Nancy Thistlethwaite

Heirs is available for streaming on Dramafever.

Anna: I’ve just finished watching Heirs, and if someone had told me months ago that I would be forcing myself to watch a show with Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye, I would have been absolutely flabbergasted. But Heirs has managed to produce a show that squanders a good cast due to the lack of an interesting plot. I can’t believe I watched the whole thing! Really, the only thing keeping me going was knowing that I’d have the chance to discuss it with you. So I’m hoping for a chance to process my feelings of resentment for losing 20 hours of my life watching this show.

Heirs. This Picture is Much Better than the Actual Show.

Nancy: Ha! Though I think it is important we discuss this K-drama because it got high ratings and won drama awards for popularity in Korea. So basically Heirs is about a poor high school girl Eun Sang, who meets Kim Tan, a rich, unhappy boy. Her mother works for his family, and she ends up going to his posh school where the have-nots are bullied. It’s said the writer wanted it to be like a Korean Gossip Girl, and there are many similarities. But where Gossip Girl suffered from too many plot turnovers so that the characters couldn’t fully develop, here THERE IS NO PLOT. The characters interact with each other, but nothing really happens. They are all gorgeous. They are all unhappy. And…? And…?

Woo Bin Eats Noodles!

Anna: I think also it is somewhat similar to Boys Over Flowers, but Kim Woo Bin had the Tsukasa Domyouji part instead of Lee Min Ho. This is actually something that might have been interesting if it had been more fully explored, but nothing much happened. As I was thinking back over this show I thought that it would be great for people who want to see Lee Min Ho cry a lot, but I am unfortunately not one of those people.

In California for some reason. Also inexplicably wet.

Nancy: But Eun Sang has no spirit or courage like Tsukushi does in Boys Over Flowers, so the formula does not work. I remember thinking, “It’s good Park Shin Hye can cry at the drop of a hat, because nothing else is going on….” Let’s talk about the shining light in this drama–the reason I kept watching (besides morbid curiosity): Kim Woo Bin! Woo Bin as Choi Young Do stole the show. Heck, he WAS the show. The climax in this drama did not involve the heroine. It was Young Do running to find Kim Tan. Young Do was the only character who showed growth in this drama. He was a compelling baddie. I enjoyed his scenes with Eun Sang far more than Kim Tan’s. Though sometimes it was painful to see how much the script tried to pull from Woo Bin’s role in School 2013 and fail. Unexpectedly, I also enjoyed Lee Bo Na [played by Krystal of f(x)]. Her scene running from Yoon Chan Young in the hallway was delightful. But she talked so fast that keeping up with the subtitles was a challenge. And what did you think of the scenes shot in California?

Woo Bin being annoying and awesome!

Anna: I agree that there was far too much crying in this show. Kim Woo Bin was great! At first I found Choi Young Do really annoying, but as the drama progressed it was clear that his character was the main one that had any character development written into the plot of the show. Young Do was also so much more dynamic in personality than the large supporting cast. I also enjoyed the supporting romance between Lee Bo Na and Yoon Chan Young. I looked forward to their scenes, just because the more lighthearted nature of their issues was a huge relief compared to the heavy handedness of most of the other scenes.

I thought that the California scenes relied far too much on the scenery and setting, which was a problem since they came at the start of the show and nothing was really happening to make me invested in the story. The American actors were uniformly terrible, but I was expecting that.

Nancy: Someone told me on Twitter that the “Californian” actors had been hired in Korea and sent over, which makes perfect sense as they all had dodgy accents and looked like they had just stepped out of a rather seedy underwear catalog. Not only that, but nearly all the “Californian” roles were offensive–don’t even get me started on the wife beater wearing a wife beater! I was embarrassed for the writer for the puerile racism in those episodes. But I did enjoy the scenery and had a giggle at the number of locations they spliced together.

Sharing a tender moment!

Anna: That rumor about the casting makes a lot of sense. Honestly, my expectations for the California setting were really low, and there wasn’t anything on those few episodes that was very good. I was holding out hope that the show would get better when the characters went back to Korea, and while more Woo Bin was good, if I hadn’t been planning on discussing the show with you, I would have given up midway through the season.

With the topic of wife beaters, I found myself mentally constructing a narrative about the costuming choices for the show. I wondered at times if the costume designer was deliberately trying to punk the audience, or if there was some other explanation for the terrible things that Lee Kin Ho had to wear. The sweaters were really something else.

Hello. Here is a sweater.

Nancy: I tend to focus on knitwear when a K-drama gets boring, so it was good this was a fall/winter show! Min Ho in the pale pink angora cardigan to show his “soft heart”–BA HA HA HA! But Woo Bin’s sweaters were always dishy. They really should have a K-drama award for knitwear.

