Flower Boys Next Door (2013)

 

After my review of Backstreet Rookie, I thought I would take a break from writing about K-dramas (I was initially thinking about doing a review of Psycho II). I changed my mind after watching Flower Boys Next Door. On the surface, it is your standard romantic comedy – it follows the formula to perfection: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back. Yet, like most K-dramas, there are a lot of interesting things going on beneath the surface.  Flowers Boys Next Door is populated with interesting characters, all of whom are incredibly different, at least on the surface, but also very similar, especially when it comes to insecurities and ambitions.

Go Dok-mi (Park Shin-hye)

Dok-mi edits manuscripts for a living - one of the benefits of her job is that she can work from home. She rarely leaves her apartment, except when it is necessary (in one of the earlier episodes she runs out of toothpaste and toilet paper).  She also tries to avoid interacting with people – she has lived in her apartment for three years but has never said a word to any of her neighbors.  However, despite her distant nature, she does harbor a massive crush on Tae-joon, a doctor who lives in the apartment across the street, opposite of hers. She watches him from her window every morning, often using binoculars to get a close look at him. I have always said there is a thin line between horror movies and romantic comedies – in a different series this act of voyeurism could have more sinister implications and lead to truly bad things. However, in Dok-mi’ s case, due to her introverted nature, she is content with watching him from afar.  When Tae-joon’s cousin, Enrique – a popular video developer – catches her spying on them, Dok-mi’s life changes drastically. Park Shin-hye is effectively cast in the role of Dok-mi, with her expressive eyes she is often able to convey a lot by doing very little. It’s also interesting to note that, like three previous Korean actresses I have written about (Park Bo-young, Kim So-hyun, and Kim Yoo-jung), was once given the title of the “Nation’s Little Sister.”  

Enrique Geum (Yoon Shi-yoon)

Enrique is a famous video game developer, who moved to Spain, with his mother, at the age of ten. He is visiting his cousin Tae-joon with his friend, Seo-young, in tow.  His plan is to play cupid with Seo-young and Tae-joon. Seo-young was Enrique’s first love but she threw him over in favor of Tae-joon. However, rather than remain bitter about her rejection, Enrique decided he would help her out.  Though, it turns out to be more difficult than he imagined, because it turns out his cousin is kind of a dick.

Enrique is defined by his upbeat, hyperactive demeanor. He is the opposite of Dok-mi – she internalizes all her emotions while Enrique wears his emotions on his sleeve. His enthusiastic nature can be annoying at times – he is constantly laughing and bouncing around – but this is largely a mask to hide his insecurities.  He is also an empathic soul – when we are first introduced to Enrique he is on a plane and cheering up a crying child by performing a makeshift puppet show.  While Dok-mi avoids people, Enrique genuinely likes them and wants to cheer them up. 

He initially believes that Dok-mi is a pervert, but when he witnesses her current situation, he is determined to help her come out of her shell and embrace the outside world.

Oh Ji Rok (Kim Ji-hoon)

Ji Rok is a webtoon artist who lives next door to Dok-mi. He has a massive crush on Dok-mi but has never worked up the nerve to talk to her, because he was afraid that he would scare her away.  He begins to write a webtoon called “Flower Boys Next Door” based on Dok-mi and the men in her life.

 
Even before they meet, he is already connected to Enrique – he was accused of plagiarizing Enrique with his webtoon, “Zombie Soccer.”  He also has legally changed his name from Jae-weon to Ji Rok, because of the scandal associated with his former name. It is also revealed that he comes from a wealthy family, who disavowed him when he became a webtoon artist – his older brother keeps pressuring him to relinquish his inheritance.

