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Welcome to Waikiki (2018)

What a happy, crazy, funny show!  Putting together six leads, one baby (also a lead), numerous cameos and various groups of non-Koreans is quite a feat.  Each episode, you’re thinking that there can’t be more ridiculous, sillier ideas, knowing that there will be more to laugh at, and when the next episode comes, it doesn’t disappoint!



The leads

The guys are super individually and together.  

 

The ladies are not equally compelling.  Jung In-sun is alright as pretty, innocent, efficient Yoon-ah, and her character is suitably cute, of course pitiful and sometimes so unexpected (such as her dream to be a rapper!).  Ko Won-hee is also alright as Seo-jin but I found her character the least funny, actually not even funny most of the time.  Why wasn’t she vindicated for standing up to the interviewer who harassed her fellow interviewee and why was so much work-bullying allowed at her office, though?  



Lee Joo-woo is the funniest as Soo-ah.  You expect to hate her after she dumps Dong-gu (Kim Jung-hyun) and the others are constantly going on about how she’s “evil” but she's the most interesting of the ladies and the champion of deadpanning, doubly effective because of her permanent disgruntled smirk. When Dong-gu turns up at her shoot with Seol strapped to him, she just looks nonchalantly and says, “What’s up with the baby?”  Then there’s her flouncing around in the long colourful dress pushing the suitcase during their ill-fated company retreat.  She is the one who is the most supportive of Dong-gu in his pursuit of Yoon-ah and I liked her till she sabotages Du-sik’s (Son Seung-won) dates with Ah-young – totally unnecessary to make her so mean and to embarrass not just Du-sik but also Ah-young and Dong-gu during that inane tap dance-clown ‘confession’ scene.  Thankfully, she mellows towards the end of the show.



The relationships



Dong-gu and Yoon-ah are so sweet and they grow in their relationship over the 20 episodes into the most romantic pairing of the three.  Jung-hyun gets to do many more emotional scenes than the other guys.



Jun-ki (Lee Yi-kyung) and Seo-jin do not strike me as a couple that will last.  After drunkenly kissing Jun-ki, Seo-jin decides she likes him (but why?).  Jun-ki initially has trouble thinking of her as anything more than the girl he grew up with and can’t get used to the idea of her as a partner (me too) but an episode later, he is fine with the idea (but why?).  A huge problem is how Seo-jin forbids him to crack jokes and to play silly games with Du-sik, but that is exactly who Jun-ki is, so what is it that she likes about him?  In addition, anyone would know that actors and journalists have irregular schedules but we have to endure those predictable times when he misses dates because of his shoots (but she never misses anything despite her journalistic commitments) and her getting upset about it, although she has known his acting busy-ness for the longest time.  They are not even very funny together (although Yi-kyung is wonderfully amusing on his own and with the others). [and so funny that Jun-ki is supposed to be Lee Deok-hwa’s son!]



Du-sik and Soo-ah are the cutest pair, who, through all their bickering and insults, become great friends.  I liked how they work together and while seeming like they can’t stand each other, support and appreciate each other.  Du-sik is the most kind-hearted of the lot and he is so sweet to buy up all her awful fashion online!  At episode 20, they are supposedly still just friends but if they did end up as a couple, you wouldn’t worry too much about them.



Everyone and Seol –it is so cute seeing them all interact with Seol.  It’s funny how she cries when Soo-ah gets within a metre of her and the guys congratulate Seol on being able to differentiate between good and evil at her young age.  However, there was at least one later scene when Soo-ah has her strapped to her, so I guess Seol didn’t mind her anymore by then.  Dong-gu was fantastic playing his self-appointed ‘appa’ role and carrying Seol everywhere but I thought Du-sik was especially cute with her.  




Seol’s role is sealed with all her funny expressions and adorable outfits.    



Cameos

Very sporting of the people who cameo-ed here and embraced all the silliness!  Never would have expected to see Jeon Soo-keon (as the demanding yet emotional landlady), Yoon Se-ah (as Dong-gu’s Go-expert senior), Jin Ye-sol (as scriptwriter) and Kim Ho-chang (as Yoon-ah's pervert-admirer) cameo in ‘silly’ roles!  I didn’t know the numerous others cameo-ing as themselves or some funny character but they all contributed hugely to the drama and humour.  Most memorable for me were copycat unoriginal rapper MC Dacopy (Kim Kiri), Soo-ah’s K drama-loving UFC brother Soo-bong (Shin Seung-hwan) and Jun-ki stalking his stalker!  



The show is light-hearted and fun, so all my complaints about characters and relationships are ‘minor’ in the grand scheme of Waikiki.  I enjoyed it very much but cannot find Part 2 on Netflix.  However, I did spot members of the Macaron family in the show!



20 episodes, JTBC


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