Full House

Cast:

Han Ji-eun: Song Hae Gyo (All In/Guardian Angel/Autumn Story)
Lee Young-jae (movie star): Bi aka Jung Jihoon(Sang-doo)
Kang Hye-won (daughter of friend of Young-jae's dad): Han Eun Jung (Scent of a Man)
Yoo Min-hyuk: Kim Sung Soo
Choi Sil-jang (Young-jae's friend): __
Mr. Lee (Young-jae's dad): Jang Yong (Yellow Handkerchief/This Is Love)
Ms. Kim (Young-jae's mom): Sun Woo Eun Sook (Autumn Story)
Young-jae's grandmother: Kim Ji Young (Running After Dream/Loneliness)
Dong-wook: Do Han
Hee-jin: Lee Young Eun
Dae-pyo: Im Hye Jin

Reviewer's Thoughts before watching the drama

I had been watching far too many tear-jerking dramas when I came across "Full House". Upon further checking on Soompi's threads, I realized that many people recommended "Full House" as a must-watch despite the fact that the male lead, Bi, is a singer and not an actor by profession. Nonetheless, having the lovely Song Hae Gyo on the cover persuaded me to purchase the drama and so the adventure began.

Synopsis

Han Ji Eun (Song Hae Gyo) is an Internet writer who lives in a beautiful house that goes by the name "Full House". This house was designed and built by her late father and thus has a special significance to her.

Lee Young Jae (Bi) is movie star and is worshipped by millions of fans around Asia. Although he comes across as aloof and uncaring, he has a special place in his heart for Kang Hye-Won (Han Eun Jung), who is his childhood best friend. Hye Won, unfortunately, is in love with Yoo Min Hyuk (Kim Sung Soo), a successful entrepreneur in the movie industry who is also a senior to Young Jae.

One day, Ji Eun is offered an all expense paid trip by her friends to China, which she accepts happily. Unfortunately when she returns to Korea, she realizes her house has been sold off to Young Jae, whom she met on the plane trip to China.

Desperate to get her late father's house back, she tries ways and means to get Young Jae to sell it but he staunchly refuses, because he is still annoyed with Ji Eun for the things she did to him in China (I won't go into detail here, but they're all really comical).

Meanwhile, at an awards presentation ceremony, Hye Won finally approaches Min Hyuk to express her feelings for him, but Min Hyuk rejects her flatly, and adds that Young Jae would be very sad if he did accept her.

Hye Won immediately approaches Young Jae and demands that he confess whether he likes her or not. Young Jae, being a movie star, cannot express his love for Hye Won openly as he knows the paparazzi will apply a lot of pressure on them if he does. At the same time, Young Jae does not know how to express his feelings for the one he loves. To cover things up, he declares he loves Han Ji Eun and proceeds to French-kiss her in front of the entire horde of paparazzi that happily snap the photos that would appear on their tabloids.

Of course, Young Jae doesn't like Ji Eun at all and in fact, he finds her a complete pest. Similarly for Ji Eun, she hates Young Jae for the fact that he refuses to sell the house back to her. Alas, circumstances force these two rivals to put their differences aside and help each other if they wish to reach their final objectives. Young Jae and Ji Jun sign a mutual agreement that they will be married for six months and after the six months, they will divorce each other and Ji Eun will get Full House back in return.

At the same time, Young Jae's friend, Min Hyuk, also shows an interest in Ji Eun.

As more and more interesting things happen to this couple, Ji Eun finds herself falling bit by bit for Young Jae, but she holds back as she knows his heart is only for Hye Won. What she doesn't know is that Young Jae is also beginning to find a delicate affection for her, but doesn't wish to show it because he is still struggling between his childhood love for Hye Won and his feelings for Ji Eun...

The Review

"Full House" was a drama criticized by many fans when the cast lineup was announced, as many people did not believe there would be chemistry between Bi and Song Hae Gyo. I must confess, I too fell into that category although I knew of "Full House" only after it was released in my country.

First, Bi is a singer and in my experience, singers should remain as singers and actors as actors, unless you're enormously talented like Ryu Shi Won or Eugene where they can juggle their acting and singing (the former more, but Eugene's acting has improved quite a bit if you catch SBS's "The Last Dance with Me").

Secondly, a lot of people felt Bi was too young to play the lead actor in "Full House" and quite rightly so, I believe he was only 22 at the time of filming. But hey, we couldn't have been more wrong, because Bi and Song Hae Gyo proved that they were perfect for each other in "Full House" as they sizzled the audience with their fantastic acting chemistry.

Cast

Jung Ji Hoon aka Bi

Wow, he's a real stunner. I wouldn't say Bi is a fantastic actor by default. He still has a long way to go but let's not forget, he's only 22. Back to topic, Bi really impresses in "Full House" because he was cast in a role that required him to be aloof, stubborn and seemingly unemotional, a role very different from the one he undertook in "Sangdoo, let's Go To School".

Being in the same group as Song Hae Gyo (she's 23, if I remember correctly, he complements Song Hae Gyo extremely well and together, they work up a chemistry that is both comical and yet breathtaking.

Song Hae Gyo

Ah, she looks ever so lovely doesn't she? All right, so she isn't as tall as most of the famous Korean actresses like Choi Ji Woo or Son Ye Jin, but if there's one thing Song Hae Gyo is good for, it's that photogenic and bubbly face of hers. And in "Full House", her bubbly side is further "exploited" to full use by the producers of the show.

Han Ji Eun is a girl who knows nothing about the moon or the sky. She's a simple-minded girl trying to live her life when her friends sell her house without her knowledge and totally land her in a big mess.

