Ah, Hyun-Bin…who doesn’t know him? Yes, yes, yes! Kim Sam Soon – very popular kdrama. There was an article about it in Vancouver Sun(?), I’m not sure, but it’s definitely a Vancouver periodical. I was very shocked when I saw it – probably as shocked as this person when he saw Kimutaku playing for the Canucks. hehe
Geez, I’ve been out of the kdrama scene for a few months now. I would like to say that there weren’t that many good kdramas lately, but I won’t, because I haven’t seen enough episodes to judge them.
I’m not even sure why I watched this one. I’m not one of Hyun-bin’s fangirls, so you can cross out that possibility. No. 2, I don’t easily pick up sad dramas…
What a drabby-looking picture, isn’t it? I watched the first two minutes and it confirmed my suspicions.
Now I’m really curious why the heck I watched it again…arggh, I caan’t remember. Anywayz, I ended up “marathoning” episode 1-9, and thank goodness episodes 10-16 are still d-ling in my azureus, or else, I won’t have my school work done in time! It also helps that the story is starting to go downhill from this point on. I am not surprised. Kdramas are initial grabbers; they disintegrate halfway through.
The Snow Queen though is a good start for me to return to kdramas. This drama painfully reminds me of “Love to Kill” with Bi and Shin Min-ah. The way I watched these two is also very similar. If you want to get more out of them, watch them in huge batches. They are meant to be seen that way. If you don’t do it that way, they will lose you (your interest) very quickly.
I’ll probably finish this drama by next week…who knows, I’ll get it done by tomorrow. Hehe. But right now, I like it. I’m not as obsessed or as addicted with it like I am with HYD2, but it’ll do. I do love the heroine in this one though…very mucho.
I’ll be back when I finish watching it and complete this post…I hope it doesn’t turn out completely like A Love to Kill. God, I hated that drama by the second half. It felt like a huge thorn in my throat.
Anyway, right now, I’m recommending this drama. I just wanna remind you that all the kdrama markings are here, okay? It is still your typical korean melodrama (with the pick-up truck). So, if that’s not your style, then don’t bother.
I myself is still dubious with the foundation of the story. With foundation, I mean this…
One week after: Unfortunately, still haven’t finish it. I tried to watch episode 10, and I found myself fast forwarding, but I got tired of skimming so I just turned it off completely. I recommended it to my sister; she found it interesting until episode 5 and then she said it’s getting crappy so she ditched it. At episode 5, I don’t think all the revelations have been unfolded yet. I’m at episode 10, and only one was remaining. But I don’t care anymore if Bora finds out that Deukgu is _____. I mean, so what? Before I continue, let me quickly sum up the circumstances for you. BIG SPOILER ALERT! BUT IF YOU WATCH TILL EPISODE 2, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO FIGURE OUT THE WHOLE SET-UP YOURSELF. I seldom write a synopsis, and you’ll find out why…
All in all, there are 4 major revelations. That picture above, of Hyun-bin and the other guy(Jung Gyu), was the central aspect of the plot. Tae-woong(Hyun Bin) met him in high-school. They were fierce rivals(more like one way rivalry) before but ended up as the best of friends in the whole wide world after a certain incident happened. Sometimes, I’m getting a homoerotic aura from their scenes. I can hardly believe that two high-school boys will spend that much time together ALONE even if they’re like best friends – taking a shower together after playing basketball; stargazing at the rooftop of the school building; listening to classical music under a tree; sharing ecchi pictures with each other. The last one maybe normal for typical high school boys, but the others, I find them weird and disturbing. Picture this, would two straight guys go to a movie together? For the life of me, I can’t imagine it with two of my male friends. Taewoong and Jung Gyu didn’t go to the movies but the stargazing scene was worse enough. Anyway, enough of my dirty mind. Those scenes served for a purpose and that is to develop a strong tie of friendship between these two men. While this great friendship was developing, Tae-woong met a little girl (guess who that little girl’s brother is). I was really surprised how young the child actress looked like. There was supposed to be a three year difference, but to me , it’s more like a 10 year difference. Nonetheless, the little girl can ACT. I loved her spunk. I didn’t have a difficult time believing that she grew up into an older & bitchier woman, acted out by my least favorite actress, Sung Yuri. I almost choked on my tea when I found out that it is indeed Sung-Yuri. But that story is already taken care of on my next post.
