Splash Splash Love

Rating: 10 of 10 for quality, PG-13 for content
Content Advisory: this is a really clean drama.  There is one scene involving someone having unknowingly taken an aphrodisiac and another scene where one character attempts to seduce another one, but both scenes are mild and clean.
Black Hats worn in this drama: several.  In Joseon society, court officials all wore black hats.  The most notable black hats for the purpose of this review were those worn by the king- both his court hat and his undercover hat- and Dan-bi's court hat.

Christmas evening my family was winding down from the excitement of the day and starting to go to bed, and I was looking for something fun to watch.  I had been wanting to try this drama for days, and thought, 'What better time to watch something fluffy?'.  What I thought was going to be a pleasant little interlude to Christmas Day turned into me holding my sides laughing, snickering and just thoroughly enjoying this drama.  Korean drama is known for having deeper themes than American drama, but I still didn’t expect much depth from this because it was only a mini-drama.  I was pleasantly surprised at the valuable life lessons that were dealt with in a light but still poignant way.  I finished it with a warm feeling and over 200 screencaps.  Having enjoyed it so much, I persuaded my mother and sister to watch it with me for Valentine's Day.  They thought it was fun and I liked it just as much the second time around.

See, black hat seal of approval:

Jang Dan-bi hates school, math in particular.  She detests her mother nagging at her to make something of herself and she doesn't like not being talented at anything.  She's not clever, witty or creative- basically, she doesn't have anything to recommend her or fit her for a clear future.  On the day of the SAT exams, she decides she can't handle the pressure anymore.  Running away from the test site, she jumps through a puddle; landing in a cauldron of water in the middle of a ceremony asking the rain goddess to break the drought in Joseon- nearly 600 years prior to her own time.

When she introduces herself, the King mistakes the word 'high school senior' for the word 'eunuch', so she is ordered to join the eunuchs who serve the court.  To save her arm from being cut off for being disrespectful, she tells the king she can teach him the math problems and science facts that he longs to know in order to govern Joseon with science instead of superstition.  The King agrees that in turn for her teaching him these things, she may go back home when it rains.  As she waits, watches and teaches, she learns vital lessons about people and herself, while contending with a wary queen, disgruntled court officials, and the enigmatic guard with whom she rooms.

When the rain comes, will she choose to return home or will she stay in the past with the people who appreciate her?

Doojoon, leader of idol group BEAST, did a great job as young King Sejong; eventual inventor of Hangul- the writing system the Koreans still use.  His use of soccer to vent the frustrations of the day was a fun plotline, especially since he only walked during the game, never ran.  (Kings don't RUN, Dan-bi!)  Off the soccer field, the ball did double duty by being thrown at the chief eunuch whenever he entered the king's chambers at inopportune moments (which I laughed heartily at).  Best part of his costume in my opinion?  Those red boots he wears.  Favorite Sejong moment: when he discovered the taste of chocolate, via candy from Dan-bi's backpack.

He also had some of the best quotes in the drama:

 

‘You mean in the future, people voluntarily become eunuchs to study arithmetics?  That’s very incredible.'
‘It’s all right.  This gosam is surely a guy.  I can tell from his hand.'

I had enjoyed Kim Seul-gi's secondary role in Flower Boy Next Door and SSL again showcased her excellent comedic acting ability.  From her gleefully flicking the king when he gave the wrong multiplication answer, to taunting him to chase her on the soccer field, to drawing faces on tangerines; she kept me snickering, giggling and laughing.  By far the funniest moment was when Dan-bi has to ride a horse to escape and manages to stay on by imitating the Horse Dance from PSY's mega-hit "Gangnam Style".  I was laughing so hard I had to cover my mouth with a pillow so I didn't wake anyone up.

Queen Soheon was interesting and as I finished the drama, I found myself wanting to know more about her and wondering if this portrayal was just for the fluff quotient of the drama or if it was anywhere close to historically accurate - was she at any time a lonely queen wishing for a friend?

Guard boy Park Yeon stole my heart from the moment he walked onscreen.  His standard response to disrespect of the King ("Cut his arm off!"), his past with the queen, him knowing so much more than he ever let on... all of them endeared him to me.  I also have costume envy concerning his guard costume.  This was actor Ahn Hyo-seop's first drama but he's already lined up two others and I'm looking forward to watching more of his acting.

