[DR] OohLaLa Couple ★★☆☆☆

What drama not to watch: Ooh La La Couple.

     I'm warning you, don't do it. My sister, my friend and I all watched it together and we all really liked it in the beginning but about half way through, it started to dip...big time. But we still had hope...till the very end. And boy were we disappointed. Not only did it lose most of its comedy, but it was just wrong.

     And because I'm recommending you NOT watch it, here come the spoilers. Okay, so first of all the whole series starts off with the couple's divorce which goes smoothly until the ahjusshi from Stairway to Heaven tumbles down the stairs and they both get taken in an ambulance [she's a caring wife]. By the way, think twice before you take an ambulance in Korea, cause [not once...but twice in this] the ambulance got into an accident. Anyways, it's right after the accident that they switch bodies and cue the laughter.

    So let's rewind to the reason why they were getting the divorce in the first place. And let me just tell you before hand, they get back together [& remarry] in the end. The reason I'm revealing that is so I can explain why it was so wrong and why it caused me to hate this drama so much.

     Okay, so the husband's mistake #1: Prior to the divorce, the wife was on a strike. Yes, a housewife strike. It's actually pretty fun; you don't have to cook or clean. Obviously it's not for no reason. Her husband treats her like trash and her son treats her like a maid [remember this bit for later reference]. So yeah he's always yelling at her, never defending her in front of his mother, letting her be bossed around by his mother and sister. [Another note: we later find out she wasn't a sweet loving wife to him either...but hey, at least she was faithful and took care of things around the house.]

     Now they've switched bodies and I present mistake #2: Cheating on his wife with Victoria [Ugh. hated her in Bridal Mask too]. Not only did he cheat on her...but she freaking caught him? How, you ask? He was housing her in an apartment he had bought years ago for his family to move into [they ended up not doing so cause his mother got sick]. So the wife goes to check on it, and what great timing for the happy cheating couple. So yeah she sees them [after hiding herself in the bathroom]. Oh and guess what? Her asthma kicks in. Later in the drama we find out that her asthma hadn't been active ever since she got married. So yeah, he cheated on her and brought her asthma back, so hence, the divorce.

     Let's quickly move onto mistake #3 [the greatest of them all]: he almost killed his wife...but he succeeded in losing their baby. Let me explain. After the switch, a monk told them that sleeping together might switch them back and so they did...and yeah the husband inside the wife's body got pregnant. It was really weird [not so touching as one would presume]. So anyway, Victoria had momentarily disappeared so he [inside the wife's body] went to go look for her at the apartment. By the way, this is after he breaks up with Victoria to get back with his wife [mostly because of the baby]. So anyway, he gets there and she's collapsed on the floor. And what does that trigger? The wife's asthma, which he has no clue about! [Now I don't fully blame him for not knowing since it hadn't been active since they got married but still...he's the one who brought it back to begin with!] Back to the story: the last thing he does before passing out is call for an ambulance.

     On the other hand the wife [in the husband's body] at the hotel they work at falls off a ladder and cue the big switch back. So she wakes up in her body by Victoria with asthma! Forget Victoria, she runs off to the pharmacy for an inhaler [just like in the beginning]. So yeah after that, she's taken to the hospital where she finds out she's had a miscarriage. BOOOOO! The husband rushes back to the apartment and both ladies are missing so he goes to the hospital and only sees Victoria. So the wife goes missing for a day [she's still crying in the hospital]. When she gets back, she packs her bags and goes back to her mom.

     Let me summarize what the husband has done. Jerkanova has treated his wife like a maid, cheated on her, "reactivated" her asthma", almost killed her, and lost their unborn child. And yes he changed for the better but let me further convince you of why he is not worthy of reconciling with his wife.

