The Fangirls are back and diving (hehe) into a new drama recap full of romance, magic, and mermaids……..not to mention an OTP (One True Pairing) that are so crazy beautiful I can’t stop staring at them.  So come join us as we discuss all the best moments of Legend of the Blue Sea Episode 1 & 2.

Since we are currently Mane of Gloryless at the moment, we fangirls gathered together and decided that while we wait for the upcoming sagueks, we might as well tackle the latest romantic comedy Legend of the Blue Sea.  Turns out that we all are either Lee Min Ho or Jeon Ji Hyun fans (some of us are even both) and so this is the perfect show for us to recap.  For those of you who have never read one of our group recaps, we are not the type to go step by step over every detail.  We mostly pick the moments that stood out or general themes of the episode and share our opinions.

Also, sometimes our opinions are not always deep.  So if you suddenly find yourself viewing twenty photos of Lee Min Ho’s perfect features……..you have been warned.

Now that we have done our quick intro, lets jump into all things sexy mermaids, hot conman, and crazy hijinks.

Joseon Mermaid

KMUSE: I loved the flashbacks.  The mermaid (eek, does she have a name?) and old timey Lee Min Ho have great chemistry.  Their intense and beautiful starefests totally worked for me.  I might even call them slightly magical.  The rich tones just set such a wonderful feel of tragic fate (come on, we all know it is going to be tragic) that I am dazzled.

CL Sunbae: Agreed. The cinematography of their past lives (or whatever is happening here) was breathtaking. Visuals alone made it a treat to watch.

Drama Geek: I loved how gorgeous everything was in the flashback and I thought the scenes with these two were magical. Especially when they added the lanterns.

CLKYTTA: Does anyone else get a little bit of a Dorothy in Oz feel? Everything is so vibrant and it’s like you can almost touch the scenery.  I like how the writers have set us up here, there is an immediate connection and thankfully these two have chemistry.

Dramarookie: How can creepy mermaid snatcher be the same actor as the sweetheart dad in Answer Me 1997! It’s the teeth. I just can’t handle them.

KMUSE: Is it his new thing to have rotting teeth in all his dramas?  I noticed he did the same thing in Scarlet Heart.  They are not always like that are they?  Have I just been blinded by his Answer Me awesomeness?

Drama Geek: Ha! It’s so much more accurate for their teeth to look like that in the past, but it is hard to stomach. Thank goodness we live in the age of toothbrushes.

CL Sunbae: At least they let him have nice teeth for his present-day incarnation!

CLKYTTA: Did they just recycle the teeth from Scarlet Heart?  I’m not sure how I feel about my favorite Dad being a bad guy…..

Memory Loss?

KMUSE: Since they have mentioned  that mermaids can make a person forget due to a touch multiple times already, I am taking a wild guess that their relationship does not end well.  I originally thought The Mermaid would be engaged by modern Lee Min Ho’s visual similarity to her historical love.  Since The Mermaid doesn’t seem to recognize modern Lee Min Ho I am guessing that is not the case.  Maybe memory wipes can work on both mermaids and humans.

Drama Geek: I think they said the mermaid doesn’t have to wipe all the memories and she definitely didn’t wipe his memory of her at this point. And I’m not totally convinced she doesn’t remember his face in the present…

CL Sunbae: I’ll admit, this section has me a bit confused. Since it’s only episode 2, I’m willing to be patient but I have a lot of questions. Is present-day her the *same* as past her? Because we already know Lee Min Ho is likely a reincarnation. If so, why doesn’t she recognize him? How does the memory wipe work? What happened to their romance? In blurbs about the show, it says she’s the last mermaid, but in the past, you see many other mermaids swimming around. So what happened to them? Also, how do mermaids procreate? (She says at one point she doesn’t have parents.)

CLKYTTA: I think we need a tad bit more backstory, but we probably won’t ever get all of our questions answered.  I’m going to say that it’s the same mermaid, and something has happened that has made it time for her to finally be with him.  I think it’s going to have something to do with her being the last mermaid and now she will have to decide to either be a human or be a mermaid.