Lee Min Ho can wear almost anything, but I think even he cannot pull off pink angora.

I feel that we must mention Heirs was the most-watched drama on DramaFever in 2013. It won out over Master’s Sun, Two Weeks, and School 2013: all of which had great stories. Heirs is pretty with pretty actors, and of course there is Woo Bin. But if you require that something actually happens in your K-drama, this show is not for you.

Anna: Woo Bin was great, and I would honestly like to see Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye together in a show again with much better writing.

And one can hope that Lee Min Ho will make a triumphant return to hurting people with spoons once again!

Watch at Dramafever!

Anna: I Hear Your Voice is a show with a somewhat bland title considering the way it turns viewers into emotional punching bags. I’ve spent the past several weeks working through this show with a mixture of delight and dread. I Hear Your Voice takes some fairly typical plot elements like poor girl vs rich girl conflict and actually makes them interesting all while exploring the good and evil sides of human nature. Throw in a cute psychic teenage boy and an awkward but secretly handsome prosecutor into the mix, and you end up with one of the most unique dramas I’ve watched recently. I Hear Your Voice is streaming on Dramafever.

Yoon Sang Hyun inexplicably cosplaying as someone not hot.

The not-so-good poor girl in this drama is Jang Hye Sung, a public defender who is sarcastic, apathetic, and is interested in her job only because of the potential for a steady income. Her nemisis is rich girl prosecutor and judge’s daughter Seo Do Yeon, who has a cold and calculated approach to the law. Hye Sung and Do Yeon are connected through a series of incidents in their childhood, with one of the notable incidents taking place when they witnessed the murder of a man with his young son in the car. The son is Park Soo Ha, a boy with psychic powers who grows into a teenager nursing his childhood crush on Hye Sung. As Hye Sung starts the next phase of her professional career, she encounters another new public defender, the almost belligerently idealistic Cha Kwan Woo. These four lives begin to intersect in very interesting ways as they are all affected by the murderer of Soo Ha’s father, Min Joon Gook.

Nancy: The first episode of this drama made me scream out loud! It’s more than just suspenseful–it’s terrorizing. You must be courageous to watch it, but it’s worth it. The characters all face devastating moral dilemmas. Hye Sung often wants to take the easy way out, and Soo Ha becomes her moral compass. But doing the right thing always comes at a high price in this drama. Hye Sung is pursued by Min Joon Gook, a callous murderer with a grudge to settle. The police are limited in what they can do to protect her, and as a lawyer she knows the justice system is imperfect: bad guys go free and the innocent are convicted. Hye Sung has to start believing in the law to fight Joon Gook the “right” way. At times in this drama I wondered how the courtroom players could have so many conflicts of interest going on in the cases because everything is interrelated. But it did make for good drama! Soo Ha’s ability is hearing other people’s thoughts, and he can hear Joon Gook’s true thoughts as the murderer works the system to gain a chance to extract revenge on Hye Sung. It’s positively Hitchcockian.

Anna: One thing that I Hear Your Voice was particularly good at was lulling viewers into a false sense of security. After Hye Sung started her job as a lawyer, I thought briefly that it was going to turn into a more typical romantic comedy show, and then truly terrible things happened! But even when Min Joon Gook is at his worst, the traumatic events never seemed arbitrary or present only for shock value. Everything plays out as the characters deal with the emotional fallout in different ways, and the relationships between them change as a result.

I have to say too, that I appreciated the fact that there were plot elements that set up the opposition between Hye Sung and Do Yeon in a way that gave it much more depth than the typical antagonistic relationship usually explored in dramas.

Soo Ha had some hilarious moments as he began to realize that the woman who was the focus of all his idealistic hopes and dreams lives like a slob and sometimes indulges in snacks while crouching before her refrigerator in the middle of the night. The looks of confusion and disillusionment on his face were priceless. I also liked Hye Sung’s horribly unfashionable ways of shielding her face to avoid giving away her thoughts to Soo Ha.

She is a delicate flower! Who enjoys sausages.

Emily: I admit, I have not finished this drama yet. The reason is because I’m kind of scared to! This show has me that worried for all the main characters! The creators are not afraid to take the plot to very dark places and leave you hanging on terrible cliffhangers. No one is safe! I had to pause while watching as it aired because those cliffhangers were killing me. I couldn’t handle waiting a week to see what happens. For me, this is a marathon show :)

Hye Sung is a great female lead. I like how although she is the ‘poor girl’ (vs the rich girl classmate) she is not a Candy type (the pure and innocent plucky heroine). She feels very… real. She makes good decisions and bad ones and can be both caring and generous as well as selfish and petty. (Soo Ha’s youthful idealism meeting the feminine reality of Hye Sung’s slobbyness was great). Her back story is unusual for a kdrama, and the link she has with Soo Ha must be one of the more unusual relationships I’ve seen in dramaland.

