Matchmaking Has Never Been so original, and fun!

What an interesting idea, a group of men running a matchmaking agency. Loved this premise. They had the brains and money behind the business, the charmer, but also an intellect who knew how to get the ladies to provide him much needed tea/gossip and connections to do his job and then they had the fashionista who was responsible for the brides looking lovely on their big day.

The guys had their successful business, but then came Gae-ttong to shake things up. She was rough around the edges but ultimately had a good heart and made for a great addition to the team. Her story was interesting in that she and her fiancé were once clients of the agency, but fate changed all of that with her being left abandoned and in need of help. The owner of the agency stepped in to help and things progressed from there. What also made this interesting was that the marriage matches were nicely intertwined with the political power plays going on at the palace.

I felt bad for Lee Soo, the new king, and Gae-ttong’s former fiancé. For he was forced into a life he did not want and tried his best to recapture what he had with Gae-ttong, but once it was made clear that she no longer wanted a future with him, his attempt to force the issue made him less endearing. Thankfully he eventually came to his senses and backed off.
Though Do Joon was deeply into Ji-hwa, I could not stand her. She was not a good person at all. I thought he could’ve done so much better than her.

The ML/FL had great chemistry. Their love story was very well-done. I was so pleased with their ending. Even better, all the individuals working at the agency had interesting backstories that were nicely worked into the stories of the series.
My only gripe, despite the show doing a good job tying the matched marriages to the power plays at the palace, the power plays on their own could’ve been stronger. The palace drama in the long run was not well written or thought out. Still, this was a great series that I thoroughly enjoyed and will be one that I will frequently rewatch.

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20 somethings navigating university life and love.

Cute story about 20 somethings navigating university life and love. The mystery behind M in the synopsis is said to be at the center of the story along with the group doing an investigation to determine who it may be. This is not exactly how the series went. The mystery of M was sprinkled throughout the series but there was no investigation. However, the reveal of who M was in the end was a nice twist.

Though the series was entertaining, the monotony of university life could at times be boring. There wasn’t much drama. It was mainly focused on the students going to class, working on school projects and trying to get a romance off the ground or salvage it. I liked that the main couple were best friends before realizing they had romantic feelings for one another.

I also liked how the FL at first rejected the ML’s interest. Though they were best friends her fear of losing that friendship if they became romantic and things didn’t workout were valid. I did think the series spent too many episodes with the ML moping around after initially being rejected by the female lead, and almost took to much time for him to reveal his feelings for her.

Things that weren’t well fleshed out, the storyline about the ML being duped out of his savings. There was a scene or two before he was shown to have been scammed and that was it. I didn’t fully understand what happened there. Also, the story about the guy who came from a rich family who was trying to be an app developer due to pressure from his father. That story seemed mostly like filler with not much relevance to the overall story.

I liked that a character was featured who had diabetes. This type of thing is hardly seen in k-dramas as the protagonists are almost always perfect in every way with no health challenges.

I did think it was unrealistic that the interloper to the popular couple was so obsessed with them, hating the SFL high school. But after her planned to destroy the SFL and steal her boyfriend, she shrugged off her obsession. Based on what she’d already done I would’ve expected her to escalate her behavior and at least need some type of therapy before moving past her obsession.

This series had some rewatchable moments, mainly with the leads, but I don’t think the series as a whole would be something I’d rewatch. Still this was a descent series.

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A Perfect Disaster

The premise for this was intriguing but it wasn’t well written.

The FL has been having an affair with her married boss for years. Then in walks the ML (Dori Sakurada) a colleague who has transferred to the Tokyo office from NYC. He understandably turns all the women’s heads in the office including the FL. Right away, he discovers the affair between the FL and her boss, and immediately starts demanding she breaks off the relationship, which was odd since he knew nothing about her. He does give her some good advice about looking out for herself. Claims to dislike her, but then proceeds to come on to her before showing up at her apartment late one night demanding she ends things with her boss then attempts to seduce her. She surrenders to the seduction, sleeping with him. Why is baffling considering she knows nothing about this guy.

