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Jan. 6th, 2012 04:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsOver the past month or so I have been making my roommates watch Sunkyunkwan Scandal with me. We're about halfway through the twenty episodes now, and at this point it is FILLING ME WITH DELIGHT, which means that it's time to tell you guys about it to preserve this feeling of joy in case it takes the kdrama nosedive over the next ten episodes into gloom and misery!
Sunkyunkwan Scandal is basically a lulzy college-hijinks drama! . . . set in eighteenth-century Korea.
It's about a bunch of students doing the things students do: dealing with frat hazing . . .
. . . negotiating roommate issues . . .
. . . cheating on exams . . .
. . . boozing at parties . . .
. . . getting really passionately over-involved in politics . . .
. . . playing intramural sports . . .
. . . and cross-dressing to get into university, because, you know, eighteenth-century Korea.
Our heroine, Kim Yoon Hee, is a plucky impoverished girl who has been earning cash for her family by disguising herself as her tragically ill brother and writing out cheat sheets for the lazy rich students who attend Sunkyunkwan University.
When she's offered the opportunity to moonlight as a substitute test-taker at the entrance exams, she gets caught -- by another kid who's so impressed by her smarts that he promptly blackmails her into accepting a university scholarship despite her poor background. At first reluctant, her love of learning, plus her desire to PROVE TO EVERYONE how awesome she is, eventually convinces her that this is actually a great idea.
I love Kim Yoon Hee because not only is she smart -- she gets revenge on people by writing sarcastic poetry on their shirts! -- and not only is she plucky, she can be HILARIOUSLY COCKY. Within a few episodes she has not only established herself and made a bunch of buddies, but she has also become generally known as the most ballsy student at Sunkyunkwan. Her nickname is "Big Shot," if you know what I mean . . .
. . . AND I THINK YOU DO.
The guy who catches her (otherwise known as Bachelor #1) is Lee Seon Joon. I love him because he is not your typical manly kdrama jerk. I mean, he is a jerk, and everyonewho meets him finds him super annoying at first . . . but that's because he's the guy who raises his hand in class to remind the teacher that they forgot to give everyone homework. *____*
Basically, he's a giant nerd with a stick up his ass as far as it can go. He also kind of thinks he's a magical girl and is prone to giving speeches about HONOR and JUSTICE and HARMONY whenever he has half a moment in which to do so.
The best part is that the show never forgets that HONOR ABOVE ALL is an easy thing to say when you're rich and guaranteed of a future position. People are constantly calling Lee Seon Joon out on his privilege, and a large part of his character arc is how he comes to realize it; it's a glorious thing to see.
Also hilarious: the fact that from the third or fourth episode on, he is apparently convinced that he and Kim Yoon Hee are already boyfriends. YOU THINK I'M KIDDING.
(Poor Kim Yoon Hee has no idea why he's suddenly so handsy all the time. She just carried her drunken buddy home and then covered her eyes as he threw off all his clothes! She doesn't realize that all he has are vague memories of his first-ever night of drunken debauchery and flashes of being naked.)
They are, of course, roommates. Their third roommate (and Bachelor #2): Moon Jae Shin, otherwise known as 'Crazy Horse'.
Moon Jae Shin is from the opposite political faction of Lee Seon Joon. This does not matter much to Seon Joon, but it hella matters to Jae Shin, whose main hobby is running around on the rooftops dressed all in black shooting angry political leaflets at people.
He is also allergic to ladies. Again: NOT KIDDING. The presence of women nearby sends him into uncontrollable bouts of hiccups! This makes his new rooming situation hilariously awkward, especially given the fact that roommates in eighteenth-century Korea all apparently share one giant bed, and Kim Yoon Hee has to sleep in the middle so that Lee Seon Joon doesn't get his bad-politics-cooties all over Moon Jae Shin.
The fourth member of the gang is Moon Jae Shin's BFF Go Yong Ha. What you need to know about Yong Ha: he is the MOST FABULOUS.
At first we were adding 'in bed!' after every one of his lines, but we gave up after a few episodes because it just wasn't necessary; Yong Ha adds HIS OWN 'in bed' to every one of his lines. Yong Ha does not BELIEVE in 'personal space'.
Yong Ha does believe in making trollfaces and living for the lulz at the expense of others whenever possible.
Secondary characters include the EVIL STUDENT COUNCIL PRESIDENT; his hilarious baby sister, who is madly in love with Lee Seon Joon; the beautiful courtesan who is madly in love with Kim Yoon Hee; and the King of Korea, who thinks they're all adorably plucky, and grades their tests and gives them internships. Also there's some political intrigue, which will probably be more important in future, but so far I find that massively less relevant than the gorgeous colors, the wacky hijinks, and the fact that as of episode ten there is a double-cross-dressed fakeout-makeout. (Kim Yoon Hee, disguised as a boy, disguised as a girl, pulling a fakeout makeout on her roommate, who still has no clue about her actual gender! I LOVE THIS SHOW.)
