Camelot
New York
The show's strength lies in the romance between our leads. Park Bo Young and Seo In Guk have amazing chemistry as Tak DongKyung and Doom. The romance is slow to develop and serious in the beginning. Almost contractual. Over time it develops organically on both sides to become something special, magical, worthy of throwing away the world (or saving it). There are ups and downs and more than once DongKyung and Kim SaRam are made to start over from the beginning. I smiled the entire time their love story played out on screen and was so happy with the resolution to their love. However, the romance was also this show's biggest pitfall. The screenwriter simply spent too much time on the romance to the detriment to every other aspect of the plot. The main conflict, how DongKyung will fulfill her end of the contract without losing any of her loved ones, so present and important in the first 3 episodes or so is quickly abandoned in all but the most skeletal of framing in favor of spending more time on the romance. Even more minor conflicts, like those surrounding DongKyung's family or job, are left with barebones storytelling because the romance takes over so much screentime. The second leads' love triangle also feels tacked on to the main story; completely unintegrated into the main plot and left with a minimal amount of development despite a fair amount of screentime. Though I will say, the second lead love triangle was a unique touch to the drama and I was happy with its resolution though I wished it was more fleshed out.
Overall, this drama lacked balance between its overarching plot and its romance subplot. The romance became the plot, and not successfully as the main plot was never fully abandoned. Instead, it was left dangling to the side until it became completely insignificant to the resolution of the story. The ending, while happy and neat, left me with a feeling of incompleteness that comes with the use of arbitrary plot armor. Doom at Your Service was romantic and cute but not as well developed as it could have been.
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By making the ghost, Shin Sun Ae, the second female lead instead of the female lead the show immediately opened itself up to a storm of problems. Our main male lead, Kang Seon Woo, falls in love with the ghost-possessed version of the female lead first and because of that fact the viewer is left wondering throughout every subsequent interaction between the two leads whether he actually loves Na Bong Sun for her own qualities or loves the version of her that is actually Sun Ae. This confusion both on the part of Seon Woo and the audience completely destroys the validity of the romance between the two leads. What's more the writer did little to engender Bong Sun to either Seon Woo or the audience based on her own merits. Sun Ae is clearly the more fun, kind, and lively of the two women and Bong Sun is so painfully shy for the first half of the show that she is almost entirely devoid of personality. The show's choice to stop clearly showing the audience when Bong Sun is being possessed versus when she isn't was also executed poorly. Bong Sun's personality, as she becomes less shy, starts to resemble Sun Ae's too much. There were times when I could not tell which version of Bong Sun I was watching in a scene. Was she possessed? Not possessed? Is Seon Woo in love with Bong Sun? With Sun Ae? I certainly didn't know and still don't.
Another issue was with the virgin ghost character in general. Shin Sun Ae's motivations at the beginning of the show boil down to just one thing: sleep with someone. When she attempts to seduce Seon Woo he rejects her advances and yet she just keeps going. It made me so uncomfortable to watch as she pretty much sexually harassed him after he very clearly told her no. It was creepy and should not have been included in the drama. If the tables were turned and he was harassing her no one would have found this plot point funny. It would have been seen as downright villainous.
The acting wasn't terrible but it also wasn't Park Bo Young or Jo Jong Suk's best work. Overall this drama was a failure. It made me uncomfortable and I regret watching it.
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The Good:
Signal expertly weaves a story that spans decades. The writers use a circular narrative structure to pull the audience in while not revealing too much about the past while the audience and main characters are in the present. Had they not done this I don't think the time manipulation that is so central to what makes Signal work would have been effective. The plot in general is well structured and well crafted. Every episode left me waiting impatiently to start the next and the way the different cases were interwoven gave the audience much to figure out as more details were revealed. The cinematography too is excellent. The mood, tone, and ambiance of the drama is expertly achieved and adds to the storylines by alerting the audience to a scene's overall feel before any dialogue is spoken. The acting too is excellent on almost all fronts. The three main leads especially deserve praise for their emotionally impactful and gripping performances. Personally, I felt that Jo Jin Woong carried this drama. He was beyond amazing as Lee Jae Han and without his performance I don't think the drama would have been as successful and popular as it is.
