You may recall that I am currently, as of right now, watching 6 currently airing dramas. Scratch that. 5 currently airing and 1 that just finished airing that I still haven't finished. They are, in case you missed it before:
Faith
Answer Me 1997
To the Beautiful You
Panda and Hedgehog
Arang and the Magistrate
and
Bridal Mask
If I'm going to be honest, I've only managed to keep up with 4 of those on the list. I've fallen behind on Bridal Mask (that's the one that finished airing and I'm still like 4 or 5 episodes behind...doh!) and Arang. I'm actually toying with the idea of dumping Arang. GASP! I know. It's hugely popular, how could I even dream of it? Well, see the thing is, it's just not doing it for me right now. I'm just not that into it and I have a very long list of older dramas that I still need to see that I can't get to because my time is being spent elsewhere. There are classics that still need watching. I may also, may give up Panda too. DOUBLE GASP! It started out so cute and I was really digging it, but then the past few episodes I've just been left scratching my head and wondering what in the flibbertyjibbet I just watched. If it wasn't for my serious, serious new-found crush on Super Junior's Donghae who plays the main male lead, I would have dumped it already. But honestly, Donghae will probably keep me coming back, even if the story falls flat. He's made it on "the list". Did you know that I have a list on my Dongsaeng page? Right up there at the top of the page there's a tab that says "Dongsaeng" and is all about me. Well, not all, but you know, stuff about me. Included is a list of my favorite idols/actors. I'm pretty stingy with who I allow on that list. Donghae was just added. See, told you - seriously crushing on him. Making it on "the list" is pretty much as serious as making a relationship Facebook official. We're talking major serious crushing going on. Don't know how I missed him before.
I have been marathoning the Super Junior videos that of course I've seen so many times before, but suddenly have taken on new meaning now that I have a "horse in the race" so to say, and my, oh my, what a fine pony he is. I don't know if any of you are the same way, but honestly, I have to see a performer in a drama before I'll take notice. With few exceptions. For example, most of the Big Bang guys haven't been in dramas but they're still my favorite group. Though, I must say, I'm not seriously crushing on any of them. I adore them as a group and individually, but I'm not crushing on any of them. I did with TOP for a little while, but it was a phase that eventually just faded over time like many crushes do. No reason for it, I still think he's gorgeous along with the rest of them, but no fireworks are going off these days. Then there is the Junsu (Simon and Martina get full credit for the term "the Junsu", I just can't think of him any other way now so I use it). I started crushing on him when he started his solo stuff recently. Tarantallegra made me wake up and say, "whoa horsey!" He still is no match for his hyung Jaejoong, but he's pretty yumm on his own. Of course, he was in a drama if you want to get all technical. Remember his cameo in Scent of a Woman? I loved him in that and was blown away by his soft, sweet voice and melted into a proper puddle of goo during his scene, so I'm counting it. And yeah, those are the only exceptions to the rule that for me to take notice, they've gotta be in a drama. Donghae is a perfect example of that. How often did I overlook him in videos, only now to sit there and say, "how the crap did I miss THIS?!" Mmm...Donghae.... *dreamy fangirl sigh*
Donghae *sigh* tangent aside, that's actually not what I was hoping to talk about today. I would like to finally talk about my current favorite drama - Answer Me 1997 which airs its final episode this Tuesday (the 18th).
Let's now take a walk down memory lane. As someone who herself was in high school in the late 90s, I have a special connection to this drama as it is about a group of high school students in the late 90s. Now, I didn't go to high school in Korea or even Korea-adjacent and I hadn't heard of KPop at the time (oh, if I only knew then what I was missing!), so those references are lost on me. But I can still appreciate things like pagers and cassettes and CDs and the desperation in recording something (or the tragedy of recording over something) off the TV onto VHS. I was married in 1997. My wedding video shot by my husband's grandfather for us - the same grandfather who also happened to be the one to perform the marriage ceremony for us - was recorded over. With the nightly news. My husband was a big Tom Brokaw fan and we had it set to record every night because he would miss it due to his work schedule. Well, one day I forgot to take out the wedding video that I had been watching, and wouldn't you know it, Tom Brokaw became our new wedding video. While I didn't fall to pieces like Shiwon in AM1997, I could definitely feel her pain as her H.O.T. video was recorded over. These are things that those of us during those days can sympathize with and part of what makes this show so fun.
The other thing that makes this show fun is the mystery element of it. Without giving away too much, I'll just say that you start out trying to figure out who is announcing their engagement that night at the 15 year reunion taking place in modern day. Then you try and figure out who the leading lady is married to. And they keep you guessing. Even at the end of episode 15 as she is giving birth, you still don't know who the husband/father is. It's maddening, but in a fun way.
Another thing that makes this show just the epitome of awesomeness is the amazing cast and story. And the incredible humor throughout. It is seriously hilarious. There are running gags throughout like Shiwon's mother's tendency to make copious amounts of food. But it's not just funny. It's sweet and touching at the same time. Like how Yoon Jae drives a piece of crap car that he can't even open the door of, yet Shiwon's parents drive a brand new car that he bought for them as soon as he got his job as a judge. And when Shiwon's dad found Yoon Jae's cigarettes and "scolded" him along with his daughter and how much he appreciated that.
