Korean Drama Reviews April/May 2019 May 20, 2019

I only watched three dramas this time and I hope that there will be better dramas upcoming since I feel like there has been nothing special for a while.

 

 

The first drama that I finished this month was Kill It which is an OCN Drama. I haven’t watched an OCN Drama for awhile since they have seemed to dark for me lately. Kill It really is no exception since the plot line is about Kim Soo-Hyun (Chang Ki-Yong, who was the bad guy in My Mister, who really stood out to me) who is working as a veterinarian and is secretly working as an elite assassin that wants to get out of the game but is being forced to kill to get information about his past and his family since he has lost his memory. The drama also stars Do Hyun-Jin (Nana) who is detective that working on the murder cases that Kim Soo-Hyun is making with his killings. They get to know each other in an innocent way but they are more connected in each other’s lives than they really understand.

 

 

First of all this is an OCN Drama so if you are expecting there to be anything more than burning chemistry don’t even bother coming for any romance. They never highlight there being any romance and the endings are also a grab bag, you never know what you are going to get. I first of all wasn’t expecting there to be a good ending because how can you really go back from being an assassin, he wasn’t killing for anything more than money in general that was never going to work with the female lead being a detective who is living exactly opposite life. I couldn’t seem to reconcile this with my heart and head when getting into the story.

 

 

It was a sad ending but I wasn’t devastated by it because it was beyond my expectations to even have a good ending with everyone happy. It was also the typical power/greed struggle where the rich are corrupted by bribing the upper powers and this theme is well used but I mean it make sense. The drama had some good mysteries to unravel and kept my brain thinking about them and trying to figure out how everything fits so I enjoyed that aspect of this drama. There was one part that never was addressed again and I wish they would have clarified more of the science of what they were doing. Also the blue eyes really never show up again in the drama and I really wished that he would have used his blue eyes when he was working as an assassin and then put in contacts when he was being a vet and regular guy. I think it would have been more interesting if they played around more with his blue eyes.

 

 

 

It only had 12 episodes and I was fine with that, I prefer them to shorten a drama if they don’t need the extra episodes to tell the story. I feel like with Soo-Hyun’s character he doesn’t like to talk much his acting was great because you could tell exactly what he was thinking and feeling by his actions and expressions. It was interesting because of the moral quandary that was always coming up, he was killing but at the same time he was killing bad men that were doing more harm than anything. He had such a good heart when it came to his animals and people around him that he knew it would be hard for the people around him to accept what he was actually doing in secret. The fact that he had to meet Nana who is trying to catch him and he keeps having to shut her down but actually wants to help her. It just created a fascinating story line to watch.

 

 

I think if you like watching OCN dramas where the romance is low but the fascinating/interesting plot lines are high, you will probably enjoy Kill It.

 

 

 

The second drama that I finished was He Is Psychometric. This drama is about Lee An (Jin Young) has a special ability that when he touches a person he is able to read their memories and is even able to do with objects. He struggles because the images he sees affects how others see him and avoids using his ability except when he is asked by his hyung’s friend Eun Ji-Soo to use his psychometric powers on dead bodies to help try to see what the deceased saw before they died. His brother Kang Sung-Mo is Prosecutor and is the only one that he can’t use his psychometric abilities on and saved him from an apartment fire and is the only family he has left in the world. Yoon Jae-In also struggles after the apartment fire and she finds out about Lee An’s ability and doesn’t want him to see her past yet but she wants to help him develop his abilities.

 

 

 

I thought this was a really interesting drama since I love fantasy story lines and this was well done drama all the way to the end. I was sad at the end of the drama though, but the writing was still fantastic. The plot twist had me completely shocked because I didn’t want to believe them but it really does keep you on your toes. People may disagree about the ending but it was consistent and made sense and I feel it would have been more unrealistic if it ended differently but dang it hurt my heart. It was a good heart pounding drama either for romance and thrilling action parts. If you want a bubblegum ending then I would avoid this drama. What I want from a drama is one that gets me thinking and draws me in and even if it isn’t exactly what I wanted it still kept me on the edge of my seat and kept me invested. Although all I could think throughout the drama was South Korea needs to get a Witness Protection Program.

 

 

 

The acting was really good and the romance part was sweet and it had some good bromance in it as well. Other than the plot twists there wasn’t much I would have wanted changed with this drama. It was a dependable, interesting drama that I enjoyed. Parts of it made my heart hurt and I wish I could change the plot so that different things could have happened for all the characters but in the end I think this drama did a good job of playing with your emotions which kept me interested and invested in the drama.

 

 

 

The Third drama that I finished watching was Welcome To Waikiki 2/ Eulachacha Waikiki Season 2 and this is the sequel to the the first season of the same name. Unfortunately the only original cast member from the first season running the guest house is Lee Joon-Ki (Lee Yi-Kyung). I don’t know if they were planning to have more of the original cast join them for the second season but Son Seung-Won who played Bong Doo-Sik is in jail for drunk driving and Kim Jung-Hyun who played Kang Dong-Goo is having health issues and already stepped down from another drama. So I think with all the issues they decided to keep Lee Joon-Ki as the anchor for the show and then give him all new cast mates to tell a new story.