The Bad:
My main gripe with this drama is with its villains. Early on there are hints of a bigger bad guy than just the perpetrators of the crimes being investigated in each episode. When he is finally revealed it was not shocking and that was okay with me as I felt that he has been built up and foreshadowed well by the writers and so the audience was already predisposed to dislike him. However, this character remains so one dimensional throughout the drama that I felt like I was watching a villain from an old James Bond film. I wanted to know more about his motivations, his character, and maybe see some growth or doubt. None of that came. The character remained stagnant with no deeper motivations or character traits beyond greed. The villain was also strikingly immoral in a way I feel that few actual human beings are. What made the villain stand out as being poorly written for me was how well the writers had done with portraying the inner worlds and motivations of the lesser villains. The perpetrators of the weekly crimes had more interesting backstories and story arcs than the antagonist. This was evidence to me that the writers could write bad guys well and simply failed to do so with our main antagonist. I also took issue with the way Park Hae Young's profiling technique was utilized. His prowess for catching the bad guy was almost otherworldly and to pin all this skill on his talent for profiling seemed highly unrealistic. He was just too good at his job for it to be realistic. I felt that Lee Jae Han's detective techniques and skills were much more realistic and better fit the realism of the story.
Overall Signal was great. It was well written and gripping. However, the antagonist was poorly written and plot devices to move the story along sometimes were too obvious. I would recommend this drama to anyone who likes both the crime and time travel genres. It is not a thriller but it is well paced and leaves you feeling satisfied with its conclusion.
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Though I was tempted to include spoilers in this review because of how much i disliked certain plot points towards the end of the drama, I have decided to keep it spoiler free. The Smile Has Left Your Eyes is at its core a murder mystery. The drama opens with this murder and it is the lens through which all of the characters are introduced to the audience. From this murder the rest of the plot builds. For the first 5 episodes or so this plot device works wonderfully. The audience is left guessing as to who did it and everyone is looked at with an air of suspicion. However, by around episode 8 I felt this plotline had already been dragging for at least three episodes. New plotlines and elements which the show clearly wanted the audience to focus on more than the original murder were being introduced and yet were not being developed because the original murder was still hanging over the characters. This is the first instance of bad pacing in the show and I felt from here it only got worse. The most glaring issue with the second half of the drama is the fact that many of the plot twists or reveals have been figured out by the audience well before the show confirms them. I was left saying to myself 'Come on already. We KNOW! Just get to the point' frequently. I feel that a well paced show should not leave a viewer feeling this way. But the thing that I disliked most about The Smile Has Left Your Eyes is the general plotline/reveal of episode 14. It greatly impacts the show's finale, predictably as it is only two episodes later, and was so frustrating and disturbing. It truly tainted the drama for me and I wish the writers had just excluded it altogether.
This drama of course had many good elements. The acting for one was excellent and I felt that Park Sung Woong in particular was amazing. The general overarching plot was interesting and the cast of characters were very well developed. However, for me, these good aspects of the drama could not overcome the pacing issues that ran throughout the plot.
Overall The Smile Has Left Your Eyes was decent. A drama that could have been so much better but that fell prey to an all too common pacing issue many other dramas have faced before. I'm glad I watched it but would not do so again.
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First what I loved...Hwarang's stand-out point for me was the second lead couple. Ban Ryu and Soo Yeon were insanely adorable. The way they built off of the natural sibling antics between Soo Yeon and Soo Ho plus the rivalry between Soo Ho and Ban Ryu was hilarious. This couple had so much chemistry and awkwardly sweet flirting that I found myself blushing every scene they shared. Soo Yeon made Ban Ryu a better man simply because he loved her enough to be better. They totally eclipsed the main couple for me to the point that I was disappointed that I had to watch scenes with the main couple instead of these two.
Next what I found okay...The main couple while not my favorite weren't bad. They were of typical kdrama fare and were cute enough. Ah Ra is not a fav of mine and Seo Joon has definitely had more chemistry with other actresses. The love triangle was a little much, as it always inevitably is, but wasn't overbearing or drawn out. The plot too was a little lackluster. Very formulaic and predictable. Still a fun show though with a satisfying ending and a believable pairing for our female lead.
