Supernatural- Seasons 4-6

I know I already reviewed the first part of the show, but now I’m going to finish it out ^^

Plot: 5/5
About halfway through series 4 it begins to become less of a show where you do not have to watch in order and more of a story based theme. Each season had it’s own overarching plot, with the Winchester brothers fighting some evil thing or another. Here is the breakdown season to season, if you don’t worry about spoilers.

Season 1: The Winchester brothers hunt for their missing father and on the way fight ghosts, demons and monsters. They are also seeking out the demon who killed their mother.

Season 2: Sam and Dean’s father gives his life to bring Dean back from the brink of death. Now Sam and Dean must hunt down the yellow eyed demon to avenge their mother and father. Sam fears his growing powers as some kind of connection to the demon who fed him blood as a baby and wishes only to prove he is not going to become evil.

Season 3: Dean trades his soul for Sam’s life and is given one year to live before he is dragged down into hell. Dean is glad to finally be at the end of his line, but he is pulled along by Sam to try to break the deal and find out who the demon is that holds his contract.

Season 4: Dean is back from Hell suddenly and without explanation. While he was gone for only 4 months the time span in hell equals 40 years of violent and horrific tortures. He tries to forget, but Sam wants to know. Meanwhile Sam has a secret relationship with Ruby, the demon who appears to be their new ally. Dean also meets Castiel, the angel who pulled him out of hell. The brothers try to stop Lilith, the first demon, who is trying to break the seals and set Lucifer free.

Season 5: Sam, intoxicated on the demon blood, accidentally breaks Lucifer from his cage, walking into a trap Ruby set for him. He tries to make amends while the brothers avoid demons and angels who wish them to allow the archangel Michael to possess Dean and Lucifer to possess Sam in order to bring the apocalypse into full swing.

Season 6: Dean’s been living a normal life for a year- a beautiful girlfriend and her son who he loves. But suddenly Sam reappears, not trapped in Lucifer’s cage after all. One trick though- his soul is still trapped and is being tortured. Dean gets it back into his body, but a barrier has been put up between the memories of hell that will kill him. On top of all this is Castiel, leading the angels in civil war, and Crowley, the new King of Hell who seems to be looking for a gateway to Purgatory and the souls locked inside.

Acting: 6/5
The latter half of the series shows a huge improvement in the acting. The Winchesters look less pretty-boy and a bit more rugged. Sam is less puppy dog and a bit tougher. More and more we see the comedic side of the Winchesters, especially in Series 6. We also see more of Bobby, the Brother’s father-figure and the guy they go to for help.

Directing: NA
Episodes are directed by a range of people, and one episode in Season 6 is directed by series star Jensen Ackles himself. There is no instance where it stands out that the directing is bad, so I’d say overall it’s pretty consistently great.

Other Things

Watch. This. Show.

Especially the Season 6 episode “The French Mistake”, in which Sam and Dean are thrown into an alternate reality where their names are Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, and they are actors on the TV show “Supernatural”. The whole show makes fun of the two, and Jared Padalecki even told the writers if they were making a parody of their real life they should poke as much fun at him as possible. And they do.

 

Supernatural (Seasons 1-4)

I started watching this show because my followers on tumblr are huge fans of it and I was always seeing these funny GIFs (moving pictures), so I gave it a shot.

Plot: 7/5
The show is about two brothers who hunt demons/ghosts/monsters. Basically it all started when the youngest brother, Sam, was a baby. His mother was killed by a demon and his father became obsessed with hunting down anything evil and supernatural he could and killing it. He brought his sons along and trained them to hunt demons as well. Sam left the family and became estranged when he went to Stanford to become a tax lawyer (thrills~). One day, out of the blue, Dean (his older brother) shows up at the apartment Sam shares with his girlfriend (who knows nothing of hunting) and tells him he needs his help, their father is missing while going hunting (what they call going to track down ghosts and such). He reluctantly agrees to help, and the duo defeats a ghost, but their father has already left the down. He claims to be on the track of the demon who killed their mother, but he wants Sam and Dean to hunt down anything evil and supernatural on their own. Sam returns home angrily, refusing to take part, but finds his girlfriend killed the exact same way as his mother.

The series has a different overarching theme for each season, Season 1 is based around the hunt for their father and the yellow-eyed demon who killed their mother. Season 2 also deals with the yellow eyed demon, but it is more of a setup for Season 3 & 4.