The costumes were good - typical Joseon costuming.  Aside from the two things I've already mentioned, no costume in particular grabbed my interest.  The OST had a fun, peppy, modern pop sound blended with the wistful sound of a sageuk.  My favorite song was Kim Hyung-Joong's Splash Into You.

A short story, whether prose or drama, needs to feel complete.  It shouldn’t feel like a prologue or a first chapter, but neither should it feel like an outline.  SSL kept that balance.  While there were definitely areas that could have been fleshed out, it never felt lacking or that something was missing.

Whether you want a fun break from more serious dramas, or you love lighter dramas, or you want something cute and time-travely for Leap Day... or maybe you've never watched a kdrama before and you need to start somewhere - I highly recommend Splash Splash Love.

Remember Me a.k.a. Hello Monster

Remember Me.

Rating 4.5 Stars

Cautionary notes: Physical violence, human remains related to police work. Overall, not bad considering content. PG 13.

Chemistry and Romance: 5 stars! Sweet and clean. 

Black Hats Worn In Drama: Three

I will always remember...Remember Me.

It’s the theme, the reason, the why, the how.

It’s subtle but sweet, painful, but perfect.

Very, very perfect.

The cast, the story, the script, the plot twists that leave you gasping and in mental agony and trying to catch your breath.

Hyun, a brilliant criminal minds specialist and professor, is called back to Korea by a mysterious e-mail of a crime scene. The story quickly progressed as Hyun (a.k.a. David Lee), assisting a special group of police officers clamping down on criminals.While tracing his own Korean roots, that he had left behind several years earlier. Memories that were frozen, forgotten, and trapped...are slowly melted like time capsules, recalled and released. Freeing Hyun to be even more of an amazing person, and more himself; as he solves the riddles around his childhood, his father’s death, and little brother’s disappearance.

Cha Ji An, an earnest police detective, whose life has been affected by the same serial killer that took away Hyun Lee’s father and brother. Finds herself working with the man, she’s followed most of her life. Instinct telling her if she follows Hyun, she’ll find the man responsible for her father’s disappearance—and be able to redeem her father’s reputation, removing the badge of shame associated with her own. Ji An was delightfully human, strong and yet needing rescue, fearful but courageous, imperfect and perfectly loveable.

Min. Ah, Min. Where does one begin?

Strangely, he was the one character, I found myself relating to, loving, and won his way into a cherished characters place, in my heart. His story, his humanity, and struggle were palpable, and I wanted to reach out, hold his hand, be his friend, and tell him to hold on, be strong.

"Three Points"

Team Leader

The Special Police Task Force was delightful.

Team Leader, earned my love and respect—even with his long speeches.

“Three Points”, and the rest of the team, especially the junior officer; love and justice are the same for him.

I am not fond of moralizing stories, or tacking on a zillion scripture verses and hidden meanings where things are often very plain and can speak for themselves. So often people twist words and poke them at others when they do this. However, as I watched Remember Me, it spoke truth to me in a way only a handful of movies can claim.

As it played its last few moments on my screen, I found myself feeling that 16 episodes were really too short as I tried to catch my breath and grasp that it really was ending. The beautiful theme of salvation that ran through this story, with a vein of brotherly love. How love, can open hearts that looked so closed. It showed the power of the lies that we believe, there were parts in the show I wanted to scream to Min not to believe the things in his head, to take his hand and say hold on, be brave, the end isn’t like this, and it seemed as if black holes might swallow them all.

For Min, it was an uphill battle, the struggles the lies, the desires and cravings he had in his heart to be known for who he was, to not be forgotten, and the choice he makes at the very end.

To face the world.

As he is.

To be remembered.

As Min.

My Magic Carpet Story

What was the magic carpet that introduced me to the whole new world of Asian drama?

I was introduced to Korean dramas in the April of 2013.  I’d seen The Empress and Unni-Maknae plus two other close friends talking about them on their blogs and they had also mentioned them in emails sometimes.

At the time I was beta reading one of The Empress’s novels and during our email chatting, I asked her what some of her favorite music was.  She sent me a couple videos of Korean musical singer Park Eun Tae.  I watched them, liked them and, capitulating to my insatiable curiosity, asked her for recommendations on Korean dramas; saying: "If I do wind up watching and liking kdramas, can I blame you and (another friend) for getting me addicted?"

She replied: "One of the best is Gaksital.  It’s an incredible story of one person’s journey from villain to hero and of another’s fall."  Incidentally, this is still the best one line description of Gaksital that I have ever heard and I've quoted it multiple times.

