February/March 2018 Korean Drama Reviews March 27, 2018

The first drama that I finished was Mother/Call Me Mother which a Korean drama remake of the Japanese drama also called Mother. The premise of the story is that there is a young girl named Hye-Na (Heo Yool) who is being abused by her mother and her boyfriend and she meets her temporary teacher Soo-Jin (Lee Bo-Young) who gets involved with another teacher when they see signs of the abuse. They follow the book but Soo-Jin does not seem interested in getting involved since her position is only temporary but she starts seeing Hye-Na wondering the streets alone and she decides that she will become Hye-Na’s mother.

When I first started watching I didn’t have many thoughts on this drama I thought it will be pretty straightforward a woman and child running from the law and did not think it was going to have so much depth. I have not watched the Japanese version so I have no idea about the differences in the drama but I really enjoyed this drama. The acting is amazing in this drama and all the characters feel so authentic and I never got to the part where I thought it was boring. There are many times where I was shocked that the child actor could act that well it really blew my mind. She was dealing with such serious issues like abuse and abandonment and all the emotions she had to portray, she really stole the show in this drama. It is such an interesting drama the way that it made you think about right and wrong and the grey areas in life.

The focus is also on mother and daughter relationships and sometimes you can really only understand the love your mother has for you until you become one yourself. Sometimes you also get to choose who your mother and that an adopted mother is no less a mother than the one that gave birth to you. It tackles the mother daughter relationship in such an interesting and through provoking way. It also highlights the difference between a good mother and a bad mother and that you don’t need to be stuck even if your mother was not a good one. It also focused on the idea of adoption and what that means which is a good lesson for anyone to learn about! I thought it was going to be mainly a mystery/suspense drama and I really didn’t expect the emotional side and I basically cried my way through the last two episodes. I really think you watch any drama this year that this would be one to watch!

The only complaint is the strange love line in the drama, I don’t really understand what they were trying to accomplish with it and it seemed unnecessary if they didn’t want to really want to have a love story in the drama. I felt like embrace the love or don’t have that in there and in the end they wanted to highlight the relationship of Soo-Jin and Hye-Na. Other than that I really liked the twists and turns of this drama and I am happy that I watched this drama.

The second drama that I finished was Cross and the plot of the drama is that it stars Kang In-Kyu (Ko Gyung-Pyo) who is trying to solve the murder of his father 13 years ago when is father was harvested for his organs. Kang-In Kyu wants to take revenge on the people who are running the illegal organ trade and starts with taking a job as a doctor at the prison where the murderer Kim Hyeong-Beom(Heo Sung-Tae) is imprisoned.

 

I can’t say that I am a fan of Ko Gyung-Pyo not that I dislike him for any reason but I do not like him as the lead in this drama. To me it always sounds like he has his mouth full when he talks or he has like a sad, lost puppy dog stare when his upset and he is for pretty much all of this drama. I do not like him in a serious role I think happy go lucky characters would better suit him. I decide to watch it because it is a medical drama and I thought the revenge genre could be interesting but I was wrong I did not enjoy it that much. It just seemed like an odd drama they had have an eye condition that gave him almost supernatural sight and it just seemed like this weird added thing that you would forget about. Then there was this thing where he was trying to take revenge but the way he was doing it was so obvious and they always made him into a reckless “hero” where he kept trying to get the bad guys but it was stupid because he was trying to do it alone. Then there was the controversy with Cho Jae-Hyun the actor who played Go Jung-Hoon who was the adoptive father of Kang In-Kyu and his mentor. In real life Cho Jae-Hyun is accused of sexual misconduct or assault in his past and he was pulled from the drama and I think they did okay resolving it in the drama but for sure it had impact on the overall story of the drama and they had to change things around in the story.

At times I found myself bored and I really not caring about all the issues. They also tried to do some romance and it was just kinda weird and it feels like don’t bother if you don’t want to commit to it but I don’t the audience will really care either way. Also they really pushed their coffee sponsor and I am sorry but you do not look cool drinking coffee out of a can, it is just didn’t look good and really took you out of the story when they show that coffee. I feel like there was just a lack of depth with the characters and it just feels like all the characters where superficial but I just found myself not connecting with the characters or the story. The bad guy even felt strange the way he acted it just didn’t seem to really hit me the way it should have. I feel like there have been better dramas who deal with revenge and this was not one of them.

I did like that this drama did work on the issue of the illegal organ trade which I am sure does exist and that I hope that it brings more awareness to this issue. I wouldn’t recommend this drama unless you love some of the actors in the drama or you love revenge dramas. I think there are better revenge or medical dramas to watch then this one.

