Flower Boy Next Door Half Way Mark

We have now had eight of the sixteen episodes of Flower Boy Next Door and here's what's going on so far and a few character insights.

I'm really surprised, and impressed, by how much depth and heart this drama has to give us. When I first heard about the drama and read summaries, I was excited but I thought it would be nothing more than a funny, pretty, easy, light-hearted drama. I was so wrong, and that makes me really happy. The drama is fun, and light-hearted in spots, also very pretty ;), and super funny, but we get a lot of character development which I love! I'm super emotionally invested in this drama. It's toying with my emotions and making me laugh out loud, and feel deep pain. If any of you know me, you know I don't cry during dramas, King 2 Hearts and You're Beautiful were the two exceptions. This drama might get me though. I'm hurting so deeply for Enrique's and Go Dok Mi's characters. I want them to be happy, I want it so bad it makes me super sad!! Nice job Drama, way to keep me hooked cause each week, I'm begging for more. So much pain, it hurts so good. :( I love this!

Go Dok Mi's character has come a long way over the first eight episodes. You don't really realize just how much she grows because the process was slow. We see her carefully breaking out of her shell. She went from rarely leaving her house and talking to no one, to venturing outside more often, saying more than a couple words when spoken to, she even has outbursts once in a while. She still has a lot of room to grow which is good because we have eight episodes left. She smiles more often, Park Shin Hye has a beautiful smile so this is a good thing.

Enrique Geum's character has also grown a lot. Usually, Enrique doesn't care what other people think about him and uses his smiles and personality to ageyo himself into a lot of things but lately he's grown up a bit. Hiding his worries and pain beneath a carefree happy-go-lucky mask, we see his armor start to crack around Go Dok Mi. He care a little more, he wants her to be happy, but also wants himself to be happy. Be Happy Enrique!!! I really like the wide range of facial expressions he gives us.

What I love about these two characters is that romance isn't bringing them together, understanding and empathy are the key factors in their relationship. Go Dok Mi can see when Enrique is hurting but trying not to show it, and he can see that she is a deep person with more than meets the eye. Romance will probably come later but I think that the relationship they're building right now is a little more important.

Oh Jin Rak's character is hilariously geeky and unfortunately doesn't have a chance against Enrique. I don't think he would even have a chance if Enrique wasn't there. Dok Mi needed someone to shake up her world and Jin Rak has only been watching from the sidelines, trying to keep her in her comfortable little home. He's a good guy, but he isn't the sort of person Dok Mi needs. She needs to be made uncomfortable and that is exactly what Enrique is doing. Jin Rak also has some sort of background that he's trying to hide, I'm going to guess either Chaebol runaway, or a former gang member. Yep. Those are my two guesses. :D

I don't really care about the other characters, I know they're important, but right now I'm very invested in these three so the rest are just on the side, nice to look at... :) I will say a couple things however. Tae Joon, Enrique's older cousin, doesn't do a whole lot, he's like a nice chair that you can't sit on; pretty to look at, surely it wasn't created for nothing, but other than being nice to look at not really useful... Seo Young is also a nice piece of furniture, but you can sit on this one, most of the time. She isn't super useful, she pushes some aspects of the plot along, but mostly she's just there to look pretty.