This drama did not have the strongest, or most coherent of story lines, but was generally pleasant and entertaining to watch. The second half arc is a hot mess. Characters who were thoroughly evil are suddenly accepted as "only evil because they had to be" and their past atrocities glossed right over. The pacing borders on torturous at this point and the ending is so awful that it actually wiped out any previous enjoyment I'd had in this show. Up until the last episode and a half, I'd probably have rated it around a 7. But the ending just ruined the whole experience for me. The actors did what they could with what they had, but all around it was a hot mess.

Read More

To be honest, I didn't have particularly high expectations going into this drama and was pleasantly surprised. It's possible that my rating is a bit higher than it deserves because it was so much better than what I was expecting. I did enjoy it, though some of it was pretty rough around the edges story-wise. It was an interesting conceit: Young woman who grew up being teased for being ugly fixes the outside, but still has all the same insecurities and problems on the inside that she had before the surgery. Therefore, she has no coping skills/mechanisms for her new life as someone pretty enough to garner regular attention just for her looks. The story kept /almost/ introducing plots and then abandoning them very quickly, like they were afraid to full commit. Poor Cha Eun Woo. So much flat effect. I was not particularly familiar with him prior to this show but having seen him on promotions in some variety shows, I feel like the choices to make his character so flat effect don't really give him any time to shine here.

Read More

I really enjoyed this show. It is not groundbreaking by any stretch of the imagination, and I think the plotting suffered from early negative reactions. The writers kept picking up plot lines and then dropping them and then picking them up again in a way that felt rather indecisive. But the love-lines in this show were really sweet (and it was a nice bit of payoff to see Hwang Jung Eum and Namgoong Min getting to have a good couple together since I recently struggled my way through the ending of Can You Hear My Heart). I understand some people's criticisms of Jung Eum's acting choices, but I still love her so much I don't care. I find the "over the top" stuff really endearing when it's her. And Namgoong Min's adorable pleased-with-myself smile, Heart melting. :) Is this my favorite drama of all time? No, but I enjoyed it entirely and will probably watch it again.

Read More

I didn't hate this drama, but i'll be honest that it was a struggle to make it through the last five or so episodes. One character in particular with their pathetic "Oh, if only there was a way I could be a better person without actually, you know, having to be a better person and do the right thing. But alas, I guess I'll just have to be a pathetic sad-sack who blames everyone around me but myself for my own poor life choices." would make me want to turn it off. In the end, I actually fast forwarded through that particular character's scenes in the final episode and a half because I just couldn't take it anymore.

Read More

This is a 54 episode weekend family drama that centers on the main couple, Ahn Jae Wook's Lee Sang Tae, a widower with two children, and So Yoo Jin's Ahn Mi Jung, a divorced mother of three children (two of whom are the same age and friends/classmates with Sang Tae's two kids). They both work at the same company and the central story is them falling in love and marrying and blending their families and all the trials and tribulations that go with that. Being a family drama, there's a lot of pairing up going on here. Sang Tae has two siblings, as well as a sister-in-law, all of whom pair up (not with each other!) as well. My favorite couple is, hands down, Sung Hoon's Kim Sang Min with Shin Hye Sun's Lee Yeon Tae.

I can honestly say that I absolutely binged this show. I watched all 54 episodes in 15 days. It's heart warming, heart wrenching, sometimes ridiculous and over the top, and at least one hair pulling fight scene. As usual, there's a lot of careful not-communicating going on so that people can continue to misunderstand each other as long as possible, but that's really kind of par for the course in kdramas. (It's possible I may have chosen that turn of phrase specifically because Sung Hoon's character is a Model turned Golf Pro.)

Read More

This drama is of the "divorce redemption" genre. Jang Na Ra (who is as doll-like and ageless as ever in this) plays Ma Jin Joo, mother of a son and wife of Son Ho Jun's Choi Ban Do, both of whom are nearing 40. Their marriage has fallen into a contentious state and the show opens up with a handful of events leading to their acrimonious divorce. After they both throw away their wedding rings, they wake up the next morning to find their 38-year-old minds in the bodies of their 20-year-old selves. They each set about trying to reshape their fates with the ones who got away.The second lead syndrome is strong in this show, as both Band Do's first love (ballerina Min Seo Young (played by Go Bo Gyeol)) and Jin Joo's sunbae (Jung Nam Gil (played by Jang Ki Yong)) do wonderful jobs presenting possible alternatives that absolutely fit and make sense and would be wonderful. The ever wonderful Kim Mi Kyung plays Jin Joo's mother, Go Eun Sook, and along with the rest of the supporting characters add nice flavor to the stew. The drama is only 12 episodes long and it's a rambling walk up until the last three episodes, where it suddenly sprints. Bring tissues. There are many feels.

