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The Unstoppable High Kick

I’m bored. Bored, bored, bored.

Not only bored, but restless. The only drama that holds my interest these days is Legend, and that’s just barely. It’s not hard to tell that my taste veers to trendy dramas — the fluffier, the better — and I feel the current lack keenly. As I was saying to a friend recently, I can find meaning in the most superficial of trendy dramas — just give me the sugariest cotton-candy drama and I’ll mine the hell out of it looking for depth and thematic resonance. Of course, I do have some standards — I won’t watch just any trendy drama, if it’s just a boring rehash of familiar stuff. But let’s say that if trendy dramas are the television equivalent of chick lit, I’m looking for Bridget Jones, not Shopaholic or Lipstick Jungle or whatever else comes with cheesy pink covers and pictures of high heels and handbags and jewelry. (I am not my accessories closet! … and if only I actually had an accessories closet!)

What does that have to do with The Unstoppable High Kick? Nothing really, except explain just how bored I am and in need of something light and fun, even if it doesn’t aspire to be meaningful. I missed the boat on High Kick when it first aired — daily sitcoms usually air over a hundred episodes, and that’s just too much of a commitment. It finished its run earlier this summer, but AZN has been showing it (unsubtitled), and I’ve let the episodes accumulate on my Tivo, watching them whenever I remember to. I’m somewhere up in the nineties now (there are 167 episodes), although I skipped a bunch in the beginning.

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For being a sitcom, High Kick isn’t really terribly funny. It’s mildly amusing, but it’s not laugh-out-loud or joke-laden. In fact, I find a lot of Korean sitcoms are really just excuses for family drama content to be compressed into a shorter, lighter, more plot-meandering series. I find a lot of the hour-long comedic “dramas” are much, much funnier than a sitcom (i.e., Samsoon, My Girl). But that’s the current format, and I’m sure Korea will find a way to make the structure work once they break out of the mindset of replicating early American family sitcoms with the bad laugh tracks and cheesy (non-)humor.

Once I let go of the expectation for the sitcom to be funny, though, thinking of it as a short-form family drama instead, High Kick was a lot more entertaining.

 

 
Part of why I was noncommittal about High Kick for a long while (whereas college-campus sitcom Nonstop 5 won me over almost immediately) was because half its cast hugely annoys me — the entire adult half. Since this is a family sitcom revolving around the central Lee family, it’s a pretty big hindrance when you find yourself disliking every single adult character (to varying degrees). It makes big chunks of episodes much less interesting to watch — but easier to fast-forward, so there is that.

The grandparents and parents usually just act as foils for the younger generation, and are a mix of cranky (grandpa, grandma), nosy (mom), and meddling (grandma, mom). In the middle generation, the love triangle revolving around Minyong gives me the impression that I’m supposed to root for the Minyong-Minjung coupling, but I find the guy supremely irritating (he’s cranky, bad-tempered, surly, and cold), which ruins the whole thing, really. He’s like an old ajusshi stuck inside a slightly-less-old ajusshi’s body.

Both women (Minjung, left; Shinji, right) are a mix of cute and annoying, depending on the situation, although they’re usually tolerable when not in the company of Mr. Crankypants.

That just leaves us with the youngest generation, but thankfully, they make up for the lack of appeal in the rest of the cast. It’s definitely the kids, by far, who make High Kick fun, starting with brothers Minho (actor Kim Hye Sung) and Yunho (Jung Il Woo), and extending to their friends Kang Yumi (Park Min Young) and Kim Bum (whose character shares his real name).

 

 
But of course, the undeniable breakout is Jung Il Woo, who plays the youngest son, the broody, often-misunderstood, rebel-with-a-cause Yunho. He’s cool precisely because he doesn’t care about being cool — or at least not by mere silly high school standards. He’s also adorable, and although I feel like a pervy almost-ajumma (clinging to late-stage noona-ness as long as I can) for finding him so damn cute, I have to say, I *totally* get it. I can understand his widespread popularity and see why he broke out of the High Kick pack as its undisputed star.

Although Yunho is someone I’d probably find frustrating in real life (he does whatever he wants; in contrast, his older brother Minho is good-natured, smart, and easygoing), his character is by far the most complex and layered in the High Kick cast — you might even say he’s the only one with any layers. He can be immature and mischievous, but occasionally exhibits flashes of old-soul wisdom (despite being not-quite-book-smart). He’s rebellious but loyal at the core, brooding and removed but completely boyish the minute he breaks into a smile. It’s a good thing I didn’t know any guys that charismatic back in my high school days.

I saw some interview with Jung Il Woo where he explained that he’d gotten the role of Yunho when he’d messed up a line in his audition. He’d smiled unexpectedly in embarrassment/fun, and producers found his smile surprisingly winning — which then went on to be widely known as his special brand of “killer smile.”

 
 
In fact, I suspect that the episode where Minjung’s high school classmate shows up and falls right for the teenage Yunho was made seeing the audience’s response to Jung Il Woo. The woman gushes over Yunho’s looks, his cool demeanor, his tough-guy image — and then bemoans their ten-year age gap, since he’s only seventeen. (Jung Il Woo is twenty; that goes a little distance, but not much, in making me feel less pervy thinking he’s adorable.)

