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dangermousieI watched about half of ep 2 last night/this morning and wow, this gets better and better! If it doesn't fall into a mid-drama slump, like a lot of kdramas tend to, this will not only end up being my favorite adaptation of the manga, but somewhere on the list of my favorite kdramas, as well.
As I posted in a reply somewhere, this is like Meteor Garden (my previous fave version), only with a budget and an F4 which can act from the start.
I love all the cast, from the mains to the secondaries like Yuki, the Lillies, or Makino's family, but my favorites so far are (happily) Lee Min Ho, who plays this version's Domyouji (he might end up my favorite Domyouji ever, what with the combo of being physically imposing and able to do a total hilarious doofus, with a teeny hint of woobiness) and Go Hye Sun, who plays this version's Makino (she is hilarious, and tough, and endearing, and a complete dynamo).
Anyway, if ep 1 was a sort of introduction to the characters and themes, ep 2 is where the story really gets rolling. And rolling so well! They are sticking fairly close to the manga, but the changes they make I like very well (like the explanation for why Makino goes to this school).
Without further ado, first half of ep 2 of Boys Before Flowers, in caps.
The scene of Jandi's (Makino's) attack was viscerally horrible to watch. Of course, you can never be sure they were going to gang-rape her, but that's what I think was going to go on, and the creepiest thing? They were only going to do it to earn Joon Pyo's (Domyouji's) favor, which is just...God, I'd forgotten how much I hated the kids at that school. Gives a whole new meaning to 'school is hell' comment people make.
And then Rui comes across this and intervenes, in his own inimitable, spacy-guy fashion. God, I love the boy! (Also have you noticed, he is always in white and Domyouji is always in black). I love the weasely wannabe rapists trying desperately to decide what to do. They don't want to incur JoonPyo's wrath, but they don't want to incur Rui's either...
The thing that is most problematic for me about Rui is that he is kind, in his detached fashion, but he is passive. He knows his best friend's actions almost led to a girl being gang-raped, but he never even thinks to remonstrate with him, or try to put the brakes on his out-of-control buddy. Still, when he drapes that towel around Jandi's shoulders...awwww.
JoonPyo finds out his flunkies did not succeed and throws a tantrum (since I don't understand Korean, I have no idea if he ordered her to be gangraped or just told them to do whatever it takes to get her to quit school, without thinking through what such an order could lead to, which would be less reprehensible. I really liked how in MG he was all 'I didn't authorize you to go that far' when he found out their idea was to gangrape, but who knows how Koreans will do it. ETA: just found out he did get mad when he found out about attempted gangrape so yay. Good).
Yuki and Jandi. I love the girl who plays Yuki, so pretty!
Guy who works at the shop with them...
Jandi sees Shizuka in an ad and is mesmerized...
Not as mesmerized as Rui, who's loved her since childhood...
But Jandi doesn't know they know each other, so she is probably thinking this is a height of weirdness, even for him...
God, this drama is so prettily shot!
She has a tissue but instead wiping Rui's hands, she wipes the smudges on Shizuka's poster. LOL.
Rui is as amused as I am.
Bonding time...
Her sweater is really adorable!
And so is her little brother!
Jandi, always a model of refinement!
Somebody at her school is pregnant! Horrors and shock!
I love Makino parents.
I love how tough and unfazed she is by all the whispering upper-class twits. The girl is pure tough. If she lived in the times of Legend, she and Sujini would go drinking together.
I love the three bitchy F4 groupies. They are so stupid and LOltastic. I really hope they leave in the scene where Makino shoves them into the pool.
All the graffitti says things to the effect of "Makino Tsukushi had three abortions." LOL. I love that part in the manga!
Oh yes yes yes YES my favorite scene in the whole story, bar none!
F4 are sitting in ther private lounge, being useless as always...
JoonPyo is reminding me of Wile E Coyote, in his endless groundless optimism of belief in his super-clever plans to get Jandi, which are nothing of the sort...
"Ahahahaha, I got her" thinks poor dimwit, who assumes she came to grovel.
But I think Rui, being brainy, knows better.
Yup, Jandi lays into him, everything she thinks...
And throws stuff at his face:
I love how he is a foot taller than her, and is not exactly of stringy build either, but she is completely uncowed.
Fighting stance:
You can see his brain screech to a halt and go 'whaaaaa?'
AND SHE KICKS HIM IN THE FACE. IN THE FACE. God, Jandi is AWESOME. There are no words.
Here she is, taking on a guy who could probably wipe the floor with her, not to mention the one who rules the school and comes from a super-powerful family, and she does not care.