Read More

What can I say? Choi Si Won and his adorable dimples are back! Choi Si Won plays Byun Hyuk, a carefree third generation chaebol whose family is super awful, who falls in love basically at first sight with Kang So Ra's Baek Jun, the plucky, multi-parttime-job-holding, no-nonsense girl of modest means. There's a second male lead, Kwon Je Hoon, who grew up with Byun Hyuk (played by the adorable Gong Myung). Some of the writes up I've seen describe the plot as 'rich boy learns to be a good human', but my read of it is more that the rich boy in question has always been a good human - he's just been living his life oblivious to consequences. So really, the story line is him learning that there are consequences to actions and how it awakens his desire to try to reform "Hell Joseon", or at least his little slice of it, for a new era.

I'm not going to lie, it's an uneven story. Choi Si Won is game as always to be an over the top goober - which is really why we loved him so much in She Was Pretty - but sometimes it's too much in this drama and he's not as good at anchoring the drama as he should be. A lot of the trend lately seems to be that shows are heavier, with highlights of humor, so what starts out funny, often ends up going pretty serious and dark for some portion of the middle and/or end.  This show embraces the humor throughout and keeps it going. Even with that, I still greatly enjoyed the show.

Read More

This is a marriage contract kdrama. I'm a sucker for a good (or even mediocre) marriage contract drama. On the upside, this one's good. Jung So Min (who I loveloveloved in Father Is Strange) plays Yoon Ji Ho, an assistant k-drama writer who is in need of a home in Seoul. Lee Min Ki (getting back into the swing of things after his military enlistment) plays Nam Se Hee, a rather stoic software engineer who has a house with a sizable mortgage and rather particular requirements for a tenant. Ji Ho ends up renting a room in Se Hee's house and, finding themselves comfortably compatible, decide to have a contract marriage to resolve some side problems (cohabitation with the opposite sex still being somewhat frowned upon and Se Hee's parents pushing a lot of blind dates on him). Neither Ji Ho nor Se Hee are particularly demonstrative people, so much of the series is them failing to communicate with each other effectively, but it all ends rather satisfyingly. The supporting cast really breathes life into this drama - with the main pair being so self-contained, it really relies on their surrounding friends, family, and acquaintances to push the two to stand out more. Things do reach a point towards the end where there's a little bit of frustration of the stubborn refusal to effectively communicate with each other on the part of the main couple, but it is balanced out by the delight of how the other two major couples end up. This drama is not a quick dash to the finish line, but a slow stroll through the park on a day that's not quite warm enough for it.

Read More

I really enjoyed this drama.  Lee Jong Suk is wonderful as Jung Jae Chan.  Suzy does an admirable job as Nam Hong Ju - a lot of people like to bag on Suzy, which is unfortunate.  She's not the strongest actress out there, but I think she shows steady improvement and this show was no exception.  I especially loved hers quip with Jung Hae In's Han Woo Tak - their chemistry was delightful and that it was much more a "friendship" chemistry really keeps it from being Another Second Lead Syndrome kind of show.  And Jung Hae In... man, I just want to shrink him down and carry him in my pocket for sad, rainy days. He stole every scene he was in. There were a host of actors in this show who often play supporting characters or guest characters and whom I always enjoy.  The strength of the supporting and guesting players really rounded out this show for me.  I freely admit that when I first heard the title, I was sort of expecting a remake of the Sandra Bullock movie (which, hey, is one of my favorite rom-coms, so that wouldn't have sucked), but I'm actually really glad that it was not.  This premise could easily have gotten bogged down in what-ifs and paralyzed inability to act because of "destined outcomes," but the script deftly avoids those pitfalls.  I loved how intricate all the connections were.  The last episode was all the feels all the time. All in all, this was a really sweet show.  It had just enough suspense and set-backs to keep me guessing sometimes, but was never so bogged down in complications that it felt oppressive.

Read More

Go Kyung Pyo, oh how I adore this man. I'm so pleased that he's finally gotten to be the lead. He plays Choi Kang Soo, a young man who has been moving from neighborhood to neighborhood in the city trying to find his birth mother. He spends two months in each neighborhood then moves on to the next. He makes friends everywhere he goes and generally works as a deliveryman. He moves into the neighborhood where Lee Dan Ah, played by Chae Soo Bin, lives. She's a young woman completely disenchanted by life in "Hell Joseon," where young people struggle and can't find jobs and competition for everything is fierce. Throw into the mix a spoiled party boy rich kid, Oh Jin Gyu, played by Kim Sun Ho and a handful of engaging secondary and tertiary characters and you end up with a delightful rag-tag bunch of young adults facing off against a corrupt corporation.

I was worried that this show would be the usual love triangle (rich boy versus boy boy for the plucky poor girl's favor), but was happily surprised when they veered sharply away from that dynamic after the first few episodes. What played out was a good balance of light cheer and sad drama for a show that ended up being really comforting to watch. I was a little disappointed in the chemistry between the two main leads - but I put a lot of that on the writing and less on the actors. Dan Ah spends so much time being bitter and angry that it can be off-putting at times. There were a couple of places where I felt like plot threads were brought in and then abruptly dropped. I would definitely watch this one again.

Did I mention that I love Go Kyung Pyo? I just want to carry him around in my pocket all the time.

