Marry Him, Etcetera: I Dare You Not To Like It

You may think this is a pick-up, but . . . do you believe in fate?

Some find the idea of destiny a frightening thing. An inescapable outcome that a person has no say in. Others find it comforting. No matter how you mess up, or what blind alley you wander down, Heaven steers you toward your hand-tailored, one-of-a-kind, designed-just-for-you destination in the end. I happen to be in the second camp. But whichever outlook you choose, Marry Him If You Dare keeps the question of destiny ever present in the viewer’s mind as our heroine contends with life, co-worker bullies, and a bossy, future ahjumma version of herself as she strives for her own happy ending. Here’s just a few of the appealing things this show offers:

 Yong! Yong! Yong!

I’ve loved Jung Yong-wha ever since I saw his good-natured and often playful, real-life personality on We Got Married with SNSD’s Seo-hyun. But that doesn’t mean I’ve loved his dramas. You’re Beautiful, Heartstrings . . . he wasn’t terrible. But he wasn’t great. I think this role is a major step forward. His second lead is a sweetheart (as most second leads are), but he’s also smart, layered, and a little ruthless when it comes to business. I look forward to what new sides he’ll show in future episodes. Right now I’m kinda hatin’ on his destined partner, the ultra-self centered bratty, Yoo-kyung, but episode four proved that there is a brain in there . . . somewhere. She’s got time to do some growing, but right now, she doesn’t deserve him.

 Chemistry oozing from the cast!

What is it about Yoon Eun Hye? The girl could stand next to a coat rack and make me think she’s in love with it. Her chemistry works with both male leads, but I’m rooting for Shin and Mirae. There’s something so endearing about the foul-mouthed pair together, and how they push each other to be better than they are. (The smoldering gazes don’t hurt either.)

You can’t fight fate!

Future Mirae messing up the destinies of both couples just seems so wrong, somehow. She's not only changing her own life but See-joo, Yoo-kyung, and who knows how many others. But she’s fighting something bigger than herself. If she circumvents the original rear-ending fate had planned, it just slams the guy and girl head-on the next time. Is it possible the whole "water" ploy will get restyled, as well? Maybe See-joo will fall for Yoo-kyung in a new, but wet way that doesn't involve Jejudo.

Who doesn’t love a good Whodunit? 

Mystery swirls around Future Mirae’s real motivations. She claims Shin killed the person she loves in the future, but who is that? Her brother, their child, himself? There’s way more to the story than she lets on, and trying to put the pieces together is part of the fun. There’s also some murky, undefined side effects from her time travel that seem to be wrecking her health. And now we have a Timecop Wannabe traveling back to get her, so who knows who else is gonna walk through that tunnel before we’re done. I’d love to meet Future Shin!

 Girl Power Galore

I know I’m still a drama rookie, but I’ve packed quite a few shows into my first year of Hallyu. And never in all those many hours have I seen not one but TWO heroes berate a girl for acting like a toddler. When See-joo tells the Aegyo Airhead, Yoo-kyung, that she doesn’t have to pander to men to prove her worth . . . gah. No words. Can I order one of him for myself? Pleeeeeaaaaasssseeee!

I don’t know who the writers for this show are, but I want to give them a standing ovation for the characters they're creating. Future Mirae planned to upgrade her husband, but Present Mirae decides to upgrade herself. Now that’s a heroine I can root for! If you’re still on the fence, give this drama a try.

With its swoony eye-contact, girl power guts, and plenty of funny-bone tickling moments, I dare you not to like 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.

Drama Does Darcy (Again & Again)

Rich guy wanders into a small-time party and zeroes in on the witty, fun-loving local girl. He fights his attraction, because she's just a hick with no connections. But her dazzling personality and refusal to kowtow to his bank account quickly reel him in.

Sound familiar? No, it's not the latest chaebol rom-com, it's Pride and Prejudice.

Long before I was a K-drama groupie, I was a Janeite. And the best of all Austen heroes must be the smoldering, enigmatic Mr. Darcy. Imagine my surprise to find this archetypal character copied over and over again in Korean television. The haughty, but hot millionaire shows up all over Dramaland. Here are just a few egocentric examples:



Goo Jun-pyo in Boys Over Flowers

1. Garden Variety Darcy

BOF follows the Darcy stereotype like it was a checklist.

