kdrama: Fantasy Couple
Sep. 5th, 2007 05:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmoore
The last few days, I have been bingeing of Fantasy Couple, the kdrama based on the 80s movie, Overboard. It is almost too good for words.
The plot (with some liberties taken, as they have to turn a movie less than 2 hours long into a 16 hour show) is about Anna, an American raised Korean woman(who, incidentally, actually DOES have English as good as the characters praise it as being) who's filthy rich, insane arrogant, and has no caring whatsoever about the feelings of others. She crosses paths several time with Chul Soo, a money pinching handyman. Each encounter ends badly, of course, and involves things like hitting him in the head with a shovel (she thought he was a serial killer) driving off with his head stuck in her car window (he stuck it in to yell at her over the shovel head bashing...) mutual petnapping, and finally, kicking him and his tools off her boat and into the ocean. He gets his chance at payback, though, when he finds her in the hospital with amnesia. He claims that she's his lover and takes her home to work off the money she owes him by taking care of his house and three nephews.
The leads, Han Ye Seul and Oh Ji Ho, have some of the best chemistry-comedic and otherwise-that I've seen and make two characters that should be difficult and unlikable fun and endearing from start to finish, and the supporting cast is great and quirky. While the other Song Sisters drama I've seen, My Girl is better in terms of drama and romance, Fantasy Couple is the better comedy of the two, and I think I like Anna and Chul Soo as a couple more than I do Yu Rin and Gong Chan(and I liked YR and GC a lot)
Lots of pics and text under the cut.
Anna as, well, Anna:
Anna as the amnesiac Na Sang Shil(which my subs tell me is a name that means "I forget...not an overly creative one, that Chul Soo)
She may have amnesia, no money, no name and nothing resembling an earthly possession, but she shall never lose her pride:
The ever so manly and rugged Chil Soo:
As you can see, Oh Ji Ho, like Kurt Russell, was cast because of the dimples and the ability to look good shirtless and sleaveless. The charm and ability to act are just nice bonuses.
It was made clear early on that, just like Overboard, the series understood the need to provide fanservice and had Chul Soo strip to force a client to pay(he did it in the women's bathhouse)
Then there was the timeAnna accidentally saw him naked:
I loved how she didn't scream or run,just kind of stared in shock and then blushed and calmly said it wasn't that impressive.
Incidentally, like Overboard, there is equal opportunity fanservice. However, as most dorama fans are female, there don't seem to be many good pics of Anna and her bikini...
Kang Ja, the local(and hilarious) crazy woman:
She and Anna bond, though Anna is in deep denial about this:
With Anna's husband, Billy. They have many funny scenes together:
The love of Kang Ja's life is Chul Soo's friend, Deuk Gu. Deuk Gu, however, is scared of Kang Ja, so he says he only wants to see her when it snows because it means more that way. Wise to his schemes, Anna arranges for this to be the rest of his life:
The other guys are there to make sure he does not flee and keeps her happy. Forever.
This is Vase Girl. Vase Girl has a real name, but does not deserve it. She is called Vase Girl Because it is what Anna calls her when they first meet(she's holding a flower vase at the time) As Vase Girl is often unnaturally attached to flowers, Anna always calls her Flower Bundle and Flower Bouquet.
Initially, Vase Girl will be so boring that she will make your eyes glaze over. Soon, however, she shall show you that the dreaded Lip Gloss Girl from My Girl is a rank amateur. Lip Gloss Girl has NOTHING on Vase Girl. Lip Gloss Girl is whiny and self centered, Vase Girl is the same, but sly, deceptive and conniving on levels Lip Gloss Girl can only dream of. We will see our first hints of this when Vase Girl and Anna first meet and Vase Girl, Thinking Anna is really Chul Soo's girlfriend, asks Anna to "thank Chul Soo oppa for before." (Incidentally, "oppa" is not in Anna's vocabularly, thank goodness) Anna, however, flat out takes nothing from anyone and bluntly asks if Vase Girl wants her to deliver the message, or if she just wanted Anna to know Chul Soo had done something for her recently. Not used to being called on her conniving ways, and thus at a loss, Vase Girl just gives a superior smile and leaves.
