You sly dog! You caught me monologuing!

It's not monologuing that weighs down "Gyeonseong Creature" as much as it "dialoguing".

There's some very credible attributes of this drama and it deserves some accolades. The photography is terrific. The pyrotechnics and slow-motion shots are stunning. There's a few low light scenes in the countryside that are jawdropping. The score is solid. The wardrobing, at least to this layman's level of expertise, is exquisite.

There's some solid supporting characters and actors . Jo Han Chul, in particular, is as good here as he has ever been. There's several great actors that just don't have the character depth unfortunately though. The talents of Im Ki Hong, Im Chul Soo and Ok Ja Yeon are almost completely wasted. For the villainry, Kim Su Hyun and Hyun Bong Sik and Choi Young Joon all play extremely terrible and awful monsters. But then there's a lengthy list of other wrongdoers and each time one of them absorbs any of the focus, it detracts from developing the main antagonists.

And there's plenty of bloat all around. Kim Hae Sook is listed as a lead but there's no need for the character to appear at all. Wi Ha Joon disappears for vast stretches and when he is visible, is bland and forgettable.

As for the leads, when given the opportunity to showcase their strengths, they deliver. Han So Hee and Park Seo Joon deliver in the action set pieces and exhibit all the grim resolve a viewer can handle when things get dark. Sadly, these moments aren't enough.

While the structure of the show is compelling, the ground-level narrative is twisted so badly with unnecessary side- and back-tracks, incomprehensible gaps in plausibility (the ventilation shaft that literally holds an entire squadron of soldiers is particularly laughable), interminable stretches where the highlight of the program, The Creature, is forgotten and, egad, the dialogue! The production team apparently thought nothing of stopping gunfights and melees and action to have some of the most saccharine and cliche and dull exchanges between characters. Of what had most likely been hundreds of pages of script, they needed to be reordered on a wholesale basis and almost every line rewritten. This was a concept that begged for a brief backstory up front and then a deep and long and uninterrupted dive in to a suffocating, claustrophobic, dark and forbidding place. Instead, "Gyeonseong Creature" is a tedious mess.

Read More

Needs a prescription for revision

One of the interesting queries that pops up when watching “Ghost Doctor” is, if this production team would be in charge of putting together a K pop group, would they select a host of actors to try their hand at being musical entertainers? It’s because three of the leading cast members were idols prior to becoming actors. One of the supporting cast is the brother of an idol (and that idol also makes a guest appearance) and another became well-known for appearing in music videos. How does littering a medical drama/buddy comedy with idol cast members turn out? It’s an uneven affair but to their credit, much of that can be attributed to other causes.

“Ghost Doctor” primarily follows Rain’s Cha Young Min, an ace cardiothoracic surgeon who ends up wandering the hospital as a ghost after he ends up in a persistent coma. He discovers a connection with Kim Bum’s Ko Seung Tak, a new resident and member of the hospital’s ownership family. There’s also Uee’s Jang Se Jin who is a neurologist and Young Min’s ex and daughter of a conglomerate chairman that had spent the past several years in the US. Her half brother (Lee Tae Sung’s Min Ho) is scheming to take over the conglomerate and Tae In Ho’s hospital administrator gets involved.

Once Young Min is stuck as a ghost, he’s encumbered with certain rules about how far he can go, but he can go farther if he is possessing a person, and how to change clothes and open doors and eat and drink, etc. These rules make very little sense, but it’s a ghost story and it’s necessary for the narrative so, uh, whatever. But as he can interact with Seung Tak, much of the first half of the run is laboriously spent on getting Young Min and Seung Tak into some sort of working arrangement. The only respite from this glacial pace is a lot of open heart surgeries that viewers with weaker stomachs may want to skip through. And there’s a few other ghosts floating in and out but they have little connection to what’s happening through at least the first half.

After Young Min and Seung Tak finally work out their cooperation, the story lurches forward with Young Min hoping to regain consciousness, reestablish a relationship with Se Jin and foil the nefarious plans of the baddies. Along the way, it’s one odd couple after another with the previously mentioned up and down results.

Rain is clearly a performer that is a natural on stage. Everything is big - the gestures, the expressions, the volume, the attitudes and the moods. The moments when he is at ease are spare. The effect is that Rain comes across as someone playing multiple characters - arrogant Young Min, lovesick Young Min, passionate doctor Young Min and so forth. But the different character/moods don’t integrate together into a single character.

Meanwhile, Kim Bum’s Seung Tak is an aloof but affable and easy-going loafer that has bursts of insight and empathy. It’s clearly meant to be a balance against Young Min’s extremes but Kim Bum’s portrayal is, at best, odd and awkward. He rarely seems to have a comfort level with what type of character Seung Tak should be and it’s compounded by times where Kim Bum is really Young Min in possession of Seung Tak’s body. It’s a role that either is beyond this actor’s talents or that needed markedly better direction.

As a duo, the two together don’t mesh well. One is a roulette wheel of extreme personalities and the other’s real personality is the true apparition on the show.