Modern Times Look Good on Lee Min Ho

KMUSE: I 100% approve of Lee Min Ho’s styling so far.  Everything about him screams stylish and put together.  Even his vacation wardrobe is appropriate for a Mediterranean jaunt.  I am overjoyed that there is not even one fuzzy blue turtleneck in site.

Drama Geek: Please no turtlenecks!!! I did think the blue outfit he wore a little later during the chase scene was iffy, but it was appropriate for vacation garb.

CL Sunbae: Can I just say? After the one-two styling punch of Heirs and Gangnam Blues, this is such a RELIEF. Welcome back, sexy Min Ho. Welcome back.

CLKYTTA: Honestly, I’ve always been pretty meh about Lee Min Ho.  I liked him in Faith/Good Doctor and Personal Taste, but I was not a fan of Heirs or Boys Over Flowers.  I am appreciating that he is styled well in this drama so far; his clothes and hair are a huge improvement over anything I’ve seen on him in the past.

OTP (One True Pairing) Meet and Greet

KMUSE: Mermaid Jeon Ji Hyun is hilarious.  Who knew that Mermaids are the human equivalent of raccoons rummaging through a trash can……. or the fridge, as the case may be.

Drama Geek: Haha. She really was like a raccoon. Her kicking him and then pulling the hanger back in place was such a great comedic beat. She is killing it in this role and I could watch her be a fish out of water, yes I went there, all day.

CL Sunbae: Hanging herself back up after punching him is my favorite scene so far. This girl’s physical comedy is on point. And honestly, Lee Min Ho is doing a great job of playing the “straight man” reacting to her.

CLKYTTA: I’m still laughing about her hanging in the closet!  I loved this scene so much.  She is one of those amazing people who really own the roles they play.

Anyone have a Kleenex?

Dramarookie: This may be my favorite scene so far. She fell asleep clutching the tissue box like a teddy bear. Adorable!

KMUSE: The music was perfect in this scene.  I couldn’t stop laughing.

Drama Geek: So far the music has been perfect and has a cinematographic feel to it. Those type of soundtracks for dramas are my favorite. Jealousy Incarnate did a very similar thing.

CL Sunbae: If you described these scenes on paper (character flies into window like a flattened bird; character pulls all the tissues from the tissue box), I’m not sure I would’ve thought they were funny. Stuff like this can feel trite and over-the-top really quickly. Site gags are hard to pull off for anyone, but pulling them off to perfection *while* looking gorgeous!? Slow clap for Jun Ji Hyun.

CLKYTTA: The music in this drama has really impressed me.  I’m willing to bet she had a tad bit of inspiration from her child because this was such childlike scene.

The Jade Bracelet Con

KMUSE: Mermaid Jeon Ji Hyun was hilarious as usual, but Lee Min Ho’s sincerity when it came to her hijinks also caught my attention.  There was something so pleasant about not hating Lee Min Ho’s character for once.  Sure Lee Min Ho wants to take the bracelet away, but he doesn’t treat her horribly while he is playing his con. He also doesn’t get overly embarrassed when she does odd things.  Instead, we witness our tarnished hero teach her how to do things correctly again and again.

Drama Geek: I honestly love his character. You can tell he’s great at his job but isn’t mean or malicious about it. And he has so much patience with her. Plus, how cool is it that he has his own magician power thing going on with that lighter?

CL Sunbae: His hypnotism skills are an interesting side plot and I hope all of that is developed more. (Don’t let me down like Blade Man did!!) How did he learn the skill? How does it work? Does it work on the mermaid? I’m interested in all of that so I hope they don’t forget about it like they did with Beautiful Gong Shim (that guy could slow down time for himself and win any fight and they went nowhere with it).

CLKYTTA: I found it really refreshing that he didn’t run off and leave her.  He’s a talented con man, but he’s not a bad person.  I mean, come on, he bought her shoes to match her bracelet!  We had a discussion about this dress and we all agree it’s pretty hideous but also totally perfect for her character in that moment. It fit the lost little girl look.

