Rewatched: Extra-Ordinary You (어쩌다 발견한 하루)
어쩌다 발견한 하루 – eojjeoda balgyeonhan halu – A Day Found By Chance
Extra-Ordinary You is one of those dramas I can always go back to. Whether I need a laugh, a cry, or a nice little romance. What’s crazy is I had never planned to watch it at first. High School dramas, romances specifically, tended to always be a miss for me. Obviously, there are always exceptions to the rules. Extra-Ordinary You is one of those exceptions.
I want to preface this with I am usually not a rewatch drama type of girlie. There are very few I will go back to. Does that mean I don’t enjoy the one I don’t rewatch? Absolutely not. But sometimes once is the perfect amount.
Back to your regularly scheduled Rewatching.
Extra-Ordinary You follows Eun Dan-O (Kim Hye-Yoon) a high school student in an elite private school with her betrothed Baek Kyung (Lee Jae-Wook) and his group of friends known as A3. While she chases him like a puppy, he has no interest in her, in fact he seems to absolutely hate her. While she deals with his lack of interest and her health problems she starts to notice lapses in time, and an odd sound every time a lapse happens.
That’s when she finds out that she is actually a character in a 만화 (manhwa – Korean comics/print cartoons). Not only does she find out she is a character, she isn’t even the main character but a secondary with a short time to live due to the health problems. She is determined to change her fate and during one attempt she tumbles down the stairs but a the strong back of a mysterious someone saved her. She searches for the owner of the back and finds a tall handsome young man (Rowoon), who has no name. She believes he is the answer to changing her story and as their relationship grows she finally gives him the name Haru. From there the story really becomes a whirlwind and sweeps Dan-O and Haru into the wild world of the 만화 stage and their life off stage.
SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT!
The reason I usually tended to skip high school romances dramas was that they tend to be very young. Which I mean, obviously, they’re high school romances. I am not their demographic and that’s all good. But I decided to give this one a go because, if I’m being honest, I am a big Rowoon fan. I had seen him in Click Your Heart which was a choose your own path drama to promote SF9 before they debuted. In fact, they weren’t even SF9 at that point.
Anyway, Rowoon. Big fan.
While Rowoon was what brought me to attempt the drama, the reason I stayed was the story itself. The way they poked fun at high school dramas and 만화’s but still showed the appreciation for the storytelling was lighthearted, comical, and still heartwarming. The mocking of tropes like: the rich boy and the scholarship girl are the leads who start as him being a bully towards her but soon falls for her, the mother who hates the poor girl because her rich son will ruin his future being with her, the group of evil girls set to make the scholarship girls life an absolute hell locking her in rooms, dumping food on her head, etc.
And while they were the 만화’s leads who had their own story being told, our leads were Dan-O and Haru. Haru is adorable and all around loveable. I’m not just saying that because it’s Rowoon. He is basically experiencing things for the ‘first’ time with Dan-O. He is becoming someone, his own person, not just a no name in the background of the 만화. And as their relationship grows, we learn this is in fact not their ‘first’ time.
The plot adds a trope that I find tends to be overused in fantasy-esque dramas. That being that these characters were ill fated in the past and them coming together in the present will also end tragically. But for these characters it wasn’t the past but in fact another 만화. They were even some of the main characters in the previous story.
More characters from the 만화 start to become aware of themselves and the one that stole my heart and the heart of many other drama fans was Baek Kyung. He had some of my favorite character growth and it broke my heart he didn’t get the girl. Even when I wanted and knew Haru was the one for Dan-O.
Baek Kyung was evil. But that was his character ‘on stage’ in the 만화. When ‘off stage’ and as he slowly becomes aware of himself he becomes sweet, caring, kind, and you see his family trauma. That family trauma off stage brings to light why he is the way he is. But the scenes that really had me screaming for him to get the girl, was him remembering ‘bibbidi bobbdi boo’ when he would be with Dan-O in the hospital as young children and she has to take her medications, and when you realize the flowers he would bring her every time he visited her in the hospital meant she is the only one who knows his true self and feelings.
