Glass Slippers - 유리구두 - Yuri Gudu

A March to July, 2002 Korean drama that starred SO JI-SUB as Park Chul-woong, the muscle-bound son of a chauffeur, who's boss is the president of a media conglomerate.

The story revolves around two, young sisters living with a single father who is not only dying of leukemia, he gets hit by a car and dies, leaving them stranded & alone in a poor, seaside hamlet away from Seoul.
A boy and a gang mess with the girls, causing them to get separated, and while Jang Jae-hyuk (Han Jae-seok) seems like a nice guy, his intentions are anything but honorable.

And as MOST Korean dramas go, surprise-surprise! the girls are actually blood-relatives of one of the richest men in all of Korea.
And yes, he's the media mogul So-fine's character's old man chauffeurs.

Kim Tae-hee (Kim Ji-ho) and Kim Yun-hee (Kim Hyun-joo) become separated when the street gang messes with Tae-hee, and Yun-hee runs in front of a pick-up truck, gets conked on the head, and ends up with amnesia.
Naturally, the trucker is a no-account gambler not interested in going to jail, so he takes Yun-hee home, where she ends up being enslaved by the guys caustic girlfriend and verbally abused by her young daughter, Woo Seung-hee (Kim Min-sun).

Yun-hee is wearing her mother's wedding ring about her neck, so she figures her name is Lee Sun-woo, and that's who she grows up to become.
She's an adorable, little girl with a pleasant nature and overly optimistic yet entirely unrealistic outlook on life based solely on the way she ends up being raised.

The beginning of this drama could have been explained in 2 episodes and not 7, but whatever.
Tae-hee is helped out by Jae-hyuk, who takes her to her grandfather, the rich guy from Seoul.
Then, they spend the next, several episodes worrying about, wondering about, crying, and trying to find Yun-hee.

Naturally, Yun-hee grows up in a deplorable environment while her older sister is thriving in the lap of luxury.

sigh

BUT THEN PARK CHUL-WOONG APPEARS AND MY INTEREST SUDDENLY GROWS!

He's a hot guy punking at a billiard hall, and a local gang of thugs shows up to give him a hard time when Yun-hee's character happens upon them, looking to collect the dishes she delivered.
Chul-woong proceeds to kick everyone's ass with his 'I'm a Bruce Lee wannabe' persona, and some damn, sweet moves ~ and then Yun-hee conks him on the head with a tray, demanding that he reimburse her for the dishes he broke in the melee.

Chul-woong & Su-tak
I'll bet you can see where THIS is going, eh?

Meanwhile, in 'every Korean's dream-land', rich Tae-hee is excited that her long-time crush and first love, Jae-hyuk, is returned from the USA, where her grandfather sent him after he delivered Tae-hee to the manse in Seoul.

The caustic bitch stepsister, Seung-hee, intercepts a letter to Yun-hee, asking about her lineage, so Seung-hee does what ANY person would do - she pretends SHE'S the long, lost sister to that wealthy, pie-in-the-sky dreamland otherwise implied as Korean nirvana.
Seung-hee steals the wedding ring from Yun-hee and arrives at the doorstep of the manse, where she proceeds to fit in surprisingly well - which made me laugh since she didn't, actually show her true colors until WAY later in the game.

Seung-hee pretending to be Yun-hee

I thought she was pretty, then ugly, then pretty again - I never, quite knew WHAT to think.
At least she got to wear a lot of totally cool clothing instead of the dowdy, frump attire MOST actresses wear in these dramas.

Ok ~ this is where things get Korean-tricky, so try and keep up ~

Bitch, Seung-hee is crazy about hot-ass Chul-woong, who falls in love with poor, pathetic Yun-hee, who's rich sister, Tae-hee, is in love with supposedly good-guy Jae-hyuk, who bumps into and falls desperately in love with Yun-hee, who gets a job working at the media empire first as a maid, and then as an office assistant because Jae-hyuk can't control himself.

MEANWHILE, Chul-woong's gorgeous, younger sister, Yeong-woong (Kim Jung-hwa), meets Tae-hee's equally gorgeous cousin, Yun Soo-jun (Kim Chung ryeol - no data), who owns an America-style bar, but Chul-woong's adorable friend, Su-tak (whom I'll assume here was Seo Hyun-ki since there's NO info on the guy), has a mad-on for Yeong-woong.

Su-tak and Yeong-woong
And since stereotypical nonsense MUST abound, we have the ubiquitous and worn-out adages re: social status thrown in the mix.
Rich stay rich or die trying whilst the poor stay poor AND die.

sigh again!