But suddenly after knowing the ML for about a day and sleeping with him, she has feelings for him. And thus breaks off her affair with her boss as the ML has instructed. The FL has no personality, no self-awareness or realizations of her own. Throughout the series most of her decisions are directed or heavily influenced by the men in her life.

The characters had no depth and were simply there to serve the plot. Hence the “love story” in this was not endearing at all.

The best thing about this was Dori Sakurada. It’s always great to see him, but even he is not enough to save this series.

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Adult and dark, yet interesting perspective of marriage and infidelity

This series leaves little to the imagination when it comes to the intimate interactions between the couples who are featured. However, that aside it did explore some interesting angles of infidelity.

The main couple who owned the salon were the most triggering. His blatant infidelity in sleeping with anything in a skirt and abusive behavior towards his wife was infuriating. It was understandable why she left him and ran into the arms of the guy who owned the goldfish shop.

The depressed alcoholic wife and her runner husband were the most likable out of all the couples. They still loved each other and wanted to be together, but their lack of communication with each other is what nearly destroyed them. I was glad to see them figure things out before they made a mistake, specifically the wife, which would’ve done irreparable damage to the marriage.

The storyline with wife who ended up having an affair with her cheating husband was weird. I thought the way their story wrapped was too easy and unrealistic. He cheated on her and that cheating was so painful it caused her to develop a mental disorder. Instead of him getting her help when he learned of her mental problems, he took advantage of her memory lapse and ultimately used that to worm his way back into her life and their marriage. Very manipulative. He did not deserve her forgiveness after all he’d done.

The wife who was fixated on getting pregnant by her asexual husband and the wife whose husband wanted to watch her sleep with with his co-worker were the least interesting. As was the interior designer who had a pity marriage which made her bitter and unlikable.

I liked how the series explored the many different situations that could lead to cheating. I also liked how they showed that marriage is not unicorns and rainbows. Though some of the reasons for cheating were strange a lot of the situations were realistic even if they weren’t right. I was satisfied with the endings for each couple except for the wife who lost her memory of her husband and I explained why previously. I was pleased with the ending for the salon owner. Though it was completely unrealistic that her abusive and controlling husband would’ve let her walk out of the marriage, in reality he would’ve killed her, I was glad she was able to free herself from him with minimal damage. The gold fish guy was a god send, but I never bought he was the love of her life. He was there to help her through a difficult time in her life and once he served his purpose fate moved her to the next phase in her life. She needed to be on her own again, relearn who she was and establish herself without having her entire livelihood depend on a man. I was very happy she was able to do this. And therefore was not upset when her and goldfish guy never reunited.

This was a really good series, very different from the usual love and rainbows that permeates these “romance” dramas. It was easy to watch. The acting was good and the storylines were engaging.

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Another Contract Marriage series that’s NOT so charming and fun

The contract marriage trope is one of my favorites. However this one doesn’t work as well as others I’ve seen. Despite the reason for the contract making some sense, how they got to that point made little sense.

Some how the female lead’s BFF manage to get control of the deed to the FL’s home and then sells the house behind the FL’s back. First off I’d think that’d be fraud. What’s worse is the FL continues to be friends with this girl who committed such a betrayal and continues to do questionable things to her throughout the series. Though I liked the interaction between the leads, their relationship was more like a friendship at best or a very innocent puppy love at worst. It was not believable that they fell in love or could have a real marriage. They never kissed, hardly hugged and there was no sexual tension between them. I know this is an Asian drama and therefore sexual tension can sometimes be scarce, but the director did nothing to play up a potential romance brewing between the two. The relationship really came off as two people who were kind of lonely, especially the male lead, and as result, they developed a friendship and really liked living together. I didn’t see a love story.

There were many missed opportunities though to build a believable love story, specifically on their “honeymoon” and when the female lead lost her memory. There were opportunities missed to really create some romantic moments that had an air of sexual tension. But it just didn’t happen. Also, I was confused as to whether the agent who was managing the male lead’s career wanted him for herself or just didn’t like the fact that she was no longer the only woman in his life. Moreover, her “romance”, if that’s what you want to call it, with the female lead’s male BFF was awful. They had zero chemistry. He looked like a kid standing next to her. They weren’t even close to being compatible considering their vastly different lifestyles. The relationship was completely forced.

