Mini Dramatic Friday Review: Full House 2, eps 1-12

Yes, it is still technically Friday here, so I'm a-okay to still call this a Dramatic Friday Review.  Yay!  What's more dramatic than a shot-at-the-buzzer-type post anyway?  You know, since we're creeping dangerously close to Saturday here and all.  I've been back and forth on whether or not I would post today.  I rather enjoyed the idea of playing hooky for a week, but turns out that I just missed it so, so here I am, at 10:12 on a Friday night, attempting to put together at least a mini review.  What's a mini review you ask?  Why, I'll tell you.  It will be short.  It will be sweet.  It will be screencap-less.  :O  Yes, screencap-less.  Did you know that pictures take up the vast majority of time in these reviews?  I wouldn't have thought it, but they do.  Try sifting through 300+ per episode to find just that small handful.  And then editing.  And then deleting them from device and computer alike in order to keep as much memory free as possible.  It's a lot of work.  It's a labor of love, especially when it nets hawt oppa pics, but still, a lot of work and a huge time suck.  Not to mention that we're already 12 episodes in to the drama I'm going to be chatting about today and there was no way I was going back and rewatching them all in order to get screenshots.  I mean, I love all y'all and all, but that love can't create time for such a huge project.  So, we will chat a bit and have to use our imaginations in order to "see" the action.  Really really want those pictures?  Then go ahead and send your favorites to me at thecrazyahjummas@gmail.com and I'll happily post them.  Really.  Why not?  I'm not opposed to pictures, I just am too lazy to do it myself this week.  But I'll welcome any contributions if you are a diehard Full House 2 fan and want to see your favorite moments forever encapsulated in this blog post.  If not, then just sit back and enjoy the word pictures I will attempt to paint.

Haha.

Word pictures.

That's funny.

If you think that's going to happen, you must still be new here.

I love your innocence and gullibility.  It's so endearing and adorable!

We once convinced one of my dear friends that vacuum cleaners sucked the color out of televisions.  I still adore her for it.  The idea of me painting word pictures is about as funny as the idea of vacuums sucking color out of televisions and about as unlikely.

Stick around.  You'll see.

Okay, I think that I have managed to intro this one to death, so I'm going to jump right in and start chatting now about what I said I was going to chat about -- the new drama, Full House Take Two.

Now, I saw Full House, the original.  You know, the one with Rain.  One of the arguable "classics" of Kdramas.  It's pretty much on the "must see" list, even though I have to say it wasn't one of my favorites.  It was okay, but kind of slow moving.  I'm not here to debate that one though.  I only mention it in case you are wondering "Hmm, I'd like to check out Full House 2, but I haven't seen the first one yet.  Is that going to be a problem?".  I can, without any doubt, assure you that no, it will most certainly not be a problem as the two are completely and totally 100% unrelated.  Isn't that wonderful?  I think so.  Has anyone else run into this issue lately...  You're at the library checking out all the books on the "bestseller" shelf.  Some look wonderful and very intriguing.  You go to pick it up, all excited, only to realize that it's part of a series, and you haven't read the earlier books.  You dejectedly replace said book back on the shelf, never to return to it again.  Happened to me just this week.  Happens to me pretty much every time.  So when I find one that not only looks good but also turns out to not be a later book in a series I haven't read, I am overjoyed.  I feel much the same about my drama "sequels".  These suckers can be long.  It can take some real time to get through them.  Maybe I don't want to have to go back and watch the first one before watching the second.  Thankfully, at least in this case, that will not be a problem.  I really don't know why they even called it Full House 2 since they really honestly have zero to do with one another.  But, that's the title they went with, so we'll go with it, just know that you're okay to watch it whether you've seen the original Full House or not.

Are we good so far?

Another thing to talk about off the bat too is the different format of the episodes.  Now, I've only been watching dramas for less than 2 years.  Maybe this has been done before, but for me it is my first experience with this format, and I must say that I am loving it.  What they are doing is airing it 4 days a week instead of 2, but each episode is only 30 minutes instead of an hour.  The net result is that you still are getting the same amount of drama each week, it's just spread out and chopped into smaller chunks.  It is so fun to wake up Monday through Thursday to a new episode.  I am a very impatient person.  Waiting a week in between episodes can be torturous.  This helps.  Though it does make the weekend stretch seem long since I get spoiled by the daily new episodes.  Good thing I'm filling that time with other wonderful things such as a rewatch of Coffee Prince.  :)  The fact that I'm going to try to cover 12 episodes seems a lot less daunting when you realize it's really the equivalent of 6 episodes, or 3 weeks worth of what a normally airing drama would be.  Make sense?  Hope so.  Don't want to confuse anyone here.  Well, at least not more than normal.