 

 

The new season is still about Lee Joon-Ki being an unpopular actor that is still trying to navigate the world of acting but this time he has one of his friends Kim Jung-Eun who is a high school friend that is also trying to become an actor. The guest house is run with him and his other high school friends Cha Woo-Sik who is trying to pursue a career as a singer and Kook Ki-Bong who is trying a baseball player who is trying to get out of the minor leagues.

 

 

So the second season is really not as funny as the first season, it does a good job but their was way funnier situations and shenanigans that happened in the first season. It didn’t feel as fresh and I wasn’t laughing out loud like I did with the first season but it was still a decently funny drama. It still had some funny moments sprinkled throughout but I had higher expectations for this drama. I didn’t really care for the baseball storyline, there really wasn’t anything funny or had any good story lines come out of that aspect. Also I didn’t like it when they had Lee Joon-Ki become a stunt guy because again that didn’t really give much comedy to that. I think the beginning had a bit of a rocky start but it definitely started growing on me again and was sad to see it end already.

 

 

 

Once the drama started going there was some pretty funny scenarios that happened like when Han Soo-Yeon was trying to be a reporter and the interviewee kept putting her to sleep. When Lee Joon-Ki gets stuck under the bed with the pervert and they develop a bromance with each other. One of the funniest moments was when Kook Ki-Bong is trying to get a job and his friend introduces him to multi level marketing (pyramid scheme) and they give up on him because they get frustrated explaining it to him and doesn’t believe in getting money just because other people sign up under him.

 

 

 

 

I recommend this drama if you like comedies and even if it can be a little predictable and cheesy but it still fun and worth it !

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Upcoming Dramas I will be watching:

1. Abyss: This drama is about an unattractive man who has been in love with a prosecution lawyer for a long time dies from an accident and revived by the abyss but his soul on the inside was different than what he originally looked like and is able to also save the lawyer he has been in love with and is also revived in a physically different appearance.

 

 

2. My Absolute Boyfriend: It is about a robot that is built for love and to be the ideal  boyfriend and somehow ends up with a special effects makeup artist who has just gotten out of a painful relationship.

 

 

3. One Spring Night: It is about a relationship between a librarian and pharmacist and deal with the issues of marriage and long term relationship in a more realistic way.

 

 

4. Angel’s Last Mission: Love: This drama is about a troublemaker angel who has to find love for a cold ballerina to be able to get back to heaven, but instead falls in love himself.

October/November 2018 Korean Drama Reviews November 28, 2018

The first drama I finished was 100 Days My Prince. The drama stars D.O as Won-deuk/Crown Prince and Nam Ji-Hyun as Hong-Shim. The story is about the crown prince and there is plot to kill him. He gets attacked and in the process he loses his memory and meets Hong-Shim and is forced to get married because of a law that he made.

I feel like this was a decent drama, it had a good storyline and all the characters made sense also the motives were well thought out. There was a variety of characters and stories that were happening in the drama which made it more interesting. I was excited to see D.O. in a drama again and he didn’t disappoint! I think he made a great male lead.

I found that it was a bit slow, the amnesia part felt long and somewhat dragged out with regaining his memory. I think that the drama had a few cliche moments with the amnesia, revenge and just the whole I want to control the King and choose who I want to put on the throne. The ending was a bit lacking for me, I wanted to see what the two of them together would look like, I feel like I didn’t get a full picture of how their regular life between the two of them was going to feel like, it felt unsatisfying. I mean with the amount of time they had they should have finished better. I felt like the drama didn’t offer me anything that hasn’t already been put out there. It wasn’t the worst but it was far from the best historical type dramas already made.

I think one thing that stuck in my mind after watching the drama and I enjoyed was getting to see D.O. dressed up as a Crown Prince and walking around being all smart and tsundere ! I thought he was really cool!

The second drama that I watched was Devilish Joy. The story is about Gong Ma-Sung (Choi Jin-Hyuk) who is a neurologist doctor that meets a woman Joo Gi Bbeum (Song Ha-Yoon) who is a celebrity and they have a whirlwind romance one day and ends with Gong Ma-Sung ending up in a car accident and suffers with short-term memory loss that only allows his memory to last one day. It also stars Hoya from INFINITE who is Gong Ma-Sung’s cousin.

I enjoyed the first couple of episodes because they were pretty exciting and interesting. I think there was pretty good chemistry between the leads and many kiss and romantic scenes between them which isn’t always the case. The height difference between them was kinda cute as well. The acting was good and believable it had a good balance of sad and happy moments between them. The ending was cute and it was an unexpected ending to what it felt like was going to happen.

I did not really enjoy the storyline that much after a while. Someone had pointed out that the story was very much like Boys Over Flowers with a rich guy trying to help a poor girl especially when she is being bullied. I felt like yes the story wasn’t that fresh to me and I mean even in BOF there is memory loss for a part. Joo Gi-Bbeum even resembled Geum Jan-Di in BOF. I thought I would like this drama more than I actually did but I think what frustrated the most was Gong Ma-Sung’s illness. How could he function in an important job with that bad of a memory loss it would take me so long each day to catch up reading what you wrote every day. You would have to read more than just yesterday’s notes, life is more complex than that, you would have to review weeks and months of materials to get back each day and that would be exhausting. The ending bothers me because there is no rhyme or reason to when his condition worsens or can get better. I also found Joo Gi Bbeum character kinda annoying, her hair also really bothered me, the bangs were terrible and it looked like she was wearing a helmet. I found this drama hard to take seriously and didn’t really feel the pain the characters were feeling. I just found that I couldn’t connect very well to the story and the characters.