It gets high marks in the plot department because each episode is like watching a short horror movie. They are not outright terrifying, in my opinion they start off scary and by the end aren’t as creepy. The ghosts pop up out of nowhere, but they aren’t made to look too over the top horrible. Some of the ghosts are creative killers, but it isn’t overly graphic. It’s creepy or scary without being so over the top as to lose casual thriller movie viewers.

Acting: 4/5
Season 1 is a little rough on the part of Sam, in my opinion. Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester) is a good actor, it’s just his character is kind of overly moody and is definitely supposed to be the brooding moody one. Around season 2 he starts to turn it around and by season 3 & 4 he’s a lot tougher and more fun overall. Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester) is absolutely hilarious. He is supposed to be the “good” brother, the one who stuck by their dad and actually came to love hunting demons. He’s the toughie, guns, beer, and porn, though none of them are overdone (Don’t worry, it’s a clean show).  I watch the show mostly to see him, though the relationship between the two “brothers” is brilliant. As the show progresses they get a bit more snippy, which I really enjoy. The two leads are also supposed to be pranksters and best friends on set, which I think shows in their characters, there is a genuine bromance ^^

Directing: 5/5
I don’t like judging the directing of a TV show because most of the time there are multiple directors. I will address the overall filming style though. It’s pretty consistent, but in Seasons 1 and 2 the colors are washed out a lot more. It is almost like a thin layer of black and white was placed on top of things. The guys are vampire-pale and the blacks pop a lot more. Seasons 3 & 4 have more color, and Season 2 makes the swing from the overly light format to more “normal” filming colors.

Other Things

I’m not a huge fan of scary stuff, but I really like this show. Most of the time I look at the ghosts through my fingers, not gonna lie, I’m 20 and I still do that, but I really like the show. It’s heading into it’s 7th season, and I look forward to seeing how the rest of season 4 through season 6 develop!

Here is a clip from the show (a behind the scenes) and a trailer for season 1! I highly recommend watching the first three episodes to get a feel for it and see what you think!

Season 1 Trailer

Funny clip (Dean Winchester/ Jensen Ackles)

Mr. Simple- Super Junior

Super Junior is finally making their comeback! This is the title song for their last album before they take a hiatus while members do their military service required by Korean law.

Lyrics: 10/5
This song has to have the best message ever. The lyrics aren’t about love or a breakup or anything like that, it’s basically “Shit happens, deal with it”. The song is really just advice. It’s saying grades and test results go up and down, there is no use sweating all the little details. When things get tough don’t keep pushing, take a step back, go drink with your friends (a major social thing in Korea) or spend a night out having fun and relax a bit before tackling the issues. They say things like “Miss Simple, you’re pretty just the way you are” and other little encouraging messages to both men and women. It can be summed up to “Shit happens” and “don’t sweat the small stuff”.
“Look Mr. Simple Simple you are cool the way you are/ Look Miss Simple Simple, you are pretty the way you are (SJ Call)/ Look Mr. Simple Simple you are cool the way you are/ Look Miss Simple Simple you are pretty the way you are (SJ Call)/ Lets go lets go, hurry lets go/ when we get blocked let’s go back/ if you’re stressed to death let’s hang out for the day/ anyway, if I run endlessly in this rough world I’ll get tired/ wait, shake it off/ because your day will come soon”

Dance: 6/5
The dance has to be one of SJ’s best. Choreographers met with each member individually and had them make up a dance step or series, they combined these with some of their own choreography so that this dance has elements from every member. The dance solo in the middle is, as always, Eunhyuk and Donghae. With them is their pet-project DanceKyu (a member who was previous the “Dance Black Hole” of the group whom they are trying to improve) and Sungmin, a member who has not been included in an SJ dance solo since Super Junior’s “Miracle” MV over 5 years ago!

Story: NA
The teasers suggested a story MV, but that might be coming out later. For now there is no story to the MV, like with “Sorry, Sorry” and “Bonamana” (though there is more color in their outfits). They revealed there is also a Japanese version of the MV that will be released at an undisclosed date, so that may be the story that was appearing in the second teaser (a man or woman tied up with red ropes and a man covered in some kind of plaster or whatnot that he was trying to break free from).