And then there's the whole Joon Hee storyline. Joon Hee who is in love with Yoon Jae, one of his best friends. Yoon Jae who is oblivious even though Joon Hee eventually comes out and tells him point blank. Joon Hee who can see that his love with always be one-sided as Yoon Jae is desperately in love with Shiwon. You can't but hurt for him and just want to give him a hug and tell him that everything will be okay.
I also love the character played by Eun Ji Won. Eun Ji Won back in the day was a member of a group called Sechs Kies. I love what they did with that whole part of the story - including his group and himself but not as himself. I know him as "Kid" Ji Won from the variety show 1N2D. It was fun to see him in this drama. I always laughed at how cool he was when with the boys but then around girls he was painfully awkward. Was it because he was actually shy? No, it's because he watched and looked at so much porn that he couldn't face a real girl without extreme embarrassment. Creepy and ew! but so funny at the same time.
I don't want to give away anything else, but I just absolutely adore this drama and would encourage anyone and everyone to run and watch it. Today. Now. Right this instant. Why are you still here? The year's best drama is just sitting there waiting for you. I'm not one to make recommendations because I know everyone's taste is different, but I feel fairly confident that this one will appeal to just about anybody. And it's short so it's not even a big commitment. The final episode - 16 - airs on Tuesday, but a lot of the episodes are like half an hour long. They aired them back-to-back every Tuesday, but together total most of the weeks episodes were only an hour instead of 2. Some weeks had longer episodes, but a lot of them are short. It's more of a sitcom than a drama in a lot of ways. It's kind of a morph between the two. And it's just awesome. I've never before wished for a drama to continue. Even the ones that I adore, I've always adored getting closure on a story and not being left in suspense season after season. And while I don't want the suspense with this one to continue, I'd love to see the characters come back. They are so fun and I'm going to miss this one something fierce.
My first prescription for today is for all of my fellow Answer Me 1997 fans out there. They did a Korean SNL AM1997 special on how you too can be like Yoon Yoon Jae. Absolutely hilarious!
Next, we have a fan made playlist of videos that I didn't make but I enjoy watching. There's like 26 videos. You are expected to watch every single one of them.
No, not really. I haven't even watched them all myself, but it is still awesome to have them there and I thank the creator of the playlist who compiled all these fan-made vids so that I can have my "fix" whenever I need. I'm feeling a 15 episode marathon coming on before watching 16 this week.... Seriously, this is one AMAZING FANTASTIC SUPERB drama that I am head-over-heels in love with!!!
I have been marathoning the Super Junior videos that of course I've seen so many times before, but suddenly have taken on new meaning now that I have a "horse in the race" so to say, and my, oh my, what a fine pony he is. I don't know if any of you are the same way, but honestly, I have to see a performer in a drama before I'll take notice. With few exceptions. For example, most of the Big Bang guys haven't been in dramas but they're still my favorite group. Though, I must say, I'm not seriously crushing on any of them. I adore them as a group and individually, but I'm not crushing on any of them. I did with TOP for a little while, but it was a phase that eventually just faded over time like many crushes do. No reason for it, I still think he's gorgeous along with the rest of them, but no fireworks are going off these days. Then there is the Junsu (Simon and Martina get full credit for the term "the Junsu", I just can't think of him any other way now so I use it). I started crushing on him when he started his solo stuff recently. Tarantallegra made me wake up and say, "whoa horsey!" He still is no match for his hyung Jaejoong, but he's pretty yumm on his own. Of course, he was in a drama if you want to get all technical. Remember his cameo in Scent of a Woman? I loved him in that and was blown away by his soft, sweet voice and melted into a proper puddle of goo during his scene, so I'm counting it. And yeah, those are the only exceptions to the rule that for me to take notice, they've gotta be in a drama. Donghae is a perfect example of that. How often did I overlook him in videos, only now to sit there and say, "how the crap did I miss THIS?!" Mmm...Donghae.... *dreamy fangirl sigh*
Donghae *sigh* tangent aside, that's actually not what I was hoping to talk about today. I would like to finally talk about my current favorite drama - Answer Me 1997 which airs its final episode this Tuesday (the 18th).
Let's now take a walk down memory lane. As someone who herself was in high school in the late 90s, I have a special connection to this drama as it is about a group of high school students in the late 90s. Now, I didn't go to high school in Korea or even Korea-adjacent and I hadn't heard of KPop at the time (oh, if I only knew then what I was missing!), so those references are lost on me. But I can still appreciate things like pagers and cassettes and CDs and the desperation in recording something (or the tragedy of recording over something) off the TV onto VHS. I was married in 1997. My wedding video shot by my husband's grandfather for us - the same grandfather who also happened to be the one to perform the marriage ceremony for us - was recorded over. With the nightly news. My husband was a big Tom Brokaw fan and we had it set to record every night because he would miss it due to his work schedule. Well, one day I forgot to take out the wedding video that I had been watching, and wouldn't you know it, Tom Brokaw became our new wedding video. While I didn't fall to pieces like Shiwon in AM1997, I could definitely feel her pain as her H.O.T. video was recorded over. These are things that those of us during those days can sympathize with and part of what makes this show so fun.