One scene that stuck in my mind in after watching this drama was Gong Ma-Sung lifting Joo Gi-Bbeum up on the counter and kissing her. At least they had good chemistry together!

The third drama that I finished watching was The Beauty Inside. The drama is about Han Se-Kye (Seo Hyun-Jin) who is famous actress but she has a secret she changes into a different person for a week every month and this has caused her to be misunderstood. It also stars Seo Do-Jae (Lee Min-Ki) who is an executive at an airline company that his grandfather owns. He suffers from a disability where he can’t recognize anyone’s faces and has to work hard to hide this secret. The meet each other and their secrets become revealed to each other.

I have to say that I really did enjoy this drama, at first I wasn’t so sure since I had watched the movie and thought it was interesting so I hoped that the drama was going to also be entertaining. I really enjoyed Han Se-Kye character and loved how strong and courageous in how she helped others and stuck to her beliefs and her acting was also very good. I actually didn’t mind the changes that they made to the story it actually felt more believable than the movie since she could still be herself for most of the story. I thought it was fun when she would change into different people, I think I would have liked to see her change more in the drama but overall I think it had a good flow. This drama also had some good comedic timing but also had some terribly sad scenes. It had a good range and I definitely was able to feel the emotion and connect to the characters, well at least I was able to connect with Han Se-Kye’s emotions. I have to mention that Lee Da-Hee (Kang Sa-Ra) who is Seo Do-Jae’s sister definitely shone in her role in the drama and I thought she had almost a striking look, I feel like she could have even been the lead role.

At first I really didn’t care for Seo Do-Jae’s character, he was so stiff and his personality seemed really boring. I don’t know why it didn’t feel like it really fit well in the story. He eventually did start to grow on me but the acting did feel really flat but I haven’t seen Seo Hyun-Jin in any other drama so I wasn’t sure if it was his acting or the character that I was struggling with but eventually I stopped noticing it as much. I was hoping that she would be able to find her Dad and see that he also struggled with the same problem, since it seemed like they wanted to mention him and that they might come back to it but nothing seemed to come of it. It just seemed weird that her mom almost made her father presence seemed mysterious. I mean if they didn’t want to get into what her dad was about, they could have just said he died or that he was a bad guy that didn’t want to take any responsibility. One thing I thought was kinda weird in the drama was the dog King Kang, she was kinda treated like a toy with the weird clothes and the unnatural placement of putting her on counters. It just seemed odd and the dog didn’t really act like a dog.

I think if I could watch any drama this fall I would choose this drama to watch! I think what will stick in my mind after watching this drama is the friendship Han Se-Kye and how they comforted at the funeral! I thought it was very touching!

 

The fourth drama that I finished watching was Fox Bride Star/Where Stars Land. The drama is about Lee Soo-Yeon (Lee Je-Hoon) a mysterious, smart, prestigious guy that keeps people at a distance that recently started working at the airport in Passenger Services. He meets Han Yeo-Reum (Chae Soo-Bin) who just got transferred to Passenger services and is considered clumsy, full of mistakes and lets her emotions overtake her leading to mishaps.

I enjoyed this drama for the most part it was full of action and relationship focused. The drama had a pretty good pace and it didn’t feel like it was getting boring. It did a good job of giving all the different characters in the drama space to develop them a bit and because they had a lot of characters it was able to jump around without the story getting stale. I also like that there were secrets that we had to unravel as we watched. I think the chemistry was also pretty good, I know from watching Lee Je-Hoon that he is able to kiss well and thought he did a really good job of acting! I also like the whole fantasy part where he is given the power to use his arm and have a super strength that kept the story interesting.

I have some issues with this drama, I think the biggest problem was the ending, there are issues that aren’t resolved and questions left unanswered. Also people have thought it was really strange why Lee Soo-Yeon’s face wasn’t being shown at the end of the drama. It just felt somewhat unnatural that Yeo-Reum was left out of the loop for so long and it just felt like it was a long way to end the drama. I also didn’t really care for Yeo-Reum’s character, at first they really were trying to make her ditzy and causing problems. In the beginning honestly I don’t know how she could have even solved some of the problems and it felt like unfair treatment. I also have to mention the whole Soo-Yeon not wanting to live his life in a wheelchair and how he would rather die. I felt like this was insensitive and after watching the drama life where Lee Dong Wook’s brother Seon-Woo was also treated badly because he was in a wheelchair. I feel like the Korean culture surrounding people in wheelchairs seems very unfair and disturbing and I am sure it is like this in other cultures as well and I wish dramas would encourage people to see people with disabilities in a better light.

I think one moment that will stick with me is when Yeo-Reum tried to push Soo-Yeon up against the wall and he turned it around on her. I loved the innocent looks Soo-Yeon could give sometimes and then change it up. I also loved it when Soo-Yeon walks out with some lipstick on his lips unknowingly!