Fortunately, as the primary arc accelerates, the rest of the cast and the subplots can get some screentime. And the more the focus shifts on to others, the better. Sung Dong Il is terrific as the patriarch of sorts among the ghost crew. Son Na Eun spends most of the first half AWOL but has some nice scenes later. And the trio of ghosts played by Yoon So Hee, Choi Seok Won and Han Seung Hyun is the highlight. Their backstories are poignant. The relationships between them are warm. And their narratives are by far the most compelling. But like with Son Na Eun, they spend a seeming eternity for their arcs to gain any traction.

Meanwhile, the villain barely appears and when he does it mostly just waiting for things to happen. The entirety of the senior medical staff are badly written comic relief and with questionable competency as doctors. Some leeway should be given to a fictional vehicle to stray from reality, but to have a hospital with only one or two surgeons that can actually operate on a patient is a gigantic stretch. Outside of the open chest cavities, the production value isn’t anything special. If there’s an OST, it’s not noticeable. Although there is a nice guest spot by Hani and the writer appears to have an outstanding knowledge of medicine (or at least enough to fool anyone but actual medical experts).

What “Ghost Doctor” really needed was someone to significantly edit the screenplay to accelerate the events of the first eight episodes and emphasize a more ensemble approach to the show. Had something like happened, this show might have been a tremendous success. But instead it’s an average show with a few nice moments and some painfully tedious filler.

Not recommended.

Read More

Park Min Young's Impossible Dream & Fanfic Request for the Villain

The signature song in the Broadway musical "Man of La Mancha" is The Impossible Dream. It's a complicated context for those unfamiliar with the production, but the main character has gone mad and forsaken his lands and status to pursue a prostitute he thinks is a maiden, to acquire junk that he believes is magical and to battle a knight who, in reality, is a physician trying to get him to regain his senses. The song is meant to be an inspiration to never give up your passions no matter how crazy they may be.

Yeah. Uh, well. Actually...

It turns out that some passions are actually crazy and bad and should not be pursued.

Exhibit "A" is Park Min Young's performance in "Marry My Husband".

Her character, Kang Ji Won, has suffered prior to a time loop, the following:
-abandonment by her mother
-orphaned at a young age by her father
-bullied by her peers in high school
-abused by her manager at her job
-tortured by her mother-in-law
-suffered financially due to her husband's bad investments
-unable to get pregnant because her husband is sterile
-unnoticed by her colleagues
-passed over for promotions
-betrayed by her best friend
-cheated on by her husband
-diagnosed with terminal cancer
-murdered by the betraying best friend and cheating husband

The only misfortunes that Ji Won has not suffered would be a short list. She's not blind. No indication that she's deaf. Baldness? No, she probably got that too thanks to the chemo. Uh, shortness? No. Bonus points to the writers for really kicking this character as low as probably any character has ever been kicked. And then stomping on her just because.

Somehow. SOMEHOW. Park Min Young takes this nearly inexhaustible list of tragedy and what should be a classic fairy tale princess overcoming the odds to triumph over evil kind of character and not only makes Ji Won not very sympathetic and not totally endearing and not an admirable and cheerable heroine but, instead, kind of a evilly stepmothery ice queen. It's such a total flop of a performance that it not merely overshadows, but practically obliterates the wooden and uninspired performance by Na In Woo. On what planet did this production team decide that the damsel in distress should be clomping around in 5 inch stilettos and haute couture fashion in every scene? Why is she so humorless? When there is a ripple of trouble in her relationship with Ji Hyuk, why does she immediately drop anchor and run for the hills? But most of all, when Ji Won is out for revenge and is settling her scores with Min Hwan and Soo Min, it feels like Park Min Young really feels it. She can sell that. But the scenes where she's being nice and friendly and supportive with Joo Ran and Hee Yeon? Nope. No sincerity. No feeling. No sale.

There's some awful performances from other actors too (Lee Gi Kwang, Cho Jin Se and BoA) but it must be pointed out that Lee Yi Kyung is great. Gong Min Jung nails it here like she has in everything. She's deserving of bigger and more demanding roles. Choi Gyu Ri is very fun. Ha Do Gwon is solid. Jung Suk Yong nails his cameo. So while there's plenty of bad here, there's plenty of strong acting as well.

The star, however, is Song Ha Yoon as she is a breathtaking supernova as the dastardly Yoo Min. It is a scintillating villain as a character, but the performance as this character is astonishing. She is extraordinarily insecure and incisively intuitive and to see how these traits twist her and consume her is both a horrifying and entrancing experience. The hope is that somewhere some genius has written a convincing fanfic account of a way in which Yoo Min somehow by some inconceivable multiverse jump, turns out to be the hero. Because that it would be a show worth watching beginning to end and every second in between.

As for "Marry My Husband"? Recommended but only for every moment with Song Ha Yoon. Very not recommended for the rest of it.

Read More

Punch, chop, yawn, shoot, punch, chop...

Mindless, cartoonishly violent melee-fest movies, even those that recycle mad scientist and power hungry soldier antagonists, can be great fun. And "Badlands Hunters" has lots of ingredients for a successful martial arts brawl-a-thon.

The setting, a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Check.

Comic relief sidekick? Check.

Young, innocent hope for survival? Check.

