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Great slice of trainee/idol life with a romantic element

9/10 is my rating. This is a 2021 South Korean romantic drama with 12, 60 minute episodes. It is based on a webtoon of the same title.

First I will provide a synopsis then review.

Synopsis
This is a slice of life drama about the music industry that follows struggling artists from their trainee time through finding success or struggling to get their big break. The lead female character, Ma-Ha (Jung Ji-So) is a hard working trainee who has relentlessly pursued her dream of going on stage with a group. She was on the verge of debuting when tragedy struck and her and her fellow group members were literally pulled off their debut stage. Trying make a break for herself she is doing side shows where she imitates her idol, Ri-Ma (Park Ji-Yeon) who doesn't take the imitation as a compliment. Ma-ha gets a sudden second chance at debuting with her original debut group. CEO Ji-Hak (Danny Ahn) has a reason for giving the the trio a second chance which is slowly revealed through the series. The new group, which they title Teaparty is being funded in a very unique way, they are salaried at first. The other two group members, Ri-A (Minseo) and Hyu n-Ji (Lim Na-Young), had been undergoing hardship as well since their failed debut but they all stayed together even being roommates. Ma-ha does a little of everything capitalizing on this unexpected chance and her presence in many aspects of the music and acting world brings her into frequent contact with Kwon Ryeok (Lee Jun Young) who, at first, has no respect for her as he sees her as an imposter who can only imitate others. Ma-Ra gets a lot of hate over imitating such a popular star. Her fellow band mates, and her friend from her trainee days, Lee Yoo-Jin (Yun Ho) keep Ma-Ra's spirits up as they know she has her own unique talent. Shax, whom Kwon Ryeok is center stage for, has found success but like all high profile boy bands has to be very careful of their image particularly to their fans. As Kwon Ryeok's feelings change from hostility to understanding to admiration to infatuation for Ma-ha they both find that life in the limelight does not look favorably on romance. Yoo-Jin sees Ma-Ra as more than just a friend and is a little earlier in his career and takes more risks to get close to Ma-Ra but she doesn't, at least at first, see him that way. Who will Ma-Ra be drawn to and can they all find a way to make their growing fame, romance and friendships all work out?

Review
I really like slice of life stories in general and those that focus on the acting or music industries in particular. The South Korean music industry has so many unique aspects it is very interesting to get a little bit of inside perspective. So few actually make it to debut and even those that debut may not become well known. This drama explored many issues specific to to being an Idol and the journey that trainees take. Professional jealousy, slave contracts, good companies versus bad companies, suicide, and relationships. I enjoyed it for the music and talent on that level alone. I recommend it to anyone that enjoys slice of life, likes watching about idols or the industry, or likes a fairly straight forward story line. There are not a lot of surprises or twists or turns. It is not light hearted, it deals with very heavy topics but it is entertaining just not deep or complex.

*Spoilers
Ryeok and Ma-ha's slow build romance was compelling. There was a definite loneliness for him and she was one of the few that could break through his rough bad boy persona. I found their relationship very heartwarming. I appreciated the irony of how much grief he gave his former group member, Lee Eun-jo (Kang Chan-hee) over his relationship with Girl group member Annie (Yeon Si-Woo) only to have a relationship like that himself. He felt very guilty over his role in Eun-jo's disappearance. The story between Eun-jo and Annie was very tragic. What was a little confusing is why they showed her collapsing from exhaustion and then never really explaining that but suddenly she is dead. I think they were trying to make that part of the mystery but it seemed disjointed for her to have had that issue and then suddenly suicide it made it seem the overwork was what was driving it and not larger issues. All of the relationships and even conflicts within and between the groups was interesting. I did not find it very believable that so many relationships would have developed where all of the Tea Party members were seeing one of the the Shax members. There were so many problems, early on, when Shax fans got wind that Ma-ha and Ryeok had even interacted, it was odd that later so many were actually seeing each other romantically but it was as if the fans no longer cared. And they never addressed that change. They indicated they were seeing each other in secret but we saw how, before, the secret could never stay hidden so it didn't make sense that all of a sudden they were all able to keep it a secret form the fans. They say Eun-jo's and Annie's song as a group but it seemed only Shax got the credit for it. With Tea Party it appeared they only had one or maybe two songs which made it hard to envision them as a super success.

Unlike other reviewers I did not find the fact that the male lead or female lead weren't idols a huge downfall. I thought they both acted very well and their role as idols was believable. In fact I thought Lee Jun-Young had this amazing super star aura especially when they had the shots where Shax was sort of lined up in a V formation walking toward the camera, it was breath taking. If Ma-Ha was a bit unpolished because the actress was not a K-pop idol in real life, the storyline really accounted for that. She was a struggling trainee then a newly minted idol so any awkwardness or lack of polish was fully understandable with that in mind. Plus there was this overall impression that Tea Party would have this sort of limited success. They constantly showed this contrast between sort of B string idol groups like Tea Party and super stars like Ri-Ma and Shax. I thought the story dealt with and showed how those two levels of success cause this stratification within the K-pop world where that limited success means those B String are often treated as lesser when those A listers are around.

For me personally the suicide aspect was very heavy. I have two work colleagues that committed suicide so it really brought it all back. In both cases I had spoken with the person the day before and now constantly replay that final conversation any time something like this reminds me. I liked the way this drama portrayed the way the pain of something like that never goes away and how, while the person may think their action will hurt at first but make things better later is not true. Annie's death did not save Eun-jo in fact it ended his career. So many people around her were impacted by that tragic event. I think that is ever present on trainees and members minds as they are under an undue amount of pressure for people so young and isolated from their normal friend and family network.

#Imitation
#JungJiSo
#ParkJiYeon
#ParkJiYeon
#MinSeo
#DannyAhn
#LimNaYoung
#YunHo
#LeeJunYoung
#TeaParty
#Shax
#Sparkling
#KangChanHee
#YeonSiWoo

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A reality dating show with surprising depth

