The Moon That Embraces the Sun: Episode 1

Premieres abound today, and heading the pack is The Moon That Embraces the Sun, aka soon to be MBC’s great white hope.
I had a feeling this drama would come out on top in the ratings, but I had no idea it would be such a clear-cut victory. The Moon That Embraces the Sun drew an impressive 18% premiere rating, while Take Care of Us, Captain brought home a 9.2% on SBS, and Wild Romance a 7.1% over on KBS.
SONG OF THE DAY
10cm – “Beautiful Moon” [ Download ]

EPISODE 1 RECAP

Flower Boy Ramyun Shop: Episode 9

The writing continues to pleasantly surprise me for this show, although it really shouldn’t at this point given the previous 8 solid episodes, and yet I always get more than I expect. Despite the fluff trappings, there’s a thematic cohesion to the drama that ties each episode together in a way that really works. Plus, I’m a huge fan of musical relevance to narrative motifs, and we get tons of that in this episode. Yay for music/word nerds!
SONG OF THE DAY
Jung Il-woo – “너란 사람” (Someone like you) from the Ramyun Shop soundtrack. I don’t know who thought that bridge was a good idea, though the rest of the ballad is okay. Not my favorite, but fine. [ Download ]

Flower Boy Ramyun Shop: Episode 8

I know I say this every time, but Best. Episode. Ever. Why so awesome, Show? Is it ’cause you’re made with love and garnished with hotties? Or because you’re filled with nutritious hearty goodness? Whatever it is, it rocks my world, and I’d like to order another helping, please.


EPISODE 8: “A Universal Song”

Eun-bi and Jae-ho sit down for a cup of coffee, and he asks why she didn’t call when her father passed away. She reminds him that they’re over, and he says that they’re over romantically, but not over as people. If you weren’t such a cheating bastard, that sentiment would be nice.

Cartier Selects Ten K-stars for its LOVE Charity Pictorial

A bevy of top K-stars have been selected to model Cartier LOVE jewelry for this year’s Cartier Korea charity event, which has selected the International Vaccine Institute to receive a donation of a portion of Cartier’s proceeds from the December sales of its LOVE collection in Korea. I’m all for vaccinating children and even adults in high risk regions, plus I just adore the LOVE collection which is both meaningful and elegantly gorgeous in design. I came across these event photos because of my darling Yoon Eun Hye and my always handsome Song Seung Heon oppa, but after the jump you can see if any of your fave stars are part of the event.

From left-to-right in the top row: Cha Seung Won, Lee Young Ae, Lee Min Ho, Yoon Eun Hye, Go Soo. From left-to-right in the bottom row: Lee Min Jung, Song Seung Heon, Jeon Ji Hyun, TOP, Kim Ha Neul. I think the ladies collectively look more natural and eye-catching than the men, which is by nature the calling of jewelry hand modeling. However, Lee Min Jung’s the only one whose hand pose veers a bit towards the awkward, but only in comparison to the other ladies.

Another larger picture of a few of the stars. I swear I am being completely objective here, but without a doubt the best pose of the lot is by my Heon oppa. He looks like he’s not purposely posing to show off his LOVE trinity bracelet and ring, but he’s thinking of something devious and he so happens to be wearing fancy jewelry. I do have to give a shoutout to Cha Seung Won for pulling a Dokko Jin-esque pose for his picture, so his picture made me LOL and nostalgic. But I have to chide the stylist for Go Soo, who decided to dress him like a prison librarian when his raw material just screams out hot sexy man.

A poster for the LOVE charity event.

Gu Hye-sun becomes a pilot for Take Care of Us, Captain

She’s jumping from the world of musical theater to the friendly skies; Gu Hye-sun plays an airline pilot in her upcoming drama Take Care of Us, Captain, which will air soon after her currently airing series The Musical wraps.
The role explains her uniformed appearance in this batch of stills from the SBS drama, where her character, Han Da-jin, graduates from the “Redbaron Airline Academy of Sanfrancisco,” per the fake diploma below. Urg, bad English in Korean dramas is one of my pet peeves; you’d think they’d have somebody on hand to correct them, especially with the pictured shoot taking place at the Yangpyeong English Village in Kyunggi-do. Approximately 100 Westerners were brought in to play extras in the graduation scene filmed on November 17.

