Littletad

You have to admit, despite having thousands of new viewers every year, Boys Over Flowers was hilariously bad. It was a product of its time. Low budget, all the tropes you can shove into an hour for every episode, and the strangest hairstyles on earth. Despite all that, it was important. Too important. It put Korean Dramas on the map. It put the actors on the map. It changed the landscape of what foreign dramas could achieve outside their domain. The same thing happened with Descendants of the Sun. It's not equal in terms of impact, but it's up there. And for many, this might be their first Korean drama. This or Crash Landing on You. That doesn't mean it's without its fair share of problems, though. Let's do a little retrospective review as the show turns almost 9 years old now.

I do think the budget was a bit higher than boys over flowers. I agree with others that the cinematography was incredible. Or rather, they did a good job with what they had to work with. I don't know if it was shot on location, that being Uruk, but they definitely took advantage of some good scenes. That scene where he helps her put on those hiking boots is pretty infamous, and no doubt some people decided to give this show a go, simply from that clip. But the show is far from perfect. But let me start with some of the good, cause there isn't a whole lot. I do like that for a show that was shot around 2015, there are very few tropes that would continue to plague Korean dramas well into 2020. There's no crazy ex-boyfriends, no lack of communication, no dimwitted characters. There are no pointless breakups or excessive storylines that distract from the first and second leads. In short, no filter. That I really liked. Some of the characters are also extremely blunt and forward. Not in a bad way, they know what they want. The decisiveness was really refreshing, especially if you had started watching these kind of dramas since Boys Over Flowers or even before. I'm talking particularly about the male lead and the second female lead. Sadly, this is pretty much it for the good. On paper, this should save most shows. But it just didn't here.

So let's list the bad stuff. Many reviews pointed out how annoying the female lead is. They're correct. But I need to point out something else before we start talking about bad characters. It certaintly isn't the actors fault nor is it a product of it's time thing. There are no excessive bad tropes here either, like I said above. To be it simply, the writing is just really fucking bad. I mean bad. The female lead is a doctor. She's seemingly 30 or young 30's and still has no idea what she wants in life. She goes on a date with a CEO of her hospital becaue he matches her "criteria" but she still has feelings for a soldier that she coudln't decide if she was really interested in or not. Basically, because he's so secretive and lives a dangerous life, she isn't willing to go down that road. The probelm though is that she keeps pulling herself into situations that involve him. She coudl have left Uruk early, but she continues to stay and this still doesn't solidfy her feelings. It's only when she's moments are anticlimatic that she finally reveals her feelings. Speaking of climatic, holy hell. Like I said, the writing is just so bad. In less than 6 months, there's an earthquake, a power struggle between gangs, a small community of orphan girls being prepped for prostitution, an ebola like virus, and much more. It's hilarious. Technically, this is a trope. The whole hospital visit and the dying cast member being saved or recuperated with help from the leads. It's typical. But it's soooo excessive here, that I feel it creates a whole new category. But it's more about how bad the writing is. A young doctor who gets bullied and controlled by a rescued victim purely because he didn't hold his hand and nearly die with him in an ongoing aftershock. He also becomes a part of the crew briefly and helps the doctors and nurses while still actively bullying the doctor who didn't save him but helps him recuperate. Wtf??

Going back to the female lead, after she finally admits her feelings she quits her job and tries to apply for a loan jobless. I kid you not, that really happened. During the story we find out that young doctor i mentioned earlier, his imother is actually one of the hospitals benefactors. She could have easily used that leverage to punish or remove the CEO for what he did. Trying to sleep with her in a hotel. Instead she crawls back to the hopsital and stay there. Nothing makes any sense. The male lead, there is nothing to say about him. Everyone knows who he is. His character is great. Charismatic and charming, but he KNOWS what he wants. The second female lead? Same. I actually kinda which they got together. Their characters had way much more in common. She also knows what she wants. She's in love with the second male lead and completely straight forward. The second male lead, good god. I think during the show the male lead said he's a man of too much or just full of principle. He was right. He's a constant yes man, who only follows orders and never reveals his feelings until the last minute. it takes 9 episodes or so before he finally reaffirms how much he loves his woman only for him to go back on and off to his principles well into the last two epiosdes. It's annoying as hell, and ruins a really good character he was paired with.

Now for the worse. In the last stretch of episodes, things go bonkers. The army characters we started to like somehow turn into secret service for some reason, the female lead becomes even more materialistic in subtle but annoying ways, the second leads have a temporary breakup due to the second leads principles that I stated previously, and much more. The male leads also get captured and they are absent for one year, but then they come back in dramatic fashion. If you want to label any of these as bad tropes, go ahead. I won't blame you, but I categorize this just like I said earlier. Extremely bad fucking writing. I won't go into detail about the last batch of episodes. I think this summed it up quite well. But I will say this, the leads ended up marrying a few years after the show ended. I think a year or two later, they married. But years later, they divorced. Just like Crash Landing on You, I think this is the reason why so many people made this show memorable. When leads marry, you automatically assume they had amazing chemistry. I think you could somewhat say this for Crash Landing, and be right in some respects. It is the better show, by far, but I think it's incredibly silly that fans make a drama more memorable when this happens. Anyhooo, please watch this show if you want, but remember my warning. Attractive actors can't save a show, only good writing. And this show just doesn't have it.