Here we are, Part 5!

As girlfriday said in her review, I’d also like to thank guest bloggers Dahee Fanel and thunderbolt for participating in this year’s year-in-review roundup. A particular thank-you goes out to GF herself for being so game to jump into this whole world of crazy with me, and I think you’ll all agree when I say that Dramabeans is better for her addition to it. I never fail to get a huge kick out of her wicked humor, or for Dahee’s frank and bold insights, or thundie’s thoughtful eloquence. We don’t always agree, but that’s exactly why I love hearing the differing points of views.

Most of all, thanks to the DB readership — that means you! — who have been so supportive, vibrant, and often laugh-out-loud funny. We don’t take you guys for granted, rest assured, and are honored by the community you’ve built here. It’s like a second home, which sounds like a metaphor but actually isn’t because with all the hours I spend here, it really IS one.

So here’s the last of the reviews! With that, we bid adieu to the past year and look forward to lots more laughs, craziness, and yes, head-pounding-WTF-ery in the new year. Bring it on, 2011.

SONG OF THE DAY

Standing Egg – “First Christmas.” The song’s a day or two late, but no matter: Hope your Christmas (or other seasonal holiday) was merry! [ Download ]

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Read the rest of 2010 Editors’ Picks [Year In Review, Part 5] (5,374 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 382 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Baker King Kim Tak-gu, Cinderella's Sister, Coffee House, Eom Ji-won, featured, Giant, Jang Hyuk, Jejoongwon, Joseon X-Files, Jung Bo-seok, Kim Gab-soo, Kim Hyun-joong, Lee Mi-sook, Micky Yoochun, Moon Geun-young, My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho, Personal Taste, Rain, Runaway, Shin Mina, Sohn Ye-jin, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry, year in review, Yoo Ah-in

I have to say, 2010 was a downright awesome year. It was the year of bromance, the year that Santa came in August, the year when guys had perms and noonas ruled, the year of the sparkly tracksuit and hoi-hoi, the year that makgulli made a comeback. But most importantly for me, it was the year I joined Dramabeans and got to know all of you. So thanks, for all the encouragement, the thoughtful commentary, the dissenting voices, the snark, and of course…the fangirling. It’s been a helluva year for this recapper, and I for one couldn’t ask for anything better for Christmas than one giant, crazy, Dramabeans family.

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Read the rest of Objects in mirror are closer than they appear [Year In Review, Part 4] (8,432 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 154 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Athena, Bad Guy, Baker King Kim Tak-gu, Cinderella's Sister, Coffee House, Dr. Champ, Drama Special, featured, God of Study, I Am Legend, Mary Stayed Out All Night, My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho, Pasta, Personal Taste, Playful Kiss, Prosecutor Princess, Queen of Reversals, Runaway, Secret Garden, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry, year in review

This has been an exceptional year for kdramas. Just ask Kim Gab-soo, if you can catch him in an idle moment, that is. The man appeared in ten dramas this year, a number that is mind-boggling in itself and one which is bound to make Bae Yong-joon’s fans wail.

But it isn’t just the sheer volume of Kim Gab-soo awesomeness that we could feast on that makes 2010 a heady year. No, for me it was how many dramas were jostling for first place that makes this year especially exhilarating. Not since 2007 have I seen such quality or liked so many dramas in a span of just twelve months. Altogether I watched more than twenty but will exclude from this year-end review the ones that I dropped or put on hold after 1-3 episodes. That leaves me with fifteen dramas, arranged from least-liked to the one that owns my heart this year.

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Read the rest of Heady with a chance of ho hum [Year In Review, Part 3] (9,579 words)

© thunderbolt for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 146 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chuno, Coffee House, Comrades, Dr. Champ, featured, Giant, Jejoongwon, Joseon X-Files, Mary Stayed Out All Night, My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho, Oh My Lady, Secret Garden, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry, Wish Upon a Star, year in review

It’s that time of year again, when we look back and size up the past twelve months of dramas. This is my fourth year (this is my fourth year?!) doing this, and it’s always one of my favorite posts to write, because while I love to analyze and parse dramas to within an inch of their lives via recaps, I also enjoy looking at them through a holistic lens, to survey the forest as well as the trees. Plus, I eagerly anticipate what my fellow drama-loving friends have to say. I know that we’ll always have differences of opinion, but that’s the fun of it.

As in past years, this’ll be a multi-part series, with five posts in total. If you’d like to check out past Year In Review posts, you can get there by way of this handy link — linky! — or via the recap index.

Without further ado, let’s get this show on the road.

SONG OF THE DAY

Cinderella’s Sister OST – “Smile Again” [ Download ]

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Read the rest of A year of surprises and disappointments [Year In Review, Part 1] (7,921 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 186 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Bad Guy, Cinderella's Sister, Coffee House, Dr. Champ, Drama Special, featured, I Am Legend, Joseon X-Files, Mary Stayed Out All Night, My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho, Oh My Lady, Personal Taste, Playful Kiss, Runaway, Secret Garden, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry, Wish Upon a Star, year in review

It’s December, and you know what that means around these parts: Time to reflect on the past year and see how the dramas stacked up! And boy, were there a lot of them.

