Dair must prevail!

Since EunSoo worked out for me, so must Dair! PLEASE?

So Last Summer...

... it was all about my Coffee House obsession and this summer, it's City Hunter. Anyone else notice a trend here? I wonder what next summer's will be.

Although I don't think anything can ever match my CH1 obsession and I really don't want to relive that again. LOL.

Now that Nana has redeemed herself, I suppose all the ranting will end? Or not. I suspect that at least one Nana-hater will not be pleased :D

 

But go ahead, Nana. Get that ho girl away from your man! :D 

I must say that based on Couch Kimchi stats (searches and hits), City Hunter is on FIRE! Some were saying that Lie To Me was an online sensation but just based on what I've recently seen via CK, City Hunter has surpassed it.

This Is Really Goodbye, Lie To Me OST by M to M

This is currently the only song I like off the soundtrack. It's a sad song about letting go of love. It was played during both girls' scenes. lol. Ki Joon you bastard, stop hurting the women who love you. lol. I just feel bad for Yoon Joo and know I will keep feeling bad for her throughout the drama. Poor girl. I just hope she doesn't turn crazy and become really evil.



lol, I read a comment on youtube where someone hoped it wouldn't end like Coffee House where LJS ended up with the old girl. lmao, but isn't it as clear as a bright, summer day that Ki Joon and Ah Jung will end up together or someone in their right mind will have YEH end up alone while the unknown girl ends up with the guy? Wake up, Worry worts! lol

Ham Eun Jung confirmed for WGM

I haven't watched the show since 2008 or so... although I've watched a few Adam couple clips and I'm not going to make any further comments about that match up!

Now, my wonky instinct made me anticipate some kind of news from our JiYeon couple around their birthdays and we got it even if she was forced to and it was the one I didn't want to hear till after watching all the BTS. lol.

Now that Ham Eun Jung has been confirmed for WGM, if they really want to ruin my day, they should pair her up with Kang Ji Hwan. I know he's having a hard time now but Oppanim, please say no! :D

Her partner hasn't been announced and while there were once rumors about her partner being Kim Soo Hyun, that might not be the case (he seems too big for it now). I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

EDIT: Lee Jang Woo who is an actor I do not know has been confirmed as her partner. They wanted to be coy and tease the audience a bit but the rumors had gotten so rampant (Kim Soo Hyun, Kang Ji Hwan (! I didn't even know this when I first wrote this post), Tony Ahn etc) that Kim Soo Hyun's agency had to issue a statement say that he wasn't going to be on the show. lol. I hope the EJ/JW couple also gains a large fanbase. 

For the "10 Years Ago" shippers

For the Jin Soo/Hee Soo shippers... aren't they cute?

For the Eun Young/ Ji Won shippers

Group shot! College is so fun!

The usual uploader hasn't put it up yet so maybe tomorrow? Anyway, I love me some KJH but some NGs would be awesome... it's kinda getting boring these days but maybe episode 6 will rock (doesn't seem so from the 6 mins I've seen which can be found here).

I think I'll be ready to say goodbye once they are done with this. The Making is kinda weaning me off it.

Coffee House Making

Finally, some JiYeon. But they packed so many scenes in here (up till ep 8) that I hope this doesn't mean they'll be killing us with the Ji Jung next week :( Hopefully, it'll be Ji Hwan and the Ji Won actor.... those should be hilarious.





Watch as soon as you can (or download) cos she'll probably be making them private in a day or so.

Loving all the playful strangulations especially after the kick in the shin.

How can the BTS kiss be even better than the real thing? LOL

He calls her Si Yeon ah so does that mean they are close?

A Little Teaser for the Coffee House BTS series

Screen cap. I hope the BTS of the phone booth doesn't take too much magic out of it. LOL

You know I always bring the goodies

Yeah, I admit it - I'm a 100% Ji-Yeon shipper :D

Source

These SBS fools have gotten me all desperate.

Now I have to resort to screen capping from youtube to get any kind of BTS. Release the damn BTS so I can move on, bitches. lol.

I think this vid is to promote Park Si Yeon's new line called Sweet Touch.

Good to see my dearies working again.

Even though my hubby, Kang Ji Hwan has been hard at work on Cafe In, he'll be in a new drama called "The Great Doctor" airing next year. Not my style of drama but I will watch for my hubby.

