UNFINISHED: OH LA LA COUPLE





I gave up on this drama quite early on - around 2 episodes in. I know that may sound hasty, but hear me out. There were a few things I really liked about the drama: Yeo Ok was an interesting character... Ok, make that one thing. I think the premise of the past life and the fantasy sides were alright, nothing too spectacular. However, the main problem for me is the husband. I personally watch romance comedies to root for the couple and watch their cute interaction scenes, which means it is so very important to have two intricately portrayed characters who I can support. On the other hand, the husband is so very ... despicable. He encompasses all the traits you don't want a husband to have: rude, loud, sexist and unfaithful. As a female, I can't see how Yeo Ok would ever take him back (and I'm pretty sure that's what the rest of the series would be leading up to though). I mean, she herself says that she can never take him back as she witnessed him cheating on her. So, due to the fact that I cannot support this couple, I see no point in wasting my time watching it in frustration. I've heard that the ending has been disappointing, as well as the lead up to that so I'm not regretting anything yet.

For anyone interested, the premise of this drama is that Yeo Ok finds out her husband has been unfaithful and goes on to divorce him. However, the love gods (one of whom I presume was a lover in one of her past lives, when she was a renowned geisha) decide to switch their souls so they can understand each other by living their lives.





INITIAL THOUGHTS: I LOVE LEE TAE RI



If you're looking for a lighthearted and heartwarming romantic comedy, then this is shaping up to be quite the drama. Starring Park Ye Jin as Lee Tae Ri (of Family Outing fame) and Kim Ki Bum as Geum Eun Dong aka Hwang Min Soo (probably best known as being a member of Super Junior), this cable drama revolves around the premise of a fourteen year old boy's wish to protect his love. Ultimately, this leads to his transformation from his fourteen year old body to that of an adult. With the sundial being an instrumental part of his change, he stays by the side of Lee Tae Ri - the curator of the museum, believing that he needs to hug her in front of the sundial (in repetition of an earlier incident when he was fourteen).

With that as the foundation of the story, there are other side plots and obstacles, in the form of an annoying ex-boyfriend who works for Tae Ri's uncle who is scheming to ruin the museum. In the land of K-dramas, this is somewhat expected; you can hardly trust anyone outside of your immediate family, especially if you are rich. Also, there is Heart who is Eun Dong's noona fiance, who doesn't even like him (he's 7 years younger than her and well, fourteen) and is instead lusting after the annoying ex-boyfriend (Seung Jae). Honestly though, she's a bit of an afterthought because she's more of an annoyance than anything else really.

Onto the performances and impressions thus far, I'm really excited to see how this drama unfolds. I've already read that the ending is better than Big and deals with the whole age-transformation thing better so thumbs up for that, in advanced. Currently, I feel that drama is moving along steadily not too fast nor too slow. I'm really enjoying the build up and chemistry between Tae Ri and Min Soo, regardless of the supposed age gap considering that he is meant to be a fourteen year old spiritually. However, I do think that it's naive to think that being in the body of an adult hasn't changed his mentality one bit, because he has had to adopt to being a normal adult. Even the way he faced Soon Sim after 'forgetting' his feelings for her, he acted like an oppa. Actually, maybe he was always a bit mature for a teenager, with his determination to marry and protect her, and now Tae Ri. I love how his purity and goodness is able to comfort her and reveal her vulnerabilities. It's interesting to read that many people find Park Ye Jin to look much older than Ki Bum, whereas I find that there was still amazing chemistry despite their real life age gap. I personally find that while Ye Jin doesn't have a 'baby face', she doesn't look much older than her age; not to mention, Ki Bum has such a baby face. Thus, being able to make this work, I commend the two lead actors. They are cute together in my books. Ok, so I squealing at the computer for them to kiss already and they will if the preview is not trolling me.