8/10 is my rating. This is a 2017 South Korean Reality Dating/Game show. There are 14, 54-102 minute episodes.
This is a dating reality show where the participants live together for one month. They cannot reveal their age or occupation but can reveal interests and other aspects of their personality. Participants work during the day and go back to the house they are occupying together in the evenings/weekends and other times off work. There are originally six occupants but two more occupants are added through the course of the show. Each night the participants anonymously send a text to the person they found most interesting and the panel has to guess who texted whom. Panelists who guess right are given a token. They act as a 4th wall, commenting on what is going on, analyzing participants behavior and interests in each other, and competing to get the most correct guesses on who is contacting whom. Participants go on dates but are not allowed to directly confess their feelings.
Panelists
Yoon Jong-shin is a South Korean singer and song writer. He is also a record produceer and is the CEO of Mystic Story. He was born in 1969 so would have been 48 when the show aired in 2017.
Lee Sang-min is a South Korean singer, song writer, record producer and television personality. He is a former member of hip hop and dance group Roo'ra. He was born in 1973 so would have been 44 when the show aired in 2017.
Kim Eana is a South Korean song writer who wrote hit songs for some of the top singers in South Korea. She was born in 1979 so would have been 38 when the show aired in 2017.
Yang Jae-woong is a South Korean psychiatrist, motivational speaker, You Tuber and entertainer. He was born in 1982 so would have been 35 at the time this aired.
Shim So-young is a South Korean stage, drama and film actor. He was born in 1970 so would have been 47 when the show aired.
Shin Dong-hee (Shindong; Super Junior) is a South Korean rapper, singer, dancer, host, radio personality and video director. He is most widely known as a member of Super Junior and its subgroups. He was born in 1985 so would have been 32 when Heart Signal aired.
Guest panelists
Jung Jin woon (Jinwoon) was a guest panelist in episode 7. He is a South Korean Singer and Actor. He is a member of the k-pop group 2 AM but has also been in television dramas. Born in 1991 he would have been 26 during his guest appearance.
Jang Do Yeon was a guest panelist in episode 9. She is a South Korean Comedian that has appeared on some variety shows. She was born in 1985 so would have been 32 at the time of her guest appearance.
Lee Yong jin was a guest panelist in episode 8. He is a South Korean comedian and singer. He is the owner of a famous sashimi restaurant "960." Yong jin was born in 1985 so would have been 32 when this aired in 2017.
Heo Kyung Hwan was a guest panelist in episodes 9 and 12. He is a South Korean comedian born in 1981 so he would have been 36 when he appeared on the show.
Participants
Jang Cheon (age 32) lawyer
Kang Sung-wook (age 32) Musical Actor
Seo Joon-won (age 23) Race car driver
Yoon Hyeon-chan (age 32) Chef and Restaurant Owner
Bae Yoon-kyung (age 24 ) Actress
Kim Se-rin (age 24) Marketer at Cirque du Soleil
Seo Ji-hye (age 21) Student at Ewha Woman's University
Shin A-ra (age 22) First runner-up at Miss Korea
Age is at the time the film was released in 2017. Depending on when filming occurred they could have been younger. Age is calculated from year of birth and is based on US aging standard (zero when born).
Review
It is a wild emotional ride and is fun to play along with the hosts as they try to determine the signals and who will express interest in whom. I have come to realize this is really a game and the participants view it mostly as such. I have looked on some other reality dating shows and even contestants that seemed to bond during the show did not stay together for any significant time or depth after leaving the show. If your realize that this is not something most are pursuing as an actual attempt to find that one person, a lot of their actions and behavior make more sense.
*Spoilers
A fan favorite couple and mine as well were Bae Yoon-kyung and Seo Joo-won. It was clear from the way he looked at her when she first entered Signal house and how impressed he was with her abilities to design shoes. They were very compatible on their dates and seemed to enjoy many of the same things despite the fact that Yoon-kyung was a little older than Joo-won. The cracks in the match started to appear in that Joo-won was not able to read Yoon-kyung's reactions to his teasing nature. He thought she was bored when she was actually enjoying herself and totally misread when she was showing jealousy. I thought he was "push pulling" her when, in reality, he was just teasing her and thus was not capitalizing when he brought out her emotional reaction to his interest in other women in the house. He made a huge error when he was talking to the other men and he expressed that he was not sure about Yoon-kyung's interest and that he thought she might even find their times together boring. Cheon, who found Yoon-kyung beautiful and charming originally thought Joo-won and Yoon-kyung were a solid match but Joo-won's comments illustrated that there were cracks in their relationship that could be exploited.
Joo-won also made a mistake with Yoon-kyung when they were out and others asked about their relationship and he relayed back to her that he responded she was just a female participant in the house. Later, when he misunderstood her saying she did not enjoy the day she went to see him race, he actually made some cruel comments about not being sure who he was interested in and showering attention on Ji-hye. What I concluded with the Yoon-kyung and Joo-won was there was a lot of chemistry between them, and they had some things in common but their absolute failure in communicating with each other would never have lasted in the long run. You have to be a fool for love sometimes and be willing to put yourself out there and chance being rejected and neither one of them would do that. Which told me that, while they were interested in each other it wasn't enough to take any risks. So, in the end, although I was a bit disappointed, they were better off not being together.
To me the race car driver who is young, very handsome, and obviously has some money and means to afford racing, would be the obvious romantic interest but another male in the house, Jang Cheon captures the women's interest because of the stability of his job and his calm and steady behavior. He catches Yoon-kyung for a spontaneous date when he picks her up from the bus stop. Problems arise when Yoon-kyung stays after the meal and comes back to signal house with Cheon making it very obvious they spent time alone together. She misleads Joo-won into thinking it wasn't like a date and missing timing when she could have told him so that he did not hear from Cheon in the men's private discussions. So Joo-won goes on an impromptu date with Seo Ji-hye presumably to make Yoon-kung jealous. When a relationship sinks to a one up type scenario that is never an indication of a healthy situation.
Seo Ji-hye is the house member all of the men were originally interested in. She is very good at being clumsy and feigning being cute and helpless which is apparently very attractive to Korean males. However, Cheon's interest in her fades after they have a date and he sees through her act. She loved drawing all of the attention and playing innocent and cute when she is not really, and will play all the men against each other intentionally. When her and Cheon went on their date, their age gap was significant however, when she found out he had a steady and prestigious job, as a lawyer her interest renewed in him. Ji-hye mentioned that her family was facing difficulty and she would have to look for a job immediately when she graduated, making Cheon's stability a Siren call for her. Having a fairly wealthy husband would be a balm to her chaotic life, and when she mentioned she wanted to rush marriage with a past boyfriend that was a huge turn off for Cheon. During their date, he mentioned later, she was on the phone a lot and then dozed off when they were watching a movie. Which clearly showed she was not all that interested or excited by him as a person. It was a pleasant surprise that the men in the house slowly discovered that her appeal was very superficial and most of them moved on.
What made me feel Ji-hye's behavior was not innocent and that it was manipulative and fake was how she acted toward Kang Sung-wook. She several times called him exhausting to the other women and would actually grimace if he came near her. A lot of her behavior was downright mean to him and she said and did things that seemed to hurt his feelings several times. But she would do just enough to keep him on the hook which made it very infuriating. She would pull him back in any time he seemed to be paying attention to one of the other women. When he would turn his attention from her she would pull out the cute helpless act or pay him compliment to get him back in the line for her.
Both Cheon and Ji-hye redeem themselves later when he acknowledges being a bit cold and cruel to her and not taking how young she was, as a source of her behavior, into consideration. I, as a viewer, was guilty of the same thing. She actually dropped the act and started showing more genuine reactions and thus having more genuine interactions with all the house members. She quit sabotaging the other female's efforts to get the attention of the men they were interested in and acted like a good friend to a lot of them. I think her earlier behavior was a result of her being really young and thinking that was a good way to attract the men. It worked originally but backfired and she quickly dropped it to her credit.
I could see why the women found Cheon appealing. I gained a lot of respect for him when he saw through Ji-hye's act because, on other reality shows, I have seen other men completely fall for that type of behavior and pursue women that were just stringing them along. I was disappointed that Cheon's interest seemed to be very appearance driven. His initial interest was in Ji-hye because of her cute and innocent look and he only turned his interest to Yoon-kyung when she showed up to a group outting looking drop dead gorgeous in a red dress and high heels. I also thought it was not fair for him to be a kind ear for his house mates at night and used Joon-won's comment to him about his doubt of Yoon-kyung's true feelings for him as an impetus to pursue her. But, if you look at it as the game/competition it really is and not genuine love matches, then his behavior makes sense. And, a relationship, even one that is just budding, that is built on a solid foundation would not have cracked so easily.
The immediate attraction between Kang Sung-wook and the relatively new house member A-ra was a surprise as he had been, to that point, not one of the men the female house members showed a lot of interest in. They made sense as she was a Miss Korea runner up and he was a musical actor so both were used to having that type of attention and running in those circles. She would shop with him and walk his dog with him which drew them closer than either were with other house members. Sung-wook though allowed Ji-hye to pull his strings in front of A-ra often derailing their burgeoning romance. When Sung-wook is competing with one of the other males he says he is not worried because if she is that easily swayed he doesn't want her anyway. I don't think that is something to say out loud Sung-wook was always right out there with his thoughts which is something I think A-ra liked about him. He was an open book. I agree with that, as long as you have laid all your cards on the table with the person and genuinely confessed your feelings. If you have a relationship going or started with someone then if they are drawn away it means they were not that committed in the first place. I think that was going on Joon-won but he wasn't as open of a book about it. I think he thought if Yoon-kyung was that easily swayed by Cheon, then they did not have as much between them as he thought they did. And I would normally agree but the two sent such mixed signals to each other I don't think you could say they fairly knew what their relationship was. So the two were the same but showed the two different aspects of a "he/she is just not that into you" assessment.
One of the other females, Kim Se-rin, wondered aloud why men often friend zoned her and you saw it play out with the men in the house. She is a lovely person and does a lot of special activities for her house mates. Her main romantic interest is Cheon and she doesn't waver from that interest at all even getting the other men to help her woo him. She is very capable and career driven and unintentionally sends the signal to the men that she does not need them which endears her as a friend but does not set her up well as a romantic partner. It is a very western way of being. I wondered if it was her time spent abroad that made her so different that way. The date she arranged for her and Cheon was so adorable I could not believe she did not change his interest at all.
Yoon Hyeon-chan is a very late addition to the house. He is a chef who captures everyone's attention with his amazing cooking skill. The women find his profession very sexy but most already have started on a path with the men who most caught their interest and whom they have already developed a relationship with. Like the rest of the men his first interest is in Ji-hye because she was sure to help him a lot settle in to the house and acting all cute and innocent which, as mentioned before, has immediate appeal. However, it may be a trait of men over 30 but he also quickly discovers her behavior is an act and quickly loses interest. A-ra's grace and beauty immediately catches his attention and he tries to capitalize on the cracks that exist in the relationship with Sung-wook.
It was interesting to me when they did that reunion that the panel realized some of the things they said in analyzing the participants were harsh and apologized for some of their comments. Unfortunately I think, the panel in the next season may temper their comments realizing that the participants will see it all. I liked their very honest, unfiltered, comments because it was often what I as thinking.
During the reunion show it was apparent, to me that Joon-won and Yoon-kyung still had feelings for each other based on their body language and comments. They were being careful because Koon-kyung was dating Cheon but the chemistry between them was still very apparent and their comments about different events made it clear they still cared about what the other thought. I think they had a very genuine connection that was torn apart by a lot of misunderstanding and others inserting themselves at inopportune times.
Deep Spoilers******
I was really interested in what they all did after and if any of them were still in contact with each other. Several are following each other on instagram but the main "couples" are really not. I was super surprised to find out that Sung-wook went to prison on a rape charge and that Cheon initially was his lawyer but dropped out for unknown reasons. His acting career was taking off as a result of participating in the show most likely but his conviction derailed anything he had going on (rightfully so). It seemed out of character for the person we got to know in Heart Signal so I was very disappointed. I actually learned that before finishing watching the show so it made me root for A'ra with Hyeon-chan more. Ji-hye is now gaining fame as an actress which was not surprising considering how much the men liked her overall. She had that star quality. Yoon-kyung's career in acting also seemed to take off after the show. Joon-won appears to still be racing and actually married a famous actress not long after the show. One of the Super Junior members asked his ideal type and he said it was this one influencer, Aori, who he had a crush on since high school. They knew her and actually introduced them. Joon-won married her and now there are rumors of divorce. Hard to say where that all has gone. Cheon I read is a major and he is still one of the people Yoon-kyung is following on her instagram but she knows and follows a lot of people so not much can be read into that. Se-rin also follows a lot of people and it just looks like she is leading a very busy and happy life. Cheon has Sung-wook's dog while he is incarcerated it seems. If you are missing the dog you can see a lot of pictures on Cheon's instagram. It was a complete surprise that the participants saw the contents of all texts sent along with who sent them at the end of the show. It was a surprise to them as well as the panel and the viewers. It was funny and surprising but unless they mix it up I am sure it will impact how participants text on future seasons.

