Drama Short: Dal Ja’s Spring (2007) Review

Grade: A

First impression

Whimsical and winning. Remind me again why I've put off watching this charmer for so long? Oh. That's right...12 Mountain Dew commercials per episode at Daily Motion. Dear DramaFever: Please carry more older shows!

Final verdict

I originally sought out this show because Dramabeans ranked it above Coffee Prince in their 2007 year-end recap. I thought: Better than Coffee Prince? Surely you jest? Ultimately, Dal Ja’s Spring doesn’t quite live up to that billing for me (what could, after all?), but it’s nonetheless my favorite straight-up Kdrama romantic comedy. Wonderful in all its particulars, this is the humane, effervescent story of not only the female lead, but also the people whose lives intertwine with hers. Never throughout the drama’s 22 episodes does the plot fail to please, and it treats every delightfully quirky character with respect, from no-nonesense bosses to romantic rivals to crazy mother-in-laws. At the heart of Dal Ja’s Spring are a smart-but-flawed female lead that it’s impossible not to love, a hero who’s just the right mix of strong and silent and cuddly, and a number of lighthearted contrasting side narratives. Sweet, funny, and indomitably whimsical, Dal Ja’s Spring is part romance, part workplace comedy, part family drama, and part grown-up coming-of-age story. With a distinctively fabulous signature look and some of the most infectious theme music ever, this light-as-air confection manages to satisfy on almost every level.

Stray thoughts 

• Dal Ja has done the unthinkable: It has made me care as much about the office politics as I care about the romance. Who knew such a thing was possible?

• I love that this show features so much illustration (see above). I’m not sure how I feel about the sullen (but admittedly elegant) corpse girls hanging at Dal Ja's office, but it’s a lovely touch that each episode ends with a tease: the following episode’s opening illustration, which sums up its theme.

• Out of all the dramas I’ve seen, Dal Ja’s glamorous ragamuffin wardrobe is probably my favorite. I’d wear any of it....if it could be magically enlarged to approximately three times its current size. (Engorio!)

• I hereby declare that all future Kdramas are required to include at least one sageuk interlude, like the delightfully silly ones seen throughout Dal Ja.

• In America, we have an entire relationship phase that never appears in Kdramas: Making out. They always go from first kiss right to full sex, which seems unfortunate—especially for innocents like Dal Ja, who (charmingly) needs to be coached on her first kiss at 33.

• Episode 2: That scream you just heard? Why yes, it was me recognizing waffle Sun Ki from Coffee Prince as the shop boy. Along with Choi Han Gyul’s grandmother, that makes two Coffee Prince actors in the space of two episodes. Clearly, this is the show for me.

• Episode 9: Way to make the most of a gratuitous shower scene—put it at the very end of an episode so you can replay it at the start of the next one. Well played, Dal Ja!

Drama Short: Time between Dog and Wolf (2007) Review

Grade: A+ 


What it’s about
A young intelligence officer deals with inner demons and tries to find his place in the world while seeking revenge for the killing of his mother, which he witnessed as a child. 


First impression
As of episode 5, I loved this drama so much I wanted to have its puppies. Nonstop thrills, a great love triangle, and amazing production values make it feel like a long, excellently made movie. Just what I needed after some drama disappointments.

Final verdict

As a big fan of romantic comedy, I rarely wander over into the action genre. I’m so glad I did here, though—I literally can’t believe how good this show is. Thrilling, action packed, and filled with sophisticated storytelling and complex, nuanced characters, it still manages to include a compelling love story. Loved it. (Read full review here.)

Added to top 10.

Drama Short: Queen In-hyun’s Man (2012) Review

Grade: A
What it’s about
A magical talisman saves the life of a Confucian scholar by sending him to the modern world, where he meets a no-name actress who happens to be playing his queen in a sageuk. Time travel hijinks and love ensue.