Other Things

Super Junior announced just before the MV was released that this will be their last album before the group goes on a hiatus while the older members enter the Korean military for their mandatory 2 year service (all men must complete this before they turn 30). In light of this they said they will take their time promoting this thoroughly and not rush any aspect. They will also be releasing a repackaged version of Mr. Simple in a month or two with a second MV, just like with all previous albums (Sorry Sorry=Neorago, Bonamana=No Other).

I’m still not seeing the “Ubersexual” concept SM said they would have (at least not outside the teaser images!), but it does have a very cool feel. There is none of Super Junior’s trademark hip-thrust move, but the dance is cool and very well put together.

What Are You Looking At? (Close Your Mouth)- M&D

M&D is a project group featuring Heechul of Super Junior and Jungmo of TRAX, so I’m tagging both original groups as the M&D tag!

Lyrics: 7/5
This is a VERY arrogant song, but the content is rather unique, and I love it ^^. The song takes place during a fight between a boyfriend and a girlfriend. The boy is asking what style the girl wants: rock, rap, dance. Sounds like she keeps complaining and left the guy as a way to try and make him change. He is having none of it though and says things like “There are no men waiting for you” and “There are plenty of girls waiting for me”. He later talks about the girl wanting to get back together saying “I have no time to meet you, I am with other girls then”. “Snarky” barely begins to cover this song ^^

“Okay, fine/ should I dance?/ Okay, I understand/ should I rap?/ okay, good choice girl/ should it be rock?/ I got it/ get off, get off, get off/ (what are you looking at)/ there are plenty of girls looking for me/ (what are you looking at)/ there are no men chasing you/ (what are you looking at)/ that’s the difference between me and you/ Even so, you’re leaving?/ That’s great, oh bye, bye bye”

Dance: NA
No dance for this duo

Story: 3/5
Heechul directed this himself, and the quality is really good! The MV doesn’t really tell a story though, so I had a lot of trouble deciding if it should be treated like a story MV. Basically it’s Heechul walking through the halls of the SM Entertainment Apgujeong EverySing store (a karaoke studio and press release studio run by SME) with his friends from Chocoball, a club for 4D celebrities with the AB blood type run by Heechul. Miss A’s Jia is featured as a girl who leaves Heechul then keeps trying to get him back. That is all there is as far as story goes, otherwise he’s just grabbing his friends from the hallways.

Other Things
For an MV Heechul claims to have filmed in ten minutes (most of it is one-shot style) I think this was really well done. It’s more fun to watch than a lot of MVs from professional directors.

The snarky song, the unusual MV style, everything works well in this. I absolutely love this MV.

In the lyrics Heechul repeatedly says “Get off”. These are the official lyrics, but in the song and MV he seems to be saying “Get up” instead. I’m not sure what the verdict here is as far as which are the actual lyrics.

One comment against Heechul: his lip-sync is overdone. He isn’t as bad as DBSK (THEY NEED LIP-SYNC CLASSES!), but it’s definitely a tad over the top.

This is the first MV I’ve linked to here where I actually subbed it. I hope you like my style! I couldn’t find a good version with subs that wasn’t hard to read or wrong in parts, so I subbed it myself.

(Ahjussi) The Man From Nowhere

I watched this movie with my Korean class and was totally floored~

Plot: 4/5
“An ex-special agent Cha Tae-Shik’s (Won Bin) only connection to the world is a little girl, So-Mi (Kim Sae-Ron), who lives next door. Her mother, Hyo-jeong, smuggles drugs from a drug trafficking organization and entrusts Tae-shik with the product, without letting him know. The traffickers eventually find out about her smuggling and kidnap both Hyo-jeong and So-mi. Tae-shik is now drawn back into the world in a frantic search for So-Mi’s whereabouts. In order to save So-mi, he makes an arrangement with the crime mob. While So-mi is still nowhere to be found, the police begin to chase after Tae-shik. With the police and the underground mob on his trail, Tae-shik continues his frantic search for So-mi while his hidden past becomes revealed…”

That’s direct from the back of the DVD box, and it does a pretty good job of explaining the plot. The story is about him searching for the little girl. There is a plot bit they should have included: the girl’s mom turns up pretty quickly- dead in the back of a car the drug guys made Tae-shik drive. She had her organs and eyes cut out, all while she was alive (sedated). So he’s trying to get to So-mi before she’s harvested by the mafia as well. Another way to describe the plot of this movie is “Taken” (the Liam Neeson movie) except the girl isn’t his kid, is only like 12, and it’s drug rings, not sex slavery. Since it’s the same plot, more or less, I took off a point. Overall it has a different feel, you don’t sit there going “Oh god, I”m watching “Taken” by a different name” (not that “Taken” is a bad movie!).