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Rare friends turned more trope that is good but not great

8.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2022 South Korean romantic comedy series with 16, 60 minute, episodes.

I will provide a synopsis first then review.

Synopsis
Goo Yeo-reum (Lee Da-hee) is a struggling production director for the reality section of a production company. She is aware of her biological ticking away and is anxious for success in love and her career. Park Jae-Hoon (Cho Si-won) has been Yeo-ream’s close friend for many years and is the first person she thinks of when encountering life’s difficulties. Jae-Hoon once had a promising medical career but past tragedy has him now doing plastic surgery in a clinic. He is cynical about love and spends most of his time with Yeo-reum. When the two wind up working a reality show together will the feelings they long held for each other surface?

Review
Friends turned lovers is one of my favorite tropes. This was very good for that particular slice of romantic drama. Si-won is always a great male lead because he has that bon next door charm. I liked their friendship a lot particularly when, later in the show, you learn why he is so devoted to her. Their group of friends were all very kind to each other and to others as well so it made you want to see them succeed in love and life.

Spoilers* When the ex boyfriend comes back I did a lot of face palm to forehead reactions. So this guy does not tell you of his plans to leave the country and thinks you can just leave your job and join him but does not have the respect for your relationship to consult you first. then when you react as most people would when something messed up like that is sprung on you he leaves you at a rest stop. He did come back you find out later but still his first reaction was to leave her when she was crying. And this was after he asked her to marry him so this was her fiancé. He comes back a few years later, declares he is not over her and asks her again to marry him. And our foolish lead girl, biological clock ticking and parents eager to get her married, says yes. She was so lucky she found out he got another woman pregnant and called it off. It would have been a life time of misery with someone who has so little regard for your input.

Then our lead guy finally confesses his feelings to her albeit a little soon after the cancelled wedding and she cruelly turns him down. The way she did it was out of character for her and was not the way I think you would treat such a close friend. I was happy he gave her the cold shoulder she deserved it.

The 2nd girl was annoying in her pursuit of him. I have noticed in some South Korean dramas that there is this general expectation if someone likes you then you have some kind of romantic obligation toward them. I think people are responsible for their own feelings you cannot make someone love you. She was very pushy that way but not just that she played guilt trips on him. I thought he was as kind to her about her feelings for him as he could be. She knew she was stepping in the middle of a friendship verging on something more.

I did not like the way our lead girl let the other director push her around and I thought she was finally going to tell her off. But she never did. Not in any forceful or meaningful way anyway. I also wanted the head Director to tell the other program director that he had our lead girl work the project with her because she took things too far and the lead girl was there to balance her out. There was no acknowledgement of the many times our lead girl saved the show. In the end it does not show the lead girl returning to her job and having some of those discussions.

The ending was happy but, after she was abandoned prior to the wedding twic by the other guy it would have been so satisfying to have it end with their wedding.

#loveisforsuckers
#leeDaHee
#ChiSiWon

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Surprisingly funny and often underrated

9/10 is my rating. This is a 2019 South Korean Fantasy Romance drama with 32, 35 minute episodes.

I first provide a synopsis then a review.

Synopsis: At a point where she should have had everything in life, a loving family, stability and living her best life in her middle aged years Min Jae-hee's (Hae Jae-sook) life takes a sudden and tragic turn. That all changes though when Jae-hee discovers her husband Kim Tae-joon (Jo Han-chul) is having an affair with a younger woman. Saddened by the fact that she is no longer young and able to start over she decides suicide is the best way out of what she sees as an inescapable situation. Just when she is about to fulfill her dark fantasy of ending it all fate steps in, in the form of a delivery man with a magical perfume that transforms her back into a beautiful young woman with a second chance at life. She becomes a top model, goes by the name of Min Ye-rin (Go Won-hee) and works with a top fashion designer Seo Yi-do (Shin Sung-rok) who is unlikable in nearly every way. He also has a lot of allergies and phobias that makes it so he drives people even further away when he freaks out because someone triggers one. Can life change for both as they interact, conflict and grow?

