[kdrama] Snow White aka Taste Sweet love aka Baek Seol Gong Ju

[scottishlass]

After Coffee Prince the first Korean dorama in a long time that I thoroughly enjoyed. Usually I skip most of the Angsty middle parts of Korean dramas - e.g. in Delightful Chung-Yang and others because frankly, their Angsty moments go on my nerves as they always seem so artificially drawn out. Normally I want to yell Get over it already at the screen :D
With this drama, it was okay. I enjoyed it very much.

summary:
Snow White is a Korean drama from 2004 and tells the story of hapless, zany and ugly Ma Young-hee (Kim Jung Hwa)). Her best friend is Han Jin-woo (Yeon Jung Hoon) who is her secret love since high school. But it is one-sided and while she watches from the fringes any new girl-friend of Jin-woo's, she stays by his side despite the heart-ache.

When she is on a business trip in Japan she meets a fellow Korean, who takes drunk Young-hee back to his apartment. The next day, she thinks she has slept with him. Back in Korea Jin-woo stops by her place and with him is his younger brother, newly returned from Japan, Han Sun-Woo (Lee Wan). Of course, he is the young man she thinks she had slept with but before she can put her foot down, Jin-woo already has asked her to let his brother move in and she can only agree.
As they are six years apart and Young-hee in no way a beauty, will get along just fine, like brother and sister, or so Jin-woo explains. But from this day onward nothing is as it was before.

While Jin-woo is woed by Jang Hee-won and wants to marry her after a scandal, Sun-woo tries to protect Young-hee from the heart-ache, not realizing that his interest in his nuna is more than just brotherly interest. He gets angry with her when he realizes she has been together with Jin-woo, shopping for his wedding and moves out, he is always drawn back to her.

Little by little, Han Sun-Woo captures pieces of Young-hee's heart and while Jin-woo is still clueless and prepares his own wedding, Young-hee and Sun-woo have problems of their own; from adjusting to live together as flat mates, being together with a much younger/older partner to getting rid of past loves. In Sun-woo's case it is Minako he took care of in Japan but of whom he thinks as nothing as a little sister. Young-hee needs more time to realize that while she pined away for Jin-woo for eight years in the past, her heart already belongs to his much younger brother.

When Jin-woo's wedding falls through and he realizes at last that he probably always was in love with Young-hee, she has to decide ...

review:
In some parts it reminded me of Long Vacation, probably because of the theme of young guy, older woman and all those roof scenes with that billboard on top. All in all, the Angsty moments weren't too drawn out, and that is a plus. Additionally, the cast was pretty good and the eye candy provided by Lee Wan and Yeon Jung Hoon was also very nice to look at.
I liked the fact that the heroine stayed with the glasses and the godawful hair for a few eps longer than I would have guessed, also that the love of Han-woo towards Young-hee was clearly drawn and established BEFORE she got rid of the hideous curls and the glasses. He might not have been more open towards her with his feelings when she was still an ugly duckling, but his interest was definitely peeked before she turned into a beauty (other than his bro). Those thoughtful looks, his concern for her feelings concerning Jin-woo, his anger at her, when he sees her with his brother, all indicate that he has feelings way before she became a beauty. Heck he kisses her twice despite her glasses and hair and no one held a gun to his head. This one is definitely a keeper!


Ditzy Young-hee


Hot Sun-woo


Clueless Jee-won


Ugly turned princess Hee-won


Minako


Hot, hotter, Sun-woo


In Japan - first night, no sex, and still they sleep like a couple.


He's my brother Sun-woo, please take care of him!


It seems they can't keep their hands off each other


Oops, HYUNG!


Eh?


After Young-hee having seen Jee-woo and Hee-won kissing in the elevator, Sun-woo does a little disaster management


And after she complains that was her first ever kiss, he does it again


Settling down


Cozying up


Sun-woo getting fed up with Young-hee & her unrequited love


Pining over a bad hairdo nuna?


During dinner with Jee-woo and Hee-won


Why can't she see me?


Sun-woo, you woobie


That must be love, eating lunch which is overly salted and still smiling


They sure are comfortable with each other


Young-hee-shi you are so clueless!! Look in the mirror!! This guy is JEALOUS!


I told you, he can't keep his hands off her


Awww


She sure is cute


WOAH! Surely with him the penny has dropped


Yup!


At last!!

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Usually I skip most of the Angsty middle parts of Korean dramas - e.g. in Delightful Chung-Yang and others because frankly, their Angsty moments go on my nerves as they always seem so artificially drawn out. Normally I want to yell Get over it already at the screen

This is exactly why I watch so few kdramas, and why they tend to annoy me. (That and the insistence on evil parents and bending over backwards to make sure we dislike the secondary females.) This one does sound good, though.

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

This one was really good, no lengthy Angst eps, which could have been resolved easily in two mnutes flat instead of 45 mins. etc.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, and you know I prefer jdramas. It coudl be something for your but it doesn't have any swords or long-heird guys in it. ;-)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

HEY HEY HEY!!! jdramas are my favorite!

I do not REQUIRE swords and long haired guys...they're just a really nice bonus.

