Much ado about nothing in Full House

I first watched Full House about four years ago. Bi (Jung Ji-hoon) had charmed me in Sang Doo, Let’s Go to School with his role as a gigolo singlehandedly raising an ill child. I loved that drama, Bi’s first, and looked forward to his new one with a mix of eagerness and foreboding. He was so endearing in his debut drama and had made me an instant fan. With that first acting experience tucked away, surely he would act even better in Full House? But what if I didn’t like the drama, and worse, Bi’s acting in it?

As it turned out, optimism lost and pessimism gloated, “I told you.”

The first few episodes were enjoyable and funny. Pretty entertaining stuff even. But then the drama started getting repetitive, draggy, and downright roll-your-eyes exasperating. Substance flew out the window, leaving only style and shrillness behind. The yelling and overwrought emotions (the leads, not me) left my own nerves on edge. Instead of parking my brain in some deserted parking lot and enjoying the fluff on display (beautiful house, beautiful cast), I stupidly began nitpicking. And once I started, it was full-blown rantiness.

May I present to you some of the things in Full House that make no sense whatsoever? Well, to me, at least.

[Excuse the random pics, swiped from the official site. Also be warned this will be RANTY and SPOILERISH.]

• Lee Young-jae (Bi), Han Ji-eun (Song Hye-gyo) and Yoo Min-hyuk (Kim Sung-soo) are all longsighted? They need glasses when they read or work on the computer? The last time I checked they didn’t look like middle-aged or elderly characters.
• After Young-jae drops the public bombshell that he wants to divorce Ji-eun, the two of them decide straight is in and curls are out. Both have their hair suitably ironed straightened. Ji-eun also gives herself a new wardrobe. Voila! Suddenly she wears jeans!  Did it have to take so many episodes for the wardrobe coordinator to realize that Song Hye-gyo looks so much better (slimmer and taller) if she STOPPED wearing those mix-and-match tops and short skirts? Young-jae also gets new garb, except this time he gives ‘Back to Basics’ a whole new meaning. Yup, our movie star decides to become a monk.

• In the most intense moments, like when Young-jae is proposing to her, Ji-eun’s brain decides to go on vacation. Her eyes glaze over, she goes into a stupor, and the only word she can muster is “What?” Like when he presents her with a ring (it sure ain’t a necklace, hon) and she stares at said ring blankly and goes: “What is this?” It’s a ring, darling, the thing people wear on their fingers. You’ve never seen one before?
• The way Ji-eun’s so-called best friends, Dong-wook and Hee-jin, go about fleecing and ripping her off is so incredulous it’s not even funny. Please explain to me how she was able to go to Shanghai on a one-way ticket. And how, without a power of attorney, Dong-wook was able to sell off Ji-eun’s house, empty her bank account (almost), and apply for a credit card in her name.   How dare the writer concoct something as unbelievable as that!

• Okay, what’s the time frame of the story? Right at the beginning, like in the first few minutes, we know that Hee-jin is pregnant. So she must be at least five weeks along, righto? So how is it her tummy remains washboard FLAT for sixteen episodes? So many, many things happened in those episodes (like someone realizing stardom wasn’t his cup of tea and deciding monkhood was more befitting). How could Hee-jin’s baby not grow at all in that time and she not show a teeny-weeny bit of a baby bump? Young-jae shot his movie in Episode 1 and then of course the movie went into editing and post-production, then it was screened, then it flopped… and in all those months Hee-jin’s pregnancy didn’t show at all. If the PD put so much effort into Ji-eun’s clothes (she NEVER wore the same thing twice), surely it ain’t that hard to make Hee-jin wear a pillow around her waist? Ya, told you I was in major rant mode.

• The house itself (I like the house, give it to me!) is obviously gorgeous and lovely and spacious and… has only one bathroom.  Hello, there’s no toilet or bathroom upstairs? WHOA, was that an architectural oversight or what? We have lots (and I mean LOTS) of scenes of Young-jae and Ji-eun brushing their teeth, but what I really want to see is the two lugging their clothes from upstairs to downstairs just to take a bath.

Okay, I could go on and on but enough of the ranting.

There were things I did enjoy. Like the bickering (before it got tiresome). Like Ji-eun’s tortoise and rabbit stories (haha, those really cracked me up). Bi in an apron (cute!). The OST was nice. The grandmother was funny. Song Hye-gyo’s complexion is to die for.

Tagged as: Full House, Jung Ji Hoon (Bi), Song Hye Gyo