What a waste of time and talent

Both Park Bo Young and Lee Jung Eun need new management if this is all that can be found for them. The plot is a complete mess, lurching from light comedy, to romance, to really dark and clichéd portrayals of various types of mental illness (nearly all rooted in self harm), topped off with the temerity to get preachy about it. Nevertheless, I stuck with it to the bitter end hoping they could salvage something, but no. The show really ends with episode 11, but they tacked on another episode with a bunch of random trite nonsense. While this might not be the absolute worst drama I've ever seen, it was certainly close. Again, what a waste of my time and the immense talent of the very good actors that got sucked into participating in this one. Skip!

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Fascinating to watch for all the wrong reasons

This drama is so surprisingly bad that it is fascinating to watch for all the wrong reasons. How did this happen? The producers obviously spent a lot of money, because the production value is really quite good. Is it the writing, the directing, the acting, or all of the above? The two leads are A list actors, but their cringey, over the top aegyo is embarrassing. The romantic elements (such as they are) are juxtaposed with occasional slapstick punching and tussling, dark interactions with a sinister colleague, and uncomfortable mental health discussions. I'm 12 episodes in and I have no idea if I'm watching a teen romance between two arrested adolescents, a romantic comedy with infantile aegyo, a medical drama, or a mystery. If the producers had any mercy on the viewers, they would end this one early.

Update: After finishing the remaining episodes I can say the drama pulled up before it hit the ground. And it turns out that I was watching a long PSA on mental health that got distractedly more preachy as the drama drew to a close. The aegyo was a bit less pronounced, but it did not go away unfortunately. The last 4 episodes didn't do much to mitigate my opinion that it is a bad drama, but it did do enough to change my rating from a 4 to a 5. If you haven't watched it yet, pass--unless you are obssessed fan of the two leads.

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Plucky, down on her luck girl makes good.

The premise is so wildly implausible that it seems like there is no way they could make it work, but Castaway Diva is a very pleasant surprise. It is every bit a showcase for Park Eun Bin and she pretty much knocks it out of the park--and this right after her star turn in the remarkable Extraordinary Attorney Woo. (Kudos to her management team!) The supporting cast is quite good too--especially Kim Hyo Jin as mentor Yoo Ran Joo. The plot has some pretty glaring holes, but just go along for the ride. It's worth it. Good, not great, but definitely worth a watch for fans of "plucky, down on her luck girl makes good" kind of dramas.

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A Korean "Gone With The Wind"?

This alternately heart-warming and heart-wrenching spectacular maybe the best sageuk I've ever seen. But keep the tissues handy. The heart-wrenching moments are some of the most difficult to endure. The two leads, Namkoong Min as Lee Jang Hyun and Ahn Eun Jin as Yoo Gil Chae are simply perfection. The push and pull between their characters is the very heart of the story and their chemistry is absolutely wonderful.

Early in season 1, the story began to feel somehow familiar. Then I realized that the interplay between the two leads and the secondary leads bore a striking similarity to one of the greatest movies of all time, "Gone With The Wind." The rogue Jang Hyun (Rhett) is intrigued by pampered aristocrat Gil Chae (Scarlett) who futilely throws herself after her childhood love Yeon Jun (Ashley) who only has eyes for her best friend Eun Ae (Melanie). When the barbarians (yankees) come and wreck their world leaving them destitute, Gil Chae (Scarlett) rises up from the ashes to save those around her who are too weak to fend for themselves, including her dementia addled father and Eun Ae (Melanie) Meanwhile, cynical opportunist, Jang Hyun (Rhett), showing no particular loyalty to either side of the conflict, uses the riches he makes as a "blockade runner" between Joseon and Qing to help those around him.

Thankfully, My Dearest eventually transcends the Gone With The Wind parallels and as their love story slowly unfolds, poor Gil Chae and Jang Hyun are forced to endure hardships far greater than Scarlett or Rhett ever did. It is an emotional rollercoaster that is both riveting and exhausting.

