Boarding House #24 - First Impressions

I have been waiting for this to begin! I have never watched a sitcom before, it breaks up all the sageuks that I am watching, and it has Ken and High Top in it, what more could I want right now?

After the initial joy of hearing that two groups that I liked had people in this sitcom, I was then fascinated about the drama itself. It sounds easy enough: six strangers in their mid-twenties come to live together in a boarding house. The trailer and the poster are strangely ominous though, like they are all coming to this house and becoming trapped and so far, that is the vibe that I am getting.



This boarding house is run by the very talented Kim Kwang Kyu and even though he seems harmless enough, there is more to him than meets the eye. He seems to know all the boarders in some way before they come to the house and he is also the reason why they have decided to live there; even though the boarders don't know that they are being manipulated.

I also wonder how did he know that they would all need a place to live? All the boarders have very unique situations, especially our first one. What magical fragical powers does this man posses?!

By the end of the episode, we are told how everyone is connected and it is a little weird, but then again this story looks like it is going to be one big weird party. I'm excited!

Our boarders are as follows:

Lee Bang In: an escapee from North Korea who has come to South Korea in order to see Tiny-G his favorite idol group. He decides to live in the house because Kim Kwang Kyu tricked Tiny-G into renting a dorm across from the boarding house telling them it would bring them good luck in their promotions. He can also see their dorm from Dong Joon's window. Sold!

Kim Dong Joon: an athlete who is obsessed with working out. He came to the house after getting embarrassed in his gym by his ex girlfriend (more on her in a minute). What did she do to him? She put duck tape on his legs and ripped his hair out. As Dong Joon is walking about with his red, smooth shins, he sees some nice exercise equipment sitting outside the house. Sold!

Jo Hyun Young: a shopping addict who loves expensive brands more than anything in the world. She is also the one who ripped out Dong Joon's leg hair. Her journey to the house starts when a robber steals her baby which is her new Chenel purse, and no, I didn't spell that wrong. Bang In, thinking someone really stole her baby runs after the robber and retrieves her purse. He then sees Tiny-G and lets them sign it because his new CD got damaged during the chase. Hyun Young is now going to live with Bang In until he can pay for a new purse. Not really sold, but she's in the house!

Kim Sa Eun: a gold digger. That's about it. But! As she is gold digging she is interrupted by Lee Jae Hwan who wants to protect his friend from her, like above, more on that later. As Sa Eun walks around dejected, wondering who to creep on next, she is approached by a woman telling her that the son of the owner of J Hospital has moved into the boarding house. Sold!     

Min Do Hee: a mystery. She is the only person who is already living in the house, but not even the owner can tell us anything about her. 

Lee Jae Hwan: son of the owner of J Hospital, trying to make it big in the world without dad's help. He is the one who interrupted Sa Eun's date with his doctor friend which causes a very strange misunderstanding.......it also causes dad to kick Jae Hwan out of the house. Jae Hwan tells himself he will get into Samsung Group without dad's help and as he is walking he finds the wifi for the boarding house which is named Samsung Entrance Guaranteed Boardinghouse. Sold! 

It's pretty safe to say that when everyone meets at the house for the first time, it isn't pretty. Dong Joon and Hyun Young were pulling each other's hair to the left and Jae Hwan and Sa Eun were biting and hitting to the right and poor Bang In runs in between doing what he can to stop the fighting.

I hope that this drama stays with the quirky feel that is has now. I am also interested in seeing how the characters progress and the actors as well. It is partially Jae Hwan's character type, but he is a little stiff and Bang In is a little too over the top. It is also really weird to write Jae Hwan and Bing In instead of Ken and High Top, especially Ken. 

Last thing that I want to mention, since it is an idol party in this drama, there have been a lot of references to their groups and songs. Tiny-G has already appeared in the drama so I am wondering if we are also going to see members of ZE:A, VIXX, Rainbow, and Bigflo sometime in the next eleven episodes. I hope so!

~ Alora