A steady stream of gangsters and baddies entering from all sides to be dispatched with a single blow or wound? Checkity, check, check.

And a Michelle Yeoh type martial arts badass female? Ahn Ji Hye crushes this.

But "Badlands Hunters" never quite puts all the pieces together for very long. Instead, it's much like the populace constantly seeking morsels of food and a bit of clean water, the fun appears sporadically and, when it does, too briefly. Part of the issue is that the first half frequently sidetracks for small laughs or plot devices that later turn out not all useful. Another part of it is that there's simply far too much invested in transitioning Roh Jeong Eui's young hope-for-humanity from a wasteland origin to the apartment building as utopia/evil mad scientist's laboratory.

The main issue, sadly, is that the big action star in the middle of it, the legendary Ma Don Seok, doesn't seem all that invested in what he's doing. Or at least not very often. The character is meant to be stoic and business-like. That's expected. But having such a character as a baseline really only works as a contrast to when they are shaken out of their typical personality and a fire inside of them is ignited, the intensity ramps up and they get super mad and go bonkers getting even. That never happens here. It's martial arts and knife fighting and shooting machine guns with all the vibrancy and fireworks of stapling insurance adjuster reports together.

Punch. Stab. Shoot. [sigh]

Read More

Not the most novel storyline but enough bright spots

There's a distinct lack of tension and intrigue to this show as its primary arc of the office romance between Ro Woon and Won Jin Ah sticks to checking the usual boxes. It's not altogether unwelcome though and even has some very nicely executed moments, particularly in later episodes. Ro Woon undoubtedly is effortlessly charming and has all the other attributes to carry a show as the central character. As a bonus, his sibling chemistry with Wang Bit Na and Ha Yoon Kyung (his older sisters) is marvelous.

The slow build of the pairing between Na's designer and Lee Kyu Han's chairman is a nice secondary storyline and the chairman provides some badly needed lighter moments. The most compelling secondary plot, however, is Ha Yoon Kyung's splintering marriage and this deserved far more screen time than it received.

Sadly, the show has limitations which ultimately cap its appeal as anything more than an amiable enough but not compelling production. Among them is Won Jin Ah who is a capable actor but not dynamic. The office crew around our main duo is present in many, many scenes, but they are rarely noteworthy. A strange subplot of a video channel run by a mask-wearing host appears, then disappears for almost the entire duration and then needlessly and distractingly pops up in a later show.

But the most serious flaw is the character of Lee Jae Shin and his portrayal by Lee Hyun Wook. The character is alternates from boor to bore. While it is theoretically possible to be a less sympathetic character without being an outright serial killer, it's a matter a relative degree. It's far, far beyond credible not only that three other seemingly bright and mostly morally upright characters would tolerate him and even have strong emotional attachments to him. Trying to shoehorn in a childhood broken family backstory to drum up sympathy only prolongs the discomfort. It doesn't help that Lee Hyun Wook's range is limited to sullen and petulant to sullen and irritable. The show would have been far more compelling to jettison his presence after the primary arc no longer required it.

What will stick (hopefully) is that Ro Woon should be in high demand to lead a show with a more complete package around him.

Read More

"All of it, boiling it. I looked inside, man, and it was turning gray"

Admittedly, it's a stretch to find a connection between "Apocalypse Now", Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam War opus that's a modern homage to Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", and "Wedding Impossible", a rom-com-ish enemies-to-lovers chaebol-family-corporate-succession drama. But hold tight for a moment.

One of the "Apocalypse Now" characters in its journey in to a deep and dangerous Viet jungle is somewhat unbalanced Louisiana native nicknamed Chef. During one of the quiet interludes on the boat, one of the handful of other soldiers asks Chef how he got the Chef nickname. And Chef responds with a story about how he was going to study at an exclusive French culinary school and instead ended up in the US Navy with the intention of being a cook. And then one day:

"They lined us up in front of a hundred yards of prime rib. All of us, you know, lined up and looking at it. Magnificent meat! Really! Beautifully marbled... magnifique! Next thing, they're throwing the meat into these big cauldrons. All of it, boiling it. I looked inside, man, and it was turning gray. I couldn't f**n' believe that one!"

Much like Chef and his hundred yards of gorgeous beef, "Wedding Impossible" has the ingredients for a bountiful feast of a drama, but renders it through an uninspired and worn and clumsily exposited narrative that ends with a production far short of its potential.

But the ingredients? [chef's kiss]

Jeon Jeong Seo certainly isn't the classic siren type. She's naturally abrasive and blunt. Her history suggests she's far more comfortable with action and tension than light comedy and romance. But it's this genuine awkwardness that makes her No Ah Jung lead so endearing.

Moon Sang Min is rock solid as Lee Ji Han. He's not just the tall pretty boy. And he's got the "I'm cool on the outside but I'm a raging inferno on the inside" acting thing DOWN.

Kim Do Wan is one of the very best second male leads. Any doubters should skim through his scenes in "My Roommate is a Gumiho" where he throws down a masterpiece performance. Casting him as the closeted gay Lee Do Han, a LGBTQ character that is a three dimensional real human who happens to be homosexual instead of a paper-thin stereotype that populates most dramas, is a perfect choice.

