EPISODE 372. Broadcast on February 5, 2012.

girlfriday: The boys gather for the opening and chitchat a little, and note that Seung-gi’s lost some weight. He says it’s for his new drama. He says he’s going to be a king, and Ji-won asks if it’s a sageuk, while Jong-min gets all wrapped up in the story description. Guess at least one of his hyungs will be watching.

javabeans: Na PD introduces today’s trip by referring back to a viewer favorite, for which today will be a second part. Tae-woong immediately blurts, “Actress special!” Too bad for him that’s not it, and Ji-won asks to clarify, “Did WE enjoy it?” Ha. I like how he immediately knows that viewer enjoyment does not necessarily equal member enjoyment.

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Read the rest of 1 Night 2 Days: Episode 372 (2,381 words)

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Post tags: 1N2D, Eun Ji-won, featured, Kim Jong-min, Lee Seo-jin, Lee Seon-kyun, Lee Seung-gi, Lee Su-geun, Uhm Tae-woong

 
Brown Shoe – “Colt Rider” [ Download ]

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All right, time to up the stakes, and ratchet up the emotion on all sides. People are pushed into corners, and characters take one step closer to making some finite decisions. Hwon takes one step forward in the big mystery of years past, but also suffers a setback as the baddies get crafty, too. And that cliffhanger leaves us wondering if we’ve hit a point of no return, or if our hero can find a way out. (Okay, I’m pretty sure it’s not a real point of no return, but at the same time I’ll have to remain in suspense another week. As will we all.)

SONG OF THE DAY

Lucid Fall – “어부가” [ Download ]

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Read the rest of The Moon That Embraces the Sun: Episode 12 (3,844 words)

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Post tags: featured, Han Ga-in, Jung Il-woo, Kim Min-seo, Kim Soo-hyun, The Moon That Embraces the Sun

This is a man who knows the meaning of striking when the iron is hot: Uhm Tae-woong has just been secured as the lead in Equator Man, continuing his very busy streak with a drama this time, after completing a string of movies. More Uhm Tae-woong? Love. In a straight-up conventional melodrama? Um…

Uhm has basically been working nonstop for the past year and a half, ever since taking on 2010′s romantic comedy film Cyrano Dating Agency, then the 2010 sports-medicine drama Dr. Champ. In the past year alone he’s filmed or released three movies: dark rom-com Neverending Story, Crime Squad, and Introduction to Architecture. Plus, there’s the whole ongoing 1 Night 2 Days gig he’s been doing.

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Read the rest of Uhm Tae-woong for Equator Man (410 words)

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Post tags: Baek Sung-hyun, Uhm Tae-woong

We’re given hints at the potential conflicts of a few more characters, but as usual, what we get are crumbs. In attempting to give too many characters adequate screentime, you end up shafting everybody; it would have been vastly more effective to establish rapport with two or three kids, then work in the support crew. What we get instead is a lot of flimsy storylines, none of which have found purchase because they’ve been given no chance to connect with us.

I think there’s promise in what today’s episode gives us, but I fear it may be too little, too late.

SONG OF THE DAY

Jinwoon – “걸어온다” which Yoo-jin played in the street in yesterday’s episode.
[ Download ]

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Read the rest of Dream High 2: Episode 4 (4,098 words)

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Post tags: Dream High 2, featured, Ji-yeon, Jung Jin-woon, Kang So-ra, Kim Jung-tae

Damn, they weren’t kidding when they called Sung Joon (well, Ji-hyuk) “laser eyes.” This was his episode to shine — or, should I say, smolder. He pretty much embodies the adage “if looks could kill”; steer clear when you find yourself in his sightline lest you burst into flames. And not in a good way.

We lose a beloved member of the posse, but the others step it up and our main story really kicks off in this episode. I appreciate how complex each character feels, even the smaller sideliners who haven’t gotten their solo moment yet; you can just tell that everybody’s been given a lot of care and thought. I hate when only the main characters get fleshed out and given multiple facets, with the rest just buzzing around like plot-necessitated satellites. I want everybody to feel like they’re the hero of their own story, and you really feel that here.

