Four musical wannabes find themselves at odds with their dreams, leaving behind the ties that helped along in Korean teen drama, Over The Rainbow.
Ambition and loyalty go head to head in Korea's cut-throat music industry where 4 hopefuls find themselves at odds with their dreams and leaving behind the ties that helped them along in Over the Rainbow.
Hyukjoo (JI Hyun-woo) is headed straight to a life of crime. Constantly in trouble at school with direct ties to a local gang, he hasn't even graduated high school yet. His dream, however is to be a singer, like his dad who's still trying to reclaim the glory days when he released his first album some 30 years ago. The reality of his life and low income status prevents the young wannabe, until he meets Heesu (KIM Ok-bin) a headstrong ambitious dancer who inspires him to become a dancer. Together they work towards achieving their dreams in the music industry. Until, that is, Heesu meets Rex (from pop duo Fly to the Sky, HwanHee/ Fany) an arrogant snob and rising pop star whom she sees as her opportunity to stardom.
The drama attempts to paint a real-life picture of the challenges facing entertainers in Korea on their routes to stardom. In Korea, the anti-fans can range from the scathingly vicious with their opinions on website message boards, to the insanely dangerous putting the stars in physical danger. Perhaps this drama aims to show the 'human-side' of the industry by showing characters with various levels of talent and ability and by demonstrating the way music companies manipulate these artists to do their bidding.
Truthfully, it's a tad disappointing that the drama didn't touch upon certain, realistic, adult themes - instead keeping things quite PG and not painting too horrible a picture of the industry. There was great potential for compelling drama in particular with the character of Heesu, whose enormous ambition could've landed her in some moral dilemmas had the company's ethics been questionable.
Performances are decent throughout with the top prize going to KIM Ok Bin's Heesu. The character goes from overly confident and ambitious to a lonely, scattered follower. Despite her opportunistic ways, she manages to portray her inner-conflict over decisions and often weighs all the sacrifices she's made in order to get to where she wants to be. Sadly, with each goal she achieves - instead of becoming happy - she becomes progressively more confused.
Notably different in this particular YA Entertainment release are the grammar and spelling errors in the English subtitles. I'm told that the producers insisted YA Entertainment use the subtitles they were provided with, instead of trusting YA to do what they do best - create English subtitles for the North American market. This, unfortunately, makes viewing rather distracting as it forces to have the audience interpret what a spelling or incorrectly used term really means, rather than focusing what the characters are really saying.
The box set is released with several English-subtitled special features including a blooper and gag reel, Interviews and Behind the Scenes and an episode of a variety show Candid Camera where they play a practical joke on Hwan Hee/ F any during the shooting of Over the Rainbow.
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