The other thing that makes this show fun is the mystery element of it. Without giving away too much, I'll just say that you start out trying to figure out who is announcing their engagement that night at the 15 year reunion taking place in modern day. Then you try and figure out who the leading lady is married to. And they keep you guessing. Even at the end of episode 15 as she is giving birth, you still don't know who the husband/father is. It's maddening, but in a fun way.
Another thing that makes this show just the epitome of awesomeness is the amazing cast and story. And the incredible humor throughout. It is seriously hilarious. There are running gags throughout like Shiwon's mother's tendency to make copious amounts of food. But it's not just funny. It's sweet and touching at the same time. Like how Yoon Jae drives a piece of crap car that he can't even open the door of, yet Shiwon's parents drive a brand new car that he bought for them as soon as he got his job as a judge. And when Shiwon's dad found Yoon Jae's cigarettes and "scolded" him along with his daughter and how much he appreciated that.
And then there's the whole Joon Hee storyline. Joon Hee who is in love with Yoon Jae, one of his best friends. Yoon Jae who is oblivious even though Joon Hee eventually comes out and tells him point blank. Joon Hee who can see that his love with always be one-sided as Yoon Jae is desperately in love with Shiwon. You can't but hurt for him and just want to give him a hug and tell him that everything will be okay.
I also love the character played by Eun Ji Won. Eun Ji Won back in the day was a member of a group called Sechs Kies. I love what they did with that whole part of the story - including his group and himself but not as himself. I know him as "Kid" Ji Won from the variety show 1N2D. It was fun to see him in this drama. I always laughed at how cool he was when with the boys but then around girls he was painfully awkward. Was it because he was actually shy? No, it's because he watched and looked at so much porn that he couldn't face a real girl without extreme embarrassment. Creepy and ew! but so funny at the same time.
I don't want to give away anything else, but I just absolutely adore this drama and would encourage anyone and everyone to run and watch it. Today. Now. Right this instant. Why are you still here? The year's best drama is just sitting there waiting for you. I'm not one to make recommendations because I know everyone's taste is different, but I feel fairly confident that this one will appeal to just about anybody. And it's short so it's not even a big commitment. The final episode - 16 - airs on Tuesday, but a lot of the episodes are like half an hour long. They aired them back-to-back every Tuesday, but together total most of the weeks episodes were only an hour instead of 2. Some weeks had longer episodes, but a lot of them are short. It's more of a sitcom than a drama in a lot of ways. It's kind of a morph between the two. And it's just awesome. I've never before wished for a drama to continue. Even the ones that I adore, I've always adored getting closure on a story and not being left in suspense season after season. And while I don't want the suspense with this one to continue, I'd love to see the characters come back. They are so fun and I'm going to miss this one something fierce.
My first prescription for today is for all of my fellow Answer Me 1997 fans out there. They did a Korean SNL AM1997 special on how you too can be like Yoon Yoon Jae. Absolutely hilarious!
Next, we have a fan made playlist of videos that I didn't make but I enjoy watching. There's like 26 videos. You are expected to watch every single one of them.
No, not really. I haven't even watched them all myself, but it is still awesome to have them there and I thank the creator of the playlist who compiled all these fan-made vids so that I can have my "fix" whenever I need. I'm feeling a 15 episode marathon coming on before watching 16 this week.... Seriously, this is one AMAZING FANTASTIC SUPERB drama that I am head-over-heels in love with!!!
My final two prescriptions for ya of course are gonna have to be G-Dragon. In case you missed it, G-Dragon's solo album, One of a Kind, was finally released over the weekend, along with a new MV, Crayon. Um, what to say about Crayon? It's kind of like.... Uh... Well, the thing is.... Hmm... I'd liken it to.... Huh. Hard to explain. It is definitely a sensory overload. Fun, but if you get motion sickness, you might want to pop a Dramamine first. Anyway, if you are a faithful reader of mine, you know that in the past I have not been gaga for GD. I've always liked him, he just didn't "do it" for me, you know? I didn't really get him and his popularity. I must now admit to have been completely and totally wrong. I can do that - admit when I've been an idiot. I get it now. I really do. With everything he's put out this month I am now on the GD bandwagon. He's an incredibly talented young man. I love this entire album, so if you haven't checked it out, I'd encourage you to do so. So, without further ado, I leave you in the capable hands of GD as I sign off for the day. I wish you all health and happiness and a wonderful drama-filled week!
I LOVED this version that he did on Inkigayo! And it's a little less "whoa" than the actual video. Check it out too.
Oh my goodness. I just stumbled onto your blog. While searching pinterest for pics of Lee Min Ho and Lee Philip after watching Faith. So good to find other crazy ahjummas on the internet.
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