Her true evil will first show itself when she ever so subtly insults Anna for not feeding the boys (even after being told that she was taking them to get food) then lures them away with the promise of pizza, then DUMPS THEM in the middle of the street to leave with her friend. Her reason? To go work on wedding plans for a wedding that has been called off because her fiance saw the light and met someone better. But she doesn't want to be embarassed, so she tells everyone that she did the dumping(he's moving to America, so he doesn't care) because she realized who she really loved. She never reveals the truth, either.
Soon, she shall send people to spy on Anna and Chul Soo, try to claim gifts for Anna as her own, undermine Anna at every turn, stalk Chul Soo, claim Anna's efforts as her own and do everything she can to be a homewrecker. She will also regularly pretend to be so drunk she's sick and call Chul Soo to come and get her so she can cling to his manly chest. I find it difficult to hold this against her very much, what with his being quite the hunk. Granted, I have too much self esteem to do such a thing myself, but...
Interestingly, both Anna and Vase Girl are rich, spoiled and self-centered. The difference is that Anna is open about it but does learn to be considerate of others. Vase Girl pretends to be sweet and innocent while looking down on everyone. Anna learns to try to help people, and even though it's a hopeless attempt, she does everything she can to help, including swallowing her pride and asking for Vase Girl's help when the kids are sick and Chul Soo is hurt. Vase Girl is just in it for the attention. When Chul Soo comes home when the boys are sick and Vase Girl is there(Anna went to buy medicine) Vase Girl tells him everything she did right and everything Anna did wrong, and when Chul Soo is hurt, Vase Girl is more interested in getting into his room(his oldest nephew locked the door to keep his brother's from bothering him so he could rest) all she cares about is getting into the room to let him know she was there, not about helping him. In both cases, Anna did as much wrong as she did right, but she put everything she had into trying to help.
Also, for some reason, even though they've been broken up for a long time and he's with Anna(well, not really, but she thinks he is) Vase Girl assumes that any gift he has must be for her.
Please note that her sole justification for this thought is the knowledge that he had bought someone a gift.
He, of course, is utterly clueless that she thought it was for her.
It was a cell phone for Anna.
Even though, being Anna, she finds fault with it, she loves her new cell phone.
Vase Girl also thinks that the best time to try to get back together with a guy is 5 minutes after realizing he's lost the love of his life(temporarily...anything but a happy ending would have meant death)
She doesn't know why he barely even notices she's there...
Incidentally, this is one of the reasons I love Chul Soo. Even without Anna, he considers Vase Girl to be a closed door. She wasn't able to remain part of his life when he became responsible for his nephews, and that's that. He still cares and he'll still help her, but getting back together with her never crosses his mind. When she asks him to after learning Anna isn't really his girlfriend, he flat out tells her it won't be happening. He'll take care of Anna until she regains her memory, and if she leaves him then, he doesn't know whether or not he'll follow her. Even so, Vase Girl is no longer an option for him.
These are Chul Soo's darling nephews.
They are Completely and utterly devoted to their Anna and after learning their lesson after choosing Vase Girl over Anna, they side with her every single time no matter what after that.
And they are positively giddy when they learn she's marrying Chul Soo and they get to keep her.
A few scenes...
The pet napping(he ends up with her cat, sells it, then she kidnaps her dog) aftermath: pet exchange:
He gets stranded alone ofn an island overnight. He mostly needs rest, but she keeps trying to make things better...plasters, heat pads, ice cubes...
But, even though he's really annoyed because he just wants to be left alone to sleep, he gets that she's doing it because she's worried and trying to help, so he appreciates the thought instead of taking it out on her.
