This week brought with it the end of the idol-filled, sitcom of adorable craziness otherwise known as Boarding House No. 24 which means now is the perfect time for a marathon.
Airing once a week on MBC Every1, Boarding House No. 24 is the story of a man on a quest to find his long-lost child. With ninety-nine women to sift through, Kim Kwang Kyu has quite the task before him but he gets the potential candidates narrowed down to six and then uses all kinds of wild schemes to lure six potential offspring to his boarding house. Once settled in the house, the stories of both Kwang Kyu and the boarders intertwine as they each set out on a path that will change all of their lives forever.
I have to start off by saying that this in NOT your typical drama. In fact, Boarding House No. 24 isn’t a drama at all. It’s a sitcom and as such, there are some elements in this show that are probably going to throw you off, at least at first, and the biggest one would be the horrendous laugh track that plays under every. single. gag, joke, pun, whatever. If something is funny, you’re going to hear that stupid laugh track. If something is stupid, you’re going to hear that stupid laugh track. If something makes you cringe, you’re going to hear that stupid laugh track. In short, there’s no escaping that stupid laugh track. The good news is, the longer you watch, the more immune you become to that stupid laugh track so by the end, you barely notice it at all.
Once you’re able to overlook the laugh track, you’ll probably come to find that this sitcom is actually pretty darn adorable but again, you’re going to have to overlook some things before you get to that point. I’m not really sure how the writers of this show did it but they managed to create eight horrendous characters that I cared nothing for when this show first began. Seriously, Kwang Kyu made me cringe. Li Bang In (Lim Hyun Tae aka High Top) made me want to smack him. Kim Dong Joon seemed to be nothing more than an air-headed jock. Cho Hyun Young was a materialistic snob in desperate need of a reality check. Kim Sa Eun was a shallow, self-centered gold-digger who also needed a reality check. Lee Jae Hwan was the least cringe worthy, being the cold and indifferent son of a wealthy family out to prove his worth to his father. Min Do Hee was almost non-existent for the first episode and when Sam showed up a few episodes in, I wanted to throw things at her head. See? Not a very promising start to a series! However, things quickly improved and before I knew it, I found myself loving and cheering for almost every single character. Admittedly, there were a few characters that I loathed until the end (Kwang Kyu and Bang In, to be more exact) but the rest of them improved so much over such a short period of time that I found myself a bit sad to see them go as the final credits rolled.
Despite all the crazy in this show (and believe me, there was a lot of crazy) there were also some really sweet moments and surprisingly enough, some of the best drama kisses of the year can be found in this short little sitcom. Turns out idols can kiss (rather well it would seem) and OH. MY. WORD. The “soccer net” kiss and the “in the park with the balloons” kiss were some of the best kisses I’ve ever seen in all of my years of drama watching. Seriously, they were that good! There were also some pretty good lessons to be learned from this little show which I wasn’t expecting at all. The majority of the characters underwent some pretty major transformations, all in a positive way, and a lot could be learned from them.
If you’re looking for a lighthearted fluff of a show, full of adorable idols and insanity, Boarding House No. 24 is definitely the show for you. The episodes are full of some of the most ridiculous scenarios possible but the characters are endearing enough and it’s always nice to have a bit of nonsense to indulge in from time to time. Of course being a fan of any or all of the idols cast in this sitcom doesn’t hurt any either. I can tell you I thoroughly enjoyed getting to squee over VIXX’s Ken on a weekly basis (because I don’t do that enough already…) and being the K-Pop fangirl that I am, there were a lot of jokes and such in this show that I got but went over the heads of my other, non-K-Pop loving, drama watching friends. (Getting those jokes made me feel like I was in on some inside joke and I kinda liked that.) That being said, if K-Pop is your thing, you might want to watch this one even if you’re not an avid drama watcher, just don’t expect High Top to make you swoon any time soon. (Sorry but I still can’t get over Bang In’s character. He’s just so darn ANNOYING!)
As always, I want to know what you thought of Boarding House No. 24. Did you enjoy it or not so much? Did you have a favorite character? Perhaps a favorite ship? (Min Do Hee and Lee Jae Hwan will forever be my ship in this one. Augh! So cute!) You know I always love hearing from you so be sure to let me know what you’re thinking by leaving me a comment below.