November 16, 2015

CHOU | Recent Addiction: High Society

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By VICKY CHOU

Korean dramas can be really addicting – I know that for a fact. Which is why I do my best not to start a new series unless it is the beginning or end of the school year, when the amount of time I spend watching the series and daydreaming about what is going to happen next is not that harmful to my studies. Unfortunately for me, however, I have failed myself this year.

Before fall break, I really craved a cliché, romantic Korean drama – like, really craved. And because I prefer watching dramas that have just recently finished airing, I searched up a list of 2015 K-dramas on Google, read each of their synopses and landed upon High Society’s teaser on Viki to which I was ecstatic to realize that it was exactly what I was looking for.

Now don’t get me wrong – I am actually really picky about which dramas I watch, which is why I probably only finished about 10 K-dramas throughout the five years that have passed since I fell in love with K-pop, and High Society is actually not all that cliché – but like I said, I really craved pretty much any Korean drama at the moment, so I watched a few minutes of it before I realized how screwed I was going to be for continuing on and stopped myself.

But then fall break came, and with nothing else to do on the bus ride home, I decided to start High Society again. I got through two episodes and was completely hooked.

For those of you who are too lazy to search what High Society is actually about, it revolves around Jang Yoon Ha, the daughter of a wealthy family, and her attempt to find a man who loves her for who she is rather than for her background. She despises her family, especially her mother who blames her for all the misfortune that they face, and dreams of leaving and supporting herself with the money that she earns with her own skills. So while hiding her identity and without her family knowing, Yoon Ha finds a part-time job in a supermarket and befriends a naïve and optimistic coworker named Lee Ji Yi. But because Yoon Ha cannot leave until she has saved up enough, she remains under the control of her mother and is forced to have a blind date with Yoo Chang Soo, the son of the family that owns the mall conglomerate that the supermarket is in. Not wanting to marry any man her mother finds for her, however, Yoon Ha purposely dresses down to displease Chang Soo. While she is going up the elevator to meet him, she is unknowingly seen by Choi Joon Ki, the manager of the supermarket she works at and Chang Soo’s best friend who had helped him look up Yoon Ha’s information before the blind date. After great complications, Yoon Ha meets Joon Ki as well, and though he initially regards her in a rude manner, he begins to warm up to Yoon Ha, which Yoon Ha falls for, especially since she believes that he does not know about her socioeconomic status at all. Meanwhile, Chang Soo falls for Lee Ji Yi and her naivety, and the two struggle to overcome their feelings for one another because they know that Chang Soo’s family will never accept Ji Yi as a daughter-in-law because of her poor background.

Though Yoon Ha and Joon Ki are the main couple of this particular drama, I find myself more interested in the outcome of Ji Yi and Chang Soo’s relationship. It is probably because they are the side couple that they have less drama, but the two are just cuter and funnier than Yoon Ha and Joon Ki overall, at least in my opinion; I think it’s so interesting and entertaining to see how Chang Soo changes certain aspects of his lifestyle just for Ji Yi and does his best to always make her laugh and smile.

I also really enjoy all of the OSTs in High Society – though I think I enjoy most, if not all, the OSTs of every drama I have watched. I just love how well ballads are incorporated into the drama whenever the leads are experiencing certain hardships and emotional downfalls and how more upbeat music is played in the background when things are finally going right for the protagonists.

There is a lot more to say about the drama but I do not want to spoil anything. In fact, I have yet to finish High Society myself, as I am currently on episode 11, but I can’t wait until all the drama is over, especially between Yoon Ha and Joon Ki, so that the four of them can all live the life that they want and deserve.

Vicky Chou is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a self-proclaimed EXO-L despite initially despising the overratedness that is EXO, and hopes to become famous one day so she can meet various K-pop idols outside of her dreams. She is afraid of trying new things and thus tends to only order a mocha frappuccino at Libe Cafe. Vicky’s blog appears on alternate Mondays this semester, and she can be reached at [email protected].