Caution: May contain spoilers for those that haven't watched these dramas.
I was actually staying far away from anything that said "Flower Boy" in the title after watching "Boys Before Flowers" and "You're Beautiful". To me, anything that came after that was just following the trend.
And then, I heard TvN was putting out a series of dramas aimed towards the teen/young adult audience. I thought, "Oh hell no.." I saw recaps of "Flower Boy Ramyun Shop" come and go. News hyping up "Shut Up Flower Boy Band" piqued my interest, but not enough to watch. Then I started see wallpaper of Park Shin Hye and Yoon Si Yoon, and I thought, "Oh, geez, why not already?" It starred "Go Minam" and "Kim Tak Gu" so how bad could it be? Well, I am going to be absolutely honest in saying that what I thought would wow me, didn't. And the one that I just dismissed, I loved. Go figure.
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop
The first drama in the "Oh Boy!" series. It was about a hard working and down on her luck young woman named, Yang Eun Bi (Lee Chung Ah), who is at a point in her life where she has decide what she really wants to do. One day, she attends a fair being in held at her college and bumps into a handsome man. They converse briefly, she out of pure friendliness, he out of irritation. She spots her boyfriend across the way and goes to greet him when she realizes that he isn't alone. It turns out that he had been cheating on her while she was faithfully waiting to spend time with him. They lash out at each other and she's dumped. To save face, she exclaims she already has someone else, too and runs to get into the car of the handsome man she met earlier. They drive off a midst water balloons being hurled at his car by her ex's furious girlfriend. He takes her to the river and isn't too nice to her as he scolds her for basically being a fool and leaves her there.
She studies to be a teacher and lands a job at a local high school where she bumps into spoiled pretty rich boy Cha Chi Soo (aka as the handsome guy) played by Jung Il Woo. He was a HIGH SCHOOLER! She realizes this and spends pretty much most of her time there avoiding him. But alas, opposites attract and because of this they get into so much trouble. She comes to many points where she is almost fired, especially after physically disciplining him in front of his class. She is saved from doing anything further from a man claiming to be her HUSBAND. None other than "He Was Cool" actor Lee Ki Woo played Choi Kang Hyuk, the man Eun Bi's father promised her hand in marriage and left the family's ramyun shop to. And from there the love triangle was born.
After being fired from her teaching position finally, Eun Bi brings the ramyun shop a facelift with Kang Hyuk. Chi Soo joins them in order to be closer to Eun Bi along with a couple of other handsome faces from the neighborhood.
In the end, lovable and absolutely handsome, Choi Kang Hyuk, the one that Eun Bi turns to in time of need, crying and helplessness...doesn't get the girl. Go figure. She ends up with formerly spoiled, and eight years her junior Cha Chi Soo.
And that was the last straw for me. I loved that this showed the whole senior-junior relationship between an older woman and a younger man. That spoke reality to me. But Jung Il Woo's character was so over the top overbearingly selfish and childish, it felt really overacted. And that really killed my appreciation for this series. The love triangle was cute. They had pretty good looking actors, especially with Lee Ki Woo, so that was great. But I could not enjoy it because of Cha Chi Soo. Sorry Jung Il Woo fans.
Flower Boy Next Door
The third installation in the "Oh Boy!" series. Portrayed a reclusive young woman name "Go Dok Mi" played by Park Shin Hye. She stays sequestered in her apartment, away from the world. She takes joy in viewing the outside world through her one window and her binoculars which she uses to spy on her neighbors. One day she gets caught by gamer "Enrique Geum" played by Yoon Si Yoon (Baker King Kim Tak Gu). He storms over to her apartment intending to break down her door only to be cut off by her neighbor, "Oh Jin Rak", played by Kim Ji Hoon. Through some intentional and chance meetings, Enrique gradually breaks down Dok Mi's barriers. He finds out she suffers from a traumatic event in her high school years where she was mistakenly ridiculed for having a relationship with her English teacher. The culprit was her former best friend who was jealous of Dok Mi and wanted to have the English teacher. (She was planning on sleeping with the teacher after graduation) Dok Mi never recovered from that until Enrique came along and healed her and eventually healing her heart. Despite of his feelings for Dok Mi, Jin Rak lets her go and Dok Mi and Enrique live happily ever after.