Acting: 10/5

The little girl is an INCREDIBLE actress! She really does a brilliant job. And Won Bin (the lead actor)… Well… The eye candy is enough of a reason to watch this! I think he’s the hottest actor Korea has to offer! Both he and the little girl do amazing jobs, and really everyone involved delivers a high quality performance.

Directing: 5/5
This is an action movie, but the director seemed to stress a lot of the story scenes. The action shots are very high quality, but the story is extremely well developed. These days when you hear a movie title you remember the action shots, but with this one you get a balance between action and story. I really like this style! The director doesn’t go for a flashy shooting format. He seems to be of the “Invisible Directing” mentality, which in action movies isn’t easy to pull off. There are a few nifty tricks, but for the most part he lets the actors tell the story, not a lot of metaphorical shots.

Other Things

I really appreciate that there is minimal handcam BS. During the action scenes and some chases it comes out, but never for very long.

Don’t worry about being able to find this movie in the States. I just came across it today in a movie store. In the US it is under the name “The Man From Nowhere”. I found it in the “Action” section, but it could fit into an “International” movie section too. It is very new, just released in 2010 and in the States I think the release was earlier this year. It has english subtitles, or you can watch it dubbed.

Won Bin in sexy. In case I haven’t said that enough.

The movie is a bit on the violent side, a  lot of cutting and shooting, but nothing too graphic I’d say. There are a few scenes that are a bit hard to watch (the mom being tortured with a hair dryer), but… I think it’s not too bad. I can’t watch “Saw” (any of the “Saw” movies really) and “Pan’s Labyrinth” makes me squirm, but this movie was OK to see. I’d say 14 or 15+ should be alright, even though the official US rating is “R”. Oh, and there is a bit of nudity with the mom’s corpse, if I remember correctly, a chest shot. No other naked bodies, and no sex scenes though, so you just have to worry about language and violence.

I just watched this movie again with my mom, and she said: Won Bin is indeed sexy, and she cried at the end.

Hello Hello- FT Island

This just came out today. Three lines into the song I paused it, called my friend (a huge FT Island fan) into my dorm room, and told her this was the best MV and song they’ve ever released.

Lyrics: 7/5
I really love FT Island’s style. They don’t do many slow songs about loss and love, they tend to be quicker paced (probably because this is a band, and not just a solo singer, so everyone has to do their parts). But this song is no different.  The song is about a girl who stole their heart and suddenly left them. They can’t forget her and are just telling her that they still love her. It has a strong “Bad Woman” feel to it, but the music itself is like “Bad Woman” meets “I Hope” (two of my favorite songs). I’ll explain the chorus a bit in the “Other Things” section, if you don’t know Korean it may be a bit confusing.
“The word annyeong is hello hello/ now it’s goodbye goodbye/ Even if I constantly try to forget you/ It can’t be done/ I hello hello/ Oh you, goodbye goodbye/ it’s a word that means I still love you”

Dance: NA
FT Island is one of only 2 idol bands in Korea (the other being C.N. Blue). That means one singer and the other members are on guitar or drums. FT Island is the original, so their singer only sings, and he doesn’t dance (CN Blue’s members all play an instrument).

Story: (starts to complain)/5
I say “Starts to complain” because I really don’t know how to rate it. The story itself would get a “3/5” for being a little unclear, but it has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the lyrics and story in the song, so I feel like it should get a “0/5” for that, but it was still really cool so I want to give it a “5/5″… So IDK, you chose which rating you want.

Hongki is seen walking down the street when he spots a crowd in front of a house with smoke coming out the windows. Presumably he knows someone in the house, because he runs in to save them. He runs through the house until he finds all the FT Island members in a room together (playing their instruments, but I think it’s just supposed to represent him finding them) and gets everyone out when the firefighters were too afraid to enter.

So that’s where it has nothing to do with the song. It’s a love song, but he isn’t saving the girl he loves, he’s saving the other members. And at the end of the video you see him just walking down the street listening to the song on his MP3 player. He looks at the building and it’s fine, then it fades back to the fire and getting his friends out. That part makes no real sense, so I think it’s a lead in to an upcoming MV?