Hate Not Saying Goodbye

KMUSE: I think I am detecting a theme with Lee Min Ho’s character and being abandoned (aka the whole saying goodbye thing.)  That said,  I think he just needed an excuse to go get her.  You can tell he is feeling things already, even if it isn’t yet romantic.

Drama Geek: I have a feeling this hating not saying goodbye will be a huge theme for his character.

CL Sunbae: And I bet it will tie back into their previous history together — either her leaving him suddenly or him leaving her or some misunderstanding therein.

CLKYTTA: I can totally get on board with this being a theme throughout the drama. He doesn’t seem to be able to leave her behind, and she’s more than willing to stay with him.

Horny Mermaids and Other Adventures

KMUSE: First off, I want to comment on how freaking beautiful this hotel is.  They really did a great job on picking locations that are larger than life.  Next, I want to chat about how amazing Mermaid Jeon Ji Hyun is at sending out non-verbal signals.  Hahaha.  And how Lee Min Ho accuses her of trying to use her feminine wiles to seduce him.  These two are so adorable.

Drama Geek: She hasn’t said one word out loud to him and we are into the second episode already. But we’ve known what she was feeling the whole time. Reminds me of The Werewolf Boy. I think he said like ten lines in that whole movie. And I totally agree that each location they picked, even the chase scenes, was beyond gorgeous and really added to the story.

CLKYTTA: I’m really impressed with how much she has used body language and facial expressions to convey her feelings. She had to have been completely exhausted at the end of shooting this.  The scenery in this drama is just amazing.  It’s making me want to go and visit Spain.

Dramarookie: Did anyone else feel like this was a shout out straight to all of us drama fans who have stared bleary eyed at the screen? Thinking, “Just one more episode. Then I’ll go to bed.”

Drama Geek: I was wondering how they’d get her up to speed on the language and everything Korean, because her character has been cute, but we need more to sustain a whole drama.

CL Sunbae: This was a great scene. It felt like a love letter to us Kdrama-obsessed fans. And I was waiting for the moment where she’d finally get oriented to the world around her because you can only get so much mileage out of not knowing how to cross a street. She’s a clever girl and I want them to let her be clever so I was happy they found a way to catch her up on the culture.

CLKYTTA: It really reminds me of the movie, The Fifth Element.  Can we take a minute to appreciate that she’s glued to a screen with So Ji Sub on it?

Thugageddon

KMUSE: Laughed out loud that even the hired bad guys donned colorful vacation shirts instead of the traditional thug black and white.

Drama Geek: See, now if they dressed like this in Korea they’d probably get away with more thug activities. LOL.

CLKYTTA: The I Heart Spain and Hawaiian print shirts were cracking me up!

KMUSE: And I have to mention how awesome Mermaid Jeon Ji Hyun’s fight scene was. The girl has skills and I love that she is taking on ten men while Lee Min Ho is oblivious.

CL Sunbae: This scene was perfection. Physical comedy like this can go overboard real quick (I’m looking at you, Jim Carrey and Will Ferrell), but this was so well done, it almost felt natural. At least as natural as a hundred pound woman throwing multiple men two stories in the air can be. My little girls, who can’t read subtitles yet, were laughing the whole time.

CLKYTTA: I laughed so hard as he was patting himself on the back and she was knocking out bad guys behind him like bowling pins. The guys flying through the air and the sound effects were priceless.

Jeon Ji Hyun is Perfection

Dramarookie: I heart this girl. So much. She’s not afraid to make ugly faces, or shriek like a dolphin, or steal a lollipop from a child. I have a feeling her portrayal of this character is going to make my Wednesday and Thursday nights a highlight of my week.

KMUSE: I agree with Dramarookie.  The fact that Jeon Ji Hyun does not mind looking weird when she is acting puts her acting on a whole different level.  So often leading ladies don’t want to ruin their “pretty” concept.  I personally think that no one else could have played this role the way she does.

Drama Geek: She had me dying. There really isn’t anyone else in K-ent that could pull this role off quite like she can. But my favorite part was that he had no clue what she was doing and kept thinking he was the hero. Such a typical man.