The good about this was that it had some pretty decent looking people. And the traumatic event Dok Mi was suffering from was different from what I've seen in other dramas. The bad? Dok Mi. And at times Enrique. And Dok Mi's best friend. Dok Mi just moped and moped and moped. It got tiring, it slowed things down, and got boring after a while. Enrique was so bubbly. Too bubbly. At times it worked, and sometimes it didn't. So much sunshine was blinding after a while. And the best friend? I have to say, not evil enough. Yeah, she was devious in high school. But as an adult, the was just annoying. Always getting in Jin Rak's face trying to get him to notice her. Not doing much else to Dok Mi except pretend to still be her friend. Sorry, didn't think she was necessary.
Shut Up Flower Boy Band
This was the wild card. The one I least expected to find anything interesting about. This came out on top to me. It spoke to me. Maybe it's because I'm a musician and I can relate to some of the stuff they went through, I dunno. But I will watch this again.
This was the second installment in the series and focused on the trials and love of a group of punk high school kids who happen to have good looks. It's too much to put all the characters in prose, so here's a breakdown:
Sung Jun- Kwon Ji Hyuk (guitarist and leader)
L/Kim Myung Soo- Lee Hyun Soo (2nd guitarist, the Ice Prince. Member of K-Pop group INFINITE.)
Lee Hyun Jae- Jang Do Il (drummer, mysterious and soft spoken member, son of a gangster. Drummer for K-Rock Indie group, Mate)
UPDATED 6/27/13- Found out that two members of Mate are currently in service with the army and have decided to disband as of March 2013. Lee Hyun Jae has been picked up and will be debuting in Japan under the group "Eden".
Kim Min Suk- Seo Kyung Jong (keyboardist, mama's boy)
Yoo Min Kyu- Kim Ha Jin (bassist, playboy and resident hot head. Got this role by winning a reality audition show.)
Jo Bo Ah- Im Su Ah (the Muse, daughter of a businessman that goes bankrupt. Rookie actress.)
Jung Eui Chul- Yoo Seung Hoon (school shining idol and leader/keyboardist for arch rival Strawberry Fields)
Kim Jung Min- Bang Woo Kyung (faithful groupie who has a crush on Ji Hyuk)
Kim Ye Rim- Ye Rim
Kim In Seo- Yoo Hae Ri (CEO of HR Entertainment and Seung Hoon's sister)
Ma Dong Seok- Shilba/Teacher Silva (Teacher out to get the pretty boys and manager)
Kim Hyun Jun- Park Pyo Joo (Strawberry Fields bassist and resident spoiled brat)
Kwak Jung Wook- Jung Maro (Strawberry Fields guitarist)
Jung Jin An- Jo Deo Mi (Su Ah's best friend)
Whew! You got that??
The story starts off with a band called "Eye Candy" performing at an underground club. They are interrupted in the middle of their set and have to scatter in different directions in order to escape the police. This set the look and tone of these group of guys as devoted musicians trying to play their music, but because of this they are not accepted into every day society.
The guys group up later on their way to school where they are apparently once again in trouble. (Again, the whole not accepted into society bit.) As luck would have it, the high school these guys attend is being shut down and they are told by their teacher that they will be shipped off to another high school. When the boys get their letters of transfer, all are relieved to find out that they will all be attending the same school, Jung Sang High.
But oh boy...when they get there, they are in for a surprise. Jung Sang is nothing like the high school they went to. It's clean, dignified and prestigious looking inside and out. It looked more like a "resort" than a school as one of the members pointed out.