Then my hubby's second wife, Park Si Yeon is going to be in a movie called Happy Together which pairs her up with Ji Hyun Woo. It looks like Jay Park, who recently got kicked from his Idol group for making some comments against Korea on his myspace in 2005 will also star. The movie is set in the music industry. Si Yeon is a producer while Hyun Woo is the singer replacing the former leader of an Idol group. Jay Park will play one of the group members.

"Your love" for Angie

The Hong Kong Coffee House theme song. On Mediafire.

Enjoy!

Coffee House Cantonese(I think) style!

So it looks like it really just start airing  in Hong Kong last week and airs two days a week

The dubbing is somewhat fascinating and hilarious because it's funny watching Kang Ji Hwan speak with an entirely different voice. I somehow got lost in it and ended up watching like 20 minutes nonstop... lol..  A really funny part was when Eun Young was showing off her language skills. I think they translated the Japanese and dubbed it in Cantonese. But when Eun Young spoke English (when she was receiving the flowers), they used Park Si Yeon's voice. lol. But they did a pretty good job with her dubber. Ji Won's voice, on the other hand, is nothing like his. Jin Soo's lol. Well, Kang Ji Hwan apparently has a complex about his voice so maybe he'll prefer this one (just joking!).

You can hear all three voices at the beginning of this one
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/4aPmG0SvrOo/

Seung Yeon's voice isn't too bad. Can be heard at the beginning of this.
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/c8--delK7iE/

I tried to embed but it's not working for some reason. Oh well.

P.S. I must say I really like their theme song. I prefer it to the original.

Coffee House rumored Segway scene

So, unless this is some amazing photoshopping, this looks like a picture of the rumored Segway Scene. And Jin Soo is wearing the clothes in the cut scene that mirrored their sitting positions in episode three (can't find the pic but whatever). So what made them remove all these happy scenes and replace them with Angst Central? How I wish I could get a copy of all the scripts ever written for this drama.

Credit.

ETA:
Found the pic and they are both wearing the same clothes. What gives, y'all? I need the footage from that day.

The Psychology of Coffee House (Final Part)

So why do we watch kdramas?

I think most kdrama viewers are romance fans, seeing as regardless of genre, romance generally plays a huge role in the plot. I don't know if it's because of precedence already set in this genre or just the nature of it, but most of us like to know who the ultimate pairing it.

Kdramas, particularly the miniseries, differ from American dramas in that there's only one OTP. So unlike in American television where you can watch a character embark on a number of relationships over a series of years, with kdramas, it's usually limited to one relationship over the course of 16-20 episodes. So the audience, in general, needs to know who the OTP is so we can know which characters to emotionally invest in.

Because Coffee House decided to have a pair that followed the usual kdrama patterns even though they weren't the OTP, many were misled into thinking that they were and ended up emotionally investing in the wrong couple. Now, I don't know what was in the director's or writer's mind but I don't think that these people were intentionally misled by the drama. I think many allowed their preconceived notions of what a kdrama is cloud their judgment. So instead of focusing on the real story unfolding, they were fixated on following kdrama paths that would lead to their preferred ending.

As many say, Coffee House twisted a lot of kdrama cliches. And as someone who's seen enough romantic stories from all over the world, I think it's fair to say that I'm pretty much familiar with every romance cliche out there. Once Dong Wook was introduced, I pretty much believed that the final pair would be Jin Soo and Eun Young with an open ending for Dong Wook and Seung Yeon. This was way before the kiss and what not. But the journey to this predictable ending wasn't as smooth as I expected. I'd predicted that the JS/EY contract would be nullified and for JS to come begging for it to be reinstated. But I didn't expect for him to get nutso and insist that it was later on. I'd expected Grandpa to set EY up with Lawyer Park so that Jin Soo would die of jealousy and while Grandpa did set EY up with the dude, he turned out to be a very lame, possibly gay, Jin Soo fanboy. LOL. Now, did I appreciate my cliches being turned upside down? Well, while watching, instead of appreciating the twists, I was frustrated that the story wasn't going the way it should - the way I wanted it to.