 

The fifth drama that I finished was Room No. 9. This drama is about Eulji Hae-Yi (Kim Hee-Seon) who is becoming a very good lawyer that seems she will do anything to win her cases and is planning to become senior partner at the prestigious law firm she is working at. She has everything going for her and even a prestigious boyfriend Ki Yoo-Jin (Kim Young-Kwang) who is a doctor and is planning to become a hospital director. It also stars Jang Hwa-Sa (Kim Hae-Sook) who is a death row convict and Have-Yi meets her and through an incident their bodies are exchanged.

This was a different drama, I wasn’t expecting much from it other than a break from all the romantic comedies. It was pretty exciting for the first couple of episodes because of the body switch. Things got slow and then would pick up again and then would get slow again. The pacing was a bit off for this drama but yet I would still want to keep watching. The mystery and the way it was portrayed was kinda confusing at first and how it could possibly happen and be pulled off. I also didn’t really love it when they switched bodies. I kinda found Jang Hwa-Sa in Hae-Yi’s body was kinda boring and I found myself missing the strong and dynamic real Hae-Yi and was glad when the switch was over. It is somewhat of a darker drama with not much love or romance in it which I was fine with.

What I liked about the drama was the twists and turns and unexpected events. It was confusing but that probably was okay because it held my interest longer. I think the last couple of episodes and the beginning were better than the middle part of the drama. It was a completely satisfying ending although I think there could have been a bit more revenge for my liking or at least some shouting matches. I really wanted one of the characters to just let Young-Bae have it but no one really expressed their feelings to him directly or at least when they had all the power. I liked how the relationships the drama focused on was friendships and family and the importance of it. At first I couldn’t relate much to the characters, especially with the body switch but once they switched back and they showed better understanding of each other I found I could connect to the characters.

I think the moment from this drama that will stick with me when Hae-Yi played along with Jang Hwa-Sa’s mother who has dementia and pretended to be Jang Hwa-Sa and reassure her that Jang Hwa-Sa is okay. It was just a great gesture!

The upcoming Dramas that I will be watching:

1. Mama Fairy and the Woodcutter: It is about a fairy who came down to earth and her winged clothing were taken and so she hasn’t been able to leave and go back to the fairy realm. Her husband who had them died and she has waited for the reincarnation of her husband to get them back. I have watched 6 episodes already and I am enjoying it quite a bit, I love fantasy dramas!

2. Feel Good to Die: It is about an office worker who has a terribly annoying boss who has no social cues and she finds herself getting stuck in a time loop and comedically tries to stop it. I have watched a few episodes and I am enjoying it, it has comedy and also some seriousness.

3.Children of Nobody: It is about a woman whose life falls apart because of an accident and about a children’s counselor who is also affected by the accident and a detective who gets involved. I am not really sure what it is about but it sounds interesting.

4. Memories of the Alhambra: It is about a man who goes to Spain for business and meets a former guitarist and somehow their lives get entangled. This is a Park Shin Hye drama and I am kinda sceptical about it since I haven’t really enjoyed her latest dramas.

5. Coffee, Please: It is about a pretty overweight woman who after drinking magic coffee becomes a beauty. It is also about a handsome webtoon writer who doesn’t believe in love and the woman has a crush on him. I hope this won’t be an offensive drama about people being overweight and if it is that I may drop it!

June-July 2017 Korean Drama Reviews July 19, 2017

1. Circle/ Two Worlds

The first drama that I finished watching was “Circle: Two Worlds Connected.” It stars (Yeo Jin-Goo) as Kim Woo-Jin who has a twin Kim Beom-Gyoon who is currently obsessed with finding a woman who he thinks is an alien and Woo-Jin is trying to keep his brother balanced because he just got out of jail. Then the story splits off into the 2037 where there is a detective named Kim Joon-Hyuk who is trying to figure out how to get into this other “world” where there is no crimes and everyone’s emotions are controlled. So the episodes are split into two shared between the present and the future. There is a lot that happens and I don’t want to give anything away because I really liked this drama and I think that it is a worthwhile drama to watch.

I personally love the futuristic shows where you can explore the different situations that aren’t possible right now but I like that it makes you think. It has such an interesting mystery and story line that I was never bored and I felt like I could never get enough because they would split the episodes so it always left me wanting more. I feel like Yeo Jin-Goo is starting to get really popular in drama these days! He has such a low unique voice that makes hims sound so manly! There was also a newcomer (Kong Seung-Yeon) who is Han Jung-Yeon and I recognized her from “We Got Married” and so I was pleasantly surprised with her acting skills and I really enjoyed her performance.

I think that this drama could have done a lot more with it but it only has 12 episodes and I feel like the ending was a bit rushed or unfinished. I have to say I wasn’t that happy with the ending, it felt kinda resolved but I didn’t like the turn of events and wished for a different ending. Overall I think this is one of the best futuristic dramas that I have ever watched. I would recommend this drama I think the acting is perfect and the story is really fun ride to go on!

