Friday Feature: More shower power!

Shower scenes pop up from time to time, and they sure are refreshing. Since our last shower scene post, we have collected more mental images to refer to on a rainy day.

“Misaeng” and “Let’s Eat 2”

What’s better than a gratuitous shower scene with one guy? The answer is, obviously, two guys in a shower. In “Let’s Eat 2”, Goo Dae Young (Yoon Doo Joon) and Lee Sang Woo (Kwon Yool) play soccer together, so when the two of them end up in the shower together, it’s not surprising. What is surprising is Sang Woo choosing that awkward moment to confess that all is not as it seems with him.

“Misaeng” upped the discomfort factor by putting Jang Baek Ki (Kang Ha Neul) in a bathhouse with his unfriendly supervisor, Assistant Manager Kang (Oh Min Suk). It was the best of both worlds; not only could we enjoy the comedy brought about by the awkwardness of Baek Ki being naked with his boss, but we also got to enjoy the sight of two attractive men in the shower. And, because it’s “Misaeng”, this embarrassing moment is the first step to breaking the ice between these two characters. For more shots of this effective argument for communal cleanliness, click here. – Only 만

“King of High School Savvy”

Love struck secretary, Soo Young (Lee Ha Na) is celebrating company director, Jin Woo’s (Lee Soo Hyuk) birthday with a home cooked meal. As she awaits the arrival of a surprise birthday cake, Soo Young asks Jin Woo what he wants as a gift. Jin Woo smoothly asks that she pass along the business emails of her boss, Min Seok (Seo In Guk). Soo Young realizes that Jin Woo has been using her, and as she stumbles out, Jin Woo nastily reveals that he was the reason why she was fired, before Min Seok hired her back. After Soo Young is gone, Jin Woo broods in the shower. The sight of Lee Soo Hyuk’s impressive abs may fail to cleanse his image for viewers, but it does dampen his mean streak. When Soo Young returns unexpectedly to give him a piece of her mind, Jin Woo can only close up his bathrobe and take the verbal beating. – Junggugeo Kaenada 중국어 캐나다

“Angel Eyes”

Full disclosure: I’m just not cut out for melodramas, so I didn’t make it all the way through this show. Surprisingly, episode 9 was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I say surprising, because this episode featured not one, but two shower scenes. There’s a lot of brooding to do when you’re stuck in a love triangle with a good friend, and where else to brood, but in the shower? Ji Woon (Kim Ji Seok) comes home after finding his ex-girlfriend in the arms of her first love, Dong Joo (Lee Sang Yoon) and can think of no better way to comfort himself than to take a shower under lighting that highlights his fantastic abs. Of course, he’s not reconciled with being dumped, and Ji Woon ends up punching Dong Joo in the face. Upset at seemingly losing a friend, Dong Joo also hops in the shower, and broods while staring at his newly formed bruise. I’m told there are more shower scenes later on in the series, but it was too late for me. – Only

“Unkind Women”

Ma Ri (Lee Ha Na) returns to her dojo after a long absence, and following a good workout, goes for a shower. Little does she know, during renovations three months ago, the men and women’s shower rooms were switched. After the new dojo master, Roo Oh (Song Jae Rim) makes his presence on the other side of the shower curtain known, a panicked Ma Ri slips on a bar of soap while trying to escape. She quickly returns after coming face-to-face with men disrobing outside. Ma Ri begs Roo Oh to help out, and he incredulously wonders if she entered the men’s shower room on purpose. Ma Ri threatens to call the police as Roo Oh inches by, shouting in exasperation. Outside, he tightly ushers his male students out without explanation. It takes Ma Ri a mere three minutes to get dressed and run out the door; so quickly that Roo Oh fails to realize that he has seen her before. – JK

“Fated to Love You”

In what may be the greatest entrance for a character ever, madcap CEO Lee Gun (Jang Hyuk) struts on to the screen and into our hearts forever, when he shoves aside the model filming his shampoo commercial and shows her how it’s really done. I’m not sure if it was how he dunked his head into a pool, or how he ripped his own shirt open, or how Clara (and viewers worldwide) counted his abs in awe, but I went from passively checking the show out, to wanting more of the insane Gun. He has a scene in an actual shower later on in the show, but it was nowhere near as good. – Only

“My Love From the Stars”

One of the most inexplicable K-drama shower scenes was the one involving alien, Do Min Joon (Kim Soo Hyun). Sure, he’s an alien, but he has been on earth for about 400 years. You would think that he would have learned that you don’t need to wear a towel while showering. Or, at least, how uncomfortable a sopping wet towel can be.

Of course, the probable reason for Min Joon wearing a towel is to keep the shower scene family friendly. That begs the question of why the director didn’t simply frame the scene better to leave Kim Soo Hyun’s nether regions to the imagination. – JK

Readers: what is your favourite K-drama shower scene?