There's a couple noteworthy supporting actors too - Park Ah In as the scheming older half sister is very, very good and Seo Woo Jin crushes as Ah Jung's cute young nephew. Song Sang Eun and Min Jin Woong have some nice comedic relief together.

It may not be a legendary pantheon of heavyweights, but it's a very solid group of actors and characters.

And then it greats dropped in a cauldron of boiling chaebol succession blah blah blah. Press conferences. Paparazzis. Living room confrontations. USB drives of CCTV videos. Secretaries. Suits. Snore. Snooze. Sigh.

It's still great fun to see young actors get a chance to be leads and to work incredibly well together. Despite the plot weakness, the two leads are terrific together. It's a fun show to watch when it sticks to the rom-com side of things. Unfortunately, there's not enough of a story there to fill in 12 hour long episodes and everything else is trite and uninspired.

Lightly recommended.

Read More

Peaks. Valleys. More peaks. Lots of valleys.

"Bo Ra! Deborah" has many characteristics of a dyed in the wool, stock set up rom-com. But it's oddly light on the romance between the leads, erratic with the comedy and with a narrative that is stretched extraordinarily thin across its run. Despite it's negatives, Yoo In Na is terrific as the titular lead once she is allowed to play to her strengths. Her presence makes this a show worth investing the time (at least most of it) to watch.

The rest of the cast? Park So Jin is marvelous but is paired with Lee Sang Woon who plays an exceptionally unlikable husband in a particularly dismal manner. June is a refreshing and likable and energetic presence but Kim Ye Ji's character is so inconsistently written that until a late arc adds some heft to their relationship, it's a disappointing subplot. Hwang Chan Sung works as a loathsome ex to Bo Ra, but it's a one-dimensional caricature which naturally raises significant credibility issues about how she ever would have considered him a desirable match in any respect.

Yoon Hyun Min somehow is getting lead roles despite being the epitome of bland. The writing doesn't do him a lot of favors as his character has an arc but he is asked almost universally to not emote in the slightest. Even in the big moments, it's a character that seems to only exercise restraint, caution and detachment.

What would have aided "Bo Ra! Deborah" more than anything else would have been to axe a good chunk of episode 2 and almost the entirety of 3 & 4. What could have been accomplished with a handful of scenes and a brief musical montage is brutally trod through nearly 200 minutes of excruciating run time. It gets better, much better, at the halfway point and continues almost through to the end with some strong episodes.

Memorable? No. Enjoyable? Ok sure.

Read More

“What’s a trebuchet?” asks the screenwriter…

“It’s like a medieval catapult only with a fancier French-sounding name and that makes me think it would hurl you much further out to the frigid waters of the East Sea than a regular catapult if you ever bring me a script that has a pedestrian hit by a motor vehicle again,” says the producer.

Yes, “Strangers Again” can’t help itself from using this beaten to death and then cremated and the ashes buried beneath the deepest depths of the ocean terrible trope. Not just once but twice in critical plot junctures near the end of its run, the show reverts to the pedestrian accident to advance the story. It’s a capsulized version of The Issue with the show - lots of the little things work well and there’s some promising ingredients but when it has to set aside the less important storylines and supporting characters, attempts to advance the central story of the drama is an undercooked and awkward mess.

The show is part legal drama set in a smaller firm that mostly handles divorces and custody disputes. Kang So Ra’s Oh Ha Ra is the young star litigator who has a side gig on television. Her ex-husband, Jang Seung Jo’s Goo Eun Beom, has fallen on hard times since their divorce and is dodging landlords and other creditors. Before long, the two are back in the same office and reigniting (or rehashing?) their feelings, both warm and rage-fueled.

Also in the firm are the usual support staff that occasionally appear to have some side-plot about to emerge but it never does. And the co-ceos, the terrific Jeon Bae Soo and fantastic Kil Hae Yeon, were nice additions to the cast but their characters don’t allow them many opportunities to flex their considerable acting prowess. There’s also regular sideplots that last 1-3 episodes. Some thread together with the primary Ha Ra - Eun Beom storyline, others tend to provide no entertainment or other value other than to fill runtime, particularly one with Jeon Bae Soo’s ex-wife, an American and a dog.

Where “Strangers Again” shines is with the secondary couple of Jo Eun Ji’s Bi Chwi and Lee Jae Won’s Si Wook. Both are colleagues in the small firm, but begin as absolute opposites. Bi Chwi is a liberated, opinionated and adventuresome modern woman. Si Wook is buttoned-up and formal. What begins as an inebriated hotel hookup becomes a poignantly realistic portrait of two people who seemingly have no future as a romantic couple that find themselves unable to let go of each other. It’s marvelous work from both the writers that conceived of these multidimensional characters to the actors who bring them to the screen so vividly.