Oh, this is getting long. I better wrap things up…here we go. So TW met this girl and they create memories that could never be forgotten. They part due to SPOILER SPOILER Jung Gyu’s death SPOILER SPOILER – without telling each others names. Jung Gyu died from a HYUNDAI pick-up truck. I swear this pick-up truck shows up in every tragic kdramas! grr…
Tae-woong blamed himself for Jung-gyu’s death and because of this, TW destroyed his life, ditched his mom, named himself after Jung Gyu’s idol – Deuk-gu, a supposedly famous Korean boxer died in 1982 (the same day TW and JG were born – nah, that’s not important). Episode 1 ends up seven years later in the hospital where Tae-woong, now Deukgu, bumps into the grown Bora. So 4 revelations are bound to happen…
1) Bora finds out that Tae-woong was the boy he met 7 (8?) years ago.
2) Tae – woong finds out that Bora was the little girl he met 7(8?) years ago.
3) Tae-woong finds out that Bora is Jung Gyu’s sister.
4) Finally, Bora (and his father) finds out that Deuk-gu is Tae-woong, Jung-Gyu’s best friend.
I didn’t include Bora’s fiance’s arc which will be the main instrument for Revelation # 4. I have seen Rev #1 – 3, just the last one remaining. There is also Bora’s dying sickness, surprise! surprise! Thank goodness, it’s not leukemia. They got creative and made it into “Myasthenia Graviz”. Why Snow Queen? I don’t think they made justice with the incorporation of the fairy tale’s essence into the drama. Is it just an excuse to shoot the majestic snow hills of Lapland, Sweden? Nawww, I’m getting overboard. But that’s basically my gripes about kdramas. It’s all about appearance – the props, the scenery, but the content is the same garbage over and over again.
I’ll try and finish it…hopefully no one dies *wink*
That’s like hoping it’ll snow at Hawaii tomorrow.
But why hope for snow in Hawaii in the first place?
Links:
*Note: if you can’t download by torrent or clubbox, there is crunchyroll and azntv! =) Thank you D-fansubs for subbing this drama!
you’ll be amazed by her acting in this drama. that’s all i gotta say
Ahaha. Great post. I got hooked because *surprise*surprise* I’m a Hyun-Bin fan from his Millionaire’s First Love to Sam Soon. Imagine that, a 25 year old grown woman…still can daydream right? Anyhoo. So far it’s been good. I’m just RIGHT there hitting ep. 5….It certainly is your typical kdrama but what can I say? Can’t get enough of it. Again, great post. Tried not to laugh to hard otherwise people were going to look at me wierd.
A 25 year old woman smitten with Hyun Bin?…sure, I can imagine it just fine~~ heh heh heh. There are no bounds to fangirling. ^_^
Thanks for the comment. Kinda makes me guilty. Now I really have to finish it instead of bashing it so half-heartedly without knowing how it ended. It seems that a few are satisfied with the ending and I heard one hailed it as the next best sad drama since MiSa. I wouldn’t go as far as that though. Snow Queen is waaayyyy below MiSa (I’m Sorry I’m Love You). Too far. So Ji Sup and Im Su Jung’s performance is difficult to beat, least of all, with “amateurs” like Hyun Bin and Sung Yuri.
i’ve been weeping in tears!! (even guys have feelings)..
a fine drama i would say, couldn’t stop it, as i just finished the 16 episodes in exactly less than 28 hours (sleep, eat and bath included)… wow, amazing! haha..
although there were some lame ideas all along the drama, and they sort of dragged the story, but the sadness of the story really is overwhelming. don’t u ppl think?
and also an anxious ending i would say as we do not know what decision will tae-woong take.. so it’s a fine ending.. and i’ve fallen in love with Yu-Ri oh god..
just to correct something:
1) it’s 8 years i think, not 7
2)1982 is the year they were born but the year Kim Deuk-Gu died
I stand corrected. The boxer deuk-gu died in 1982. Duh! haha…how did i make that mistake now..
Hi every body,
Wo0o0o0o0w it is amazing drama. I could not stop crying; really I had learned a lot from the drama, I learned to be more responsibly with my relationship, to say to the person that I love him or to make him feel. Han-Tagon, I really love this actor, he was really perfect. I am wandering in our real live there is a person like his actor? THE SNOW QUEEN is the best ever drama I had saw, I copy the drama on CD and on Hard disk, because I will not stop seeing this drama, it is perfect, wonderful. I think how does not like the drama, he/she not seeing it with their feeling, I don’t know how to explain it, just now I had finish the drama, still I have a lot of tears, THE SNOW QUEEN is the one will be in my mined for ever, I love the drama which touch the heart the we can learn from it, that may help use in our life. THANKS for all how work in The Snow Queen, and make it perfect.