     In the midst of this whole switcheroo, the wife's ex-boyfriend [the man is like an angel of perfection...a gift from God] comes back into her life [the husband has no idea about him until later on] as the hotel's general manager. Not only is he perfect in every way, but he still loves her! So the whole flashback of him starts with their cute childhood love story and ends with him dumping her [sometime in their 20s] and telling her he's going to the US with another girl. So yeah, no doubt, that leaves the wife bitter and depressed. And hell yeah, the husband was a rebound man! :D

     However, later we find out that the XBF had stomach cancer [tell me you didn't just think about stopping right there...that's not even the half of it]. So yeah, that was why he left [he actually went and talked to the wife's mom and she told him to leave her [shame on her]. Well, he survived, and now he runs a hotel; he's also working on making the house the wife wanted to live when they were younger --- and he can kick the husband's butt, physically.

     So yeah, throughout the course of the drama, there were other medical conditions brought up aside from the asthma and stomach cancer. This will make any k-drama fan laugh. So in addition to those two, Victoria had a weak heart, the wife got liver cancer, and the husband [coincidentally having the same blood would give her his liver...oh but his doctor friend says he shouldn't since he has a weak heart too...but] ends up giving his liver anyway.

     In the end, since the wife and XBF had started dating again and were quite happy, the husband seemed like he was going to back off...BUT here comes the good-for-nothing son [remember the one that would treat his mom like a maid] telling XBF [actually he wouldn't be "ex" anymore since he's been repromoted] that his dad still loves his mom so he would greatly appreciate Angel BF stepping down from his rightful place. Uh, hello little kid, where the hell did you acquire the rights to decide who makes your mommy happy? O_O Like really? And Mr Angel BF being the angel he is actually listens to the boy and loses the girl for the second time in his life. So yeah Jerkanova and the wife get remarried and a happily never after for the audience.

[And guys I haven't even said anything about what he did to her in their past life...-_-....]

     Okay so after all my bitterness, I do wanna go back and list some strong points in this drama. The first half was incredible. I mean there was a lot of potential. Besides Gentleman's Dignity, this was the only show I liked with middle-aged people. I guess it was mostly the comedy that saved it.

     I'll explain my rating. I gave it 2 out of 5 possible stars. 1 star was for the hilarious, potential filled first 7-9 episodes. 1/2 a star was for the great acting from Kim Jung Eun and Shin Hyun Joon [I'd say they outdid Secret Garden...not in the tracksuit department though]. The other 1/2 a star was for the OSTs. Not gonna lie, when this show was airing, I wanted to watch it just for Sunye's OST, but after watching it I liked the other songs too.

 

So anyways aside from the comedy, acting and OSTs, I also liked the side couple which consisted of Jerkanova's sister and the guy who was competing with him for the general manager position. They were very odd...and so I liked them. Also, the only people who were told about the switch were Victoria, Jerkanova's friend: Lawyer Lee [who cheats on his wife way more than Jerkanova], and Lawyer Lee's wife who is also the wife's [Kim Jung Eun] friend. These people were told in order to avoid confusion and mishaps. However, since the sister was not told, she had a lot of misconceptions about the 5 people involved. It added to the chaos and made the situations funnier. Another big thing that added to the humor was all the nabs taken at Jerkanova's freekishly large nose.

Another disappointment was Narsha's acting. Her role was almost useless and kind of confusing at times. I know the God of Fate was trying to get the husband and wife together so I didn't like him but Narsha was the goddess of love so I couldn't tell if she was trying to help soulmates since childhood [aka cancer couple] or the fated since their past life [aka transplant couple]. I was disappointed in them and how nobody noticed that they seemed to work everywhere, from the jewelry store to the hospital.

I did realized one thing from watching this drama: Kim Jung Eun looks like Hongki [FT Island]!

Oh, and this qualifies for bromance of the year right?

Which reminds me, I wonder how he would have felt about that first hug if they had told him about the switch. But, since they didn't, I guess we'll never know. *sigh*

[DR] Soulmate - Episode 1 ★★★★☆

This is definitely one of my all-time favorite dramas. I remember there was some major controversy over whether this qualified as a drama or a sitcom. And the end result of the argument meant no season 2. TT_TT

Anyway, since this is my 4th or 5th time watching, I decided to finally write a review. Bare with me, I love this show so I might show some bias.