Review: I hesitated for a long time in watching this because it reviewed so low. When I looked into it more some of the low ratings were not because of the story or acting it was due to one element of the plot line which some felt was "fat shaming." I think there is a fine balance between calling a spade a spade and actual fat shaming. If someone is heavy I don't think everyone should have to pretend they are svelte. I also do not think anyone should have to make believe that people who are physically fit are going to see the beauty inside and be okay and attracted to someone carrying around a lot of extra weight. So, I did not see it as fat shaming I just saw the reality in life. Those that are on the heavier side of average, are likely to find not as many people are going to be attracted to them in a society that admires skinnier body types. Men, and particularly women that are heavy might have self esteem issues because of societal pressures. There was a time and place in history where portly was actually favorable and skinny people were not looked on in a good light. It all has to do with what body type is favored by the majority. If you can get back the early episodes, where her husband is just a jerk who quits loving her because she gains weight, you find that the main characters are not as shallow as he is.

Spoilers**
What I liked
It was funny. Yi-do is over the top dramatic. And it is very comical. He is one of those that seems very rough on the outside but is very caring and kind internally. The designs they showed were actually something I could see people wearing. The slice of high fashion life was interesting. There was a little bit of idol trope with the younger brother. I liked that he was very nice. I really liked Yi-do's assistant and how he became one of Ye-rin/Jae-hee's top confidents and friends. I liked the romance between Ye-rin and Yi-do they had chemistry and it was believable. A magical perfume that transforms her into a younger and more beautiful version of herself was a unique premise and I really enjoy series with magical elements. I liked that the daughter finally realized she had been unkind to her mom and decided her dad did not deserve her loyalty.

What I didn't like
I didn't like the romance between Jae-hee and Yi-do. There was no chemistry between them and it wasn't because she was heavy. It really just did not seem like they were romantically a couple. They seemed like someone that would be really good friends. I thought the personality was too dramatically different when she was Jae-hee. Not only was the appearance different but the personality was different. To me Jae-hee seemed cold and bullish. She was mean to Yi-do a lot of times when she really did not need to be. Ye-rin seemed sweeter and more innocent. Really they should have seemed like the same person but they didn't. I think it would have worked better if they had used a skinnier model in a heavy suit. I also was disappointed, at the end, that her 1 year transformation did not result in her being a healthier version of herself. I mean I liked that he loved her no matter what but I just thought, for her own self, that going off and getting healthy would have been a success/win over her horrible husband. I was disappointed that the Idol younger brother was so disturbed when she turned into the "Auntie". I didn't expect him to still be in love with her in that form but it just made he seemed a lot more shallow. I didn't mind that the ex husband harassed her through a lot of the series but for him to come back, yet again, and break the perfume bottle, and then immediately be captured by the police just seemed like too much.

Overall
I enjoyed this series a lot. It was great comic relief and I enjoyed the characters. I liked the magical element. I would watch it again and recommend it to others.

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Great slice of life classical music school - heartwarming romance

8.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2020 South Korean romantic drama with 16, 65 minute episodes. It is known by the alternate titles: Beuramseureul Joahaseyo , Please Love Brahms , Liking Brahms , beuramseuleul jonghahaseyo , and beuramseuleul jonghahaseyo.

Chae Song Ah (Park Eun Bin) originally majored in business but decides to pursue her love of classical music, violin in particular, at the same university. This alone sets her apart from the other students who came from music focused programs and are going through their first major interest. She is not a prodigy and instead struggles and works hard to develop her ability with violin. This causes a lot of conflict as she is already seven years older than the other students in the program and having a working rather than natural talent makes pursuit of her dream all the more difficult . Her family also strongly disapproved of her change in major. Feeling like an outsider, Song Ah finds comfort in beautiful music so when she hears Park Joon Young (Kim Min Jae), who is a prodigy, masterfully playing “Träumerei," she is drawn to the talented pianist. Caught in a love triangle which has left him with a broken heart he is in love with Lee Jung Kyung (Park Ji Hyun), a friend he has known for a long time. Because of timing his other close friend, Han Hyun Ho (Kim Sung Cheol) is in a romantic relationship with Jung Kyung. When he decides to keep his distance from Jung Kyung, he meets Song Ah and is drawn to her passion for music. This slice of classical music life is a deep look at classical music as a field of study and a slice of life of those that choose to pursue it.

I loved the "slice of life" of those pursuing classical music. Like so many other educational pursuits there is a lot of "dog eat dog", elite structures, power plays and all those things that can make or break anyone. It actually gave me some flash backs to my Ph.D. study days. Spoilers ** It took a lot of courage for Song Ah to have completed an undergraduate program in Business and change to something so radically different. One thing I did not think was well explained was how she came to play violin. Had she played it as a child? Did she pick it up as a teen? It was hard to see her consistently discriminated against for being an "older" student and for coming from outside music. The love story between the leads was believable as they were both very similar in the way they approached things and how soft and gentle their personalities were. They both did not like crossing people and others took advantage of them because of their sweet natures. That became a source of conflict between the two as Joon Young was constantly manipulated by his former love interest, Jung Kung. There were several attempts to make Jung Kung a character to feel sympathetic toward, her loss of her mother at a young age, a cruel violin instructor and her mother coldly making her practice endlessly, and her loneliness in being a heir to a foundation she had no interest in running. I wanted to see a lot of character growth from her, and there was a little, but I still felt she was, on balance cruel. She had opportunities to bridge gaps with those around her and did not take them. After all the struggle Song ah had with pursing her dream to play violin, and her final success with it, it was disappointing that she completely gave it up. I thought perhaps the "key" to her musical success would be playing music with Joon Young and their performance was her shining moment but, in the end, she gave it up completely after so many years of struggle. I loved that Joon Young discovered a renewed love of piano with having Song Ah in his life. Most of the major plot elements were completed and that was refreshing. There wasn't an overlong separation and that was a welcome departure from that tired trope. Park Eun bin is so pretty and I enjoyed her acting in "The King's Affection." I was not disappointed with her performance in this role either. She is someone I will be watching and seeking out things she is in. Kim Min jae is also extremely talented and just fun to watch. He has very soulful eyes and portrays the emotions of the moment very well. Overall I loved this drama for the immersion in classical music, insight into that world, and the heart warming romance. The main detractor for me was Song ah giving up the violin - that marred the perfection of this drama as it did not make sense that someone who sacrificed so much would give it up completely. I recommend this drama to anyone that loves classical music, enjoys these actors and likes uncomplicated (in terms of plot twists and mysterious pasts) heart warming romance.

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Under-rated, hidden gem, solid legal romance drama

9.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2017 South Korean Legal Romance Drama with 16, 60 minute episodes. It is alternatively known as Witch in Court.

Ma Yi-deum (Jung Ryeo-won) is an aggressive and egotistical prosecutor who has worked in multiple prosecutors' offices and is known for using whatever it takes to win. It is a challenging time for females in a man's world and she reluctantly supports a female reporter who was sexually assaulted by her boss. When Yi-deum finds out the boss lied about promoting her she feels she has nothing to lose and and tells all about what she saw him trying to do with the female journalist. This gets her an assignment in the special task force for text crimes, a job no one wants. Well no-one that is except for Yeo Jin-wook (Yoon Hyun-min) who feels passionate about defending victims of sex crimes. Although a new prosecutor he not only graduated top of his class but also has a background in psychology. The two opposites team up to use their complimentary skills to solve some tough cases. As they work together they begin to understand each other and admire each other more. Will the hate that turned to like now turn to love?
I loved this drama. It had everything, exciting cases, interesting and deep character growth and interactions. Yi-deum was edgy and had a mischievous quality about her but was very bright and cared deeply about justice. Jin-wook is the quintessential straight arrow who wants nothing more than to do the right thing the right way. Which is why the conflict he encounters around the situation with his mother is such a dilemma for his character. Spoiler alert** it was during the very last portion of the last episode when Yi-deum and Jin-wook got together in a romantic sense. I was so enjoying their interplay as a couple I regretted there was not just a bit more time spent with them as a couple. It was a very happy and overall well wrapped ending but the only very minor critique was just not getting enough of the Yi-deum and Jin-wook romance. But it is such a well written and enjoyable drama that is not a huge fail. I would watch this again and would highly recommend it to fans of this genre, of these actors, or just anyone that wants a well written, nicely paced, exciting, legal romantic drama.