I think she is daring him to come up for seconds :)
Something tells me F3 are quite pleased to see someone bring their friend down a notch or dozen, for once.
But he isn't coming up for seconds because...methinks...yes, I think he's fallen in love! LOL. How very like him. Heeeeee. (I could probably write a whole pragraph on how this probably ties in with his parental issues, or upbringing, but I am lazy and I won't. I'll just say that he is smitten by Jandi's galaxy-sized nerve and spunk).
Sojiro and Akira are having a good time.
Yup, still staring.
So is Rui, even if with different emotions. I think Jandi amuses him, which is something very rare for him.
Some time later. I cannot help but think that this is not a normal reaction to being kicked in the face :)
Soujiro and Akira discuss that Jandi reminds them of Janpyo's sister. I knew this was a perfect manga for a kdrama adaptation, because we have hints of sibcest issues :P
"She must really be into me." Whatever planet he lives on, it's clearly not our own.
Rui, so very pretty!
Next morning, Jandi is literally creeping to school, because she isn't sure which way JoonPyo will retaliate...
But she is nontheless kidnapped by JoonPyo's goons, who drag her into a car by force and chloroform her:
In order to give her a makeover! LOL. JoonPyo is clearly an alien from another world.
An alien with a really nice house, though.
The butler takes her to meet his master:
And Jandi gets to gawk on the way.
She is curious as to who it is...
Until she sees who it is, of course. Because then...pissed-off is more of her emotional state :)
He tells her that she can confess her feelings now. LOLOLOLOLOLOL.
(He is a hot maniac, though)
I think any feelings she will confess will not be of a variety he finds pleasing :)
She throws all his expensive stuff on the floor and even starts taking off her dress until she realizes what that would expose, LOL.
She storms off and he is MAAAAAAD. Get used to being thwarted, boy. There will be a lot of it, and it will be good for you. You might actually emerge a human being.
Oh God, I want this table setting!
Ahahahaha. A bee got in and he is running around, hiding from it and terrified of it, until the butler assures him it left. He is clearly 5 years old.
And then I had to stop and the rest of the ep summary/commentaries/caps will be coming later, but how could I leave without posting caps of the shower scene, later on, after she rejects him and tells him everything she thinks of him and he is actually thinking about it and who and what he is for the first time in ever, probably. Plus...fanservice! Self-reflective angst tastes better wet.
He's really tall, isn't he?
As I posted in a reply somewhere, this is like Meteor Garden (my previous fave version), only with a budget and an F4 which can act from the start.
I love all the cast, from the mains to the secondaries like Yuki, the Lillies, or Makino's family, but my favorites so far are (happily) Lee Min Ho, who plays this version's Domyouji (he might end up my favorite Domyouji ever, what with the combo of being physically imposing and able to do a total hilarious doofus, with a teeny hint of woobiness) and Go Hye Sun, who plays this version's Makino (she is hilarious, and tough, and endearing, and a complete dynamo).
Anyway, if ep 1 was a sort of introduction to the characters and themes, ep 2 is where the story really gets rolling. And rolling so well! They are sticking fairly close to the manga, but the changes they make I like very well (like the explanation for why Makino goes to this school).
Without further ado, first half of ep 2 of Boys Before Flowers, in caps.
The scene of Jandi's (Makino's) attack was viscerally horrible to watch. Of course, you can never be sure they were going to gang-rape her, but that's what I think was going to go on, and the creepiest thing? They were only going to do it to earn Joon Pyo's (Domyouji's) favor, which is just...God, I'd forgotten how much I hated the kids at that school. Gives a whole new meaning to 'school is hell' comment people make.
And then Rui comes across this and intervenes, in his own inimitable, spacy-guy fashion. God, I love the boy! (Also have you noticed, he is always in white and Domyouji is always in black). I love the weasely wannabe rapists trying desperately to decide what to do. They don't want to incur JoonPyo's wrath, but they don't want to incur Rui's either...
The thing that is most problematic for me about Rui is that he is kind, in his detached fashion, but he is passive. He knows his best friend's actions almost led to a girl being gang-raped, but he never even thinks to remonstrate with him, or try to put the brakes on his out-of-control buddy. Still, when he drapes that towel around Jandi's shoulders...awwww.
JoonPyo finds out his flunkies did not succeed and throws a tantrum (since I don't understand Korean, I have no idea if he ordered her to be gangraped or just told them to do whatever it takes to get her to quit school, without thinking through what such an order could lead to, which would be less reprehensible. I really liked how in MG he was all 'I didn't authorize you to go that far' when he found out their idea was to gangrape, but who knows how Koreans will do it. ETA: just found out he did get mad when he found out about attempted gangrape so yay. Good).
