And now to conclude the Big 3 Broadcaster awards with SBS, featuring some of the most popular dramas of the year. Tree With Deep Roots was the big winner of the night, winning six trophies in total, including the Daesang for Han Seok-kyu, and the Top Excellence Award for Best Drama. There were no big upsets in any category, because they kind of have a category for everyone, but that’s the name of the game. I’m just happy for Han Seok-kyu’s big win, and the fact that he didn’t have to share the glory with any split-award hullabaloo.

Protect the Boss cleaned up as well, winning Best Couple and acting awards for the stars, as well as an additional netizen popularity award for Choi Kang-hee. As expected, Thousand Day Promise had a strong showing in the acting categories, as did fellow melodrama Scent of a Woman. It certainly was the year for tearjerkers. The winners…

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Read the rest of 2011 SBS Drama Awards (1,653 words)

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Post tags: awards, Choi Kang-hee, Eom Ki-joon, Gu Hara, Han Seok-kyu, Im Soo-hyang, Jaejoong, Jang Hyuk, Jeon Gwang-ryul, Ji Chang-wook, Ji Sung, Jung Kyeo-woon, Jung Yumi (2), Kim Rae-won, Kim Sun-ah, Lee Dong-wook, Lee Mi-sook, Lee Min-ho, Lee So-yeon, Lee Yo-won, Seo Hyo-rim, Shin Hyun-bin, Shin Se-kyung, Song Joong-ki, Su Ae, Wang Ji-hye, Yoon So-yi

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)

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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 don’t know if it’s me, but I’m just not hitting it off with finales this time around. [It is SO NOT just you. --javabeans] It’s just, when you think about it…you’ve spent sixteen, or TWENTY friggin episodes in the will-they-or-won’t-they-oh-god-they-won’t-even-get-close, and speak!-please-for-the-love-of-all-that-is-holy-speak! So it’s not asking for too much to be rewarded at the end with a satisfying conclusion. It’s actually the cardinal rule of episodic storytelling. Otherwise why on earth would we submit ourselves to such torture? (I mean this generally, in terms of enduring all lengthy plots of all dramas.)

I wanted to love this finale. Hell, I even wanted to hate this finale. Either would have been awesome. But it just sort of fell flat, without kicking up the tension, the chemistry, or even the cuteness, which I would have accepted in exchange. Maybe. What makes me extra crazy is that it has a pre-ordained ending in the Cinderella framework—all you’d have to do is turn it on its head, and add a touch of whimsy, and you’re golden. It’s a classic fairytale for a reason. I would have forgiven all your sins for a great finale, but you missed your shot, Show. And for that, I am truly sad. [And I'm pissed. --jb]

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Read the rest of Cinderella’s Sister: Episode 20 (Final) (208 words)

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Post tags: Chun Jung-myung, Cinderella's Sister, Lee Mi-sook, Moon Geun-young, Taecyeon

Except for a few minutes’ worth, most of the scenes in this episode are obscured by an election ticker running across the bottom. I considered cropping it out of the frames, but that looks just as odd, so we’ll just have to put up with it.

This may just be the light at the end of the tunnel speaking, but Episode 19 was a big old relief to me. Some of the conflict resolutions felt anticlimactic after all the many hours of hard-core angsty build-up, but I’m beyond the point of caring about that and am just glad that things are speeding to a close. Well, maybe “speeding” is the wrong word, but at least we’ve resumed moving from that standstill — quicksand, even — of the middle stretch.

SONG OF THE DAY

Cinderella’s Sister OST – “나무” (Tree) by Alex [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Cinderella’s Sister: Episode 19 (145 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 82 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chun Jung-myung, Cinderella's Sister, Lee Mi-sook, Moon Geun-young, Seo Woo, Taecyeon

Well look who turned the titanic around in the moments before impact. While this episode mostly has me screaming an exasperated “FINALLY!” at every turn, I can still appreciate it for being what I wanted the show to be around the midpoint. We’ve got plotting, wheeling, dealing, sharing, and hugging…but the real star of this episode is The Unholy Relic of Unspoken Love Between Two Stubborn Souls, aka The Letter. Archaeologists have declared it a monumental find, as historians had originally deemed it too old to matter; but apparently, they were wrong.

