December 12, 2022

October and November 2022 Korean Drama Review

Gaus Electronics

Gaus Electronics is a comedy drama that is based on a webtoon with the same name and the episodes were shorter more like 46 minutes than the regular 60 minute run time. It also only had 12 episodes so it was a shorter drama than most. It is about the team members of Marketing Team 3 of the home appliance department at Gaus Electronics. It stars Lee Sang Sik (Kwak Dong Yeon) who is pretty good at his comedic role and he is a man that a bit dense but very positive and causes problems on the team on a regular basis. It would seem that this team is the underdogs of the company and with their hijinks they deal with love, career and friendship within the office.

I thought this was an interesting drama since not many dramas fully go in the comedy arena the last one was probably the Welcome to Waikiki series. It is a quirky and silly drama that has its own unique charms that make you want to keep watching. The actors were all good at playing their roles and nothing seemed too over the top that it feels cheesy but the story and acting were all good. I didn’t get bored since the drama was shorter.

The one problem is that the drama is too short, I am sure that the webtoon had way more material so I am not sure why they made it so short but I definitely felt like the ending was just too sudden and they were not given enough time.

So if you want a funny drama on the shorter side this is the perfect drama.

Mental Coach Jegal

This drama is about Gil Je Gal (Jung Woo) who is a mental coach after he had his own traumatic experience being a apart of the National Taekwondo team and eventually became permanently banned from returning as an athlete. He returns to the national team as a coach because he wants to help a Cha Ga Eul (Lee Yoo Mi) who is a struggling short-track speed skater and is in a slump.

Okay so I thought this drama would be about counselling others and be somewhat more of an inspirational drama but it really wasn’t what I was expecting. I was really disappointed in how they first of all portrayed the coach for the short-track speed skating, he was really abusive and everybody knew he was and they just kept as the coach. All the things that he did wrong and they would just keep him, it was disturbing that he could keep his job after everything was known by his boss. I also feel like they didn’t really explain enough about the sport in the drama and how much teamwork is needed in the sport. If you want to watch a good drama about speed skating I would recommend To Fly With You which is a Chinese drama. I feel like since I watching that drama I was able to understand the sport in this drama but I think I would have been confused if I hadn’t watched this drama first. The second thing that drove me crazy was the female sports counsellor Park Seung Ha (Park Se Young) everything that she did and thought was just so annoying and wrong. She would always tell Je Gal not to get involved with any of the problems the athletes were having and it was like how could you just sit still when the coaches are abusing the athletes. It was like she should just quit if she is not going to actually help any of the athletes. She also was Je-Gal’s counsellor at one point and she said the most awful and wrong things to him as well. She is really one of the worst characters of this whole drama and am still frustrated by her just thinking of her.

The love line is really just messed up in this drama, the age difference is too much and not to mention it is completely disturbing when a counsellor or coach starts dating their client. It is crossing so many boundaries and this was not what I was expecting when I started watching. You don’t date someone you are counselling, seriously I couldn’t believe that they went there and not to mention she looks like a child even though she may be in her twenties it just was not sending out good ideas with this drama.The reason that he is helping her is because he sees himself in her and even though he realizes this he still decides its okay to be with her. It also started getting pretty boring at the end with the whole politics and trying to catch the bad guys. I also didn’t find it very inspiring or was emotionally attached to any of the characters in this drama.

I don’t really have any positive feedback for this drama, I would avoid this one if you don’t want to be completely frustrated!

Love is For Suckers

This drama is about Goo Yeo Reum (Lee Da Hee) who is a variety tv producer and she is struggling in her love life and her career. She has her best friend who is also her neighbor Park Jae Hoon (Choi Siwon) who is struggling in his career as a doctor and they are comfortable in their friendship. Yeo Reum runs into trouble with her variety show that she is working on and has to recruit Jae Hoon to be on the dating show she is working on.

I thought this was an entertaining rom-com that kept me interested and had lots of characters to keep the story interesting. It was interesting because it was a show within a show type of drama and it felt like it had a different vibe after a couple of episodes. I would never watch those reality type dating shows like the bachelor but it was more interesting to watch it within this drama. We got to see what was happening behind the scenes and I mean its scripted within a drama so we aren’t expecting anything to be real. It was an interesting dynamic and felt fresh and not just a typical Rom-com.

I like Yeo Reum’s character in the show, she is strong and at some point shows that even though everyone thinks she should be married and accept everything to fit the mold of society she doesn’t accept this answer and chooses her personal happiness. She chooses what she thinks is best even if other people around her don’t like her choices. Jae-Hoon I feel like his presence in this drama was overshadowed by Yeo Reum character, he feels more like a sideline character, you get the feeling that she doesn’t really need him and maybe the chemistry is a bit lacking. Normally Si-Won in dramas his character is quite silly and has a strong presence so it felt strange to see him so subdued. He did good but it felt like he wasn’t himself but it was probably more that he had different character than normal for him. I think they also brought up important themes within the show, so it not just fluff but I don’t know if they really gave some of these themes enough time and attention to address them properly. It still surprised me that it went to these serious places at times.

I didn’t really like Chae-Ri who was the other PD for the show, I mean her character is pretty messed up and I guess I feel more sorry for her than anything else. She had family trauma and to deal with it she would just sleep with people as a one-night stand. This is super unhealthy and destructive behavior and they really should have shown her going to get help.

Overall this was an interesting and great rom-com with some serious themes! I would recommend watching this drama!

Seasons of Blossom

This drama is based on a webtoon with the same name and is a short drama as it is a web drama so the episodes are shorter than a normal dram but there is still 16 episodes. This drama is about a group of students that are currently going to Seoyeon High School and it focuses on Yoon Bo Mi (Kang Hye Won) who is a popular student and wants to protect her friends even if it means not allowing herself to be happy. It also stars Lee Jae Min (Kim Min Kyu) who is dealing with a lot of emotional pain from past events. It also goes into the past with Han So Mang (So Ju Yeon) who is a student teacher at Seoyeon High School as she remembers her painful past when she was a student and has to come to terms with the suicide of her boyfriend at the time.

So this is a very sad drama as you know the suicide is looming in the story the whole time and it is devastating to think about it when you watch the past. I knew this because I read the webtoon but it is still so sad when watching this drama. So if these themes are triggering for you I would not watch this drama as it deals with a lot grief and sadness. I would be careful watching this drama in general if you can’t handle these sad themes. The final episode was really the most sad and really it felt painful.

In the present the high school story is much cuter and not so dark and thought everyone did a great job in acting and it was surprising light-hearted even though there is still so much sadness in this drama. Also the story felt a little different than the webtoon because they focused more on So Mang and she was never a student teacher. Even though they changed some details it still felt like they did a good job and was very authentic to the webtoon. The one thing is that the webtoon is much longer and therefore the drama feels unfinished compared to the webtoon.

This drama is going to break your heart but was still enjoyable to watch!

Shadow Beauty

This is another web drama that is based on a webtoon with the same name but I haven’t read the webtoon. It stars Koo Ae Jin (Shim Dal Gi) who is not considered beautiful and feels ugly and is being bullied at school. She has developed a secret world where she utilizes makeup and photo editing to run a popular social media account called Genie. She keeps this secret to herself but one day she gets a message that someone is aware of who she is and that they have a untouched photo of her.

