Korean Drama Addiction

My best friend, who is a doctor and married to a doctor as well read that I was on anti-anxiety medications and she was concerned.  Apparently, they can be addictive.  She was concerned enough to call me about it and to make me promise to tell D so that he, too can watch for symptoms.

She’s so sweet. I was able to assure her that 1) I’ve only taken it a couple of times before I found out that I was pregnant; 2) I’ve only taken it once since the miscarriage; 3) I don’t really have an addictive personality or whatever it is that makes a person more susceptible and 4) I’ll be super cautious anyway.

Apparently I was wrong about not having an addictive personality.  Well, I still don’t think I have a tendency to get addicted to chemicals, but I’m in full addicted mode with Korean dramas.

If you have no idea what Korean dramas are, read here.  Korean dramas have become very popular in other Asian countries, but non-Asian as well.  I didn’t get it at first.  Yes, D and I spent a week one summer staying up until 2 AM to watch Stairway to Heaven.  But that was an isolated incident.  Yes, I followed Likable or Not and You’re My Destiny for a while.  But  both over 150+ episodes with convoluted plots that took forever to resolve, I only finished watching them because I had already committed so much time, I needed to see a “happy” ending.

Well, there’s a whole world of Korean dramas that I didn’t know about until this summer. Most Korean dramas are about 16 – 25 episodes, with the story lines moving at a faster pace.  So, even ridiculous plot devices are not as annoying.  Well, more tolerable anyway since you don’t have to watch like 60 episodes before they get resolved.

These dramas or romantic comedies to be more precise, are so addictive.  As in I can’t wait for the kids to be asleep, I’m staying up way past my bedtime, I’m trying to cook or sweep or fold laundry or whatever with the laptop in front of me, I’ve given up walking at night so I could watch these shows instead addictive.

I read some stories of K-drama addiction.  Like one woman would watch under the cover with the volume down so her husband wouldn’t know.  People would call in sick to work, or skip classes, etc to watch.  One woman faked a death of a fake family member get a day off.  I would never fake death because that’s just bad karma man, but I totally get the motivation.

On Friday, I stayed up until 3 AM watching.  On Saturday, I tried to sweep and mop the floor while watching.  Yesterday, I made peach and blueberry pie and it took me twice as long to make because I was trying to watch a show at the same time.  I have it real bad.

Thus far, I’ve finished:

1. The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince, 2007 – light-hearted rom-com about a rich man who meets a poor woman who he mistakenly thinks is a man, but falls in love anyway.  A little different from the typical rich boy meets poor girl story lines that I’ve been watching since. The rich boy coffee prince himself, in my opinion, is the most lovable hero of all the shows I’ve watched so far.  In the end, I wished there had been a few more shows.  Seriously recommend this though.

2.  My Princess, 2011 – rich man meets poor woman who’s actually a princess.  This drama typifies the Korean rom-com plot devices to an extent.  Arrogant rich man falls in love with poor, lower class woman in spite of himself, is mean and rude to the girl in the beginning to fight his feelings but the girl likes him anyway… so maddening!  I watched it because the chemistry between the two leads were fantastic that they made even the ridiculous plots more believable.

3. Boys Over Flowers, 2009 – high school rich boy meets poor girl…would never have thought I would be interested in highschool romance, but was surprisingly addictive, ridiculous plots and over-the-top acting and all. Thank goodness for Netflix where I could fast forward through the eye-rolling scenes.  For really good review and episode recaps, head over here.  In fact dramabeans has good recaps reviews on many dramas.

4. Playful Kiss, aka Mischievous Kiss, 2010 – another high school rom-com starring Kim Hyun Joong from Boys Over Flowers as the lead arrogant rich boy Baek Seung Jo that Oh Ha Ni (she’s not exactly poor, but not rich either) has a crush on…going on for 4 years. Oh Ha Ni female lead character is cute, but her obsession over Baek Seung Jo’s in spite of being constantly rejected and ridiculed got incredibly annoying.  Please get some back bone!  And I wish the character had developed and matured more earlier and not just at the last episode.  I watched mostly for Kim Hyun Joong… he’s only 25 so I feel a little wrong having a crush him but I do *blushing* Would only watch if I can fast forward through painful scenes.

4. My Lovely Sam Soon, 2005 – another rich boy meets poor girl, except this time, she’s fat, not-so-pretty and old (30).  This is actually a really good drama, lots of humor and touching moments, etc, but I am getting a little tired of the arrogant, mean rich boy/man falling in love in spite of himself to a poor woman/girl, starts out abusive but is redeemed in the end.  I mean it is hard to understand why these woman fall for these guys in the beginning, they are so freaking rude, mean, arrogant, etc, you know?  But, in spite of all that, I really loved this show.  But unless you’re anorexic, you will feel incredibly fat watching this… the lead address is considered fat by Korean standards and she’s probably a healthy size 2 – 4.

5.  Currently watching Secret Garden, 2010.  Starring the same male lead Hyun Bin from My Lovely Sam Soon who looks totally different that I almost didn’t recognize him.  I didn’t think he was all that cute in Sam Soon, but he’s pretty hot in this show except that his character is probably the most arrogant of the arrogant rich boy/man lead that I’ve seen thus far.  But 6 episodes into the drama, so much fun to watch… like laugh-out-loud, want to pee in my pants scenes.

If you’re looking for a good Korea drama and you haven’t seen these, I highly recommend Coffee Prince, Sam Soon and Secret Garden (at least up to episode 6!).  I recommend My Princess next.  Boys and Playful Kiss are more for eye-candy. But if you haven’t gotten hooked to Korean dramas yet, well, you may want to avoid them completely.  They are highly addictive.