Happy Together: When Yoon Shi Yoon stole the show

I worried for darling Yoon Shi Yoon as he sat at the end of the fake, wooden sauna bench. Three co-stars separated him from the funny hosts. He looked awkward, like a fourth-cousin at a family reunion. Drat. He was going to get no screen time on this episode of Happy Together.  Shows you how much I know.

Even if you don't care for this interview-cooking Variety show, you should check out this episode with our darling puppy. Study his restrained humor. It's like a class in how to monopolize the room without being loud or pushy.

The funniest thing he said all night

When asked about his recently canceled show Barefoot Friends and whether the cast cried at the end, he denied it. Then said honestly, "We had no idea what was going on." Did anyone else suffer through most of those 31 episodes like I did? I had two excuses: Yoon Shi Yoon and Kim Hyun Joong. But even these 2 K-hotties couldn't save the Adventure Travel turned High Diving Class turned Cooking Show trainwreck that was BF. I don't think the writers, producers, or anybody knew what was going on. 

Oh My Word, he IS Enrique!

YSY first hit my radar as the fast-talking, hyperactive, hug monster that was Enrique in Flower Boy Next Door. And according to one of the Happy Together cast members, this isn't so far from reality. He described how YSY walked into the salon chatting away, and kept on non-stop even when his hair was being washed. This shocked me since he spent most of Barefoot Friends as a pretty face in the background with nary a syllable. I'd begun to think he was the shy, quiet nerd type. Later in the HT interview he also talked about being class president almost every year, and how he liked to play MC on bus trips. I guess he just couldn't get a word in edgewise on BF with Kang Ho Dong around.

Not just another pretty face

South Korea is seriously obsessed with things like skincare, plastic surgery, ramen bloating, etc. So it was nice to hear YSY freely admit that he packs on the pounds in between roles. According to him, he gets nice and plump the way his grandmother likes him. Awwwwwwwww. I know from watching Barefoot Friends that he's got stacks and stacks of books at home. And he revealed on HT that he once appeared on The Golden Bell Challenge. I'm not sure what that is, but from the hosts impressed reaction it must be something like Jeopardy.

Pretty Boy vs. Porkchop

One off-the-wall hijink occurred when they asked Yoona to choose her ideal man from those sitting at the show. Her choices included the nation's MC Yoo Jae Suk, her onscreen husband from The Prime Minister and I Lee Bum Soo, Yoon Shi Yoon, and a few others. But then they threw in the show's Director Seop just for fun, whom they affectionately dubbed Mr. Porkchop. The poor guy got so tickled as he beat out one after another, even trouncing babyfaced YSY in the fight for Yoona's heart. He eventually lost in the final round to Lee Bum Soo. But I think he felt pretty good about himself when he went home that night. 

Gross, but memorable

HT is a strange show that combines celebrity interviews with a late-night snack, cooking competition. The guests bring in their cheap and wacky creations to vie for a spot on the cafeteria menu. Unfortunately, YSY's creation will not be hanging on that wall anytime soon. His combination of seafood flavored ramen with a tuna-mayo kimbap is about as disgusting as it sounds and the judges were not impressed. But the best part was his eloquent defense of how the rice triangle looked like an iceberg tip poking up from the soup, and his explanation of the proper way to unwrap the kimbap by tab 3, and NOT tabs 1 and 2. It was all very detailed, and serious, and kind of hilarious.

This guy's really funny

The hosts looked surprised at YSY's deadpan humor. He delivers a line so straightfaced and sincere that it makes it all the more funny. Like when he was talking about his first love, and said she was so perfect that he didn't even think she went to the bathroom. Yoo Jae Suk seemed to find him especially hilarious, and I have my fingers crossed that YSY will soon show up as a guest on the most awesome of all Variety shows, Running Man.

I find this guy adorable, and hope he gets a killer leading role after The Prime Minister and I which proves he's not just a one-hit wonder. I'm including the link to the KBS World subtitled Youtube video of his Happy Together appearance in case anyone wants to watch it.

Background Boy Meets Girl: Scene-Stealing Couples

Prince Charming & Cinderella?

Who has time for them? You're busy watching the palace maid flirt with the royal bodyguard in the background.

Has anyone else ever been captivated by the side couple? So much that it even overshadows the One True Pairing you're supposed to be watching? Here are a few of my favorite scene-stealers:

1. The Bodyguard Couple (The King 2 Hearts)

No words to describe the earnest soldier supporting the plucky, wheelchair-bound princess and forcing her to face life again. Just buckets and buckets of tears that they didn't get a happily ever after. But their journey was so beautiful, I still love them.


2. The Milky Couple (Dream High)

There's something so realistic about Pilsuk's battle to lose weight, going through a beauty makeover, hitting it big, and then gaining most of the weight back. The beautiful part is she's still happy. The chubby duckling turns into a swan . . . and then back into a slightly-less-chubby duckling. And Jason adores her all three ways. Who wouldn't root for them!


