Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Ho Goo's Adorably Relatable and Heavy Romcom

I love Dragon so much!  And this show is surprisingly good!  I honestly was going to watch it no matter what, even if it turned out to be super cheesy, but it's not.  It's surprisingly heavy and profound.  Not like it's super profound and stuff, but a whole lot more profound than I was expecting.  That subject matter though.


And despite the whole word play with Ho Goo and Fool's love, Ho Goo is a well rounded character with a lot of decision and spunk.  Basically I was sold in the first episode, and am now having a hard time waiting for next week's episodes.  I hate waiting a week.



So here are some of the things that make this show great, so far.


Ho Goo's Love was originally a webcomic written by Yoo Hyun Sook, who also wrote the webcomic Flower Boy Next Door was based on.  The script is being written by Yoon Nan Joong, who also wrote Flower Boy Ramen Shop.  I feel like I can trust both of these peeps.  I definitely love how they have incorporated the webcomic feel into the show with the use of comicy cartooning.


Ho Goo is an extremely relatable character.  Yes he is an innocent, hopeless, romantic.  But he has such a good heart and is not a one dimensional pushover.  He stands up for himself at times too, and we see his thoughts and development.  Also, he's adorable.  Choi Woo Shik does such a perfect job with him.  He also makes the best/cutest faces.  I love him so much!


And like all good TvN romcoms (or romcoms in general) there is a good use of daydreaming/imagination going on.


He seriously thinks just like all of us when it comes to crushing on peeps and being awkward, etc.



So supportive and cute!  Even when he doesn't get what's going on yet.


This face = <3


But what makes this all better is that everyone else is likable too.  Even Do Do Hee (Uee), who is pretty much a bad tempered bitca, but she's a likable bad tempered bitca.


She's just brutally honest and competitive.


But who I really love it his family.  Ho Goo's dad is probably my favorite, because he's pretty much a mature Ho Goo.




And his mom is sassy and fun.




But his little sister is awesome as well.  She clearly takes after the mom as well.  She's so kind of psychology major or something like that, but she has dating down to a science.  Literally.


And all of their interactions are so perfect and real family like.




Then of course we have his best friends, who are "losers" when it comes to dating too.


And the sibling interaction.

 

I like how the narrative is set up.  It's got a good amount of mosaic structure to keep things interesting without going completely crazy, but this allows for more explanation.  A good use of flashbacks and a good use of other characters to build the tension.  Such as when we have his friend and little sister talking about dating and "green lights" while he is on a "date" with Do Hee.



This is me on every date ever... even if I'm not interested in that person, but definitely if I am.


I love how he's taking notes.


And then when it starts foreshadowing, it's so good!













I even like the other guy... actually I don't like him, he's a huge douche bag.  A handsome, handsome, self-absorbed d-bag.


But he makes me laugh so much every time he does those selfies.






And then his family... Well I do like his mom, but the dad and him...



Yep, that's a digital family... poor mom.  But she looks like she can hold her own.

Comparing that to Ho Goo's family's Christmas dinner... yeah, like polar opposites.


Anyways, even though the subject matter is heavy with the whole single motherhood thing, there is enough earnestness and humor to make it good.  It handles it delicately, and couples it with enough humor to make it cute, meaningful, and funny too.

The inside jokes and running jokes, such as Do Hee fighting Do Hee.


And the Doo Hee Seo Tai Ji reference.


And more Seo Tai Ji humor.


The reoccurring squid humor.



And nasty high school boys reenacting famous art to get at the nude picture.




Also, what's a good romcom without a poop/constipation joke?  Lizabreff: "I swear that Yoon Nan Joong loves a good constipation joke."



But then we have Ho Goo's adorable sincerity to make the heavier subject matter well developed and more meaningful.  He's so innocent and nice.



And a little clueless.


But he still sticks up for himself and calls her out on her crap.


And is adorably clueless about pregnancy...




But is such a good friend anyways.




And this is why I love both him and his dad.







Ho Goo is brilliant and super perceptive, once he knows what's going on.




As he makes my heart melt.





I can already tell I'm going a little crazy over both Ho Goo and this drama, considering how many pictures I took and used in this post.  But the pictures said it better!  Sorry for the spoilers, this is only the first four episodes and so much has happened!  I am way excited for this story, especially when they have such good characters and actors to play those characters and writers and... yeah.  I'm excited about this drama.  I hope it lives up to all the hype I'm giving it.


Dragon's neck though... rawr.