Firstly, I do apologise for ignoring this blog. Time, as always, has gotten the better of me but I shall aim to do better next year (2018), promise.
A year ago my wife introduced me to my first Korean drama, Goblin. I remember when she initially sent me a message about it during the Christmas holidays, saying that she’ll wait for me to get back home before she starts watching it as she thinks that I may also like this one due to the fantasy element. She was right.
One year on, I have now watched Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon, Boys Over Flowers (yes, all of it!) and have just finished Weightlifting Fairly Kim Bok-Joo. Admittedly, I was spoilt by starting with Goblin as it is quite an exceptional piece of work. But I have really enjoyed Strong Woman and Weightlifting Fairy, and even Boys over Flowers had its moments.
There is something quite comforting about Korean dramas. For those that don’t know, they MUST feature several key ingredients in order to make them qualify as a true K-Drama, which are:
- A love triangle (or several)
- Food, and lots of it
- Coats, and lots of them
- Someone rich and someone not so rich
- Constant phone usage, complete with cute/annoying ringtones and message alerts
Without these, it just isn’t quite a K-Drama you want to really commit too because unlike most UK or US shows, your typical Korean drama consist of around 16 episodes, each an hour long, and that’s it! They are one-offs. No season 2, no sequels, prequels, reboots…..so once you’ve found one that might be your cup of tea, and you start watching it and after two or three episodes you get hooked, you begin to slowly get emotional that you’re rapidly approaching the last episode, knowing that the whole story will get wrapped up and it can either be a lived happily ever after or a more depressing and sombre conclusion.
A year ago, I’d never watched a Korean drama. Now, one year on, I’ve watched quite a few and definitely plan to spend a good part of my Christmas break watching some more, including Goblin as we brought it on DVD. There is also a good range of them on Netflix (UK) at the moment, including Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon, which they’ve renamed Strong Girl annoyingly. I’ve also done a heap of t-shirt designs, available on both my redbubble and teepublic stores. Here’s a handy link to my website’s t-shirt page click here.
themattskilton 