The hauntingly beautiful OST supports the drama in ways that makes it feel almost like another character. There are two versions of the theme song, "With my heart". One features the voice of EXO member Kai; the other features the lovely voice of the Ahn Eun Jin (Gil Chae) herself. (Is there anything these incredible Korean actors can't do?!)

My only quibble is with the very end. To take advantage of the show's popularity, the producers added another episode to stretch out the ending, but the added melodrama and the use and reuse of an unwelcome trope in the final episodes marred an otherwise perfect drama. Nevertheless, this one is well worth a watch.

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Great chemistry between engaging leads failed by an inadequate script.

I would love to see a remake of this one with a rewritten script, or a second season with a completely different approach to the story. The premise is a good one: A quiet but youthful 44-year-old divorcee goes on a blind date with the 24-year-old daughter of a customer--at her father’s request, no less. The divorcee agrees to the blind date out of deference to the father thinking it will be a “one and done.” The daughter agrees to the blind date with the father’s assurance that if it doesn’t work out, she’s under no obligation to see him again. Neither go into the date with high expectations but are immediately drawn to each and wind up married three months later. The series goes on to explore the dynamics of a May-December romance, including coping with long established relationships in each other’s respective lives.

There is much to like about this short drama. The chemistry between nice guy, Harumi, and his cute young bride, Maiko, is quite touching. Harumi’s affection and respect for his young bride is clear from the start, and Maiko obviously adores her new husband. But their chemistry is failed by a story seems to lurch from plot point to plot point, not ever finding a consistent tempo. The episodes, few in number (8) and short in length (24 minutes) don’t provide much room to maneuver, and the attempts at creating tension between the leads and providing resolution feel ham-handed and forced. It was quite frustrating because I found Harumi and Maiko engaging, and I was eager to see them explore their new relationship.

The first hiccup in the new couple’s new relationship occurs when Harumi’s ex-wife shows up. Harumi handles the situation thoughtfully and respectfully to both women. He neither speaks ill of his ex-wife to Maiko, nor does he make any attempt to hide his actions or shelter either woman from the other. Harumi shows himself to be a stand-up guy.

The second hiccup is handled less gracefully. One of Maiko’s former college classmates shows up to consult on a design proposal. He is immature, arrogant and unfathomably rude when Harumi calls to check on his young wife when she works late. Although the situation eventually sorts itself out, I was left wondering why, of all things, did the writers choose *this* to explore Harumi and Maiko’s relationship?

Then the final hiccup is a fiasco. It arrives in the form of a cross-dressing, con man/boy, second cousin that had grown up with Maiko. (I could not make this up.) We meet Rion in drag when he tries to entrap Harumi in a compromising situation. Nothing that happens afterwards gets any better. When Maiko recognizes her cousin shortly after the attempted entrapment and invites him to stay with her and Harumi, Harumi should have immediately exposed Rion for what he was and been done with him. Instead Harumi struggles to defend himself and his relationship with Maiko from the furious assault of lies and innuendo coming from a jealous and immature Rion who wants Maiko all to him/herself. What were the writer’s thinking? A cross-dressing second cousin? With the wealth of topics opened to them by this engaging May-December relationship, they chose to explore *this* one instead. Mind blown.

Despite all this, the chemistry between Harumi and Maiko is almost enough to carry the show. The story touches on some interesting ideas even if the writers leave the exploration of them incomplete. For example, when Maiko finds some old pictures of Harumi singing karaoke from his college days Harumi quickly discovers that Maiko knows nothing about the music and bands that were so much a part of his life back then. Instead of riffing on this for an episode, the writers chose to have Harumi put a lid on his box of memories and gently encourage Maiko to look forward to their future together and not dwell on his past.

What about Maiko’s mom? She left Maiko’s father who was 12-years her senior, but why? Could Maiko and Harumi learn from the experience of Maiko’s parents? Blending the friend groups of a newlywed couple from two entirely separate social circles presents challenges to same age couples. What additional challenges do May-December romances face? What are Harumi and Maiko’s thoughts on having children? All of these topics would have been much more interesting than a cross-dressing con man/boy. It is a shame that they were left unexplored.