Initial impression
The female lead is 72 different kinds of stupid. As expected, though, I couldn’t love Ji Hyun Woo more as the male lead. He looks like an alien giant in the sageuk garb, but whatever role he’s playing always seems to be drawing on this deep well of inner stillness. I like his vibe so much, it makes me wax quasi-poetic, even. As of episode 3 this show needs fewer ditz escapades and more couple time.

Final verdict

A beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, high-tension romance with a time-travel twist. Good, but for me at least frustratingly far from great: The harebrained female lead’s rehabilitation was too little and too late; the time traveler’s acclimation to the modern world was disingenuously angst (and awe) free, and the talisman McGuffin didn’t hold water the way it should have. On the other hand, it is a compelling love story between two well-matched actors with great chemistry, and the script’s approach to romance is refreshingly novel for a Kdrama—there are no piggyback rides here, just thoughtful conversations. It’s actually shocking how unique this relationship is, considering that it’s built from the interaction between two standard drama tropes: the strong, silent Joseon scholar and the air-headed modern career girl.  (Read more about the end or see my full drama review for this show.) 

Stray thoughts
• Why is it that this drama, which is close to perfect, offends my inner feminist more than other shows with even more painful gender politics? If the female lead says she’s stupid one more time, I’m out.

• Is it wrong that my favorite thing about this show is watching the Korean commercials nobody bothered to cut out in the middle? It’s a fun drama, but I’m really in it for the shots of Lee Sun Gyun from Coffee Prince drinking his iced tea or whatever.

• Do they have the plan B pill in Korea? Because if so, you should have totally added it to your shopping list. Would the child of a time traveler like the male lead live if its dad died or skipped time? We saw what happened to the dead guy from an earlier episode—he (and his blood) turned to dust and disappeared. What would happen if half their baby’s genetic material aged 300 years in a second?

• Episode 15: Well, I guess I now really know all the highs and lows of being a Kdrama fanatic—including refreshing a website every fifteen minutes for two hours, hoping against hope that the subtitles I’m waiting for will suddenly appear.

Drama Short: Baby-Faced Beauty (2011) Review

Grade: B-


What it’s about
A cheerful, hardworking 34-year-old woman pretends to be 25 to take an entry-level job in a clothing manufacturer’s design department. As she proves herself professionally, she must decide between two men—her younger coworker and dreamy boss—while keeping her age a secret.

First impression
This show is mostly meh. Harmless and potentially amusing, there’s cute chemistry with the romantic lead, but as of episode 4 my world was not being rocked.

Final verdict

I take back most of the nasty things I thought (and said) about this drama. After the first few cartoony episodes, the female lead got way less stupid and much more interesting. The show itself was a harmlessly fun noona romance, something the world could definitely use more of.

Stray thoughts
• 
I think the title must have been mistranslated—Baby-brained Beauty feels like a more natural fit.


• Only in Asia would it be such a huge, scandalous deal that someone is lying about their age. In
egalitarian America, people would probably think it was a weird thing to do but not take it personally: How we treat each other around the office has more to do with our professional status than our ages.

Drama Short: What Planet Are You From? (2006) Review

Grade: C+


What it’s about
A tragic male lead (the stunningly handsome Kim Rae Won) discovers a poor girl from the countryside who looks exactly like his dead fiancée. As she moves to the city and takes a job at his movie production company, birth secrets are revealed and their lives completely intertwine. The lovers decide to be together whatever the cost.

First impression
Call me crazy, but this is just the type of drama I love: It has its feet on the ground and its head in the stars. (Sometimes literally.)

Final verdict

A strong beginning, a realistic vibe, and two of the handsomest male leads imaginable couldn’t save this drama from its makjangy, listless second half. Repetitive plotting, unlikable characters, and a surfeit of teary meltdowns didn’t help the situation, either. None of the relationships felt particularly believable or worth rooting for. (Well. Except the male lead’s relationship with his fiancée in the first episode, which was tender and sweet. Weirdly, the dead girl and her lookalike were played by the same actress, but the two characters had completely different kinds of chemistry with the male lead. The dead fiancée seemed to belong with him, while the younger girl always felt more like a kid sister than a lover.)  