It's the same when his nephews are all sick...he knows from talking to her on the phone that she's frantically worried and asking what to do because she has no idea how to deal with it, and the fact that she was there are was trying to help was enough for him and them.
This scene is fun: She's mad at him and takes off indignant. He finds her at the bus stop, but he knows if he lets her know she'll just take off again, so he sits there and talks to her on the phone, and then sits there forever, waiting.
(btw, I love his "she's crazy but I think I'll keep her" face)
And then it's phone time again, because she realizes that the bus is never coming so he has to come get her. Except, of course, he's been there the whole time, just waiting for her to be ready.
She is suitably impressed by his willingness to spend hours sitting on a curb, waiting for her and allows him to take her home.
And finally(because, as usually happens if I don't post as I go along, this has turned into a monster post that no doubt threatens to kill servers...I was originally going to post a few more scenes...) one of the masny fantasy sequences. In this case, Chul Soo and Anna are stuck on an island overnight. This is what Deuk Gu's mother imagines is happening:
Anna as the amnesiac Na Sang Shil(which my subs tell me is a name that means "I forget...not an overly creative one, that Chul Soo)
She may have amnesia, no money, no name and nothing resembling an earthly possession, but she shall never lose her pride:
The ever so manly and rugged Chil Soo:
As you can see, Oh Ji Ho, like Kurt Russell, was cast because of the dimples and the ability to look good shirtless and sleaveless. The charm and ability to act are just nice bonuses.
It was made clear early on that, just like Overboard, the series understood the need to provide fanservice and had Chul Soo strip to force a client to pay(he did it in the women's bathhouse)
Then there was the timeAnna accidentally saw him naked:
I loved how she didn't scream or run,just kind of stared in shock and then blushed and calmly said it wasn't that impressive.
Incidentally, like Overboard, there is equal opportunity fanservice. However, as most dorama fans are female, there don't seem to be many good pics of Anna and her bikini...
Kang Ja, the local(and hilarious) crazy woman:
She and Anna bond, though Anna is in deep denial about this:
With Anna's husband, Billy. They have many funny scenes together:
The love of Kang Ja's life is Chul Soo's friend, Deuk Gu. Deuk Gu, however, is scared of Kang Ja, so he says he only wants to see her when it snows because it means more that way. Wise to his schemes, Anna arranges for this to be the rest of his life:
The other guys are there to make sure he does not flee and keeps her happy. Forever.
This is Vase Girl. Vase Girl has a real name, but does not deserve it. She is called Vase Girl Because it is what Anna calls her when they first meet(she's holding a flower vase at the time) As Vase Girl is often unnaturally attached to flowers, Anna always calls her Flower Bundle and Flower Bouquet.
Initially, Vase Girl will be so boring that she will make your eyes glaze over. Soon, however, she shall show you that the dreaded Lip Gloss Girl from My Girl is a rank amateur. Lip Gloss Girl has NOTHING on Vase Girl. Lip Gloss Girl is whiny and self centered, Vase Girl is the same, but sly, deceptive and conniving on levels Lip Gloss Girl can only dream of. We will see our first hints of this when Vase Girl and Anna first meet and Vase Girl, Thinking Anna is really Chul Soo's girlfriend, asks Anna to "thank Chul Soo oppa for before." (Incidentally, "oppa" is not in Anna's vocabularly, thank goodness) Anna, however, flat out takes nothing from anyone and bluntly asks if Vase Girl wants her to deliver the message, or if she just wanted Anna to know Chul Soo had done something for her recently. Not used to being called on her conniving ways, and thus at a loss, Vase Girl just gives a superior smile and leaves.
Her true evil will first show itself when she ever so subtly insults Anna for not feeding the boys (even after being told that she was taking them to get food) then lures them away with the promise of pizza, then DUMPS THEM in the middle of the street to leave with her friend. Her reason? To go work on wedding plans for a wedding that has been called off because her fiance saw the light and met someone better. But she doesn't want to be embarassed, so she tells everyone that she did the dumping(he's moving to America, so he doesn't care) because she realized who she really loved. She never reveals the truth, either.