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More than a bit dated, but this Halyu 1.0 provides great insight into the current state of kdramas

I watched this based on a recommendation from an Instagrammer, but it wasn't showing on any of my regular streaming services. I finally found it on a sketchy site (that will remain unnamed) that forces popups at you with nearly every click anywhere on the screen. (The popups ranged from benign looking Walmart ads to a variety of porn sites.) The production of this drama is extremely dated, featuring very artsy harsh lighting, deep shadows, odd tracking shots, heavy use of fish-eye lens, and all sorts of wacky (straight out of film school) camera angles. The brooding ML has a terrible reverse mullet haircut (party in front, business in back), which I think must have been a 90s/early 00s asian thing. And in a weird twist, the FL actress, Choi Jin Shil, plays two different characters: the love interests of both MLs. (There is a minor plot point that spins on the physical similarities of the two characters.) All sorts of OG tropes in this Halyu 1.0 drama. Rich boy/poor girl, orphans, plucky girl makes good, mean parents, comically mean bullying step mom & step sister, piggy back rides, wrist grabs, and opened-eyed kisses. Taken in context, you can get an inkling of where kdramas are headed, but lovers of modern fare will be left underwhelmed.

One of the things I like about watching these old dramas is the "where are they now" factor. And while Choi Jin Shill sadly passed away too young, two other actors in the drama have appeared in mainstream dramas in 2023. ML Ahn Jae Wook, plays the father of Choi Soo Young and the "new" boyfriend of her mom in Not Others, and the FL's best friend Jeon Do Yeon plays the love interest Jung Kyung Ho (Choi Soo Young's boyfriend of 10 years IRL) in Crash Course in Romance.

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For fans of Son Ye Jin and Lee Min Ho only.

Full confession: I could sit and watch Son Ye Jin knit a sweater for 16 episodes and be happy as a clam, so having her in a starring role was more than enough for me to stick with this one to the end. But if you are looking for a great story, well told, you should probably pass on this one. It's strictly for fans of Son Ye Jin and Lee Min Ho. The story is overloaded with cartoonish characters, over-the-top plot twists, and kdrama tropes. The creepy villain (played by Ahn Suk Hwan) and the evil ex-best friend (Wang Ji Hye) who won't go away were simply too much, as was the overly drawn-out (and unbelievable) case of mistaken "gay"-dentity. And plot holes? What happened to the loan sharks and the mortgage on the house from episode one?!! Still, it is a bit better than average kdrama starring two of Korea's most recognizable and bankable stars, which should be more than enough for the casual viewer.

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An extremely slow burn--perhaps too slow toward the end--but worth a watch nonetheless

By the folks who brought us Our Beloved Summer, Goblin, and a few other top dramas. The ML's dialog is communicated entirely in sign language, which makes his interaction with the FL at times touching and at other times a bit awkward--so much so that it sometimes felt like their chemistry was lacking. The rest of the cast is quite good, but two in particular stand out: Park Jin Joo is an absolute delight as the FL's goofball sidekick. It's a role she's played several times before, but I can't think of anyone that does it better. And Heo Jun Seok plays the ML's bartender sidekick to perfections. His character is both the perfect bro and perfect husband to his adorable (deaf) wife. This drama is an extremely slow burn--much more so than even Our Beloved Summer. The slow pace feels comfortable in the beginning as the two leads learn to navigate the communication barrier, but the drama dragged in the final quarter before recovering to wrap things up elegantly in the final episode. I watched this as it was released, two episodes per week, on a sketchy, lo-fi streaming service which may have contributed to the feeling the story dragged. It may show better in a binge watch on Viki or Netflix.

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Fun, heartwarming drama that gets better and better as it rolls along.

The first third of the drama has the look and feel of an old time musical, where one of the protagonists exclaims, “Let’s put on a show!” as the solution to whatever problem they’re facing. It had me worried--I’m not a huge fan of musicals or musical theater--but I needn’t have. This drama has a lot more going for it than that. The struggles of the four leads feels real, and current even with (and not despite of) the time travel element. (Actually, the time travel element was handled very, very well!) The cast was quite good and had excellent chemistry—Seol In Ah, in particular, was wonderful. Much like her turn as the 2nd FL in Business Proposal, she nails the playfully cute roll of Choi Se Kyeong/On Eun Yu. Every episode was better than the one that preceded it and by the time the credits rolled on the last episode, I was sad that it was over. Great show! Highly recommend!