Yuki and Jandi. I love the girl who plays Yuki, so pretty!
Guy who works at the shop with them...
Jandi sees Shizuka in an ad and is mesmerized...
Not as mesmerized as Rui, who's loved her since childhood...
But Jandi doesn't know they know each other, so she is probably thinking this is a height of weirdness, even for him...
God, this drama is so prettily shot!
She has a tissue but instead wiping Rui's hands, she wipes the smudges on Shizuka's poster. LOL.
Rui is as amused as I am.
Bonding time...
Her sweater is really adorable!
And so is her little brother!
Jandi, always a model of refinement!
Somebody at her school is pregnant! Horrors and shock!
I love Makino parents.
I love how tough and unfazed she is by all the whispering upper-class twits. The girl is pure tough. If she lived in the times of Legend, she and Sujini would go drinking together.
I love the three bitchy F4 groupies. They are so stupid and LOltastic. I really hope they leave in the scene where Makino shoves them into the pool.
All the graffitti says things to the effect of "Makino Tsukushi had three abortions." LOL. I love that part in the manga!
Oh yes yes yes YES my favorite scene in the whole story, bar none!
F4 are sitting in ther private lounge, being useless as always...
JoonPyo is reminding me of Wile E Coyote, in his endless groundless optimism of belief in his super-clever plans to get Jandi, which are nothing of the sort...
"Ahahahaha, I got her" thinks poor dimwit, who assumes she came to grovel.
But I think Rui, being brainy, knows better.
Yup, Jandi lays into him, everything she thinks...
And throws stuff at his face:
I love how he is a foot taller than her, and is not exactly of stringy build either, but she is completely uncowed.
Fighting stance:
You can see his brain screech to a halt and go 'whaaaaa?'
AND SHE KICKS HIM IN THE FACE. IN THE FACE. God, Jandi is AWESOME. There are no words.
Here she is, taking on a guy who could probably wipe the floor with her, not to mention the one who rules the school and comes from a super-powerful family, and she does not care.
I think she is daring him to come up for seconds :)
Something tells me F3 are quite pleased to see someone bring their friend down a notch or dozen, for once.
But he isn't coming up for seconds because...methinks...yes, I think he's fallen in love! LOL. How very like him. Heeeeee. (I could probably write a whole pragraph on how this probably ties in with his parental issues, or upbringing, but I am lazy and I won't. I'll just say that he is smitten by Jandi's galaxy-sized nerve and spunk).
Sojiro and Akira are having a good time.
Yup, still staring.
So is Rui, even if with different emotions. I think Jandi amuses him, which is something very rare for him.
Some time later. I cannot help but think that this is not a normal reaction to being kicked in the face :)
Soujiro and Akira discuss that Jandi reminds them of Janpyo's sister. I knew this was a perfect manga for a kdrama adaptation, because we have hints of sibcest issues :P
"She must really be into me." Whatever planet he lives on, it's clearly not our own.
Rui, so very pretty!
Next morning, Jandi is literally creeping to school, because she isn't sure which way JoonPyo will retaliate...
But she is nontheless kidnapped by JoonPyo's goons, who drag her into a car by force and chloroform her:
In order to give her a makeover! LOL. JoonPyo is clearly an alien from another world.
An alien with a really nice house, though.
The butler takes her to meet his master:
And Jandi gets to gawk on the way.
She is curious as to who it is...
Until she sees who it is, of course. Because then...pissed-off is more of her emotional state :)
He tells her that she can confess her feelings now. LOLOLOLOLOLOL.
(He is a hot maniac, though)
I think any feelings she will confess will not be of a variety he finds pleasing :)
She throws all his expensive stuff on the floor and even starts taking off her dress until she realizes what that would expose, LOL.
She storms off and he is MAAAAAAD. Get used to being thwarted, boy. There will be a lot of it, and it will be good for you. You might actually emerge a human being.
Oh God, I want this table setting!
Ahahahaha. A bee got in and he is running around, hiding from it and terrified of it, until the butler assures him it left. He is clearly 5 years old.
And then I had to stop and the rest of the ep summary/commentaries/caps will be coming later, but how could I leave without posting caps of the shower scene, later on, after she rejects him and tells him everything she thinks of him and he is actually thinking about it and who and what he is for the first time in ever, probably. Plus...fanservice! Self-reflective angst tastes better wet.
He's really tall, isn't he?