The drama follows Da-jin’s personal and professional growth as she becomes a co-pilot along with series lead Ji Jin-hee, who’s her older, more experienced co-pilot. Also her love interest, along with Lee Chun-hee. Other cast members include Yoo Sun, Honey Lee, and Sean Richard.
Take Care of Us, Captain premieres on January 4, making it a Wednesday-Thursday drama following current sageuk Tree With Deep Roots.

Flower Boy Ramyun Shop: Episode 7

Have I mentioned that I love this show? I’m not sure, I may not have mentioned it enough. There’s a surreal, almost manhwa-like sheen of farcical humor coating the surface, but then there are moments of real connection and emotion.
Jung Il-woo has been dramatically intense before (Return of Iljimae) as well as hilariously oddball (49 Days), but this drama gets him to use both extremes of his range. The humorous side gives Chi-soo this outlandish, comical brat side, but then he’ll turn on a switch and show the vulnerability underneath. I love that.
SONG OF THE DAY
J Rabbit – “aMorejo” [ Download ]

Vampire Prosecutor: Episode 8

Character development, pretty cameos (Lee Jong-hyuk!), and a bit of a complicated plot. All together, we’ve got a longer running time today, and I’ll try to do this without becoming totally tangled up and confused. I can’t promise it won’t be, but I’ll give it a shot.
SONG OF THE DAY
Rossy Punky Perfume – “어른아이” (Adult Child) [ Download ]


EPISODE 8: “Moon”

High-speed chase. Soon-bum speeds along after a silver SUV, his police siren blaring, while talking with a sobbing woman on the phone. She cries for help, saying that an intruder killed her aunt and kidnapped her boyfriend.

Jung Il-woo sings a track for for Ramyun Shop OST

The song isn’t released yet, but Jung Il-woo will be featured on the upcoming Flower Boy Ramyun Shop OST with the title track on its Part 3, “Someone Like You” (너란 사람).
Jung plays the delightfully immature, spoiled Chi-soo in the drama, and it’s been a hoot watching him grapple with actual human feelings the more he finds that not everybody (namely, our intrepid heroine) is going to kowtow to his every demand. It’s like Chi-soo’s got the social awareness of a 3-year-old, but wrapped up in an adult body. The song will be a warm ballad that’ll accompany Eun-bi’s (Lee Chun-ah) growing feelings as she starts to see more of Chi-soo’s childlike sincerity. Aw. We’ve sure seen a lot of the childlike, so it’s time for the latter part of that equation to step up to the plate.
If you’ll recall, Jung also contributed a track to the soundtrack of his last drama, 49 Days (posted below), which is one of my favorite tracks from that series. He’s reportedly working himself ragged (not a new state for him) with all-night shoots, song recording, and cameo appearance filming. Busy boy is busy.
Jung’s track releases on the 24th.
Jung Il-woo – “허수아비” from the 49 Days soundtrack. [ Download ]

Man of Honor Episode 12

Hey! I’ve gotten very few entitled and whiny comments about why the Man of Honor episode 12 recap isn’t up yet. Probably cuz not many people are following this drama, but I like to think folks are getting more polite and thoughtful as a general rule. I was traveling all day, and then had to go dining and boozing (so hard, I know) after I landed, when really all I wanted to do was recap this episode. I kid a little. I did want to stay in, but recapping this episode wasn’t high on my to-do list. My patience is really starting to wear thin with this drama, so if it doesn’t get it’s

Man of Honor Episode 11

I’m feeling a tiny bit of Man of Honor plot fatigue setting in. I think the drama needs a game-changing moment right now to kick start which has been solid plot foundation that has been decreasing in intensity for me. We’re eleven episodes in and the gang is still trying to pass only the second stage of the test to enter Geodae? I continue to enjoy how the story remains tightly structured (albeit increasingly outlandish at times), but I want some major secrets to get revealed so we move on to the aftermath. Young Kwang’s mom is the next to find out Jae In’s real identity, and I hope she does the right thing and lets Jae In reunite with her mom,

Thousand Day Promise: Episode 10

Yay for people finding out and moving plot along. When a drama basically features a central character harboring a secret that we know from Day 1, and people left in the dark for ages, it can feel like you’re treading water indefinitely. Now that we have people outside the core characters finding out and reacting to the news, it starts to have a ripple effect in the rest of their world.
SONG OF THE DAY
4Men & Mi – “그 여자” (That Woman) [ Download ]


EPISODE 10 RECAP