The boys try to fit in, but being that they are a little rough around the edges, of course they don't. They clash with the administration and the other students. Drawing scorn and pity. They are called out to a Battle of the Bands (for a practice room?) by a rival group, Strawberry Fields, who is led by the school's golden boy, Yoo Seung Hoon.
As luck would have it, or rather bad luck, Byung Hee is killed after being hit by a truck late one night after being beaten by school mates. This throws Eye Candy into deep depression and it was unlikely they would continue. But what kind of story would that be if that were the ending? They managed to practice, record a demo for a competition Byung Hee had signed them up for and stood united. Unfortunately, right before the performance, Byung Hee's "muse", Im Bo Ah, runs into a bit of financial trouble and loan sharks come after her at the high school. (Her bank executive father was hiding under disgrace after going bankrupt and the loan sharks came after her since they couldn't find her dad.) Her knight in shining armor turns out to be Kwon Ji Hyuk, who takes her out of school right before the performance and thus forfeiting Eye Candy's chance at winning the Battle of the Bands. Sigh, never that easy.
Eventually, the group forgives Ji Hyuk. But the damage is done. Since Eye Candy didn't win the battle, they are once again looked down upon.
Ji Hyuk finds out that Byung Hee had entered them into a competition at a music festival and the band prepares feverishly for it.
The day of the big music competition arrives and the members are pumped that they would finally be able to perform Byung Hee's song to the world. All the members are there except for Hyun Soo, who is running late after picking up his sister and dropping her off at home. As he rushes off to the competition, he is almost struck in the crosswalk by a van who is driven by pop idol Ye Rim's manager. He hurts his hand, but picked out the glass and continued to hurry on to the competition barely making it in time. As Eye Candy took the stage, the crowd cheers and are soon in a frenzy. Just as the guitar solo begins, Ji Hyuk notices that Hyun Soo is bleeding all over the frets of his guitar. He grabs Hyun Soo in a hug to stop him and hustles him off stage before resuming the song onstage. The onlookers and judges were puzzled, but put that aside.
Again, as with the practice room, Strawberry Fields wins the competition. Impressed with Eye Candy's performance, the CEO of HR Entertainment has the idea to put a video of the group on their website along with the video of Strawberry Fields and see who fares better.
People's Choice went to....Angu Jonghwa or Eye Candy!
As a result of the numerous views online, Eye Candy's popularity grew, eventually dwarfing Strawberry Fields. And the members begin to reap the benefits of their fans new found love, they are offered a contract to produce their first single. They eventually earn the respect from their peers and the administration at Jung Sang, but of course, there were pressures that go along with fame.
As they struggled under the attention, they learned that friends will not always be on the same side. Love sometimes had to be sacrificed, but the love of music will always be something to fall back to.
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| Lee Hyun Jae as Drummer Jang Do Il |
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| Infinite's L as Guitarist Lee Hyun Soo |
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| Sung Jun as Leader Kwon Ji Hyuk |
I really loved this drama. It wasn't too frilly and it showed, at times, a more serious side (dealing with death, abandonment, fighting, heart ache) than most dramas with teens. The cast was wonderful. Rookie actress Jo Bo Ah did fine in her first leading role. Sung Jun, Lee Hyun Jae and L of Infinite were definitely something to write home about. All gave varying depths of emotion to their characters showing different sides. Sung Jun as Kwon Ji Hyuk showed such aloofness and torment at times, I felt bad for him. Lee Hyun Jae's Jang Do Il showed showed that even drummers can be a lead and snag a girl at the same time. And Infinite's L showed such dark anger, he certainly played the role of "Ice Prince" well. The entire group was certainly multidimensional and showed lovable characters. (Even Yoo Min Kyu as the temper flaring Kim Ha Jin.)
This is a drama I would definitely recommend watching. For me, I am re-watching it. Yes, the guys were that good looking and the cast was that talented.
And in case you're wondering, yes, the guy did get the girl. =)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these pics. Rights go to their rightful owners.