The second male lead was annoying in that he fell into that trope of having met the female lead when they were kids. He was being bullied, but she was the only kid out of all the kids he knew who was nice to him. So from that he has decided she is the love of his life and he must reignite a relationship with her. RME. SMH. Very ridiculous trope and childish for a grown man, or woman, to be living their life by such an idea.

The acting was it the best. The female lead had pretty much the same facial expression throughout the series. Even when something dramatic was happening like the male lead confessing his love, she had no response. Or when she was supposed to be crying or upset. There was no emotion in her eyes. She just stood their blank and looking pretty. The male lead sometimes made the right acting choices, but at other times was too over the top, especially when angry, which made his character seem as if he could potentially become abusive. The second female lead, and the male lead’s family, were the strongest actors in this and thus the most believable. Everyone else were not very good.

The only thing that I consistently enjoyed about this was the home the leads lived in. It was a beautiful unique design. I liked the airiness of it, all the natural light, and that it was on the water. Everything else about this show was just okay.

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A Revolving Door of Souls in One Body

This sequel promised to bring more intrigue between the opposing factions of mages with Uk now being possessed by the Ice Stone and perhaps a swoon worthy love story with Go Youn Jong replacing Jung So-Min as Naksu. The latter was certainly true being that Go Youn Jong and Lee Jae Wook’s chemistry smoldered unlike his interactions with the previous actress in the role of MuDeok/Naksu.

However, disappointingly, the intrigue with the mage factions came to a screeching halt. With most episodes consisting of Uk falling for Buyeon/Naksu again while killing the monster of the week. Mu continued his nefarious agenda of trying to do….I’m not sure as his agenda got lost in his weekly schemes that never panned out, allies who were sometimes apart of the schemes but their roles weren’t made clear and just the lack of clarity as to why the royal family kept him as an advisor considering the actions he’d precipitated against the monarch in the previous season.

Of course it is learned in the 11th hour of the series that the monarch had been in league with him all along, along with the Unanimous Assembly. Learning this did add some logic to the earlier decisions these characters had made, but still failed to make sense of their end game. Their greed for power was understood. First via the ice stone, then the firebird. The former agenda made more sense than the latter. For the firebird would be difficult to control and would leave the world in shambles. How would this help those greedy for power? It was never made clear.

Moreover, out of all the mages on the Unanimous Assembly only one (too late I might add) realized their plan was a bad idea. It was hard to believe that many seasoned mages who’d seen a lot of good and bad in their lifetime thought Mu’s firebird plan would end with the result they desired. They all came off like a bunch of novice idiots with stars in their eyes over a half-baked plan to grab a smidgen of power, rather than intelligent beings who knew from their ages of experience that this plan would do more harm than good not just for others but themselves. Speaking of Mu his villainy was played out from the first episode. He should’ve been killed in the previous season with another adversary taking on Uk and his family/friends of mages. Mu became unbearable to watch. So much so he nearly ruined the series for me.

Another story thread that became tiresome was Buyeon/Naksu’s soul drama. It didn’t help that every episode changed the story behind what was going on with her soul. First her soul was Naksu, but her blood was that of Buyeon. Hence she could open the ancestral vault of Jinyoun. Then Naksu and Buyeon’s souls were coexisting in the body, with Naksu’s soul soon to disappear. Then it was Cheon which was the name she was born with or perhaps a reincarnation of Seol. By the time the series was over I didn’t know who the heck she was supposed to be.

Despite the confusion surrounding Buyeon/Naksu’s ever changing identity and why it was changing, the love story between she and Uk was well done. The closeness that grew between them was a natural progression and thus believable. And though Buyeon’s connection to Uk and their budding romance was supposed to be due to her soul being that of Naksu, I didn’t feel that she was Naksu. It felt like she was a completely different person, a new person, melting Uk’s heart. Their love story was sweet and their chemistry was amazing. However, I feel the writers took the audience up the mountain but failed to reach its peak. These two had some amazing hugs and kisses. We did get the wedding, but then after that no more smoldering romantic interactions. They may as well been good friends rather than starcrossed lovers who finally beat the odds to be together. Disappointing.