Someone left a perfectly good psychic young man out in the rain!

This is an interesting show in that even though it can be frightening and suspenseful, there is also a good deal of humor and some romance. That has to be a difficult combination to balance. I look forward to watching the rest, though I admit I may need to cling to a plushie to make it through the scary parts :D

Anna: Oh! I’m going to avoid spoilers except to say that I think you really don’t have to be scared of the ending. It is actually a nice counterpoint to all the dark places the show went, but it is still believable.

I also really enjoyed the fact that in the earlier episodes I was genuinely unsure of who the heroine would end up with, and the overall treatment of the second lead guy was much nicer than you usually see in kdramas. Sometimes the male second lead just fades away, but I didn’t think that was the case with this show.

Seo Do Yeon and Cha Kwan Woo bonding in an elevator.

Nancy: I really enjoyed the Hye Sung role. Her character grows to such a satisfying degree. She regains the sense of justice she had as a child, but she’s still crafty as an adult. Although I am a romantic at heart, I thought the drama was stronger before Hye Sung and Soo Ha’s relationship changed in the later episodes, but it’s still worth watching.

Anna: Overall, I thought I Hear Your Voice had a refreshing mixture of plot elements and tone that made it very compelling although a bit nerve wracking to watch. This is definitely a great drama to watch if you are looking for something a bit different to appreciate.

Watch at Dramafever.

I Hear Your Voice – when you need romantic comedy AND terrorizing melodrama

ANNA: Flower Boy Next Door has a bit of a quirky premise for a k-drama. Go Dok-Mi (Park Shin-hye) has a severe case of agoraphobia, doing her editing work from her home, and almost never venturing outside. Her main outlet is spying on her handsome neighbor in the next building. Go Dok-Mi finds herself taken out of her familiar surroundings when she encounters Enrique Geum (Yoon Shi-yoon), a famous video game designer who spots her spying on his brother. Go Dok-Mi’s neighbor webtoon artist Oh Jin-Rak (Kim Ji-hoon) silently watches over her, and attempts to make sure her emotional equilibrium as a shut-in isn’t disturbed. Rounding out the cast are Cha Do-Hwi who is Go Dok-mi’s friend turned enemy from high school and Oh Dong-Hoon the assistant webtoon artist.

Flower Boy Next Door is available for streaming on Dramafever.

What did you think of this drama?

Flower Boy Next Door!

EMILY: I’ve really enjoyed this show. It has a very different look and feel to it than many other dramas I’ve seen. There is sort of a low key indie vibe to the production. I guess I’m used to seeing shows where there are chaebol/CEO type guys driving around in luxury cars and everyone has perfect hair and nice clothes (even the characters who are supposed to be poor). In this case, the drama feels a little more gritty. While many k-drama heroines face extreme hardship or past trauma, for the most part, they remain plucky and cute. Here we have a heroine who is actually damaged. She experienced past trauma, and it actually had an effect on her personality and how she lives. She didn’t just ‘try her best’ and keep cheerfully forging on; she shut herself in and hid from the world. Therefore, her character feels more realistic to me than other heroines. Her hair isn’t always perfect (or artfully disheveled) and she wears messy clothing. Her apartment is cluttered.

Bundling up in one’s apartment saves money!

As for the guys, while their occupations are a bit less realistic, at least they aren’t living like perfect rich guys either. Mr. Webtoon artist has a whole pile of issues of his own, and Enrique also has a failed romance. I really enjoyed watching these three interact and change after meeting each other.

MICHELLE: I love this drama with every fiber of my being. I love that it doesn’t follow the usual Guy #1 (he’s kind of a jerk but you know he’ll ultimately get the girl) and Guy #2 (he’s super nice and therefore you know he’s got no chance) formula. True, Enrique is rich, but he’s also goofy and has uncanny insight into Go Dok-Mi’s true thoughts. He challenges her, and she needs this. Jin-Rak is nice and handsome (and played by someone who’s been Guy #1 in the past) and considerate to Dok-Mi’s plight, but he puts her on a pedestal and indulges her eccentricities in a way that isn’t helping her.

I haven’t finished the series yet, but this is one love triangle that I don’t find predictable in the slightest. It’s so well-done, with more subtlety and depth than the other dramas I have seen (which admittedly is a very small sliver of the population).

ANNA: I liked the series very much but I had a more measured reaction. I thought that the innovative cinematography and storytelling were a bit front-loaded onto the earlier episodes, but I did enjoy the more realistic and gritty vibe of the show. I was genuinely uncertain for a little bit who the heroine would end up with! One storytelling element that I liked a lot was how transparent Cha Do-Hwi’s manipulations were and how quickly the men saw through some of them. Usually no one but another woman would detect the evil strategies of the female antagonist. It was pretty hilarious that after Cha Do-Hwi engineered a broken heel in proximity to Oh Jin-rak in order to have an excuse to summon his assistance, the webtoon assistant Oh Doog-Hoon immediately comments that it was interesting that all her clothes were from the current season, but her broken shoe was so last year in style.