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Read the rest of Cinderella’s Sister: Episode 18 (92 words)

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Post tags: Chun Jung-myung, Cinderella's Sister, Lee Mi-sook, Moon Geun-young, Seo Woo, Taecyeon

I think I have to start out with an apology, because I’m just so emotionally checked out of this drama that I can’t tell a good episode apart from a bad one anymore. I’ve read a lot of comments about how Episode 17 is so much better than the previous ones, which was promising to hear, but in the end all it gets from me is a resounding “Eh.” There are two conflicting adages that come to mind: “Better late than never” and “Too little too late.”

SONG OF THE DAY

Lemon Tree – “또 운다” (Crying again) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Cinderella’s Sister: Episode 17 (102 words)

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Post tags: Chun Jung-myung, Cinderella's Sister, Lee Mi-sook, Moon Geun-young, Seo Woo, Taecyeon

Well, if you’ve made it this far, you deserve a prize. Perhaps a bobblehead Eun-jo doll, or a Ki-hoon weeble wobble, perfect for punching. What we get in this episode, along with the last one, are finally some major revelations and confrontations, ones that we desperately needed perhaps last century, but hey—when you’re dying of thirst in the desert, you don’t turn down a drop of water.

In this episode, Hyo-sun seeks out a skeleton in Mom’s closet, Eun-jo and Mom get lessons in feeling feelings, Ki-hoon gets emotionally pistol-whipped, and Jung-woo stands around with very little to do but get squarely ignored by Eun-jo.

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Read the rest of Cinderella’s Sister: Episode 16 (105 words)

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Post tags: Chun Jung-myung, Cinderella's Sister, Lee Mi-sook, Moon Geun-young, Seo Woo, Taecyeon

As I was watching Episode 15, I couldn’t help wishing this part of the plot had happened at the halfway point rather than three-quarters of the way to the end. If this shift in family dynamics had come at the midpoint, I think I would have been a lot more excited about the dramatic possibilities, but since it comes after so much dragging of feet, it loses a lot of its potential. Still, we’ve got some fantastic acting, again by Lee Mi-sook and Seo Woo, the latter of whom really kicks it up a notch.

SONG OF THE DAY

Rumble Fish – “어쩌지” (What do I do?) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Cinderella’s Sister: Episode 15 (111 words)

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Post tags: Chun Jung-myung, Cinderella's Sister, Lee Mi-sook, Moon Geun-young, Seo Woo, Taecyeon

Okay, I’m starting to sound like a broken record, I know. But while this episode is chock full of events, one of which, pictured above, is something we’ve been waiting seven thousand years for, none of them actually results in anything changing. At least not in the episode itself. Maybe things that happen here will show their effect down the road…but here’s the thing…there’s not THAT much road left to go. If we’re still taking one step forward, two steps back, I don’t know what on earth we’ve spent fourteen episodes establishing, if we could have just ended where we began. Needless to say, this is the episode that shattered what was left of my sanity, as you will witness below…

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Read the rest of Cinderella’s Sister: Episode 14 (121 words)

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Post tags: Chun Jung-myung, Cinderella's Sister, Lee Mi-sook, Moon Geun-young, Seo Woo, Taecyeon

Another emotion-packed episode, parts of which I loved and other parts which I did not love at all. Seems this is becoming a pattern for me with his drama — it’s like these two extremes are growing ever farther apart, so that the heart-wrenching parts of each episode are enough to bring a tear to my eye, but the frustrating parts are enough to make me swear at my screen.

SONG OF THE DAY

Big Mama – “기다리다 미쳐 ” (Going crazy waiting) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Cinderella’s Sister: Episode 13 (87 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 70 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chun Jung-myung, Cinderella's Sister, Lee Mi-sook, Moon Geun-young, Seo Woo, Taecyeon