SONG OF THE DAY

Lee Min-ki – “Not In Love” from the Shut Up: Flower Boy Band OST, which played in the first episode. [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Shut Up: Flower Boy Band: Episode 3 (3,626 words)

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Post tags: featured, Jo Boa, Jung Eui-chul, Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, Sung Joon

…though you couldn’t tell from its promo material. Syndrome‘s newly released posters and trailer are pretty standard stuff, which I could swear I’ve seen tons of times before. Seriously, is there a medical drama template setting in Photoshop, where you insert actors’ faces and out it spews a generic-looking promo shot with the requisite scrubs, scalpel, and body part of interest?

True, medical dramas are always going to be popular and a great number of them are quite different from each other (see: House versus Grey’s, or New Heart vs OBGYN vs White Tower), so I don’t dismiss Syndrome for being yet another entry in the field. Occupation dramas are just a reason to change the scenery for universal stories of love/ambition/rivalry anyway.

Even still, I just can’t get my interest up for this show, because, well, we just saw Brain, right? The show ended not long ago, aired on Mondays and Tuesdays, and was about neurosurgeons. Syndrome, like Brain, revolves around a motley collection of familiar personalities, from your young female resident to the perfectionist colleague to the cold-hearted surgeon. You may as well call this Brain No. 2 (no relation to HeadsNo2). Or Brain Again. Re-Brained? No-Brainer?

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Read the rest of Medical drama Syndrome is no Brain (229 words)

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Post tags: cable programs, Han Hye-jin, Song Chang-eui

I loved Nancy Drew as a kid, so I am way onboard the concept of Girl Detective Park Hae-sol, which is an upcoming Drama Special mini-drama starring the wonderful child actress (er, teenaged now) Nam Ji-hyun in the title role.

Nam (who was so good playing childhood roles in dramas like Giant, Queen Seon-deok, and Will It Snow For Christmas) will play a character possessing keen senses that enable her to discern people’s emotions. The mystery unfolds as she investigates the suspicious events of her father’s death six years ago.

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Read the rest of Nam Ji-hyun turns into a Girl Detective (330 words)

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Post tags: Drama Special, Lee Min-woo (2), Nam Ji-hyun

Yay, we’re back on track! Last week was a weird week in that it was the New Year with a pre-emption, giving us fewer episodes than normal, but it was also a rare week that didn’t really speak to me. Considering that the show’s been on the air for months and it was the first week to do that, I’d say it’s pretty impressive.

In any case, I love the movement we get this week, for multiple couples and storylines. This show just has so much heart.

SONG OF THE DAY

Sweet Sorrow – “그대에게 하는 말” (Words Said To You). I did just post Sweet Sorrow recently, but this song is played in Episode 88. [ Download ]

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Read the rest of High Kick 3: Episodes 85-89 (3,650 words)

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Post tags: Ahn Nae-sang, Baek Jin-hee, featured, High Kick: Counterattack of the Short Legs, Jung Il-woo, Lee Jong-seok, Park Ha-sun, Seo Ji-seok, Yoon Kye-sang, Yoon Yoo-sun

Kim Hyun-joo has lined up her next drama (yay), which will be a weekend series (er, sigh?) titled Dumb Mom, which will be hitting airwaves next month.

Based on a novel of the same name, Kim plays the lead character, Young-joo, in a story following three women of three generations and their relationships with love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The book, which is itself based on a true story, follows a dim-witted woman who is the victim of a rape and her daughter Young-joo, who is born of the attack. The mother smothers the girl with love, and Young-joo finds the attachment so oppressive that she marries to run away from her, leaving Mom in a psychiatric hospital.

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Read the rest of Kim Hyun-joo headlines new SBS weekend drama (273 words)

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Post tags: Kim Hyun-joo, Kim Jung-hoon, Kim Tae-woo