Now, Coffee House isn't a perfect drama, however it followed its own internal logic that made sense. While it might have taken the usual kdrama path, in a few instances, it led somewhere else. So doesn't that mean that we should all be grateful for this freshness?  Well, it depends.

I think a lot of us want to know what to expect when we start watching a drama. If a story is billed as a romantic comedy, I don't want to start watching and find out that it's really a horror movie. Now, depending on one's personality and how open minded and easily adaptable they might be, one might deem that movie to be the worst they've seen even if objectively, it's a great film. As we all know, a huge part of enjoying a movie or a drama is based on one's prior expectations. Hype can kill a movie while low expectations can make an otherwise average movie quite enjoyable.

So watching a drama for 18 episodes only to discover that a couple you were convinced were the OTP doesn't end up together can turn an objectively good drama into the stupidest thing you'd ever seen. Suddenly, you feel like you've been taken for a ride, misled and/or betrayed. That's a huge difference from rooting for a couple you knew weren't the OTP like say Shin Woo Hyung and the chick in YAB. Even if you thought they looked cuter together or that he'd be better for her, seeing her end up with the main dude doesn't offend you because always knew it would be the case. So that fact doesn't turn a good story bad because, the story followed the path you'd always expected it to. And ended right where you knew it would.

To cut a long story short, I think many people who watch romances are comfortable with all the cliches. I don't know if this is the culture that evolved over time or shared characteristics between fans of the genre but many people like to watch a romance drama knowing exactly what to expect. This differs from those who like mysteries or thrillers. So when the drama starts to take unexpected turns, turns that make sense for the story but not necessarily follow the usual romance patterns, it can get uncomfortable.

Personally, I don't think Coffee House was really that unpredictable. When that guy disappeared for two years, I expected Eun Young to be engaged when he returned. But to Ji Won of all people? Come on! Even though her explanation made sense as she couldn't be with the one she loved so she just chose to be with the one who loved her (and she couldn't find anyone better)... and it makes sense in their world and even the real world, it was very annoying for me as a viewer. So does my dislike deem this bad writing? I don't think so. And what is bad or lazy writing as many accused Coffee House of when the story didn't flow the way we wanted it to? Well, that's for another day's discussion.

I'll end this by saying, while I enjoyed the drama, the whole culture that evolved while watching it was very interesting to me. Shipper Wars aren't new to me but I'd never seen any this intense in an Asian drama and I think this was due to never having a case where both camps were convinced theirs was the OTP. In addition, reactions and reviews have also piqued my interest. I've noticed that most reviews by those who began to watch the drama after it aired in its entirety have been  positive. Is this because those who watch now know who the OTP is? Probably. And I also think that there's far less time to spend predicting the future episodes so there's far less disappointment on that front. 

What have I learned from all of this as viewer? I think the most I've learned is I should just sit back and enjoy my dramas :D lol... if I think it sucks, turn it off. If I enjoy, then I should just sit back and enjoy whatever story is being told to me instead of expecting too much or waiting for different plot points I expect to materialize in some future episode.  If I'd written Coffee House, there'd be no episode 12 disappearing act and it would have been a lot more focused on the journey of a couple from being friends to lovers. That's probably why I enjoy the beginning of episode 9 so much because it was what I hoped the drama would be. Instead, we got a time skip, a marriage plot and a love triangle. But even though that wasn't what I'd hoped for, it still had its own merit.

What can a kdrama writer or director learn from this? It's not that easy to create a new genre. Having a character with so much screen time not participate in the main love story is confusing.  The audience is not a clean slate and will always expect your drama to do the same dance others are doing. If it's not, some might consider it a "flaw" or think it's senseless even if it's not. Make the OTP clear (although I think they actually did during the promotion of the show). And if you decide to follow your own rules, understand that you might be sacrificing some of your commercial success.

The psychology of Coffee House (Part 2)

Whenever I watch dramas on viikii (which is rarely), I turn the comments off. Why? Because I find them distracting. However, watching Coffee House was an exception. Okay to be frank, I often watched without the comments but would read them afterwards. Reading those comments provided insight (?) into what others were thinking.

As previously mentioned, Coffee House had the typical love square which is pretty much a combination of two love triangles:

Second Lead Male - Lead Female - Lead Male
                                          +
                                Lead Female - Lead Male - Second Lead Female.

