When an American Show starts to Remind you of a Drama-East Los High

East Los High-A Hulu Exclusive Series

**warning SPOILERS galore**

Stars:

Gabriel Chavarria as Jacob
Alicia Sixtos as Maya
Janine Larina as Jessie
Tracy Perez as Vanessa
Noemi Gonzalez as Soli
Danielle Vega as Ceci
Jorge Diaz as Paulie
Hector David Jr. as Cristian 
Mónica Guzmán as Lupe
Ruben Garfias as Hernan Aguilar
Catalina Rodriquez as Paulina

Homecoming King and Queen Jacob and Vanessa

So I know you are asking yourself "Why am I talking about an American show?" I'll tell you why. This is probably the first time that I've watched an entire season of a show and all I kept thinking was "This could be a drama!"  Here's why this could be a drama:

Jacob and Jessie

Maya and Jacob

American Story line:

East Los High is not your typical high school. Dance, sex, romance, and mystery are at the heart of this inner city school in East LA where two teenage cousins—Jessie, a 16-year-old virgin and Maya, a troubled runaway with a violent past —fall in love with Jacob, a popular football player. From this forbidden love triangle, Maya, Jessie and Jacob, along with their close friends must face true-to-life decisions during a single dramatic and breath-taking year that will mark their lives forever.

Korean Story line:  Just take away the sex and this really would be a perfect drama. Seriously.

Jacob and Maya

Jessie and Jacob

American Love Triangle:

Two cousins in love with the same guy, Jacob. Jacob starts dating Jessie but finds later that he really likes and loves Maya. The problem is Jessie gets pregnant and because he thinks the baby is his, he insists on doing the right thing (which I applaud his nobility).

Korean Love Triangle:  This actually could happen, maybe on the cable networks like tvN, OCN or jtbc. We probably would never see this on regular Korean television.

Skank Queen Vanessa

Cristian and Jessie

American Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Cute Second Lead: Even in the American show, the ex-girl friend, Vanessa is still crazy, vicious and trouble. Our handsome second lead, Cristian is the nasty guy in this show; our lead guy, you can't help but love him!!
Korean Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Cute Second Lead: I think crazy ex-girl friends are crazy in any language. Normally, in Korean dramas, the second lead is lovable and we all wish that he gets the girl.

EastLosHigh Bomb Squad Dance Team

Bomb Squad members

American High School interaction:  This show focuses on the school's dance team called Bomb Squad. Throughout the show, they are practicing and working on competing on a show called Dance Five.
Korean High School interaction: Just think Dream High, Monstar and just about any other music or dance based drama.

Jacob and his Dad, Hernan

Jessie and her Mom, Lupe

American family relationship: This was actually a great story that covered both dysfunctional and great family dynamics. Jessie and Maya had a wonderful relationship with Lupe, Jessie's Mom. Jacob's relationship with his father, Hernan was excellent to see. As this takes place in East Los Angeles, it was great to see a wonderful father-son relationship portrayed.
Korean family relationship: Well, Koreans can really disturbed me with these relationships sometimes; it's a hit or miss. Sometimes their family dynamics are great and sometimes you just end up shaking your head.

Paulie and Jacob

Jessie and Soli

Vanessa and Ceci

American Friendship: Jacob's friend, Paulie was a stone-cold trip! Also a great comic relief character. I pretty much could have a lot to say about him but you'd have to watch this and make your own opinion. Soli, Jessie's friend, was the typical best friend who stood by Jessie regardless of how she treated her. Vanessa and Ceci's friendship reflected the old say: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Ceci secretly hated Vanessa. What a friendship!
Korean Friendship: This is pretty much the same in any language. These characters could easily be translated into Korean characters; easily.

Maya

Birth Secret, American Style: I kid you not!! It turns out that Maya''s mother, Reina had a love affair with a priest when she was 15!! Yes, they went there!
Birth Secret, Korean Style: How many dramas have you watched where they WASN'T a birth secret?

American Noble Idiocy: Okay, first off, I applaud Jacob for wanting to be the man and marry Jessie when he found out she was pregnant. I was also ecstatic that all this was being done by the encouragement of his father to instill in his son to do the right thing; but what killed me is that Jessie knew the whole time that Jacob was not the father but she continued to blame him and her cousin for her predicament.
Korean Noble Idiocy: Koreans do this so well, I generally fast forward through these episodes because they just drive me crazy! You know, those angst periods that just get all of our blood pressure to rise!!

Review of East Los High:
It was a pretty good show! So good that I finished all 24 episodes in 2 days, but with 30 minute episodes, it's very easy to watch. It covered the entire story and left no holes in the story. I loved the characters, everyone of them. The romance was great! I was totally rooting for Jacob and Maya. Maya had such a hard and terrible life and Jacob became her one and only friend; her relationship with him was definitely closer than the relationship she had with her cousin, Jessie. I was very happy that we got to see them and their lives one year later; a complete story! Well worth watching! 

Jessie's words of wisdom at the end:
1. Don't cheat on your boyfriend 
2. Don't lie to your friends or yourself 
3. Make sure you get to know a guy really, really REALLY well

So What do you think? Have you watched a show lately on your local station and wondered how it would translate to Korean, Japanese or a Taiwanese drama lately?

EastLosHigh is exclusively showing now on Hulu. All episodes are available for HuluPlus subscribers; otherwise, an episode is released one each week for all other Hulu subscribers.

I highly recommend this! It was very good.