Finally what I did not like...The only thing in Hwarang that I really disliked was the dancing scene. I'm sure everyone reading this knows the one. All the boys get up and do a sword dance for the king. To say that I found the scene cringe-worthy would be an understatement. I was so embarrassed watching it. It was so out of character. So historically anachronistic. The song was overly bubbly. Their facial expressions were all so painfully happy. Everything about the scene gave me second-hand embarrassment of the worst kind. I could barely get through it without having to turn the tv off to give myself a break.
Overall Hwarang was fun, silly, light on the plot, straightforward, predictable, and an easy viewing experience. I loved it for what it was. Was it the best drama of 2016? No. Was it still good clean fun? Absolutely.
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I was wholly unconvinced of the romance between Joon Jae and Shim Chung. Shim Chung was the main reason for my feeling this way. She was very naive, inexperienced, and a little dumb. Her childlike wonder with the world fit well for a literal fish out of water but was a bad match for the cynicism of Joon Jae. Joon Jae probably needed to be paired with someone less jaded than himself but the gap between his understanding of the world, his experiences, and his past and Chung's respectively were too great a distance to overcome through love. They had nothing in common. Even as she learned more about the human world she stayed very innocent and naive and their energy or way of thinking never seemed to match. I would have liked to see them each with someone more able to understand them and what they see in others and the world around them.
I will say I loved the version of this couple from the past. Dam Ryung and Seo Hwa had everything I felt Joon Jae and Shim Chung were lacking. They had a better understanding of each other and were both more alike than not. Because Dam Ryung lacked Joon Jae's cynicism and Seo Hwa lacked Shim Chung's naivety they were able to meet in the middle. They made a great couple and I wish their modern counterparts were more like them.
I also adored Tae Oh and Cha Shi Ah as a secondary couple. They outshone the main couple for me and I loved every minute they were on screen together.
Overall this was a fun lighthearted drama and was hilarious at the best of times, but the main couple simply did not do it for me. Had they been a better match I would have undoubtedly scored this drama higher.
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Shin Chae Kyung: As with many many other female leads in dramaland Chae Kyung has the unfortunate trait of being too pure and good for this world. She has literally never done a single thing wrong in her entire life. When she messes up or makes mistakes it's always a result of other people's manipulation, a lack of information, or just bad luck. Whether a child or adult she has that ever-present innocence about her that draws every man within a hundred miles to her side. She is in short a Mary-Sue and a particularly boring one at that. Aside from her kindness and good-hearted nature she has very little to recommend her to the audience. She is stagnant as a character from childhood to adulthood. The fact that both male leads fall for her when she was little more than a child only further emphasizes her lack of personal growth because they find her largely unchanged as an adult. Many may claim she undergoes character growth towards the end of the drama following the prince's ascension to the throne but even then she is simply acting selflessly and with kindness as she always has. The only real difference is that she has narrowed the scope of her kindness to her husband alone instead of the much wider range of people she cared about previously. Chae Kyung is above all a boring character. She does not offer any relatability to the viewer and because of that, the audience is left feeling little connection to her or her emotions and struggles.
Yi Yoong (King Yeon Sang Un): The famous crazy deposed king of Joseon. Of the three main characters, I feel that Yoong was the best written and most fleshed-out of the three. His mental decline was convincing and slow-building. His motivations mostly clear and though illogical from the viewer's perspective were clearly explained from his point of view so that one could see how he came to such conclusions and decisions. His inner turmoil surrounding his brother and father was also, I felt, the most historically accurate part of the show. His obsession with Chae Kyung, however, made little sense. He clearly did not want to marry her, as he could have easily done so multiple times throughout the drama and chose not to, but he also did not want her to marry his brother. His feelings for her seemed oddly sexual at times while also being fairly paternalistic or brotherly. It was very creepy and off-putting at times especially when she is younger. His relationship with her also makes no sense from a historical standpoint as it would have been seen as risky and highly improper by all involved which directly conflicts with Chae Kyung's sense of propriety and Yoong's obsession with his self-image. In the latter half of the drama as Yoong's mental state deteriorates his obsession with her reaches a fever pitch that defies all logic or sense. Unlike some of his other illogical actions, such as those surrounding how he deals with his ministers or brother, the show does not even give this obsession the benefit of making sense to Yoong. It almost seemed like a hole within the character's personality and though he was crazy, it was still too outlandish to make sense to anyone including him.
