Gu Family Book (ep 3 & 4) {{Dramatic Friday Review}}

Welcome back to my new & improved DFR on TCA.  I don't know if you guys noticed it but my past reviews were really long winded.  {{No way!! You can't be serious Unnie!!  We loved reading your posts!!  2 hours to read one post seems totally normal!!}}  {{kekekeke}} No seriously they were.  Because they didn't just contain my opinion on the show each week but a detailed recap of each & every single episode.  Each of those reviews, when you add in editing & pictures took about 2-3 hours of my day, again this per episodes so 4-6 hours a week!  That's a lot of time spent at the computer for this busy mom of 4.  And I found myself dreading the writing process & even watching the dramas too, because it meant a long review would follow.  And I don't want my time spent on here with you guys to have that bitter after taste for me or you.  So once I finished reviewing I Miss You I thought long & hard about how I wanted to get these reviews done.  Dongsaeng has a great review process for her reviews but that's totally her thing.  I had to come up with my own way.

This is what I have decided from now on... rather than doing 2 separate reviews for 2 different episodes I am going to combine the 2 into one review each week.  I am no longer going to do recaps.  If you read my review (technically it was my WWU) on Barefoot Friends then you now have a taste for what I am going to do.  I'm going to keep it simple.  Talk about the things I liked in each episode & give my opinions on the rest, w a few pics of my favorite moments & that's pretty much it.  And more than likely my reviews will continue to morph & change as I grow.  I hope the new way is pleasing & easy to read & fun for both of us.

Before I get started on my DFR {{Dramatic Friday Review}} for this new drama & week I want to say Hi to any new readers of TCA.  Something we've discovered, with each new drama we cover, is that we get new readers.  We love that new dramas introduces us to new possible friends & more fellow AddiKts.  I sound rather Sesame Street, I know, but meeting new people & making new friends is fun!  So Hi & Welcome to TCA peeps.  I hope you enjoy my reviews of Gu Family Book,
so much that you decide to investigate our blog further & find other things you like about us &
maybe tell your friends about us too.

And now what we've all been waiting for!!!!

As you can tell by the title of this DFR the next drama I want to review is Gu Family Book.  Starring the ever impressive & drooled over DIMPLE!! {{aka Lee Seung Gi}}  Yeah, I kind of have a crush on him, did you know there is a piece of paper out there where he wrote MY name?!?!  He so did!  Jealous aren't ya?  Wanna see it to believe it?  You can, I bragged like a school girl talked about it here.

This drama is Dimple's first saeguk.  And while he has done a drama about a Gumiho before he was not the actual Gumiho & it was set in modern day.  I have to admit I was excited to watch this one for 2 reasons; 1) DIMPLE!!!  {{Obviously}}  And 2) Dimple in a saeguk!  Daebak!~~ {{kekeke}} The first couple of eps, I gotta say were just 'okay'.  I like the background story etc...but I knew they were going to be sad & therefore, on that point alone, they weren't my favorite.  Note* I am not a fan of sad*.  Real life is sad enough.  I prefer the rom/com or the action/suspense/thriller.  BUT if you have to deal w Drama....I've said this before... KDrama is the ONLY kind of drama that is acceptable.  Right?!?!  Glad we agree.  But my general opinion about the first 2 eps were that Choi Jin Hyuk was cute & sweet & did a decent job portraying Gumiho in love with a human girl, facing tragedy.  But the female lead well she wasn't impressive.  She seemed kind of blah in her portrayal of a woman going through as much as she did.  She didn't elicit any real feelings from me with her portrayal.  With that being said, remember I actually did like the story they were trying to convey & the coming story line that they were setting up.

In episode 3 we get to finally meet Dimple & he is adorable & sweet & yup has that Dimple winking at me so beguilingly.

Hello Dimple.  It's been such a long time since I last saw you.  Did you miss me as much as I missed you?  You did!  How wonderful!  Not that you were sad of course, but that you missed me.  Happy Sigh.  Thank you for doing another drama.  You make me so happy, Dimple.  We must not be parted this long again, okay?  Pinky Promise?


O.O


Uh sorry AddiKts, we didn't mean to exclude you guys.

{{Pssst... Dimple, we'll talk later.  Okay?  *Giggle*Blush*}}

Ahem....