Similar to the first series, the writers missed some opportunities for epic moments within the series. For example, Mu’s death, it should’ve been more painful and dramatic. Uk discovering that Buyeon was really Naksu. He didn’t even blink upon learning this truth, which was odd. Yul being cured of the blood parasite should’ve been more challenging as should’ve been Uk dealing with the firebird. There had been several episodes discussing the dangers of the firebird being awaken and the difficulty in dealing with it only for Uk to wave his sword a couple of times, easily destroying it. Again disappointing. Uk taking on the firebird should’ve been a real battle as I got the impression that on its own it was just as powerful as the ice stone within him.

Though this season had its disappointments, it was still very good and worth watching. Will I watch again? Probably not. There was nothing about this season that was extraordinary enough for me to want to experience it again.

That said, I would absolutely watch a show with the adventures of Uk/Naksu/Buyeon/Cheon/Seol finding the relics that escaped Jinyoun. Provided Naksu/Buyeon/Cheon/Seol doesn’t add another identity/soul to her repertoire. Lol. I think a show about her and Uk’s adventures would be a fun .

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A Rebellion, A Monster and a Weak Love Story

A mission to find a government official’s side piece leads down a rabbit hole of horrific human experiments, a rebellion against the Japanese occupation and of course love.

I generally liked the leads in this but am on the fence about whether PSJ was the right actor for the ML role. He wasn’t bad in the role but I think there are other actors out there who could’ve really owned the part. His acting is good but I don’t think he’s the embodiment of who Jang Tae-sang should be.

The monster being created by the Japanese was a creative way of referencing the history of the experiments they conducted on Koreans during the war and its horribke impact on those individuals. However, how the monster worked within the story wasn’t always consistent. Some managed to fight off the monster and escape its attack unscathed while others were completely eviscerated by it. This was driven more by plot than logic. Same with the anthrax attacks.

The action on this show was pretty good, but what engaged me the most was the human stories of those impacted by the war and the Japanese occupation as well as those working in the rebellion in an attempt to fight back.

The implied feelings developing between the leads was not believable because they have no romantic chemistry and the development of those feelings was random. Having the ML join the rebellion due to his feelings for the FL made no sense for the previously mentioned reasons. There was more than enough going on in his life to drive his change of heart without the FL being the reason.

The production value was superb, save for the CGI of the monster which was hit or miss. The episodes were a little too long, but overall the acting was good and the show entertaining.

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Fireworks Have Never Been So Dull

Great set up for this story. A couple who were once involved being torn apart by some painful action of the past, but who are still obviously drawn to each other in the present. The chemistry between the leads was perfect, but the story was far from it. It spent way too much time on the minutiae of everyday life. Granted saving lives is not minute, but it just wasn't interesting here as it wasn't well balanced with the love story that should've been the driving force behind the series and thus the A story instead of the C or D story. The show spent numerous episodes moving the love story at a snails pace with hardly anything happening and when they did try to put more focus on it the dialogue would be at times cringey. For example when the FL was saved from her sinking car by the ML. After he saved her, carrying her from her car of course, she asked him if he "went through all that trouble to save her because he still cared for her." Sigh. The guy is a firefighter that is his job to save people no matter his personal feelings for them. The FL should've known this best being that she is a doctor. SMH. Anyway, it took nearly 20 episodes for there to be any "significant" movement with this relationship and even what happened was barely a step forward. Once I realized there would be another 20 episodes of nothingness with most of the focus being on the fire or medical emergency of the week I gave up on this.

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A Dull Demon Doing What’s Been Done Many Times Before, but with little Flare

The premise of this series was quite cliche. It could practically write itself due to how much this type of story has been done. Unfortunately, the writers could not make this interesting at all. The “demon” (Gu-won) is very good looking, love the actor. But there was nothing interesting about him. He made deals with desperate people and collected on those deals 10 years later by collecting their souls and sending them to hell. Okay. Seen this before. Now what?

