Well, I thought I owed it to Lee Min Ho and Son Ye Jin to report on the lovely drama Personal Taste, I have just finished. On my growing list of dramas, this one was definitly quite sweet.
Though this drama did cover all the K-drama cliche’s from top to bottom, there were so many fresh and new concepts thrown into the mix. I think the most important element would be, obviously, its attention to homosexuality.
The synopsis for this drama is about Jeon Jin Ho (played by the wonderful Lee Min Ho) pretending to be gay in order to become the roommate to Son Ye Jin’s character Park Gae In, who lives in a house he is researching for an architecture project. The entire show is one huge love drama after the next, with the most tangled twisted love triangle, squares, and pentagons swirling around. Some, dare I say, even involving gay characters.
Quite frankly, I was really amazed that there was FINALLY some realistic coverage on homosexuality. Though I personally am not gay, I am a huge advocate for gay rights, and I found this drama incredibly touching. The character of Director Choi (who is gay in the show) was really emotional. The actor was obviously quite talented, but I was honestly stunned that a Korean drama was actually addressing a gay romance. As we all know, homosexuality is still a taboo topic in Korean (and pretty much every countries) media, so I thought it was really cool that they could bring it up in a way that wasn’t over-the-top, but wasn’t closeted and ignored.
Don’t get me wrong though, the amount of homosexuality in this drama barely touches on being super in-your-face and in the spotlight. In fact, I wouldn’t even call it the main theme. The man-woman romance triangles obviously dominate this sugary romantic comedy, but aren’t everything.
I thought this was a really romantic and sweet drama, and was definitely funny.
I think the characters were the best part of this drama. Wang Ji Hye’s character Kim In Hee, has officially ranked #1 as the most evil mean girl bitch of any drama I have EVER watched. I have never hated the sight of a character as much as her (not even the mom from Shining Inheritance was this bad) and as much as I want to resent Wang Ji Hye for even playing the character, I guess I should give her props for sucessfully creating a character that was such a fake bitch I could hate her so much, haha. Someone who could-have-been-but-wasn’t an evil character was Han Chang Ryul, who, like many men in K-dramas, started out as a shallow, heartless douchebag but transitioned into being one of the sweetest, most endearing characters of the show. Maybe I’m just sappy, but I really came to like him alot. He really blossomed. Also, a special shout-out to the character of Sang Jun (played by Jung Sung Hwa). He was FANTASTIC, literally one of the single most hilarious K-drama characters I have ever had the pleasure of watching. As the best friend of Jin Ho, he pretends to be his gay partner, and his behavior is so incredibly hilarious, his role itself is unforgettable.
Obviously the main characters Jeon Jin Ho and Park Gae In were charming and adorable as ever. It renewed my love for Lee Min Ho, and introduced me to the eternal sweetness of Son Ye Jin. Their relationship reminded me extremely of Hotaru no Hikari, and I swore half the time, as they were sitting on the porch of their traditional Korean style house, that I was watching the Hangul version of Hotaru and Buccho joking about life again. It was really lovely. I will admit that I felt the whole “pretending to be gay” scheme should have gone on longer. Their romance kicks in too early, and by the end I was starting to get sick of it. I guess I just like it better when characters have to fight harder to be together.
Anyways, overall, a sweet, funny, entertaining drama which I would highly recommend. It was really lovely, and I’m glad I decided to check it out 🙂
Oyasumi! ~ ^^
A Slice of Life 