This was a very intriguing and addicting drama as you want to solve the mystery and it really sucked me in and wanted me to keep watching. It has a strange vibe with all the girl wearing the same type of style and looks like bad wigs but I am not totally sure. The story does get somewhat weak after a while but it still was interesting to watch. I think part of the problem since it is a webdrama they had to rush the story and didn’t give the same backstory time with the characters and developing the story in the same way a webtoon is able to because they have time. It was an easy watch and was pretty entertaining.

I mean it was still not very convincing that Ae Jin is ugly but at least they didn’t just give her glasses! Honestly I also didn’t really get her being and becoming friends with her bully, it was too fast of a change but again they didn’t have time. The fake genie story again didn’t have enough time to do that justice and so it felt really rushed and weird. Also if this fake genie is so pretty in real life why wouldn’t she just build a brand on social media as well? She really didn’t need to pretend to be someone else, she could have easily done well on her own. It has some interesting themes and was a fun ride.

I would recommend if you want a short, easy drama to check out!

Upcoming Dramas

Curtain Call

It is about Ja Geum Soon who owns a large hotel Nakwon and who is nearing the end of her life and she wants to be reunited with her family that she lost when she was separated from her husband and child during the Korean War in the 1950s. Her assistant hires an actor to play the grandchild that she wants to reunite with to make her happy before she dies.

Summer Strike

It is about a young woman who runs into problems with her personal and career and then gets hit with a tragedy and decides to quit her job and ends up in a small seaside village and meets a gentle and quiet librarian who keeps helping her in her embarrassing moments.

Reborn Rich

It is about a man who has been a loyal secretary to the Jin family who run the Soonyang Group and ends up dying after being betrayed and he is brought back to life and wakes up inside the youngest member of the Jin family. He decides that he will take revenge and takeover the Soonyang Group.

June, July, August 2021 Korean Drama Reviews August 11, 2021

The first drama that I watched was Youth Of May. This drama is based on true events the Gwangju Uprising in May 1980. It was a democratic movement that began with an assassination of the president in 1979 and when the next president Choi Kyu-Hah stepped in he had no dominant control over the government and military. The South Korean Army major general Chun Doo-Hwan seized military power through Coup d’etat of December Twelfth and tried to intervene in domestic issues. Students started creating democratization movements and protests of martial law. The Gwangju uprising was when Chonnam University Students were demonstrating against the martial law government were fired upon, raped, beaten, and killed by government troops and the citizens took up arms against the troops and around 600 people were killed.

So this is the backdrop of the story about Hee-Tae (Lee Do-Hyun) who is a medical student and has a lot of baggage and trauma but yet is still an optimist and believes in the good of people. Myung-Hee (Go Min-Si) is a nurse and had dreams of going abroad to go and study to be a doctor, she doesn’t want to get involved in a relationship before she leaves but she promises her friend to go on a blind date for her to get money for the plane ride.

I had not looked up the history of the uprising until about half way through the drama and realized that the terrible event was going to take place was when I realized that this was not going to be a happy ending for everyone and it turns out I was correct. Warning if you like happy endings then please do not torture yourself and watch this drama. Even though I was so sad at the end and cried more tears than I thought, I believe this was a timely drama to remember past events and how bad things can get. I think with the climate of this year with covid and governments 100% overstepping bounds and calling in emergency orders that are questionable is something to think about how badly things can get if we don’t remember the past. It actually scared me when I watching the shootings happen and that they would even shoot at doctors and nurses, how terrifying would that have been.

It is strange because it was such a sweet love story being told and yet it seemed sweeter due to the horrible things around them. Honestly I tear up just remembering the scenes from this drama, that is how sad the drama made me feel. It does an amazing job of showing the events and it really made me think and imagine how terrible the events that happened. The drama did a great job of showing the past and intertwining a compelling love story which made the events feel alive and real even though we didn’t live through the events.

I didn’t love the ending, I understand why they did the ending that way but it was just so sad. I don’t think I was bothered by much of the drama I thought they did a good job and it was a well-told story.

The second drama that I finished was Mine, it focuses on the main woman that have married into a rich chaebol family that runs the Hyowon Group. It follows Seo Hi-Soo (Lee Bo-Young) who is a retired actress that married the second son and adopted his son as hers. She is confident and tries to do the best for her son. Jung Seo-Hyun (Kim Seo-Hyung) is the main leader since she has married the first son of the Hyowon Group and nothing escapes her, she always knows what is going on and is intelligent and quick witted.

Obviously revenge among the wealthy and who is going to inherit the company seems to be a common theme right now in kdramas and Penthouse has become pretty famous even getting a second season. I have not watched Penthouse but I am assuming Mine is pretty close in the theme and style and probably even a bit of a rip off to a lot of people. I can’t say if that is really true but I can’t say I really love this style of drama and that is probably why I haven’t watched Penthouse either.

I thought it was an okay drama but it seemed to kinda turn boring and predictable half way through. I have to say that the representation of the wealthy family was somewhat disturbing and there was nothing about their lives that made me envious of them and their wealth. If anything I was completely turned off by this whole disturbing family. Basically all the men in this drama are garbage and they don’t deserve the opportunities that have been given to them. The only exception was Han Soo-Hyuk (Cha Hak-Yeon) the oldest grandson of the group, he was a decent person and didn’t want the money the family had. He still had a strange relationship with the maid and they start off exchanging bedrooms to sleep in at night, I can’t say I really was excited about their relationship either. I don’t know the atmosphere of the drama seemed very dark and disturbing.

It was an interesting plot for the first half when you don’t quite get what is happening but halfway through you kinda get what is going to happen and found that the plot just kinda fell flat for me at the end. Some plot twists but overall I found it a somewhat disappointing ending and with the usual who is going to take over the company and to what lengths will they go to accomplish their goals. It had some cliche elements that was predictable to me. Sometimes the secrets that the different characters had were kinda lame and did not really mean that in the overall plot and I thought were kinda lame at times. Also Hi-Soo’s obsession with protecting her son from everything seemed somewhat over the top. Kids aren’t dumb and you lying to them does more harm than just being honest with kids. You can’t just pretend something away, if anything that will drive your kid to not trust you at all if they know you lie to them about huge issues.

I can’t say I really liked this drama it could be partly I don’t really care for this type of drama which is why I haven’t watched many of them like this style but I didn’t think this was a good drama. It was fine but I feel like people have been more loyal and excited about Penthouse and SkyCastle so I would question that this wasn’t as well done as other ones. Lately it has been hard finding more than one kdrama to watch at a time! I thought this was a weird, dark drama and I feel like their are better versions of this type genre. I feel like they are going to continue with this genre for a while since they seem to think if one is good many is better.

The third drama that I finished is Racket Boys which is about Yoon Hyeon-Jong (Kim Sang-Kyung) who is a badminton coach that takes a coaching job in the country. He brings his family and his teenage son Yoon Hae-Kang (Tang Joon-Sang) who is baseball fan and wants to do baseball but gets convinced to join his Dad’s badminton team to help them out because they are lacking players. This is a heartwarming story about friendship and family and badminton. I don’t think I would normally be interested in a sport drama but the writer is Jung Bo-Hoon who also wrote Prison Playbook and I knew that he would write a good drama, so I took the chance and decided to watch the drama and I wasn’t disappointed.