= Second Lead Male - Lead Female - Lead Male - Second Lead Female.


What were the love squares on Coffee House?


Ji Won - Eun Young - Jin Soo - Seung Young?
Dong Wook - Seung Yeon - Jin Soo - Eun Young?
Ji Won - Eun Young - Jin Soo - Hee Soo?


I'll say yes at first glance but no when you take a closer look. 

For starters, what's a long triangle?
A love triangle usually involves the hero being torn between two people. In general, it's usually a case of heart versus head. One character is better for you on paper, while the other has your heart. But in dramas, the love triangle is generally not a real one - because it's clear that the hero will not choose the second lead. So I personally don't consider that a love triangle when the other person might be vying for the hero or heroine's love but really has no chance in hell of getting it.

What often happens is the second lead (generally the man) makes a play for the lead female's heart and technically has a chance (even though the audience knows better). Examples would be My Girl and Full House where the lead females became good friends with the second lead male even though their hearts never followed them.  Another case can be where the lead is romantically involved with both and has to make a choice. Even though I previously cited TODAW as an example of a "Waste of Time Love Triangle," it's a legitimate one because the lead girl dated both men even though her heart was with one. I think the tightest love triangle I've seen in a kdrama was in My Love Patzzi where she loved both men romantically, but in different ways. The audience didn't know who she'd pick - neither did the writers since she didn't pick either. LOL.

Anyway, back to Coffee House. Coffee house had two legitimate love triangles although no legitimate love square. And why I say there was no legitimate love square is because the love triangles didn't occur at the same time.

They were:
Ji Won - Eun Young - Jin Soo
and
Hee Soo - Jin Soo - Eun Young.

Ji Won - Eun Young - Jin Soo occurred in the second half of the drama when Eun Young was engaged to Ji Won but still in love with Jin Soo while, the other occurred in the first half where Jin Soo was in love with Eun Young but couldn't forget Hee Soo.

Ji Won - Eun Young - Jin Soo - Hee Soo may have occurred 10 years prior to episode 1 but there's no clarity on it.

I don't consider very clearly defined one-sided love to be part of a legitimate love triangle. So I don't consider Ji Won to be a part of any love triangle in the first half of the drama because Eun Young herself didn't even consider him a romantic prospect. And likewise, I don't consider Seung Yeon a part of any legitimate love triangles. However, Seung Yeon was part of an interesting dynamic:


Dong Wook - Seung Yeon - Jin Soo


This translates to Dong Wook had unrequited love for Seung Yeon who had unrequited love for Jin Soo. A love triangle gets solved by two of the participants having mutual love for each other. Will Dong Wook & Seung Yeon eventually get together? Possibly. But this still wouldn't make the above a love triangle because both love lines didn't occur at the same time. 

So what's the point of all this? The lead character of Coffee House was Jin Soo and since this is a rom-com and polygamy is out of the question, the drama would end with him picking someone and riding into the sunset with her. As I mentioned, there were only two true love triangles involving Jin Soo in this drama.

Hee Soo - Jin Soo - Eun Young.
Jin Soo clearly loved Eun Young but was haunted by Hee Soo's death. But instead of following his heart, he chose to leave Eun Young in order to deal with his issues considering Hee Soo.

Ji Won - Eun Young - Jin Soo
Jin Soo returned from wherever he was determined to finally follow his heart. However, Eun Young was already engaged to Ji Won. We know this love triangle ended because Jin Soo crashed the wedding and stole the bride in his unique way. LOL. Ultimately, Eun Young chose Jin Soo over Ji Won and both rode Segways together into the sunset.

In both love triangles which spanned the series, Jin Soo and Eun Young had mutual attraction and interest in one another. So why were there still some who expected Jin Soo to pick someone who wasn't even a part of any legitimate love triangles or love lines with him? Because she was the very typical Korean drama lead female.

Pretty, accomplished woman vs cute (or ugly) unaccomplished woman.
Anyone who's watched an American teen romance knows that the gorgeous cheerleader is a bitch. Even if you don't watch teen romances, anyone who's seen The Sound of Music can see that the plain nun, Maria, had a heart of gold, while the pretty, sophisticated woman (whatever her name was) was a manipulative gold digger. I can't even remember if Richard Gere had another love interest in Pretty Woman but we all know that he found true love with the unsophisticated, poor prostitute with a heart of gold. So kdrama doesn't have a monopoly on the idea that poor, naive women with huge hearts end up with the rich dude. However, in almost all cases, her competition is a pretty, sophisticated, manipulative bitchy-type.

