Kkotboda namja

I saw this ten years after it was released, I am not Asian, I am not a teenage girl. So I guess the flaws in this show are impossible not to notice. 1. The F4 are not only jerks with weird hairstyles, they are criminals. They are such bullies at the beginning of the show, it is practically impossible to really believe they are good later on in the series. 2. Jun Pyo in particular is such a big jerk, showing his "love" by constant insults and manhandling. 3. Jan Di starts well, but her character regresses instead of developing. 4. There are some pretty big plot holes there... 5. I really hope schools in Korea aren't like the one in this show, which is plain hell for the weak. 6. Jan Di's family are the worst. They are always trying to get money out of everything. There are one step before prostituting their daughter, if that would mean catching a rich son in law.

But: there is chemistry between the leading couple, Jan Di can be endearing at times, the male lead is pretty attractive in an ugly-handsome way, even with that God awful haircut (apparently he's a very hot name all over East Asia), and the soundtrack is addicting, so I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it at all.

OK, I'm a married guy, which means some times I get certain dramas "strongly recommended" to me by my better half. This is how I got into watching Korean dramas, even though I have to use the subtitles it's usually well worth the time and effort.

Most Korean dramas are original screenplays. But in the case of Boys Before Flowers, it's actually the 3rd live-action version of the story after the Taiwanese "Meteor Garden I & II", and "Hana Yori Dango" from Japan. If you count the original anime, then its a 4th outing on the small screen.

I think being the latest to be filmed allowed the production crew to take the best from its predecessors and also add in some uniqueness of its own. The story takes you to some exotic locales, including New Caledonia in the South Pacific. The scenes were breath taking, but they also add richness to the story not seen in the previous BOF dramas. And who could resist seeing an auto race between some very hot Lotus sport cars? OK, a guys' point of view, maybe. =) But I think beneath all the flashy, super-wealthy extravagance lies a very classic fairy tale archetype. The Cinderella's transformation for the ball, rescue of the damsel in distress, and a knight on his fiery steed; all these are concepts that makes the story very accessible to the western audience. In fact, even with the subtitles turned off, I bet you would still laugh and cry and cheer along as you watch the series.

I will also like to applaud the performances of the very young cast. Most of the kids are in their late teens to early twenties. So they're appropriately aged for their roles. All were very convincing whether portraying the ridiculously wealthy, or the hard working middle class. The parents were also well casted with veteran actors. Jun Pyo's mother deserves a special mention, playing the very believable lone 'villain' role of the story.

After thoroughly enjoying this drama, I actually went back to seek out the sister-series "Meteor Garden" and "Hana Yori Dango". Both were very enjoyable as well. The MG crew had the monumental task of transforming the Manga story into the first live-action drama. HYD on the other hand, had a few more years to fine tune the screenplay, and I have a feeling they had a bigger budget as well. All three are great dramas on their own terms, and for their time periods. So, it might not be very meaningful to compare them side by side. Having said that, BOF (Korean) had the advantage being the last to be made, and it shows in the scope of the production.

If you can find the series, enjoy….

This is my second Korean drama that I watched after they began being made available on Netflix streaming video service. I don't speak Korean or any any connection to the country, but with the English-language subtitles on Netflix it's no problem.

I absolutely love this series! It's an old story, poor but spunky heart-of-gold girl gets taken in by rich patron (in this case, Korea's most prestigious private high school for scions of wealthy and powerful families) and has two rich men fighting over her, but it's told in a modern way with glamorous sets, location shots, and fashion. I love that the show is romantic but clean (no foul language or raunchy sex scenes) and that there's story and character development.

The interesting thing about the two Korean dramas I've now seen is that it's the men/boys who are presented as the sex symbols. They walk into a room looking like they've just stepped out of a photo shoot for Men's Vogue or GQ magazine; their hair is so perfectly colored and coiffed, long and luxurious. They sneer better than Basil Rathbone and their arrogance makes Mr. Darcy (of Pride and Prejudice fame) seem humble by comparison. The women, on the other hand, are plainer and more ditzy, and very much at the mercy of the whims of the powerful men in their lives.

On reviewer on Netflix said this show had turned her into a couch potato. Likewise.

This is a uniformly good to great drama about a young girl, Geum Jan Di (an excellent Hye-sun Koo) who gets accepted into the most elite school in Korea after saving a person there from jumping off a building. That person had been targeted by the Flowers 4, the quartet of hearthrobs who practically run the school. Geum Jan Di gets particularly under the skin of Goo Joon Pyo (Min-ho Lee) after she refuses to back down to him. He tries to make her life miserable, but she never backs down from him. Eventually, he is enamored with her. Another major character is the sensitive Yoon Ji Hoo (Hyun-joong Kim), who becomes more of a friend to Geum Jan Di. Over the course of 25 episodes, you watch as Geum Jan Di tries to maintain her independent spirit. Goo Joon Pyo is a rich guy and she is a "commoner". How can love prevail? The whole drama is filled with all sorts of emotions, happiness, sadness, anger, frustration etc, but the glue is the great work by Hye-sun Koo. She conveys everything in her sweet smile, her anger etc and her pretty dark eyes. You want her to be happy and thats what really makes this drama, you're rooting for her. There are other characters including Geum Jan Di's best friend Ga-eul, who is very sweet, but the best parts of this drama is when Geum Jan Di is being her wonderful ingratiating self. Guys will love her, girls will love the 4 guys. Very highly recommended, you'll love it.

Thank goodness for Lee Min-ho or I would have turned it off. When I started this didn't realize there were so many episodes. Couldn't stand the female actress who was dressed like she got her clothes from a Goodwill Store, loud, obnoxious, dorky, mean and cruel to the best friend of the lead male who also fell in love with her, and I believe there could have been be better casting in this department. Lee Min-ho was cast perfectly and I hope to see him more in the US on Netflix. These long series are too stressful for me as all these situations go back and forth, back and forth, and will look for ones a little shorter next time.