OH! And how can I forgot when she reverts back to a character who forgets what happens off stage and is all lovey dovey with him while forgetting Haru exists?! That whole thing broke my heart. He had finally acknowledged his feelings and now his love was acknowledging them back, but he knew the truth. He knew he wasn’t the one for her, and she was in love with Haru even if she couldn’t remember. He enjoyed the small bit of time with her before making the right decision and helping Haru to get Dan-O back.
I really think this show skyrocketed both those two male leads into their future shows and careers. And the female lead is currently in a new drama I am obsessed with which I will be talking about in a future post.
All-in-all, this drama really caught and kept my attention for the entire show. Initially it was through the laughs of watching 만화 characters not know what or who they were, but by the end, the stories of the real people, not their on stage presence is what really kept me intrigued and excited for the next episodes. Which is why this is Extra-Ordinary You is and will stay on my rewatch list and I hope you will give it a shot as well.
Our Top 10 K-Drama Kisses
We like kisses ok? BL or otherwise. Kisses are kisses and as romance obsessed humans, kisses are important. We can lose all interest in a show if the kiss lacks in emotion and decent kissing form. Yeah. We take kisses that seriously. Sometimes if we haven’t watched a drama we will go to our girl @kdrama.kisscene on Instagram to see some quality kisses and make the decision to watch the drama.
ON TO THE KISSES!
10. The Liar and His Lover (그녀는 거짓말을 너무 사랑해)
We are kicking it off short and sweet with this kiss. Now this drama…well tbh wasn’t good at all. The concept lacked a LOT, and it was just…just not good. The one thing we did love however, was the band that was the best friends of the male lead. Shockingly we will see the kissing ability of one of the other members of the band in a future number in this chart. But this kiss was between the band leader who is also the lead singer, and sexy mf, played by the god who is Sung Joo of UNIQ, and their old high school friend who became their manager. They always flirted and when they are hanging out they realize their romantic connection. Only problem is she believes he doesn’t like her because he never received her confession letter when they were in high school. After the misunderstanding they share a very adorable kiss.
9. She Was Pretty (그녀는 예뻤다)
This was the first drama we learned we had to wait for episodes to come out every week like normal tv shows. Seriously, it was rough. And while we disliked the concept of the show, Park Seo Jun being a douche to the not so attractive girl until he realizes it’s the pretty girl he was in love with when he was younger, we have to admit their relationship after that fact was shockingly cute and adorable. This kiss comes when he is trying to convince her to stay the night at his place. Nervously she declines, but once she leaves, she realizes she doesn’t want to go and so she knocks on his door to make up an excuse to stay. He pulls her back into his apartment for the bow chika wow wow and this kiss was our first look into the slightly steamy kissing K-dramas had to offer.
8. I’m Not A Robot (로봇이 아니야)
If we had started this website earlier, and started making these lists earlier, we would of made lists for top dramas of every year since we’ve started watching dramas. And this drama would probably be in the top 3 of 2017-2018. It was fun, cute, romantic and all around adorable but heartfelt and made us cry a few times. Our kiss is from when our two leads have finally resolved their problems, which tbh are A LOT, and she is making him her super-secret recipe, which is just covering up the fact she can’t cook well. He knew about the recipe due to her young niece telling him about it. And he sees how much she loves him, and how much he loves her and smooches the heck out of her. It is a solid kiss and when he pulls her closer…oof!
7. Mistress (미스트리스)
We didn’t watch this show. I know we said kisses can make us watch shows but we did try to watch this drama and shockingly with all the steamy scenes in it, the plot wasn’t for us. But this scene? The biggest of oofs! This scene is by far the MOST sexy scene we’ve seen in a k-drama. No lie, we watched the scene several times, and at one point drooled. We admit that to all of you. We drooled. Sex in a car. IN A K-DRAMA?! Seriously we can’t even describe how hot this scene is so just watch for yourself.