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A fun throw-back to those crime capers of the 1960s like Ocean's 11

A fun, campy action movie that feels like a throw back to those crime capers from the 1960s. Go Hyun Jun is perfect as Chun Soo Ro, the wallflower protagonist who gets sucked into the middle of a double-crossing drug deal by a fake nun, hilariously played by Jin Kyung who makes the most of her all-to-brief screen time. Yoo Hae Jin is great as "Red Shoes", the menacing man of mystery. (His hair should've received its own screen credit.) It's hard to imagine Detective Sung being played by anyone other than Sung Dong Il, who is as bombastic, snarky, and short-tempered as ever. The rest of the cast is good too, and everyone seems to be playing their part with a twinkle in their eye. The OST contains some magnificent big band & orchestra arrangements that accentuate the throw-back feel. This movie would be great fun to see on the big screen with the volume turned way up!

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Interesting premise and strong start marred by uneven finish.

For the first 10 episodes this drama had me completely enamored. It wasn’t at all what I expected. The trailer features mostly Kim Tae Hee in the most comical elements of the show and barely hints at the melodrama and heartache that makes up the lion’s share of the story. Unlike most shows I choose to watch, I went into this one cold. I didn’t read any of the reviews beforehand. I’ve been on a Kim Tae Hee kick recently, and I wanted to see her in her first role since taking time off to start her family. For 10 to 12 episodes I was all in, then what had been a strong start fell apart nearly completely.

The premise is an interesting one. A young, first-time mother dies suddenly, then remains on earth as a ghost that inhabits the lives of the family and friends she left behind, helplessly watching them struggle with life without her. At first, her ghostly interaction with the world is played for comedic effect but as the story unfolds, we see how heartbreaking it is for her to watch the unbearable grief her sudden death caused for those she left behind, and the mood shifts from comedy to melodrama. In one of the more poignant moments, we learn that instead of being jealous of the woman who took her place, Yu Ri (Kim Tae Hee) is actually grateful that her husband and daughter now have someone as kind as Min Jung to take care of them.

This is fertile ground for exploring life, love, loss, gratitude, and regret, and the best parts of the story take full advantage of it. But somewhere around episode 11 or 12, things begin to feel repetitive. Plot lines that seemed full of promise—like Yu Ri’s promise to do one favor for each ghost—get abandoned, while others, like the character Guk Bong get introduced and dropped for no apparent reason. And there are tears. Lots and lots of tears and “I’m sorry” and more tears from nearly every character. (In hindsight I wonder how the script read on paper because in scene after scene, each character’s line seemed to consist of “I’m sorry [then cry].”) It wasn’t enough to save this drama, but the ship gets righted during the final episode, and the story comes to a more or less satisfying conclusion.

The cast is mostly terrific and the chemistry between them good as well. The exception was Lee Kyu Hyung as the widow Jo Gang Hwa. I didn’t think he had much chemistry with anyone other than Kim Tae Hee. Granted, the script called for him to mostly grieve and cry and 70% of his lines were “I’m sorry”, so I’m not sure how much of the problem was his or the script’s. Nevertheless, it was hard to buy into the love story between Gang Hwa and his second wife Min Jung. The only thing we had to go on was Yu Ri telling us repeatedly that even though no one else could tell that he loved her, she could.

This isn’t a bad drama, and it is worth a watch—especially for fans of Kim Tae Hee like I am. It is simply an OK drama that could have been much better. What started out so full of promise and could have been a very good 10- or 12-episode drama was stretched past the breaking point, ruining an interesting idea and mostly stellar performances by a very good cast.

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Enjoyable romantic comedy with some plot issues but nevertheless a guilty pleasure.

