The Complete Package Involving Comedy, Romance, and Family Problems
This drama is one of the most popular sit-coms in South Korea. The success of the drama even brought to light High Kick Season 2 and High Kick Season 3. Of course, even though the cast is different in every season, the story is so good that the audience is not bored at all and the drama managed to achieve success up until the last season. In addition to providing a very entertaining comedy-drama, this drama is also equipped with stories about family problems and romance mixed with comedy that intrigues the audience. Let’s find out more about High Kick! season 1!
High Kick 1: Review
The drama tells the story of Lee Yoon-ho (Jung Il-woo), a motorcycle maniac who engages in many fights at school and is known for his high kick, and Lee Min-ho (Kim Hye-seong) who enjoys spending time on scale models and web blogs. The two are brothers born a year apart but attend the same class at school. These two portray completely opposite Korean teenage characters in a comical way. And of course, there’s the rest of the family. Their father, Jun-ha Lee (Jeong Jun-ha), a full-time stock investor since being laid-off from work, nevertheless optimistic and reckless; their mother Park Hae Mi (Park Hae-Mi), an oriental medicine doctor and always overly confident; their grandfather Lee Soon Jae (Lee Sun-jae), who loves money more than anything in the world; their grandmother Nah Mun Hee (Na Moon-hee), who is always defeated by her daughter-in-law in ongoing status quarrels, are just a few of them. Their uncle Lee Min-yong (Kim Hye-seong) is a 27-year-old single dad. After going through a premature marriage and early divorce, he enjoys his life back in the dating scene with his half-single and half-married status, while continuing to encounter emotionally-involved moments with his ex-wife Shin Ji at times. High Kick! is a situation comedy, which portrays the everyday lives of the main characters colliding with each other in a comical way. However, at a certain point, the surprising mysteries of their seemingly-normal surrounding characters begin to unravel one by one. And here is a funny screenshot from the drama! The screenshot shows the moment where Lee Min-ho and his uncle Lee Min-yong were chased together. Lee Min-ho was chased by his brother Lee Yon-ho for threatening him so that Min-ho could escape from his enemy Yon-ho, after being taken hostage by him. And his uncle, Lee Min-yong, was chased by his father because he wanted to divorce his wife Shinji because his wife wanted to continue his dream as a composer in Russia. In this scene, Lee Min-ho and his uncle Lee Min-yong both get high kicks from Yon-ho and his father. In the screenshot above we can see the cooperation between these two brothers. Not getting along at the beginning of the episode, the situation makes Lee Min-ho willing to help Lee Yon-ho. That could happen because Lee Yon-ho was punished by his parents and was not allowed to use his cellphone after being caught fighting. Being really bad at explaining everything makes Lee Yon-ho unable to escape punishment. Lee Min-ho is willing to help Lee Yon-ho to explain the truth to their parents under the agreement Lee Yon-ho to give Lee Min-ho all his allowance; Min-ho needs money to buy the necklace Kang Yoo-mi wants. In this scene, it appears that Lee Joon-ha, who is the father of Lee Min-ho and Lee Yon-ho, finally got a job. Their family was very happy to hear the news and fully supported him, Joon-ha was also very enthusiastic and did his best on his first day of work. His family even prepared dinner and champagne to celebrate Joon-ha’s new job. Upon Joon-ha’s return from the office, their family gathered to greet Joon-ha. He was very happy because his boss praised his work, he also gave a few words to show how grateful he was to finally start his job back. In the scene above, it’s the day of Kim Bum’s birthday. But a few days before, Kim Bum accidentally broke grandfather Min-ho’s Ginseng, which made his grandfather very angry. Since that day Kim Bum never dared to come back to his house because he was afraid of his grandfather. Kim Bum, who was sad because he never came again, tried to persuade his grandfather to forgive him and his grandfather promised to forgive him and told him to come, he even gave a birthday present to Kim Bum. After getting ready to blow out the candles, suddenly, his grandfather Min-ho catches Kim Bum from behind and says that after he has finished singing “Happy Birthday” to Kim Bum, he will kill him, by which of course, he meant just giving him a lesson. At that time, Min-ho sang “Happy Birthday” very very slowly and hoped to be able to sing ‘Happy Birthday” to Kim Bum forever, to protect Kim Bum.
High Kick 1: The Cast
Telling a story about family, here are the players in High Kick 1, along with the characters they play.
