Kdrama Review: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop (AKA Classic Korean Comedy and Clichés)

When in doubt, pick a drama from 2011. “Flower Boy Ramyun Shop” is my, what, sixth – seventh – Korean show from that brilliant year of foreign TV magic. How did kdrama viewers maintain their social lives in 2011? Maybe they just all sat around watching TV together.

(And yes, I know how to spell ramen. Ramyun is the Korean spelling. This poster is Drama Fever failing to spell it accurately.)


“Flower Boy Ramyun Shop” (which I’m going to shorten to FBRS from here on out) is a romantic comedy about a college girl studying to be a teacher, a flirtatious heir to a conglomerate, a tall and kind ramen chef, the leader of a high school gang, and… another high school kid… I’m not really sure why he’s there. Oh, wait! He’s there because you can’t run a ramen restaurant with only four people! Especially when the Male Lead is a priss, which would make it three actual workers. So this random group of characters ends up working together at, you guessed it, a ramen shop. Commence love triangle. Or if you count sibling affection, it might be called a love quadrilateral, or pentagon, or whatever shape love takes when four men care about one woman.

(To further explain the title, besides the weird spelling of ramen: flower boy is the translation of a Korean word that refers to a handsome young man. It comes up in kdrama a lot.)

The biggest strength of FBRS is definitely the humor! There’s awkward and embarrassing situations (like getting caught staring at someone attractive)! There’s slapstick (like someone getting hit in the head with random objects)! There’s ridiculous, over-the-top reactions and facial expressions (gang leader kid was my favorite for this)! There’s poop jokes (and regular references to constipation)! There’s even a little wit in there, too. This show was heavy on the comedy, so if you enjoy Korean humor, watch it for sure.

In the first few episodes, FBRS felt scarily similar to “Bel Ami,” with all the women on screen staring at and flirting with an arrogant pretty boy, Female Lead included. Thankfully, this drama didn’t reach the vomit-worthy levels of “Bel Ami” and all the giggling and winking eventually faded out. Whew! Female Lead made up for being so easy in the beginning by later proving to be a strong athlete with a temper.

While 2011 may have been blessed with such wonders as “City Hunter,” “Dream High,” “Secret Garden” (technically a 2010, but it finished in 2011), “Heartstrings,” “Protect the Boss” and “Lie to Me,” this drama isn’t as good as the others from that year, in my opinion. Though if we’re rating kisses, “Lie to Me” and FBRS are pretty much tied for the best kisses in kdrama land. Anyways: onto why this drama wasn’t up to par with the greatness of its year.

This plot fulfilled so many kdrama clichés, I need to make a list. From the beginning I predicted the ending, thus I wasn’t emotionally involved. Nothing really original in the story, and a few too many plot holes for my liking.

Warning, mild SPOILERS. Here goes the Kdrama Cliché List:

-Second Male Lead is SO marriable (attractive, kind, responsible, respectful) but he doesn’t get the girl. Ever.
-Male Lead is an heir, ridiculously wealthy, arrogant, rude, hot, and – gets the girl. No matter how terrible of a person he is. (In his defense, he generally becomes less rude the more he falls for the Female Lead.)
-Female Lead is broke, out of a job, works a lot of part-time jobs, her family is in debt, or is somehow otherwise financially screwed.
-Male Lead’s parent(s) do not approve of a poor girl for their son, and thus try to sabotage the relationship.
-Noble idiocy, which is a sick plot twist where one person in the main couple breaks it off for the secret reason of protecting the other person. (Example: “Oh, no! I don’t want you disowned and out of a job! I’ll do what your parents want and break up with you – even though I actually love you and you love me!”) Don’t worry, it never lasts.
-Weird back-story where the lead characters’ parents knew each other / were romantically involved with each other back in the day.
-Hospital scene. Somebody always has to go to the hospital.

I know kdrama clichés so well, I could probably write a kdrama myself… Or I’ve just seen too many Korean TV shows. Do I have a problem?

To sum up, “Flower Boy Ramyun Shop” is fluffy and fun, but not one of my all-time favorites, as I’d seen it all before.

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