2. Lookout/The Guardians

The second drama that I finished was “Lookout/The Guardians”. I really wanted to watch this drama because (Lee Si-Young) who played Jo Soo-Ji was starring in it! I really like her from her past works and I think she is really cool and she hasn’t been in much lately. I was also impressed with (Kim Young-Kwang) Jang Do-Han and chose to watch this drama. This drama had 32 episodes but they were half an hour and shown back to back. So basically it still had about the same as usual the 16 episodes. This drama is about trying to fight corruption which is a topic in almost every drama it feels like! Jo Soo-Ji becomes a fugitive and this is her fight to win against the corruption. It also stars Key from Shinee and I have to say I loved his character, he is just so loveable! So this story mixes detectives, prosecutors and politicians.

I think this was a very well done drama and I always enjoyed every episode. I also have to say this drama had an awesome sound track that just fit the episodes and got you really excited. Although the last couple of episodes at the end they played a song and I still haven’t been able to find it! Does anyone know what the song is? I think that this was so interesting trying unweave all the stories of this drama. I have to say that the ending was sad so I warned you! but I would still have watched it even if I had known. It is a thrilling drama series and I think that it will keep you interested. I would recommend this drama if you like this genre, I have to warn you there is very little romance!

I think this drama did okay in the ratings and I think this drama was one that started to gain more viewers as it went along and things started heating up. I have to say the high schooler thing was a bit strange that he could basically fight with adults and do things that are a bit too advanced but I just went with it! Also I found it problematic with Do-Han’s father and what he did, he still isn’t an innocent person in the end. I understand the circumstances but yet not really. For the most part I really enjoyed this drama!

3. My Sassy Girl

The third drama that I finished was My Sassy Girl which is based off of the korean movie with the same title. I have not seen any My Sassy Girl movie or dramas or anything. I had no expectations when coming into this drama although I was expecting it to be good because it seems like that movie gets referenced a lot in other shows. The plot is that it is set in the Joseon Dynasty period and is about Gyun-Woo (Joo-Won) who is a scholar and a Princess who is quite sassy and good and getting into trouble.

Basically it seems to start off with the plot of the movie with this sassy girl causing misunderstandings and making Gyun-Woo’s life hard by getting him involved with her. It seems like at the beginning they did try to make it like the movie but it seems to stray with that and it became a much more serious drama and I found that it lacked the funny story line. Although in the original movie I think what probably worked was that Cha Tae-Hyun Jun Ji-Hyun and exceptional comedy actors and I am sure that is why the movie did so well. On the other handI do not find Joo-Won to be very funny and found him to be kinda bland in this role. I know that it seemed like people were complaining about the princess (Oh Yeon-Soo) and that her acting was to over the top and that she was annoying. I personally didn’t that it was that bad and I didn’t think that was the worst part of the whole drama.

Personally I didn’t really like this drama that much, I mean it wasn’t terrible but I found myself not being very invested emotionally in the drama. There were a lot of emotional type scenes in the drama but I didn’t tear much at all in this drama. I felt very disconnected to the characters and wasn’t that upset about the things that happened. It felt like this was a typical drama and I didn’t feel like anything special or different was brought into it. I didn’t care much for Gyun-Woo’s character it just felt very bland. I also thought the character of the head guard (Jung-Shin) was strange and it was like he was supposed to be part of a very weak love triangle. I had really hoped for more in this drama but in the end it just seemed a bit typical. I think the ratings weren’t bad for this drama so maybe I have become a bit jaded but this drama didn’t do to much for me! Compared to other dramas airing I would choose others to watch.

Dramas that I am watching and plan to watch

1.Queen For Seven Days- This drama from the first moment warns  you that this will not have a happy ending and yet there is a tiny little part of me that is hoping that it won’t end that way!

2. Secret Forest: This drama is again about corruption, prosecutors and detectives. I don’t know why but I like this drama. I don’t always understand everything that is going on and the motives of others but the actors are just so good at playing the characters that I keep coming back for more! It seems like an unlikely drama to pick up but it is really well done so far!

3. Bride Of The Water God: So I have read some of the manhwa and this drama is nothing like it, I wasn’t expecting to be so different from it! I can see fans of the manhwa getting pretty angry over this but I have to say I feel disappointed by this drama so far! I was really expecting something else!

4. The King Who Loves- I feel like this drama is getting the most hype because it stars  Hong Jong-Hyun and Im Yoon-Ah. It is about the Crown Prince, his childhood friend and a beautiful wealthy woman. It is basically about their love triangle. I hope that it won’t be to typical!

5. School 2017- This looks like a typical high school drama but I feel since I have watched the past ones that I will watch this one too!

6. The Man Who Dies To Live: So this is a family comedy drama and it stars Shin Sung Rok which is another reason to check it out! It also stars Choi Min Soo and he comes back from the Middle East to Korea and tries to reconnect with his daughter.

May-June 2017 Korean Drama Reviews June 20, 2017

I finished watching two dramas earlier this month, the first one is Chicago Typewriter. So first of all this was a fantasy drama with a ghost and past lives. I typically stay away from such things but it looked interesting and I wanted to see Yoo Ah-In in a drama again, the last one that I watched was Fashion King with him in it and it was truly terrible. He has a really distinct growly voice and I wonder now if it is because of cigarettes? I really hope that he has quit smoking and that it isn’t affecting his health.