Stray thoughts
• It’s nice to see My Lovely Sam Soon’s lovely Jung Ryeo-won again—that girl can sure speak some English, unlike most other Korean actors.

• Well, that’s one question answered: I will never travel to Korea, because based on episode two they have giant spiders there. I don’t do countries with giant spiders. (Being broke may also have something to do with my lack of travel plans, of course.)

Drama Short: King 2 Hearts (2012) Review

Grade: B-


What it’s about
In an alternate universe where the country’s monarchy survived until the modern day, South Korea’s spoiled young prince butts heads with a female North Korean soldier as they prepare for the World Officers’ Championship, some kind of military olympics. Political intrigue, Kdrama’s most ridiculous bad guy, and (of course) love are sure to follow.

Initial impression
If Speed on treadmills is the best this show has to offer, we may be parting ways sooner rather than later. Oy.

Final verdict

An amusing drama with a likable cast and lots of fun mythology about the Korean monarchy in the twenty-first century, but tonally inconsistent and about 6 episodes too long. As with everything else I’ve seen him in, Jo Jung Suk stole the show—his taciturn young officer’s charm cannot be overstated.

Stray thoughts

• Exactly how many times will this show feature people carrying on conversations in two different languages? Newsflash: lengthy speeches in Korean mean nothing to an English speaker, no matter how heartfelt they may be.

• I’m sick of “Your Body Is a Wonderland,” too, but that’s no reason to go and name your bad guy John Mayer…especially when he’s actually a remedial version of Heath Ledger as the Joker.

• Does anybody know the whereabouts of Rupert Grint’s dad approximately 9 months before Lee Seung Gi was born? The resemblance is uncanny: they look alike, share the same rubber-faced charm, and each give an unsurpassed disdainful side-eye.

• “Ride of the Valkyrie” is a great song and all, but I guarantee that no American will ever watch this show without singing Bugs Bunny’s lyrics to themselves: “Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit….”

• Guess we know how Lee Seung Gi spent his break between My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho and this show—learning how to kiss convincingly on screen. Good for him, for us, and the lucky girl he practiced with.

Episode 3: Clearly, I hardly ever get K-culture in-jokes, so it was a pleasure to actually understand why they made such a big deal about Ha Ji Won’s character reacting to the Hyun Bin billboard when she first arrived in Seoul. As far as I’m concerned, Secret Garden the show may be grade D material, but Secret Garden jokes always rate an A+.

Episode 7: So I wasn’t crazy about this drama’s first few episodes, which were an awkward rom-com mess. But when the ship set sail around episode 4, I was totally aboard, and I’m pleased as punch with the melo turn it took in episode 7. Guess I’m not genetically predisposed to hate everything Ha Ji Won is in, after all. 

New Feature: Drama Shorts

For quite some time now, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the old Currently Watching posts from this blog’s sidebar. They’re hard to read on the current archive page, so I toyed with the idea of relocating them to Twitter or Tumblr. (Both of which I hate for crotchety old woman reasons: What’s the world coming to when people think 140-character bursts of nothing and “reblogging” are creative output? Get off my lawn you pesky kids!).

Ultimately, though, I decided to inaugurate a new feature here: Drama Shorts. Tidied up into actual posts, the Currently Watching quips become speedy little overviews of all the dramas I watch, including ones that don’t get written about in more depth. They’re not particularly involved or insightful, but my rationalization is that sometimes you just want to know what you’re getting into when you start a new drama. When I finish watching a show I’ll create a new post for it and delete its entries from the Currently Watching sidebar.

Because I’ve got quite a backlog of this stuff—and because I’ve now officially stuck with this blog for six whole months, miracle of miracles—I’ve decided to celebrate by getting a little crazy and posting two Drama Shorts a day for this whole week. That’s the fruit of more than 160 hours of drama watching, horrifyingly enough (which translates into practically every minute of free time I've had since Christmas).

(P.S.  For me, Twitter’s entire existence is justified by this single account: Gosling Literary Agent.)