Boys Before Flowers

Boys Before Flowers Review
Boys Before Flowers, also known as Boys Over Flowers, tells the story of F4, a group of four rich, spoiled boys at a high-class private school. The school fears them for their vicious bullying and adores them for their unparalleled handsomeness. When a student receives an F4 red card, they are marked to be humiliated by the whole school. One day when a student receives a red card, the same student gets his dry cleaning delivered by a girl named Geum Jan Di. The student becomes targeted by the school and almost commits suicide but he is saved by a poor but kind-hearted girl named Geum Jan Di, who pulls him up from the rooftop that he jumps from. The press creates media frenzy, calling this girl a "Wonder Girl" and defaming the school and the organization that owns the school, Shinhwa Group. To stave off the bad press, the President of Shinhwa group, also the mother of F4 leader Goo Jun Pyo, decides to grant Geum Jan Di a scholarship to attend the school. Although reluctant, Geum Jan Di decides to go to the school to please her parents and use the school's excellent swimming facilities. Once there, she immediately becomes targeted by F4 after she offends F4's leader, Goo Jun Pyo. To make things more complicated, she also starts falling for another member of F4, Yoon Ji Hoo.

Boys Before Flowers is an adaptation of the manga, Hana Yori Dango. Previously there have been two other adaptations, Meteor Garden in Taiwan and Hana Yori Dango in Japan. For a series that has been adapted three times, it must be good right?

Not exactly. The series has its ups and downs. Some parts left my dying to watch more, while others had me using the fast forward button. One thing that really bugged me about this drama is that the characters are all in high school, but almost all of them look much older. Geum Jan Di is supposedly a sophomore in high school, however she looks as if she is college-age. Goo Jun Pyo and Woo Bin, two F4 members, also look as if they are twenty-five or older. Ha Je, a male model who gets some time as another love interest for Geum Jan Di, also looks as if he's twenty-seven, but he's a freshman in high school which is completely ludicrous. Also the maturity of the characters and the things that they do definitely make them seem to be older. This wasn't a huge deal, but to me it would have added a little bit more realism to the series had they made this a college-aged series (F4 does start attending University in the latter episodes).

The acting was also a mixed bag. Koo Hye Sun was terrible as Geum Jan Di. She overacted in most of her emotional scenes. In some scenes I absolutely cringed at how terribly she acted with her fake emotional outbursts or contrived dialogue. She came across as a very inexperienced actress although her scenes improved as the drama went on. Also the fact that Koo Hye Sun, although cute in real life, looks absolutely hideous in that bob haircut of hers, made this series a little bit unrealistic. How does she happen to captivate the hearts of two of the best looking guys in the whole school and a third male model? Could it be that she has a great personality? Not really. Her personality is pretty average, and although she has a few traits here and there that are pretty desirable, overall there's nothing special about her at all. She's both innocent and dumb and a little too stubborn, and there really is no reason for so many guys to be fighting for her affections.

I also have to wonder why some characters were even put into the movie. The fourth member of F4, Woo Bin, barely had any part in this series. The three girls at Shinhwa High School, Sunny, Ginger, and Miranda were also immensely annoying, although they were pretty much cut from the series in the middle. Then there's a bunch of random characters like Ha Je, the male model who fights for Geum Jan Di's affections, Ha Jae Kyung, the daughter of a tycoon fighting for Goo Jun Pyo's affections, and a few others. I did like Ha Jae Kyung even though she is supposedly an antagonist. To be honest, I'd rather see Goo Jun Pyo with her than with Geum Jan Di, however, Korean dramas would never end like that.

Luckily, this series had some actors who were spectacular. So Yi Jung, played by Kim Bum, ended up as one of my favorite characters. He plays the part of the player but eventually falls for Ga Eul, Geum Jan Di's friend. His acting was top-notch, playing the charismatic playboy perfectly. His love interest, Chu Ga Eul, initially gets little showtime, but by the end of the series her love story with Kim Bum became a main focus of the drama. I personally became a big fan of this coupling because both Kim Bum and Kim So Eun portrayed their respective characters very well. I also enjoyed the portrayals of Yoon Ji Hoo and Goo Jun Pyo, played by Kim Hyun Joong and Lee Min Ho. Yoon Ji Hoo came off as a very realistic character. Nice, caring, but also conniving in many ways. Lee Min Ho portrayed the emotional progression of his character, Goo Jun Pyo, from a cold, ruthless, and immature boy to a loving and caring young man perfectly. Although I initially disliked the character of Goo Jun Pyo, he became much more likeable as the drama went on. For a newcomer, Lee Min Ho is showing a lot of promise as an actor.

One thing that did bother me was the randomness of some of the storyline. In the middle there's a sudden blackmail plot involving Goo Jun Pyo's mother, Ha Je, and Geum Jan Di. There is too many different plot elements that the series seems to be a connection of several sub stories that revolve around Goo Jun Pyo and Geum Jan Di. Although some sub-stories were excellent such as the Chu Ga Eul and So Yi Jung love story, there were some that were extraordinarily boring such as the story of Ji Hoo's grandfather. I wished that the director would have cut out some of the random stories and focused more on building the main plot.

Taken all into consideration, I can only say that Boys Before Flowers is an average Korean drama. A lot of the drama's popularity can probably be attributed to the fact that the F4 actors truly are good looking and include popular singer Kim Hyun Joong. Seeing as most Korean drama fanatics are female, the casting probably had a lot to do with the drama's high ratings. As for me, looking at it from an unbiased standpoint, Boys Before Flowers can only be considered mediocre.

Written by Julia


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Boys Before Flowers Cast
Koo Hye Sun as Geum Jan Di

F4:
Lee Min Ho as Goo Joon Pyo
Kim Hyun Joong as Yoon Ji Hoo
Kim Bum as So Yi Jung
Kim Joon as Song Woo Bin

Extended Cast
Kim So Eun as Chu Ga Eul (Jan Di's best friend)
Kim Hyun Joo as Goo Joon Hee (Joon Pyo's elder sister)
Lee Hye Young as Kang Hee Soo (Joon Pyo's mother)
Ahn Suk Hwan as Geum Il Bong (Jan Di's father)
Im Ye Jin as Na Gong Joo (Jan Di's mother)
Park Ji Bin as Geum Kang San (Jan Di's younger brother)
Han Chae Young as Min Seo Hyun (F4's best friend/Ji Hoo's ex girl friend)
Lee Min Jung as Ha Jae Kyung (JK Group's CEO's daughter and Jun Pyo's fiancee)
Lee Jung Gil as Yoon Seok Young (Ji Hoo's grandfather)
Jung Ho Bin as Jung Sang Rok (Kang Hee Soo's Chief Secretary)
Lee Si Young as Oh Min Ji
Gook Ji Yun as Choi Jin Hee / Ginger
Jang Ja Yun as Park Sun Ja / Sunny
Min Young Won as Lee Mi Sook / Miranda
Kim Ki Bang as Bom Chun Sik (Jan Di and Ga Eul's boss)
Song Suk Ho as Butler Lee
Kim Young Ok as Head Maid
Im Ju Hwan as So Il Hyun (Yi Jung's older brother)
Park Soo Jin as Cha Eun Jae (Yi Jung's first love)
Kim Min Ji as Jang Yoo Mi
Kim Jong Jin as So Hyun Sub (Yi Jung's father)
Jung Ui Chul as Lee Min Ha / Min Jae Ha (fashion model)