As a result, she has no choice but to put up with the childish antics of Lee Young Jae, the movie star she tricked to get herself cash to fly herself back to Korea (That's right, her friends only included a one-way ticket to China, that's all, no tour, no return ticket, and no hotel too!). Her plight is further worsened when she gets herself involved in the love triangle of Young Jae, Hye Won and Min Hyuk.

I'm pretty much sure the majority of you out there would laugh off your chairs when you see Ji Eun performing the "3 Bears" song in front of her in-laws. Gosh, I nearly collapsed off my sofa when I saw that part and there was this scene where you see Ji Eun and Young Jae sticking their tongues out at each other while eating sushi, just to annoy the other party.

Perhaps it was these little scenes that made Song Hae Gyo and Bi even more compatible with each other. Because instead of acting like a mature couple, they seemed to be in the stage of courtship where a girlfriend purposely annoys her boyfriend simply for the sake of attention. It's not unusual though, considering Young Jae and Ji Eun never had the stage of courtship, they jumped straight into marriage!

Kim Sung Soo

What Korean drama would be complete without a handsome, charming and rich third party? That's right ladies, Yoo Min Hyuk is none other than Kim Sung Soo! *gasp*

A pity that he's already attached, but nonetheless Kim Sung Soo is still a hottie in the eyes of many ladies out there. And it helps that he can speak fluent Japanese too! You'll see Min Hyuk going off in Japanese in the early stages of the drama, that's also where he meets Ji Eun for the first time.

Min Hyuk happened to be in the same class as Hye Won and Young Jae when they were kids. All these while, he never realized that Hye Won had a soft spot for him and thus treated her no more than a sister (Sounds cliche but that's how the storyline is).

When Hye Won finally expresses her feelings for him, he is mildly disappointed as he knows he will hurt her deeply when he rejects her. Alas he cannot lie to her, thus he uses the fact that Young Jae likes Hye Won to try and lessen her pain.

Hye Won, in a fit of anger and disbelief, confronts Young Jae for the truth and unfortunately, under those circumstances, Young Jae is forced to declare his love for another girl, Ji Eun, in order to protect Hye Won from the relentless media.

Min Hyuk eventually falls for Ji Eun as he sees more and more of her, so much so that he even gives her a chance to be a real writer. Ji Eun, through her experiences with Young Jae, is inspired and her writing improves, until she eventually impresses Min Hyuk so much he offers her a chance to write a movie script, an opportunity not to be missed.

Kim Sung Soo as Yoo Min Hyuk was another reason why "Full House" was so successful. Young Jae's adversary in love had to be someone who was more mature, more caring and most importantly, more accommodating than him. Kim Sung Soo filled that role to perfection and thus created the perfect atmosphere in filming "Full House".

Han Eun Jung

We can't leave out Ji Eun's love rival, can we? Hye Won is played by the slightly vivacious Han Eun Jung, who looks great by the way. She plays the original love interest of Young Jae, and perhaps it is me, but she has a tendency to dress in v-neck tops and really, really, really short skirts.

Her dressing, however, is very suitable for her role as Hye Won as Hye Won is actually the fashion artist for Young Jae (and she chooses the clothes Young Jae wears too).

Hye Won is a very protected girl as she grew up under the watchful eyes of Young Jae and Min Hyuk. Min Hyuk, being the more mature of two, naturally attracted her more, despite Young Jae carrying the torch for her. However, she does not realize this until it is too late, i.e: Once Young Jae has entered the marriage agreement with Ji Eun.

Of course, she doesn't know the marriage is merely an agreement, but she still entertains the idea of "stealing" Young Jae from Ji Eun, although it doesn't really materialize, because Young Jae has already fallen for Ji Eun.

As a whole, Hye Won is your typical fourth character in a love triangle, and in her case, she isn't exactly evil (remember, "Full House" is a light-hearted comical drama, not a morbid melodrama like "What Happens in Bali" ... remember LIGHT-HEARTED!).

Reviewer's Thoughts after the drama

This is actually the first light-hearted Korean drama I've ever watched. "Sweet 18" was before this, but I never got around finishing it. Maybe after "Full House", I might consider finishing it, because I thoroughly enjoyed "Full House".

Of course, like all K-dramas, "Full House" has its touching moments too. Like when Ji Eun realizes that Young Jae skipped an important date with her just to cheer Hye Won up, and also when Ji Eun finally confesses her love for Young Jae and you see Young Jae hesitating to express his too, but in a fit of confusion (he still loves Hye Won), he apologizes and tells her he cannot be with her anymore.

Perhaps it is because "Full House" was filled with so many comical moments, that when the sad scenes came, I wasn't really affected by them. But then again, I'm a guy and to say I'm less emotional would be an apt explanation as to why I wasn't too moved by them. Though I would predict most people would drop tears when they see Ji Eun crying over him.

If there was one thing I would remember "Full House" over, it would be the chemistry of Bi and Song Hae Gyo. I remember sharing with other Krystalhearters and Soompians that I felt the two most important things to a good drama were:
a) A good storyline
b) Chemistry between the leads

"Full House" had both, and where it outshone other dramas (apart from "Stairway To Heaven", another drama with great chemistry between the leads) was the amount of affection between Bi and Song Hae Gyo.

Their childishness would remind the most of us of how we acted as adolescents and yet their love would also remind us that you never know who could be the one destined to spend the rest of his/her life with you.

I rate "Full House" a 5 out of 5 stars and recommend all Korean drama fans to watch this drama. This is especially so if you've had enough of tearjerkers and like a good, clean break from the norm of K dramas, yet with some mellowness within to soothe your heart.