So what happens when the pretty, sophisticated, successful woman isn't a bitch? What happens when she's actually a pretty damn wonderful woman who despite the abuse, has taken care of the hero for many years?

See, I've watched many dramas where I have rooted for the second lead because frankly speaking, they treated the heroine better but at the end of the day, I understood that the heroine is better off with the person she loves.

But for many people watching Coffee House, this wasn't the case. Despite Jin Soo making it extremely clear that he loved the pretty, successful career woman, many were still hoping upon hope that he would change his heart. When it became clear that Jin Soo had his very annoying, stubborn personality and his heart would never change on its own, they hoped that Eun Young would marry the wrong guy so that he'd be forced to give up on her. DOES THIS EVEN MAKE SENSE?

Romance dramas have conditioned us to hate the gorgeous career woman.
When we meet her, we almost always expect her to turn evil. Even as a EunSoo shipper from the first episode, even though I saw that despite her quirks and declarations that she was only 10% less mean than Jin Soo the jerk, that it was pretty damn obvious that she was a nice woman, I wondered about this. Because I've seen enough kdramas to know that jealousy is an evil thing and can turn a woman crazy.

When it became clear that she truly had Jin Soo's best interests at heart, some people began to see evil where there was none. A prime example was when she warned Seung Yeon about his sleeping pills. Instead of people seeing it for what it was, many insisted that she was telling Seung Yeon to drug him. So Eun Young's meanness in certain audience members minds, ends up being proven like a self fulfilled prophecy. Since they already expect the beautiful career woman to do evil things, they twist her actions to prove their theories.

Opposites attract 
Coffee House aimed to show us a realistic couple. I don't know about others, but something that attracts me to someone is finding things we have in common. Other than physical appearance, common interests is probably the second thing individuals look for when searching for a partner. Who wants to be with someone you can't enjoy music, vacations and even restaurants with? Someone you always have to fight with, or compromise with because you don't enjoy the same things or have similar sensibilities, ideologies or beliefs? However, while common interests might be the initial reason a couple might form, differences help nurture it.

Jin Soo and Eun Young had a similar vibe about them. Without even knowing their history, from the way they interacted, you could see how they could get along. Even though their attitudes to work and human relationships were at opposite sides of the spectrum, it was clear that they were on the same plane intellectually. Plus being similar ages, it was probably true that they'd also had similar life experiences. So why would people be turned off by a couple that was very clearly well matched? Because they weren't doing wacky things together.

The romantic part of Coffee House was about timing. When Eun Young wanted to change the nature of their relationship, Jin Soo wasn't ready. By the time he was ready, Eun Young had already moved on. However, because some people already have this notion that they were too similar, they didn't pay attention to this very significant part of this drama. Instead, they were focused on the interactions between the naive, clueless girl and the arrogant man.

The idea is that the arrogant, successful man would provide structure to the naive girl's life, while naive girl will bring fun into his life.

But did Jin Soo look like he was suffering from lack of fun? Before the angst began, the show also showed that Eun Young and Jin Soo could laugh together. The only difference was instead of him stuffing her into a suitcase and screaming "Are you crazy?" at her, they bantered. The drama also showed that they kind of spoke their own language and shared a similar sense of humor like in episode 15 when they joked about the chamberpot. So their humor was more subtle and more realistic and mature. But it was too subtle for those expecting the typical romantic comedy that leads to love.

Realistically, could Jin Soo and Seung Yeon work out? NO. Just take a look at these characters. Despite Jin Soo's comments about Seung Yeon's lack of sex appeal, I don't think he's above being attracted to her. However, Jin Soo is probably one of the most condescending characters in any kdrama I've seen. Although he might adopt the role of a mentor or a sunbae in her life, he would never consider her an equal. Think to episode 10 when he told Eun Young that everything Seung Yeon had told her had been false. He pretty much said something like, "Young girls are prone to flights of fancy." Throughout this drama, this man tortured this poor girl over and over yet many were still hoping he'd fall in love. Why?