When Enrique enters Dok-mi’ s life, this makes Ji Rok jealous – it annoys him how “easy” it was for Enrique to break the ice with her. He desperately wants to White Knight for Dok-mi, by ridding her of this nuisance, but much to his annoyance, he finds himself liking Enrique. When he confronts Enrique on apartment roof, he concludes that Enrique is a “decent guy.” He wants to hate him, but it proves to be difficult.  In fact, Enrique initially has no romantic interest in Dok-mi and even tries to play cupid for Ji Rok and Dok-mi – he gives the former tips on how to talk to her and he speaks highly of Ji Rok when he is around Dok-mi. Yet, Ji Rok still hesitates to make a move and, predictably, Dok-mi and Enrique fall for each other. 

Cha Do-hwi

Do-hwi owns a clothing store and has her sights set on Ji Rok – she knows about his true identity and desperately wants to hook up with him.  She was also Dok-mi’ s best friend growing up, but the two of them had a falling out in high school. They both had a crush on their literature teacher and when he showed interest in Dok-mi (in a pure academic sense), Do-hwi got jealous and started a salacious rumor about Dok-mi and him. The teacher threw Dok-mi under the bus and transferred to another school, while Dok-mi was shunned and bullied for the rest of her high school experience. When she learns that Dok-mi lives next door to her crush, Do-hwi tries to rekindle their friendship, but Dok-mi is suspicious about her motives. 

Oh Dong-hoon (Go Kyung-pyo)

Dong-hoon is Ji Rok’s roommate and assistant on the webtoon. He also works a part time job at night, as a designated driver, to help pay the bills.  He is often the voice of sanity – he often questions Ji-Rok’s motives and is baffled by his friend’s constant rejection of Do-hwi.  He also has a love/hate relationship with the editor of their webtoon, Seul-gi, who is simultaneously annoyed and infatuated with him.

Kim Seul-gi (webtoon editor) (Kim Seul-gi)

Seul-gi is the stressed-out editor of Ji-Rok’s and Dong-hoon’s webtoon, Flower Boys Next Door. She gets very little sleeps and always has rings under her eyes. She becomes infatuated with Dong-hoon and even co-signs a $5800 loan for him after he damages his car. 

Yoon Seo-young (Kim Yoon-hye)/ Han Tae-joon (Kim Jung San)

Seo-young is Enrique’s best friend (and first-time love) who has romantic designs on Enrique’s cousin, Tae-joon – she specifically came to South Korea with Enrique so she could be with Tae-joon.
However, it proves to be a rather toxic relationship – Seo-young pours her heart out to Tae-joon but he just shrugs her off. He also decides to leave the country to fulfill his dream of being an island doctor and, unfortunately, there is no place for Seo-young in Tae-joon’ s dream, and he leaves her flat. Seo-young’s main reason for coming to South Korea has left and she wants to go back to Spain and insists that Enrique come back with her. These are the two least interesting characters in Flower Boys Next Door and, mercifully, very little time is devoted to their drama.  Indeed, they both exit the series midway through.

Mitzuke Kouki (Watanabe Ryu)

Mitzuke is the super friendly Japanese tenant whose main reason for coming to South Korea is the cuisine. He offers cooking classes in his apartment and befriends the tenants on his floor – he forms a close bond with Enrique.  He may be the only character who doesn’t have a major hang up. 

Hong Song-chul (Lee Dae-yeon)/ Jung Im (Kim So-yi)
Song-chul is the friendly apartment security guard who is in love with Jung Im – a classy middle-aged woman, who many suspect is the landlord.  Song-chul constantly tries to court Jung Im and always falls on his ass – he has the best intentions, but he is also incredibly awkward.  Jung Im is an agreeable person, who is interested in her neighbors (especially the younger males) and even makes a few friends. 

While Flower Boys Next Door is a romantic comedy, it is often a painful show to watch. This is in large part due to the characters’ troubled histories and their inability to move on from them. Dok-mi was betrayed and bullied by her best friend in high school and, understandably, has trust issues.  The main characters, despite their different backgrounds and personalities, have a few things in common:

Loneliness
They are all lonely individuals. Dok-mi has become content with isolating herself from the rest of humanity by hiding in her apartment. When Enrique takes an interest in her, at first, she is baffled by his presence – she doesn’t know what to make of him. When she begins to like him, this causes her to panic, and she pushes him away – she doesn’t want to risk having her heart broken. Enrique begins to mistake her quiet nature for indifference and even gets mad when, after he tells her he is leaving for Spain, she can only muster up a simple “Goodbye.”