The one storyline that has me coming back — and I suspect it’s the same for most viewers — is the one between Yunho and his teacher, the naive-sweet-klutzy Minjung (who happens to date his uncle). It’s compelling because of the paradox it presents — we all want a happy ending for Yunho and his crush (although his feelings seem more serious than a crush), but the setup is just not going to happen on a family sitcom — she’s his teacher, she’s ten years older, he’s still a minor. It’s seeing how they dance around this restriction that makes High Kick fun (even if I’ve got to fast-forward most of the other adult storylines). Minjung considers them purely as friendly teacher and student — and although the show is family-friendly and uncontroversial (no Mary Kay Letourneau exposés here!), the show frequently flirts around their relationship in what basically amounts to a huge saucy wink at the audience.

The episode with the older woman crushing on Yunho also teases us into thinking maybe, just maybe, there’s hope for Yunho and his teacher (we know it’s not likely, but we can hope): after Minjung asks Yunho to be nice to her clingy, annoying friend and humor her attraction to him, she apologizes for requesting such a distasteful favor. She hadn’t thought how awful it must’ve been for him, having to deal with a woman liking him who’s ten years older. Yunho responds brusquely (before heading off into the twilight on his motorcycle): “I merely didn’t like that particular woman. Age is no issue.”

(And of course, we all fall for the line. And the guy.)

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Kim bum is really handsome........
He is a guy that will gonna choose by a woman to be her man.....

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So Jung Il-woo makes you feel pervy too huh? LOL. I feel that way everytime I watch Kdramas with these young-uns. I wonder to myself if perving on young things like JIW would categorize me as borderline pedophile? Don't grandmamas perv and feel the same way I do? What's an ahjumma to do?

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I love High Kick!
I love Jung Il Woo ang Seo Min Jeong.
Very happy to watch High Kick!

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where do i watch unstoppable high kick !! plsz help me ! thank you

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i love this movie....................................muappppzzzzzzzzzz...................

I LOVE YOU

KIM SANG BUM

your my LIGHTNING ARMOR..................

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you see k-drama take care of young lady??jung il woo play character in there 2..

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where do i watch unstoppable high kick??

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...i really really like this movie..:)

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I saw that you can find all High Kick episodes on tudou.com, but they are not English subbed for those of us that are looking for that. I have looked for months and can't find a place to watch it. I have watched all episodes that I can find on youtube and any other site that had it English subtitled. I have tried to find an online store to buy it from, but none of them have it in English subtitles.

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I think that high kick is not only giving great fun but also essence of our life.
And i like all the characters and i love u all

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Im in love this drama.

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i love high kick and its funny and im die hard fun of it and i watch it everyday sarangheyo kim hye seong and kim sang kum............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD

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I LOVE IT SO MUCH, KOREAN TV SERIES ALL OF THEY SHOWS I LOVE IT XD XD XD

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i love jung il woo and high kick

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i really love high kick because of jung il woo, it is currently airing in our country, Philippines, by Tv5 ... .. lab it ! i really laugh in every episode !

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There are a few first episode of Unstoppable high kick with english subtitles on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Kubefire

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Hi,guys can any1 pls tell em where i can watch unstoppable high kick im up to ep 8 but cannot find it anywhere pls help me or if u noe where i can get the dvd it will be awesome. Thanks.

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..;hi jeong ll_woo i hope we meet in personal .........i hope so.....''jejeje'';hi kim hye_seong ur so cute inpersonal ;

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i'm a huge fan of kim hye seung so much, he always get my attention.

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well!!I really like high kick also cause its so funny show!!!and all the cast to.they act like a true family!

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or maybe they are true family!!

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eow high kick cast? i hope that all of you are visit in the phillipines someday....Im your ultimate fan in the phillipines...I love jungt il woo as simon lee...And rico!!! 4r me you are the best actor...We love you...

_LAILA LACSON_

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i luv high kick! its very entertaining.JIW is my kind of man!

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I watched the sitcom and do love it.. especially the MinMin couple pairing.. Overall it's not as funny, but there were funny things included in the sitcom which did make it rather enjoyable.. I recommend it!!! so sad that it's over..

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Something about this show has gotten me hooked on watching it. I watched probably 90 episodes thus far, and I'm trying to find it on DVD with English subtitles. I can appreciate the drama of households worldwide, and there are several good-looking people on the show which help make it worthwhile.

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it's been almost a year since i started watching high kick- 3 days a week- .. i love it (especially jung il woo^^) even when some epis are boring...& now it's almost over i don't know what to do without it ........:S

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Heyyyy~~~ i was wondering where can I watch this sitcom with Eng or Chin subs? Thanks!

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wow i like this serie is very funny with jung il woo :D i wached every day. and i like every drama korean :o

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most of wat you typed made lots sense mostly about kids being the best respond for this show and about yunho. but i disagree about mature part being a drag. everything about this show makes their own spark. car maybe most about look"being a car" but without ac radio and other utilities, its just a show car. there is a saying "better the comment, uglier the you, because nothing else you can do" or was it "uglier the comment , unglier the thought(you/your life)" usually a poem hass less hint but hope you get it. p.s that goes for me too i think.

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where am i suppose to watch the full episode for this drama? please let me know. thank you!

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Months late, chances are you've already found it, but dramacrazy have got all the episodes with subs now, they were only put up within the past few months so I hope that helps :)

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i want to that it is the best sence ive ever seen

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love u kim hyun joong

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Watching this sitcom only now (in 2013) (!!!) and agreed with all what you wrote - totally fell for JIW as Junho. I keep on coming back because of the storyline between Junho and his teacher Minjung. Although we know that something wouldn't likely happen between them, to some extent, I craved for them being together - for Junho's sake...

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Guys I have a NEED for another drama that has something similar to Yunho's love for Min-jung because I adored it. Can anyone recommend me any other noona romances like it? OTL I would be forever grateful

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