꽃보다 청춘 Youth Over Flowers in Laos

Title:

• 꽃보다 청춘 Kkochboda Cheongchun
• 꽃보다 청춘 in 페루 (Kkochboda Cheongchun in Pelu)
• 꽃보다 청춘 in 라오스 (Kkochboda Cheongchun in Laoseu)
• 꽃보다 청춘 in Peru (Kkochboda Cheongchun in Peru)
• 꽃보다 청춘 in Laos (Kkochboda Cheongchun in Laos)

English Title:

• Youth Over Flowers
• Youth Over Flowers in Peru
• Youth Over Flowers in Laos

Country: South Korea
Language: Korean
Year: 2014
Season - Episode:

• season 01 - 06 episodes
• season 02 - 05 episodes
• season 03 - 07 episodes
• season 04 - 07 episodes
• season 05 - 05 episodes

Cast:

• 유연석 Yoo Yeon Seok
• 손호준 Son Ho Joon
• 차선우 Cha Sun Woo (바로 Ba Ro)

SYNOPSIS
Actors Yeo Yeon Seok, Son Ho Joon, and Cha Sung Woo or Ba Ro all worked together in the drama 응답하라 1994 (Answer Me 1994).

They are all hired to work in a television commercial, but they are told during the filming that they are actually not doing any advertisement whatsoever, and everything that happened recently was a well-planned ruse for a travel variety show.

The three friends have less than three hours before their flight out of South Korea, and they head to the airport right away. They are traveling to Laos, where they are going to stay for ten days on a really small budget.

REVIEW
Youth Over Flowers is about three friends traveling with the bare essentials. It's actually a variety show with two groups composed of three friends going to different countries.

Although it is officially one show with eleven episodes, I'm going to consider it as one show with two seasons, where each season is for one set of friends going to a particular country. I'm just a stickler for organization, and I just need to make a clear separation regarding a show with two different casts in my mind.

Season one is 꽃보다 청춘 Youth Over Flowers in Peru, where singers Yoon Sang, Lee Hee Yeol, and Lee Juck go to Peru with literally only the clothes on their back. Season two is Youth Over Flowers in Laos where actors Yeo Yeon Seok, Son Ho Joon, and Cha Sung Woo or Ba Ro go to Laos with the same concept.

The three actors have different personalities and it's quite interesting to see them interact with each other. It's also fascinating how much the age hierarchy factors in on each person's role in the group, and influences how each person relates to the other people in the group.

The relationship dynamics this time around is interesting because Yeon Seok and Ho Joon are of the same age, so the group does not have any appointed leader based on seniority. In addition, Ba Ro is almost a decade younger so he can't really voice out his opinions as much as the other two when it comes to making decisions for everyone.

Anyway, I didn't like how much 응답하라 1994 (Answer Me 1994) was featured in this production. I suppose it was inevitable to discuss the actors' connection to that drama, but I can't help but feel it was overboard. I watched Answer Me 1994 and I enjoyed it, but I would probably still watch this production even if I didn't because I have been checking out all the so-called '... Over Flowers' shows.

I also didn't like how the characters they have portrayed in the past are featured extensively, mainly because these actors are not their characters. Their fictional characters are probably different from their real selves, or at the very least different from the images they are trying to cultivate as themselves in Youth Over Flowers.

I was actually thinking twice about watching Youth Over Flowers because I have a lot on my plate already, and I wasn't sure if I could commit to adding one more to my never-ending and ever-growing list of programs to watch. What clinched the deal for me is the fact that this time around, the cast is going somewhere with just the clothes off their backs and a few absolute necessities, such as medicine.

Possibly because I'm a planner and I tend to plan my travels down to the last detail, it is my great fantasy to just bring a passport to the airport and go somewhere else without any preparation whatsoever. It sounds really scary, but also really fun. I don't think I'll ever get around to doing it though, so it was great to sort of live vicariously through the cast of Youth Over Flowers.

Son Ho Joon: Traveling overseas has always been a goal in the past. A goal; a goal that can be achieved in the future... always the future.
...
Son Ho Joon: But that's not something that you need to wait to actually do; it can be done right now. I learned this during the trip.
-- S02E04 (S01E010)

Related:
꽃보다 청춘 Youth Over Flowers in Peru
꽃보다 청춘 Youth Over Flowers in Iceland
꽃보다 청춘 Youth Over Flowers in Africa
꽃보다 청춘 Youth Over Flowers in Australia

Alike:
꽃보다 할배 Grandpas Over Flowers (2013)
꽃보다 할배 Grandpas Over Flowers (2014)
꽃보다 할배 Grandpas Over Flowers (2015)
꽃보다 누나 Noona Over Flowers

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꽃보다 청춘 Youth Over Flowers