Soon, she shall send people to spy on Anna and Chul Soo, try to claim gifts for Anna as her own, undermine Anna at every turn, stalk Chul Soo, claim Anna's efforts as her own and do everything she can to be a homewrecker. She will also regularly pretend to be so drunk she's sick and call Chul Soo to come and get her so she can cling to his manly chest. I find it difficult to hold this against her very much, what with his being quite the hunk. Granted, I have too much self esteem to do such a thing myself, but...
Interestingly, both Anna and Vase Girl are rich, spoiled and self-centered. The difference is that Anna is open about it but does learn to be considerate of others. Vase Girl pretends to be sweet and innocent while looking down on everyone. Anna learns to try to help people, and even though it's a hopeless attempt, she does everything she can to help, including swallowing her pride and asking for Vase Girl's help when the kids are sick and Chul Soo is hurt. Vase Girl is just in it for the attention. When Chul Soo comes home when the boys are sick and Vase Girl is there(Anna went to buy medicine) Vase Girl tells him everything she did right and everything Anna did wrong, and when Chul Soo is hurt, Vase Girl is more interested in getting into his room(his oldest nephew locked the door to keep his brother's from bothering him so he could rest) all she cares about is getting into the room to let him know she was there, not about helping him. In both cases, Anna did as much wrong as she did right, but she put everything she had into trying to help.
Also, for some reason, even though they've been broken up for a long time and he's with Anna(well, not really, but she thinks he is) Vase Girl assumes that any gift he has must be for her.
Please note that her sole justification for this thought is the knowledge that he had bought someone a gift.
He, of course, is utterly clueless that she thought it was for her.
It was a cell phone for Anna.
Even though, being Anna, she finds fault with it, she loves her new cell phone.
Vase Girl also thinks that the best time to try to get back together with a guy is 5 minutes after realizing he's lost the love of his life(temporarily...anything but a happy ending would have meant death)
She doesn't know why he barely even notices she's there...
Incidentally, this is one of the reasons I love Chul Soo. Even without Anna, he considers Vase Girl to be a closed door. She wasn't able to remain part of his life when he became responsible for his nephews, and that's that. He still cares and he'll still help her, but getting back together with her never crosses his mind. When she asks him to after learning Anna isn't really his girlfriend, he flat out tells her it won't be happening. He'll take care of Anna until she regains her memory, and if she leaves him then, he doesn't know whether or not he'll follow her. Even so, Vase Girl is no longer an option for him.
These are Chul Soo's darling nephews.
They are Completely and utterly devoted to their Anna and after learning their lesson after choosing Vase Girl over Anna, they side with her every single time no matter what after that.
And they are positively giddy when they learn she's marrying Chul Soo and they get to keep her.
A few scenes...
The pet napping(he ends up with her cat, sells it, then she kidnaps her dog) aftermath: pet exchange:
He gets stranded alone ofn an island overnight. He mostly needs rest, but she keeps trying to make things better...plasters, heat pads, ice cubes...
But, even though he's really annoyed because he just wants to be left alone to sleep, he gets that she's doing it because she's worried and trying to help, so he appreciates the thought instead of taking it out on her.
It's the same when his nephews are all sick...he knows from talking to her on the phone that she's frantically worried and asking what to do because she has no idea how to deal with it, and the fact that she was there are was trying to help was enough for him and them.
This scene is fun: She's mad at him and takes off indignant. He finds her at the bus stop, but he knows if he lets her know she'll just take off again, so he sits there and talks to her on the phone, and then sits there forever, waiting.
(btw, I love his "she's crazy but I think I'll keep her" face)
And then it's phone time again, because she realizes that the bus is never coming so he has to come get her. Except, of course, he's been there the whole time, just waiting for her to be ready.
