After a much longer break than I intended to take (and I’m totally blaming KCON for that), I’m finally back with another drama edition of “Friday Night Drama” and this week, I’ve got one doozy of a drama for you, so I hope you’re ready!
Airing on MBC QueeN from early May through late June of 2013, Nail Shop Paris is the story of an internet novelist, Hong Yeo Joo (Park Gyu Ri) caught in a plagiarism scandal, which forces her into the “real” world to observe people, find fresh inspiration and a new muse. Out in the world, Yeo Joo watches a man named Alex (Jun Ji Hoo) save a woman at the subway station. Intrigued by this hero, Yeo Joo follows Alex to his work, which just happens to be a nail shop called “Paris”. Determined to get closer to her new muse, Yeo Joo decides to join Alex in working at Paris but there’s a catch. Paris only employs beautiful flower boys and I’m sure you can figure out what happens next.
Pulling a rather predictable gender-bender, Yeo Joo transforms herself into Bunny and is immediately hired as the new shop assistant at Paris. As one would expect, once hired, Bunny gets into all kinds of trouble but it’s not the kind you would normally expect to find in such a seemingly predictable story. You see, Nail Shop Paris has a rather unusual twist to it which ends up throwing this particular drama way out in left field and when I say “way out in left field” I mean WAY OUT THERE!
For those of you who haven’t watched Nail Shop Paris, I don’t want to ruin if for you with a bunch of spoilers so if you decided to watch this one, all I can say is, prepare yourself. While the characters are likeable enough the story itself ends up going in such strange places that you’re really have to open your mind to accept this one. Personally, I’m a fan of the odd and unexpected so I didn’t have a problem with this drama but I know of others who just couldn’t accept where this story ended up going and ended up flipping tables, deeming it a lost cause.
Whether you watched Nail Shop Paris when it originally aired or picked it up sometime after, I (as always) would love to know your thoughts on it. Did you enjoy it? Did you hate it? What did you think of the way the story went? Was that something you were expecting or not really? I want to know it all so be sure to leave me a comment below!
Wow, I hadn’t thought much about this since last summer, but what a crazy, silly (fun) show. The cross-dressing stuff was ridiculous, and I wish that they had done more with the supernatural stuff. But I actually loved all of the customer-of-the-week stories, and how they solved everyone’s problems with custom manicures.
I may have to start watching Surplus Princess just to spend some time with Song Jae Rim.
I really wish they’d done more with the supernatural side of this story as well. To me it felt like it was kind of thrown in at the end and I think it would have fit better, had they fleshed that part of the story out a bit. I’m a huge fan of fantasy stories and I think this one could have been a really great one, had they just given a bit more attention to that side of it. As it was, I did like the customer-of-the-week stories and I thought it was a unique idea, helping people solve their problems through custom manicures. I was totally into nail art as I watched this drama and got pretty creative with my own nails as a result but nothing as amazing as what they did at Paris.
I’d watch anything if it meant spending more time with Song Jae Rim! haha 😉
I finally got around to watching this. It had been on my list, but as a school teacher, my job gets in the way during the school year so summer is the time to catch up on dramas. I liked this so much more than I’d expected. It reminded me a bit of the newer drama “Sweden Laundry”. Each episode revolves around helping someone solve a problem. (Except this one had several hot men in it.) I’m a sucker for the whole cross-dressing drama theme, and this was very typical in that way. The men fall in love with her and doubt their sexuality. There was a sweetness to Kay’s confession (like in Coffee Prince and To the Beautiful You). He’d grappled with his own sexuality and decided he was going to follow his heart. The whole gumiho thing ISN’T one of my favorite themes, but it took a very big back seat and didn’t distract too much from the rest of it. The ending did have me a little confused, but the girl essentially gets both beautiful men, a business, and a family in the end. What’s not to like about that? It was perfect for binge watching before starting lesson planning for the first week of school. 😉
I’m off to watch some more dramas! Schools start here in a week!! If you’re like me and enjoy the whole gender-bending theme, the current “Scholar who
Walks the night” drama is exciting. (No gumihos, but it does have two very sexy vampires.)
That is actually on my list of dramas to watch and I think I’m going to be starting it very soon. I’m such a sucker for vampires of any sort, I’m gonna have to watch it. Throw in that whole gender-bender theme and I’m so there! In fact, I think I’m gonna go start on it now…