It seems like an entirely different crew was at work, however, with the Ha Ra - Eun Beom main couple. Neither character is coherently written - Eun Beom swings wildly and inexplicably back and forth with his feelings for Ha Ra while she is marketed as the “Goddess of Litigation” but she misfires at her job more than an Imperial Stormtrooper for the entire first half of the drama. The second half almost entirely drops the legal portions of the story for some standard family intergenerational trauma. Meanwhile, with neither a novel narrative nor mesmerizing characters to play, neither lead actor proves capable of rising above the mediocre material given to them. There are short sequences where the two leads are given better scripts so their more comic-sided talents can shine. And these happen often enough to emphatically crystallize what the show could have been with a tighter, more fun-focused script.

Some other minor issues - not strong work from the hair team. Kang So Ra, in particular, did not look like either a well-heeled professional attorney or desirable woman. The wardrobe people consistently put cast in clothing that was several sizes too large. And while there should be merit points for attempting an unconventional ending, it also warrants barbs for botching the execution. The destination it arrives at is a choice (whether it is THE choice a viewer wants or not is up to that individual) but it gets there by meandering through half an episode seeming to set up something much different, then plods through long sequences of unneeded redirects through minor storylines then with a perfunctory exchange, it simply ends.

Overall, it’s not something that can be recommended.

Read More

So many glaring defects and yet still a likable and fun ride

A pun? Who thinks that naming a show with a pun is a good idea? The only possible answer to that is someone that knows that their title sequence is so painfully bad that papering it over with a ridiculous pun will distract from the ineptitude of the opening credits.

The bad things just keep rolling though:

The supporting cast has some highlights but also some of the worst performances of the current calendar year.

The music, whether during the title sequence or outside of it, is sensationally poor.

There's innumerable unnecessary and sloppily choreographed fight scenes.

The twists are so unsurprising that whether they were intended to be twists or reveals has to be questioned.

There should be some buildup of tension and intrigue as pivotal conflicts approach, but instead they just seem to randomly cut from a nondescript scene to a major confrontation.

It's so frustrating to watch everything be so ineptly put together because

[DEEP BREATH]

...the scenario is fresh and it works, it really works, even with all of its deficiencies. Firstly, because Kang Mal Geum is a shining beam of unfiltered warmth and joy as Do Bae Man's aunt. Every moment she has on screen is a delight.

Second, vengeance is probably not a good real life pursuit but man is it almost always a terrific basis for fictional dramas. And this is an above-average revenge backstory.

Jo Bo Ah and Kim Young Min are both well-suited for their characters, Actually, with more developed and complex characters, both could have been stellar here. Points for the casting director getting these two on board.

But mostly, while the lead cast is fairly strong, this is a show centered on Ahn Bo Hyun and he delivers. Granted, it seemed that the first few episodes were rough. With the show switching from serious to comic on a frequent basis, there's a serious case of actor not knowing what to do with his character. After not too long though, Ahn Bo Hyun settles things down with more gravitas and only enough wry sarcasm to give Do Bae Man an extra dimension. That Ahn Bo Hyun is one of the most physically imposing actors in the industry aids in giving the military prosecutor an ominous presence, but it's balanced by a kind and empathic air.

Will this lead to award nominations for Ahn Bo Hyun? If it does, that would be more than mildly shocking. But it absolutely should convince other productions that he's more than viable lead actor for future productions (which hopefully will have better pieces around him).

Not strongly recommended but still qualifies as a recommended watch.

Read More

Instead of "Why Her?" how about "Why Any of This?"

This will be brief.

Seo Hyun Jin does, for a good stretch, some of her best work.

Hong Ji Yoon, refreshingly, has a strong guest spot in episode 1.

These two are in a scene together that is very much the high point of the show. And to its credit, any part of the first episode involving either of these two actors is very, very good.

And to the show's credit, that momentum from the opening episode keeps the intrigue up as all the backstories and setups are brought out.

But once the primary narratives are fully underway, this is an awful, terrible, bad and [insert the negative adjective of your choosing here. Actually, as many as you like.] show. Just a few of the issues...

The relationship between Seo Hyun Jin and Hwang In Youp has as much heat as the rings of Saturn. Which are, just in case that's not a clear metaphor, made of ice floating in the cold vacuum of space.

Hwang In Youp as Gong Chan seems to have no idea what to do with the character. It's all overdone makeup and hair, awkward shocked expressions and head-tilted stares at Seo Hyun Jin. And that's largely the fault of a poorly created character. If there were any element of reality in this production, Gong Chang would have been hauled away and locked up as a stalker by the 20 minute mark of episode 3. Of course, Hwang In Youp seems uncomfortable. He's supposed to be a hero but all of his behavior is gross at best and criminal at worst.

Heo Joon Ho has the chops to be a super evil bad guy. But the setup is so ridiculous that it's unbearable to watch. And much of that is because Lee Kyung Young is one of his cohorts. The only plausible explanation for how he shows up in every show of this genre is that his wife is the casting director and would prefer that he not be around her at home.

Bae In Hyuk is also listed as a lead and here's the exhaustive list of the qualities that he brings:
1. He is present.
2. He says the words from the script.
That's the end of the list. The is not even a subatomic particle of effort beyond showing up and reciting the lines.

This review could continue at exhaustive length with further failures and faults of "Why Her?" but in the interest of remaining somewhat compliant with the "This will be brief" opening, the review will conclude with "Why? How about no. Just No.".