If you read this review to the end, I know it’s going to sound like I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth when I say I really enjoyed watching this feel-good show. I absolutely did enjoy it, but it somehow left me feeling like something was missing—like the feeling you get when you pig out on empty calories. It wasn’t the cast. Hwang Jung Eum was adorable, beautiful, and vulnerable as Bo Nui. (Shout out to the costume designer: Bo Nui’s wonderfully quirky outfits were like a whole character by themselves!) The other parts of the love triangle were also well played by Ryu Joon Yeol (Je Su Ho) and Lee Soo Hyuk (Choi Gun Wook). And Lee Cho Hee was delightfully cute as the goofy, lovelorn administrative assistant Lee Dal Nim.

So what about the empty calories? The issue didn’t come into focus until I thought about the rating I would assign to this drama. I really liked it, but how did it compare to my other highly rated dramas. Just how good was it? And that’s where the wheels started to fall off. The more I thought about it, there were just too many plot points that were dropped or glossed over. The character development seemed to lurch around in places. I’ve never written a review filled with spoilers, but I’m doing so here—mostly to explain my less than stellar rating to my favorite reviewers out there who rated this drama too highly in my opinion.

In no particular order:
--Bo Nui puts her entire life on hold, sacrificing everything, to take care of her comatose sister Bo Ra, but there is shockingly little screen time devoted to Bo Ra until the very, very end. For some reason, Bo Nui can’t even look at her sister until Su Ho comes along—a full 13 years after the accident. Doesn’t this seem strange?

--Su Ho goes from emotionless, almost autistic, to sensitive new age guy in the course of a couple of episodes. In the final third, he acts downright goofy around Bo Nui. It was kind of cute, but come on. The guy had spent 30 years being totally withdrawn and completely socially inept, then all of a sudden he’s a regular guy?

--After Su Ho's accident, Bo Nui runs home packs up her apartment of twenty years and moves to an undisclosed location the very next day AND is somehow able to move her barely awake sister to a new hospital the same day too. What?

--I never figured out how Bo Nui’s old boss (Won Dae Hae) fit in. Was he a good guy? A bad guy? He kept inexplicably floating in and out of the story. He starts out the drama on the lam and one step ahead of his creditors and Bo Nui, then makes a pile of dough selling his company (and Bo Nui’s clever program) to Su Ho where he should have been set for life. But next thing we know he’s broke again and selling magic drinking water before getting hired as an inept security guard who lets the bad guy in, who then disappears again only to reappear as some kind of employee For Su Ho’s new company. It made my head spin.

--I also had a lot of issues about the way the software business was portrayed. How did the programming team allow their software to be sabotaged not once, but twice(?!) and in exactly the same way? And when they reviewed the security footage and saw ex-employee Park Ha Sang roaming around the office, absolutely no mention was made of the fact that Bo Nui was also there with her old boss turned security guard. And did they ever catch Ha Sang? Was he ever punished? Finally, I was a bit flabbergasted when Choi Ho, the chicken restaurant guy, came out of retirement after twenty years and is somehow able to help Su Ho decrypt the ransomware. It would be about as easy for a retired pro football player to come back lead his team to victory as it would for someone to jump into cybersecurity after a twenty-year absence from computer programming.

Finally, In dramas like Secret Garden and My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, which explicitly rely on suspension of disbelief, you go into them knowing that some plot inconsistencies must be forgiven and that the viewer must relax into the story and enjoy it a little less critically. However, Lucky Romance, really isn’t that kind of drama. Things should make more sense. But in the end, although my list of complaints seems long, they didn’t stop me from enjoying myself. This drama is just not a “10”. It is a guilty pleasure “8”.

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A wonderful romantic romp like the screwball comedies from Hollywood's heyday.

Before deciding whether to watch this drama, I looked the reviews to see what others thought. I rarely rely on the overall "score" a reviewer gives, and instead focus more on what they actually say about it in their comments. The first two reviews I read started with this: "I think this is one of those dramas where you sit back and say 'Wow, so this is also a way a Korean Drama can be made'." and "Honestly I did not expect anything about this drama, I just randomly clicked the first two episodes and it got me hooked." Honestly, I couldn't agree more with either of them. Marriage, Not Dating is a wonderful romantic romp and is a definite must see.