It is intriguing that he has a cross tattoo on his wrist that apparently holds all his powers and he did have an encounter 200 years earlier with a little girl which I’m guessing somehow connects to the FL in the present, but the details of that story thread likely won’t be explored for another 10 episodes.

The demon’s first meeting with the FL was fun. And the power struggle going on at Almighty Ju’s company has some spark, but overall the story fails at being interesting. The leads look great together but have lukewarm chemistry. The only relationship that really popped in this was Doo-Hee and Ms. Ju. Really loved their conversations and chemistry.

Again I can already guess where the story is going. Gu-won will of course see the error of his demon ways and in turn find his humanity by giving up his powers for love and eventually becoming mortal. I’m also betting he made a deal with Doo-Hee’s parents (probably to save her life or ensure she has a good life) and that’s why they died in that car accident. This will be a source of angst in their romance. Nothing wrong with a story being predictable but it needs to be interesting. I gave this three episodes and just couldn’t care enough about the story to continue so I stopped watching.

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Snoozeworthy Love Story with Characters Who Lack Chemistry

I knew this series was in trouble when it spent the first 15-20 minutes on characters who weren’t the leads in a silly dispute. The FL lead was involved, in a attempt, I’m guessing, to set up who she was but she was playing a supporting role in those first 15-20 minutes in a storyline that was neither good nor interesting.

The story eventually progressed to its main storyline introducing the the male lead who couldn’t be more dull. The overbearing mother demanding that he immediately find a wife didn’t help matters either. The leads finally meet and unfortunately they are about as exciting as watching paint dry. No chemistry whatsoever. Both actors are attractive and can act but their characters are as dull as dishwater.

The contract marriage trope always has an element of ridiculousness but the suspension of disbelief required for this story is a lot. This was because the lies to keep up the illusion of the contract marriage were so over the top, so unnecessary and so far from who these characters are it just didn’t make sense. If the FL was smart she would’ve made sure the lies closely aligned with the truth. Thus they’d be easy to remember but the fibs she came up with were ridiculously elaborate which I imagine will eventually lead to the undoing of her and the ML’s scheme. The side stories with the brother and the FL's ex are annoying rather than intriguing or funny. And the leads apparently starting to fall for each other is just not believable, due in part to the lack of chemistry between them and their love story being poorly written.

I gave it 10 episodes because I like Xua Kai, but stopped watching as I was FF through episodes more than I was watching them. Needless to say I won’t be finishing this series and don’t think it’s worth watching.

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Off the Rails Before the Story Could Gain Traction

Nice science fiction setup about parallel universes. The wealthy FL is transported to the past after following the advice of an acquaintance who assures her if she arrives at a specific location at a specific time she’ll find her missing friend. Speeding to that location in an effort to meet the deadline she ends of careening off a bridge into the water and traveling to an alternate universe that ends up being the year 2018.

Sounds exciting right? Yes! Unfortunately this is where the excitement ends. The FL struggles to understand what is going on and immediately discovers the life she previously had doesn’t exist in this version of 2018. She gets some help from a stranger who gives her shelter for the night then she meets the ML who proceeds to help her while also stalking her. The first four episodes is literally her finding a job and the ML following her around town because of course she’s some woman, likely a love interest from his past, whom he must look out for. There is nothing more about the sci-fi of the story. If a viewer didn’t know any better this would be another boring romance drama.

Such a shame because I like the actors in this and the premise has promise, but the show seemed to have abandoned that premise for the mundane day to day life of the FL and her inevitable romance with the ML.

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A Repeat of Once We Get Married this Was Not

The leads in this have wonderful chemistry. They played opposite each other in Once We Get Married and did a phenomenal job. So this series already had extra points for casting them together again. The premise of the series was strong with a lot of potential but unfortunately the story quickly lost steam early on. I don't know if it was too much focus on the kid, which can sometimes happen when dramas are centered around children or if it was the conflict in the story shifting to business which wasn't well written, but this just started not to work in part due to these issues. As a result, I did not continue this show and dropped it about 1/4 of the way through.

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