Other Things

OK, here’s the thing with the chorus: In Korean the word 안녕 (annyeong) can be used to say both “Hello” and “Goodbye”. The song is about the duality of that, saying the boy is saying “Hello”, while when the girl say it it turns into “Goodbye”. Think of it like “Aloha” in Hawaiian. He’s also talking about the changing of the girl, saying she’s first using “Annyeong” as “Hello”, then suddenly starts saying it to mean “Goodbye”.

I LOVE the style of this song. Like I said, it’s kind of “Bad Woman” meets “I Hope” in the feel, but it also kind of has a “Nightmare before Christmas” feel for some reason on the guitar solos (that’s just my opinion). It is a very fast song, and very sad at the same time.

Overall this is doubtless my favorite FT Island MV. I can’t say how excited I was to see this out ^^ And like I said, 3 lines in I’d already decided it was my favorite song of theirs ^^ And I LOVE Hongki’s hair. First he had 80s hair in “Bad Woman”, then that orange mess in “I Hope”, then in “Love Love Love” that scarlet… stuff (it looked like a bad wig), and this is just simple black hair. It actually looks a lot like Jung Yonghwa’s debut hairstyle (Jung Yonghwa is the head of CN Blue, who acted with Hongki in a drama before debut).

The same problem as always with FT Island MVs though- other than full group shots you barely see the other members. They severely lack in face time, especially leader Jonghun and drummer Minhwan. At one point I actually thought they’d lost a member.

Not sure if this relates to the maybe-sequel, but when the members get out of the building Hongki isn’t with them, only 4 leave the building, then suddenly Hongki is standing apart from the group who rushed to them to make sure they were OK and is standing apart looking sad… So… Either he wasn’t there that day of filming, they just kind of put him off to the side, or he was supposed to be dead.

The dead thing might make sense, he collapses in the hall of the building and is unconcious until a white light shines on his face, which he follows to his members. I took that as just, something showed him the way, but now I’m wondering if he didn’t die. The smoke seems to have stopped when he gets up, like it’s frozen in the background. He walks through a door into a room that probably shouldn’t be there and finds the members… Is it supposed to be that he’s a ghost still trying to get them out?

Too Perfect- Super Junior M

I’ve started this review like 4 times now, but technical difficulties with the MV keep stalling me~ But, late as it is, here is the review!

Lyrics: 6/5
Think “Bonamana” and you’ve got the attitude of the song. The pace is a little different, but it’s still pretty great. The song is about being in love with someone and letting them know. They talk about the girl being “Too Perfect” in their eyes, like a vision, and how they won’t let anyone but them be by her side. It’s part a confession of love and part a description of how they plan to proceed with this love. There is a bit of confusion with some of the lines as to if they are calling the girl “too perfect” or saying they are too perfect in her eyes… I think the translation might be a little off.  It has the same arrogant feel as “Sorry, Sorry” and “Bonamana”, and it’s just as addicting. I think it wasn’t written by the writer of those two other SJ hit songs, because he tends for repetitive feels, but it’s hard to say without hearing the Korean version.

“Being too impatient is wrong/ trying too hard for love will make it shatter/ Being too slow is wrong/ I’ll move forward or step back as you wish/ oh too perfect/ I appear in your eyes/ I won’t let anyone take my place by your side/ your brows and eyes/ your silhouette/ your neck and shoulders/ your charm/ your everything from head to toe/ I’ve already fallen for you”

Dance: 6/5
This dance is a lot harder than anything Super Junior has attempted so far. It’s powerful and strong, and even watching the members in the background shows a higher level of skill. I think this might be because now 3/4 top dancers of the Super Junior family are together in one group: Henry, Donghae and Eunhyuk (Shindong is the only one missing).

Hangeng, the former leader of SJM specialized in ballet, and his dances tended to have a jazz kind of feel. A lot of SJM’s dances had the same slick feel, and this time the style seems to take after the stronger and more rugged approach of Eunhyuk and Henry (Donghae’s style follows the lyrics more).

Story: NA
There isn’t even a story in the set here. Everything is made to show off the members, and no shots are devoted to anything else. I like the sets they are on, and I understand why they chose to show off the members of SJM 2.0 rather than go for a story MV or anything.