The point of Glass Slipper was supposed to be (at least I think it was) that Yun-hee was meant to suffer since she's got such an awesomely UNrealistic personality.
The same for poor, sweet Chul-woong, who though a gangsta, remained trustworthy, honest, upright, and grounded while still ending up at the wrong end of life's unpredictable club despite his best efforts.

However, rather late in this 40-episode drama, it was revealed to us that Seung-hee's character was the actual star of the story - in a pretentious, quirky sort of way at any rate.


Everyone was in love with someone else, and no one (save Park's beautiful sister and the rich, hot cousin) ended up finding true happiness.

This is probably going to be the LAST Korean drama I watch this summer.
Maybe for the rest of this year, unless something spectacular comes along online to change my mind.

I know they're old, and that the world of Hallyu may have changed since 2002, but the feeling I get after watching stuff like Glass Slippers is too haunting, too dreary to make me want to do it again any time soon.

This was an intense drama, and old in that they used a lot of the whirlwind, make-you-wonna-vom camera spins, the slow-paced start that made me want to drop out after the 4th episode, and that annoying recap/repeat at the beginning of each episode.

It became SO repetitive in fact, that by episode 12, I gave it a two-day break.
When I went back to it at aznv.tv, I was SHOCKED to discover that it wasn't a 20, but a freakin' 40 episode drama!
Thank the Lord it starred So-fine, because there's NO WAY I'd have given Glass Slippers that much of a chance to impress me.

Again, I understand that they air these things once a morning or night over there, so 40 episodes would be good in that instance.
The anticipation factor alone would make a drama of this caliber worth tuning in to see what happens next.
Undisciplined in the art of moderation, however, it's practically impossible for someone like me to 'watch just one' a day.


and now for my personal observations ~

I never, quite got into Han Jae-hyuk -
he reminded me a lot of Judd Nelson from
The Breakfast Club


really loved his apartment though!
neon-blue everywhere.
Isn't that dangerous, or lethal or something?

his assistant, Oh Hwan Young (Son Young Joon) made me nervous.
Was he in love with Jang-hyuk, or what?
He was a hotty, though!

Makes me wonder if and WHY guys like him, Kim Chung ryeol, and Seo Hyun-ki faded into acting oblivion after making a drama.
Why isn't there any, further info on these two?

Isn't this gorgeous?
I want to walk down this street at night when I visit Korea


She was pretty in a Liv Tyler kind a way

you always know THIS'll never happen when it's said or even implied

for a guy with no job, yea?
I mean, where did Chul-woong get the $$ for this awesome bouquet?
It's beautiful, though.

I'm in love cuz you remind me of my 38-yr-old aunty from Queens

what would a Korean drama be if it didn't have
the prerequisite, middle-age BITCH whose only job it is
to make everyone else miserable?
This one needed a good lay ~ BADly

and here it is again!
the dead sea-slug hug!

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얼렁뚱땅 흥신소 / Evasive Inquiry Agency

An Oct. 08 to Nov. 27, 2007 Korean drama that stars Lee Min-ki, so I just HAD to watch!

LEE has got to be the funniest man in Korea, hands UP.

Evasive started out slow, but not too slow, and of the 16 episodes, I began to get really interested around episode 10.
That doesn't mean the rest of it was boring - and it's hard for me to say that I didn't like or even appreciate the in-depth reporting of personal information about each of the characters.

A sideline at Drama-wiki reads, 'This is a drama without a romance.'
But, that wasn't the problem with Evasive Inquiry Agency, either!

I thought there WAS romance involved, and with more than just, one character, too!

I loved that LEE's Moo Yeol and RYU Seung-soo's Yong Soo played off each other as well as they did, and because I couldn't stand LEE Eun-song's Wednesday Addams appearance or her stand-offish attitude throughout, the drama still managed to work it's magic on me.

Lee Eun-song as Eun-jae stole the show, though, and HER romance with PARK Hee-soon's Baek Min-chul was the highlight of this drama IMHO.

It's so exciting to hear that Lee Min-ki and Park Hee-soon are starring in another, Korean drama called Billion (it looks like their version of Survivor, so I don't know how much I'm gonna be into it).

Anyway, LEE Eun-son is really pretty, and I loved her independent spirit, shamanistic character, Eun-jae.


love this ring!
She got to wear really, cool clothes and spend all her free time with two, laid-back guys who took good care of her.

she's on a date with Min-chul, and the guys are spying on her

the second, disastrous date

Eun-jae was in her thirties, so it was refreshing to hear the boys refer to her as NOONA and not Ajumma.

Anyway, EIA is about three slackers eking out their existences as a Taekwondo instructor (Lee's character), a comic book store clerk (Ryu's character), and the fortune-teller (Eun-jae's character).

