YES I KNOW everyone has already watched this...I'm latecomer okay?
A few friends had recommended this drama to me since, well, FOREVER. And I'd come across it, pondered about whether I should watch it, but in the end I never did. Why? It just looked kinda...lame :/ Boy can looks be deceiving...
After about a week of staying up late watching episodes, I have finished watching :)
The plot:
Han Ji-eun is an internet writer with big dreams. One day, her two childhood friends (who have a secret agenda) give her an all expense paid trip to Shanghai. She takes it, although hesitantly... She meets Lee Young-jae, a famous actor on the plane, but it takes a disastrous turn and he leaves as soon as he gets the chance.
When Ji-eun gets to the hotel, she finds that the trip was all a ruse, made up by her 'friends' who were in need of some dough. She goes to find Young-jae who happens to be staying at the same hotel to ask him for money. Eventually, she gets back to Korea, but now with a debt to pay to Young-jae.
As if things could not get worse, she discovers her house was sold. Defeated, she mopes around the house that was once hers--until the new tenant shows up. BADABINGBADABOOM. It's Lee Young-jae.
After a whirlwind of events, the two end up signing a contract marriage...
The verdict:
I hadn't watched a good drama for a while before Full House. I'd started watching a bunch, but none of them turned out to be any good. Full House is definitely addicting, especially since it uses the smartest, yet most annoying tactic I've seen in dramas: ending the episodes with cliff-hangers. It works.
Rain (Jeong Ji-hoon) and Song Hye-kyo have great chemistry. Rain managed to be sexy and unbelievably cute. Song Hye-kyo's great--that's an important thing, because for me, I can't watch a drama if I dislike the leads in anyway (like 'Boys Over Flowers'). Han Eun-jung as Kang Hye-won was very successful in her character, as I hated her through and through (before she went good). The soundtrack was catchy and suited the drama. Just yesterday, someone's ringtone sounded uncannily like one of the songs in the drama, and I, who had been half asleep, found myself totally awake and smiling like the Cheshire cat.
*sigh* But every drama has its bad points right? Here we go:
Like I said, Rain, Song Hye-kyo and Han Eun-jung were successful in their lead roles, but I felt that Kim Sung-soo as Yoo Min-hyuk didn't do so well. His facial expressions all seemed rather similar to me, nevermind that he is very good-looking.
Also, there was quite a long stretch of episodes in which I was practically pulling my hair out in frustration because of the plot. I guess they might have done this on purpose, to keep the audience on their toes, but it was a liiiiiiiittle too much, I think.
And then there was the non-existing baby bump. This point is pretty unimportant compared to the others, but really: Ji-eun's friend gets pregnant in the beginning, manages to look as slim as a stick of celery and yet in the last episode, a baby pops out of nowhere. WHY?!?!?
The end was satisfying, albeit a little awkward. I don't know why, but I thought the karaoke scene was a bit strange. Their dating scenes outside were perfect (aww...the one with the monkey ^^) but once they went into the karaoke room, the mood vanished. I dunno...it just kinda ruined it for me.
All in all a good drama though :)
Rating:
4/5
Xtras: I watched Smiling Pasta (微笑Pasta) quite a while ago, at the time not knowing it was based on Full House. It was nice when I watched it, but now that I've seen Full House, I must say that Full House is much better.
