I might as well just go ahead and say this is a blog about all things Korean. My Korean posts seem to garner the most interest anyway, and I know there are enough of them. Speaking of which, here’s one more!
I need to share my impressions of the most recent kdrama I’ve watched, namely Success Story of a Bright Girl (Korean title: 명랑소녀 성공기). The English title does leave something to be desired, I admit. I guess it’s also been anglicized as A Bright Girl’s Success Story, which is better. But whichever, I don’t watch them for the title.
I didn’t go into this with high hopes. It starts out predictably enough, rich guy/poor girl, some standard coincidences to get them in contact and keep them there. But very soon it moves into a strong story that manages to evade most of the annoying kdrama cliches. I admit there were a few times when I was afraid it was going to fall into the trap of using one; I could just see the story building up to it, but then it took a different turn and twisted the cliche into something more original.
Another thing this drama has going for it is the strong external story. It’s not just about getting the two leads together or keeping them apart. The villain has a goal that’s much more than that, and in fact, at the risk of a minor spoiler, I’ll just say he doesn’t really care that much whether they get together or not.
Also, the chemistry between the two leads (Jang Hyuk and Jang Nara, both pictured to the left) is excellent. Not to mention Jang Hyuk is pretty damn hot AND he’s actually in my age range! Not that that matters particularly, but it doesn’t hurt either.
I can’t give this drama a full five stars, though, because there were some things I didn’t like about the ending. Some of it worked very well, but part of it didn’t. I’ll say no more. So the drama gets four and a half stars in my book (or in my blog, as the case may be).
If you’re interested in the theme song music video (the theme song, which is called Love Song, got in my head and won’t get out), check it out on YouTube here. But be warned, if you don’t like spoilers you might not want to watch it, especially since there is one fairly major one in there (granted, it’s in Korean with no subs).
I love Koreatown in the springtime... 