Okay.  Not related to the original and airs a bit funny.  Check and check.  Now, how about we talk about the actual story, hmm?  I will avoid too many spoilers, but be forewarned that there probably will be some and so if you haven't seen it yet and don't like spoilers, you may want to look away at this point.

Are they gone?

Yoohoo?  Anyone trying to avoid spoilers still here?

This is your final warning.

Spoilers may be present from this point on.

The story revolves around a singing duo, Take One.  Lee Tae Ik, played by No Min Woo, and Won Kang Hwi, played by Park Ki Woong (aka "Evil Oppa" Shunji in Bridal Mask) are the odd couple of KPop.  Lee Tae Ik's got issues.  He's high maintenance and allergic to everything.  He can't keep staff around and no one wants to work with him.  Kang Hwi is happy-go-lucky but less talented than his partner.  Tae Ik is more or less like an endentured servant working for the president of his company who he is trying to buy his family estate back from.  He used to be from a rich chaebol family, but lost them and consequently the family home and is now working hard and saving every penny in order to buy it back.  Kang Hwi is losing his sight due to an old eye injury as a child.  There is more to both of their pasts, but we don't know the full story yet.  Just that there is more there that we don't know yet.  Enter our heroine, Jan Man Ok (formerly Michelle Jang), played by Hwang Jung Eum.  She is orphaned at a young age and brought from her home in France to Korea to be raised by her strict Taekwondo master grandfather.  When grandfather leaves for an extended period of time, we see that the now adult Man Ok doesn't necessarily share in her grandfather's Taekwondo aspirations.  Sure, she has also been trained as a master, but her real passion is for fashion.  She runs an online clothing store.  Things start to go awry when Take One stumbles haphazardly into her life.  One thing leads to another and she finds herself without her store or studio and unable to make money.  She needs a job.  And Take One needs a stylist.  Badda boom, badda bing.  Say hello to Take One's new stylist, the ever lovable and quirky Man Ok.

At this point I feel the need to point out something that most likely everyone who is watching this has noticed. Yes, I must go there.  You know what I'm about to say, don't you?  That's right.  The hair.  What in the blazing blue bumblebees where they thinking with these hairstyles?  The worst offenders are Tae Ik and Man Ok.  Isn't she supposed to be a stylist with, oh I don't know, some style?  What is up with that ahjumma hair?  I am an ahjumma (or at least a lot closer than she is) and I don't even have hair like that.  The short perm?  Like your weird aunt has been sporting since the 80s?  And Tae Ik?  The guy is supposed to be hot, but his hair is usually twice as big as his head.  He looks ridiculous.  I don't know what they were thinking.  I know Asia, generally speaking, is pretty hip to style and trends.  Maybe in a year or so we'll start to see these hairstyles popping up here in the Western hemisphere.  Oh golly, I hope not.  Heaven help us all if they do.  Some things are not meant to be resurrected or revisited, and our worst possible 80s-dos are at the top of that list.  I know.  I was there.  I lived through it once.  We really, really don't need to go there again.  Just trust me on this.

At this point in the show, we've had some scandals involving our boys, and soon to be our leading lady as well.  The president, in what appears to be an attempt to save Kang Hwi and/or face as he is about to lose his sight (a little fact that the president is in fact still hiding from poor Kang Hwi who has no idea that he's about to be blind), lets word leak out, with picture "evidence", that Kang Hwi is gay.  Later on it comes out that not only is he gay, but that Tae Ik is his partner.  Only, now there's about to be a scandal that claims that Tae Ik and Man Ok are actually involved.  Confused?  Eh.  Don't be.  Just knowing that there are scandals and that everything is all crazy and screwy-lewy around the Take One camp is enough at this point.  And that the president isn't a very nice guy.  And that we're developing a love triangle between the Take One boys and their ahjumma-haired stylist.  At some point, Tae Ik and Man Ok will also realize that they met before as children.  A lot of intrigue and interest is brewing and will certainly be bubbling over any day now.

And there you have it.  The first 12 episodes of this 28 episode drama (or 6 out of 16 depending on how you want to count them).  I don't know if I'm going to stick to reviewing this one.  While I am enjoying watching it and love the format, it doesn't make it too review friendly for me.  We'll see.  I still haven't found "the one".  Until I do, though, I will probably chat about this one since it's the only currently airing drama I'm watching at the moment.  So, if you are loving this show and want to see it stick around on the review lineup, drop me a line/leave me a comment and let me know.  If you want to read it, I'll write it.  If you don't, then I won't.  See how easy I am to work with?  It's all about what you, the readers, want.  What power you wield!  Oooh!  Ahhhh!

Now, it is time for me to pimp out this bad boy and head to bed.  A little more Coffee Prince awaits me before calling it a night....  Can't keep Gong Yoo waiting.  Have a wonderful weekend everyone!  Thanks for stopping by!