Yi Yeok (Prince JinSeong): I had the most problems with Yeok. His main character trait seemed to be inconsistency and undecidedness. This man could not make a decision to save his life, at times literally. He vacillates between his feelings for his brother, Chae Kyung, his friends, his organization, his secret identity, his mother, etc. Each time he changes his opinion or makes a choice he inevitably goes back on it. It was exhausting and completely unnecessary most of the time. For example, why spend so much time wondering if he can trust his clearly untrustworthy brother? Why decide to marry Chae Kyung and then spend upwards of two full episodes bemoaning that same decision which no one forced him into? Why form a secret organization and identity only to mostly ignore it in favor of court intrigue and then ignore the court intrigue in favor of the organization? None of it made sense. 90% of the conflict in this drama could have been solved had Yeok been able to stick with a decision. His secret organization was also a sticking point for me. It is historically nonexistent. The plotline surrounding it was superfluous. It added nothing to the plot and was a waste of time. Why was this created for this drama? I understand that the writers wanted Yeok to seem more manly and strong than his real-life counterpart but creating a vigilante group was not the way to achieve this goal. Chae Kyung deserved better than this man and 100% of her suffering can be placed at his feet.
Overall the characters of this show were underdeveloped and the plot possessed a lot of time-wasting fluff. It was still an entertaining show but I wish they had simply given us a more historically accurate retelling of the events surrounding the deposition.
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First, the acting. It was simply bad. Gong Seung Yeon in particular genuinely annoyed me with her performance. Was there really a need for this much yelling? She was not believable as a character or as a real person. Her acting felt forced and awkward at times. Lee Jonghyun also was simply awful in this drama. I feel like seeing his name on the cast list should have been a red flag for me for so many reasons, not the least of which was the fact that he was in my least favorite drama, and the only one rated lower than this one, Orange Marmalade. To put it nicely his character was dumb. He made stupid decisions, jumped to conclusions, and had no deeper thoughts throughout the entirety of the drama. (Just as an aside, I won't talk about his personal issues in this review because I know it might be upsetting to some and is, in the end, insignificant l to this drama's quality).
The plot had nothing of significance to offer. It was contrived, dumb, and foolish. A comedy that was wholly unfunny. The ending too made no sense when one considers the rules of time travel within the show and how the end was subsequently explained.
The show's budget also seemed to be nonexistent. The sets, costumes, hair, and makeup were all embarrassingly amateur-looking. I was shocked at how low quality the production was. This seems to be a common theme amongst webcomic adaptations but My Only Love Song was still glaringly bad even when held to a lower standard to account for webcomic adaptation budgets.
This drama was a waste of my time. Perhaps I should have been wearier of this drama given who the male lead is but as this drama had a relatively good rating I wanted to give it a fair shake despite my misgivings. I regret doing so.
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The 25% of the time W wasn't fantastic had to do with the plot's adherence, or lack thereof, to its in-universe rules. As with any fantasy world, there are a lot of rules governing how Oh Yeon Joo's travel between the world of W and the real world works. At first, these rules are followed pretty precisely and anything that is a little unclear about how her ability works is either left unexplained because she herself does not know or later revealed in a way that adheres to the earlier established rules. But in the later episodes of the show, these rules grow more complicated. Her ability to go back and forth between the worlds grows harder and the show starts to explain things more clearly to the viewer. One would think that more explanation would be a good thing but in this case I think it had the opposite of its intended effect. By giving us more explanation, more clearly stated rules, the show exposed itself to plotholes. And the plotholes were numerous and glaring. I still don't fully understand how the ending of this show adheres to all of the previously established rules in its own universe. It frankly made no sense but was accepted because it was necessary for the plot.