It was a well written drama with a lot of heartwarming and friendship feels! I love these kind of dramas with lots of characters where there is a lot of room for character development. There is nothing I love more in a drama where a character learns something and changes for the better. It is alright to fail because it means you have learned something. Surprisingly I found the badminton scenes actually interesting and was completely invested in the drama. I wouldn’t be surprised if Badminton gets more popular with school kids because of this drama which I hope will be true because it doesn’t get much attention in a worldwide scale. The drama had plenty of comedic scenes and sometimes it was pretty corny but not in a bad way. It also had many serious and sad scenes that could easily make me tear up. It was a fun ride and I wish they would have a second season, I feel like there is more story to be told. I also loved the village people and they added so much hear to the story.

The one thing I found lacking in the drama is the coaching, I feel like the coaches were lacking to me and seemed like they needed more character development as well. I actually felt annoyed by Hyeon-Jong throughout the drama and really felt like the story was lacking a strong parental leader that could lead the kids well and have a truly important role in the drama. I was craving a strong leader and I thought that the Head Coach Bae was going to step up and start to lead and be this really cool character but he kinda disappeared in the drama and didn’t really get the point and felt it could have been better. To me it seemed like the boys were better at leading each other than the adults. Even Ra Yeong-Ja Coach was super disappointing to me in how she acted at times and I get that there was supposed to be some character development even for the adults but I don’t feel like it really got there even for her. I was also super disappointed in how she acted toward Hae-Kang and didn’t even help him out and only looked out for her students and Han Se-Yoon. I think she did get better but wow Hae-Kang’s parents were really unlikable to me for most of the drama!

I would definitely recommend Racket Boys to everyone! It is a lovely drama that is hard not to enjoy and love. This was my favorite drama this time,if you only watch one drama, I would pick Racket Boys!

Upcoming Korean Dramas

You Are My Spring

A psychiatrist moves into a new building where a murder takes place and another tenant is a hotel concierge manager who has become a target to a man that is a CEO of an investment company and she wants to deny him but is swayed by him. They all become tied to the murderer. I am halfway through this drama and I thought at first this was going to be a fluff drama but definitely is grittier and full of plot twists.

Police University

A former detective who loved beating up criminals becomes a professor and has a student who is a genius hacker and another student who is righteous and honest. Seems like a good ensemble cast with friendships and romance.

Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha

It is a remake of a movie Mr. Hong and about a romance between a handyman and dentist in a seaside village.

Lost

It is about people that worked hard to see the spotlight and now realized that nothing has happened and everything is just downhill from there. Sounds like a midlife crisis, will check out but if it is overwhelmingly depressive I might not watch it.

Yumi’s Cells

Based on a webcomic and is about an ordinary office worker and the story switches from her real life to inside her mind where cells represents her emotions and will focus on her love cells as they have gone into a coma after a failed relationship. This seems quirky and fun.

March, April and May 2021 Korean Drama Review May 25, 2021

The first drama that I finished was Sisyphus: The Myth. It is a time travel drama and it stars Han Tae-Sul (Cho Seung-Woo) who is a genius founder of a innovative company called Quantum and Time Company. He is struggling with his mental health after the suspicious death of his brother and he starts to question the death after finding a mysterious suitcase. It also stars Gang Seo-Hae (Park Shin-Hye) who is a trained warrior, she is skilled in surviving in a hostile world. She time travels to because she has an important mission to save the country and she needs Tae-Sul to accomplish this mission.

Okay I fell for another time travel drama, I don’t know why I keep watching them thinking that they will do a good job. The logic of the drama always gets skewed and this drama wasn’t any different. The motives and reasons why the characters are choosing these decisions gets murky as the rules of the world seem to change with the wind. I honestly don’t even understand what the ending was, it seemed like it was almost a happy ending but it doesn’t make sense, so it must be their imagination. One thing that bothered me was they really don’t explain what the brother was doing and how he really fit into the story, I thought they would explain what he was doing behind the scenes but its like they forgot about his plot.

There are parts of this drama that made me feel really uncomfortable, such as the team of secret operatives that are coming and taking these time traveler and it just seems creepy with the climate of the world and how people’s rights seem to be nonexistent at this time. A small group of people that can wreck the world and they get away with it and live like Kings, seeing how there seems to be only a few companies that are taking over the free market and not much choice, I could see something like this happening in reality. The post apocalyptic time that Seo-Hae grows up in is very disturbing and pretty violent. Overall this is a pretty dark drama in my opinion and yet it still made me curious.

I have to say although I didn’t like how they ended it, they had some interesting ideas about time travel and there are lots of twists and turns that made you think and kept you on your toes and trying to guess what happens next. I really liked the actors and they did a good job in playing their roles, even if the age difference was a bit off to me, I was still buying the chemistry between them. This drama had a lot of characters and their own stories which kept it more interesting. I am sad that they couldn’t wrap it up better with the main characters getting a proper ending especially since Seo-Hae had such a crappy life. It was exciting, entertaining and frustrating but it was at least an interesting ride of a drama.

The second drama that I watched was Hello, Me!/ Hello? It’s Me. It stars Ban Ha-Ni (Choi Gang-Hee) who is a miserable single woman without a stable job or really anything going for her in her life. She keeps getting into unnecessary trouble and at her lowest point she meets a 17-year-old Ban Ha-Ni (Lee Re) who has come from the past to set things right. The younger version of herself is bright and hopeful and is the exact opposite of the current version and they need to work together to try to fix what has happened. It also stars HanYu-Hyeon (Kim Young-Kwang) who comes from a rich family that has indulged in his hobbies and now his father wants him to grow up so they cut him off from money and he needs to prove himself.

I guess this is another type of time travel drama but the focus is not really on the subject. They aren’t trying to change anything in the past or make sure something happens for the future. It was more about a sentimental type feel of a drama. It’s focus is on how we can change or circumstances can affect who we are and taint us but we need to remind ourselves of how we all at one time was an innocent child that had dreams and ambitions that we had without fear. How interesting would it be if we got to meet our younger selves and the idea that they could help us become who we would like to be without all the responsibilities and guilt of being considered selfish for having dreams. I thought it was interesting concept to explore and I thought it was a decent drama and was pretty satisfied by the drama.

They have some fortune telling magic aspect which I pretty much skipped over which I felt was unnecessary for the drama. I find Gang-Hee the actor playing Ha-Ni has a very unique voice and thought that the teenager version was not very similar to each other. Their voices did not sound alike at all and I think it would be very hard to find someone with a similar voice to Gang-Hee. So I found it hard to buy that they were actually a younger and older version of each other. By teenage years you don’t change that much so I thought it was an odd choice of actors. I wish they could have picked out more of a doppelganger match for the actors. We know that many actors can look similar so that was disappointing to me.

Overall I thought the story was pretty good and nothing bothered me that much in the logic of the drama. I liked the story and the changes of the characters. I would recommend this drama if you like watching a fantasy/romcom type of drama that is pretty lighthearted.

