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I knew I should have stopped at episode 11.

Where all was good. Where In Young finally started going out with Sung Hyun for real.

Finally out of pining for the damaged relationship, and starting on a new one with someone who seems to love her and take her for who she is, past relationship and residual feelings for her ex.

But...I started on the show after reading reviews that the ending made some diehard fans turn 180 degrees and write off the show entirely. So, I got curious and decided to watch on.

Preparing myself, I thought up various scenerios.

In Young realises that she actually loves Sung Soo still and hence breaks up with Sung Hyun to get back with the former.
In Young gets dumped by Sung Hyun after he gets tired of her (like many antagonist chaebols hailing from kdramaverse).
In Young stays single after realising that 'love is not everything, and woman can still find happiness even without a male companion' (yeah the usual kind when a drama tries to become inspiration and veer away from romance cliches).

Ok, so...what could be worse? I'll be able to deal with whatever ending the show throws me!

Great show. But my advice is, if you find yourself falling into the In Young-Sung Hyun camp, please just stop watching at Episode 11. Don't try to be adventurous and let the reality drama break your heart.

On a side-note, Choi Jin Hyuk, the actor playing Bae Sung Hyun, is hot. Like, real hot. He kisses like no one else does (ok, maybe that's coz we don't get to see much kissing in kdramas. LOL...but even in INR, he does it much better than Kim Jung Hoon). I need more of him! But he doesn't seem to appear in much shows! Oh, what do I do with this newfound crush??? This cute, hot guy who kijnd of resembles Lee Min Ho...

Have some non-NC-16 photos (the entire drama felt like soft porn tastefully inserted into a romance drama):

The awkward start of a romance...


This was the moment my heart started thumping wildly too. It was like, "YES! In Young is fonally feeling it, they are finally going to date for real!".


This is nothing compared to the kiss in the car....which I don't have a cap on. Wait. What cap? I NEED A GIF! SOMEONE!!! ANYONE!!!!


Such a desperate moment for him!! T.T


I had felt that Sung Hyun's screentime indicates that he might be  first lead equivalent, and held some hopes...but..alas, he is still the second lead. Of a kdrama. *pats on the back*


These are my type of abs. I dislike abs which are too defined and too....over.

And on a side-side-note, I find myself being drawn more to cabletv offerings lately. The last few dramas I've watched are: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop, I Need Romance, Colors of Woman, Padam Padam...and I'm intending to track down Vampire Prosecuter when I get the time. The last non-cable drama I've watched was Scent of a Woman...which ended in early September! Cabletv FIGHTING! Bring us more unconventional dramas please!

This is such a sad episode, because we watched Jun Ha transform. From a poor boy who's been manipulated since young for no fault beyond being born the son of an enemy, who's so insecure, who loves his non-blood related brother to death, he became the devil. Who wants to hate and be hated by that brother, just because they're the son of each other's enemy.

I secretly hope that this is all Jun Ha's plot to win the enemy's trust and gain control of Woo Kyung before returning it to Dong Joo. I hope. I really hope, because it hurts to see him fall into that abssy of hatred.

The best scene in this episode was the final one, with the showdown between Jun Ha and Dong Joo. I swear I'll not forgive Jun Ha if he ever let it out, maliciously, that Dong Joo is in fact deaf. And before he does that, I'll hang on to the hope that he's just acting. Because if he does, he'll be ruining Dong Joo directly and irreversibly (in terms of his pride and self-confidence).

This scene is so well-written! 

So, I will watch for myself how magnificent Mawang is such that my beloved Maou pales so much in comparison to warrant being called "incredibly, stupendously, outstandingly boring". Perhaps it's because s/he has watched Mawang before watching Maou that made Maou such a predictable ride. Perhaps.

Perhaps at the end of the 20 episodes, I'll follow suit and comment that "It was so boring I never made it past the first few episodes, even with fast-forwarding".

Or perhaps I'll love to death, so much so that I'd want to delete this post.

But Maou will forever be Ohno's first drama, the one that made it feel like his training in butais all these while had done him good, that it was worthwhile to have to wait so so so long till her appears on tv. For that, it is special.

GAHH why can't I find something better than this video? The whole ep was sooo moving that I found my heart breaking together with Jiwon's.

You know how crazy I was for You're Beautiful. I'm currently watching another drama written by the Hong Sisters, who were behind that manaic kdrama. It's named "내 여자친구는 구미호" (My Girlfriend is a 9-tailed fox). And I have to say that although I don't feel the crazy fangirl emotions I felt for YB, I thoroughly enjoyed the drama. If the next 3 episodes are at least as good as the previous 13 were, I'll definitely put it above YB. Because, while it was not as silly fun as YB, it did not drag and feel too angsty like YB did it its later episodes. I feel that the Hong Sisters had improved in their writing, and the angst is always resolved in a light manner that remains true to the spirit of the drama. And without giving an awkward, contrived feeling. It's rare, I tell you.

