Flower Boy Next Door Fic: Happy (PG-13)

My first experience of Internet fandom was as a writer of fanfic. I don’t write it much these days, but I sometimes come across a show that I’m unwilling to say goodbye to. Flower Boy Next Door definitely falls into this category—the drama may be over, but its characters are still very much living in my head.

And because one of the greatest pleasures of maintaining this blog is that I get to post whatever the heck I want, here’s a short, fluffy piece of fan fiction about the continuing relationship of FBND’s Dok Mi and Enrique.  

(For more of my fanfic, visit my page at fanfiction.net or head over to the only other Kdrama story I’ve written, an epilogue to Coffee Prince.)

Drama Review: Flower Boy Next Door (2013)

Grade: A

Category

Youthful rom-com

What it’s about

Flower Boy Next Door is the deceptively thoughtful story of a lonely, damaged girl who re-enters the world with the help of a quirky new acquaintance, panda-suit wearing, scene stealing, heart-exploding Enrique Geum. 

First impression posts

Oh (flower) Boy: The Dramas

Those Blooming Boys Next Door 

Dok Mis and Me 

Final verdict

Here’s a quick pop quiz for you before we begin this review in earnest. Are you a drama watcher who:

1) enjoys goofy character studies that present wonderfully detailed universes but don’t necessary have much of an overarching plot, or

2) prefers shows that feature strong narrative throughlines and beginning-to-end, series-wide plots?

If you answered 1, you just might love Flower Boy Next Door. If you answered 2, you just might not.

Dok Mis and Me

Enrique: You like being home that much? Doesn’t it feel suffocating to stay indoors like that all the time?
Dok Mi: It doesn’t feel suffocating. I like it, and I feel at peace in my tiny place.

I’ve always been an introvert, someone who values solitude and contemplation and doesn’t necessarily need a lot of people around me to be happy. (Extroverts, in contrast, find their natural habitat in large groups of people, where they thrive on interaction with others.) If you’re reading this, I bet you’re an introvert, too—watching enough Korean drama to develop a blog-reading habit seems like a fairly reliable litmus test for the mindset.

Another person who’s almost certainly an introvert? Go Dok Mi, the lovely, reserved heroine of Flower Boy Next Door. Or that’s my hope, anyway—Kdramas tend to see any deviation from the beloved cheery, outgoing character type as a sign of damage and weakness.

Boy, Oh (Flower) Boy: The Dramas

With a premise so shallow and mercenary—young women will go out of their way to watch cute guys, dontchya know—who would have guessed that there would be more to tvN’s Oh Boy! series of dramas than broad comedy and wish-fullfilment girl porn? (Not that there would have been anything wrong with that, necessarily.)

But it turns out that each of this series’ three installments has a lot more to offer—edgy production values, nuanced characters, and real insight into what it means to be young and searching for a future in today’s world.

So let’s take a moment to appreciate the most stunning recent development in drama land: every single one of tvN’s Oh boy! shows is actually good.

Those Blooming Boys Next Door: FBND1

Amanda, Dong Hoon, and Jin Rak discuss episode one.

I’m still relatively new to watching dramas as they air. For most of my first year as a Kdrama zombie, I waited until shows were fully subbed and available online so I could marathon them as if they were giant movies. There’s something to be said for that approach—it’s immersive and makes it easier to follow the overarching plot. But watching a show as it airs in Korea has its charms, too.

Take Flower Boy Next Door, my current pick for watching live(ish). The Kdrama blogosphere is abuzz with discussion about this bright and funny new entry in tvN’s Oh Boy series, and it’s fun to follow along with other people’s commentary about each episode. Not being able to just hit “play” to watch the next show whenever I want also gives me time to really digest what I’ve seen.

So far, FBND has been a tasty confection—a sweet candy shell over a dark chocolate heart. Most of the dramas I’ve watched while they were airing haven’t been that great, but things are looking up: I can barely wait for this week’s episodes of to be subbed. (Which, of course, is exactly what I said at this point in Big’s run. We all know how that turned out.)

Here are some chaotic thoughts on an obviously well-ordered show.

Next, Please: Flower Boy Next Door

(The only thing cuter than this...

...is this)

Flower Boy Next Door

Romantic comedy

16 episodes

January 7, tvN

Have you been hearing a mysterious, high-pitched “EEE!!!” sound for the past week or so? Well, I must apologize: that’s the noise I’ve been making ever since I first heard about this new entry in the Oh Boy series of dramas, following after Flower Boy Ramyun Shop and my beloved Shut Up: Flower Boy Band. 

Based on a webtoon about a girl loner who spends all of her time scoping out her dreamy next door neighbor, FBND is bound to be a high-energy, youthful delight. But the real kicker is the genius casting of its leads: Yoon Si Yoon (Me Too, Flower) and Park Shin Hye (Heartstrings). They’ve each been the best thing about every drama they’ve ever been in, and their doe-eyed cuteness seems utterly compatible. (Almost too much so, in fact. They could be siblings. Uh-oh...) 

Although it’s pretty much standard procedure to shoot Kdramas live, allowing for on-the-fly course correction based on public opinion, the grapevine says FBND will begin filming soon. I find this heartening: scripting and filming a watchable show on a week-by-week basis seems spectacularly difficult. (Just ask the production team behind Faith.)

I’m hoping this show will find a middle ground between the lightweight FBRS and gritty SUFBB, but wherever it lands I’m almost certain to be a happy, happy girl.

I hate to wish away months and months of my life (especially when they contain long vacations), but will you just get here already, January?

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