The third drama that I watched was Oh! Master/ Oh My Ladylord. It stars Han Bi-Soo (Lee Min-Ki) who is a popular drama writer that only writes thrillers. It also stars Oh Joo-In (Nana) who is a rising actress who wants to star in one of Bi-Soo’s dramas but he turns her down arrogantly. Bi-Soo then has to convince Joo-In to let him live in her house to write his script and convince her to star in his drama or else he won’t be able to get his drama onto TV.

Only the first couple of episodes are good and it just goes downhill from there. I thought the actors and their acting skills were good it was just a shame that this drama was a flop. The writer really messed it up for them, it could have been a decent drama with the actors but it was just not good.

This drama was okay for awhile and I honestly thought it only had 12 episodes from the way the story was going but I realized it had 16 episodes and I really wanted to drop this drama. They should have wrapped it up in 12 episodes it would have been much better but instead they painfully continued on and the ratings really dipped and was probably one of the lowest rated dramas. I thought it was going to be a lighthearted drama where they are forced to live with each other eventually fall in love and it had that but then they had to create this supernatural weirdness of him disappearing and it just was so terrible. Also they both had awfully tragic pasts and then it continued into their futures, it was just so bizarre. I really wanted to stop around the 7/8 episode when I realized where it was heading.

The character of Bi-Soo and his actions were actually atrocious that I would have dumped him so hard and kicked him out of Nana’s house and would have moved on with the second lead who was clingy and annoying but at least wasn’t abusive. I don’t care what you are going through or dying the way Bi-Soo treated Nana was abusive and I was annoyed at her character for putting up with his mood swings and would have had more respect for her as a character if she would have left him. I was actually watched the drama from the 10 episode on with 2x the speed so I could skip through the drama quicker but at least finish it. The logic of the drama with Bi-Soo disappearing was also so bizarre and we don’t even really know what happened to him, did he die or he stuck in this invisible state which sounds so horrible to me.

Also the ending extremely disturbed me that Nana was acting like he went on a trip and people around her believe that he is still alive, like how long can you keep that charade going. She is just going to keep that lie going, at some point you have to say that he is missing and she will seem utterly insane. I get frustrated even thinking about this drama, this is probably the worst drama of the whole year. Please don’t bother with this drama you will be annoyed, angry, disappointed, and depressed if you attempt to watch this drama!

Upcoming Dramas

I was going to watch Dear M., it seems to be cancelled or at least postponed so not sure if this drama will be aired. It was cancelled because of the school violence allegations made against the actress Park Hye Su and she has denied these allegations.

Youth of May

It is about the turbulent times of the Gwangju Uprising in May 1980. A medical student falls in love with a nurse that he meets at a blind date. She wants to leave to study abroad and he suggests dating for the month of may.

Mine

It is about a rich family that lives in another world then regular people. A star actress gave up her career to join this family and take care of her stepson and find her place without losing herself. Another daughter-in-law is married to the first son and she manipulates the family in a way that no one notices what she is doing. There is a mysterious death that is slowly being unraveled in each episode. There is a maid that is being drawn into an unusual relationship with the oldest grandchild.

Racket Boys

It is about the badminton team in a rural middle school that dream of becoming stars. A legendary badminton player becomes the coach and she helps them grow to be able to take part in a junior athletic competition.

Hospital Playlist 2

This is the second season of hospital playlist and will continue with the same characters.

February 25, 2021

January and February 2021 Korean Dramas Review

The first drama that I finished watching was Please Don’t Date Him and is about a woman Seo-Ji-Sung who is a programmer at an appliance company. She is working on a AI fridge that can give people suggestions about the next meal they should make but somehow the fridge is able to dig up information and she helps women find out the truth about the men in their lives. She gets involved with a firefighter who is the exact opposite of her and doesn’t even use his cell phone. She has two friends that are also having issues with the men in their lives. One friend is unsure about her marriage and whether there is something wrong with her husband and the other friend gets in and out of relationships too easily.

This is a fun lighthearted comedy drama that I thought was going to be somewhat cheesy but actually wasn’t that bad. It has a lot of fun and at times deals with very serious issues and somehow strikes a good balance. It has different side characters that keeps it fun and interesting and I was unexpectedly hooked on this drama.

The only thing that I thought there needed some improvement is the whole mystery of the computer chip in the fridge that appears and disappears it seemed silly that it would happen. The logic behind this was somewhat missing but the drama was supposed to be more of a comedy so it didn’t really bother me that much.

I would recommend this drama if you just want something lighthearted and just fun!

The second drama that I finished was True Beauty. This drama is based off of a webtoon with the same name and I have to say it is very loosely based off of the webtoon. I am currently reading the webtoon so I was excited for this drama but I knew that the drama would be different from the webtoon since it always seems to be changed quite a bit. I wasn’t expecting it to be changed to this extent though! It felt like a completely different story and I really didn’t know how things were going to happen. So if you have been reading the webtoon don’t expect the plot to be similar in the drama. I am still unsure if I like the webtoon or drama version better. Most often I would always say the webtoon or book is better but in this case I thought the drama actually did better.

The drama is about Im Ju-Kyung (Mun Ka-Young) is a high school student and who has a big heart but has been bullied because of her looks. So learns how to become beautiful through makeup so she reinvents herself when she move to a new high school. A boy at school Lee Soo-Ho (Cha Eun-Woo) learns of her secret and she begs him not to share her secret.

I was really shocked in how they portrayed Ju-Kyung as ugly, when obviously the actress is really pretty, they just gave her some fake acne and glasses. I was like if that is ugly then every regular person is going to be considered ugly. I thought it was a really poor portrayal of someone that struggles with their appearance. I let it go because I wanted to enjoy the drama but that really bothered me! Also Han Seo-Jun character really got the the raw end of the deal and was really disappointing to how he was portrayed in the webtoon. I have to say that this drama had many cheesy moments especially at the beginning when Ju-Kyung would fall into Soo-Ho’s arms and was so clumsy always falling on him. It got to be a lot and was worried that the drama was going to be too over the top. Eventually it calmed down but give it a couple of episodes before giving up because of the cheesiness, it does get better. It is funny though when you find out so many characters are in their late 20’s and 30’s playing high school characters! I know that is normal in acting but it still sometimes better not to look at their ages! lol

I really liked how Ju-Kyung was able to grow in the drama and I feel like the webtoon lacks the same feeling. I didn’t mind the love story in the drama as well even though it really sucked for Seo-Jun I could still appreciate the love story that was portrayed in the drama. I understand that sometimes they have to change things for the drama because the webtoon has more time to tell a story. Ju-Kyung is just a really endearing character in the drama and you can’t help but just think that she is lovely and kind. I really like the sweet moments that the drama showed and then balanced with the comedy scenes. I really like these kind of dramas and I thought it was really a fun ride. I was concerned about the ending because the webtoon hasn’t been completed at least into english and I don’t know the ending so I was worried they would leave it really open ended but thankfully they did a good job at properly ending the drama. The drama really satisfied me even though it did feel like parts that the webtoon had were missing but overall if I had never read the webtoon I would have thought nothing was really missing but I am good with it either way.

I would recommend this drama if you want a feel-good, cheesy, light-hearted drama.