I clicked on the clip she sent, a scene where the heroine is about to undergo torture and the two leads, both of whom are in love with her, are helpless to stop it.  The combination of anger, grief, frustration, love and helplessness on their faces (especially the hero's) and in their body language caught my attention immediately, as well as the actual action in the scene.  Characters are very important to me and those two had my attention from 10 seconds into the clip.  I emailed her back: "That first clip of Gaksital ripped me open!  Such amazing and powerful emotion in those characters' faces!"

I spent that Saturday watching Gaksital (also known as Bridal Mask) clips on YouTube and then started the first episode.  Ironically, though I adore the drama and rate it one of my top five favorites, it took me a long time to finish it, because I kept taking breaks from it for one reason or another.  Eventually, I did finish it and consider it one of the best stories I've ever seen or read.  A whole new world had opened for me and there was no going back.

City Hunter was my second kdrama.  The Empress had included a trailer for it when she sent me the Gaksital clip and I watched the trailer several times that first weekend.  I watched City Hunter during one of my breaks from Gaksital (and also used the drama to interest my Mom in kdramas).  It swiftly became one of my favorites and at several points throughout the drama I sent Empress and Unni Maknae emails full of rambling about how well it was written, how gripping the storyline was and how much the drama was taking over my life.  When I finished it one night around midnight, I could not to go to bed without sending The Empress and Unni Maknae an emotionally charged email full of "Wow, that drama was one of the BEST stories I've ever seen, read or heard and I can't remember the last time a story gutted me like this."

Over the last two-and-a-half years, I’ve seen several dramas from South Korea, Japan and China; am currently in the middle of watching nine different dramas (yes, at the same time- it's complicated) and have watched trailers and clips for many more.  My ‘to watch‘ list is ten miles long.  I can remember and rattle off the names of Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese actors more quickly than many western actors and one of my favorite things to do is pick out all of the background actors I recognize from other dramas.

I don’t really have a preferred style of drama, other than ‘epic’.  I watch a wide variety of genres, but anything with complicated, well-written plots, layered characters, great fight scenes and plenty of suspense is almost always a favorite.  It's even better if the drama has gorgeous costumes/fashion.

My top five favorite kdramas are: Liar Game, Gaksital/Bridal Mask, City Hunter, Healer and The Three Musketeers.  I eagerly anticipate introducing them to you, and many other dramas as well, with my partners-in-crime.

How it all got started...for the Unni Maknae

Unni–Maknae
Strange name you may say.
Unni means big sister and Maknae means baby. Which, I manage to be both in this group. I am the oldest, however by far I am the youngest and the least experienced in the K-Drama world so thus my name.

The words Korean Drama. I’d heard them various places from various bloggers but I never paid much heed, I’d watched a few foreign films but none of them ever struck me as something I wanted to pick up on a regular basis.

One day I received an email from The Empress of Random, raving on and on about this Korean drama City Hunter, and how it was fabulous and wonderful and I must watch it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Empress of Random is one of the few peoples opinions I do trust completely when she gives me a recommendation, however, something that lasted nearly 20 hours didn’t really spark my interest, so the poor Empress pleaded and pleaded in vain. Sending me all kinds of cool clips that I watched with mild interest, not really wanting to jump on board this new fad ship that seemed to be sailing around.

The fad did not end with the last episode of City Hunter, it went on to more and more dramas, until I started to worry, that I had lost my friend to this queer dark beast called, Korean dramas.

Then fate struck. She sent me a bunch of clips from dramas she hoped to watch.
In there, there was this one clip, of a girl, telling a man if it would take the pain away in his heart, to slay her, that she forgave him. Her words and attitude struck me, and I fell instantly in love with the drama and a burning desire to WATCH THE PRINCESS' MAN!

I fell in love.

Sageuks are my favorite style of drama and thank goodness they color coded everyone’s dress ,because at the beginning I was like oh…red dude, blue dude, green dude...I couldn’t for the life of me catch onto their names at first, and it didn’t help that I bounced back and forth between a few drama places and Romanization isn’t always consistent.

The Princess Man prompted me on to go immediately and watch City Hunter , which I did but after all of the emotions from those dramas…I felt I needed something lighter, and I stumbled upon my fall back drama style, my go to fluffy, happy, obsession drama.  A girl dressed as a boy who gets stuck in an nearly all boy situation and all of the problems that ensue.

Welcome to the blog! I hope you find and fall in love with your own Korean dramas and enjoy the journey.

