Monday, October 31, 2016

My Next Recaps: Sweet Stranger and Me, aka The Man Living in Our House

It's been a while since I did anything k-drama related. As mentioned in my previous post, I was not happy over how She Was Pretty turned out. But after almost a year, I have moved on. My recovery has been helped along by a several other k-dramas:

MoonlightDrawnByCloudsPoster Moonlight Drawn By Clouds and Jealousy Incarnate. These two I watched during a recent trip to Korea. Yes, I got to go to Korea for work and I loved every minute of it! It was really an interesting experience, watching a k-drama and not understanding what anyone is saying. Luckily, they replay the drama at least once during the week (with MDBC it was several times and a couple of marathons), so I was able to rewatch after downloading the subtitles. I have to say, I didn't need any subtitles to be stunned when Yeong cut his eternity bracelet in Episode 15. Or to react to Na Ri and Jung Won's kiss in Episode 14. But it did help me to understand what the heck Na Ri kept saying right before that and *why* Ra On was pointing a dagger at Yeong in the first place. Being in Korea for 3 weeks gave me a lot of insight as to why they do what they do in the dramas we watch. Like the U-turns that cars make. They actually happen in Korea *all* the time.

Splash-Splash-Love-PosterSplish Splash Love. After reading what girlfriday was watching over on Dramabeans, I decided to check out this drama that I had never heard of. Love it! The story of a girl who doesn't feel confident in her academic ability (especially in math). She freaks out before Korea's equivalent of the SAT/ACT exam and, after jumping in a puddle, travels back in time. She coincidentally appears as the king's advisors are doing a ceremony trying to get the spirits to bring some rain after a 3-year drought. She literally lies to save her life and becomes the king's advisor. Primarily on the subject of math. (Oh, the irony!) If you have an afternoon, it's an easy and enjoyable watch, since the series is less than 3 hours. Good things come in small packages.

Monday, October 10, 2016

Weighing in on SLS (Second Lead Syndrome)

In my previous post, I talked about my severe case of Second Lead Syndrome) SLS over Shin Hyuk in She Was Pretty. Choi Siwon did an outstanding job of making this annoying goof-ball lovable and yearn-for-able. (Counting the days until August 18th of next year!) His performance in this drama made me not be able to wait to see his next drama, hopefully where he gets the girl! (Maybe Hwang Jung Eum?) Today, I thought I would discuss other dramas that have given people SLS. If you've never heard of SLS, here's the definition by The One-Eyed Kin blog
Second Lead Syndrome (SLS) is known as the overwhelming support and admiration given to the second male lead of a drama or an anime to win the lead female and succeed in whatever endeavor undertaken when,
  1. The female lead shows no signs of liking the second lead.
  2. When the male lead has secured the affections of the female lead.
  3. When the second lead has no chance of winning over the female lead.
I would add to this definition that it occurs when the female lead is *conflicted* over which man to choose, even though her heart belongs to the lead (as inexplicable as that might be).