The excellent fast-paced script reminded me early on of those screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s like You Can't Take It With You and His Girl Friday. The dialog flies by so fast in places that it is almost hard to follow the translation. The many threads of the plot weave in, out, and through each other like commuters in fast traffic, with regular laugh-out-loud fender benders and pileups. But despite the pace and complexity of the story in places, the writer and director somehow manage to keep the story all together and moving. Each episode is told in flashback, with the cliff-hanger presented at the very beginning followed by the details that led up to it. It is a clever plot device (more reliable in places than others) that keeps the viewer guessing and yearning to see more.

The cast is excellent too. Han Groo is absolutely perfect as the loveable, well-intentioned Jang Mi who, despite her propensity for calamity, manages to make the lives brighter of everyone around her. Yeon Woo Jin as Ki Tae offers the perfect foil for Jang Mi. The walls he's built up around his life and his heart prove to be no match for the whirlwind Jang Mi after he convinces her to enter into a contract relationship to stave off an arranged marriage at the hands of his domineering mother, wonderfully played by Kim Hae Sook. (Have you ever watched a show with performance so good that you simply could not imagine any other actor playing it? Kim Hae Sook as Gi Tae's mom would be Exhibit A.)

This is an excellent and very entertaining show, and one that I look forward to rewatching.

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Wow! Sweet and tender love story that caught me off-guard.

A moving K-drama about a young architect and a street urchin dealing with their grief and guilt after having been dug out of the rubble of a collapsed department store 10 years earlier. It is at times tinder and sweet; melancholy without being too maudlin. Except for the very end when things get wrapped up a little too neatly, this wonderful story explores love and loss from a variety perspectives, all of which feel very real. The cast is fantastic, starting with the two first-time leads. Won Jin Ah plays the young architect Ha Moon Soo, who has become adept at assuaging others pain and tamping down conflict while burying her own pain and anguish. Lee Jun Ho plays the street urchin Lee Kang Doo, haunted by his experience and forced to live by his wits while attempting to take care of a motley group of downtrodden friends. The supporting cast is terrific. I especially liked Yoon Se Ah as the madam Ma Ri and one of Korea's national treasures, Na Moon Hee, as Grandmother. Finally, this maybe the best OST ever. The music and lyrics supported the moods and dialog flawlessly. Great story, well told.

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Too big of a stretch for me

The premise of Coffee Prince is pretty interesting: A scrappy tomboy, scratching out a living to support her widowed mom and high school-age sister, gets mistaken as a young man and dragged into a friendship with a dashing young coffee heir that evolves into more than either of them bargained for.

From what I can gather from reading other reviews, apparently gender benders like this one are a whole sub-genre of K-dramas that I wasn’t aware of. The other reviews lean overwhelmingly positive, so I guess I’m not a fan of the genre. I just couldn’t get past the suspension of disbelief that is required to get on board, starting with the tomboy Eun Chan played by the diminutive Yoon Eun Hye. All the baggy clothes in the world couldn’t cover up that small waist and curvy hips. There is no way she could pass as a man under an even cursory inspection or a friendly arm around the waist. Wrapping her chest in ace bandages would never be enough.

Next, the dashing, and supposedly worldly, coffee heir Han Gyul (Gong Yoo) is inexplicably inexperienced in the ways of love. I simply didn't buy his attraction to the scruffily dressed, hard-drinking, gluttonous tomboy (although Gong Yoo played it well enough). Sure, Eun Chan was disarming and cute in her own way, but dating-an-heir-with-rockstar-looks cute? And his cousin, Han Sung (Lee Sun Kyun) certainly had no problem identifying Eun Chan's gender. Why was Han Gyul so oblivious?

My mild irritation with these and a few other things percolated below the surface as I watched the story unfold. But while I felt that the story could have been so much better, the leads kept me engaged as it rolled along—so much so, that I’m conflicted over how to rate this one. It is certainly better than average, but ugh! I didn’t buy a big part of the premise, so in my book it’s certainly no 10. I ended up splitting the difference: Not great, but well better than average.

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