Drama On!
Unni

It all began in

April, 2012. I was sick. Or sick of studying. Certainly quite sick of American television. {And movies, for that matter.} A blogger I followed had mentioned Korean dramas several times, and then another blogger, whose cinematic opinion I trusted {though she had previously posted some art of a Korean Drama she was watching, to which I thought, that's the girliest-looking guy I've ever seen. what does she find interesting about that?} had just written up a massive "Guide to Awesomeness" - ie her favorite Korean and Japanese tv shows. On a total whim, I followed the link to the most interesting looking show {something called City Hunter}, and started watching it. 

To my everlasting surprise, by the end of the first episode I was hooked. 

Several episodes in, I was falling in love with it like I'd never fallen in love with any TV show or movie, ever. Yes, the outfits were a little much. {That's got to be a girl's shirt. And no...yes, he is wearing pink pants. WHY?} Yes, the crying of all the men involved weirded me out. {Wait. He's bawling like a little girl. Guys do that on TV? and it's not a joke?} Yes, the juxtaposition of tragi-comedy was jarring to me. {People are dying; children are being kidnapped and emotionally abused and gah this hurts but bad guys are scared of a snake and I'm completely cracking up and WHAT is going on?}

But before I knew it, I was emailing Unni-Maknae at 2am, a crazy fangirling email that was so full of flailing it scared her. To pull the few semi-complete sentences out of the email...

I am in love with Lee Yun Seong. 

Flat out epic awesomeness.

He is amazing. And completely heartbreaking.

I find the melodramatic heart-wrenching torture of Asian drama completely addicting.

Yes, I am completely obsessed. The fact that I can't just sit down and watch the entire thing at once is pure torture. 

The next day I was emailing her because I'd finished it and I wanted her to watch it. 

I then spent the rest of the month emailing her videos of Lee Min Ho singing. Lee Min Ho in Toyota ads. Lee Min Ho in Boys over Flowers. 

Because despite the thought coming to me that I was glad I'd gotten through City Hunter before studying for finals started...only the next week found me beginning - and finishing -Boys over Flowers. I then ignorantly - horrors - ran into a Lee Min Ho drama I didn't like, and so instead followed Kim Hyun Joong from Boys Over Flowers to Playful Kiss. {Which, by the way, was the drama whose weirdness I'd previously wondered at. Despite his hair cut, he actually wasn't girly at all.}

Basically, I was not just hooked on City Hunter, or on a particular actor. I was hooked on Korean dramas. That was the start, and it never stopped. Though I have consciously taken breaks from drama-watching (before certain exams...the first month of graduate school...the 40 days leading up to my board exam...etc), it has become a part of my life that I really don't see changing any time soon. In the past 3 years I've watched 48 dramas, and seen over 1100 episodes total, when counting dramas I did not or have not yet completed. 

What in the world was it about Korean dramas that sucked me in like this? That is what this blog is about, and if you don't already know about Korean dramas, you are in for a treat.

Welcome to the Blog of the Black Hat Club

It began {as everything did} with Lee Yun Seong's signature undercover look in City Hunter. Not exactly the most inconspicuous look, but it was a good one.

But then I noticed a very similar hat in I Can Hear Your Voice {hilarious, terrifying, and awesome thriller/romcom/lawyer/school/fantasy fusion drama}.

And in Two Weeks {incredible redemption story/thriller about family, with adorable daddy-daughter relationship}.

And in Healer {the sweeter, slightly less painful version of City Hunter}.

There was even black hats in The Princess's Man {beautiful historical drama (i.e. sageuk) known as the Joseon-era Romeo and Juliet}.

And in Warrior Baek Dong Soo, which is a sageuk more along the lines of Macbeth/Coriolanus.

There was a half-black hat in Bridal Mask...{heart-wrenching drama about the Japanese occupation of Korea}

and the actors made up for it by all wearing black hats to the script reading.

And one of the best drama-moms out there, the undercover student in school drama Angry Mom, also has a black hat. 

As the pattern emerged, I emailed Unni–Maknae and the Ambassador that among the secrets of the universe I'd discovered was the Black Hat Secret - if the main character wore a black hat, I'd love the drama. 

I started handing out the Black Hat Award, and in short order Unni–Maknae was thinking of The Black Hat Badge - a guide to the good, the great, the awesome and those black hats...which eventually led to this blog.

Here we plan to discuss dramas: what makes them great, which ones we think are the best, what things to watch out for, and why you should absolutely start watching them.