Chicago Typewriter is about Han Se-Joo who is in the present time a successful celebrity writer and his work is beloved. He acquires a typewriter that he found in Chicago and he soon finds his life has become complicated and that he has gotten involved in more that he wanted to. Jeon-Seol who is Se-Joo’s biggest fan gets to meet him and their lives become entangled and they both begin to see visions of their past lives which is intertwined and is in the era of the 1930’s where they were living in turbulent times with the Japanese ruling over Korea at that time. They slowly learn of their past lives and try to figure out what happened to them.

I really enjoyed watching all these actors and characters and I know that some people have complained that the show was to slow moving and that nothing was happening for the first half. But I think there was plenty in the story line to keep you interested the whole time. There are mysteries that slowly get unraveled and always keeping you guessing about what happened in the past. I like being able to compare the past and present and see how the characters were related.

In the first half of the drama I found Se-Joo to be yelling and angry all the time which was slightly annoying to me and kinda turned me off. Thankfully he turns into a nicer person and stops yelling all the time. I thought the chemistry was good between the actors and was finding myself really enjoying the drama.

I also found it interesting to learn about how the Japanese had taken over Korea and how hard those times were. I wish they would have gotten into the history a bit more and how it affected the country and how Korea got rid of the Japanese regime. I would have liked to see a bit more history and significance in the drama.

Overall I thought this was a well made drama and it was very emotional at the end of the drama which made me cry! It is a bit of an open ended drama but I was satisfied with the ending. I would recommend this drama if you like a mystery with some fantasy!

The second drama that I finished was Man To Man. I was really surprised when I started watching this drama because the plot line made it seem like the story was about a bromance between a celebrity and his bodyguard. It did not say much about the story and so I was expecting it to be more of a comedy. I was also excited to see Park Hae-Jin in a drama again, still love him from “Family Outing.” The storyline was more about a secret agent who needs to go undercover as a celebrity’s bodyguard so that he can use him to get into a party to steal a wooden statue. The story is much more about secret agents and CEO abusing their power and making bribes. Their is some romance more between Hae-Jin and Do-Ha who is the manager to the celebrity.

I felt like they tried to use the bromance gimmick and that was like for one episode and then just kinda disregarded that story line which I thought was weird when they tried to make it seem like it was the focus. I thought Park Hae-Jin was playing the same role from Cheese in the Trap, he was just a stoic handsome guy and he didn’t show much emotion. I didn’t really care for the chemistry between him and Do-Ha. I think I preferred it between him and the celebrity more than the romantic couple. I also thought Hae-Jin’s face looked a bit strange in this drama, like he had some weird wrinkles in his chin and face. I thought it was weird?

At least the secret agent part of it wasn’t terribly unrealistic and actually found it interesting after a while and was wondering why the wooden statues are so important! I know that there was a lot of complaints about Do-Ha and how she wasn’t attractive and that they didn’t like her. I don’t think that was the problem, she was a fine actress but I think it was the characters that they were being forced to play. I think because Hae-Jin was so stoic and Do-Ha wasn’t this incredibly bubbly and over the top girl character which is usually the case, people didn’t like her. I personally didn’t mind that she wasn’t over the top and played a more realistic character was not a bad thing. I think it was the storyline that was the problem. I think they were having a hard time balancing all the different factors that they put into the story.

I did not enjoy this drama that much but if you are bored and want to watch something this would do, and it is nice because it is on Netflix. I really didn’t like the ending, I didn’t really get the point of it? It just seemed strange and I didn’t really get what was happening?

May 2017 Korean Drama Reviews May 22, 2017

The first drama that I finished was Radiant Office and the only familiar faces in this drama is Lee Dong-Hwi from Reply 1988 and Han Sun-Hwa from the girl drop Secret. This drama is about a jobless woman Eun Ho-Won who is trying her best to become am employee at a company. She fall into despair and jumps into the Han River wanting to die. She ends being saved and while in the emergency room she overhears the doctors talking about a patient that has a fatal disease and she escapes the hospital. She doesn’t have money and she makes friends with two other people escaping the emergency room and they are unsure who the doctor is talking about. Eun Ho-Won manages to get a temporary job in the meantime and she decides to give it her all despite knowing whether or not she has a fatal disease. 

So first of all this is not much of a romantic drama if that is what you were expecting, there is some romance but it is not the focus. The characters all kinda fun and I find the actor playing Eun Ho-Won refreshing and I liked the boldness her character portrayed. It is an office setting drama which I feel like I have watched a lot lately but it was still fun and interesting. This drama has a good sense of humour throughout and I really looked forward to watching this drama. I really liked the whole mystery aspect of the drama with not knowing who is dying and just seeing the misunderstandings happening from this problem. I also really liked that they tried to address the problem with how women are treated in the workplace. I liked first of all they admitted there is a problem with a glass ceiling for women, that they do not get to positions that they deserve because they are women. They also didn’t try to portray it in a completely unrealistic way. There were a lot of aspects that I enjoyed about the drama.

