But is it really love?

I have mixed feelings about this story. Mind you, I can't stomach anything that gives off a depressing vibe. But strangely, this drama attracted my attention. This story has depth and mostly targets the 30+ age group. I can't comprehend the message the story is trying to give. There are two people of different age groups. One in his twenties and one in her forties. Both are at their rock bottom struggling to survive both mentally and physically. They meet each other and find comfort in each other's company. They eventually fall in love.

But is it really love?

Then there is the woman in her forties and her husband. The husband is in love with his first love ( who he meets with from time to time) and there is the wife who is in love with a random young man. But they refuse to take the next step. To them, their matrimonial relationship is an anchor of some sort. Although they have fallen out of love long ago, they still continue to live together, eat together spend their life together. like this, they continue to suffer together. They are more like friends than lovers.

Is that kind of life worth it?

Both are not bold enough to take the next step. Scared to go beyond their comfort zone.

Is this how it should be?

Read More

Kudos to Rowoon!

It started in a very awkward and weird way but then over the course of 16 episodes, it transformed into a very heartfeltting, emotional and engaging storyline.

The awkwardness is mainly due to the character Shim Jung Woo being an anti-social, stubborn, naive and upright nerd trying to fit himself into society. At first, I thought maybe Rowoon, ended up picking a terrible script for the first time in his acting career but later I saw how Rowoon managed to bring out the anti-social character into a more mature character over 16 episodes and yet again I have to compliment him on his acting.

And the rest of the cast too did an amazing job!! Loved everyone of them!

The storyline is similar to other cliche Joseon matchmaking stories aired so far but despite that it has its differences and engaging points.

It started off cringy af but by the end, my heart had turned into a soft puddle. It's just adorable!!!

So if you feel like it's too cringy at first, give a few more episodes a try and you will find yourself falling in love with this drama.

Read More

The overall story is inconsistent and failed to bring out absolutely nothing.

I really don't want to tell this to a drama by Kang Ha Neul and Ha Ji Won, but this drama really isn't the best. The overall story is predictable and the characters are ridiculous and irrational. At times I even wondered what the writer was trying to bring out in this story. Family Love? Regret?? But smashing up some illogical storyline to give out a meaningful story was a failure in itself.

Park Se Joon was the most ridiculous character in the story. He is some 40+ something adult, but complaining like some little girl and trying to sell the Hotel that was created by his grandma with sweat and pain just because he thinks his grandma didn't love him enough.

And Park Se Yun, who acts as both the grandma's younger version and grandma's granddaughter. Did they run out of actors??!! It was sooo offputting to watch Ha Ji Won and Kang Ha Neul, putting up a loving couple act of the grandma, grandpa version and the next moment having to watch their all awkward cousins act.

Park Se Kyu, putting up the playboy act was the only enjoyable thing in this entire drama, but still, it was kinda annoying when he's being like a weed swaying in the wind, watching his brother and sister fighting over the hotel.

The overall story is inconsistent and failed to bring out absolutely nothing. To sum up the story, it's about some rich kids who are fighting over a hotel/money while their grandma was dying. And to spice up the story, they just randomly put up some grandson from NK that the grandma was longing to see before her death. BUT they went ahead and made a fake grandson, but the old woman figured it out before her death, then the real grandson pops up saying he wants to get back at his grandma (he is also complaining like a lil girl) because ...idk his reasons don't make a lot of sense. What could he possibly expect from a grandmother from SK, when he is all the way in NK???

Anyway, this story doesn't make a lot of sense and def, not the best watch.

Read More

The most evil perfection

How should I describe this drama......a damn rollercoaster ride!!