Main cast
Lee Soon-jae as Lee Soon-jae The head of the Lee family, he works alongside his daughter-in-law at his Korean medicine hospital. Being the oldest in the family, he can be harsh and strict toward his family members and thinks only about himself. He always kicks or hits other members of the family. Due to this aggressive behavior, Soon-jae acts as the dictator of the Lee household and no one opposes what he says. Na Moon-hee as Na Moon-hee Soon-jae’s wife, she is incredibly strong and has an enormous appetite, which she passes on to Joon-ha. Despite her age, she does all of the cooking and cleaning and looks after Joon (Min-yong’s baby). Since Soon-jae and Hae-mi often berate and insult her, she often has daydreams of them suffering. Like Min-yong, she is annoyed by Hae-mi, and would do anything to embarrass her. Jeong Jun-ha as Lee Joon-ha Son of Soon-jae and Moon-hee, he is a huge strong man with an enormous appetite, nicknamed as the “Lord of Gluttony.” Laid off from the company he was working, he spends his time at home as an unsuccessful investor and depends on the earnings of his wife, who is the main doctor at his father’s hospital. Choi Min-yong as Lee Min-yong A late-born son of Soon-jae and Moon-hee, he works as a PE teacher at Pungpa High School where his nephews go to school. Min-yong is the opposite of Joon-ha in many ways: he is a slim man with straight hair, less lazy, more handsome, and employed, but has a nasty attitude toward Soon-jae and Park Hae-mi, while Joon-ha is more like Moon-hee; a plump man with curly hair, very lazy, dumb looking, overweight, and unemployed, but more sympathetic than Min-yong. Returning to his parent’s house after a short-lived marriage with Shin Ji, he lives in an expanded and modified storeroom upstairs, which is connected with the main house with a fireman’s pole. Park Hae-mi as Park Hae-mi The wife of Lee Joon-ha, she is a doctor that works with Lee Soon-jae. Hae-mi was in love with another man before her marriage. Accepting Joon-ha’s proposal was to rival the lover who had dumped her, which Joon-ha finds out in one of the episodes. She gave financial support to Soon-jae’s hospital when it was near the brink of closing down, and is much more popular than Soon-jae as a doctor. Kim Hye-seong as Lee Min-ho The eldest son of Lee Joon-ha and Park Hae-mi. Being very bright, but physically small and soft, he is often portrayed as a “mama’s boy,” and always quarrels with his younger brother Yoon-ho, who is in the same class at Pungpa High School. An easy target to bully due to his weak appearance, while Yoon-ho would simply fight back no matter the odds. The contrast between the two brothers is one of the main themes of the show. At school, he sits in the very front of the classroom along with Kim Bum, who he has been best friends with for a long time, and they embrace each other in a sign of friendship. Jung Il-woo as Lee Yoon-ho The youngest son of Lee Joon-ha and Park Hae-mi. He is a tall, strong, and handsome boy known for his high kick and a motorcycle maniac. He also narrates the story of the show. He is very popular among the girls in Pungpa High School, though his grades are low and he sometimes demonstrates his utter ignorance. As one episode disclosed, Yoon-ho was as bright as Min-ho in his childhood, but after riding on the back of the motorcycle of a friend of Joon-ha’s, he became completely absorbed in fighting and motorcycles; Joon-ha is blamed by Hae-mi for Yoon-ho’s bad grades and delinquent behavior. Yoon-ho is often misunderstood and sometimes blamed for things he has not done. Shin Ji as Shin Ji or Shin Bong-hee The ex-wife of Lee Min-yong and the mother of Joon. Loves music, and is trying to get a job at the music industry, singing CF songs and taking auditions for musicals. She asked for a divorce from Min-yong, wishing to study abroad in Moscow, but came back to Korea in a short time. Min-yong and her take turn in taking care of Joon, though Joon seems to be in the Lee household most of the time presumably due to Shin Ji’s busy schedule. Seo Min-jung as Seo Min-jung An English teacher at Pungpa High School, and the homeroom teacher of Min-ho, Yoon-ho, Bum, Chan-sung, and Seung-hyun. She rents the apartment that Min-yong and Shin Ji used to live in and lives there with Shin Ji after her return from the short and unsuccessful attempt to study in Moscow. Kim Bum as Kim Bum Lee Min-ho’s best friend, desiring to become the proper member of the family. The two boys are very close and care for each other. He has a crush on Yoo-mi later in the sitcom. Park Min-young as Kang Yoo-mi Lee Min-ho’s girlfriend. Very pretty but extremely poor at studies, always getting the lowest scores at school. She is also secretly three years older than her schoolmates, but only Kim Bum, Lee Min-ho, Lee Yoon-ho, and Lee Min-yong, who doesn’t care about that so much, know about it.
Minor
Lee Su-na as Lee Su-na a.k.a. Gaeseong-daek and Lee Yu-na Na Moon-hee’s best friend, currently jailed in prison for murdering her sister. She escaped from prison and fled to Moon-hee’s house many times, but each time Soon-jae turned her in. Yeom Seung-hyun as Yeom Seung-hyun Another classmate of Min-ho and Yoon-ho, and the rival of Yoon-ho. In the later episodes, he competes with Yoon-ho for Seo Min-jung’s attention. Hwang Chansung as Hwang Chan-sung Yum Seung-hyun’s friend and one of Yoon-ho’s rival, he’s a trouble maker at Pungpa High School, but after being betrayed by Seung-hyun, he becomes Yoon-ho’s friend. Go Chae-min as Lee Jun Min-yong and Shin Ji’s infant child. At the very beginning of the show, the grown-up Joon appears as an astronaut. He can be seen in nearly every episode in a few scenes but never does anything apart from sleeping or just crying. Na Hye-mi as Na Hye-mi A classmate of Yoo-mi, transferred from a different school in the later episodes (starting from episode 116). She chases Yoon-ho around, publicly broadcasts herself as Yoon-ho’s girlfriend, lies to him to attract his attention, and deeply annoys him. Hong Sun-chang as Hong Sun-chang Vice-principal of Pungpa High School. He is extremely sarcastic. Yoon Seo-hyun as Lee Seo-hyun He is a detective and is usually seen handling the cases behind the Yoo-mi family. He also has a crush on Shin Ji. Noh Joo-hyun as Seo Joo-hyun Seo Min-jung’s father. He opposes the relationship between Min-yong and Min-jung. Seo Hyun as Han Young-min Member of the staff in a musical Shin Ji played in. He has a crush on Shin Ji even though he is younger than her, and they go out for a short period of time.
High Kick 1: The Soundtrack
OST Part 1
This song is part of the original soundtrack of High Kick! or also known as Unstoppable High Kick. This song is the opening song of this drama. 2. Love U Like U – Moogadang 3. Why Is It – Moogadang 4. Sambuja Song – Moogadang OST Part 2 OST Special Edition