As I was saying, we get to see the arrival of the grown up Choi Kang Chi.  Now I have to admit I was thinking, 'okay from where is the drama going to come?'  He grew up a human, w an adopted father who fulfilled his promise to care for baby gumiho happily, he's not poor & he's healthy.  Enter Dragon Mom.  The wife of his adopted dad's boss, mother to the girl he's crushing on.  Okay, got it.  I see the drama coming now.  Daughter needs to marry well but Kang Chi may stand in the way of that & quite frankly Dragon Mom never liked Kang Chi from the beginning.  By the end of the episode, adopted dad's boss has left for urgent business & Dragon Mother steps in & has the guards remove him from the scene.  Breaking the promise to keep Kang Chi in his home & safe for the full 20 years.  (One month shy).  Does this mean all of the boss's good luck will be broken?  I can't wait to see how the story goes.  

We also got to meet Kang Chi's eventual love interest, Lady Dam Yeo Wool, enter Suzi.  She plays the tough, pretends to be a man to strangers, but not really....  It's an interesting story so far.  She is a girl & some people know she's a girl BUT she also acts like a man, kind of confusing in that it's not your typical "gotta hide my real identity" story, thank goodness.  It would seem she is a descendant of the guy who can sense & has the strength to kill Gumihos, they very one who killed Kang Chi's gumiho dad.  And he sends her into the town where Kang Chi has grown up strong & cared for, to help protect adopted dad & his business. She also breaks the mold in the I want to be me, a strong girl who can wield a sword & bow & arrow but will it prevent me from falling in love?  She keeps asking fortune tellers/palm readers if she will ever have a mate or if she'll be doomed to be alone?  The old Monk that knew Kang Chi's dad & mom & is responsible for floating Kang Chi, "Moses style", down the river to adopted dad, tells her she will meet her mate under the peach tree on the night of the crescent moon. But she should avoid this love at all costs, it won't end well.  {{I'd be saying,  "Ummmm....thanks? o.O  but can you tell me about the love that is good & will last?  And maybe a little less about the losers I'll meet along the way.  Just sayin."}}  So far, I'm liking her character, she's cute without being girlie & she's strong without being a gross out tom boy.  And she's pretty.  I like that she seems to have a balance in the character that so many times these kinds of story lines don't play out well.  You go Suzi.

As for the other characters? I'm still deciding, although I do like the, I think he's a Holy Man, from the forest, adopted dad, and Suzi's fellow soldier guy, played by Sung Joon.

{{Something I have to admit...When watching ep 1, it took me 20 min in before I finally realized that the madam of the Gisaeng house was the same actress (Jung Hye Young)  from Playful Kiss who played Seung Jo's mom.  It was so weird seeing her play such a serious role, I just didn't recognize her when she wasn't sneaking around hanging up signs that Seung Jo & Oh Ha Ni hooked up the night before. LOL}}

As far as episode 4 goes I liked how Yeo Wool had a couple of little flashbacks to when she was a kid, remembering that a dog once tried to attack her & there was this little boy, who swore he'd there to protect her, ala Kang Chi, but she can't remember much more than that.  And Kang Chi has no memory of that incident or of her.  It's very fate/destiny entwining for our 2 main leads.  And I have to say that the 2 of them play really well opposite each other, at least for me, I like their chemistry & word play & Dimple is rocking the comedy side.  He is cute & funny & thoroughly entertaining in this drama.  Not there was any real question of his abilities...he's pretty awesome sauce.

And the bad guy is truly a bad guy.  I really like how evil they've made him & he's down playing the evil to seem almost normal but then he has a feel & look about him that bespeaks greed, insanity, evil.  Especially when he saw Lord Park's daughter come out & had a kind of confusing vision of not seeing her but seeing the original object of his obsession that started all this in the first place, Kang Chi's mom, instead.  Pretty creepy.  He kind of oozes nastiness.  During the face off scene between him Lord Park I loved the juxtaposition of the 2 of them facing off much as the frog was facing off with the butterfly.  And isn't Lord Park lucky that he listened to the advice he was given on how to deal with the evil of Bi Joo?  He narrowly escaped having to give up his Inn, his daughter or accepting 200 beatings for Kang Chi.  But then Bi Joo decided, rather than deal with the impressive & intelligent adversary that is Lord Park, he'll just have him killed by his men.  Have to wait till 5 to find out whether his plan works.  The guy is leaving a blood trail across the southern provinces in his greed for more.  I think he's amassing bodies & wealth for his ultimate goal...I'm not sure what it is exactly but I wouldn't put it past him to be getting ready to try and overthrow the King himself.  He's that greedy.

And what was up with all the illusion fighter/ ninja guys at the end?!?!  They just appeared out of nowhere.

What the heck was that?!?!  I love the paranormal mixed in with the story.  Not just your average gumiho story.  Looking forward to watching more.  Have a great weekend.

Saranghamnida,