6. 1% of Something (1%의 어떤 것)
Clearly dudes pushing women against a wall really sends us. This drama was an example of the total cliché rich guy, poor woman, thrown together by a contract, and fall madly in love with each other, but someone tries to stop their love from thriving. But it was cute, and while cliché, sometimes we need clichés in our lives. This kiss is one of our favorite scenes in the show as well. It was just a funny little feel good kiss when he realizes he wants more than just a kiss. And she looks like she is all for it. He presses her against the wall after she just gets out of the shower (don’t worry she has a robe on. He isn’t a total horn dog), and just makes her melt. She’s gonna need another shower after he’s done with her. Too much?
5. Clean With A Passion For Now (일단 뜨겁게 청소하라!!)
We loved this drama. We feel it was very underrated and needs more appreciation. And this kiss was one of the ultimate kisses of the show. She makes it clear she is going to spend the night in his house and then kisses him to make her meaning known. When it truly clicks in his head what she is implying he lifts her up with ease, endlessly kissing her before placing her on the counter to continue their make-out session. We wished they continued to the bedroom but ya know, we take what we can get. Oddly one of our favorite things about this kiss was their outfits. Sounds weird, we know, but they complimented each other so well that we took note.
4. Search:WWW (검색어를 입력하세요)
TWO kisses in this drama deserve the #4 spot. We couldn’t choose between the two so we chose both! We really loved this drama and the strong women it provided for us to be inspired by. They all had their problems, but dealt with them and came out stronger. Two of the leading women had some pretty adorable relationships. And also shared some great kisses. A kiss shared by that #10 other band member, Jang Ki-young, we mentioned. The coffee making scene was super adorable and the ASMR killed us. The only things heard are the coffee maker and their smooching lips. Amazing. The second kiss, a confessional kiss between a fangirl and the man she has fangirled over. A true fan fic moment right there. She surprised attacked him and he got her right back. We should also mention the man she kissed is also the second lead in Extraordinary You. And we were very excited to know he had some solid kissing abilities with those nice lips.
3. Suspicious Partner (수상한 파트너)
Ji Chang Wook is bae. That is all you really need to know for this kiss. But if you need more than that, this kiss is steamy, steamy, steamy! We weren’t expecting that kinda make-out session from a lawyer drama. But this lawyer drama wasn’t like many lawyer dramas we’ve watched. Possibly why we liked this one more than most. We loved this kiss so damn much we can’t even describe it. And while the kiss was amazing in the drama, we attached the behind the scenes of the kiss because…WOW. They really went in. It made a lot of sense why people thought the two were dating in real life.
2. W: Two Worlds (더블유)
Our number one K-drama has the number two spot in our kisses list. We think this kiss is what sold us on Lee Jung Suk as an actor. And once again the fashion during this kiss made us sweat. That teal suit with the white stripes at the cuffs, oh my lawd. *chef kiss* The kiss. Let’s focus on the kiss. This one was emotional as he finally admits his feelings for the woman who holds the key to his destiny. Not only does he lift her out her seat to drop her on the table, it involves handcuffs.
1. What’s Wrong Secretary Kim? (김비서가 왜 그럴까)
Park Seo Jun makes his second appearance on this list and it so happens to be the #1 spot! Yes, he is THAT great of a kisser. I mean we could make a whole top 10 of his kisses. Maybe we should? Let us know what you think. But back to this particular kiss. The #1 kiss. Why is this #1? Maybe it’s the pressing her up against the wall, maybe it’s the heavy breathing, maybe it’s her pulling off his tie, maybe it’s them tumbling onto his bed, or maybe it’s him pulling off his shirt and dropping down to tell her he loves her. It could be any one of those things. Or all of them combining to make a glorious sexy make-out to the bed scene. Yeah, it’s definitely all of them.
What do you think of our top 10 kisses. Have you watched these dramas? What are your favorite K-Drama kisses? Let us know!
