The guy tells her that her friends are lucky to have a friend like her - and then jumps.Įveryone gasps - Jan-di lurches forward - and grabs him on his way over the ledge. Finally realizing that this mysterious F4 is why he’s all bloody and ready to jump off a building, Jan-di indignantly asks, “And you’re going to let them get away with that?” If this was her school, she’d show them who was boss. He asks if she knows what F4 is (she doesn’t), and explains that their red card makes you a hunted man. At this, Jan-di gasps in horror: “Are you about to die? Why? You go to such a nice school.” He tells her, “This isn’t school, it’s hell.” Jan-di corrects him, saying, “Excuse me, but the real hell is outside.” Jan-di isn’t too quick on the uptake, because she doesn’t grasp the severity of the moment until the boy tells her to get the money from his family after he dies. She’s got his dry-cleaning! That’ll be $30, please! The guy shouts to his audience, “This what you want, isn’t it? Fine, I’ll give you what you want.” He starts to step off the ledge - but Jan-di bursts on the scene, yelling to get his attention.
Recognizing the boy’s name, Jan-di follows the crowd outside, where they all look up at the rooftop, where the battered guy stands poised to jump off the building.
Students talk excitedly about the newest F4 victim, joking that they’d known he wouldn’t last long. Geum Jan-di (actress Gu Hye-sun) arrives at the school bearing a dry-cleaning delivery, amazed at all the splendor. He’s cornered into a bathroom, puts up a good fight, and manages to escape. This guy, having just received the dreaded red card, is immediately chased by students and beaten. Once a student is delivered F4’s “red card,” it signals the rest of the school to go all out in harassment and bullying. Unfortunately, just being rich isn’t enough to survive the teen tyranny at Shinhwa - outsiders or loners are often marked as targets by the bored uber-clique F4. At the beautiful Shinhwa campus, pampered students flaunt their wealth and band together in cliques. Shinhwa makes cars, owns department stores, and is virtually everywhere - its empire even includes an elite school. In this world, Shinhwa Group (“shinhwa” meaning “legend”) is the most powerful corporation in Korea, perhaps best compared to real-life Samsung, only bigger and more powerful. A third reading suggests that these four characters are “boys” before they’re “flowers” - that is to say, their roles as people are more important than their collective fame as Flower Four. The manga twisted that to suggest that boys (dango) were more important than flowers. The school starts with Shinhwa Kindergarten and goes straight through Shinhwa University.Īpparently “hana yori dango” is a Japanese adage meaning that food (dango) is more important than flowers (hana) - or rather, sustenance comes before superficial beauty. It’s so sought-after that aspiring attendees are placed on a waiting list practically upon birth. They’ve adopted the name “Flower Four,” which gets shortened to F4, and are in their last year of high school at the incredibly exclusive school for the insanely wealthy, Shinhwa High School. The title “ Boys Before Flowers” (or the Japanese hana yori dango) refers to the privileged quartet who rule the roost at their elite private school. In the spirit of that decision, I’ll be describing everything as though it were new, so fans of Hanadan, please bear with me.
JANG JA YEON VUON SAO BANG FREE
Of course, you’re free to say whatever you like - these are mostly ground rules for myself. Plus, it alienates people who are watching without pre-existing knowledge. (There are a few exceptions to this rule, but I’ll explain when I get to those.) The reason is, while it was fun to speculate and make comparisons before its broadcast, I recognize that one can only say “ Well, in the original series…” so many times before it gets really annoying. Now that the drama has started, I’d like to write about it as its own entity, away from the established details of the Hana Yori Dango universe. Two of those were good, one was terrible - but all were hilariously watchable.) Either way, I’m set. (Let’s just say: Before this drama, Jeon Ki-sang directed Delightful Girl Chun-hyang, My Girl, and Witch Amusement. On the other hand, I think I’m going to have a blast watching this, regardless. I’m not terribly disappointed, but I also wasn’t expecting gold, either. I’d say it got off to a choppy start, with good and bad points and a couple nice surprises. Episode 1 of Boys Before Flowers was not a home run. Word of warning: Lower those expectations, folks. 221 January 5, 2009SeptemBoys Before Flowers: Episode 1 by javabeans