Mu-yeol lives in a supposedly run-down apartment building, and the sign taped to his window reads Private Investigator, though it should have been peeled away after the actual investigator moved out.

A rich chick (Hee Kyung) shows up one day asking for their help, and until she hands them the equivalent of $1500 US, the three, uninterested characters try to tell her that she has the wrong idea about them.

The story doesn't revolve around any, one character in particular, and it's got everything to do with a bunch of people connected somehow, who are all interested in finding a cache of hidden gold somewhere near Mu-yeol's apartment.

This is why the story took 16 episodes to tell, and Lee's humor level had everything to do with my interest in and staying power for Evasive Inquiry Agency.

I'd still like to see him do something serious - like a crime boss, or a no-nonsense detective, or especially a romance lead with little, if any, humor involved.
A sense of humor in a man has always ranked high on my list of priorities, though, so Lee's got me hooked because of that, and for his hair, his eyes, and that adorable lisp.
It's come to my attention through another person's opinion that he dresses wack, like his buddy Kim Jae-wook.
For public appearances, I suppose a guy with his attitude would do something like that for shits & giggles, nothing more.

For a drama with no romance, I rooted for Eun-jae the whole time, hoping upon hope that she and Min-chul would come together, and During the entire drama, I hoped that Mu-yeol would NOT get busy with Hee Kyung.
Half-way through the drama, I got anxious and worried that Hee Kyung and Yong Soo might start something!

Evasive Inquiry Agency was loaded with plot, character drive, and a good time.
I liked the seamless transitions, the quirky beginnings each episode, the way the characters bounced off one another like ping-pong balls let loose on a deserted street, and I especially loved the anticipatory build-up near the end.

Now, for some memorable screen shots --

~The pretty stuff ~

the totally cool view from Mu-yeol's apartment



a pretty water fountain somewhere in Korea

I know -- photoshop -- but still pretty

~ the kawaii stuff ~

Isn't he cute??










~ the funny sh*t ~

he's got the facial expressions down-pat

his delivery is undoubtedly the best

this was a hilarious scene



this was disappointing ...


but I still, wouldn't mind a wild weekend in bed with the guy --

It's supposed to be summertime, so - I don't get it

~ and finally, his total hotness ~

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Heaven's Coins 2 / 續。星の金貨 / Zoku Hoshi no Kinka

At this point in the game, I'm a little depressed to discover that there is a Zoku Hoshi - 3.
Sequels rarely capture my interest with as much certainty as the originals do, and this was sadly true for Heaven's Coins sequel.

At least I got to spend several hours staring at Yutaka and Osawa again, though!



And what a disappointment to find out that Osawa hasn't starred in a drama since 2001!
bummer --
He's in a lot of movies, though, so that's good - (i hope?)

Maybe it's my fault again for watching dramas that star hot dudes, and because of them, I tend to dig the story far, more than is necessary.
Maybe I should NOT have liked Heaven's Coins 1 as much as I did, and that way the sequel would not have sparked my interest.
Zoku Hoshi no Kinka 2 was the sappiest piece of DORK I've seen out of Japan since that awful bit of trash about HIV that starred my hunny, Takeshi Kaneshiro.
And yet I watched the 12-episodes and was pleased to see THIS guy enter the picture -

Sawamura Ikki
HE has starred in TONS of dramas, including a few from this year!
I have GOT to watch Gokusen now.

He played a scary-wicked doctor, and I giggled every time a woman said to him that they hated or detested him, and yet they couldn't resist him.



Aside from all the hunk-a-fied goodness going on on screen, the storyline for ZHnK was blah.
Takenouchi is wheelchair bound thanks to Sawamura's evil ways, and Osawa's character is still wandering around aimlessly without his beloved Aya.

At a certain point in the show, Aya kept pausing to gaze at a wedding gown in a window, and then Osawa's Shuichi does the same thing.
I don't know - but to me, this mannequin looked man-ish.




And this girl, the new benefactors daughter, gave me the creeps one minute, and then I was interested in her the next.




She has really cool eyes, but I kept getting a Morticia Addams or her daughter, Wednesday, vibe.

Anyway, about the drama --

The battle continues between brothers over the love of deaf/mute, Aya.
She's more inundated with despair this time around than in the first show, too.
Again, I felt stifled half-way through this thing, so when it ended the way that it did, I groaned in agony.

Lots of things from the first show are revealed in the second part, but in the end, nothing is actually resolved, which frustrates the hell out of me and makes me vow to never again watch another, Asian drama.

For me, the only good thing about Zoku 2 was that all of the original cast returned to make this one.
Otherwise, it was a big disappointment, and since the original cast WON'T be in Zoku Hoshi no Kinka 3, I probably won't watch it -- or, maybe I will?

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