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Wednesday, February 3, 2010

I Am Sam (2007)


















I Am Sam
아이엠샘
(Aug – Oct 2007)


who’s in it
Yang DongGeun (Ruler of Your Own World)
Park MinYoung
TOP (IRIS, member of Big Bang)
Son TaeYoung (Kwon SangWoo’s wife – What? She is)

what’s it about
A doormat-type teacher, Yang DongGeun, pines for the love of an art teacher (Kwon SangWoo’s wife) while trying not to get killed when he’s coerced into teaching the headstrong daughter of a gangster played by Park MinYoung, the girl who made TOP and GD throw fists at one another (for a Big Bang music video, that is). For some reason that still doesn’t fully make sense to me, Yang DongGeun ends up cohabitating with this sassy female student…and yes, if you suspect we’re heading there, the place where the worst nightmares of parents await, you are probably right and also a professional kdrama watcher.

commitment 
16 episodes

network
KBS2

wildcard factor
TOP – so, what you need to ask yourself is this: how desperate are you to watch this idol hottie for 16 hours?

after the first episode
Please please please don’t tell me this is a student-falling-in-love-with-the-teacher story. I hate those!

gave up

snoozer moments
The student-falling-in-love-with-the-teacher parts.

soju-guzzling
On my part there was a desperate desire for it

what didn’t work
The most obvious were the whole student-falling-in-love-with-the-teacher bits.

what did
I dunno, if I had to say, maybe TOP’s hotness?

what made me want to gouge my eyes out
The student-falling-in-love-with-the-teacher parts!!!

what kept me going

I should probably have stopped. But this was back when I decided to be a committed and loyal TOP fangirl (I still think he’s great but with age I’ve grown more tempered and if Sam aired today, let’s just say I may not have the same steadfast dedication as I once did).
______________________________

Other factors:
predictability Unfortunately
engrish No
originality No
eye-candy TOP
hair and fashion School uniforms…so lots of short, short skirts. Blech.
______________________________

is it worth trying to find?
I’m conflicted. My head tells me no, the fangirl in me says yes. TOP is mighty fine as the rebellious student with a heart of gold.

total enjoyment factor 
5/10
All five points are for TOP. I’m thankful to the drama for showcasing his hotness, I’m upset at it for everything else.

total disdain factor

why this review is completely biased
I’m really not fond of the whole student-falling-in-love-with-the-teacher type storylines (in case it isn’t completely obvious yet). It’s right up there with the long-lost-sister-falling-in-love-with-(yikes!)-her-brother plots. Too much. Incest and student/teacher relationship stories are not appealing to me…for obvious reasons, I should think, but these sort of plots rear their ugly head more often than they should in the world of Korean film and television. I’m surprised by how often the phrase “Oh, no! You can’t fall for her, she’s related to you!” can be yelled at a kdrama.

could a non-kdrama fan like this
No

verdict
To be completely fair, Yang DongGeun and Park MinYoung do not look that far apart in age and it’s not horrible. They have some ok moments together but my opinion is this and I stand by it: some relationships are defined by lines that shouldn’t be muddled by sex (let’s be adult, romance is a large part sexual attraction, otherwise it wouldn’t be romance but friendship). I believe that siblings are definitely in that category and so are minors and their educators. Call me a prude, but it’s just icky. After all, this was not a graduate student loving a professor, say, both of adult age and more significantly, having the mental maturity of an adult as well. No, this was about a highschool student and an adult teacher! Yeah, it’s almost kinda…illegal, isn’t it? It wouldn’t be wholly fair to classify this as a bad drama...but I just didn’t like it.

3 comments:

  1. I don't think I Am Sam is a drama with a student falling in love with a teacher. I think it's more like a father-daughter relationship. Yeah, she may seem like she likes the teacher, but that's how her personality is.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow.. Hello 2018 here. I watch 1st episode of this drama. This drama is almost 10 years from now.. hehehehe my friend is correct that the old K.Drama is ver very ugly ,hehe but this drama is creative for severals years for the passes K.Drama, ah Actually i was confused with Boom of korean Drama between 2009 until 2013 until now the the boom is very Huge.i do some research about PMY hehehehe and why korean most famous of K Drama after a years.. by the way,all this is the success of Korea. Happy new Year!! more creative production and songs and good relationhips to other country.. (aka peabbo) Phillippins,Manila

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for Nice and Informative Post. This article is really contains lot more information about This Topic.  dramacool

    ReplyDelete

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