Snobby is initially repulsed by the poor, but plucky heroine.   ☑

Decides he wants her and expects her to be thrilled about it. ☑

His self-image takes a severe blow at her constant rejection. ☑

Has to man-up and become a better person to win her love.  ☑

Of course, Jane Austen never gave her hero amnesia at the eleventh hour (for which I will remain eternally grateful.)

Dokko Jin in The Greatest Love

2. Red Carpet Darcy

Granted Pride and Prejudice doesn't contain the line "Give me back my panties!" but there are still similarities. This A-list Darcy looks down on his C-list counterpart for being a washed up celebrity, and he fights with all that's in his artificial, little heart to ignore her. Silly man-child. If he had read the book, he would have known resistance was futile.

Cha Chi-soo in Flower Boy Ramyun Shop

3. Cougar Bait Darcy

Love sends this poor, little rich boy about two steps short of the loony bin as he falls for the volleyball spiking, chicken foot eating, hot tempered student teacher at his high school. Unlike the usual Cinderella stories, this modern day prince is kicked out of the high rise, hot tub palace because of his love. But from the looks of their post-graduation kisses, he doesn't seem to mind too much.



Baek Sung-jo in Playful Kiss

4. Braniac Darcy

Grade A versus Grade F provides the conflict for this tale. Our super-genius hates stupid girls, and Oh Ha-ni (although completely adorable) is not the brightest bulb in the box. But she is unshakable, and her dogged mix of determination, unflagging devotion, and downright stalker crushing finally wins the smart boy over.

Kim Joo-won in Secret Garden

5. Neurotic Darcy

This Department Store Darcy in the sparkly tracksuit has problems. The kind that require a psychiatrist. He's a claustrophobic, partial amnesiac and seriously stuck-up. Okay, that last one isn't a mental condition, but the way he commits to his class-consciousness, it could be. He ridicules the leading lady at every turn, mocking everything from her looks and fashion sense, to the way she drinks her coffee. (Ah, the cappuccino foam kiss scene!) But our stuntwoman heroine eventually kicks some sense into him. Literally.


Lucky for me, I get to visit Jane Austen's stomping grounds next week. I'm off to Jolly, Old England, so it may be awhile before my next post. In the meantime, I bet Dramaland will crank out a few new Darcys by the time I get back from vacation.

Let the List Making Commence!

Annyeonghaseyo, y’all.

How did a Southern Irish-Italian girl end up hooked on Korean Dramas? Probably the same as you:

1.      My friend recommended some story about a princess.

2.      I put it off for a long time.

3.      Wasted time searching. (How many princess dramas does Netflix have, anyway!)

4.      Begrudgingly checked it out.

5.      Wanted more, More, MORE before the story even ended.

Fast forward one year later. My family gives me strange looks when I refuse to watch anything in English, and I can gush for hours on Oppas, Birth Secrets, and Back Hugs. It’s been one wild, piggyback ride. But it’s not over, yet! So to celebrate the anniversary of my Sarang Affair with K-dramas, this blog was born.

A legion of others (like the fabulous girls at Dramabeans) provide witty, fun recaps for our Kimchi flavored addiction, and I don’t want to reinvent the wheel. I’m a list-maker at heart, so I thought I’d give you a Top 5 for whatever subject happens to strike my fancy. Some possible future topics are:

1.      The Top 5 Korean versions of Mr. Darcy (You can bet that guy in the sparkly tracksuit will show up.)

2.      Why I’ve seen City Hunter, Boys Over Flowers, and parts of Personal Taste and still don’t get Lee Min Ho’s appeal (Ducks for cover as outrage fills the comments section.)

3.      Best K-drama kisses that made my toes curl in my socks (Who knew a refrigerator could be so sexy!)

4.      Why Kim Hyun Joong’s acting in Playful Kiss doesn’t get enough credit (I’m not saying give him an Oscar, but there are some moments where I really believed him.)

5.      The reasons I cried at the end of the YongSeo relationship in We Got Married (I know. The story is scripted. The room is full of cameras. It's pathetic. I admit it.)

If you too like orderly rows of numbers and you love the squeeworthy romance of Korean Dramas, then drop me a line and maybe we can make a list of how to improve my blog.