CLKYTTA: I love her, I feel like we could be besties. No, seriously, I think she is amazingly talented and she loves to push herself in her roles.  I don’t think anyone else could have played this role and made us laugh so hard and be so effortlessly beautiful while doing it.

What is Love?

KMUSE: I already get the feeling that Mermaid Jeon Ji Hyun has fallen for our handsome con man.  And judging from some of the glances Lee Min Ho is giving our leading lady, he isn’t far away from submitting to the power of love himself.

Drama Geek: Who wouldn’t fall for her beauty, even if she’s a bit crazy. And, again, I’m not sure she doesn’t remember his face.

CL Sunbae: As I said earlier, she’s a clever girl. Once he realizes that (and that she’s not actually crazy), it’s game over for Lee Min Ho.

CLKYTTA: I think she knows him, or his spirit, and that’s why she is there.  I think he senses something and that’s why he’s having a hard time walking away from her.

End of the World

KMUSE: I liked the glimpse into Lee Min Ho’s back story.  We begin to understand why he has abandonment issues and I suspect that this will be a theme throughout the next several episodes.  I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Drama Geek: I like how the story is progressing and I liked seeing his backstory. It sheds new light on his character.

CLKYTTA: I like his backstory, his abandonment issues are probably why he’s such a good con man. He’s going to con before he’s conned, and he totally sees love as a con.  I think he’s going to fight his feelings hard but I don’t think he’s going to be cruel.

KMUSE: I liked that they ended things with him finding out about her whole mermaid thing.  It isn’t a plot point that I think should be hidden for a long time.  So much more fun to watch his freak out about it now and then fall in love.  Also, the underwater scenes were stunning.  Both actors are still beautiful even under the water.

CL Sunbae: Yes! I was screaming at this development! I really hope the writernims stick with the reveal and don’t give him selective amnesia or something. I hate when they drag out “the big secret” too long. If they *do* let him find out the truth, then I’ll have a lot of hope for this show. I’ve noticed in dramas where they don’t drag out big secrets too long (like in W), it’s because they have a solid plot laid out and don’t need to rely on stupid cliffhangers to keep viewers hooked.

CLKYTTA: I’m hoping you are right CL Sunbae, because I’ve been burned before by fun fantasy dramas that suddenly strayed from the original plot.

Our Thoughts:

KMUSE: This drama feels magical to me.  The whimsical vibe that shows up throughout just makes me giddy.  I am also thrilled that our two leads seem to have some chemistry going on as well.  It is always nice to see that the OTP click on more than a visual level.

 

Dramarookie: I caught myself grinning like a fool while watching this. Did Dramaland save the best of 2016 for the last? I don’t know where it’s going, but I feel much the same as when I watched this writer’s other hit drama, “My Love From Another Star.” Whether this leaves me smiling or weeping at the finish, I’m in it for the long haul. That’s saying a lot for a happy ending junkie like me.

Drama Geek: I love this writer and have faith that this will be as magical throughout its run as it was the first two episodes. I have a feeling these two have met many times throughout his lifetime and it should be an amazing journey. I am beyond happy that I like Lee Min Ho’s character. YAY! And I have faith our mermaid is going to bring the house down with this character.

CL Sunbae: Like a well-made ice cream sundae, so far this drama has all my favorite ingredients. Fun concept, beautiful Koreans, great acting — but it’s taken it all to the next level. Honestly, I was worried because I’ve been hurt before. I haven’t fully recovered from the disappointment that was Heirs. And Ji Chang Wook’s latest drama has for reals let me down after I was SO EXCITED to see him again. So I came to this with a jaundiced eye and a cynical heart. All that is gone now. After only two episodes, I’m all in. So I’m either heading for some major heartbreak or this is the beginning of a new favorite show.

CLKYTTA: I’m very excited that this drama is finally here!  I’m just going to settle in with my popcorn and enjoy the show.  I think there is a lot of backstory to keep this interesting and I’m like Drama Geek and I think we will see this couple meet and part many times over the years. I’m a huge sucker for a second chance romance story, so you know I’m already emotionally invested in this one.

So glad we are discussing this drama all together.  Looks like whether good or bad we will have a lot to chat about.

Til next time,

The Fangirls

Save