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Could have been a great romance thriller - missed the mark

7/10 is my rating. This is a 2021 South Korean mystery, thriller, romance drama with 16, 70 minute episodes.

Kang Da-jeong (Seo Hyun-jin) grew up with an abusive alcoholic father and her greatest wish as a child was to have a stable family. Because of that early experience with a damaged father figure, she is attracted to men with alcohol problems, those who fail to keep jobs, and others with issues as she attempts to "fix" them. She has a stable job as a concierge manager at a motel and makes a move to a rooftop apartment to make a clean break with her troubled past. Joo Young-do (Kim Dong-wook) moved his psychiatric office to the same building as Da-jeong and has a nearly psychic ability at "reading" people and understanding their psychological issues and motivations. He uses his skill to not only help his patients but everyone around him. Chae Joon/Dr Ian Chase (Yoon Park) took a liking to Da-jeong when they were children growing up in the same neighborhood and looked for her, finally locating Ahn Ga-yeong (Nam Gyu-ri) is Young-do's ex-wife and the relationship ended after discovering that they were together more for Young-do to stablize Ga-yeong's depression and keep her from self harm than out of any romantic love on Young-do's part - they remain friends and he is helping her have confidence to pursue a healthy relationship. All of the individuals are connected by mysterious and tragic incidents from the past. What might fate have in store for them?

I liked this and it mostly kept my interest throughout but it had such a wandering story line that I would not watch it again and it wouldn't be a top recommendation from me. Spoilers** At first I thought that the murders would be a central premise and, there were times, when the focus was on that. But then it would just drift away and focus on aspects of the main couple, or a side couple's relationship and just drop the whole serial murders line all together. There was a major story line around the fact that he had heart issues but it was never fully explained why. You knew that he had went through a lot of medical procedures when he was young when his mother was trying to save his brother but not what his brother had or how that might have resulted in heart damage. So was the heart issue related to that or was the heart issue what had killed his brother? Their romance did not make complete sense either. He pushed her away because he knew, at some point, he might die but then decided to just be with her and there were a lot of things that indicated why he made that decision but it wasn't really spelled out. I expected some kind of dramatic statement like "none of us ever know how long we have" but there was never that. Her friend and her brother had a romance which could have been cute but we never got to see exactly how they got together. Had he always liked her? That would have made more sense. They alluded to the fact that they had slept together and things went from there but they didn't show us them falling in love. Then there were the friends. The boxer girl liked the vet and had a drunken incident where she bit him. I thought they would evolve into a romance but that just fizzled and died because he had a thing for the female lead's best friend. So, I wondered why they even bothered showing the boxer girl and her feelings for the male lead's friend. Da-jeong's mother had talked about some man that was wooing her in the beginning and I thought we would get to see what was going on there but they literally just dropped that story line. The abusive dad, I thought perhaps he was the killer or some interesting twist like that but no, he just stayed away as he promised then died. I thought so much was going to happen around the mother and nothing really did. There were so many things started and never completed that it felt like plot wandered everywhere. The ending was not satisfying because so many things were not wrapped up. And they sort of shook hands - really? That's what you do with someone you are going to spend years with? Just an awkward, facing each other, hand shake? Overall just a very underwhelming story.

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How not to act in a relationship - a study in human psychology?

6/10 is my rating. This is a 2020 South Korean Romantic Drama with 16, 70 minute episodes.

Kyung Woo Yeon (Shin Ye-eun) met Lee Soo (Ong Seo-wul) as a high school student who was smart but bullied by the other kids because, although she was a smart kid, she came from modest means and was kind and liked to avoid conflict. Lee Soo (Ong Seong-wu) was wealthy and popular and admired Woo Yeon for her kind nature. He became her defender and friend. It was not long before Woo Yeon's 18 year old heart fell for Lee Soo and she was crushed when she confessed her feelings and he friend zoned her.

Lee Soo leaves to study abroad and Woo Yeon misses him and spends a lot of time drunk calling his old number and pouring her heart out to the open line. Ten years passes and Woo Yeon still has not gotten over Lee Soo. After working a series of part-time jobs, Woo Yeon is finally pursing her dream of being a calligrapher/writer. Lee Soo is now a highly sought after professional photographer. The two continue to be drawn to each other despite Lee Soo's insistence that he only loves her as a friend and Woo Yeon's profession that she still likes Lee Soo and is unwilling to be any less than a couple.

Woo Yeon and Lee Soo are now finally reunited in Seoul and wind up working on a project together. Woo Yeon, tired of being rejected, has locked her feelings up just as Lee Soo is beginning to acknowledge he likes Woo Yeon as more than a friend and perhaps always has. But Lee Soo is not the only man in Woo Yeon's life who sees her for the wonderful person she is. Have the two something more than friends missed their timing and hurt each other too much to ever have more or have they finally matured enough to be honest with their hearts?

This was a drama series with so much potential. The trope of starting as friends and becoming more is a rarer in k-dramas and those of us who like it tend to seek it out. I was excited by the title and premise of this and figured it would be a heartwarming account of people who had been friends for a long time then discovered their feelings were more. This was a train wreck of women who were just mean to the men in their lives. Seriously it was hard to watch the men be emotionally abused. Rather than run to them there were actually points where there was a break up and I was like good now get away from that toxic woman. Ye-eun confessed to Lee Soo multiple time and he rejected her kindly I thought. Basically told her he liked her but just as a friend. But that is where the title is confusing she never wanted to be just his friend. She kept telling him leave and get away. To me if you really care about someone you would be in their life however you could be but she just didn't want anything to do with him if she couldn't be his girlfriend. Then she would cry, miserably, and everyone would feel sorry for her. Okay I get that, it is heart breaking when someone doesn't like you back. But what got me was, later on, everyone blamed him for not accepting her feelings and making her cry. I thought that was completely unreasonable and ridiculous. No one is responsible for anyone else's feelings. You cannot make yourself love someone just because they want you to. I thought he let her down gently. The things is she never made the effort to know what was going on in his life and why he might have responded as he did. He was so nice to her and really made her school years livable by heading off bullies. Then she has a whole string of men she dates and breaks their hearts because she is unable to return their love because she is supposedly so "damaged" by Lee Soo's rejection. She seemed cold and heartless to me. Her mother even commented about her dating and hurting other people's precious sons. She has a longer term relationship with the CEO and he seems like the perfect guy but she strings him along while she is trying to decide if she still has feelings for Lee Soo. So she basically has two guys fighting over her and both feeling inadequate and heartbroken. I thought the CEO went a little over the top in his pursuit of her after she broke up with him but I can understand why he was confused about her absolute coldness. I really felt like she did not deserve any of the men in her life and was emotionally abusive to them. There were two side couples which started with really heartwarming relationships but then devolved into the same type of emotionally abusive relationship as the main character. All three women were horrible in my opinion and emotionally abusive to the men in their lives. You don't make a person walk on egg shells for fear of making you withdraw your affection - that is exactly what the three did. If the men did not do exactly as they wanted, and evens sometimes when they did, they would withdraw from them. I was really frustrated with the main character when he had an opportunity to travel the world and photograph for an airline and was originally not going to take it because she did not want him to leave. She comes around and is going to travel with him. But then she gets an opportunity in South Korea and he encourages her to take it. They agree that they should not give up their dreams or they will resent it later and decide to have a long distance relationship until he finishes. He rushes through finishing so he can get back to her and, as a result, cannot meet her fantasy of multiple calls a day. So, she breaks up with him. That made no sense to me and seemed entirely selfish on her part. Then he gets back and she is once again stringing the poor CEO along and pitting the two men against each other. She is like the ice queen. If you want to see episodes of men being emotionally abused by the women in their lives then you might be interested in this. Those that hate men and think they should be demasculinized may find this okay. I could not recommend this to anyone unless they are wondering how not to act toward someone you profess to love.