For the opening, our leading lady, Soo Kyung is introduced. She has been in a relationship with her boyfriend Philip for 5 years now and is presented with a proposal…on the subway. Definitely not every girls’ dream proposal and certainly not hers either, but under the pressure of the unwanted audience she feels like she has no choice but to accept. However,  it really seemed like she was in love with the guy so I was really confused as to why she was so against the proposal.

Later on, she has her little dream sequence where she tries to figure out what exactly was so wrong with the proposal. Was it the location? The ring? Or Philip? At this point, I kind of get the idea that she might be a character much like our beloved Chu Ga Eul from Boys Before Flowers who is just waiting for the right guy [SPOILER: and ends up with a playboy].

Now back up a little and we have our main guy, a playboy, Dongwook. His first scene is with Yoojin and their setting seems to be a blind date. Seeing her proper etiquette and manners does not get him too excited about the relationship so he excuses himself, only to discover Yoojin’s spying mom. Poor girl, you can already tell that she has no sense of independence. Seizing the opportunity, Dongwook takes Yoojin out to eat some not so formal dinner. He finds her sudden change and enjoyment of street-food far more attractive.

Now we also have a little side pairing which involves Yoojin’s roommate, Min Ae, and Ryo Hei, who happens to be Dong Wook’s friend. They’re not as interesting because I can already sense a bunch of future problems for this couple because Ryohei is a sweet sincere guy where Min Ae is the female version of Dong Wook except a real player.

By the way, isn’t it rather convenient that all the actors use their real [first] names for the characters? And another pleasant surprise is comedian Park Myung Soo’s recurring appearance as a poor victim of Yoojin’s trial and error conversion. And he would be incomplete without his ever-so-famous “YA YA YA!” line. Now I’m seeing the comedy in this “sitcom”.

Anyways back to Sookyung who has given up hope on finding fault with the proposal. I think she’s just not ready to commit to the relationship she invested 5 years in. And Philip seems to be in the same boat by the end of the episode. So anyway, she falls asleep and another dream starts except when it ends, it shows Dongwook.

What just happened? He had a dream about her? But they’ve never met, right?

Well, his discussion of the dream with his gym buddies clarifies a lot and also foreshadows some future events [well the dream did the most foreshadowing on its own]. So they say that when you dream about someone, they have the same dream at the same time. Makes sense, considering they showed Sookyung at the beginning and Dongwook after it was over.

Now Yoojin here seems to be the only problem, I’m already not liking her. I think Dongwook shouldn’t get so deep into a relationship with a girl like her. It will be harder for him to break it off after he finds out his experiment failed.

I’m glad they put some thought into Sookyung’s depression. When you’re depressed in Korea, Soju and Noraebang is the medicine to those mental wounds. And what karaoke scene is certified as a karaoke scene without the most popular karaoke song: Bogoshipda [Stairway to Heaven OST] although I don’t think I would have recognized it if it wasn’t the lyrics. And can I just say, Sookyung’s analysis of the song that her senior was singing [Millionaire’s First Love clips were playing in the back but I don’t recognize the song] was quite a load of fun as well.

“As I walk on this road of life, there is one thing that I must do.”
Sookyung: What the heck does this person have to do? Does Anyone know? No! You know why? Because it doesn’t say what that person “must do” in the song at all!
“Though I stand on the windy plains of life alone, I am not lonely.”
Sookyung: Why does the author of the lyrics all of a sudden tell us that he’s not lonely? What the heck happened to the thing he “must do”?
“But when the pine needles fall, so too, do I shed my tears.”
Sookyung: What the heck is the “but” for? It doesn’t have anything to do with the previous sentence!

After she finally breaks down, we know now what her problem is, she doesn’t know what she “must do.” And now, things will start to unfold. From the preview of the next episode, I sense that this will be like a farce where they just barely miss each other. I guess that’s what defines “fate” these days.

Make sure you check this out with full English subs and in High Quality only on Dramafever! Seriously, I checked out other sites and since this is from 2006, the quality sucks everywhere else but dramafever makes it look like it just came out in the past 2-3 years. Plus the subs are of good quality too. Truly, one of the most underrated shows of all time.