Read More

Like the title character at the beginning, it doesn't know what it should be

"I can't sing" says Doona when asked why she stopped performing but it's obvious that the issue is NOT that she can't sing. It's that she doesn't know WHY she is singing. And that after the years of training and performing, she's lost any meaning to what had once been her dream.

That much is clear.

And equally clear is that a kpop idol interacting with Yang Se Jong's Won Joon is like a plunge in to an ice bath. He's such an opposite of her. He's beyond his years in maturity. He doesn't smoke. He's a rule follower. His emotions are as grounded as a concrete block building foundation. C'mon, he's a civil engineer. As a romance? Legitimately, there are some terrific, compelling scenes between Won Joon and Doona. But this is not a show where any rational viewer is expecting a fairy tale - they get together, leave the world behind and live happily ever after. Immediately upon solidifying their relationship, the clock begins audibly ticking before their troubles as a couple will consume them. Regardless of whether or not the lovebirds find a way to be together, the main issue that is dramatized is whether Doona falls for Won Joon because she needs someone and he's the one that happens to be there or is he legitimately her soulmate? But somewhat ignored is why has Won Joon fallen for Doona as a person? Clearly he's a straight male and she's stunning and seems interested in him and that should obviously be enough for a brief infatuation. It's not enough, however, to explain how he overlooks all the negatives (and there are many) in her and she becomes the only woman for him. So the romance is intermittently great but, in totality, is more just going where it was pretty expected it was headed from before the first frame hit the screen.

Moreover, the secondary storylines have promise. Park Se Wan and Kim Do Wan are a fantastic pair. Won Joon's got a potentially colorful hometown connections subplot. Ha Young's Jin Joo has a troubled family life. But the shorter episode run times and 9 episode duration don't give these diversions ample space to really fulfill what could have been. Park Se Wan, in particular, is wild and colorful but shows up halfway just as things in the main plot are gaining serious traction. Even just a single additional episode could have allowed more screen time to cultivate what were some potentially entertaining developments.

Where "Doona" really hits (and, in a way, misses) is that Doona herself is this fascinating, complex, damaged and brilliant character in the midst of discovering herself and her passion for music. And, for as much as no other man but Won Joon can make her happy, the reality is that not even he can come between her and who she is as an artist and a singer. It's her journey from being a woman in crisis to finding what within her gives her a purpose and meaning that captivates. How it misses is that it is clumsily obfuscated by the demands of the industry that she return to settle her contractual obligations and the effect that her return to singing has on Won Joon. These are certainly points worth noting in her growth, but they overwhelm what could have been a better exploration of her personal awakening, finding meaning in songwriting, realizing what she loved about performing and that a life without music, for her, would be a life without meaning. Instead, her internal development is captured in only brief moments. It's a pity.

Recommended but with forewarning that "Doona" isn't what it could be.

Read More

What if there were Drama Bars like Sports Bars but for drama fans?

There may not be a large cross section of rabid professional sports fans and diehard Korean drama fans so this metaphor may not work. But for those that haven’t, imagine being in a sports bar with the vast array of screens, each showing different sporting events. This one has baseball. That one has MMA. Over there is basketball. And viewers are trying to assimilate all of them at once. All of them have a common element of athletic competition but there’s different objectives and strategies and rules.

Watching “Kiss Sixth Sense” is somewhat like this somewhat disorienting, many-things-happening-at-once where there’s some commonality but no synchronicity.

The only interpretation of how and why the pieces of “Kiss Sixth Sense” don’t sync up is that each character and actor seem to be acting in a different genre of drama. It’s like if multiple users across the planet on Tik Tok dueted the same script but each had a unique take and approach and someone spliced them all together into twelve episodes of hour long Korean drama television. It sounds like a viable plan for a social media account, but how did it go for this program? Let’s break it down by cast member and character…

Hwang Bo Ra as Um Ji: Genre - slapstick comedy. Does it work? Intermittently, as the character is a minor character and there are occasions where the show has gone into a more manic comic mode for a few moments. When it works, however, it only works in the immediate context of that particular scene and not within the show in general.

Kim Ga Eun as Ha Woo - office mockumentary. Does it work? For a few episodes, it’s passable. She’s a little bit of a wild card. But the interesting elements of the character are written out less than halfway through the run and the production staff seemed to realize they didn’t have any plausible direction for the character so she appears less and less. It was probably the right call but a better call would have been to have a compelling direction for the whole subplot to go.

Tae In Ho as Seung Tak - medical dramedy. He’s a part comic, part stock drama character. Does it work? No. The actor can’t muster even mediocre comedy skills and the dramatic parts are so poorly written, which might work for his skills, he doesn’t have even a shred of credible material. As referenced with Ha Woo, storyline was unnecessary and reeks of “We need to fill time and just put anything in there that can eat up 6-8 minutes per episode. We’re desperate. Anything. ANYTHING.”

Lee Joo Yeon as Ji Young - makjang parody. Frankly, this character was so thinly sketched out, that it’s a struggle to identify any characteristic other than coming from a family with money. She’s barely on screen enough to evaluate if it works or not.