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A great slice of e-gamer life with a Strong Female Lead character

9.25/10 is my rating. This is a 2021 Chinese drama with 31, 45 minute episodes. It is alternatively titled "You Are Beautiful When Smiling" , "You’re Beautiful When You Smile" , "Ni Wei Xiao Shi Hen Mei" , and "Nei Mei Siu Si Han Mei."

Tong Yao (Chang Xiao) is invited to be the first female player in the ultra elite world of e-sports. Team ZGDX OPL is adored by fans and each player has a large fan following. The team captain, Lu Si Cheng (Xu Kai) was not, at first, onboard with having a female on the team but as Tong Yao proves she has the talent to stand her own in the male dominated sport, the male team members can't help but admire her. Tong Yao's ex-boyfriend is also an e-sport player and is on a rival team but he would like nothing more than to win back the girl he has not forgotten. Tong Yao is all business but the adorable and talented Tong Yao beings to gain admirers both outside, and within, the sport - some in the most unlikely places.

Normally I am not a huge fan of Chinese dramas as I often find the female leads to be very needy, clingy and whiny. I don't like that they continue to pursue the male lead and others even if the male lead is mean to them. This one was recommended to me by one of drama groups as one where the female lead was not like that and I would have to agree - she is not. I really liked Xu Kai in "Arsenal Military Academy" and figured he would play the ML character well and I was not disappointed. I found the "slice of life" of e-sports very compelling as I was aware of the "sport" but not how huge it is or what the fan base was like. The high degree of not only hand eye coordination but technical knowledge of the game and strategy was interesting to me. Spoiler** The only time I found this FL to be whiny was when she lost a match against someone she had not developed the skills to be able to beat. It tore down her confidence and that was understandable but she spent a lot of time wallowing in her misery and wanted others to feel sorry for her. She acted as a "typical" female and actually played into the stereotype. Fortunately that was for a relatively brief period in the series so it did not destroy the series for me. This is a simple, straight forward, and predictable romance without a lot of surrounding conflict or plot complexity. There is character growth for all the main characters so it is enjoyable to watch the individuals and the team dynamics evolve. The romance is believable and very heart warming. I highly recommend this for those that are interested in learning more about e-sports and those that like light hearted romances.

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Hidden Gem

9.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2015 South Korean romantic comedy drama with 16, 60 minute episodes. Also known as A Pushover’s Love and a Fool’s Love.

Kang Ho-gu's (Choi Woo-shik) main fault is he is the nice guy who often gets "friend zoned."
By misreading all the signals, he is no stranger to heart break. In direct contrast there is his twin sister Kang Ho-kyung (Lee Soo-kyung) who is a love them and leave them, dating expert.
Ho-gu's equally awkward friends, Kim Tae-hee (Choi Jae-hwan) and Shin Chung-jae (Lee Si-eon) are the last people he should be asking for dating advice, yet he often does. Do Do-hee (Uee) was the bad girl/dream girl in Ho-gu's high school and is now an athlete on the Korean national swimming squad. An overall outstanding athlete, still she cannot do better than Silver in the Asian games. Ho-gu was the bullies' errand boy in high school and, like most of the boys in the school, had a crush on Do-hee who considered the godess of the school. And, like many of his classmates, he only goes to his class reunion in the off chance Do-hee will be there. To his surprise, Do-hee remebers him and, feeling nostalgic, asked Ho-guispend some time with the girl of his dreams and thinks they made a connection. They part with a promise to see each other again at Christmas. Do-hee has a secret that led her to want a reckless night, she is pregnant and the babies father wants nothing to do with her. Can this unlikely couple find love in the most unexpected place?

I was pleasantly surprised just how funny this was. There were several scenes where I was just giggling uncontrollably. I like just about everything about this cute romance. Ho gu was such a nice person and it was easy to see how people were so drawn to him. Spoiler alerts**I was surprised even after reading the synipsis that she was pregnant. Do-hee is the national dream girl and was a goddess in high school but she was not all into that. She liked the quiet, considerate boy who loved comic books as much as she did. I thought their timing of how she got pregnant and the fact that she started loving Ho gu in high school was perfect. His relationship with her baby was beyond cute. I really liked his spunky sister and her undying crush on her first love. At first I was not a fan of the arrogant and seemingly mean Byung Kang chul (Lim Seul-ong). His doubts about his sexuality and hilarious conversations in his head made him one of my favorite characters. In many Korean dramas when a parent starts beating their adult child in front of friends, the friends may take the hits for them but not actively stop them. In this one they did. I also liked when Do-hee protected Ho-gu from his sister. It was also unique that Kang chul told his parents he was an adult and it was his apartment so they needed to basically knock before entering. It was amusing that once his high school friends figured Kang chul was all bark and no bite they adorably took over his space. He was lonely without even realizing it. I loved this. Not talked about much so it is like a hidden gem. The only slight thing I did not lije was they separated for a bit as is true in so many dramas. I always fell it unnecessary. Highly recommend this heartwarming drama.

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A beautiful story that completely falls apart at the end

7.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2020 South Korean romantic comedy drama series with 16, 60 minute episodes.

Goo Ra-ra (Go Ara) seems to have the world at her feet as an heiress to a cosmetics company whose father dotes on her. On her wedding day, her world falls apart when her father suddenly diesd, on his way to the wedding, from a heart attack. Her father's secretary encourages her to go into hiding as her father was going through a bankruptcy (which Ra-ra did not know) and the creditors would be looking for her. With nowhere to go, she decides to meet a fan who encouraged her piano playing but winds up in an accident with bicyclist, Sunwoo Joon (Lee Jae-wook). Joon is barely injured but Ra-ra injures her hands and is helpless in the hospital. The two bond as Joon icannot leave a damsel in distress even if the damsel is a cute but overly needy ex heiress. With no-one left and being quite helpless, Ra-ra appeals to Joon to give her a place to stay and help her get on her feet with the promise that she will pay it all back. Cold on the outside but warm and caring in reality, Joon cannot say no to someone so clearly in need. When he finds out she is a pianist, and seeing it as a way for her to support herself, Joon builds Ra-ra a space within his space to have a piano school called "La La Land". Joon and Ra-ra become an integral part of the small community they are in, Eunpo City, and form form friendships and develop surrogate families. There is a deeper story behind Joon and Ra-ra's connection and it slowly comes to light that the accident was not their first meeting. There are also reasons Joon holds people at arms length and indicates he has no family.