Enrique has a legion of devoted fans and is often recognized on the street but has never had any meaningful relationships – he loves Seo-young, who in turn loves his cousin.  Enrique’s spastic behavior can be off putting at times, but he genuinely means well.  He is a fish out of water – he has grown up in Spain, so South Korea is like a foreign country to him. That’s probably why his behavior – like incessantly ringing on Dok-mi’s doorbell and knocking on her door – baffles everyone else. He is not really concerned with social customs, especially when he believes a person needs help. It genuinely annoys Ji Rok that Enrique’s “annoying” behavior ends up working on Dok-mi, while his more sensitive and methodical approach has failed to make any progress. 

Ji Rok, like Dok-mi, mostly confines himself to his apartment. Though, he at least has a handful of friends and often interacts with his neighbors. He has admired Dok-mi from afar but, other than a few exchanges in the elevator, has never made any effort to talk to her.  He does leave drawings on the milk cartons that are left outside of her door, but never reveals to her that he is the artist (even though she likes the drawings).  His extremely cautious approach annoys Dong-hoon, who wishes he would just work up the courage to talk to her. It’s only when Enrique enters Dok-mi’s life that Ji Rok FINALLY breaks the ice with her.  

Do-hwi surrounds herself with hangers-on and enablers but she doesn’t have a genuine friend. She betrayed the one real friend she had in high school and all her attempts on winning back Dok-mi are massive fails. She tries to appeal to nostalgia by giving Dok-mi a box filled with pictures and other mementos from their teenaged years. She throws a party in Dok-mi’s honor but only ends up pushing Dok-mi away further when she invites their literature teacher (the man who threw Dok-mi under the bus).  I initially wondered if Do-hwi was deliberately trying to traumatize Dok-mi, but it turns out that she is a stupid woman who can’t read the room. It was also revealed the reason the teacher showed up to the party was to apologize to Dok-mi. 

Unrequited Love/Idolization
The themes of idolization and unrequited love constantly pop up in Flower Boys Next Door; every character is inflicted with one or another (or sometimes both).  Dok-mi idolizes Tae-joon – she admires him from afar because on the surface he is the ideal male: young, handsome, and successful. The idea of Tae-joon is attractive and, I suspect, the main reason she never contacted him was the reality of Tae-joon could never live up to her illusion. She put him so high on a pedestal that any interaction with him would only knock him down a few pegs. 

The same applies to Ji Rok – he is in love with the idea of Dok-mi – the quiet, helpless girl who needs his sensitive guiding hand.  The few times they do interact, he treats her with kid gloves, out of fear that any sudden move or suggestion might traumatize her for life.  He mistakes her silence for weakness. His overly cautious approach towards her ends up opening the door of opportunity for Enrique. In fact, Enrique tells Ji Rok to confess his feelings to Dok-mi, because if he waits too long someone else will come along. Enrique never believed that “someone else” would be him. 

It is also sad that Enrique can learn more about Dok-mi in a couple of days than Ji Rok has in three years.  This is largely because Enrique doesn’t idolize Dok-mi; his intentions are not initially romantic in nature – he sees a lonely woman who he wants to help.