Kim Ji Suk as Pil Yo - coming of age melodrama. Does it work? Not even a little and this flop of a performance is almost entirely the fault of the casting office. Kim Ji Suk is a talented actor but he’s not blessed with enormous range. This character is completely outside where his strengths lie. Need a wild and crazy and frenetic and heart on his sleeve kind of guy? Kim Ji Suk will kill that role. But Pil Yo is wistful and emotionally lost and needy and none of these traits are in Kim Ji Suk’s wheelhouse.

Seo Ji Hye as Ye Sul - romantic comedy. This is the singular pairing of cast member and character that works. Seo Ji Hye is dynamite at comedy and while Ye Sul has scenes where she’s serious and dramatic, it’s nothing that Seo Ji Hye can’t handle.With the right context around Ye Sul, she’d be a fine centerpiece of a terrifically entertaining production. Even if there was simply a good scene partner opposite her on a regular basis, “Kiss Sixth Sense” would at least be a worthwhile investment of leisure time. However…

Yoon Kye Sang as Min Hoo - supernatural crime thriller. Does it work? OMG not even close. The character is meant to be a prickly and rough exterior but kind softie on the inside roguish type. The portrayal needs an actor to be able to convincingly transition from the tough boss to kind mentor to brilliant business mind to caring boyfriend. Yoon Kye Sang delivers every line like each word is a railroad spike and he’s swinging a 20 pound sledgehammer looking to bury it in a single strike. Nuance? More like nuclear.

As for other issues, the sound has some glaring editing problems. There’s but a shred of a plot which is to put Min Hoo and Ye Sul together. Once it happens, there’s nowhere to go. The storytelling within each episode is barely stitched together and, over the course of twelve episodes, is completely incoherent. Characters that seem important in early episodes vanish entirely. Or they continue but are entirely different individuals and there’s no explanation why they’ve changed.

It’s getting close to a year since Disney+ ventured into broadcasting Korean dramas. In that time, they’ve distributed only one show (“Snowdrop”) on a wide international basis. As for the quality of their other shows, it’s been far more “miss” than “hit”. This is not to say that the Big Mouse should bail on the genre, but at this point, there’s scant evidence that they had any idea how to approach this market and nothing to indicate that they’ve learned anything since they entered.

Not recommended. But should someone pull the trigger on a Drama Bar so it possible to watch eight different dramas at once? That sounds totes awesome.

Read More

Is team-mance a word?

Well, if it's not, it should be. Or at least after season 1 of "Flex X Cop" it should be.

It's easy to find grievances here. They tend to be very upfront. First, the name is dumb. The marketing poster is a mess. The theme song is so cheap and grating. The whole opening credit sequence actually is awful. And the first impression that Ahn Bo Hyun makes as Jin Yi Soo is [grimacing emoji]. It's such a caricature of a shallow, arrogant, entitled rich brat that is falls flat. And speaking of flat, Jang Hyun Sung as the conglomerate chairman just quite can't deliver the gravitas of that role and never seems like the deeply emotionally torn person that the character he's portraying is meant to be.

Oh? And the name. THE NAME. Why is it Flex? Why is there an X? Did the producers just pull random words and letters out of a bag to determine the name? It's just so dumb.

But the heart of the show is pure 24 karat gold. Kim Shin Bi and Kang Sang Jun don't get loads of lines but their characters, the young somewhat naive and excitable one and not quite as young hard-nosed and stern one, are the perfect complements to each other and to the lead characters. Park Ji Hyun is flat out strong as Kang Hyun. Her character is the violent crime team leader and she's almost all business all the time. In the moments when she's not in work mode, she's still tough and direct and no nonsense. Even in the solitary scene where she is comforting Yi Soo, it's not explicitly tender or sweet.

And the whole production works because Ahn Bo Hyun is playing Yi Soo. Despite the first impression, once this actor and character have settled in to this complex role, the combination flat out slays. Beneath the couture wardrobe and expensive cars and luxury watches, is a man that is deeply broken and intensely driven and fairly insightful with just enough self-awareness. Although it's probably not a serious enough role to warrant award consideration, it's a role tailor made for Ahn Bo Hyun's sheer physical size and his rare ability to alternate between blazing cockiness and tender vulnerability.

There's some nicely written mysteries for the violent crime team to solve early on as Yi Soo works his way in to a role within the team. Some are more credible but the one that is the least believable somewhat validates itself at the end with a dramatic scene between Yi Soo and Kang Hyun. Eventually, the overall arc meanders back to Yi Soo's personal backstory and conglomerate family and the violent crime team fades somewhat to the background. While it's still an entertaining arc, when the focus spotlights Yi Soo alone, the magic of the chemistry between the four team members is lost.

Fortunately, while much of the last few episodes is entangled with Yi Soo's family shenanigans, the final episode balances things back with a sensational, touching montage, a not-so-unexpected twist and setting up what will hopefully be a season two that continues this team-mance (someone please contact Merriam Webster and have this added immediately) at the same level of excellence.

So while the opening credits should be skipped highly recommend just about everything else.

Read More

Why so serious?