Note: I am a girl 21 years old. I am from United Arab Emirates, is a Middle Eastern country situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia on the Persian Gulf. I love Kdrama alto, I had watch “full house, winter sonata and the best one the snow queen.
Thanks friend for giving me a space to write down what I feel.
Snow Queen is da bomb. Seriously, why’d you ditch it? I’m up to episode 11 and it’s the best, totally. Hyun Bin & Sung Yuri look so good together and I don’t know what it’d be like if they replaced either of the leads.
You missed out bigtime if you didn’t finish it.
The casts are not the problem; the plot is. Actually, I’ve finished it and the only thing I’ve missed is time wasted watching it. I wasn’t blown away enough to write a follow-up post.
I like this drama…
Hyun Bin, Sung Yoo Ri and Im Ju Hwan…I like them…
It’s make me cry….
this drama was okay,typical and nothing unique…yes indeed it made me cry but so other ten kdrama’s out there. there are good parts but when i got to those draggy parts i just wanted to shut my laptop off… it was so draggy in the last episodes i just wanted it to end…but if your a sucker for overly melodramatic kdrama, this is the answer…! i just watched it because of Hyun Bin ^_^
i haven’t saw this movie but i hope i can though…im a filipino who loves korean movies so much…i hope dis movie is good…
How’s the ending? Can someone tell me? I am from Malaysia. I am watching it everyday & just cant help myself from knowing the ending. Can someone really tell me how’s the ending??? Please…
Sorry.. I meant, the ending for Snow Queen Drama…
Thanks..
I finished watching the official YA release of Snow Queen, and I bought the box set exclusively b/c of Hyun Bun–I was/and still am completely bowled over by his acting in Lovely Sam-Soon AND Millionaire’s First Love. But goodness me, Snow Queen is such an uninspired series of k-drama cliches, I was sick of it pretty quickly. There is not a single original moment in the series (okay, maybe one–when Hyun Bin takes off his shoes for the spoiled little brat), but other than that…urgh. I am annoyed because Hyun Bin is genuinely a fantastic actor and why he chose such a piece of recycled garbage is beyond me. I hope he puts some thought when choosing his next role. Binnie: Don’t go from a pretty smart and witty drama (MNIKSS) to regurgitated mess (SQ). Your career will go down the drain faster than you think.
heyyy
everyone
i have a question?
where are you guys downloading The Snow Queen?
I am watching snow queen on youtube right now but they only have episode 1 nd 2?
so,, if anyone knows how to download the show
e-mail me at jchoiiixo@yahoo.com
How well you put it. I absolutely concur with your slamming of Sung Yuri and the blatant advocacy of homosexuality in an otherwise poorly-planned drama which attempts to pull off some measure of success by filming the insurpassable yet strangely disgraced beauty of snow-capped mountains. An utterly revolting drama to a seasoned drama watcher.
i’ll have to disagree.. what use is watching a drama if all it is is an over-realistic portrayal of the monotonies and predictabilities of life?
imo dramas are supposed to provide a form of escapism into an ideal (albeit unrealistic) world.
didn’t cry during the entire thing though.
@ i…if the Snow Queen setting of sickness, animosity and sorrow is your ideal world, then I’ll stick with RL, thank you very much.
I really wanted to shed light on your musing on how Korean guys can spend so much time together that sometimes we get a homo erotic vibe when we see them doing it. Apparently, this behavior is not exclusive to koreans. The Japanese also display this action. I don’t know for the other Orientals? Any Chinese out there that can shed some light on this issue?
Anyways about the guys having a nonchalant attitude towards being so touchy feely with one another is normal for Japanese and Koreans. Among close peers personal space is not so much observed. Believe me ,I had first hand experience on this. I was a part time teacher in a Korean Cram school in the Philippines and sure those boys can get so gay in my perspective but they say its pretty normal for them. They would be spooning each other during breaks and the likes and seeing them creeps me out. We also got the same experience from the Korean foreign exchange students. When all of us became very chummy with one another, all the sense of personal space disappeared to an alarming degree. They would just grab, hug nudge you in the thigh , neck , back. Remember that we are talking about horny daffy macho foreign exchange korean guys here. For the Japanese, haven’t experienced it first hand because the Japanese exchange students are so uptight but I think posts from gaijin smash would illustrate the Japanese side.