The third drama that I completed was Royal Secret Agent/ Secret Royal Inspector: Joseon Secret. It is about Sung Yi-Gyeom (Kim Myung-Soo) is given the job of Royal Secret Inspector and he has to go investigate public officers and secretly find out their crimes with the help of his servant Park Chun-Sam (Lee Yi-Kyung) and with the help of Hong Da-In (Kwon Na-Ra) who is a female inspector. It is a drama about dealing with corruption of the officials and full of comedy as well.

Chun-Sam is 100% the comedic relief in this drama and I mainly wanted to watch this drama because of the actor Lee Yi-Kyung since I always like his work but it was sad that he wasn’t given the main role. I thought this drama was going to be boring since historical dramas always focus on the rich man that is full of corruption and stealing money from the poor and then taking over the court. Actually it is about this problem but it was more interesting because they would go to different areas of the country and see the different ways in which corruption was happening and how it ties in but is still a separate issue. I was surprised that it actually kept my attention but they have different backstories and they also meet Yi-Gyeom’s half brother and how he is involved. It had an full and interesting story to tell and all the pickles the characters get themselves into and how they get out of them was interesting. It also good comedic moments that kept it more light-hearted at times. Also when bad guys get punished it really feels satisfying. There is a lack of romance in this drama, it does happen but it feels somewhat unresolved in the drama. I am not sure if they want to save it for a second season or if they didn’t want that to be the focus of the drama, either way I was fine with it but the chemistry was a bit lacking because of it though.

What I didn’t like was the corruption aspect got a little old hat after a while and I lost interest especially towards the end. I didn’t really like the last two episodes with the corruption problem it just felt tiring but it still ended well. Also I have never heard of the Secret Royal Inspector job before and thought it was kinda funny when they would announce it and these men would always appear to apprehend the bad guy.

I thought it was decent drama dealing with the corruption of officials even though the topic has been overused a lot, this drama still had an interesting story to tell and I found it was fun!

The last drama that I finished was Run On. This drama starred Ki Seon-Gyeom (Im Si-Wan) who is a runner and is a national sprinter and due to the unfairness happening within the team he retires from running despite his father’s disapproval. It also stars Oh Mi-Joo (Shin Se-Kyung) who is a subtitle translator for movies but also works as a translator. She meets Seon-Gyeom and is drawn to him but also feels she needs to help him. It also about Seo Dan-A (Sooyoung) a CEO of a sports agency that also is a part of the family that runs the Seomyung Group and feels she needs to be strong and always be in competition within her family especially because of her gender. Lee Young-Hwa (Kang Tae-Oh) is a university student that is studying art and Dan-A sees his art and wants him to paint for her and is drawn to his art.

I was a little worried that this drama may be boring and just be about running and sports and I was also worried because of Shin Se-Kyung because some of her dramas were not as good as I wished. I have to say this was a lot more interesting than what I thought. The dialogue was different with the characters and the way they acted seemed different than the average drama. It wasn’t really I need a man to complete me but it would be nice to have a partner to just make our lives better or fuller. It was also about growing as a character and admitting you were wrong and taking steps to becoming better. I was kinda drawn to these characters and especially to Seon-Gyeom, he didn’t really know what he wanted or who he was but it was okay to slowly find out with some encouragement. I think parents and the world have definitely told us we need to be obedient all the time that we push ourselves down and try to always be concerned with others and their needs but you can’t figure out who you are when you live that way. I also thought he was interesting because he was very blunt and honest with what he said but at the same time he was very kind and concerned about others. I think that is a good combo of a person they are honest but they aren’t mean so even when they are blunt it is to never be mean. It was just a refreshing type of character in a drama.

Oh Mi-Joo wasn’t a damsel in distress that needed to be rescued she does need help but it isn’t a one-way kind of help and she is fully capable of taking care of herself. She isn’t annoying type character and is able to keep her cool but I think Seon-Gyeom is the star of this drama. I also really like Dan-A’s character she is strong and honestly I love that she always wore runners, I wish that was normalized in society. I really hate heels and the idea that you are only pretty or trendy if you wear them just feels wrong and I like that she wore normal shoes. The men show more vulnerability in this drama and the women were more fierce, it seemed they were trying to flip the roles a bit but it did feel refreshing to have more variety of types of characters.

What I didn’t like was the chemistry was a bit lacking in the drama when the Seon-Gyeom and Mi-Joo were together it felt like there was a bit of disconnect. For example when he picks her up after running the marathon I was expecting a bigger reaction and something more romantic but I found it lacking. They do have moments where I can see the chemistry but at times I was expecting more and just didn’t feel like I was buying the romance between them. I feel like they didn’t always act like a couple but they did have their moments that I did think were good like when he came to her when she was sick. Another thing I thought was weird was in the last episode when Yeong-Hwa and Dan-A can’t be together but then later then it was fine they were together. I don’t know if she just needed some time to accomplish her job and getting the title that it was okay but it wasn’t really clear. They focused a lot of time on their relationship and then they just rushed it at the end, I thought they could have done a better job of telling that story. Also Seon-Gyeom’s dad was horrible I don’t think he deserved to be forgiven that easily at the end, he should have suffered some more!

I thought this was an interesting drama, good ending and pretty satisfying overall.

UPCOMING DRAMAS

Hello? It’s Me

A single woman who is struggling in life to work and romance gets a visit from her 17 year old self who is the opposite of her currently and helps her in her current state.

Sisyphus: The Myth

A genius engineer who wants to uncover the truth behind his brother’s death and the help of time traveler who travels back in time to help him. I guess they are still doing time traveler dramas, I guess I will check this one out too!

Dear. M

University students lives are affected when anonymous person M confesses on a student forum and everyone tries to find them. It seems to be about friendship and youth.

November and December 2020 Korean Drama Reviews December 28, 2020

The first drama that I finished was Record of Youth. It stars Sa Hye-Jun (Park Bo-Gum) who is working as a model and wants to become an actor but is struggling at the moment. He meets An Jeong-Ha (Park So-Dam) who is working as make-up artist and they meet and she pretends that she is not his fan. Hye-Jun struggles because his best friend is an up and coming actor that is doing well and has the full support from his family. Hye-Jun is struggling with finding work and then his family isn’t supportive of him and they want to stop trying to make it in the industry.

I really liked how they focused on the family and the dynamics that happen in families because every family has issues and dysfunctional aspects that need to be explored. I like how they portrayed Hye-Jun’s relationship with his father and even what happens even after Hye-Jun is able to excel. It was heart breaking and heart warming at times. I thought this drama started off strong with the different characters and made it seem like it was going to be an interesting drama and it was for the first half of the drama. It felt like the relationship development went really quickly that made me feel concerned. The acting was great in the drama and I really felt their emotions they were portraying in the drama.

I was disappointed since there was so much hype around Park Bo-Gum so I thought it was going to be a great drama because he can afford to be choosy when he picks dramas. Honestly this drama was a disappointment and it really fell flat for me at the end. I feel like it was the writer’s fault with this one because they could have done so much better and ended it properly if they put more effort in writing the script. The ending was just weird and they did not tie up the loose ends in this drama at all!? They had so many side characters in this drama and they really did them dirty but not addressing any of them at the ending! Why did the writers spend so much time giving them a story in the drama and then completely abandon them at the end. I was so confused by what they were trying to tell us with this drama.

