in his hat. What more do you want?

What’s it about? Arang is an amnesiac ghost with three months to solve the mystery of her death before she gets sentenced to hell. Eun-oh is a reluctant magistrate with the ability to see ghosts and a mystery of his own: his missing mother, whose hairpin just happens to have been in Arang’s possession when she died.

There’s also some business with the Jade Emperor, heavenly fairies, and grim reapers. The combination of mythology, mystery and standard romance works pretty well, and there were even some genuinely creepy moments, which I was not expecting from a KDrama.

Soap Report: “Queen In-Hyun’s Man”

I’m not the biggest fan of Joseon era stuff — the costumes just don’t do it for me, frankly — but I’d heard so many good things about this one, I gave it a try anyway and OH EM GEE, YOU GUYS. What a delightful way to spend 16 hours of your life.

(Only 16 episodes! What are you waiting for? You can knock that out in one day and still get a solid 8 hours of dreaming about dreamy time travelers in afterward!)

What’s it about? Kim Boong-do is a 17th century scholar and queen’s bodyguard who acquires a mystical talisman that transports him to the present day any time his life is in danger. As you do. Meanwhile, Choi Hee-jin is struggling actress who gets her big break playing that very same queen in a modern KDrama. They meet and fall in love but fate and court intrigue keep getting in their way.

Soap Report: “City Hunter”

Let’s talk City Hunter! For some reason, I watched this show, loved it to death, started this post and then never finished it for 6 months. I got distracted? I don’t know, you guys. No one pays me for this stuff.

Anyway, City Hunter is a 20 episode 2011 Korean drama, currently available on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon… basically everywhere. You have no excuse. Just watch it.

Soap Report: “Fated to Love You”

Oh, Fated to Love You. How did you swallow my soul so completely? Guys, this show will be the most adorable/agonizing 20 hours of your life. It’s like the tv equivalent of a cupcake that is filled with tears. YOU WILL LOVE EVERY SECOND OF IT.

What’s it about? Sweet, naive Kim Mi Young and rich, eccentric Lee Gun are forced to get married after he accidentally knocks her up while they’re both drugged out of their minds. (Don’t ask.)

If that premise does nothing for you, don’t worry. I felt the same way. Then I started watching and the characters basically reached into my heart and started squeezing until I was completely lost?

Soap Report: “Secret Garden”

Oh, Secret Garden. We could have had it all. Bickering! Body swap! Two of my favorite things! Alas, it just never came together for me in quite the way that I’d hoped.

For those not up on their K-Dramas, Secret Garden is 20 episode romantic comedy that, sadly, has nothing to do with hunchbacks or creepy English manors. But it makes up for that in cracktastic magical shenanigans and amazing fashion choices. It was not a terrible way to spend twenty hours reading sub-titles, but, well…

What’s it about? This is a classic rich boy/poor girl story, with a side of supernatural added in. Our hero, Joo-won, is the wealthy CEO of a department store. He has a host of neuroses and some very particular opinions about sequins. Gil Ra-im is a poor orphan stunt woman from the wrong side of the tracks, who enters his orbit through a series of misunderstandings and coincidences. Blah blah, sexual tension ensues.

Soap Report: “The Great Doctor”

Welcome to soap report! Where I blather on about the shows everyone I know in real life is sick of hearing me talk about. First up: “The Great Doctor” (also known as “Faith”), a 2012 Korean drama consisting of 24 episodes now handily available for obsessive marathoning on Netflix. (ETA: No longer on Netflix, but you can easily watch for free on Viki.)

What’s it about? Wikipedia describes this as a “fusion fantasy-historical-medical television series” but make no mistake: it’s a straight up soap opera, complete with intrigue, melodrama, backstabbing, epic pining, and a cliffhanger to end every episode. It is maddeningly addictive.

The plot follows Eun-Soo, a modern plastic surgeon who gets kidnapped by a warrior from the 14th century and brought back in time to ancient Goryeo to save the life of his queen. When the time portal closes before she can return, she finds herself a pawn amongst the various powers vying for control of the throne.