Because Bullying leads to love.
I'd heard so many good things about Hana Yori Dango but was pretty much mortified each time I tried to watch it. The entire F4 thing made me sick. Why should four guys who derive pleasure from lording over their classmates be the main characters? Also, why should the leader, the one who had the most fun humiliating the lead girl fall in love with her? And worse, her with him? Does this even make sense?

I did eventually watch HYD, but that was only after I skipped two episodes. I then attempted to watch BOF and I think this was even much worse - I couldn't stomach it. Lee Min Ho's character really was an animal. Many romantic comedies start off the same way - the pair who rub each other the wrong way fall in love. But some kdrama rom coms go too far with this torture device.

Kdramas love for the lead man to make fun of the lead woman's appearance and call her ugly. They love for him to call her an idiot. They love for him to humiliate her. To have no regard for her. Then as he falls for her, his feelings change and she thinks he's a special person.

I don't know what's going on with other women, but I am definitely not about to fall in love with anyone who calls me ugly, a fool or has little or no regard for me. I prefer for a man to see me as a woman from the get go, and treat me as such.

However, we're so used to seeing heroes change their previously negative opinions of heroines that we don't even flinch when he's being mean to her because apparently, it will all be worth it in the end because he'll fall in love with her. Yes, "Love is Pain" but there's a limit.

Anyway, even though Jin Soo made it clear that he didn't think much of her as his secretary, tortured her, insulted her and disregarded her feelings, many were still expecting him to change his opinion and fall in love with her. As time passed, Jin Soo did grow up a little but he enjoyed torturing her to the very end as shown in the prison scene in episode 18.

As I just mentioned, Jin Soo did change a little but what caused that change? Love?

Love influences change.
Even though the romantic couple was clearly Jin Soo and Eun Young, many refused to believe it because apparently, she wasn't his source of change. But is that true?

As previously implied, the appeal of opposites attracting is both being the missing piece the other lacks. Through flashbacks, we could tell that when Jin Soo was in a very dark place, Eun Young helped bring him into the light through writing. So there's no question that she changed his life although at a different time so perhaps it's not as important to all viewers. Regardless, even though Jin Soo was no longer suicidal, he was still very irresponsible and this frustrated Eun Young as shown in the episode 7 conversation.

However, did his interactions with Seung Yeon bring about change? In romances, the idea is that the love for one person influences the other to become a better man. For starters, as we know, Jin Soo didn't love Seung Yeon so that couldn't have been a reason for him to change. However, there are 2.5 things she showed him:

1) Just because the situation doesn't change doesn't mean that heart won't.
Hearing this in episode 11 influenced his actions at the end of the episode.
2) Don't run because you have something to protect.
Hearing this made him stick around in episode 16
2.5) Her refusal to sell him her Galapagos story as well as Ji Won protecting his love showed him how others were living with purpose in their lives.

In reality, we learn from a lot of people - friends, teachers, priests, television shows etc etc... but this isn't enough reason for us to fall in love with them.

But in Coffee House, did Jin Soo choose to change because of his love for Eun Young?

1)It might be debatable but why would Jin Soo have to run out of town to deal with his Hee Soo-problems if not for Eun Young?
2)We know seeing her tears made him punish Ji Won in episodes 3 & 4.
3)In episode 11, hearing Eun Young say she was dumb for believing in his sincerity caused him to go berserk and beat up Ji Won.
4)He pretty much told her in episode 18 that he did things he would never do for her.

But do we call these change or simply acts? Certain things made him act but not necessarily change his behavior. It's true that a series of actions lead to a change in a person but in this case, it's far more subtle than usual. So overall, can we say that the Jin Soo in episode 1 was different from the one in episode 18? I think he just grew up a little. Not because he suddenly fell in love and decided to become a better man. But a series of events and a series of actions probably encouraged him to change his attitude a little. At the end of the day, Jin Soo was still Jin Soo with blond hair. But now, instead of hiding from his love, he embraced it. He chose to stop selfishly lying but lied for her instead. His love for Eun Young did make him change but perhaps not in the usual kdrama manner.