12 episodes and it was enough to drive me crazy. The story revolves around a cop who goes undercover to uncover an international drug ring and things get complicated when his wife inadvertently gets sucked into the investigation. The story was perfectly written and I love how Park Joon Mo aka the undercover cop slowly gets the utmost trust within the gang and slowly rises up to become the key figure in the international drug deal. And at the same time slowly removed the key figures around the ring leader and substituted himself as the most trusted subordinate and friend of the ring leader Jung Ki Chul. What was more thrilling is, how he managed to corner all of them into a dead end and finally take them all out in one fell swoop.

Ji Chang Wook managed to pull out the psychological struggle of his characters in utter perfection and I could not be more proud of him.

Worst of Evil, was made the most perfect evil by the cast and directing with a solid storyline.

Read More

Hands down, the BEST season of Arthdal Chronicles!!

This is the second drama that got a 10/10 from me for the year 2023 so far. (The first one being Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938)

This season is totally different from the other three seasons, from different actors to, a much more developed background setting, directing etc. The storyline is also more powerful and engaging and keeps you on your toes until the end. This season starts 10 years after the end of 3rd season and talks about how Eun Seom, Saya and Tanya, the sword, the mirror and the bell worked together to capture Arthdal from the tyrannical Tagon.

And if you are worried about the change of actors in this season, trust me Lee Joon Gi and Shin Sae Kyeong, playing the roles of Eun Seom/Saya and Tanya were AMAZING!! They were the perfect Eun Seom/Saya and Tanya that Arthdal could ever get!!

For kdrama lovers who haven't watched the previous season, it would be very difficult to directly watch this season because everything that happens in this season is one way or the other connected to previous seasons. So I would recommend watching the previous seasons before watching this. Although the only drawback would be, in my opinion, the previous 3 seasons of Arthdal Chronicles were relatively boring and frustrating.

The OST was perfect.

Read More

WORST Jung Hae In drama EVER!

The first thing that came into my head after watching 6 episodes in 2 hours is "What the freaking shit ball is this??!!". Trust me, this is the WORST Jung Hae In drama EVER! Like I can't figure out what the hell was going on and the story is a complete shit ball.

Nothing makes sense from beginning to end. There is this one weirdo, who is going around looking for his eyeballs like a TOTAL idiot. (Does that even make sense??) and there is this girl, who is playing the hero saving the damsel, by saving the guy going after his eyeball, then there is a serial m*rderer, I don't know what is even wrong with him??, and the most fking dumbest thing is, the serial k*ller's coworker even after finding out that he is a messed up k*ller, this dimwit of a woman confronts him instead of contacting the police!! Excuse me?? Did u flush ur brain down the toilet???!! What was she expecting??!!

Yes, I get that "Connect" is some messed up experiment and all, but it was not the main focus of the drama. Instead, it's all about the unnecessary bullshit that doesn't even make sense.

Read More

Unique

This drama is definitely one of a kind and in a different league than other dramas. The bizarre story, along with good directing and synchronized acting, gives this drama a different vibe from the usual Korean dramas I've watched. The main key point while watching this is don't try to use a lot of brain cells to understand it and just enjoy whatever the drama throws at you.

To summarize the story, it's about a woman who is close to a Radical feminist who looks down on men and a guy who has trust issues with women and looks down on women. Circumstances led each other to fake-date each other, and they agreed despite their contradicting feeling for the opposite sex. Both of them aim to make the other person fall in love and later break their hearts. Little did they know that things won't go as they planned. Little by little they end up understanding each other and get rid of their prejudice against the opposite sex and learn to respect each other. Eventually, they end up facing hardships together as a beautiful couple. The story is laced with many misunderstandings. The way that the actors portrayed their characters was truly very refreshing. The leads are strongly supported by the second lead who also did an amazing job.

The female lead's feminist ideas can be very extreme at times to a point that she is paranoid but her mindset is created after growing up under a very sexist father and seeing her mother greatly wronged by his sexist ideas.

The male lead's revulsion towards women stems from an unsuccessful relationship.

The OST is good, the vibe is good and I binge-watched it through the night. A beautiful story (although unrealistic) and enjoyable. Def worth my time.