Other Things

There is a really cool scene where the members jump into the air and ZhouMi has his solo with them frozen around him. I think it was shot really well, and that’s got to be my favorite shot in the MV.

I’m not against Siwon or anything, let me start with that. I like that this MV doesn’t feature him as much as the other ones did. You see more Henry and Kyuhyun here, two members who tended to be pushed to the side (when they weren’t doing a solo). Siwon is featured heavily in the beginning (that old SJ superstition that if he starts a song it will do well), but you see more of the others.

I don’t like that they featured Eunhyuk so heavily. Again, I have nothing against him, but if they wanted to show off the new members they should have divided it between him and Sungmin more, or Donghae too. Sungmin tends to have the least face time in MV’s of SJ members, and I was kind of hoping to see him more here.

The hats… (sigh) why the hats… At least take ZhouMi’s.

Speaking of ZhouMi- someone please give him a sandwich? I swear that boy got skinnier, and I didn’t think that was possible.

I like Ryeowook a lot more in this MV. ONCE AGAIN (hopefully for the last time) I have nothing against him! He’s one of my favorites! I just think in this MV he really nailed the expressions and pulled off the tough guy look really well. Though not as well as Kyuhyun, I have to admit I was distracted by him even while writing this ^^

Guyliner. Yes. This was a good decision. (Thumbs up)

The MV has disappeared from SM Entertainment’s YouTube page (sment@youtube). I’m not sure what’s going on there, I can only assume they are  releasing the Korean version soon- between the Chinese and Korean version they tend to have only one.

The Tudors (Series Review)

I watched this whole show over the course of like 3 weeks @_@ and I watched the first 7 episodes over again on my flight back from Korea ^^

Plot: 5/5
The show tends to be broken by season, so there isn’t really an over-arching series plot. I’ll give a rough description of each season for you:

Season 1:
This historically loose but visually lush series toasts the world of the Tudors in the days when King Henry VIII was a handsome and charming 25-year-old with athletic abilities and sexual prowess. The young king indulges his voracious taste for ladies-in-waiting, hangs out with his entourage of nobles and makes momentous political decisions.

That’s the NetFlix breakdown, so it’s kind of vague… Basically season 1 of the show begins near the end of the marriage of Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon, his first wife who could only produce Princess Mary successfully amongst dozens of still births. He is seduced by the Boleyn family, first Catherine and then her little sister Anne. Anne manages to keep Henry VIII’s attentions exclusively on her while withholding sex. Henry decides to divorce Catherine in favor of Anne and, to accomplish this, makes a break from the Catholic church in Rome. Season 1 ends with the death of Henry’s wicked Cardinal Wolsey.

Season 2
In the second season of the hit series, King Henry VIII secretly has his marriage to Katherine declared invalid and weds Anne Boleyn, prompting the pope to excommunicate the king. Meanwhile, some of Henry’s old friends and allies fall out of favor.

Season 2 is almost entirely about his relationship with Anne Boleyn. Henry first weds, then slowly begins to fall out with his new wife. As Anne becomes more and more overbearing and steers the king to have her political enemies executed Henry meets Lady Jane Seymour. She is the refreshing aspect of his life, eager to help the king back from his bloody path. Anne is arrested and charged with adultery, a capital offense. The season concludes with the execution of his second wife and marriage to Lady Jane.

Season 3
The sexually insatiable King Henry VIII romances third wife Jane Seymour and ruthlessly quashes an uprising of rebels protesting England’s break with Rome in the third season of the drama. But distension within his own ranks leads Henry to question the loyalty of his closest allies.

Another bad description I think. Henry’s relationship with Lady Jane Seymour is (as anyone who is familiar with Henry VIII knows) very short. After successfully giving birth to a son Lady Jane dies, leaving Henry heartbroken. Season 3 follows through his mourning of Jane into the marriage (and subsequent divorce) of his short-term wife and long-time friend and “sister” Anne of Cleves. He also is introduced and falls in love with fifth wife Catherine Howard. In this season King Henry’s daughter, Princess Mary enters as one of the lead characters. She is devoted to the memory of her mother and secretly Catholic, prompting a close alliance with the Ambassador from the Holy Roman Emperor (her cousin). Later in the season Princess Elizabeth (Anne’s daughter) also begins to make appearances.

Season 4 (the final season)
King Henry VIII looses his grip on reality while trying to juggle his troubled relationships with his wives Catherine Howard (wife #5) and Catherine Parr (#6).