Here's a scene from ep 11 that's going into my list of memorable quotes.

With 5 new kdramas premiering this week, I really didn't know which to watch. Not to mention that I had a bunch of 2009 dramas that I need to catch up with. So I decided to watch all the first (and maybe second) eps. I've just finished 공부의 신//God of Study. It's the k-remake of the jdorama Dragon Zakura.

Yeah, another k-remake. One after another, and seems like more to come. Mawang aka Maou (adapted from the novel, not remade), Boys Over Flower, The Man Who Can't Get Married, God Of Study, Itazura Na Kiss (upcoming?), Zettai Kareshi (upcoming?)...

Ever since BOF, I've been really unsure about k-remakes. They tend to add details to the original, usually because they are allocated at least 50% more drama time than the jdorama. Sometimes such details fill up gaps (in the sense that they add plot developments in areas the audience desires, eg more romance, not in the sense that they make up for loopholes in the original, which are very rare) but sometimes, they vandalise the simplicity of the original with unwelcomed plot twists.

It was just...15 lines in 3 paragraphs, but it took me 2 whole days to read it. After reading the first 2 lines, I scrambled back into the shell of ignorance and pretended not to have received it. In between episodes of Slingshot (Which was great, and I'll get to it in a while), I kept convincing myself that "Even if I don't read it, he would have assumed that I've read since he has sent it out". But everytime, just as I start to pick up the card, logic will give up to fears. I managed to steal peeks at words. Words like "friends" and "hope" kind of hinted to me the gist of it all. Well, to be honest, the opening line already gve it all away. But today, the final deadline for sending a reply in time (he's out of country now, but will return soon), I finally mustered up the courage to read it in whole.

What could be worse than being rejected? (although that isn't too bad actually since I've already decided to end the 8 years of on-off feelings.)

That would be finding out that he already has a girlfriend since a few months back, the very same few months which held the best memories. How foolish it was to read too much into those moments.

But what came later was the final stroke. He said that he had screwed it all up after I confessed. As if misinterpreting things wasn't embarrassing enough, I have to find out that those incidents were most probably planned to send me a message of an entirely different kind.

Yet, I had the decency to think, "Gosh, he is still so cute."

I'm thankful that he wrote to me to clear it up and that he was very serious in that letter. He took it seriously, instead of trying to avoid and brush it off. That's someone worthy of being my one and only longlasting crush since Sec 2. That's someone worthy of being my one and only male best friend for a long time to come.

I wrote him a reply in a less serious tone, and even poked fun at him for concealing his girlfriend from our group of old friends. I planted a few small lies here and there. Why do people lie? Some lie to protect their image, some to get something they really want, some to protect something or someone precious. I lied because I really treasure the friendship we all share and the ease I feel when with him. Hopefully this impulsive act of mine doesn't changes things between us, or I'll really grow depressed. My friends used to say that I can act very well, refering to me acting to fish out information whenever we plan for birthday surprises. There's one final act I have to put up. That's when he's ready to introduce us to the girl. I think my heart will still ache, I'll still feel awkward, but for the sake of all of us, I'll have to pretend everything's fine. I hope that by then, I wouldn't have to pretend though.

So, another 'first' in 2009 would be: First Rejection.

あんたのことが好きだった。それだけで十分だ。今から忘れていく。

Now, enough with the melancholic reflections! On to raving about Slingshot.

I read a lot of comments that Tae Kyung's sudden outburst at the end of ep 14 was too sudden and seemed too contrived, like the screenwriters wrote it in to give the plot some tension.

Actually, as I thought abit more...this situation kind of resembled the one in episode 2 where Mi Nam went to his room to apologise for puking into his mouth.

He yelled at her to leave the room, and we later realised that it was because he didn't want to be provoked by her presence into scolding her. He needed to calm down (and wash his mouth n times) first before facing Mi Nam.

Here, it's similar ne. Other than having to reorganise his thoughts (WOW! Suddenly, this girl who seems to know nothing knows everything! His mother's identity, the background of the song he was remaking, the relationship between his mother and her father....oh yeah, on top of that she's HIS daugther) alone, he didn't want to hurt her accidentally when his mind is in a frenzy.

I think that's why he asked her not to be where he can see her. He doesn't want to see her (for now, not forever).

I hope episode 15 proves my theory right!