February and March 2024 Drama Reviews

My Happy Ending

This drama is about Seo Jae-Won (Jang Na-Ra) who is a CEO of a successful furniture company and quite well known by the media. She really has a perfect life with her husband Heo Soon Young (Son Ho-Jun) who is so patient and understanding and their little girl. She works very hard at building her company that she even has a stalker and things start taking a dark turn when she starts getting attacked and doesn’t know who to trust anymore.

This drama started out so good and was so thrilling for the first half of the drama and it really made you think about who is betraying her and trying to ruin her. There are a few leads that you have to think about and I really loved how exciting and it just kept you somewhat confused with the different leads. I really wanted the drama to continue in the same fashion, but unfortunately, I guess they had to reveal things slowly and I feel like it really started to lose some of the freshness and excitement the drama had earlier. I really did not like who they made the mastermind of it at the end because the motive was pretty convoluted. It just didn’t make sense for this person to take things this far. It just seems like jealousy was a pretty weak angle that this person would do these things and it just didn’t line up in my head. Again this drama probably had too many episodes so they just kinda ran out of material and had to keep adding different scenarios.

I have to say that they did try to delve a bit into mental illness with this drama which I thought was interesting. I like that they did try to normalize going to get therapy and being on medication that is prescribed by a doctor. I feel like this is a touchy subject especially in South Korea and I liked they tried to show an individual that needs help, but yet can still function well with some support. It wasn’t a perfect portrayal, but I admire they tried to bring this subject to the forefront of the drama. It also shows that mental illness can be caused by trauma and things that are out of our control and that it is okay to go and speak to someone about your past and things that happened to you.

I thought this drama started out strong, got a bit lost, but was still a decent thriller drama!

Love Song For Illusion

The drama is about a crown prince Sajo Hyun (Park Ji-Hoon) who has an oppressive father who he watched kill a whole family so that he could become King. He has a hard time dealing with being the son that his Father wants and developed a second personality who he calls an evil spirit Ak-Hee. He gets switched with his personality every time he sleeps so he often avoids going to sleep as long as he can. It also stars Yeon Wol (Hong Ye-Ji) who is the sole survivor from her family that the current King exterminated. Her sole focus in life is to go and kill the king and avenge her family’s death. She comes across the Crown Prince and meets both personalities and Ak-Hee falls in love with her.

I thought this could be a fun drama about a man with two personalities, but unfortunately I did not find as fun as I thought it could be. It also really delved into the whole spiritual side of it being an evil spirit so I skipped over those parts quite a bit and yet funnily it seemed to have little impact in understanding the story line. I personally see the 2^nd personality as a version of Sajo Hyun that is brought out because he couldn’t deal with the trauma that his Father causes. It was a way to protect himself, he created his own protector. Honestly over time it was confusing who we were supposed to be cheering for because at times Sajo Hyun gets tiring and Ak-Hee seems so refreshing and it all gets mixed up over time. I would have preferred them acknowledging that Ak-Hee was just a part of Sajo and that it was okay for Yeon Wol to care about him as well. This drama was also just too long and they really dragged it out for the ending.

One good thing is that it a good ending, even though it seems like a rushed ending. It was strange because they had so much time to end it properly but for some reason didn’t want to do that. I feel like they should give us more time when the couple gets together at the end it also just seems to end before we can even see them together. Also it seemed a bit weird that the main lead had a wife and its kinda weird because it just seems to be somewhat ignored. As long as they don’t have a kid together and he ignores her then it is okay.

This is just a mediocre fantasy/romcom drama.

Kissing The Ring Finger

This is a Japanese drama about Ayaka Haneda (Kanna Hashimoto) who is considered to be a beautiful woman that men seem to all fall in love with but she comes from a large but poor family. Because all the men fall in love with her she struggles to keep a job for a long period of time as it causes problems in her workplace. She is newly hired as a wedding planner and meets Togo Nitta (Ryosuke Yamada) the CEO of her company and he proposes marriage to her.

So this is a typical drama where it is a contract marriage and of course they promise not to fall in love with each other, but we all know what is going to happen. There isn’t anything really that unique or different in this type of drama, but yet it is still a fun ride and it doesn’t get boring since there is only 10 episodes. I have to say the exaggerated acting that is common in Japanese dramas doesn’t seem to be too much in this drama. There was nothing super mind blowing about this drama but it a decent easy going watch!