3. The Right Now Couple (Flower Boy Next Door)

These two crack me up. She's a workaholic editor who refuses to sleep more than four hours a night and has bags under her eyes the size of the Grand Canyon. He moonlights as a designated driver and has to support his sick family, all while trying to fulfill his own dream of becoming a cartoonist. It's telling that their most romantic gesture is when she co-signs a debt for him. No hearts and rainbows for this couple. They've got real life to deal with, but at least they've got someone on their side while they do it. Plus you gotta love a guy who says her panda eyes are her best feature.


4. The Spoiled Brat Couple (Protect the Boss)

Self-involved, pampered, and kinda disloyal (at least at first). She likes his cousin. Then she likes him. Then he likes her and she likes his cousin again. Then she likes him and he likes his cousin's secretary. And on and on it goes. When their hearts finally get in the same place at the same time it's practically a miracle. They may be spoiled, but their chemistry was red hot.


5. The Monday Couple (Running Man)

Okay, technically Running Man isn't a drama, and Gary and Jihyo aren't a side couple, but who doesn't wait with baited breath to see what kind of flirty, pranks they'll play on each other every Sunday, in between ripping off each other's nametags.

So who did I miss? Since I'm still a drama rookie, I'm sure there's a fun, focus-stealing pair that I just haven't gotten around to, yet. If you know a good one, please fill me in.

Sugar is Sweet & So are U

Sweet. Supportive. And head-over-heels for the heroine. No, I’m not talking about the Second Lead. Although, you’d be forgiven for thinking so. What is it with K-dramas and their cold, standoffish men?

But there are a few characters that broke the Arrogant Broody Hero mold, and I do mean a few. If we’re talking Nice Guys that started out nice, didn’t take any hard revenge left turns in the middle of the story, and maintained their decency throughout the whole plot, the pickings are slim. Honestly, it was hard to come up with five, but here are the candy-coated winners: 

Hyperactive Sweetheart: Enrique Geum in Flower Boy Next Door

A panda hat never looked so good. Enrique Geum spends every moment of his day spreading sunshine like butter on toast. But when he meets his neighbor, Go Dokmi, an emotionally scarred loner who hides in her apartment and avoids human contact like the plague, he makes it his personal mission to drag her back into the land of the living. His hyperactive, outgoing personality and ten-second attention span throws Dokmi for a loop in the beginning, but his soft smile and stubborn heart finally coaxes her out of her low-rent, ivory tower. In any other drama, Enrique would be the too-good-to-be-true second lead who fixes the heroine so she can ride off into the sunset with the rich, chaebol jerk, but not Flower Boy Next Door. Our heroine is smart enough to recognize the solid-gold sugar she’s found (or perhaps I should say that found her) and she knows he’s worth hanging on to.





Savant Sweetheart: Park Si On in Good Doctor

Every day is another slap in the face for Park Si On, a pediatric doctor who suffers from Autism and the prejudice he faces because of it. Despite these challenges, he’s a certified genius and can spit out medical jargon like the lyrics to “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. When Si On develops a crush on his Noona Sunbae, the way he looks at her and tells her she has a beautiful heart just makes a viewer go all gooey inside. This show is still going, so I don’t know where our Darling Doctor is gonna end up. But wherever it is, I bet he will still be the same awkward, but caring sweetie who tells his tiny patients that he loves them and talks about his pet bunny on a daily basis.





Mamma’s Boy Sweetheart: Kang Hyeon Su in Smile, You

Before Jung Kyung Ho played an undercover fighting machine in Cruel City, he was the car-designing, yes ma’am-ing, Beta Male on Smile You. If you missed Lee Min Jung chasing him around like he’s her own personal catnip, you should check it out. The one time he tried the assertive hand-on-the-wall-while-leaning-in-for-a-kiss-technique, his heroine broke into a fit of giggles. Although he might not be the personality powerhouse in the relationship, he steps up when necessary: defending his girl from his stereotypical meddling mother, and telling the persistent ex-boyfriend to get lost.





Small Town Sweetheart: Song Sam Dong in Dream High

Sam Dong doesn’t have a chance when the big-city, beauty Hye Mi blows into his backwater town. You can understand why she doesn’t recognize his potential in the beginning, considering he’s wearing a feed-bag like a poncho. But, by the end of the drama, she’s dumping the hot, motorcycle riding Taecyeon for the one who’s been there backing her up since the first moment they met. Admittedly, Sam Dong does get a little angsty in the middle of the story, but he gets a pass since he was going deaf and about to lose his dream. Even that handicap can’t stop him, however, and he gets the girl, the glory, and his dream in the end.





Scholar Sweetheart: Kim Boong Do in Queen Inhyun's Man

Kim Boong Do is about as Atypical as a Kdrama hero can get. He’s restrained. He’s polite. He likes to read - for fun! This time traveling guy knows how to treat a lady, no matter what the century. Even the crazy, sageuk clothes that I normally hate can’t stop his hotness from shining through. And our heroine takes full advantage of him, making up all sorts of crazy excuses to pull him in for another kiss. The best part is that Boong Do knows she’s full of it, but plays along because he likes the smooches as much as her. Who wouldn’t love a guy like that?




It’s sad how hard it was to come up with five men for this list. As you can tell from a previous post, I love the haughty, Mr. Darcy type as much as the next girl. But there’s a whole other personality spectrum that’s going virtually untapped in the hero market. Nice guys shouldn’t finish last – in the real world or Dramaland.