I do have some problems with this drama in respect to how they addressed suicide. Eun Ho-Won attempted suicide and she did not get any psychological treatment. They just treated it as she didn’t get the job she wanted so it was just because of that. Suicide is not a physical problem it is a mental problem. It needs to be addressed in a responsible and careful way. Even when other people found out about this it wasn’t like anyone came and talked to her about it. I mean if something bad happened again who is to say she wouldn’t try attempt something like this again. It just bothers me that she had no aftereffects of her acts. I mean at the very least they should have checked her  out for depression or anything psychological. I just don’t think the drama was sending a very responsible idea about suicide, especially because South Korea has a problem with students committing suicide. I just wish they would have addressed this issue in a more of a serious way.

Overall I think this was a pretty fun drama even though there are a few dark issues that come along with it.

The second drama that I finished was The Liar And His Lover which is originally based on a manga called “Kanojo wa Uso o Aishisugiteru” and has also been made into a Japanese Movie. This drama stars Lee Hyun-Woo who was in Moorim School and To The Beautiful You. When I first started watching this drama I almost thought that he was Park Bo Gum, maybe it was the way his hair was styled in this drama. The leading lady is Joy from Red Velvet which surprised me since she has not acted before and she got the lead. The drama is all about singing so it makes sense since she can sing but it was taking a risk with no acting experience. Sung Joo is also in the drama and he is from the boy band UNIQ. This drama is about  Kang Han-Kyeol (Hyun-Woo) who is a talented composer for one of the biggest bands in music Crude Play. His identity is kept a secret but he is the one that writes all their music. He meets Yoon So-Rim (Joy) who has a gifted voice and wants to become a singer with her band. They meet by chance and Hyun-Woo borrows her phone to record a new song he is making. She falls in love with him and his song and wants to try to help him in any way possible. He forgets to delete his song off of her phone and he has to keep meeting up with her to convince her to delete it.

I have to say I really did not like at least the first 2 episodes, there was too much singing and it just felt corny. I also found it boring and it reminded me a bit of the drama Entertainer which I was terribly impressed with either. It did get a bit better after that but it still wasn’t that exciting of a drama to me. I didn’t really like Joy’s acting in this drama, it felt forced especially with the storyline of her having to be madly in love with Han-Kyeol. I guess I didn’t like their relationship that much and I didn’t really like him in the drama either. Something just didn’t flow that well for me with this drama I guess it felt amateurish. Maybe because it felt unrealistic and not in a fun fantasy way just the relationships and even the story line of the band crude play not playing instruments. I guess it felt like nothing fresh was being brought to this drama. That is maybe too harsh but this was not the best drama of the month for me. I thought parts of it were cute and it made me a little bit curious but overall it was very much a teen drama.

I did like that it dealt with some issues in the music industry and what it means to be an idol, singer or a band. How authentic do you need to be to be loved by others unconditionally. I think they could have gone much deeper in these issues and found it a bit disappointing that everything gets glossed over and quickly wrapped up. I guess they were following a storyline since it has been made from a manga so I guess they were following a set storyline. Maybe the Japanese movie is better? I don’t know but after this drama I have no desire to watch the movie or read the manga. I have to say I feel bad for Lee Hyun-Woo, I wish he could get a drama that was going to do well. I don’t think it is his acting is that bad!

Overall I think this drama would be a pass, I think there are better music industry dramas out there to watch!

The third drama that I finished was Tunnel which is about a Detective Park Gwang-Ho (Choi Jin-Hyuk) in 1986 that is trying to catch a serial killer in a tunnel and when he gets to the other side he is in present day. He doesn’t know why he is in the present day but he thinks that he must be here to solve the mystery of the serial killer and it has been 30 years. It also stars Kim Sun-Jae (Yoon Hyun-Min) who is a fellow detective.

I wasn’t really wanting to watch this drama because I don’t really care for police stories I feel like that area has really been overdone. I mean I don’t mind if a drama has some of it in it, but when the whole drama is about it I feel hesitant to watch it. Since this drama has a time traveling element I thought it could be more interesting and I am sure glad that I decided to watch it. I also wasn’t that excited to watch Choi Jin-Hyuk, I don’t know why I don’t really like him? Maybe it is his growly voice or just his acting, I just don’t really like him that much? But he was okay with him in this drama maybe because it wasn’t focused on a love line at all?

This drama I think has been the best one for this month for me, it is really interesting how they told the story and I found the criminal psychology aspect of this drama fascinating. I have to say that it was frustrating that the police couldn’t pin the person to the crime very easily and made me wonder if it was that hard in real life? I think they did a good job in being more realistic in the story then some dramas even though it was a fantasy drama. The time traveling was a bit strange in how that worked and the rules weren’t terribly logical. The ending made me slightly confused because the current place he was in would completely change when he would go back in time. It seems a bit counter productive and I would think that they would have talked more about the time traveling in the drama but it is almost pushed aside. They also had some filler episodes where they would solve a murder mystery per episode which seemed a bit predictable type of conducting an episode.

For the most part I enjoyed watching this drama although it was a bit dark with so many murders and dealing with psychopaths. I would recommend this drama to anyone that enjoys watching police shows and mysteries. There really is not much romance in this drama and it reminded me of the show Criminal Minds except with time traveling.! But seriously this drama was really a good mystery to follow and really made you think. I even liked the ending which can be hard with time traveling because things don’t always make sense.

I am currently watching:

Chicago Typewriter: This is ending soon and I think it has been a pretty interesting drama even if I don’t care for ghosts and past lives and such.