At the start of this, I loved the energy of Ra-ra and how her engaging personality made people want to help and do things for her. Jun was the complete opposite and people were drawn to him because he was incredibly handsome but had a brooding cold exterior. Those that got to know him a little better, quickly realized he was actually very warm and giving. Watching the energetic and irrascible Ra-ra hammer her way into Jun's cold exterior was entertaining to say the least. I loved them as a couple because their personalities were so complimentary - each providing what the other lacked. The relationship Ra-ra developed with Jin Sook-kyeong (Ye Ji-Won), a single mother who owned the beauty shop next door and Jin Ha-yeong (Shin Eun-soo), who become her best/friend little sister substitute was so heart warming. Sook-kyeong became the mother figure Ra-ra never had. There were lots of plot twists and intriguing incidents to keep things going and keep the viewer engaged and I thouroughly enjoyed the majority of the series. Had it continued on that trajectory this would have been in the 8.5/9 range out of 10 for me. **Spoiler Altert** What nearly ruined it for me was the last couple of episodes. First there was the standard trope where he crushingly breaks up with her and is with another girl and you suspect it has something to do with his mother and her aspirations for her son's marriage. We have all been through that one if we have watched very many dramas and know that typically resolves as he simply refuses to live (often quite literally in starvation strikes etc.) without her. And this resolved as well and they were back together and things were cruising on toward the final episode. Then we find out, at the nth hour, he has leukemia. And I had a horrible feeling at that point it just wasn't going to end well. It would be some kind of "better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all" kind of nonsense. He makes the very uncharacteristiclly selfish decision to hide his illness from the majority of his friends and her and makes up an excuse that he is going to the States to study and has no idea when he will be back if ever. And she actually puts up with that and rekindles her romance with him remotely. She is all geered up for him to finally come back to South Korea for a visit and her and all his friends throw a party and are all excited but he never shows. Then there is the excuse he couldn't come because of his flight being cancelled. It is a crushing disappointment and made my heart very sad for her. Then his mother shows up looking very sad and there are some heart warming moments when she apologizes to her for being awful to her and thanks her for bringing joy into her sons life. Then she tells her June is never coming back because he had leukemia and died. I think I just about cried my eyes out. I was so angry I declared that the show was a zero. How could they build us up with this beautiful romance and then just kill him? After that it shows everyone moving on with their lives and she is around pretending to be happy but you can see she is still just incredibly sad. Then, wham, guess what - he isn't dead after all but FIVE YEARS later he comes back, fully recovered, to get his girl. She doesn't believe it at first. Are you a ghost? And, I have to say, by this time I am with her. What the heck are they putting us through now? Nope, it's him. His only excuse is he didn't want her to have to see him sick and didn't want to come back until he was fully recovered. She cries some more (he makes fun of her for crying) and she pummels him with her tiny fists. And I guess that was supposed to be the happily ever after. Okay but I am still pissed at him for putting our girl through emotional hell. I think, if you love someone, you give them a choice whether to be by your side or not. To keep her in the dark and make her think he had died was emotional cruelty. It would ruin the trust you would have with that person. For a girl who had lost her mother, and her father, and her entire life - for her to think she lost him for so long was really devastating. I do not, at all, like sad movies or series. I can handle a little saddness as long as it is not too long or a significant portion of the show, or ends sad. But, this one, the happy ending was only minutes and the sad part was much, much longer. I do not recommend this for anyone that is an empath or who deeply feels sad movies or series. If you don't mind saddness, then this is, overall, a very good series. I would not personally rewatch it, because of the overwhelming sadness I felt, but it is complex enough you would catch additional things on a rewatch.

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Intersting take on multiple personality disorder, too long and drages in key spots

6/10 is my rating. This is a 2015 South Korean Romantic comedy drama with 20, 60 minute episodes

Being a chaebol with a dissociative identify disorder (multiple personality disorder) Gu Seo-jin (Hyun Bin), leads a very complex day to day life where he focuses on his health to an obsessive degree. He tenaciously holds onto his inherited wealth and position by keeping careful control of his alternate personality, Robin, who is his polar opposite. Where Seo-jin is cold and ruthless, Robin is warm hearted and giving. Robin emerges whenver Seo-jin's heart rate exceeds 150 so this adds to Seo-jin's determination not to do anything that would accelerate his heart rate. He sees Robin as a weak character and an embarrassment to his family which would form an obstacle to his ambitions. Jang Ha-na (Han Ji-min), is the daughter of one of Wonderland's fomer employees who was the ring master of the park's circus. As the owner of the park, Seo-jin would like to get rid of that component as it has not earned sufficient ticket sales and interest to make it profitible. However, Ha-na just returned from many years in the United States where she worked with Cirque du Soleil to learn new ways to bring fresh esntertainment for a dying industry and want her chance to lead it to success. Her first challenge is to convince, or coerce if she must, Seo-jin to renew his contract with the circus. Interestingly, after years of keeping his alternate supressed, Ha-na has a way of spawning events that accelerate Seo-jins heart rate and bring Robin out. Ha-na has an immediate dislike for Seo-jin but develops romantic feelings for Robin.

Spoiler altert. What was most suprisiing to me about this one was that many people really liked it. There were those, like me, that did not like it but there were a surpising number of people that liked it enough to rate it a 9 or even a 10. I liked the basic premise. Having someone with dissosiative identity disorder that really only had 1 alternative personality is very unique. Especially when the alternate personality is good but the main personality is somewhat cold and heartless (evil). I thought Hyun Bin did an amazing job of acting like two totally different characters. It was amazing because they really did look and act so totally different it was easy to buy others thinking they were different people. I loved the secretary, he was so supportive of the male lead regardless of whether he was Seo-jin or Robin. He was just a really nice character. There was a cute secondary romance. I liked, early on, when Robin and Ha-na were almost super hero like in their acrobatics and I thought that would be a component of the story. But it was only a weird aside because it was only an episode or so where they were being very energetic and acrobatic. Later she would be trapped in places and I would wonder why she didn't just use her circus skills. They also set up about how she was going to change the show and it was going to be new and spectacular but we only saw a snippet. And Robin's character also underwent a dramatic change from this hero like savior to just the nice guy once he and the main girl started having their romance. In the beginning Ha Na thought that Robin was Seo-jin's brother but when she knew that he was an alternate personality she still treated him like he was completely separate. When Seo-jin started to get better she was adamant that she only liked Robin to the extent that Robin did not integrate and Seo-jin willingly remained mentally ill so that she would have Robin. It was obvious she also liked Seo-jin but she would be such teenage girl like fixation with Robin that she was actually cruel to Seo-jin in her insistence that she only loved Robin. I thought it became very annoying how she continued to treat Robin as a completely separate person and even did things to solidify that additional personality. I hoped she would accompany Seo-jin as he was developing that other side of himself and realize that he really was also Robin as well. In the end she did but it would have been better, in my opinion, if she had watched the movies with him and observed that evolution. There were parts where the plot seemed to drag, particularly after all the major conflicts had resolved and it was just about her relationship with the male lead. I found it hard to like her when I felt like she was almost Munchausen with him and his mental illness. It was very selfish for her to insist that Robin stay and that she was only in love with him. If you can imagine sometime when you had no recollection of an event, such as black out drunk, and how distressing it is to wonder what you did during that time. For DID patients that is a common occurance. So for her to encourage and insist on the alternate personality was cruel to Seo-jin who had to experience those blank time periods. I also felt it was stretched to 20 episodes, like there was only content for about 16 episodes but it was stretched to 20. It ended well with her together with Seo-in and he was cured. I recommend this series to those that like mental health shows. It has a different take on certain aspects of the disorder than "Kill Me, Heal Me." Very unique concept in there being only 2, essentially, personalities, and the main one is the "evil" personality.

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Not overly comlex but a solid drama nevertheless

8.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2018/2019 South Korean Romantic Drama with 16, 70 minute episodes. An alternate title is "Revenge is Back."