Read More

VERY satisfying

I've watched 5 out of 6 dramas of Park Ju Hyun and I should say this drama is the one with her BEST performance. She brought out the crazy, hyperactive So Rang in the story to life with her vivacious performance.

This is a historical drama with royalty and a power struggle but this doesn't have the usual rigid by the rules of the ancient era and the imperial palace. Contrary to that the characters are funny and their interactions are much more carefree. The story seems to span out in two parallel lines, the romance and friendship in a much more carefree attitude while the court struggle being intense.

I loved every minute of it and this is a very satisfying drama to watch.

Read More

The script is well written and is enjoyable if you know a little about gambling and cards. Unfortunately idk nothing about both so it was hard for me to keep up with the story from the beginning.
The main drawback of this drama is that there are so many supporting characters, so it's hard to figure out who is who for a long time. It took me several episodes to differentiate the various roles of the characters because there are too many to keep up with.
The first eight episodes or so were uneventful, mainly focusing on how Yo Han tries to adapt to life in prison, but things start getting interesting when the action scenes come into play, around the second half of the drama.
The plus point is that all the many supporting characters are also veteran actors, which is like an extra cherry on top of the flawless plot. So obviously the acting is top-notch.

Read More

A story about frenemies turning to lovers

A love story about a childish star with his non celebrity frenemy. Oh Han Byul and Gong Tae Sung have been friends since college. While one went on the path of a celebrity the other became the head of PR in his entertainment agency. Both of them are besties who bicker at every chance they get. One day the celebrity guy realizes he is in love with the girl and decided to pursue her.

This is one of those stereotype dramas with cliche love stories, birth secrets and childhood trauma.

The story is very simple, but whether you can stomach this drama depends on your tolerance to childish immature Male leads. The character of the celebrity is very straightforward. He is simple minded despite having a childhood trauma.

The girl is mature. She knows what she wants in her life and is a very realistics person.

The rest of the story is laced with the cute love stories of the ML and FL's best friends.

Read More

If I didn't know much I'll say this is a good drama to watch. But there are some points I want to emphasize.

This drama is not an average production. This is made out of excellent actors, famous writers, and a brilliant director. So the scale for evaluation is a little higher than for your average drama.

Take the casting, for example, actress Jun Ji Hyun is hands down the absolute queen of the queens in the Korean entertainment industry. I love her but I didn't get any new feeling in her character. It felt so mundane. The rest of the cast was absolutely brilliant but I dunno, I didn't get the "feeling"

Coming to the story. am I the only one who lost my brain cells trying to figure out the stick thingy? Umm.. helllooo I came here to destress not add -stress. But yeah I have to admit it was new and interesting.

But mount Jirisan is absolutely beautiful. I loove looove love it.

Anyway, my point is that this is a good drama to watch, but yeah it didn't make the cut for my best dramas category.

Read More

Chaotic yet heartwarming story

The story of a small town called Samdal-ri where there are no secrets lol. Cho Sam Dal, the only successful Samdal ri native to make it big on the mainland comes back after a setback. What met her was her chaotic town people who welcomed her with open arms and warmed her already cold heart. Although being the gossipy town people they were, they protected their own. Although the story rotates around the Samdal-ri star cross lovers Cho Sam Dal and Cho Yong Pil, it also peeks into the beautiful lives behind the other town forks, their pain their love and their ordinary lives.
The entire 16 episodes don't let you get bored telling the story of their boring lives and instead make you laugh smile and sometimes even cry.
An absolutely beautiful story brought to us by an amazing cast, director, producers and writers.

And I personally feel that Ji Chang Wook finally found his perfect role after many long years. And Shin Hye Sun worked her charm into her character. Ji Chang Wook, Shin Hye Sun created the perfect chemistry between Cho Yong Pil and Cho Sam Dal. The Five Powers Rangers, the Haenyeos, the weather forecasters, and the entire Samldari town created a heartwarming yet chaotic story of Welcome to Samdalri.