The other weird thing was I noticed it said it was funded by the Korean Government and thought it was suspicious when they were introducing getting the HPV vaccines and that disturbed me because there are bad things that have happened with that kind of vaccine. The love story was also strange it happened really fast and then completely stalled in the middle and by the time there was a separation as an audience I didn’t really care if they were together or not anymore. I didn’t really fall for them being a couple so I don’t really get what the drama was trying to tell us. So getting fame good or bad? The ending was also ambiguous. The timeline was also kinda strange like lots of time would go by and it felt weird and then the whole best friend liking Jeong-Ha but nothing really gets resolved. Honestly I don’t think the drama really had figured out what they wanted to show to the audience so therefore it didn’t translate well what they did show us!

If you want to see Bo-Gum in a show again I would watch it for him but be prepared for a lack luster romance and just kinda depressing story line overall!

The second drama that I completed was Start-Up and it starred Seo Dal-Mi (Bae Suzy) who is a part time worker and dreams of becoming a CEO of a start up company and making a name for herself and is spurned on by the competition that is created by her older sister Won In-Jae (Kang Han-Na). Dal-Mi has a childhood friend who she exchanged letters with that she wants to find who is Han Ji-Pyeong (Kim Sun-Ho). There is Nam Do-San (Nam Joo-Hyuk) who is genius and founder of Samsan Tech, the company is not doing well even though he has created new technology and somehow he becomes Dal-Mi’s childhood friend and they start developing and professional and romantic relationship at the same time.

I was scared to try another drama with Suzy because I haven’t always liked the dramas that she has done but it was better than I expected. I actually really liked this drama the story was stable and interesting and the ending wasn’t disappointing. There is hiccups in the story but nothing that really bothered me and thought it was more of a fresh perspective and I really liked all the characters. This felt like a safe and entertaining drama. It had humor and seriousness and it was just a nice drama to relax with and still could surprise me. I thought it was really interesting because most dramas seem to put sooo much emphasis and focus on if you make a childhood connection with a character that seals the deal for the characters to be soulmates. In this drama the childhood connection was important but then gets completely thrown aside. That childhood memories do not trump the relationships that you make as an adult. Honestly I never understood that because childhood memories seem so insignificant to me like the connections I made as a child don’t mean much to me as an adult. Dramas have clutched onto this childhood memories as soo important but in reality they feel so far away from the person I am today.

Honestly though when they get into all the technology the whole self-driving car kinda freaks me out! I just feel like it would be very hard to trust AI to drive for you, it feels unsettling to me and just how to avoid the glitches that could happen, but that is just a personal feeling toward the subject. I feel technology and AI right now feels like a touchy subject because it feels like no one has privacy and when they get hacked feels scary because it is happening currently and we do not have the luxury to have a Do-San in our lives that can solve our problems!

This drama was solid and it has the push and pull feeling and even though you know whats going to happen you really don’t know how it is going to happen and I really just loved the characters in this drama. I think this drama is worth the time!!

The third drama that I watched was BirthCare Center. It stars Oh Hyun-Jin (Uhm Ji-Won) who is successful business woman and the youngest executive at her company and she surprisingly gets pregnant and after giving birth she stays at a postnatal care center and is worried because she is one of the oldest mothers and doesn’t know anything about being a mother. There she meets lots of other women and that includes Jo Eun-Jung (Park Ha-Sun) who is the epitome of a perfect mother and they have some clashes on their ideas.

I didn’t think I would like this drama because it does sound strange to me but I saw a humorous clip and thought I would check it out and I am glad I did. This drama has many humorous moments which was more than I thought for a drama about giving birth. It does deal with some serious issues but I was really watching it for the comedy! I loved the parts with Hyun-Jin’s husband and the different experiences that he has! I am pretty sure there are no birth centers like that in my country or at least where I live there are not any but they seem like a fun and relaxing place to go after giving birth but I am sure not many could afford them!!

The drama brings up some issues that are interesting because they are not talked about much in dramas like being a working mom or stay at home mother and which is correct. They also discuss the idea of breastfeeding or bottle feeding and how moms are shamed for so many of these issues. Also the idea that you don’t know everything after giving birth and that it is okay to ask for help. I don’t know if all the things they teach in the drama are right because of the comedy in the drama but I think there are some lessons to be learned in the drama! It has some sad and shocking elements in this drama as well. Even if you have never been pregnant or given birth I think you can still find a reason to watch this drama! It speaks of fulfilling your dreams and not losing yourself with the responsibilities that you find yourself in. They had different characters going through different things but they could find some common ground after giving birth and I just really enjoyed how the story was told with humor that heart wrenching and heart warming moments.

The only thing that bothered me was in the birth center they did very little caring of their child and would just hand them over to the nurses to do all the caring. I don’t think I saw any of them changing diapers or giving baths to their babies which I thought was strange. I think they didn’t want to do too much acting with the babies which make sense but bothered me logically. Other than that I enjoyed the drama.

I found this drama to be unexpectedly fun and interesting and I would definitely check it out if you need something different!

The fourth drama that I finished was Kairos. It stars Kim Seo-Jin (Shin Sung-Rok) who is a successful executive at his company and is very driven to succeed in his company but has neglected his family in the process. His wife is a violinist and he has a young daughter Da-Bin that gets kidnapped and he falls into despair and has many regrets. He gets contacted by Han Ae-Ri (Lee Se-Young) who is one month in the past and she is a student that works part time to get enough money for her Mom’s operation for a new heart, but her mom goes missing. They need each other to help solve their problems.

I have been a fan of Shin Sung-Rok for a long time so I was excited he was in a new dram and I was not disappointed by the drama! There is some very good acting in this drama and it is like being on a roller coaster and there are many twists and turns that made it very exciting and fresh kind of drama. At times you feel devastated by the events and then eventually relief comes and it just continues all the way to the end in that fashion. It is like a time travel genre but still felt different because every one stays in their own time line they just have influence over the different timelines. There isn’t really romance in this drama but the side effect of watching so many dramas you still want there to be some connection between the characters but I don’t think it would really make sense anyway. It is exciting and fresh in every episode and everything starts over in the next episode. I thought this drama was really well done and did well with a thriller/fantasy/crime genre!

The one thing that seemed to bother some people was keeping up with the past and future timelines because it could get confusing at times. I didn’t really have much trouble being able to follow except maybe the last two episodes as the future and past were kind of converging. Also towards the end it seems to kinda go in circles around the issues a bit like they were just stalling for time for the finale. Also Seo-Jin’s secretary story line really bothered me and how his story went and it was especially frustrating because he knew the future and yet didn’t change how he dealt with his problem.

I felt like there was a sense of completion and finality at the end, it had a strong beginning, middle and ending and I felt satisfied by how it ended and I would recommend this drama to anyone that likes time travelish, exciting and thriller type dramas!