Plus-Sized Misadventures in Love!

This is a Japanese drama that is about Yumeko who almost dies in accident and when she awakens she has no memories from her life and instead has a bubbly and happy personality. She has struggled with her looks and was bullied and when she loses her memory she is able to become happy to be herself and is bursting with confidence. I was a bit hesitant to watch this drama because I wasn’t sure if they were going to be making fun of her looks in this drama but I am glad I did check this drama out because it is so quirky and endearing!

I love Yumeko’s personality so much in this drama and she is just so lovely that you can’t help but just love her! It is so much fun to watch her and see how she approaches tough situations. It was short again with 10 episodes and I wish it was longer or they would make another season. It did have some dark moments as it touches on suicide and the struggles she faced with being bullied for her looks. The one thing was it has a bit of overacting in this drama but yet it somewhat seems to fit her character at times. I found this drama to be pretty heart warming and really enjoyed this short drama!

Derailment

This is a Chinese drama that is about Jian Xiao Yuan who finds herself stuck in a parallel universe. In her world she was from a rich family that didn’t lack anything and now has come to a place where she has absolutely nothing and when she tries to phone her Father she calls Qi Lian who seems to know who she is in this world. Qi Lian is looking for a friend that disappeared from this current world and figures Xiao Yuan is connected to this. I thought this was a interesting drama that really held my attention almost all the way through the 30 episodes. I find that it was a bit too long with too many flashbacks that I tend to fast forward through anyway.

I really enjoyed the actress that played Xiao Yuan and her performance and found the story to be really interesting how she always strives to do her best and figure out her problems. Even though it has the fantasy element I also enjoyed just watching the ordinary things like trying to excel in her job and I like how the main leads don’t really get together until later on. I find it gets so boring when the main leads get together to early and then there isn’t really anywhere to go, there is no tension.

So the ending and the truth is not what I expected and seems really different but I love the journey that you go on with the drama. I like dramas that make you think or have good plot twists and it feels that way because you spend so much time believing one thing about the characters and then the truth comes out and it is completely different and makes you look at the characters and something completely different. Sure there is some things that weren’t perfect in this drama but I thought it was a decent drama that kept me engaged until the end. I would recommend this drama if you like a good psychological drama with plot twists!

The Autumn Ballad

This is a Chinese, Historical drama that is about a young girl Qiu Yan who gets married and the groom dies before they even finish the ceremony and her life is being threatened that she caused his death and should be buried with him. She has to rely on a cold man who is a Duke named Lian Yi who is crafty and always has a motive for everything he does. Qiu Yan is a very interesting character as she is very smart and seems to be able to get herself out of situation using her brain. She meets Lian Yi who is able to see through all her clever schemes and the way she can manipulate the people around her. It is really a match of their wits and often they have to work together to both achieve their goals.

Watching the dynamics of them two is enough of a reason to check out this drama. This drama also never stops moving at a fast pace and I keep thinking things can’t get worse for the female lead and things just keep getting worse. This drama would surprise me all the time and the plot twists keep coming all the time. I really enjoyed the ride of this drama. Even with 34 episodes it didn’t really feel that long and I kept wanting to keep watching more of this drama. One thing I didn’t like was the ending, I get they are trying to make her a strong female lead that doesn’t really believe in love, but I really craved a good ending for the main leads. I wished they would have given us time with them as a couple. I would say it was a great drama except for the ending. I really thought there was great chemistry between the main leads and I thought this was a very good drama.

Upcoming Dramas

Wedding Impossible

This drama is about an actress that has worked as a extra for a long time without being recognized in the industry and is having a tough time. Her friend is back in town and he doesn’t want to get married to the woman that chaebol family picked out for him and doesn’t want to inherit the company so he wants to hire her to be his wife. His brother wants him to inherit the company so he wants to stop this marriage from happening.

Branding in Seongsu

It is about a woman who is a marketing team leader and is a cold woman that excels in her job and after an incident she clashes with her intern who is the opposite of her and they end up switching bodies.