The OST --> loved it!

Read More

The season where the writer packed her bag and ran away

For me, this drama is both good and bad. tbh After watching the first season, I wondered why they even needed a season 2? Except for wondering if Do jin and ho gae were alive and the unknown mastermind behind the crimes, I was wondering what kind of story is left for them to stay. is a second season even necessary to tell the remaining mystery from S1? And well, I wasn't surprised how S2 spanned out over the 1 and a 1/2 months.

What mostly disappointed me was how the character's settings were arbitrarily mutilated by the author from her own hands. I'm not crying over Do Jin died, but I'm unsettled in HOW he was killed by the author, at least Do Jin should have been given a more heroic death, but instead, a MAIN character was just killed within 4 episodes and the story just continues with. "oh he is just dead, bye bye". Not only Do Jin, they removed the characters Bong An Na [Scientific Investigation Team / Do Jin’s sister], with just a "oh I'm going abroad, bye bye". I mean if they are going to remove the actors/characters, they shouldn't have introduced them for S2 in the first place! Or start the season with a time skip instead or something! But NO! They just stuffed them in and then stuffed them out, which is annoying, And then down the story, they just came out with some poor excuse to remove Yoon Hong [NFS] from the picture temporarily, so as to introduce the character Han Se Jin. AND also, after Do Jin's death, the character setting for Song Seol went haywire, greaving over Do Jin and giving the watchers mixed messages.

So my point is the story wasn't solid. At least season 1 had enough substance to run on to keep up with the topic "First Responders" but in S2, I felt the writer was struggling in the storyline, albeit coming up with "substance" to go with. But I felt like it was gradually moving away from the topic of "First Responders".
But I have to agree S2 was much more thrilling than S2, although slightly annoying.

Read More

Just because you're hurting doesn't give you the right to hurt others.

No Go Jin is a rude CEO, who treats everyone around him like trash. He doesn't care about the well-being of his employees as long as he gets his work done. He cannot empathize with the people around him, repeatedly causing emotional pain to his employees. His eccentric personality is a result of his traumatic childhood and his failed relationship. But in no way can it justify his repeated abuse of his employees.

Later he falls in love, and with guidance from his girlfriend, he learns to understand the cause of his actions and later repented with all his heart. But in the end, no amount of repentance could bring back the times lost and the emotional pain his victims went through.

The entire story is built up with misunderstandings. His secretary finds out she is terminally ill and she threw all the blame for her stressful life on her boss, NGJ. Later she finds out that her CT was mixed up with someone else in the hospital and she was perfectly healthy. Afterward, NGJ gets into an accident and he pretends to have amnesia to catch the one who attempts to murder him. Thinking he is amnestic, his secretary pretends to be his fiance. At one point his ex-girlfriend comes back and wants to win him back. But NGJ repeatedly rejects her, blaming her for the breakup. But later he finds out that she left to protect him. In the end, NGJ's bestie tries to destroy his company misunderstanding that NGJ killed his sister. Like this, every misunderstanding snowballed into a huge mess. This pretty much sums up the story.

Although I watched it until the end, because the overall story is weak, I won't recommend it to anyone to watch.

Read More

Whether or not u will like this drama depends on how well you can handle a slow romance. The romance is slow but its a teasing type of slow like any other love after marriage dramas.
The Sword and The Brocade is a well produced period drama. The story is well written and sweetly manage to balance reality with fiction.
The fact that having several concubines, the harsh reality of a concubine's and legitimate daughter issues, all portrayed in a logical aspect and amidst all that is our heroine trying to overcome one challenge after another while trying to survive in a family with a trillion rules.
With a supportive husband who trusts her implicitly, the two make and unbeatable team against their adversaries.

This drama made me realize that Seven Tan is a queen of chemistry!

Read More