This is how Coffee House is more realistic than other dramas. I was one of the people who was extremely irritated at Jin Soo for not changing quickly enough. We are used to watching characters slowly change from like episode 4 and 5 and it almost looked like he did back then. Because in episode 4, we saw that this jerk of a man was capable of caring about someone (when Seung Yeon got hurt because of him). But was that a change or merely just his nature? While he was a jerk, he wasn't a monster and having heard about how badly Seung Yeon had been hurt, wouldn't it make sense for him to be very worried?

So all in all, Jin Soo's change was more realistic. He was still a jerk till the end. He still loved Eun Young just like he had at the beginning of the drama. He did gain some respect for Seung Yeon which is a natural change as they'd been strangers at the beginning of the drama. He did embrace instead of reject his love - which was the story of the drama. But he was still very much himself.

So neither Eun Young or Seung Yeon really won on the "she made him change" front. I think he changed on his own. But is a romance drama a competition? And should there be a winner? Yes and Yes.

The Underdog wins
This might be the most important one yet and why I mentioned turning viikii comments off. Other than the usual, "she makes him laugh" and "he's happier with her" comments... there were also the "pretty beats cute?" "It's unfair. Eun Young got everything while Seung Yeon got nothing."

Since this is a romance drama, love from the hero is considered the ultimate prize. But in Coffee House, is it really?

Jin Soo is a jerk and nobody's hero. Seriously. If not for the fact that Eun Young really loved him, I'd advice that she find someone else, especially when he was being a selfish fool. Even those who wanted him with Seung Yeon ignored all the abuse he meted out on her and wanted her to get his love. But this drama wasn't only about love.

The entire premise was about this girl wanting to become a pro. And a girl with no ambition or direction ended up making a life for herself. And not only that, she also had the potential for finding love with someone who'd loved her unconditionally. If not him, someone else. She'd learned life lessons that had helped her grow into a more confident person. So how can one define this as "getting nothing?"

But there's a bit of a resentment with Eun Young "having it all." Someone who's pretty, successful and rich needs to lack in some regard. I think this is another reason kdramas are appealing. The rich girl has her looks and money while the poor girl gets the man. But don't pretty, successful women also deserve love too? Don't they also find love in the real world? Maybe this dynamic of poor, ugly girl getting the man feeds into our hidden jealousy. Maybe we don't really like to see people have it all so it's a little satisfying to watch the underdog get the man - even if it's not very realistic. After all, who watches kdrama for realism?

Then the question becomes: Why do we watch kdrama rom-coms?

To Be Continued...

The psychology of Coffee House (Part 1)

As I've already mentioned a billion times in this blog, Korean Drama Coffee House pretty much took over my entire summer.

What is Coffee House? Coffee House is a romantic comedy about a writer, Lee Jin Soo, his publisher, Seo Eun Young and his secretary Kang Seung Yeon. Seo Eun Young's ex, Han Ji Won, a director of a company, makes up the usual quadrangle.

Sounds like the typical kdrama romantic comedy set up? Yes.

Kdramas usually have:
A naive or spunky lead girl
The cold/arrogant lead man
The cold/arrogant lead man's best friend, cousin, brother, sunbae (senior) etc etc (Second lead man)
The cold/arrogant man's ex-girlfriend, first love, crush, or best friend/younger friend who's always loved him. (Second lead woman)

The usual set up is that after a whole bunch of drama, the leads find true love. Generally, on this bumpy road to love, the lead man puts the lead woman through hell and she finds solace and warmth with the second lead who pines for her and loves her unconditionally. Of course, there are times the second lead turns evil, like in Delightful Girl Choon Yang but more often than not, he loves her and gets nothing in return.

The second lead girl on the other hand is a very jealous, spiteful girl who will stop at nothing to try to get the man. In most cases, the arrogant man starts the drama in love with the second lead girl but she's arrogant or a bitch or takes him for granted or whatever it is. However, when his focus starts to shift to the main girl, she becomes a jealous psycho. Sometimes, the second girl isn't mean and is just unhappy at losing her love (like in My Fair Lady).

What are the character relationships in Coffee House?
Lee Jin Soo and Seo Eun Young have a 10 year friendship.
Lee Jin Soo and Han Ji Won have also known each other for at least 10 years. Ji Won is Jin Soo's sunbae.
Kang Seung Yeon is a clueless, spunky, naive girl who meets Lee Jin Soo at the very beginning of episode one. So at first glance, this is the classic kdrama romantic comedy set up.