While Enriques doesn’t idolize anyone, he is idolized by his devoted fans. This is represented in the form of Bae Bok, a passionate fan who Enrique befriends at the restaurant MItzuke works at.  However, Bae Bok’s fandom turns completely toxic when she learns about his relationship with Dok-mi.  Enrique was initially supposed to be in South Korea for a month, then he was supposed to return to Spain to begin work on an animated film based off one of his video games. He prolongs this trip after Dok-mi and him begin to date. This enrages Bae Bok, who first sprays paints “DIE” on Dok-mi’s apartment door and then post pictures of Dok-mi on the fan forums to rile up the fanbase.  They are so angered over an animated movie that they are willing to ruin the life of woman who has done nothing wrong. It’s only a matter of time that the salacious rumors that haunted Dok-mi throughout high school make their way to the internet. They can’t believe their idol would date a woman “like that.”  Enrique calls a meeting of the local fans (including Bae Bok) and sets them straight on a few things. Basically, he tells them to “grow up” and assures them that he will return to Spain to being work on his animation project, but they need to stop attacking Dok-mi.  He also brings Dok-mi with him to put a human face to the woman they irrationally despise – it is easy to attack someone online but it is very difficult when they are in the same room as you. This subplot also gives Do-hwi her character arc, when the vicious rumors make their way to the internet, Doh-wi goes online to defend Dok-mi.

Enrique’s affection for Seo-young falls under unrequited love because he has poured his heart and soul out to her, but she only sees him as a friend and has feelings for his cousin.  Seo-young and Tae-joon are also a more clear-cut case of unrequited love – she is constantly by his side, pleading her case, and he just gives her the cold shoulder. Every time the two of them are seen together, Tae-joon looks annoyed and just views Seo-young as an inconvenience.

Do-hwi constantly throws herself at Ji Rok, but he spurns her advances. Once he learns that Do-hwi is responsible for Dok-mi’s introverted lifestyle, he tries to avoid her like the plague.  Do-hwi also mistakenly believes that Ji Rok is wealthy, unaware that his family has disavowed him. 

To a lesser degree, we see this theme of unrequited love play out between Sung-chul and Jung Im; he is constantly looking for reason to talk to her, but she remains oblivious towards his feelings. 

However, as painful as Flower Boys Next Door can be, it is also extremely uplifting at times. It’s hard not to cheer for Dok-mi as she slowly begins to embrace the outside world and make new friends. She is a character who has been through so much that when something finally goes her way, you can’t help to smile. There is also a nuance to Park Shin-hye’s performance – there is a scene, early on, where Enrique convinces her to go on a road trip and he takes her to the beach, and you can briefly see a smile flash across her face. Yet, despite this heart-warming moment, Dok-mi’s cynicism takes over and she asks Enrique if they can pretend that they never met. What I like about this series is that Dok-mi transition from being a cynical hermit to open minded individual is a gradual process; there is no scene where she gets invited to a party, gets shit faced, and, in her drunken state, becomes the life of the party.  She does get drunk in one scene, but she is more of a quiet drunk, and never becomes the focal point. 

The American equivalent to Flower Boys Next Door would be She’s All That, where the extremely dorky Laney Boggs is given a radical makeover by popular jock, Zack, and overnight becomes the most talked about woman on campus. Despite her introverted nature, she is magically able to make friends with a few of the popular girls and is nominated for Prom Queen. There is no scene in Flower Boys Next Door where Dok-mi is given a radical makeover. There is a scene later in the series where Enrique and she go clothing shopping, but that is about it. She is already a pretty woman and doesn’t need a makeover to emphasize that point. Her shopping for clothes is more about diversifying her wardrobe rather than compromising her personality.  She doesn’t magically morph into a social butterfly by the series end; she is still a bit awkward but is happy with Enrique and her handful of friends.  This leads me to two other themes that are prominent throughout the series:

Real Love
To quote Haddaway, “What is love?”  This is a question that constantly gets tossed around throughout the series.  The characters often express their love for individuals, because often they mistake attraction for love.  Dok-mi is attracted to Tae-joon and likes the idea of him, but chances are if she got to know the guy, she would gradually despise him.  It is easy to claim you love someone when times are good, or when you know very little about them, but the true test is when the shit hits the fan. 

Real love is often forged in fire – Dok-mi and Enrique get into multiple fights and witness each other’s worst qualities, but at the end of the day are still there for each other. In one of the show’s more realistic moments, after they have agreed to start dating, both are initially at a loss over what to do. This is a new experience for them.  Enrique doesn’t just magically transform into a passionate lover; he plays his romance with Dok-mi by ear.  The most interesting thing about their relationship is that they can communicate without words: Enrique often knows what Dok-mi is thinking just by the look in her eyes and body language; later, Dok-mi also learns this same skill with Enrique. 