She is suitably impressed by his willingness to spend hours sitting on a curb, waiting for her and allows him to take her home.
And finally(because, as usually happens if I don't post as I go along, this has turned into a monster post that no doubt threatens to kill servers...I was originally going to post a few more scenes...) one of the masny fantasy sequences. In this case, Chul Soo and Anna are stuck on an island overnight. This is what Deuk Gu's mother imagines is happening:
Also, has anyone been following or heard feedback on Get Karl! Oh Soo Jung?
Go Man Soo is a world known golf player who was dumped by a former beauty queen, Oh Soo Jung, seven years ago. Their fate becomes reversed when Oh Soo Jung who is now known as an old maid comes chasing after Man Soo who is now a 'golden bachelor' with good looks and money.
While it does sound good, I admit that a fair chunk of my interest is rather shallow:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-09-06 01:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-06 01:31 am (UTC)And Chul Soo is a wonderfully manly hunk(there was enough fanservice to sway even me to occassionally notice it above all else...the fact that the actor was wonderfully charming in the role helped)
no subject
Date: 2007-09-06 01:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-06 07:07 am (UTC)Oh...quick question...is Anna married in this drama?! I don't understand...doesn't she already have a husband?! I though Drama conventions NEVER allow people to divorce...so huh?!
Yeh, Get Karl! Ohh Joo Sung? is something I keep hearing about but have never actually seen...looking at that
pictureplot I think I may add it also:P:Pno subject
Date: 2007-09-06 07:21 am (UTC)However, Chul Soo doesn't know she's married, and there's no adultery, technical or otherwise. Even though it's not directly addressed, he, at least, is aware of the possibility and he doesn't want to move forward until they know who she is. I was nervous about how they'd handle that part, but it was ahandled very well and I never had a problem with it, despite my having some VERY strong feelings about adultery of any sort.
The "plot" does sound interesting, doesn't it? Actually, while I likely wouldn't have heard of it if I hadn't looked to see what Oh Ji Ho and Han Ye Seul had been in, but I think I would have been interested in it if I'd heard of it, anyway. It sounds like great fun, and it sounds like this role will also be "charming and rogueish but a straight arrow" which is what Chul Soo was.
And, honestly, while I don't like using the term "hunk," it's really the best way to describe him...part of it is that he pretty much oozes charm...not necessarily the "OMG! HOT!" kind, but the nice, likable guy kind.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-06 12:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-08 03:09 am (UTC)Flower Bouquet drove me crazy, especially when she faked being drunk. ;^; But at least she wasn't the one that got the cellphone~ xD
I thought about watching Get Karl! Oh Soo Jung, but I think I might have to think about it some more. I'd have to be really impressed with the next drama I watch since I am totally in love with Soulmate. xO
no subject
Date: 2007-10-08 03:18 am (UTC)Flower Vase amazed me with her conniving selfcenteredness, and i remain amazed that anna never punched her. still, for once, the heroine never backed down to the other woman unless it was needed.
What's Soulmate?
no subject
Date: 2007-10-08 03:44 am (UTC)I hate rich girls that always make the guy feel guilty or has to keep them happy! That's why I have a problem with one of the characters in Soulmate, but yeah... that's my opinion. At first, when Flower Bouquet came into the scene, I thought she was the opposite of Anna in the way that would make Anna look like a horrible person, but they managed to make it the other way around. xD All she had was a kinder looking face. Well, in a way it was kinder than Anna's face. lol
I should probably post about Soulmate to get it out of my system in the community later. This series is about eight people, well for the most part it was seven people and later on in the series new characters were introduced, making the character count nine, but these people are all intertwined. These characters either meet their soulmate through the people they are already acquainted with or by running into each other.
Man... This summary already sounds confusing, so I won't go any farther. D: I'm sorry for the confusion, but I'll try to make a post about the series and the characters if you're interested when I'm more free. I have to sleep now. ;o;