They did a mini documentary about this peculiar behavior in Arirang around last year I think. I forgot the korean name for the concept though. But as far as I can remember, the concept describes a sort of code of chivalry among male comrades. Most of the time, this “concept” is much more important than let us say romantic love for the other sex. I am not kidding. I think for a K-drama illustration, you should try to watch fashion 70’s especially somewhere between the middle and the end.
Between korean and japanese dramas, yaoi elements are more apparent on the latter. (eg. Nodame, Hana Kimi, Nobuta wo Produce) I see it very seldom on Kdramas, and it just so happened that they have it in Snow Queen. Their mistake is that, they’ve taken it seriously and took out the humourous aspect of it and that’s what made it so awkward. Real life male friendships simply doesn’t go like that.
In jdramas, it is intended…they’re not hiding it all. I don’t know about male viewers, but we, girls, especially j-idols fangirls, love our boy-to-boy “soft” interaction. I completely stay out of the pure yaoi genre though.
To see it on tv is entirely a different thing but to see two guys spooning each other right in front of me, damn, I would probably have a “wth” expression on my face. If you must know, it’s already painful to see a couple french-kiss in a busy street. It’s only romantic in the movies. In real life, sigh, it is not a sight to behold, that’s for sure.
Re-reading my entry above, I realized that it is possible for two straight guys to watch a movie together. My bro does it all the time, but (one), the movie would certainly not be a chick flick or a drama and (two) they’ll go for a beer right afterwards.
Now it’s my turn to say, yes I’ve seen Fashion 70’s. I’ve been meaning to comment about it in your blog after you mentioned it. But I don’t really have a lot of good things to say about it. Actually, I like the first 9 or so episodes, and then the two main leads just started to get in my nerves. On top of that, the plot went too deep with the melodrama. The writer is so obviously calculating how he/she can squeeze some more emotions from his/her audience. I wish they dwelled a bit more towards the competition and dress-making parts, but you know Koreans, they love their tragedies, romance and birth-secrets.
See? that’s why I don’t wanna talk about it.
About your comment on it being intended on J-dramas… yeah that is so true. Especially nowadays that the rage is MOE the girls want to have their fun too. The brand of girls who are really into BL and the like are called Fujoshi. And even in the Fujoshi there are those that like innocent BL then there are those that go into full Yaoi pron. HAHAHA. Like the Otaku, they are a demographic specially targeted by companies. Heheheh just a little FYI.
A small seque, Oh in Nodame yes it is for comedic relief. But if that were real life everyone would be ostracizing that guy. We had an exchange student from Japan and he was literally scared of gays in the Philippines. He lives in Tokyo by the way. He really had nightmares that he used to tell us. But after his homestay here in the Philippines, he is really comfortable with gays now and one of his good friends from the Philippines is a screaming faggot. HAHAHA
About Fashion 70’s, I just included that for lack of a good illustration on what I would like to describe. But I liked it. Maybe all the predictability hooked me in. It was like a game for me. From time to time, I want my melodrama. The only heavy Korean melodrama that I gave up on is MISA: I am sorry I love you. It is just too heavy for me. When I continued watching that it is like my soul is being sucked out. The other overly ridiculous melodrama I really liked is Stained Glass.
BTW, I really find the comment thread is going on the Hana Kimi post. Its just too funny and I don’t want to start anything again. HAHAHA.
Anyways thanks for your thoughts as always.
It did get ridiculous but not boring. I made my mom and auntie watched it and they finished it too. Fashion 70s is one of those classic ajummah melodramas. I knew they’ll like it. They said it was for ‘Bin’. haha. It would have been perfect soap if they had casted a different leading actress. Even Choi Ji Woo would have done a better job.
In regards with the Hana Kimi post: Oh mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!! I’m deleting quite a few of the incoming comments. Do they really need to profess their love for WuChun a dozen times? These girls… I could just imagine them not being able to contain their fangirl feelings and so they google “hana kimi, wu chun” and spam all the entries with senseless posts. I don’t know if I should laugh or pull my hair out.
Oh! A good post. But i don’t know why JayCee doesn’t like Sung Yuri. Can you tell me why? Usually I don’t watch Kdramas.. But my mum was watching the Snow Queen and I joined her expecting usual K-plots, tragedy but this story was different.. Yuri’s acting’s realli good, mathematical contents and Hyun Bin and Yuri are really superb and PERFECT!! Now i’ve bought the DVD and filled with tears… Poor Bora.. Snow Queen’s the best Drama…I recommend this drama!! I’m from Myanmar aniwayz. Korean dramas has been spreading all over the world!!
i’m having a real hard time finding this drama to watch.. everything is a broken link. somebody help me out here? thanks