Full House

You know a drama is old when it isn't in wide screen and half of your screen is taken up by black bars of doom on either side of the picture. Of course, when I say old, I mean 2004, so at least it was in colour.

Full House is the story of a young aspiring writer, Ji Eun, who is conned out of her savings and home by her friends. To get her out of the way long enough to do this, they sent her on holiday, where she meets famous actor Young Jae. Discovering she is stranded in a foreign country without a penny to her name, she goes to Young Jae for a loan. On returning home, she finds out her house was brought by Young Jae, and after she refuses to leave, they decide to enter into a contract marriage so that Ji Eun can get her home back and for Young Jae to save face after a rejected proposal.

Young Jae being a gentleman and generously sharing his bed with Ji Eun.

You know without me saying where this is going to end up. Happily ever afters for everyone involved doesn't seem like so much of a spoiler as a guarantee in popular Asian drama. Young Jae treats Ji Eun like a slave, they fight and argue pretty much all the time, and yet, they still end up falling for each other. It took the whole series, which was frustrating, especially when it was so blatantly obvious. For some reason, Young Jae was so blinded for his childhood affection for Hye Won that he couldn't even see Ji Eun as anything more than a rice bowl until the penultimate episode, which left us with literally 5 minutes of happily ever after. Not that I wanted a load of gooey happiness, but 15 episodes of the same thing got a little boring. They fought, Young Jae demanded cleaning and food, they fought, Ji Eun left and came back, they fought, people interfered, they fought. Then happily ever after.

It was good though, and I did enjoy it. Young Jae was childish and charming, Ji Eun was so unbelievably pretty, and they had great chemistry. The house was amazing, too. I laughed a lot, although I didn't cry so no plus points there, although it really wasn't the sort of story to cry for. It wasn't so much a romantic comedy as comedy with romance. I found it particularly amusing how they tried to get around the branded clothes with just sticking tape over a letter or two, and how Ji Eun's pregnant friend looked no more pregnant than I do throughout the whole plot.

If I could look like anyone, it would be Ji Eun. She's so pretty, I hate her.

Young Jae was played by Rain, a pretty big idol star in Korea as well as world wide, starring in several American films, like Ninja Assassin and Speed Racer. In fact, Full House is often credited with kick starting the Hallyu wave. I have to admit to understanding why, although I have seen other dramas that I preferred, Personal Taste for one.

Next up is Lie to Me. I know nothing about this other than there is a screen cap of a girl crying and what I can guess from the title. Something about lying, maybe?

<3 x