Season 4 is pretty much Catherine Howard and the end of King Henry VIII’s life. In some episodes Princess Mary is more of a lead character, and Princess Elizabeth appears a little more. The show ends with the death of King Henry VIII. In the last episode he begins to see flashes of his dead wives.

Acting: 9/5
The acting in this series is absolutely incredible. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays King Henry VIII excellently (though Henry never looses his perfect fitness, unlike in real life). It is kind of ironic that Henry VIII is being played by a Scottish actor (England and Scotland were enemies traditionally), but his accent is excellent.

 

Henry Cavill (Charles Brandon)

My personal favorite actors of the series are Henry Cavill (who plays King Henry’s closest friend Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk). He is a major player in each season of the show. Not only is he fun to look at, but his character shows the most growth in the series. My other favorite is Sarah Bolger, who plays the Princess Mary. She does an INCREDIBLE job, and she holds the role from when Mary was around age 12 to when she is supposed to be in her early 20s, and fits the role perfectly at all times.

 

Directing: 5/5
Every now and then you get metaphorical scenes that don’t really make sense, and one of the last scenes of the series (the one with the horse, anyone who has seen the show will know what I’m talking about) is downright corny, but overall it is an excellent job. The style is not anything impressive or new, but he does a flawless and natural job, so you never notice a scene cut and it all feels as though you really are watching this live.

Other Things

The costume director needs an award… now. The costumes here are absolutely gorgeous. Each Queen has her own style that lends itself to how her personality is supposed to be. Catherine of Aragon was very dark and serious, Anne Boleyn was sleek and sharp, Lady Jane was soft and bright, Anne of Cleves was darker and a mix of styles, Catherine Howard’s clothes were too big and too bright, like a child playing dress-up, and Catherine Parr is very simple. I absolutely loved the dresses on the female characters. The guys were a little repetitive, but still interesting to watch. My only issue is that a few of the dresses Anne Boleyn wears look nothing like a dress that would be worn in the 1500s in England…

 

L-R: Princess Mary and Queen Catherine Parr

This show is no where near historically accurate, just a warning to history fans. You get the basics of major events, but a lot of stuff is glossed over or simply left out. If you can accept the mistakes then you should have no trouble enjoying the show.

 

Each season description goes out of its way to point out how King Henry was focused on sex. In reality there isn’t as much sex in the show as you would expect. Yeah, in some episodes you see a lot of skin, but I’d say that maybe every season there are 2-3 episodes that have a strong sex scene or multiple sex scenes within the episode. Other than that it is dialed down a lot. As the series progresses (with the exception of the episodes dealing with Catherine Howard) there is less and less. A warning though: in Season 4 the sex scenes with Howard start to look like something from a porno. In that season I’d say you have maybe 4 sex-heavy episodes.

All in all I REALLY enjoyed this show. The costumes were beautiful, the sets incredible, and the acting phenomenal. I know that the show was mainly about Henry VIII’s reign, but I really wish they had decided to continue through Prince Edward’s short period on the throne and at least through the reign of Princess Mary. They don’t necessarily have to show the reign of Elizabeth, since there are already many shows and movies about that, but I would have liked to see more of the other two kids. Other than that though this was a brilliantly done show, absolutely incredible.

Hurricane Venus- BoA

Seriously, how did I get so far behind on the BoA posts?! This has been one of my favorite songs for MONTHS!

Lyics: 6/5
The song doesn’t really have any super deep meaning, so it’s hard to describe. The closest I can get is that it is a message to a boy saying that even though the girl seems wild like a hurricane if you get close enough you can find the girl at the center of the storm. It also says if you try to get close there is no chance you will avoid getting carried away. It’s not clear, but the lyrics make total sense. It’s kind of an odd combination.
“Uh uh uh uh Hurricane uh uh Venus/ uh uh uh uh Hurricane uh uh Venus/ slowly slowly attacks/ slowly slowly wakes your body up/ surrounds you/ Hurri-Hurri-Hurricane Ve-Ve-Venus”

Dance: 5/5
I like the dance, but the backup dancers steal a lot of the focus. They keep doing some army crawl thing that is kind of confusing. It isn’t as powerful of a dance as Copy & Paste, and it is mostly in the hips, while other songs of BoA’s tended to be more leg and arm based, but it suits the pace and song well.