This lack of consistency with its in-universe rules became very distracting for me. It ruined my enjoyment of the show's later episodes and is the only reason I gave W a relatively low score.
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After episode eight this drama falls apart because of its lack of growth. The plot stagnates. Conflicts that could have been resolved quickly or easily are instead left to fester and come to unsatisfying conclusions. For me, the worst illustration of this was JinA's indecision surrounding her mother's disapproval. JinA disregarded JunHui's feelings regularly. The sheer amount of times he was made to apologize when it should have been her apologizing to him were too numerous to count. It was so disheartening to see how she was treating him in the later episodes after the care she showed him in the first half of the show. JinA's mother is undoubtedly the antagonist of the show but in a much more real way, JinA is just as bad. By the final episode, I was no longer rooting for our main couple. They lacked basic communication skills and the disparity between JunHui's depth of feeling for JinA and her relatively shallow feelings for him were hurdles I felt they couldn't overcome. I thought JunHui deserved better.
Overall Something in the Rain is a classic case of failed potential. The writer and director use unique camera work and emotional storytelling to mask the relative lack of plot development. By the second half of the show, this becomes obvious and the show's stagnation gets boring. There was so much more this drama could have accomplished. If you're thinking of giving it a try I suggest watching My Mister first as they have very similar moods but My Mister succeeds where Something in the Rain fails.
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First for our crown prince Lee Young. I'd like to start by saying that I thought Park Bo Gum did a fairly good job with the material and character he had been given. His performance was solid and he breathed much-needed life into the show. However, not even Bo Gum could save this snoozefest of a character. Lee Young is above all else boring. He has fun with his friends and chases after girls and behaves just like a Disney prince. But that's the problem. Disney princes, at least the more classic ones, are dull. They lack personality or depth of character. This is fine for Disney for many reasons, not the least of which that the characters are cartoons and the movies made for children, but I don't think Love in the Moonlight had the same target demographic as the average Disney movie. Lee Young is not a fleshed-out real person. He is a caricature of a prince meant to appeal widely but shallowly to as many women as possible. Another trait that Lee Young shares with many a Disney prince is, shall we say nicely, his less than impressive intelligence. The boy is dumb as a rock and if you think I'm being harsh why don't you try to defend how this man could possibly think Ra On was a man for as long as he did if he was even slightly smarter than a rock.
That point brings me to Ra On. Unfortunately, I have even fewer positive things to say about her than I did about Lee Young. Ra On is incredibly immature. She speaks, acts, and thinks like a child. She too was not particularly well fleshed out and felt like a child's idea of a fairytale girl. Every time she was given the opportunity to think things through, to grow, and make a wise decision she instead chose to simply not think. It's not so much that she was impulsive but that her actions mimicked those of a child. After all, we do not say a 6-year-old is impulsive. They simply lack reasoning skills and intelligence. She also had almost no chemistry with our male lead. They were stiff as boards every time they interacted. And I really thought we left statue kisses back in 2012 but I guess I was mistaken. Where I felt much of Lee Young's character defects came from bad writing I must say that I felt much of Ra On's faults stemmed from bad acting. Kim Yoo Jung failed in every way as an actress and was simply poorly cast. This drama is first and foremost a gender bender. Yoo Jung looks about as manly as a nine-year-old girl in pigtails. Her soft feminine features and high girlish voice made the entire premise unbelievable from the very start. Admittedly this is not Yoo Jung's fault and instead, the blame lays with the casting director on this count, but still. How was anyone supposed to believe this girl was a man? And again it made the other characters, particularly Lee Young, seem stupid for not seeing what was so clearly in front of their faces. Yoo Jung also just did a poor job of acting like a man. She had no manly mannerisms or gestures. Nothing to say to her fellow male characters that she was one of them. She stuck out like a sore thumb the whole time.
This drama was more like a children's movie than a kdrama. I am its target audience and yet I felt the whole time that I should go find a child to justify watching something so silly and immature. I wouldn't recommend this drama and am sad it blighted 2016.
