#(year) 2011

Song Kang Sook is a single mother who has a daughter named Eun Joo. She married a rich widower named Goo Dae Sung who also has a daughter called Yoo Sun. The two girls became step sisters during their teenage years. What Dae Sung wasn’t aware of was that Kang Sook had a difficult past with a bad reputation and she is also a gold digger who simply wants to improve her way of living and social status. However, she seem to genuinely love Dae Sung and Yoo Sun, probably even more than Eun Joo, her very own daughter. This is the main reason why Eun Joo resented her mother, adding the fact that she hated their way of surviving in the harsh world by leeching off from someone else’s money. Aside from her mother, Eun Joo also detested her step sister’s sunny personality who didn’t know what being poor and unloved meant since Yoo Sun grew up from a rich family with a lot of love from the people around her.

Eun Joo became cold to everyone due to moving from one place to another, never settling in. That’s why she tried hard to live unattached to the people who gets involved with her because she knew that she and her mother would have to leave sooner or later. The only thing she didn’t expect was that the Goo household was different. Her step father Dae Sung has shown her fatherly love and compassion which she never even dreamt of experiencing. For the first time in her life, she felt comforted from knowing that she finally had a legitimate father figure to look out for her despite her stubborn personality. Then one day, a tragedy happened triggered by lies and deceit which caused chaos in the family and threatened to tear each member apart.

The title says “Cinderella” because it was depicted from the fairy tale’s premise of step sisters but the drama was very much different in every aspect. This drama was somewhat similar to Cinderella’s story but with a big twist, there was no glass slipper and Cinderella was not the highlight but instead, it was the step sister who shined

through the whole series even though she was too sardonic to be understood by anyone. Plus there was all the makjang that the drama could offer – it was a big roller coaster ride of emotions. So what exactly made it similar to the original fairytale? There’s the not-so-evil step sister Song Eun Joo who was acted by Moon Geun Young and Cinderella who’s known as Goo Yoo Sun which was portrayed by Seo Woo, but aside that, nothing else is. These two characters are so vital in this drama since the story mainly revolved around them. Then insert the male lead and second one namely Chun Jung Myung and Ok Taec Yeon, things gets more interesting and complicated at the same time with these two men involved in the pretty ladies lives. There’s also Lee Mi Sook as Song Kang Sook and Goo Dae Sung as Kim Gab Soo.

These two characters who posed as the parents held so much meaning for this drama too. Without them, there wouldn’t be Eun Joo and Yoo Sun to begin with. Their lives would never have crossed in the twisted fashion that the writer had thought of if not for them. The parents had their own story to tell so as to pave way for the step sisters and that’s one part of this drama to look forward to.

To be honest, what made me watch this in the first place was Moon Geun Young. I am biased like that when it comes to actresses I like. Then adding up how the writer depicted Eun Joo’s character, though dark and gloomy, the character held so much promise. Setting my bias aside – Geun Young did great justice acting as Eun Joo. Due to Eun Joo’s family history and social back ground, her bad personality simply justified her outward bitchiness. I really love the tough exterior that she exuded all throughout even though deep inside, she’s all marshmallows. Oh, and I’m not forgetting Hong Ki Hoon, the man who moved her heart and made her do things she don’t usually do. My favorite scene is when Ki Hoon asked Eun Joo to call his name because he loved hearing her say it. The way I write it here may seem nonsensical, but in the drama, it was a very moving scene worth replaying again and again. Another highlight scene about these two is when they firsts met and Ki Hoon pulled at Eun Joo’s hear pin making her beautiful lush hair fall dawn behind her as she ran away from him. There’s also Han Jung Woo, the second lead who is always lurking about Eun Joo, in a good way, since he had good intentions for her. It’s just too bad that the other guy had already marked his way into Eun Joo’s heart because Jung Woo would have been a great guy for her if not for Ki Hoon. Lastly, Goo Yoo Sun, she’s the type of character who gets too annoying because she’s the ultimate goody two shoes. It’s not that she’s pretending to be one but she’s innately like that and that’s pretty tiring to watch especially when I have invested myself in feeling all sad and melodramatic because of the main protagonist.

The music was also lovely especially in those very melodramatic moments in which I couldn’t help crying and say to myself, “Please please please stop hurting so badly already so I could stop crying for you”. This was my internal dialogue which ran through my mind all through out every episode for Eun Joo. Do take note that it has been 7 years since I last saw this drama but still… by far, this is one of the best melodramatic Korean series I have ever seen. I rated it 9/10 because though I loved it, there were some turn out in the story line which I disagree with and would have changed if it was up to me. That aside, I’m definitely recommending this to those who are into a cry-fest makjang drama. It’s probably best to prepare a bucket for those incoming tears if not, a box of tissue would do.

Photos are not mine. Credits to the owner.

Alright, so the second year of this decade was considerably worse than the first, and quite possibly the worst year since Year 1990. However, I don't think this was necessarily because musical trends were getting worse or anything like that. It's just that most new arrivals on the scene - except for Lana Del Rey and Birdy - weren't quite to my taste. I'm sure Year 2012 will be way better than this.

Since I have little else to add, I'll just hit you with my top 10 of Year 2011. :)

10. 'Love You Like A Love Song' - Selena Gomez & The Scene

9. 'Machu Picchu' - The Strokes

8. 'Something Good Can Work' - Two Door Cinema Club

7. 'Think You Can Wait' - The National

6. 'Shake It Out' - Florence + The Machine

5. 'Skinny Love' - Birdy

4. 'Paradise' - Coldplay

3. 'I Want The World To Stop' - Belle And Sebastian

2. 'Postcards From A Young Man' - Manic Street Preachers

'Video Games' - Lana Del Rey

BARRETT DOSS WITH ROBERT ROSENBERG AT BURNING’S OPENING NIGHT PARTY