You love Kpop, I love Kpop, we all love Kpop. It’s back for week 2 and these are the 5 things that happened in Kpop this past week that I think were just a little bit more special than the rest.
New Dramas that Didn’t Suck
Two highly, yet dubiously anticipated dramas debuted this week: Micky Yoochun‘s debut as an actor in the Boys Over Flowers meets You’re Beautiful during the Joseon dynasty SungKyunKwan Scandal and Korea’s remake of the famous Japanese manga Itazura Na Kiss starring Kim Hyun Joong under new management.
SKK scandal debuted on August 30th and I have to admit that I only watched it out of curiosity. There were no really outstanding performances from the cast (although Song Joong-ki had me chuckling with his randy playboy portrayal), but neither were there any awful performances. Some have been critical of Micky’s performance saying that he was too stiff, but I think he did well. The drama was nicely paced and at the end of the first two episodes, I wanted to see more.
Playful Kiss had many wondering if Hyun Joong would be able to succeed as male lead with his less than developed acting skills. While Hyun Joong is definitely still no Jang Dong Gun, I thought he did better than expected in the first two episodes. The drama itself is a little disjointed for me, I’m not sure what director Hwang In-roi was going for in his interpretation of the manga. It’s like a Grease meets High School Musical, it even kind of reminded me of old Elvis movies. The drama is filled with too many Oh Ha-ni daydream sequences, over the top scenes of a Danny Zucko wannabe with a thick Busan accent, and mute comedic sidekicks played by Krock band Bye Bye Sea who break out in performances as a segue into another scene. I think the director just wanted to do so much with the drama he kind of lost focus, if he just pulls everything back in a little it would be much better. So, why did this drama NOT suck? Simply put Jung So-min. Her portrayal as Oh Ha-ni is dazzlingly delightful. She brings much warmth and likability to the character of Ha-ni without making her be so pathetic. Her best friends Min-ah and Ju-ri played by Yoon Seung-ah and Hong Yoon-hwa are also casting gems. While I initially watched the drama because of Hyun Joong, I’m going to keep watching the drama because of So-min.
Min-hyuk eats Kim Chee
On the latest episode of We Got Married, Yong-hwa and Seohyun sit down with the C.N. Blue brothers-in-law to eat the meal they all cooked in the previous episode. All is good in the world until Yong-hwa tells cutie-patootie drummer Min-hyuk to try the homemade kim chee he and Seohyun made. I thought they usually pulled this kind of thing on the maknaes?
Go Jae Suk, Go Jaesuk, GO!
The cast of Infinity Challenge finally held their Battle Royale after weeks of training as professional wrestlers. While the boys were excited to perform for a sold out crowd, there were health concerns as Jeong Jun-ha was rushed to the hospital right before the show and later on we see Jung Hyung-don out of breath and sick to his stomach. In between the backstage drama that we saw going on, there was a pretty sick performance by Tiger JK, Bizzy, Tasha, and the man himself Yoo Jae Suk that had the crowd rocking in the stands.
Is that a Sausage in your pants or are you just Happy to see me?
The Hong Sisters just know how to create Kdrama rom-com gold. Mi-ho and Dae-woong go on a walk, not date, to the movies. While there, Mi-ho observes another couple being all lovey-dovey and tries to follow suit with the clueless Dae-woong. Mi-ho tries to cuddle with Dae-woong by slipping her hand in his pocket like the couple in front of them, but he thinks she’s using her gumiho superpowers and could smell the small sausage in his pocket (omgroflwtf) that he was saving for her.
Only slightly less classic, was the scene of Mi-ho chanting for Dae-woong to fall off the mats to her then loses patience and kicks him down to her to cuddle.
YG for Life
The YG-Life blog promised to fans by Papa YG that would reveal more intimate information about daily life for the YG Family members opened on September 1st as planned and then went down shortly after. I don’t know about y’all, but I couldn’t get in for three days. I guess YGE didn’t expect so much traffic, silly YGE. The site holds all kind of YG Family gems including the teasers for 2NE1’s comeback. One of the coolest things about the site is the YG center, where you can take a virtual tour of the YG building with all your favorite family members.
Ah, I bet you never quite wanted more to take the red pill, get sucked into your computer, and play in YG-Life land.
There were quite a few lovable moments in Kpop this week making it hard to cut it down to five. Honorable mention this week goes to SHINee‘s Min-ho on Strong Heart talking about his variety show lessons from teacher Leeteuk, Se7en and Jung Juri “Better Together” on Strong Heart, and So Ji-sub‘s photo shoot in HIGH CUT. Those were my top 5 things in Kpop that I loved this week, were they yours? If you see something great during the week, leave me a comment about it below and I’ll consider it for next week’s top 5. Hope y’all have another great week in Kpop, I know I will- 2NE1 here we go!
cr: Malkovny01