UPCOMING DRAMAS

I tried one episode of Cheat On Me, If You Can and I didn’t want to watch anymore. It is about a thriller writer that focuses on how to kill people and her husband when they got married signed a contract that if he cheats on her that he will die. So the husband is cheating and I guess she will find out and find a way to kill him. I watched one episode and I was just disturbed by him cheating on her with more than one woman and I just was turned off. It doesn’t sound like a very interesting concept and I couldn’t even convince myself to finish watching the first episode.

I also tried one episode of Mr. Queen which is about a playboy man goes back in time into the body of a queen from the Joseon Dynasty. I also couldn’t get past the first episode which is disappointing because I really like Shin Hye Sun. The Queen is a playboy and then the King is also a playboy and I just found it all off-putting. It was disturbing the Queen ogling women and the King also wanting to just focus on women. There is also the whole ambitious rich men trying to control the King and the usual court politics with any historical drama. I didn’t find it funny or terribly interesting so I only watched one episode. I think this drama was doing pretty good ratings but I guess I just simply did not care for it! This just may be my personal preference and it may get better in the next episode but I just simply did not have fun with this drama!?

1. True Beauty : It is about a high school girl that is bullied because she is considered ugly but she uses the power of make up to change her appearance and now has become the popular pretty girl but struggles with keeping the secret from the people around her. I have watched a couple of episodes and it is very cartoony for the first couple of episodes and overdoing it with her clumsiness but it still seems fun and endearing! Also it is based on a webtoon which you can read on webtoons.com.

Please Don’t Date Him : It is about a programmer for smart home appliances and when she works on her smart refrigerator it gets connected to some personal databases and records and it helps her weed out the bad men in her life with the information it provides. She also meets a firefighter that resists the idea of technology. I have watched a few episodes and it seems fun and interesting.

Run On : It is about a sports agent who quit being a sprinter due to legal issues and about a woman who writes translated subtitles for movies and destiny brings them together? Not too sure if it is any good because haven’t watched it yet.

Royal Secret Agent: A young man who placed first in the state examination gets caught gambling and as punishment he is assigned as a secret royal inspector and there is a female inspector who solves cases with him. There goal is to stop illegal acts and corruption by public officers. I haven’t watched an episode yet and I hope that it will be interesting and not boring as bribing and such aren’t the most exciting topics!

August/September/October 2020 Korean Drama Review October 17, 2020

The first drama that I finished was “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay”. It stars Moon Kang-Tae (Kim Soo-Hyun) who works in psychiatric wards but has to keep moving to different hospitals because of his brother who has autism and believes that the butterflies are going to kill him and they have to run away. It also stars Ko Moon-Young (Seo Ye-Ji) who is a successful children book author who has many scars from her childhood. The three of them meet and even when they don’t want to see each other they keep get drawn together.

At this point I was scared to watch another drama that focuses on mental health since I thought the other dramas had not done a great job. This drama was so interesting that even if they didn’t do a great job in the mental health arena it didn’t bother me. Even in the title it explains that even if you are not okay, it’s okay. All the characters are on a journey and even if they aren’t perfect in the moment they lean on each other and allows the space for them to not be okay but it’s okay because you will someday. I really enjoyed the story of this drama it seemed so rich and all the characters felt so dynamic. All the different relationships between each other just really made it a full story. How something in the past felt a certain way to one character would be different to another person, or would go back to the memory with more clarity.

Ko Moon-Young was such a fun character with her outfits and such a different appeal of a heroine of the story, she was really strong and demanded what she wanted and wasn’t scared to be honest. It was a refreshing character played by a female in a drama. She depends on Kang-Tae and Sang-Tae but she also offers a strength to the brothers as well. They are true equal partnership in their relationships. I really like the way Moon-Young becomes best friends with Sang-Tae was just so heart warming and the way that she would act childishly in front of him and treated him like her true older brother was my favourite. Also the drama was filled with serious drama but the comedy was also so great, I really like how they had the balance between them. The mystery part of the drama was pretty good too, I love how it had some plot twists that were unexpected. This drama really is a perfect combo of all my favorite elements.

I really don’t have complaints about this drama, only that I wish that it was longer! One thing was at the beginning it started really dark and made it seem like Moon-Young was kinda evil but it got better after the second episode! I recommend this drama if you like a romcom, drama, murder mystery and family genres.

The second drama is “Train” done by OCN. This drama is a sci-fi/fantasy that focuses on having parallel worlds. Seo Do-Won (Yoon Si-Yoon) who is a detective who gets sucked into investigating a serial killer that dumps bodies from a train. Han Seo-Kyung (Kyung Soo-Jin) is a prosecutor and is childhood friends with Seo Do-Woon but they have had a falling out and she gets involved with this mysterious train and serial killer case and she still loves Seo Do-Woon even though he has put distance between them.

This drama was pretty interesting with the subject of parallel worlds and it really stretched my mind trying to figure out how the two worlds were being affected by this serial killer. I really liked that I had to really think about the story line and figure it all out. It was exciting and interesting all the way through which was good. Surprisingly they allowed for some romance which is unusual for OCN Dramas. So to warn you all it has a happy and good ending so don’t let that stop you if you want to watch this drama.

The rules with the parallel worlds were kinda fuzzy and how they were able to really pass between the worlds which is not unusual for the sci-fi world but can be annoying when the rules can suddenly change. There were moments when I thought what the characters were choosing to do in a situation was so reckless and dangerous and really just them being dumb and unaware of the danger of their decisions. Also when Seo Do-Woon goes into the other world and assumes the Do-Woon’s identity it seemed to easy for him to take over for that role when he has no idea what was happening in that world. The transition was so simple, I would have wanted some obstacles so show how the two of them are from different worlds. Also with OCN dramas they are soo serious, I wish they would add a little more comedy into their dramas just to give a little more pull to watch their dramas!

Overall I thought this was decent drama on the subject matter of parallel worlds, it was interesting and even had some romance without a devastating ending!

The third drama was “Flower Of Evil”. It is about Baek Hee-Sung (Lee Joon-Gi) who is hidign behind another person’s identity and has a past that is being brought to the future which is jeopardizing his present where he is a devoted father and husband. It also stars Cha Ji-Won (Moon Chae-Won) who is his wife and she is working as a detective and starts to get hints of something wrong with Hee-Sung and starts investigating.

I thought that this drama was going to be pretty dark and was worried about how much evil was going to be in it, and at times it does get pretty dark but the story is pretty interesting and I really wanted to see Lee Joon-Gi in a drama again so I held on. Surprisingly it wasn’t as dark as I thought and really found myself on the edge of my seat as I watched this drama. I think this was a really unique drama because you spend a lot of the time questioning the main lead’s intentions and you really are not sure if they are the good guy or the bad guy and this felt really different compared to other dramas. In other dramas you know and expect the main leads to be good or even the best kind of person they are not evil and always do the right thing or fix it when they don’t. This drama just flipped the story and you don’t know who to trust and they keep unravelling the story slowly and with plot twists. I really enjoyed this drama and it really was a great thriller drama with romance. The cast had great chemistry and I really thought it everyone did an amazing job in their roles. I really believed their love for each other as husband and wife and it felt authentic.