As in previous years, I am planning a multi-part series (with special guest bloggers, natch!) to wrap up the year, which we’re busily writing up now — keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks! If you want a refresher on how previous years have gone, here’s this handy tag to take you right to them.

But before we tell you what we thought about the dramas of 2010, this is YOUR turn to weigh in and vote for your favorite shows, couples, bromances — and, yes, your big disappointments — in what we’re calling the Beanie Awards. They’re in your hands; give ‘em out with care!

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Read the rest of 2010 Beanie Awards: Vote for your favorite dramas of the year (1,194 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 682 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Bad Guy, Baker King Kim Tak-gu, Chuno, Cinderella's Sister, Coffee House, Comrades, Daemul, Dong Yi, Dr. Champ, featured, Giant, God of Study, I Am Legend, Jejoongwon, Joseon X-Files, Mary Stayed Out All Night, My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho, Oh My Lady, Pasta, Personal Taste, Playful Kiss, Prosecutor Princess, Road No. 1, Runaway, Secret Garden, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry, Wish Upon a Star, year in review

I enjoyed this finale. Finale episodes are tricky things. You have to wrap up the story, but not in such a rushed way that it feels crammed, like the drama ran out of time. We as the audience usually need some time to come down from the emotional climax, and a drama that cuts off too soon after that leaves us feeling shafted. On the other hand, you can’t leave so little for the last episode that it feels like an epilogue instead, with random scenes filling out the time after the final conflict is resolved.

This episode settled the major conflicts and gave us some nice character moments, and wrapped things up on an upbeat note. That’s pretty good for a finale, I’d say.

SONG OF THE DAY

Lala Sweet – “Good Bye” [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Coffee House: Page 18 (Final) (3,619 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 138 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Coffee House, Ham Eun-jung, Jung Woong-in, Kang Ji-hwan, Park Shi-yeon

Hey, girlfriday here, pinch hitter in the Coffee House lineup. I couldn’t let the series end without getting a word in, so I’ll be providing you with the recap today, and rest assured, javabeans will be back for the finale.

Earlier in the run I liked the series but didn’t love it, mainly because one third of the triangle always felt off to me (I was not a fan of the bumblingly annoying Seung-yeon). But then that time leap actually changed how I felt about her character, and it effectively made all three characters level—which I totally dig.

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Read the rest of Coffee House: Episode 17 (3,182 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 114 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Coffee House, Ham Eun-jung, Kang Ji-hwan, Park Shi-yeon

All right, we’re in our last week! Last week was a hectic mess and I fell behind on recaps, but I’m hoping that this week will be much more productive. It’s been a fun ride but I’m ready for this one to wrap up and make way for some new, potentially fun dramas that are on the horizon. (And there are a LOT on the horizon.)

SONG OF THE DAY

Misty Blue – “낮잠” (Afternoon nap) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Coffee House: Page 16 (3,676 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 75 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Coffee House, Ham Eun-jung, Kang Ji-hwan, Park Shi-yeon

There’s only a week left of Coffee House (and three more recaps after this one). What’s interesting is that I am really enjoying the episodes, and the acting, and the characters (mostly). And y’all know how much I love Kang Ji-hwan. So it’s a curious how this drama has consistently entertained me, but it hasn’t taken root in my heart/mind/feelings. I don’t even share a lot of the bigger criticisms about the show that many others feel, and have been content to let the plot play out without feeling upset about it. Maybe it’s just the season. Or timing. Or something about the show itself that keeps things sort of at a surface level, even despite incorporating some serious emotional beats. Oh well. I’m not beat up about it. (And yet, that’s what I find so weird.)

SONG OF THE DAY

Space A – “섹시한 남자” (Sexy Man). I laughed out loud when this song cropped up in this episode, because it’s one of those old-school kpop hits from a group that (like so many expendable kpop acts) had a pretty short shelf life. But I seem to recall the song being popular during a trip to Korea, which means for a short while I heard it everywhere. [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Coffee House: Page 15 (2,702 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 78 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Coffee House, Ham Eun-jung, Kang Ji-hwan, Park Shi-yeon

I really liked this episode. This drama is heading into somewhat more serious/emotional territory, but it’s not getting so melodramatic that it turns me off. There’s angst, but not ridiculous, drawn-out, unnecessary amounts of it. We get a lot of character reveals and insights in this episode, and I always love it whenever a drama does that.

SONG OF THE DAY

짙은 (Zitten) – “그녀” (Her) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Coffee House: Page 14 (3,849 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 102 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Coffee House, Ham Eun-jung, Jung Woong-in, Kang Ji-hwan, Park Shi-yeon