Story: NA
There is no story outside of the lyrics. You see a lot of really cool sets, and about 3-4 different styles. There are a few shots (like the opening) with BoA in a white box with guys running up to it. This is highly reminiscent of her hit “Girls on Top”, so it makes me wonder if it is the same director or if it is just a throw back to that MV. They film outdoors to at a famous Seoul monument, but you can’t really tell it is outdoors, you don’t get a lot of scenery shots.

Other Things
BoA’s style for this is cool, but for some reason it makes her look much older than she is. I’m not a fan of the outfit with the shoulder pads or the one where her hair is slicked back in a braided ponytail, but the other two are pretty. I also don’t understand the solo shot with the hockey mask, it appears absolutely nowhere else, so~~~ kind of confusing.

I got to see this song performed live at SM Town Live ’10 in Seoul ^^ BoA does an incredible job of dancing and singing at the same time, which is incredibly difficult, especially to this song.

 

picture by me

This was BoA’s comeback song to Korea after being in Japan and the US for five years. I like it the most out of her 3 songs (Game, Hurricane Venus, and Copy & Paste). The song was written by Yoo Yongjin, the mastermind behind such hits as SNSD’s “Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)”, “Gee” and “Oh” and Super Junior’s “Sorry,Sorry” and “Bonamana” ^^ it has the same addictive feel as all of those songs, but a more mature feel.

 

The song also marked BoA’s 10 year anniversary as a singer, celebrated at SM Town Live with a cake ^^

Copy & Paste- BoA

I can’t believe how behind I’ve gotten on the BoA MVs! She’s my favorite solo artist!

Lyrics: 5/5
I’m not 100% sure about this, the song is a little confusing. I think it is about meeting a nice guy who has tried to change her in the past, and changing him instead. The lyrics definitely seem to imply that it is the guy who is changing, not BoA, and that she is the one taking control of the guy. You can decide for yourself though. There are two slightly different chorus lines (I’m starting to notice this in a lot of BoA songs), so I’ll post the translation of both.
#1
“B.o.A. D.N.A./ justified self esteem/ it’s all right/ yeah that’s right/ the fantasy I’d dreamed of/ the way to newly become that shiny blue star/ everything that I have/ just to you/ I copy and paste.”
#2
“B.o.A. D.N.A./ Self esteem because of you/ copy all/ copy me/ a message of love/ you who always looks at me a bit more warmly/ everything that I have/ just to you/ I copy and paste.”

Dancing: 6/5
It’s incredible that she can dance this and sing at the same time. It looks to be a very hard dance, similar to her original style (Hurricane Venus is a little different in my opinion). BoA shows off here how far her dance experience has taken her since debut.

Story: NA
There is no story outside the lyrics. You see three BoA’s of their own style and each with their own background. Two styles are used for dance scenes, and one seems to be just a solo shot theme. I personally like the background you see first the most, it looks very cool.

Other Things

 

The mysterious rig...

There is one little thing that kind of bothers me. In one of the first shots the strong back light lifts up. You can clearly see the rig it is attached to (you don’t see it anywhere else in the MV). What bothers me is that I can’t tell if that was supposed to be caught on camera or not… Typically in film if you see it then it was intended, but there have been a lot of little mistakes cropping up in MVs lately, so I’m not so confident. If you’re supposed to see it, then it should have been kept in the back a bit, not lost, but if you’re not supposed to see it the director should have done a better job of pulling it out.

 

In Hurricane Venus BoA had a much older look. I would have guessed she was around 29 or 30 with the shorter hair and ball cap. The three styles in this MV also make her look 3 ages. I’ll differentiate them by hairstyle, since that is where the focus is for one of them. The hair style with the epic bangs (you’ll see…) makes her look Hurricane Venus age. The second

Epic bangs

style with the bun looks around 26, and the last style where she goes back to her former long hair which became kind of trademark for her. In that last one she looks her age (24). I didn’t think hairstyles could change how old someone looks, at least not to this degree, but it really does.

 

The English at the beginning is what I was basing my lyric analysis off of. It is a call to men who think they can make women what they want and it says that the girl this time will be copying what she wants from them and “paste it/ to make a man of my design”. I think that is where you’re going to get your explanation for the song from. Honestly, without it I wouldn’t have any idea what was going on. Maybe it is the translation, but I haven’t found one yet that is clear.