Here’s #2 in our First Episodes series: 2005′s thriller-revenge-melodrama Green Rose, a 22-episode SBS series which starred Go Soo and Lee Da-hae.

I don’t talk about this drama much so you may not have seen this recap coming, but I wanted to mix things up a little and highlight a show that seems to fly under the radar a bit. Although at the time, Green Rose was hardly low-flying; it had solid ratings that surpassed 30% and was extended by 2 episodes (having originally been planned for 20).

So what is Green Rose about? At the core you’ve got a young man who becomes the fall guy for something much larger than himself, whose happy life is turned upside-down and devastated, who comes back even stronger to reclaim what he lost. Corporate malfeasance, arson, attempted murder, a frame job, gangsters, industrial espionage, wrong-side-of-the-tracks love, revenge… yep, it’s got ‘em all. The pace is zippy, the hero sympathetic, and after his downtrodden beginnings, his road to revenge is enough to you a warm feeling of satisfaction.

SONG OF THE DAY

Green Rose OST – “그린로즈” (Green Rose) by Just [ Download ]

(...)
Read the rest of Green Rose: Episode 1 (3,694 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 107 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: featured, first episodes, Go Soo, Green Rose, Lee Da-hae, Lee Jong-hyuk

Maybe it’s because I haven’t been very into any of the series I’ve been trying that I’m finding myself more critical of little things. For instance: scenes or beats that aren’t merely reminiscent of earlier dramas, but downright lifted from them and transplanted into the new one. It’s one thing to wear an influence on one’s sleeve (for instance, the striking musical similarities in Hello! Miss‘s score to Dal Ja’s Spring were really obvious to me, but never got in the way); it’s another thing to pilfer directly.

(Random) SONG OF THE DAY

Vintage Blue – “Your Song” [ zShare download ]

(...)
Read the rest of Scene analyses and comparisons: Sam-Girl-Wolf-Rose edition (1,228 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2007. | Permalink | 91 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Green Rose, I Am Sam, Lee Jun-ki, My Girl, Time of Dog and Wolf