Kang Bok-Soo (Yoo Seung-ho) is a junior at a prestigious high school who does not take school seriously until he is paired up with Song Soo-jung (Jo Bo-ah) when a teacher pairs poor performers with high performers in an attempt to spur the poor performer to higher levels of achievement. Bok-soo is smitten with the feisty and beautiful top student. Oh Se-oh (Kwak Dong-yeon) is the son of the school's chairwoman and Bok-soo befriends him when he is new to the school. Se-oh is psychologically abused by his controlling mother and quickly becomes jealous of Bok-soo for his happy home life and engaging girlfriend. He plots to split up Bok-soo and Soo-jung after a failed suicide attempt by pinning the event on Bok-soo. He convinces Soo-jung that Bok-soo intentionally attempted to hurt him and she testifies against Bok-soo ending their relationship and resulting in Bok-soo being labeled as violent and expelled from the school. Nine years later Bok-soo has led a life struggling doing a series of call as you need it odd jobs for a company is friend created. He has the opportunity to return to the school to finish his studies and decides to take the opportunity to exact his revenge on the two people who betrayed him. Can the young people overcome all of the misunderstandings that led them to this point and forge a new future?

Spoiler alert** From the title I expected Bok-soo to be in a savior role for Bo-ah and he is but only peripherally. It is labeled a romantic comedy on several sites and I found there is very little comedic element to it. It is more of a serious drama with just a few slightly amusing scenes. I think it is a cultural issue but I had a very hard time grasping a person of Bok-soo's age returning to high school. Perhaps it is an issue with my own personal mentality but I would have a very hard time every forgiving someone who had failed to believe in me at a critical point. The fact that a person who is supposed to care about me would believe I had done something so horrible without even asking - I cannot envision getting past that even if it was someone I had been in love with. I would be unable to get over that level of betrayal. I would forgive but only to the level of having that person as a friend but not as a close friend and certainly not as a romantic relationship. That being said I was disappointed that Bok-soo and Se-oh never rekindle their friendship even on a basic level. Bok-soo takes the perspective with Se-oh that what he did was unforgivable. In Se-Oh's case his mother was so abusive that I think she drove him to do it and I felt like Bok-soo should have realized it. He had more of a reason than Soo-jung. I really loved the Bok-soo character he was so loving and loyal to all the people in his life. He also had such a strong sense of justice and would go that extra mile to protrect those he felt were suffering any kind of unfairness or injustice. Bok-soo's mother was also such a kind and caring character it made it easy to see where he would have gotten his traits. This was a very sweet story with only a little bit of complexity but that is okay. Yoo Seung-ho has such a refreshing way of portraying the characters that you root for him because his characters are sweet yet vulnerable.

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Light and fluffy

8.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2021 South Korean Comedic Romantic Fantasy drama with 16, 70 minute episodes. An alternate title is “Frightening Cohabitation”.

Shin Woo-yeo (Jang Ki-yong) has lived for nearly 1000 years and his ultimate hope is to become human. He believes that he must draw energy from humans to turn his Fox head from red to blue. Lee Dam (Lee Hye-ri) accidentally swallows the a fox bead which is normally a death sentence. To guard the bead while coming up with a way to remove it, Woo-yeo asks Lee Dam to move in with him. Lee Dam is not your typical girl having relatively little interest in romantic pursuits. Lee Dam’s indifference actually attracts notorious ladies man Gye Sun-woo (Bae In-Hyuk) who originally pursues Lee Dam as a bet with his friends that he cannot get her to date him. His feelings for this unique girl quickly changes to genuine romantic interest. Things are complicated when dealing with humans especially for a Fox that has limited his interactions so he relies heavily on the advice of a Fox turned human, Yang Hye-sun (Kang Han-na). Ha-ha us nit scholar level in book knowledge but she is an expert in interpersonal relationships.She is Goddess level beautiful and portrays a cold haughtiness that hides a honest and genuine heart. Do Jae-Jin (Kim Do-wan) is one of Lee Dam’s best friends and he has been burned in many relationships. Hye-sun surprises herself by becoming attracted to the sweet and thoughtful Jae-Jin.

I liked this show a lot. The romance between the leads was heartwarming and believable, Although, it lacked depth and complexity which could be a good thing if you want light fluff. Ther was no true villain which often adds depth to the story. There was very little comedy despite it being categorized as a comedy frequently. There was a bit of a leap for me how easily the female lead moved from thinking of the Fox as an old soul to being romantically interested in him. I thought perhaps, at one point, she would give sun-woo a chance and that would have added a bit if a bump in the road of the romance. I also thought they could have shown the lead turn into a Gumiho more. It was really a pretty direct march on the road for their romance and there was some missed opportunity for additional depth and character development. iI thought it was very good just not great as the story was a bit too simplistic.

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Very predictable and little chemistry

7.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2018/2019 South Korean television romance drama with 16, 60 minute episodes.

Cha Soo-hyun (Song Hye-kyo), has lived life in the spot light serving as a poster child for her politician father. Her mother, who sees her daughter as a pawn to further her husband’s political career, marries her off to a chaebol whose family has wealth and power sufficient to support her families‘ political ambitions. The loveless marriage soon falls apart when Soo-hyun’s husband declares he wants to marry one of the women he had been having an affair with. There are conditions to the divorce on both sides, Soo-hyun’s mother-in-law insists she continue to attend family gatherings until her son remarries. Soo-Hyun requests to be CEO of a hotel owned by the family which is on the verge of failing financially. Soo-Hyun makes the hotel so successful that she goes to Cuba to strike a deal to expand her hotel brand. It is while there that she has several chance encounters with Kim Jin-hyuk (Park Bo-gum), who saved doing part time jobs for a fun filled trip too Cuba before returning to South Korea and settling int his career. Soo-Hyun takes an impulsive trip out without her staff to see a highly recommended beach sunset and winds up being pick pocketed and stranded. She asks Jin-Hyuk to help her and they wind up spending a spontaneous and eventful evening together. They planned a good bye meeting the next morning but Soo-Hyun gets delayed and they return to South Korea separately thinking they are unlikely to see each other again. Fate has a say though and Jin-Hyuk’s new job is with Soo-hyun’s company. Differences in age, social class, and her ex in laws and parents desire for her to remarry her former spouse all stand in the way of the developing romance. Can the two overcome all the obstacles?

spoilers** Overall I would characterize this as boring. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t particularly good either. The entire story line was very very predictable. When they were in Cuba it was slightly interesting as it was intriguing knowing neither one of them really knew who the other one was so there was anticipation in that. Also, in Cuba, they were doing some interesting things in that cultural space. When they were back in South Korea there was a moment of uncertainty when it turned out he worked for her and her company and when he had to go to an office farther away. The female lead character had a very “flat” personality. It was supposed to be due to her upbringing but, other than a few more smiles, the character did not change or grow significantly. It made it hard to understand why the magnanimous male character would be so madly in love with her. I thought that her conflict with her ex‘s family would turn out to be a way bigger deal than it actually wound up being. The fact that her father took care of it made the entire struggle leading up to that kind of a mute point. Even their small break up was very predictable and the fact that they got back together even more predictable. If it seems like I’m using the word predictable a lot it’s very intentional there were no major surprises or twists which for me made the story very ho-hum. His mom and her actions is something you would expect within the context of a Korean drama yet I still found it very mean and irritating. I know it’s the American in me that finds the way parents in Korean dramas interfere in the lives of their children annoying. When it is just them disapproving and working on their own child it is one thing but when they harm someone else emotionally it is just abusive. I was disappointed he was not angry with his mom about it. The father was and I liked that. I was glad she finally came around but it was almost too late. Not one I would rewatch or recommend unless someone is a serious fan of one of the leads or just likes very predictable romantic dramas.

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