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

For some reason I think a lot of people in you f-list think that a drama must have swords and long haired guys for you to enjoy :D

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

despite the fact that i post about 3 or more dramas that don't involve them for every one i do...the ones that do just tend to be longer, so it takes longer to watch, so they get more posts...

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

Yep, recently you have been posting about wuxia more than *modern* dramas. In fact, I can't remember if I have seen a single post recently that involved a modern drama. :D

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I watched spring waltz last week...and made a lot of posts on it...

(but the last drama was a wuxia...several weeks ago, though)

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

Heee... now I want to watch this. The lead actress was the one who played in 1% of Anything, right? ^^ Have you watched Dal Ja's Spring? I'm watching that at the moment and am enjoying it immensely :D

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she is from 1% of Anything, and here I liked her much more than in 1% from the looks. She has some weird eyebrows in 1%.

Haven't seen Dal Ja yet. I hope it isn't similar to My Girl, whose only redeeming feature IMHO was Lee Jun-ki.

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

LOL. No Dal Ja's Spring isn't like My Girl at all. I am one of the rare few who did not really like My Girl :D Dal Ja is my fave heroine to date I think, maybe a toss between Song Hye-kyo in Full House. I know you don't like Full House, but I really liked the lead female's character there coz she's just so lively and fun. I don't know, sometimes some dramas can make me fall in love with the heroines coz they just bring out optimism in me. And Dal Ja is one of those ;)

You should watch it Una. This is similar to Samsoon, but without the whining and the weight. She's your average 30ish year old with so much heart that you can't help but like her. Secondary pairings are also enjoyable too! *insists* :D

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

I will give it a try then ... I'm thinking about watching that other Kdrama that came out last year but can't for the life of me remember its name ... it involved a young woman to gt to great length to keep the traditional family home. It was with the actress from My Girl.

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. The actress from My Girl is Lee Da Hae. Maybe the k-drama you're talking about is Hello Miss? I hope you'll like Dal Ja's Spring. I'm still enjoying it immensely :)

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes that is the one, Hello Miss :) Have you seen it?

I will start d/lling dal Ja today :)

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched Hello Miss yet :D I really like Lee Da Hae but she seems to play similar characters all the time. I'm not sure what I want to watch after Dal Ja... maybe finish off The Devil coz my eldest sister had finished watching and liked it (gave it an 8 out of 10 - not bad huh?).

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

Yeah he is that one. I really like him and hope he can score a secondry or lead part soon. Though him being Korean I guess he won't have a chance as he is too female looking. They prefer hunks (Lee Jun-ki also hunky-fied IMHO for TTBD&W). With his looks he would have more chances in Japan, esp. as he looks more Japanese than Korean.

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

Watching Dal Ja starting now ... it is funny so far and has Kim Jae Wook in it so that is a plus though he is not a main character *sigh*

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

Oh I really do hope you won't hate it at least :) Is Kim Jae-wook the lovely Korean/Japanese characater in Coffee Prince? He has such a refined beauty huh. I really like Dal Ja and all the secondary pairings. In the beginning it was a tad bit slow but I'm almost finished and still liking the serial a lot :)

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

OMG! Thank you for the rec. Just finished Dal Ja and I liked it very much. Some plot points were foreseeable but not too much Angst which was good.
The secondary OTP really cracked me up and I liked how Dal Ja formed a strong friendship with them all from her unni, to the production guy to Seon Jee and of course with the Eom guy. I liked the OTP as well, they were so adorable.

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm so glad you like Dal Ja. I was afraid it may be too long (22 eps) and dragging for you. And you've finished it already? I still have a few eps to go. I agree with you - it was nice to see Dal Ja form good friendships with Seon Jee + boyfriend. I cracked up when Seon Jee's bf calls Dal Ja "chingu" everytime he needed her help :D It's a unique k-drama in that it doesn't focus on just the main OTP, and that the non-lead parts also have a "story line". I also like the character developments and the hilarious Dal Ja moments & thoughts ^^

[gyelle9.livejournal.com]

oh, the girl from 1%... i only watched the first ep of 1% though... there was something about her that didn't sit right with me (probably the eyebrows - i'm not being mean, just honest. it bothered me although i can't understand why).

since you lined this up with coffee prince, i'm a bit curious. will give it a try soon :) thanks! :)

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY what I thought as well ... she has a foxy/bitchy look about her because of the shaped eyebrows. In Snow White she looks adorable, even with the bad hair :)

[gyelle9.livejournal.com]

hehehe, yup. i can't help it, i just keep getting redirected to her eyebrows while watching. :)

tried snow white already. i'm at episode 5 i think. (it was ~4am already, i needed to sleep.) :)

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

LOL. It's funny that you and Una think her eyebrows are weird. I can't recall exactly why, but I definitely didn't like her. Not despise her or anything, but I thought her acting was lacking and that she just didn't suit well with 1%. I watched 1% for Kang Dong-won! *grin*

[gyelle9.livejournal.com]

hehehe, i was actually aomewhat glad that i wasn't the only one :) it was shown here (local channel) and i didn't get any similar feedback (hmmm... come to think of it, do i know anybody who watched this?) so i was wondering if it was just me. :D

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh, I am so watching more tonight!