Three years. Her whole HS career she's been in love with Baek Seung "Jo". Hani isn't going to graduate without making a play. She writes a letter and delivers it to him in person. "I don't like dumb women," is what she gets in return 😳.
Sure, she's not book smart. She ain't anything-smart. She's in F-class and he's at the top of the HS pyramid - in every way - but, wow... WOW! He's /MEAN/.
Before Hani can get home to regroup, she finds out there is NO HOME. Apparently, her house was struck by a meteor. Her father gives her an address explaining that they'll be staying there while the construction is being done. When she arrives, she sees her dad sitting with two men: 1. Irie. 2. His dad. They will be living with them until her ruined house is rebuilt😲! Apparently, their dads are old friends. The show doesn't nail the timing down, but the ☄strike probably happened right when he was rejecting her. So, yup, it's the forced roommates trope. It's a good-un. I'm not tired of it yet. - especially when it's as adorable as this story is.
Hani just hates Jo now. Except she doesn't. She'd like to, but she /can't/. He's her kryptonite. Now they are thrust together. He's miserable and barks like an angry dog. Soon he'll be wagging his tail. It's all because of mom. 'Oh, Jo, could you help Hani study?' Mom senses right away that Hani is the remedy for all that ails Jo. Mom becomes Hani's partner in crime and relentlessly endeavors to pair these two up.
In the beginning, Hani isn't enjoying the show as much as the viewer. Jo won't let Hani off the hook. He /enjoys/ playing with her, once he gets beyond being miffed that his privacy was invaded. He believes she's inferior even though he's becoming attracted to her, and it's leaching out in the worst way. Jo is actually sadistic and horrible to Hani - she should punch him as hard as possible. YO! Girls! Ladies!!!! IRL (In real life) RUN AWAYYYY... The very second a man exhibits those traits, leave. Do the walk off challenge. Uber home. Respect yourself: He never will!
Jung So Min (Because This Is My First Life-7.7) is Oh Hani. She's also the S1 FL in Alchemy of Souls-7.9. Kim Hyun Joong (Dream High) portrays ML Jo (it's Jihoo from Boys Over Flowers-8.3 😍! Coincidentally, that's another manga-turned-script that they lifted from 🇯🇵). Lee Tae Sung (Miss Hammurabi, Ghost Doctor) play Bong Joon Gu. Tada Kaoru (Fall in Love at First Kiss, Miss in Kiss,,Kiss Me, Itazura na Kiss 2: Love in Okinawa, It Started with a Kiss,They Kiss Again) is the Original Creator - she's definitely latched onto a theme 😘. Hwang In Roe (Late Night Restaurant), Kim Jung Hyun (At a Distance, Spring Is Green), & Kim Do Hyung (Somehow 18) collaborated on the direction.
It isn't possible for me to review this without comparing it to Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo-7.8 which I watched first. Per Wiki, "It is based on the Japanese manga Itazura Na Kiss written by Tada Kaoru. The Korean series is the third television adaptation of the manga following the Taiwanese It Started with a Kiss in 2005, and its sequel They Kiss Again in 2007. Though Playful Kiss received low ratings in South Korea in the five to seven percent range, it was sold to 12 countries in Asia for approximately US $3,400,000 and developed a strong cult following, having been streamed 70 million times on Viki and earning US$400,000 in ad revenue through online streaming. Due to its international popularity, a short special edition was aired on YouTube after the series finale."
In both shows, the MOM makes the show. The title of this should be My Mom the Magician. I know it's not as titillating as Mischievous Kiss, but it's more accurate. She KNOWS her son has lots to work on. His intelligence has made him prideful, cold, and very lonely, though his frozen heart can't feel it. Mom is having the time of her life, because she adores Hani and jnows this sweet little gitl is exactly what her son needs. Horrible as Jo is, this genius has more warmth to him because the actor does. In the Japanese version, Irie is cold, calculating and logical perfection, but he's not sadistic, at least.
The Korean one is funnier. It's definitely LOL type stuff. Hani starts out by saying she understands how vampires feel. In her dreams Jo is so gorgeous she just wanted to BITE him. The whole scene is quite amusing. We'll see one wretched perm. That never happens anymore, does it? Perms were an oft repeated 20th century mistake to the point that they were almost a right-of-passage. This one's the worst haircut ever put on film. It's worse than David Spade's hair in Joe Dirt - that's not even a close call; at least Joe dirt's hair is funny. This hair is unsettling. The ML plays tennis in both shows. The tennis club president is a perfectly affable guy until he picks up a racket, which invariably transforms him into a monster. The Korean tennis dude has a sexy voice; he'd be a great vampire. Most Korean male actors have voices that are more decadent than warm carmel sauce on a hot brownie sundae. PK takes place in a different era. It feels very retro. Somebody pulls out a Golem mask, which is pretty hilarious.
The music is better in PK (Kpop is huge, that's no surprise). The school band is fantastic. The full-figured girl really is adorable. When she dresses up she looks fantastic. (Confidence & exuberance are very sexy. How do you get confidence? That I'm still working on. I know part of it is just forgetting yourself, and nothing will build confidence like helping out somewhere).
PK is a fun follow-up to MKLiT. I do recommend watching the original first. The 🇯🇵 version is technically superior and an overall better telling of the story. But this Kdrama is lots of fun, too. They do a better job depicting the lowest class at the school. For instance, they sit around doing hair during school instead of studying. At first the teacher comes in and scolds them but the next thing you know she's getting /her/ hair done. That's because she's the teacher of the lowest class so nothing matters as much. It's a useful contrast and it works. Mom throws Oh Hani's class a pizza party. It's adorable, but I wonder if it should hurt, slightly. These kids are written off. Mom doesn't think that way, thankfully.
Ha-ni has a superpower. As we are still getting to know her, we watch her walking home at night. She's accosted by a stalker. Most girls would run in terror, but Hani makes a deal with the flasher to get her shoe back. Not only is it funny, but it shows us how rock solid her core and her determination are. She looks like she's constructed of sugar cubes and pink polkadots, but she can persuade people. Jo trifled with her. Jo not only lost, but he's happy that he did. We should all bow the knee to Oh Hani.
QUOTES🗣
But in my opinion, he's a lot cuter than Seung-jo! What am I going to do?! (Mom to Ha-ni)
Joy is doubled and sadness is halved when we share.
If you keep grinding a chunk of iron, you'll make a needle someday.
I'll kill him today and head straight to hell.
〰🖍 IMHO
🎬7 🖊〰7 🎭7 💓7 🦋8 🌞7 🎨7 😅8 🤔5 🔚8
Age 13+
Re-📺? 👎🏾 probably not but once is good.