LJS = lead man
KSY = lead girl
SEY = second lead girl
HJW = second lead man

Like in all kdrama rom coms (and American ones too), LJS and KSY have a meet-cute. SY's family runs a failed coffee shop that JS walks into one fine day. A bunch of stuff happens including SY being locked in the restroom. Other stuff occurs and this leads to SY becoming JS's secretary.

While the first episode introduces Jin Soo and Eun Young's relationship and we get to see they are business associates as well as frienemies, we are also introduced to Seung Yeon's family. Oh, and did I mention that the spunky girl is generally poor and from a loud, "funny" and happy family just like Seung Yeon's?

Kdramas have the stereotype of rich people being unhappy and/or boring but poor people being lively and fun. So part of the appeal of this set up of the arrogant, rich guy meeting the poor, spunky girl is the poor girl opens his world and he starts to live. He's no longer so uptight and closed off in his rich world and gets to see the world through her more "real" eyes. I don't know why this stereotype exists in dramas. If the rich are so uptight, boring and don't "live," why do so many people covet their lifestyles? Or does this stereotype exist to make the general masses feel better about their social and financial status? And is it true that poor people are somewhat satisfied with their status and manage to be happy and lead full lives despite it? Because more often than not, the poor family is full of love and happiness while the rich family is cold with a whole bunch of drama.

Anyway, I digress. So Coffee House starts off the usual way except for that lead man and supposed second lead girl's relationship. What's different about it? In most cases, the lead man has a crush on the second lead girl but she's never paid him much attention. Or they were previously in a relationship. Or she's always had a crush on him but he was never interested. There's the rare case where the second lead girl and lead man aren't involved in a love triangle but that's not what this discussion is about.

Moving on... instead of the usual set up, what we have is the frienemy set up which is quite common in romantic comedies. In rom-coms, the lead couple is usually at that stage in like episodes 3 or 4 although not as deep as here where it's clear that they are way more friends than enemies. The 'enemy' part of their relationship is like that of a game - it's the device they use to hide their true feelings because it becomes increasingly clear that underneath these barbs, these two don't just merely like, but care about each other deeply. So when you look at the big picture, this isn't just a case of love-hate, it's more of one of unrealized or suppressed love. That alone should tell the audience that the 'rom' part of this 'rom com' refers to the Lee Jin Soo/Seo Eun Young story, right? However, instead of providing clarity, it created both confusion and division. Why? Because the spunky, naive, clueless underdog female was very much present in this story.

To be continued...

So Kang Ji Hwan (강지환) is my current drama boyfriend.

Let me not lie. When it comes to kdramas, I do kinda enjoy staying in the shallow end of things. I hadn't planned on watching Wish Upon A Star but someone recommended it to me and when I found out the lead was a bonafide hottie, I was on board. Same reason I watched Oh My Lady. Choi Si Won is such a cutie and the plot looked like it was worth my time. WUAS was good till it got to the middle then went really bad but you know something? That actor is HOT AS HELL and he kept me through the very rough patch. The drama had many flaws but I had no regrets watching it. OML on the other hand, was light but extremely slow with no pay off. This one I regret watching - I want those hours back.

Coffee House was revelation to me. I planned on skipping it and it didn't help that I just didn't find the lead hot at all. But after watching his portrayal of Lee Jin Soo, I want to have his babies. Suddenly, he's sexy as hell to me. How did that even happen? lol.

Now I wish I lived in Korea. lol.

cr: Hee Chul's twitter

These pics were taken from his soompi thread.

But of course, the more delusional side of me actually wishes he'll look Park Si Yeon's way. Their chemistry really sizzled.

Coffee House 커피하우스

It's been ages since I posted here but I recently watched Coffee House, enjoyed it tremendously and wrote fanfic. The link is under my "Online Activities."

I don't have the energy to write a review but the shipping in this drama is strong and while it's flawed and deserves criticisms, I think majority of those who end up not liking it do so because they don't like the end couple.

I loved the end couple and their chemistry. The characters are flawed and frustrating but that's what makes them endearing.