It’s been ages since I fell in love with an airing drama.

I’m talking about stalking Soompi forums, watching raws AND subs, and learning Korean at TalkToMeInKorean.com-level love. The last time this happened was for Sungkyunkwan Scandal, which aired over a year ago, and before that, for 2009′s Boys Before Flowers (which took my love and pooped on it).

Now it’s Flower Boy Ramyun Shop‘s turn. I’m happy to say that episodes 3 & 4 justified my addiction by adding emotional depth to the storyline, showing us refreshing new sides to Eun-bi & Chi-soo, and introducing amusing second lead Choi Kang-hyuk. Fingers crossed future episodes keep the momentum going.

Since Dramabeans is already recapping this drama (superfast, too!), I’m only doing screencaps and commentary. Since this post is spoilery and long, I’ve also put it behind the fold. Keep in mind I wrote this before episode 5 & 6 came out; I’ll work hard to be faster with commentary in the future. Can’t wait to see your comments!

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I LOVE Flower Boy Ramyun Shop. I’ve been dying for a good trendy romcom, and this might be The One (I hear bells ringing, you guys). The drama checks a lot of boxes: a former gangster heroine, hot dudes, food, quick pacing, and lots of plot potential. Also, two episodes in, and we still haven’t met the second male lead or moved into the ramyun shop. Which makes me hopeful that the drama will be able to keep a steady pace till the end, without flagging or artificial tensions in the second half.

Also good: Dramafever already has episode 1 up and subbed. Both javabeans & girlfriday at Dramabeans love the drama, so recaps are also available at super-speed. The only thing lacking at the moment is the drama’s fanbase: I haven’t found many other blogs talking about it, and even the Soompi forums seem quiet for this kind of trendy drama.

So I plan to write about it here. Since Dramabeans is recapping it (and since I’m the slowest recapper on earth), I’m going to post just screencaps and commentary each week. I hope you’ll watch and love the drama too, and then we can party in the comments.

What’s Good

Question: in the opening scene: where is his luggage? Do the rich not need luggage?

Okay, so Flower Boy Ramyun Shop (FBRS) is blatantly derivative. Since it’s borrowing from dramas I enjoyed, however, that’s a good thing. So far it’s borrowed from Biscuit Teacher Star Candy/Hello My Teacher (e.g., the opening scene, the high school punk & former gangster teacher relationship),… [Read more...]