Super Rookie (신입사원 / Shin-ip Sa-won -2005)

Starring:
Eric as Kang Ho
Han Ga In as Lee Mi-ok
Oh Ji Ho as Park Bong-sam
Lee So Yeon as Suh Hyun-ah
Extended Cast
Jung Jin as Joo Sung-tae (Kang Ho's friend)
Park Chil Yong as Kang Chul (Kang Ho's dad)
Park Hye Sook as Gong Hye-ja (Kang Ho's mom)
Suh Dong Won as Kang Min (Kang Ho's younger brother)
Kwon Ki Sun as Madam Kwon
Yang Hee Kyung as Madam Yang
Kim Young Min as Lee Il-man (Bong-sam's dad)
Kim Se Joon as Chief Moon Young-ho
Lee Ki Young as Chief Goo Bon-chul
Kim Il Woo as Director Song
Lee Ki Yeol as Director Kim Ki-yeol
Kaekeumaen Kim Sook as Agent Na Aeri
Yoo Da Young as Oh Young-ran
Lee Seung Chul as Chairman Maruyama
Suh Bum Sik as Miyazaki
Kim Hun Goo as Yakuza
Jung Joon Ha as Kochi
Kim Sook as Sook-hee


Super Rookie (신입사원: rookie employee) is an intelligent comedy which gives hope and courage to young people going through difficult times.

It is a story of a young man (Kang Ho) who gets a job in a prestigious company due to a computer error. He doesn't have a great family or educational background and is regarded as a slacker in the traditional terms. Worst yet, he seems to spend his life devoted to reading comic books, playing cards, kick boxing, and the like. However he is spirited, street smart, athletic, loyal, and charismatic - especially with the ladies. The drama reveals how he gets his new job, his work-life, and the love and passions in his life in a very interesting way. He never gets discouraged despite all of life’s difficulties. Kang Ho’s high spirits and Mi-ok’s efforts to improve her life give today’s younger generation a chance to look at their own lives and ponder what’s truly valuable.



Source: MBC Global Media

Okay, I loved AND hated this show. This really started out with promise. I was hooked until episode 15 and then got so damn bored that I stopped watching it. So I can't give you my opinion about the end but if it's anywhere near what I went through at episode 15. It was boring as hell.

Where were they going with this story? Was this supposed to be a romance? If it was.....it failed miserably. She, Mi-ok, couldn't seem to figure out who she really loved. I was going for Eric's character. But both mail leads were pretty damn hot....so either or would have been fine. But this wishy-washy storyline was absolute torture.

The only fine point out of this story......Kang-ho's brother. He was absolutely perfect in every freakin' way. I laughed uncontrollably when it came to him and his interactions with Kang-ho. Oh, it was freakin' funny! I so loved him. They should have had the show revolve around him. I'd have probably stuck it till the end.

Okay, I have heard about the ending. Sounds cute but yet I can't bring myself to torture for another 5 episodes. Sorry.

Oh Ji Ho

The Silver Knife (Eunjando)

Is virginity of any value to a girl now-a-days? Min Seo will hold her silver knife and give you a definite YES!

Min-seo (Shin Ae) lives with her family in Andong. The most precious family treasures, in the eyes of her Confucian father, are the Yeolnyeomun (gate of virtue) which is part of the historic site occupied by the family, and the Eunjangdo (silver knife), both symbols of a woman's chastity. The Yeolnyeomun, a perpetual reminder, is located conveniently just outside the house.

At the age of twelve, upon reaching womanhood, Min-seo is solemnly given the gift of a small ornamental silver knife by her father, with the admonishment that she is now responsible for her continued purity. Virginal she is, and virginal she will remain. She (also solemnly), accepts the knife, and the obligation it carries. She takes her responsibility so seriously, that she even layers herself with extra underwear to prevent any possible opportunity for assault against her state of grace. Her schoolmates, on discovering this, chide her for it mercilessly, but she remains staunchly faithful to tradition.

Fast forward to Min-seo desiring to go to college, in, of all damnable places, the great wicked city of Seoul. From home to perdition in one small leap. Her father flat out refuses to allow it of course, saying among other things, "Seoul corrupts the mind".

Aided by her mother, who doesn't want Min-seo to live the life she herself must live, and by her brother who feels the same way, she manages to leave home. The departure scene is very amusing, with the mother in a physical grappling match against the father, who is nearly foaming at the mouth in rage. The term, "going ballistic" fits here nicely.

Min-seo's train ride to Seoul is not without incident. She handles it with great aplomb…and her trusty silver knife. Of course.

Ju-haek (Oh Ji Ho) is the smitten boyfriend who is dying to get into the (now figurative) much layered underwear of the pristine Min-seo. He is the soul of chivalry and protectiveness coming undone in the grip of young lust. He plots and schemes alone, or with the help of his friends, trying to come up with a plan that will land him between the sheets with his ice princess. The situations arrived at are so ridiculous, you have to sit and laugh at them.

There are other characters always either getting it on, or trying to with mixed results, that are invariably weird and funny as hell. Think a man's private parts and saran wrap. OMG! LOL!.

Toward the end of the movie, Ju-haek makes an impassioned statement that is quite powerful, decrying the tradition of the silver knife, which was as often used for committing suicide after dishonor, as it may have been to defend honor by turning it upon the man who attempted intimacy. Oh Ji-ho shines in this sequence, and you see his potential, as yet unexpressed elsewhere. There is also a scene of tenderness between Ju-haek and Min-seo that takes place on a bridge, which will touch any heart that allows itself to be reached by a simple act of caring that says, "this is love, doing this is what makes love real...."

If you are looking for a basically jolly movie with strange characters, a lot of sexual innuendo, and buffoonery galore (a specialty of Oh Ji-ho's), this is it.

Oh Ji Ho

Can you say YUMMY-LICIOUS? I haven't seen any of his dramas...but I think I will now!!