The only thing I didn’t like was how the child was kinda pushed off at some parts and she is just not around and that is just not realistic with raising children. She felt a bit like an accessory to the story at times that just kinda bothered me but she still had an important part in the story. I also didn’t really like how they had him hurt at the end and thought it was unnecessary for that to happen but the ending was still good. I also didn’t like the ending for his sister Do Hae-Soo, I think she deserved better for the ending.

Overall it was a compelling and riveting drama that was a thriller and romance. If you can handle a bit of darkness you will definitely enjoy the ride that this drama takes you on!

The Fourth drama I finished was “Stranger 2”, it is a sequel to Stranger or Secret Forest. The second season does not spend any time catching you up from the first season and since its been a couple of years I had to go back and read the recaps and I am still not sure if understood what was always going on. The second season is focused on the fight between the prosecutors and the police. The prosecutors want to protect their discretionary power over investigations and the police want investigative authority that is independent from prosecutors. Prosecutor Hwang Si-Mok (Cho Seung-Woo) and Detective Yeo-Jin (Bae Doo-Na) are both pulled into the committee in opposition against each other.

This is such an interesting drama but at times I have trouble keeping up understanding all the details of what is going on. Even thought it hard to follow at times I noticed that it got high viewer ratings so that hasn’t stopped viewers from watching the drama. There was a few characters that I need refreshers about since I didn’t remember them but overall it is a new drama so you don’t have to know exactly what happened in the first season to watch the second season. When I first started watching it I really didn’t understand why they were focusing on certain cases and I felt frustrated but of course at the end everything ties in beautifully. It was an intricately put together story which I can really appreciate at the end of the drama even if it seems unnecessary at the beginning, it all makes sense at the end. It is funny at times I think I don’t even know this much about how my own country’s prosecution and police work, but I have learned lots about the Korean system. I love how Si-Mok and Yeo-Jin are unwavering in their beliefs and what they believe to be right. They do not bow to any pressure and don’t allow anyone tell them what is right or wrong.

Some things that bothered me was the lack of friendship continued between Hwang Si-Mok and Yeo-Jin. I was waiting for all the warm and fuzzy feelings to happen at some point but felt it was really lacking. Although at the end with Si-Mok and his dream really made me emotional! I felt they didn’t get to work much together which made me sad. Also the ending was so lacking I wanted so much more for these characters. It did feel like they want to do another season and that might be why it felt so unfinished at the ending but if they don’t make a third I feel the the ending was all wrong.

At times I didn’t really understand what was going on but I figure I would get it eventually as the drama went along but I didn’t really understand what was happening with the Hanjo company but I am also not that curious to try and look it up and understand. It was interesting to watch but I didn’t really feel like looking anything up later to better understand so I am fine with it. I guess the drama finished without finishing all the loose ends in the hopes of a third season so it just felt conflicting with how it ends.

I would recommend you watch Stranger 2 if you have watched the first season because it is needed to understand the characters and their interactions. Without watching the first season I don’t think you can appreciate the second season as much. That being said I really hope they make a third season because it is heart breaking to me if they leave the story the way it is without the friendship and connection to each other!

The fifth drama I finished was “When I Was Most Beautiful”. This drama is about two brothers that fall in love with a vulnerable woman who is desiring family. Oh Ye-Ji is working as a student teacher in a rural area and Seo Hwan is her student and falls in love with her at first sight. He tries to help her and introduces her to his family and his older brother Jin also falls in love with her but he also has an ex-girlfriend who can’t let go of him.

This is a strange drama, I am not sure what to make of the story. At times it is interesting and then it can be cringey. It reminds me of a car crash you just can’t look away, you know it is being set up for nothing good but you just finds herself continuing to watch and need to know what happens at the end. I think I have given up on all of the characters and really don’t think they should be with anyone and should move on from each other and find other people. All the characters are frustrating to watch and you want them to make better decisions. They all have unhealthy attachment to each other and they should be severed and let each other all go.

I have a hard time understanding Seo-Hwan, you literally cannot have a crush on someone for that long. Time and distance will make those feelings fade no matter how much you want to believe in true love and soulmates when you haven’t seen or talked to each other for many years you will get over it. All hearts mend and you can move on from people those feeling fade and will not be as strong as they always show! It really was also a weird subject matter with first a teacher and student relationship which feels taboo and then with the two brothers in love with the same women. It just felt like it was awkward material and it was hard to want to support any of the characters in this drama. Also it was so overly serious all the time, I felt like say lighten up already!

I kept watching because I really wanted to know how they were going to clean up the mess that the writer has made and it was a disappointing ending. They were not able to clean up the mess of the story and it was really a terrible ending and at the same time I really wasn’t surprised since the set up was just impossible to have a happy ending. The only thing I enjoyed about this was the cinematography, the scenery and colours were so beautiful.

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It was such a horrible ending, Ye-Ji was terrible when she met Hwan and wanted to spend a couple days with him and act out a fantasy life of her and Hwan being in a relationship. She knew Hwan has been struggling with getting over her and she basically fanned the flame in his heart, teased him, and told him that she loved him. How is Hwan ever supposed to get over her now, he knows she loves him and the only reason they can’t be together is his brother. It seemed torturous to do that to Hwan but she did it because she wanted him to always remember her and that seems so selfish to do. Hwan always wanted the best for Ye-Ji but I honestly don’t really think she cared about him that much. She has always known that he has had feelings for her and she just ignored them and let him do things for her, knowing full well that will only make his feelings grow for her. I feel like she could have shut down Hwan’s feeling more and instead she almost seemed to encourage him to have feelings for her. Then there was Jin and he was sooo creepy when he was trying to woo Ye-Ji and I would have been so disturbed by the different things he did and said to her. Their relationship was so weird and they didn’t even seem to love each other once. Hwan also did some controlling things to Ye-Ji which made me think at times that he was just obsessive and needed to get over this unhealthy attachment and crush to Ye-Ji.

I thought after a while that every character should just end up alone since they were all terrible with each other. When the ending was actually them all alone, I was shocked but I knew that it made the most sense for them to just end up alone they way the story was going. If I would have written the drama I would have had them declare Jin dead and she would have not been married to him anymore. Then Ye-Ji and Hwan would start dating for a while and then Jin would come back. She would wrestle with the idea of being with Jin or Hwan but when she would find out Jin had betrayed her with Carrie then she would be free to be with Hwan. I feel like it is not unusual when someone is grieving over someone that they find comfort with someone who also had a connection with the person. I am sure this would have been still problematic but I would have preferred this to happen.

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Upcoming Dramas

1. Record of Youth. I have watched quite a few episodes and I like it so far. It is about a model that wants to become a successful actor with just his talent. He meets a makeup artist that also wants to get success by depending on herself.

2. Start-Up. I am unsure how I feel about Suzy in another drama since she hasn’t been my favorite but I am excited to see Nam Joo-Hyuk. It is about Suzy wanting to create her own company and Joo-Hyuk is also starting his own business tech company but is struggling.

3. Kairos. It is about Shin Sung-Rok who has a successful work and family life until his daughter gets kidnapped. Seems like some time travel involved in the story.

4. The Spy Who Loved Me. It is about a man who is a spy and was married to a woman who didn’t know his true identity, they divorce and she remarries an industrial spy. He comes back into his ex-wife’s and her husbands life. I am not totally sure about this one, I may not pick it up!?