I was also a big fan of the cranky, sleep-deprived webtoon editor.

The artists share a moment with their editor.

EVA: As usual, I went the other way. I was really turned off by the series at first (slow, plodding character, same things happening over and over, the obviousness of Cha Do-Hwi), but as I’ve gone on (I’m currently on episode 10), I’ve grown to like the characters, I care more about their issues, and I’m loving the non-K-Dramaness (that indie vibe Emily talked about). I LOVE that no one here is living in an inappropriately posh apartment or on somebody’s roof. I LOVE that Oh Jin-Rak’s webtoon editor is an overworked, exhausted crackpot. I LOVE that none of the romances are proceeding smoothly towards a finish line. And I especially love that (with the exception of Cha Do-Hwi, of course) people who say they care actually do care and try to help. It’s refreshing and lovely and I wish more tv shows (American included) were like this.

ANNA: I thought that the reliance on Enrique’s crazy fans as a plot element bogged down the middle part of the series a little bit. Also, I thought that Enrique was cute, but the romance between Go Dok-Mi and Enrique was a bit like showing what would happen if a woman fell in love with cute teddy bear. I much preferred Oh Jin-Rak, but perhaps I just find cranky men attractive.

Keeping tabs on his neighbor.

MICHELLE: Jin-Rak is, by far, the studlier of the two, but I think Enrique is healthier for her. But, that said, he could probably have as good of an influence if he were just to remain her friend. Jin-Rak seems willing to be friends, but it’s more from a place of “it will stress her out if I confess” than any real feeling of contentment with that role in her life.

NANCY: I would watch this drama just for the stressed-out webtoon editor. She was by far my favorite. I liked how this series started out, and the characters were well developed, but I did have issues as the series went on. At first this drama shows a very personal view of a woman’s struggle to rejoin society, and then towards the end we are merely watching from the outside, wondering what her motivations are. They shut us out from the shut-in!! Plus there are many gimmicks used in the last (and first) few minutes of each episode to create false cliffhangers. They have nothing to do with the main plot and actually lessen the integrity of the characters in some cases. I’m also going to show my support for Enrique–this drama would have been unbearable without him.

Everybody’s favorite webtoon editor!

EVA: Stressed-out webtoon editor is the character I’d be if I were in this series. Her bits of comic relief are some of the best laughs I’ve gotten from this show.

I’ve made it through episode twelve and, yay for man-tears and dry kisses! But, yeah. I hear what you’re saying, Nancy. Go Dok-Mi’s internal monologue and/or the narration of her journal writing gives us an entry point to how she feels about her life as a shut-in, how her expectations have contracted, and how willing to compromise her own desires she is if it means she doesn’t have to confront the world. I’ve enjoyed having that window during the last few episodes I’ve seen.

Also, for the first time in this series, I missed the ubiquitous bitch slap/coffee toss. I wanted more drama during the confrontations between Go Dok-Mi and Cha Do-Hwi. Instead we got silent tears, some fainting, and an unsatisfactory blame toss. These two have history and I wanted to see what happened. But nothing happened! Bah. I’ll keep watching, if only because I hope to see more of a closure to this relationship than we’ve been given so far.

ANNA: I liked the way stressed-out webtoon editor managed to be both hilarious and poignant at the same time. She ends up in a very nice place at the end of the drama, which was nice to see.

MICHELLE: Speaking of hilarity, there were quite a few bits on Flower Boy Next Door that made me laugh out loud, and I’m not the easiest person to make laugh. There’s that absurd moment in which Enrique catches Dok-Mi spying on his brother’s apartment… whilst clad in some weird furry panda hat/cape thing. Or the scene where a drunken Jin-Rak—who I am still used to as the humorless lawyer from Stars Falling from the Sky—decides to go to sleep amidst the building’s recyclables, at which point Dong-Hoon thoughtfully covers him with a stray piece of cardboard. I guess when I describe them, these don’t seem like the most clever jokes ever, but they certainly appealed to my sense of humor.

Enrique busts out his Detective Conan cosplay. As one does.

ANNA: I also loved the bit where the men were all pretending to be Spanish-speaking Italian mafia in order to punk Jin-Rak’s estranged family.

So, check out Flower Boy Next Door if you are interested in a k-drama with a slightly different sensibility than you might be used to. The combination of a gritty setting, camera techniques that evoke indie films, and some engaging characters in unusual situations make this a drama that is well worth watching.