For a program that is set primarily in a beach front town and featuring a cast of young, single twentysomethings searching for romantic entanglements and with no serial killers or zombies or alien invasions or natural disasters or economic catastrophes or even a mild food allergy, a viewer might expect "Manatsu no Cinderella" to be nothing but start-to-finish hijinks and giggles and cartwheels.

It's not.

There's few jokes that land. The romances are lukewarm. The dialogue is cliche. For some reason, most conversations between characters are blocked so they're standing at unnatural distances away from each other. Most of the cast has a single facial expression (pout, giant grin or shocked face). There's also a single entry on the soundtrack that is repeated nonstop. Twists though? None.

So not recommended?

There is one thing. Nana Mori puts on a clinic of taking a tissue thin character and imbuing it with enough charisma and an easygoing, natural air that when she's on screen, it's a worthwhile watch.

But that's it. And for those that might appreciate Nana Mori here, the recommendation is not this lifeless, empty summer yawnfest. Instead, flip over to Netflix and check out "Maiko-san Chi no Makanai-san".

Read More

Big hearts for this season although it needed a quicker pulse at the end

“Hospital Playlist” had a stellar first season which left some very large matters unresolved at its conclusion. So there had to be little doubt that there would be a season two, but considerable question about whether it would be able to maintain the same degree of excellence. With its return engagement now fully released, Hospital Playlist does, for the most part, match the high bar set by season one. The primary ensemble is not only splendidly cast, but the characters are deftly written. The dialogue and production values are excellent. There are few scenes that are not entertaining or meaningful. If only it could have built up to a higher pitched conclusion, the second season of “Hospital Playlist” might have ended up as one of the very top productions of 2021.

In fact, the first four episodes of season two are far and away the best run in either season and among the best of any drama. Much of the credit goes to some outstanding material for Jung Kyung Ho’s Jun Wan as he struggles with a relationship that is both long distance and secret leaving him unable to share his woes. Alongside this arc is a marvelous narrative of a mother waiting for her child’s heart transplant and Jun Wan’s perseverance when her resolve falters. Jung Kyung Ho is tremendous here and, of the five main actors, his performance stands out.

It stands out to some degree because the other four are less compelling in season two. It is only by a small degree, but it is a decline nevertheless. For Jo Jung Sook and Jeon Mi Do, the main issue with the characters of transplant surgeon Lee Ik Jun and neurosurgeon Chae Song Hwa are that they are as superhuman as any comic book hero could be. They are both brilliant doctors, warm friends, funny, terrific bosses, etc etc. Song Hwa’s largest flaw is that she can’t sing. Ik Jun’s flaw? He’s nosy but he has the best of intentions. Without more serious flaws, the characters lack depth.

As for Yoo Yeon Seok’s Jung Won, with the possibility of priesthood out of the picture and the only one of the main five in a relationship for the entire season, his personal narrative became boxed in and without suspense. Despite that, the relationship between Jung Won and Shin Hyun Bin’s Gyeo Wool is a delight. It is so delightful, in fact, that just a series of small day-to-day interactions between them is as captivating as almost any of the heavier storylines.

Kim Dae Myung was quietly the star of season one. And Suk Hyung’s personal life is set up to continue to push him forward as the most compelling character. Professionally, his child deliveries always have potential for high emotional impact. Personally, his complex relationship with his mother makes his story fertile ground for big moments. Mostly, however, it is Ahn Eun Jin’s Min Ha that stands out here. Her pursuit of Suk Hyung despite his intransigence delivers because of the splendid work by Ahn Eun Jin. Now that Shin Hyun Bin is getting leads in other productions, Ahn Eun Jin should absolutely be next in line.

If there is a serious flaw of season two, however, it is not in the main characters or the actors portraying them. The ensemble, rather, is as good as any cast save perhaps “Vincenzo”. But the storytelling takes a noticeable dip in quality after episode five. The passage of time lurches forward irregularly for several episodes. A patient that seems to be a long term ICU inhabitant is prominent for a couple of episodes and then never reappears. Another recovering from a brain injury intermittently pops up but not often enough to leave an impact. Jung Won’s mother, played by Kim Hae Sook, has the most consistent screen time of any supporting character but outside of a brief health crisis, has an almost indistinguishable relationship to the primary narratives. And there is a deliberately painfully long build up of the central relationship of both seasons of “Hospital Playlist”. The length of the suspense is not an issue. Whether the payoff delivers is questionable. It’s a solid scene, but not the devastatingly memorable one fans were undoubtedly expecting.

A more minor quibble - the episodes are incredibly long. Very easily, the season could have been sixteen or twenty episodes of more manageable viewing time.

And a major plus - where season one excelled with the development of the main ensemble of five, season two is borderline magical when it allows supporting characters to take the reins. Shin Hyun Bin, Ahn Eun Jin and Ha Yoon Kyung all have episodes where they are captivating. Jung Moon Sung, however, is hands down phenomenal throughout season two. The relationship between his Do Je Hak and Jun Wan is more entertaining than any of the romances. The arc of his wife’s pregnancy is the most poignant of the second half of season two.

While it is a somewhat anticlimactic conclusion, “Hospital Playlist” is a captivating production with one of the best casts assembled and is highly, highly recommended.

Read More