Just Bananas About: Week of 6/11/12

There are currently two comedy dramas that I’ve been loving and fangirling majorly about.  Big and A Gentleman’s Dignity and here’s some of the reasons why.

There are so many things I love about Big already and we’re only up to Episode 3 today.  I think the Hong sisters continue to improve with each project.  Of course, this could all go downhill as it’s too early to call it yet and I’m usually a glass half-empty, kind of person but I’m choosing to be optimistic about this drama having only seen 2 episodes so far.  With any Hong sisters’ drama, there is always an element of fantasy or fate.  It’s kind of like a modern adult fairy tale.  It’s that Hong sisters style of whimsy that makes me coming back for more.

A car accident has the mind of 18 year old Kang Kyung Joon (Shin Won Ho) going into the body of a 30 year old doctor, Seo Yoon Jae (Gong Yoo).  Gil Da Ran (Lee Min Jung) is Kyung Joon’s teacher and Yoon Jae’s fiancé and the only person who knows what happened besides Big Kyung Joon (aka Kyung Joon in Yoon Jae’s body).  Currently, Little Yoon Jae (aka Yoon Jae in Kyung Joon’s body) is in a coma after the accident.

I love that the first impression we get of Yoon Jae comes in the form of this chance meeting/trying to help the damsel in distress.  The camera does a beautiful job of making Yoon Jae seem dashing.  However, I soon got the feeling that Yoon Jae was one who couldn’t be trusted as he didn’t seem to be very attentive to his fiancée, Da Ran, and I slowly began to dislike him early in the first episode.  Me?  Not like Gong Yoo?  I, too, was like Da Ran.  I wanted to believe that Yoon Jae was a good guy but I couldn’t shake this nagging feeling I had about him.

Of course, it’s revealed at the end of Episode 2 that he was having an affair with his colleague, Lee Se Young (Jang Hee Jin) but when I went back and rewatched the 1^st episode, all the signs were there.  The avoidance, the lying, the guilt.

The first time we really get a good look at Yoon Jae’s face is when Kyung Joon inhabits it and he’s looking at a reflection of himself in the morgue.  I like how he’s reflected twice as if one is Yoon Jae and the other is Kyung Joon.

Before then, we see Yoon Jae in brief moments, his face turned to the side, his back turned to us or in the context of Da Ran’s memory.  We assume that we know what kind of man Yoon Jae is because it’s packaged prettily within Gong Yoo.

I also liked that Da Ran is naïve about a lot of things and I think that was an important choice to make so that the age gap between Da Ran and Kyung Joon isn’t as glaring.

I think Da Ran’s role is to help Kyung Joon enjoy being a kid again because he’s had so many hardships already at a young age.  He pushes people away and one tactic is by his random use of English in Korea.  Her warmth and childish belief in love is what’s going to help open up Kyung Joon’s heart.

So if some people find her annoying, I’d  say it’s worth being patient with her because Kyung Joon’s hurt from the loss of his mother needs that positive light that Da Ran and her family can give him.

However back to the English speaking, I kinda needed subtitles when Shin Won Ho spoke in English, but thankfully Gong Yoo’s accent is way better.  And about this newcomer, Shin Won Ho.  He’s part of a new idol group called Cross Gene and they just released a mini album last Friday.  I really know him more from his CFs, which is rare because I usually skip them.  However, he caught my eye in the Skin Food CF and G-Dragon’s Bean Pole CF.  I think he did okay as Little Kyung Joon for someone who’s fairly new to acting.  It was kind of like watching Song Joong Ki and Yoo Ah In rolled into one for Kyung Joon.  For now, I’m excited to stay tuned to what happens next.

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On to my other favorite drama of the moment… A Gentleman’s Dignity.  There’s a lot of dramas out right now that requires a lot of thinking.  From revenge schemes, to double meaning dialogues, the quest for the meaning behind “miracle”, to the Korean independence movement, it’s nice to just sit back and enjoy seasoned pros acting immature and falling in love.

Jun Geun Hwa (M Signal) – 아름다운 말 (Beautiful Words)

전근화 [M시그널] – 아름다운 말

Each episode begins with a nice, little anecdote about the friendship of the four guys that make up the drama.  There’s the time they accidentally picked up woman half their age only to discover they hit on their old school buddy’s daughter.

Or when they went to a funeral ready to “comfort” the grieving wife and her hot friends, only to be trumped by a woman, who isn’t the wife, telling her young son to pay respects to his father.

Or, as men often are, being distracted by “a view” outside the window.

However, I think the best one was Episode 5.  I love that you think the guys are all discussing something deep and important but truthfully they’re trying to decide who is the prettiest SNSD member and their merits.  Except of course, Yoon (Kim Min Jong) prefers to discuss more important matters about the world when in walks Soo Young.  Suddenly, he’s up and gone to ask Soo Young for a signature because she’s his favorite SNSD member.  There’s nothing like watching a 40 year old man trying to do moves from SNSD and I’m sure my neighbors were thinking I was strangling a cat with all the shrieking and screaming that was coming from me.  For those who may not know, Kim Min Jong used to be a hot idol singer back in the day!  But the look of horror coming from Do Jin (Jang Dong Gun), Tae San (Kim Su ro) and Jung Rok (Lee Jong Hyuk)?  Priceless.