Sunkyunkwan Scandal is basically a lulzy college-hijinks drama! . . . set in eighteenth-century Korea.
It's about a bunch of students doing the things students do: dealing with frat hazing . . .
. . . negotiating roommate issues . . .
. . . cheating on exams . . .
. . . boozing at parties . . .
. . . getting really passionately over-involved in politics . . .
. . . playing intramural sports . . .
. . . and cross-dressing to get into university, because, you know, eighteenth-century Korea.
Our heroine, Kim Yoon Hee, is a plucky impoverished girl who has been earning cash for her family by disguising herself as her tragically ill brother and writing out cheat sheets for the lazy rich students who attend Sunkyunkwan University.
When she's offered the opportunity to moonlight as a substitute test-taker at the entrance exams, she gets caught -- by another kid who's so impressed by her smarts that he promptly blackmails her into accepting a university scholarship despite her poor background. At first reluctant, her love of learning, plus her desire to PROVE TO EVERYONE how awesome she is, eventually convinces her that this is actually a great idea.
I love Kim Yoon Hee because not only is she smart -- she gets revenge on people by writing sarcastic poetry on their shirts! -- and not only is she plucky, she can be HILARIOUSLY COCKY. Within a few episodes she has not only established herself and made a bunch of buddies, but she has also become generally known as the most ballsy student at Sunkyunkwan. Her nickname is "Big Shot," if you know what I mean . . .
. . . AND I THINK YOU DO.
The guy who catches her (otherwise known as Bachelor #1) is Lee Seon Joon. I love him because he is not your typical manly kdrama jerk. I mean, he is a jerk, and everyonewho meets him finds him super annoying at first . . . but that's because he's the guy who raises his hand in class to remind the teacher that they forgot to give everyone homework. *____*
Basically, he's a giant nerd with a stick up his ass as far as it can go. He also kind of thinks he's a magical girl and is prone to giving speeches about HONOR and JUSTICE and HARMONY whenever he has half a moment in which to do so.
The best part is that the show never forgets that HONOR ABOVE ALL is an easy thing to say when you're rich and guaranteed of a future position. People are constantly calling Lee Seon Joon out on his privilege, and a large part of his character arc is how he comes to realize it; it's a glorious thing to see.
Also hilarious: the fact that from the third or fourth episode on, he is apparently convinced that he and Kim Yoon Hee are already boyfriends. YOU THINK I'M KIDDING.
(Poor Kim Yoon Hee has no idea why he's suddenly so handsy all the time. She just carried her drunken buddy home and then covered her eyes as he threw off all his clothes! She doesn't realize that all he has are vague memories of his first-ever night of drunken debauchery and flashes of being naked.)
They are, of course, roommates. Their third roommate (and Bachelor #2): Moon Jae Shin, otherwise known as 'Crazy Horse'.
Moon Jae Shin is from the opposite political faction of Lee Seon Joon. This does not matter much to Seon Joon, but it hella matters to Jae Shin, whose main hobby is running around on the rooftops dressed all in black shooting angry political leaflets at people.
He is also allergic to ladies. Again: NOT KIDDING. The presence of women nearby sends him into uncontrollable bouts of hiccups! This makes his new rooming situation hilariously awkward, especially given the fact that roommates in eighteenth-century Korea all apparently share one giant bed, and Kim Yoon Hee has to sleep in the middle so that Lee Seon Joon doesn't get his bad-politics-cooties all over Moon Jae Shin.
The fourth member of the gang is Moon Jae Shin's BFF Go Yong Ha. What you need to know about Yong Ha: he is the MOST FABULOUS.
At first we were adding 'in bed!' after every one of his lines, but we gave up after a few episodes because it just wasn't necessary; Yong Ha adds HIS OWN 'in bed' to every one of his lines. Yong Ha does not BELIEVE in 'personal space'.
Yong Ha does believe in making trollfaces and living for the lulz at the expense of others whenever possible.
Secondary characters include the EVIL STUDENT COUNCIL PRESIDENT; his hilarious baby sister, who is madly in love with Lee Seon Joon; the beautiful courtesan who is madly in love with Kim Yoon Hee; and the King of Korea, who thinks they're all adorably plucky, and grades their tests and gives them internships. Also there's some political intrigue, which will probably be more important in future, but so far I find that massively less relevant than the gorgeous colors, the wacky hijinks, and the fact that as of episode ten there is a double-cross-dressed fakeout-makeout. (Kim Yoon Hee, disguised as a boy, disguised as a girl, pulling a fakeout makeout on her roommate, who still has no clue about her actual gender! I LOVE THIS SHOW.)
no subject
Date: 2012-01-07 12:44 am (UTC)