The third drama that I finished watching was Radio Romance which stars Song Geu-Rim (Kim So-Hyun) who works as an assistant radio program writer and she gets pulled into PD Lee Gang’s (YoonPark) crazy scheme to try to get a top star Ji Soo-Ho (Yoon Doo-Joon) to become the DJ of his new radio program he is putting together but the catch is that Song Geu-Rim has to convince a top star to do a daily radio program and then she would get to be the main writer. Geu-Rim has loved the radio since the time her mother became blind and it became something that they would enjoy listening together. The problem also is that she is not the most talented when it comes to writing but she has the passion to keep pursuing it to become better.

So this drama had a strong beginning it looked like it was going to be a fun drama but somehow the story became a bit boring around the 10th episode where it just kinda lost steam. I wonder if it was because the love line developed too quickly and then it is hard to keep it interesting if the love is developed. Also I felt like there was a lack of chemistry between Geu-Rim and Soo-Ho, I just didn’t feel the butterflies between the two of them. Their kisses were also mainly pecks and that just made it feel like chemistry was lacking and I mean I think even in the last episode they were still just pecking each other on the mouth and looking surprised. I wish they would have focused more on creating the radio program and having more special guests and just giving the story more than just the love story. I think this drama was having trouble finding a balance with the love story and adding other characters to the drama. I wish they would have done more with the crazy PD, I think he was the most interesting character and they just didn’t use him to his full potential. I think the only thing that kept it interesting was the backstory and the mystery with that.

 

I did enjoy getting to watch Doo-Joon I didn’t realize that he was in Highlight or used to be Beast Idol group. There was something about his voice that I could just listen to forever so he kept me watching. There were great parts in this drama when they highlighted different people on the radio show and I have to say I really enjoyed Jin Tae-Ri (Yura) in this drama, she played an awesome nemesis in the drama and honestly I think she would have been a more interesting if she was a lead character. The other side characters looked interesting as well and I wished they would have let others shine in the drama more.

I think this was a decent romance drama that is not super complicated this drama fits the bill. It has the fluff and romance and the handsome rich man that will sweep the commoner off of her feet!

The fourth drama is Welcome to Waikiki/ Eulachacha Waikiki which I currently haven’t finished yet since it was supposed to be 16 episodes but was so good they have changed it to 20 episodes. I don’t think anything in the last couple of episodes could change my mind about how awesomely funny this drama is! The storyline is that there are three friends who run a a guest house in Itaweon and they are having trouble getting guests and face bankruptcy. One day they find a mysterious baby and decide to take care of her until her mother comes back. It stars Kang Dong-Goo (Kim Jung -Hyun) who wants to become a film director one day and takes photos for a living. It also stars Lee Joon-Ki (Lee Yi-Kyung) who wants to become an actor and takes jobs being extras and other small roles. The third friend is Bong Doo-Sik (Son Seung-Won) who is the scene writer. They all want to make a film together one day when they would have the money.

This drama is pure comedy and has only gotten funnier as the episodes go on. Their is some romance between the characters but that really isn’t the highlight of the drama. It is the funny scenarios and misunderstandings that happen to them that really make it hilarious. It kinda reminds me of The Sound Of My Heart, it has the same feeling of comedy which was also a great comedy. It just has so many clever moments and I mean who doesn’t enjoy laughing.

The first episode I was questioning the humor a bit like it took time for me to adjust but after the second episode I was completely hooked on this drama and I am sure I will be missing this drama when it is over. All the characters are so funny but I know Kang Dong-Goo and his facial looks can get a little bit old after a while but he is still so funny and I don’t really mind. I would really recommend this drama if you like to comedy. Even if you don’t this drama will make you enjoy comedies! It is just so relatable to the average person when nothing will go right for you and you get stuck in a bad place! It has warmth, comedy and honesty at times and I highly recommend this drama!!

Also Baby Sol is soo adorable and I love how she smiles at everyone! I think this could even be a good drama to introduce to people that don’t watch korean dramas because everyone likes to laugh!

The dramas that I want to check out next:

1. Live: This drama is about the lives of police officers. I have watched the first episode and it looks really interesting. It is being aired on netflix so I think it is affecting the subbing in this drama and the subs are not coming out very fast.

2. My Mister: Honestly this drama seems weird and I am checking it out because of IU to be honest. It is about three middle-aged brothers who are having a hard time and somehow they are going to help each other heal each other’s wounds.

3. A Poem a Day: It is about the lives of people who work at the hospital who work as physical therapists, radiologists, nurses etc. It is about a physical therapist who wanted to become a poet but due to her poor family background she studies to become a physical therapist and also about another trainee in physical therapy who wanted to become a doctor but because of his grades he had to change.

4. Switch: Change the World: This is a legal drama about a man who is a swindler who is smart enough to pass the bar exam but he couldn’t become a prosecutor so he decides to make criminal pay for crimes that prosecutors did not.