Full House Take 2 (2012)
Grade:
B+
16 two-part episodes (32 half-hour
segments)
K-pop stars Lee Tae-ik and Won Kang-hwi
are not getting along well, despite their rising fame. Tae-ik's goal
is simply to earn enough money to buy back his childhood home, named
“Full House,” but he is losing popularity for not having as
stylish a wardrobe as his counterpart Kang-hwi. Tae-ik ends up firing
his stylist, and he runs into a young hapkido master, Jang Man-ok,
who secretly wants to design clothes and be a stylist. In order to
pay off her debt for the interference she caused, Man-ok becomes the
group stylist and moves into Full House with the boys. What happens
when Tae-ik starts having feelings for the common girl? Will Kang-hwi
be able to keep the secret about his eyesight, and will Man-ok be
able to keep the secret about her new job and living arrangements from her grandfather once he returns from his
trip abroad?
*This k-drama had a slightly unusual
rhythm simply because of how the episodes were structured – in
half-hour segments instead of full 1-hour shows. (It was a Chinese,
Korean, and Japanese production, so they probably had to divide it
differently than usual.) The background music was a bit redundant,
probably because more effort was put into the main performance songs
for the big musical numbers. I enjoyed the bromance between Tae-ik
and Kang-hwi, but Kang-hwi's ailment made him a little too pitiable
to be truly likable. I hated both of Man-ok's hairstyles, curly and
straight, and her wardrobe as a so-called stylist was distracting.
(She wears a lei of teddy bears at one point – very odd.) It was
fun to see Tae-ik in a more dynamic role (he was in “My Unfortunate
Boyfriend,” 2015), and I liked that Man-ok was a strong female that
the pretty mean girl couldn't rattle. I'd probably watch this show
again.*