There is an interesting role reversal in the second half of the series – in the first half, it is Enrique who pesters Dok-mi and gradually melts her icy heart.  In second half, after Enrique gets attacked by an outraged mother, he begins to have a crisis of faith and believes that he has a negative influence on the youth; when he shows this darker side to Dok-mi, she pleads for the old Enrique to come back and then is determined to cheer him up.  

Their relationship is, to a lesser extent, mirrored with Dong-hoon and Seul-gi – they initially start off as being combative towards one another. Seul-gi constantly screams up a storm over how unsatisfied she is with Ji Rok’s and Dong-hoon’s webtoon. However, as the show progresses, the two of them become fond of one another (Seul-gi co-signs a long for Dong-hoon and he gives her polite tips on how to improve her image) and it eventually turns into love. It’s a relationship that was formed in the trenches and can survive because both have already witnessed each other’s worst traits. More importantly, Dong-hoon falls in love with Seul-gi when she still looks like shit – he even comments that the permanent rings under her eyes are “kind of cute.”

Community
This theme is prominent in most K-dramas – the protagonist begins the series as a loner and by the end has built a small community around him/her.  In some instances, like the entertaining Birdie Buddy, they already belong to a strong community, and this is what props them up in their toughest moments.  Flower Boys Next Door begins with Dok-mi alone in her apartment and ends with her outdoors, walking on the sidewalk with Enrique and a handful of friends (including Ji Rok).  This a literal representation of the phrase “strength in numbers.”  Dok-mi begins the series believing that she can do everything on her own, but once she gets to know Enrique, and the joy he usually brings to the proceedings, she realizes this is a fallacy – especially after Enrique pronounces his love for to his less than receptive fanbase. He is willing to alienate his fans and potentially derail his career, because his love for Dok-mi is more important.  When she sees what he is willing to sacrifice, she can’t help but be moved. Early in the show, she states that her high school experience would have been bearable if only ONE person had stood by her side. Just one person she could lean on and pour out all her troubles to. It turns out that Enrique is that one person and she is perfectly okay with it. However, it certainly helps to have some back up and her fellow tenants at the apartment perfectly fill those roles. 

This theme of community extends to Mitzuke – he is a foreigner in another country, but rather than alienate himself from everyone, the first thing he does is make friends. He introduces himself to his neighbors and invites him to his apartment for cooking lesson. In fact, it is these weekly gatherings at his apartment that help cement the bonds the characters form. In one scene, Jung Im is bummed that Enrique is not there, because he is the one who makes the gatherings fun. This is not to say communities are inherently good – after all, the fanbase are a community and they behave in a toxic manner towards Dok-mi – but it certainly helps surrounding yourself with a handful people who understand and support you.

Flower Boys Next Door is not a perfect show. It often suffers from two tropes that annoy me: an overreliance on flashbacks to drive home a point – it often flashbacks to a scene that happened seconds ago. It also is heavily reliant on creating drama by people either missing a phone call or ignoring it. However, despite these flaws, it is still a pleasant diversion, and it does fly at a fast pace. Like most K-dramas, it is addictive – it is difficult to watch just one episode. 

Cast: Park Shin-hye (Go Dok-mi), Yoon Shi-yoon (Enrique Geum), Kim Ji-hoon (Oh Jin Rok), Park Soo-jin (Cha Do-hwi), Go Kyung-pyo(Oh Dong-hoon), Koki Mizuta (Watanabe Ryu), Kim Seul-gi (webtoon editor), Lee Dae-yeon (Hong Soon-chul), Kim So-yi (Jung Im), Kim Yoon-hye (Yoon Seo-young), Kim Jung San (Han Tae-joon), Kim Da-ye (Bae Bok).

Director: Jung Jung-hwa
Writer: Kim Eun-jung
16 episodes ~ 60 minutes