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Now on to what I didn't like so much. I know I'll probably get some flak for this but I could not stand Moon Sang Tae. The character was just incredibly annoying. I desperately wanted him to have a smaller role in the show. I simply found everything about him infuriating. Yes, this was partly because of his autism and how that manifested in his character but it was mostly because of how he affected his brother. He was very selfish and it made me sad every time Gang Tae suffered because of him. Related to that I found Moon Gang Tae's character arc frustrating at times. His arc at first seems to be about learning how to take care of himself and putting his needs above those of others for once. But that arc is never realized. He stagnates halfway through due to guilt over his brother. I wish he had more character development. I also really disliked the plotline surrounding Ko Moon Young's mother. It simply made no sense. It was a huge plot hole within an otherwise very coherent show. To avoid spoilers that is all I'll say.
Overall I did really like the show but it wasn't the greatest kdrama I've ever seen. I'm happy others loved it even more than I did but it was just okay for me.
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The idea of a South Korean woman being blown into North Korea by a freak tornado is in itself slightly out there, but no more so than some of the more unique premises found in other kdramas. Where the premise veers into the absurd is how our North Korean lead and his subordinates reacted to her arrival. And even more absurd is how our second female lead, Seo Dan, who dislikes SeRi from the moment she meets her also seems to willingly risk it all to keep her true identity as a South Korean secret. It was simply asking too far a stretch of my imagination to think that North Korean soldiers would welcome a South Korean with open arms and relatively easy acceptance. All of the plans and attempts to return SeRi to South Korea were also simply preposterous. I found myself laughing at times because of just how silly everything was which greatly cheapened the more serious moments in the show.
All that said, the cast was the absolute highlight of the show. Hyun Bin was amazing as Ri JungHyuk. He captured a more subdued quiet man's character without coming off as brooding. This alone is a feat as there is already an overabundance of brooding males in dramaland. The subtle variety to the strong silent type Hyun Bin offered through his acting was refreshing yet simple. Son YeJin as Yoon SeRi provided much-needed balance to JungHyuk's calm by being quite over the top with many of her emotions. She was funny and strong-headed while also having moments of sadness and anger. It was amazing how she got on so well in North Kore but as her strength of character was well developed beforehand it made it all very easy to believe. She too was a delight that made even the more ridiculous moments of the show enjoyable.
Overall this drama was like a light little snack: easy to digest but satisfyingly filling all the same.
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This drama is adorable. It's light, fresh, unique, and oh so funny. It manages to balance the seriousness of Jin Hee and Changmin's past with the ridiculous coincidence of their present. My favorite part of Emergency Couple was how it didn't shy away from the more serious issues that can arise in a relationship. Though it remains at its core a comedy there are so many refreshingly real moments between our leads as they begin the slow and arduous process of learning to trust and love each other again. The pay off for the audience is so worth the wait. Episode to episode we wait with bated breath hoping they will be able to overcome their past, his family, and her misgivings; it all finally culminates in an explosion of romance, passion, and love that they are so tentatively grasping and at risk of losing forever at any second. The tension doesn't break until the very end and the audience is left with a sense of euphoric relief.
The thing that made this drama not just good but exceptional for me was its character development. Jin Hee and Changmin begin the drama as fundamentally broken individuals. Jin Hee has come a long way from the version of herself we see in flashbacks to the time she was married to Changmin, but she has yet to heal or move past her self doubts. She is putting on a mask for herself and everyone else but her confidence is only skin deep. Changmin on the other hand feels defeated and empty. He has lost the woman he loved mostly because his family refused to accept her, and now that she's gone they welcomed him back with open arms. He's conflicted and feels lost but he's pretending that everything is better without her when in reality he just misses his wife. She learns to see her own self worth both with and without Changmin through her growing confidence in her abilities as a doctor. He learns to reorganize his priorities to reflect what he wants and needs in his life to be truly happy. They needed their time apart to grow and mature as people and when they come together again it's as fully realized versions of themselves who can lift the other up through love and mutual support.
If you're looking for a more mature take on a comedy I can't recommend this drama highly enough.
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