Man To Man: I feel like this drama was a disappointment, I don’t see that much bromance and instead it is all spy stuff and the characters don’t have that much chemistry. I was hoping for more humor and silly story lines instead it is serious and stiff.

The Dramas that I plan to watch next are:

Circle

Lookout

My Sassy Girl

Seven Day Queen

 

 

 

April 2017 Korean Drama Reviews April 19, 2017

The first drama that i finished this month is Tomorrow With You. It is about a man who is able to time travel by taking the subway. What So-Joon is finding that his future is looking bad and he needs to take some drastic measures to change and avoid problems in his future. He thinks that Song Ma-Rin will able to help his change his future.

 

I have to say this drama is very different from other dramas that I have watched. It took a few episodes to get into it and I found I was intrigued by it but there was something that felt hopeless or depressing. It felt like it was more of a realistic view of relationships and how if they are not built on a good foundation it will crumble. I felt that So-Joon felt like a very unstable main character, at least in the beginning, it seemed like he was selfish and unwilling to change character. But not in the usual way of showing a tsundere character. He didn’t seem to be changed by Ma-Rin and I felt myself questioning if he will ever love her.

The drama did get better as time went on and I did find myself enjoying it. I loved the time travel as the background, of course at times things did get confusing and I even found myself questioning the logistics of how things happened. One other thing that was different about this drama was that it was a lot more mature then most dramas. There are bed scenes and the fact they are a married couple that changes the dynamic.

The drama at times feels like nothing is going to go right and there is not way to change the future but I have to say I did like the ending and how everything turned out. I liked it because it made me think and it was interesting to have the pieces fit together at the end. I love this type of style of drama with a bit of fantasy put into the mix. I would recommend this drama but I have to warn you it might take a few episodes to get into it and expect it to be an intense drama.

The second drama that I finished was Chief Kim/ Good Manager. This drama is about  Sung-Ryong (Nam Gong-Min) who is an accountant who used to manage money for gang but he gets an opportunity to work for a huge company and he at first wants to try to get everything out of the company but instead he starts changing and become a crusader against corruption.

So first of all, I have really started enjoying Nam Gong-Min in dramas. I like it especially when he does comedy because he has hilarious expressions. This drama was hilarious and it got really good ratings in South Korea. I think it was one of the top dramas. I can see why since it was so entertaining. It also stars Lee Joon-Ho (2PM) as Gong-Min’s rival in the company, they have an awesome rapport in the drama.

One thing that this drama does not have is romance which to me is a nice break from other dramas that are so romance heavy. I also didn’t think that accounting could actually make an interesting premise of a drama but I was wrong they made it interesting. It was the little man fighting the corrupted big man story. There are so many funny moments and I really enjoyed watching every week.

They also had really cool drawing animations at the end of the episode which I thought was really unique. The bromance/rivalry between Gong-Min and Joon-Ho really shined in this drama and I think that it was really well done. I would recommend this one and hope that everyone will check it out!

 

 

The third drama that I finished was Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon. This drama is a bout a Bong-Soon who was born with superhuman strength just like every woman in her family. She gets into trouble with a local gang that attacks her and she meets Min Hyuk (Park Hyung-Sik) and he recruits her as his bodyguard after seeing her use her powers.Bong-Soon finds out later he is the CEO of the video game company she was trying to get into. There is also crimes against women taking place in Bong-Soon’s neighborhood and she wants to use her power to stop it.

 This drama I was expecting to be really gimmicky and unbelievable and maybe too silly. I was wrong maybe the first episode or two were a bit silly but after that it was really fun. It is a bit of a slapstick comedy but it was funny and enjoyable to watch. At the same time there is a serious story line of kidnapping in the background that pulls you in and the silliness turns into seriousness. I think it has a really good amount of balance between everything.

This drama I was expecting to be really gimmicky and unbelievable and maybe too silly. I was wrong maybe the first episode or two were a bit silly but after that it was really fun. It is a bit of a slapstick comedy but it was funny and enjoyable to watch. At the same time there is a serious story line of kidnapping in the background that pulls you in and the silliness turns into seriousness. I think it has a really good amount of balance between everything. I really enjoyed seeing Park Hyung-Shik again because he was just in Hwarang. I was happy that he got to play the lead and have a different kind of character. There are many characters that were funny and it is just so much fun to watch a tiny girl have super strong powers! I love all the scenarios that she gets into! I would recommend this for a light and fun comedy that have some heart fluttering moments!

So what dramas did you think were a hit this month??

The ones that I am currently watching are:

Chicago Typewriter: I have enjoyed the first few episodes so far, but it a bit odd, not sure what I think of it yet.

The Lover and His Lover: I really didn’t like the first couple of episodes, it felt like a musical and maybe I just did not enjoy all the singing. Also it seems kinda sappy and unrealistic. I can’t say I really like it but I will keep watching.

Radiant Office: I find the situations funny and it is really fun to watch. I am enjoying it so far!

The Tunnel: I didn’t think I would like it but I am enjoying it, again it is a time traveling drama which has been done but it is an interesting plot with him in the future trying to get back to the past.

Dramas I plan to watch:
-Man to Man : Looks like it will be a hilarious drama!