I'm loving this drama! It's pacing is pretty near perfect; the plot is interesting and coherent, the characterizations often have real nuance and depth, and both humor and heart are major components of this serious drama. It's interesting on so many levels.
Ben (벤) is a K-Pop solo artist who has recently done a number of wonderful songs for Kdramas. My two favorites were released in South Korea in 2015:
"Stay" -- OST Part 1 for Oh My Ghost (A delightful romantic comedy currently airing on Friday and Saturday evenings on tvN a South Korean cable network) Here are the lyrics -- English and romanization.
and
"You" --- OST Part 4 for Healer (A really wonderful drama with suspense, action, and romantic comedy elements that aired last winter) The song was released on January 12, 2015. YesASIA has the Healer soundtrack available for purchase on CD. I checked iTunes, and it doesn't seem to be in the US catalog. (I didn't check South Korea.)
Ben's real name is Lee Eun Young. She took the moniker "Ben" because the audition song that kicked off her professional music career was the Jackson 5's "Ben." She was the lead singer of Bebe Mignon which debuted in 2010 and disbanded in 2011.
As the lead signer for Bebe Mignon she did "One Women" -- OST Part 5 for Secret Garden (A cute romantic comedy with supernatural elements.)
"Brown Memory" (This is a Trot Song.) I looked but couldn't easily find anything that identified the original artist or origin of the song. It's probably there, but in Korean. I searched under 갈색 추억 (the Korean title of the song) but nothing that was obviously helpful came up in the first few links, and my Korean is too rudimentary to search much more.
Here is the same song from the drama Dream High where it's a duet -as per Carnival's original recording of it. In the drama they sing it in an audition for admission to a prestigious high school for the performing arts. Here are the lyrics in Hangul, romanization, and English.
THE VIBE (a South Korean entertainment company formed by Vibe) sponsored this release. It's a collaboration between 4Men, Vibe, Ben, Im Se Jun and MIIII.
The Great Doctor (also called Faith) --which turned out to be a Kdrama -- was recommended to me on Netflix. I decided to watch it, and proceeded to fall down the rabbit hole. I've barely watched anything but Korean television since then.
Unbeknownst to me until I started researching the origins of that drama, a lot of Korean TV shows (with English subtitles) are available for streaming in the US. They are on Netflix, and Hulu (though one has to accidentally wander into one like I did, or search them out by title).
Since becoming an avid aficianado of the genre I've been doing most of my watching on two very affordable services that specialize in Kdrama -- viki.com and dramafever.com. (There are other streaming services for Kdrama too, but I haven't felt the need to venture beyond those two.) I have premium subscriptions to both of these which let me watch many many Korean dramas while they are still airing in South Korea. And vast catalogs of older dramas as well as variety programs and kids programs are available for streaming as well.
I'm still trying to pin down exactly what it is that has hooked me. I don't have a full answer. It's a bit like trying to explain why one loves someone. The real answer is always bigger and than any explanation one can give, but here is a list of some of the things that have drawn me to Kdrama and are keeping me there:
1) Watching a kdrama is fun, relaxing, and intellectual all at the same time.
2) It's an encounter with another culture which is full of similarities and differences with our own. I really enjoy the experience of being an American and watching a Korean television show because of that encounter and the questions it leads me to ask about myself and the world.
3) The format -- a structured drama that plays out in a set number of episodes (usually 16 or 20 approximately 1-hour episodes) -- allows for a very different story pacing. Both Korean and American television seem to be experimenting with new formats lately. American TV is doing more TV series with continuing story lines, and Korean television is playing with the story lengths and episode lengths.
4) Kdramas are paced a lot like a novel. There's room to seriously dig into feelings and ideas -- so they tend to do that. There are many different styles of dramas so all of them are not the same. (I've seen over 90 of them at this point.)
5) Kdramas are usually full of characters with shades of gray rather than good guys and bad guys. Mostly no one is perfect, and no one is evil, good things happen and bad (or even evil things) happen but it's rarely oversimplified.
6) Most of the story lines are redemptive, even the tragedies. So I usually leave a drama feeling good things that have a solid foundation. So much of Amiercan television is cynical and or despairing. There's very little of that in Korean TV. It's mostly uplifting.
7) The romantic comedy (a la Frank Capra -- but shot for 16 or 20 or even 24 hours instead of 2) is a favorite and recurring genre of kdrama.
8) I love the feels in a really good kdrama.
9) I love the visuals and the music of a really good kdrama.
10) I'm now learning Korean -- which is yet another reason to watch kdramas.