Read More

This was a re-watch of a drama that I've seen before.  It's one of those dramas that starts out kind of rom-com and then veers abruptly into melodrama, so story feels a bit uneven as a result of this.  But it's Lee Hong Ki as the main male lead and I can forgive a lot for Lee Hong Ki.  He plays Choi Kang Ju, the heir to Taeyang Group, who is engaged to Jang Yi Kyung, played by Yang Jin Sung, who just happens to look exactly like Na Doo Rim, also played by Yang Jin Sung.  Rumor has it that Kang Ju's family has a curse where the first bride of the first born son of each generation will die after the wedding. Yi Kyung and her conniving mother have a plan to thwart that fate when they discover the existence of Doo Rim. One of the things I love about this drama is the chemistry Yang Jin Sung has with Lee Hong Ki when she's playing Doo Rim and yet there's a complete lack of chemistry when she's playing Yi Kyung.  Sung Hyuk has a wonderful (though at the end somewhat dogged) turn as the Second Lead Who Will Not Get the Girl.  As usual, the second lead is a bit too passive and sad-sack and thus stands no chance.

One of my frustrations with this drama, however, is that they spend a not insignificant amount of time in the first two episodes establishing that Doo Rim is not only plucky - as any poor girl must be if she's to meet and win an arrogant chaebol - but also that she's competent at fighting and taking care of herself and anyone else.  Therefore, it's especially disappointing when, later in the series, there are multiple instances of her life being in danger and all she does is flail uselessly and gasp and scream and otherwise act ineffectually in her own defense. Another frustration is how comically deplorable the bad guys end up being. They hit a point where they are so bad that it borders on tedious.

All that said, I still very much enjoy the show. The pacing is good and keeps you moving, even through the frustrating bits. And really, I could listen to Lee Honk Ki speak forever.

Read More

The premise of this show has Lee Yo Won playing dual roles (Song Yi Kyung and Song Yi Kyung possessed by Shin Ji Hyun). Shin Ji Hyun is the daughter of a wealthy family who has lived a seemingly charmed life and ends up getting into a car accident and dying before her time. Fate offers her an opportunity to reclaim her life. While her body is in a coma, she has 49 days to find three people (parents and siblings don't count) who will cry genuine tears for her. Unfortunately, just before her accident, she discovered that her best friend and her fiance are not exactly who they seem. The 49 days include a lot of interlinking relationships and twists and turns. Lee Yo Won is great at glowering, which she gets plenty of opportunity to do playing Shin Ji Hyun interacting with her fiance. While there is plenty of humor in this show, I would not categorize it as a comedy. Definitely in the drama/tragedy corner. The ending of this show wrecked me.

Read More

This one is a Chinese drama that I picked up because the advertisement I saw indicated that it was like Secret Garden (one of my favorite Kdramas).  It... is only like Secret Garden in that the souls of the main couple swap bodies. Body swap hijinks ensue.  Really though, that's where the similarities end. The bulk of each episode is set in a semi-historical setting with a little modern day vignette at the end of each episode.  The main couple is cute, but the whole thing kind of takes an abrupt change of direction around episode 15, ultimately leading to an ending that I didn't really find very satisfying.  Still, it was cute and fluffy, which is pretty much what I wanted it to be. Zhang Yi Jie is really good at adorably, traditionally female pouting.

Read More

This is the latest entry in the long running School series. (Each "season" is a stand alone season, new casts, new storylines, so not quite one would expect if one is mostly familiar with how American television series' work.) It carries all the hallmarks I've come to expect of school dramas - young adult romance, poor vs. rich struggles, bullying, corrupt administration, strained bromance, friendship struggles, etc. School 2017 does them all admirably well. The corruption in the school administration is over the top and horrifying disheartening. The young cast is enthusiastic and enjoyable to watch. Kim Jung Hyun (who I liked very much in Jealousy Incarnate) plays Hyun Tae Woon, the angry son of the school's chairman. Kim Se Jung plays Ra Eun Ho, the poor but plucky (aren't they always plucky?) aspiring webtoon artist who ends up being the target of the corrupt administration as the scapegoat for various things going on around the school. The extended cast does a good job selling the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of young friendship. You'll hate the rich, privileged parents who are all too happy to game the system for the advantage of their children only. You'll love the friendship and trust many of the students find which changes them for the better. I loved that there really wasn't a love triangle in this one, and the relationship between the two main characters is adorable.

Read More

This was my first Japanese Drama, as such, I spent a lot of time going 'oh my god, did they just do that?!' because it's definitely more "mature" than what I usually see in k-dramas. :) The story is primarily about Toyama Sakura, a hair stylist who is about to turn 40, who ends up dating a much younger man (Saeki Hiroto, who is some 14 or 15 years her junior). She also works with Tachibana Rintaro, who has been her friend for a long time. The obvious triangle is set up, but the story keeps you guessing right up to the very end. The cast in this drama is very appealing and I really enjoyed watching it. At 11 episodes, it felt like a quick and light little drama. There are a couple of points where the story line was a little murky for me, but overall it was a fun watch. It has something of a Sex and the City vibe to it, though certainly way more tame than that.

Read More