Why Am I Here

Underrated Rom Coms!

This show is soo underrated! I always love the no-nonsense rom-coms. There are nothing harmful in this show. The romance is pretty mature. Main characters are pretty honest straightforward towards their feelings, no need to overcomplicate things and create misunderstandings! Each characters are open to share what they have suffered and what they want. The vibe in this show is quite positive and cheerful one. This show also clearly potrays the darkside of the entertainment industry: how everyone tries to clean up the celebrity's mess and how malignant is the relationship between celebrities and their fans. Also there are good messages about how men should respect women and vice versa. All lead actors and actress do an excellent job delivering this message. I really love the fearless Yeo Mi-Ran, she will kill for respect!

Despite the simple, smooth and lovable plot, I feel like the pace is a bit too fast. Especially for non-Korean speakers like me, sometimes I feel a bit difficult to catch what is going on. I understand that most straightforward rom-coms end quickly, but with the number of episodes and the duration of each, this is still too fast for me. It's maybe better if they stretch it to 12 episodes. The romance build up between Won-Joon and Na-Eun also feels too quick. Even though Na-Eun occasionally falls in love at the first sight, I still think it is too hasty, and that makes Won-Joon to become more like a pervert. Some of the premises are left hanging without proper closure such as Kang-Ho and Se-Na relationship, Mi-Ran parents relationship and Mi-Ran and Gilmu directors partnership. Also I feel like the Kang-Ho Fan Club President deserves to be overthrown (and also a punch).

On top of that, this is a highly recommended show. Don't be deceived with the first episode, it seems quite heavy on it. But bear a bit, you will see that this show is very lightweight and full of joy. I would even recommend this for a rewatch!

Read More

Underrated Thriller, Must Watch!

This show should be a hit! I don't understand why it doesn't have so much exposure. The thriller is thrilling with so many plot twists. The story is really good. It doesn't even have a filler episode. The show pictures an agency office with such "problematic" environment. It seems to have messy conflicts, but there is the starting point where we will begin the enjoyable journey. It is boring up until Episode 4. But if you're being patient, you will get paid off!

Soul-swapping is not an easy thing, but both main leads deliver it excellently! Kim Ji-Eun and Lomon have to dealt playing as both characters, and it goes really well. During the soul-swap, I feel like they are actually switching—they become totally different person. I even think Lomon really can imitate Ji-Eun's gesture when he plays as Na-Eon.

The only thing that disturb me is the writer decided to give the main leads frustrating personalities. Na-Eon is a b*tch and ruthless person at the beginning of the show and she hardly have a character development, even after going through some big moments. Also being a thoughtful and ambitious person as Na-Eon, isn't it more reasonable for her to try protecting her body from the killer during the soul-swap, rather than throwing Eun-Ho in her body to some dangerous scenes? Eun-Ho personality at the beginning is the worst. He looks like an eight year boy trapped in a man's body, who reacts excessively at everything. Ji-Eun plays this well as Eun-Ho, but to think that she is "actually a man in a woman's body", it doesn't seem correct.

The intention to use this show as a media for Seongsu-dong tourism promotion goes in the right direction. I love the scenery of the Seongsu-dong view, and it really promotes Seongsu-dong as "Pop-Up Store District". I will really recommend this show!

Read More

Great Story, Awful Ending

I like this show. It is a great one, although it's not special. The romance and comedy are mixed up and exectued well. The casts are all good, especially Sang-Yi and Ji-Hyun. Their chemistry is outstanding. They also include a "serial killer" which blends pretty smoothly into the story without making it looks like a way to "simplify everything".

The fact that I enjoy the second lead more somehow indicates that there is a problem with the storyline. The idea of the story is good though. The beginning phase is really slow, I would even say it is boring in the first two episode. They build a lot and complex problems in the beginning. However, the writer decided to develop stories around Hae-Young better than hers, causing the main story about Hae-Young and Ji-Uk to be outshined by other premises. The pace somehow turns fast after Episode 8, and this causes some conflicts to have a plain resolution, or even left behind. Sad that we don't have a chance to see Ja-Yeon story with Bok's family, Ji-Uk's family backstory, or make Hae-Young have a better closure with her mom. I am totally pissed after Episode 11 though. They decided to add more conflicts near the end, in Episode 11 and 12 (seriously why did they make a major conflict in the last episode??), only to have a rushed resolution.

(AND THEY MADE HA-JUN REALLY FINE AFTER HIS FORMER LOVER BECAME HIS EX-BOSS GIRLFRIEND. THAT'S TOTALLY IRRATIONAL!)
I was hoping they will do something with the abused child in the Episode 5, since Hae-Young has "some experience" with it. They also brought up the premise of "CEO should take lunch at the cafetaria", and did nothing about it.

Overall I will still recommend it. It may take time before you can enjoy the story. But I don't think it really match up the hype.

Read More

Crash Course or Just A Crash?

This is the first time I dropped a show. I tend to finish everything no matter how bad it is, but 16 episodes is too much to bear. So much things go wrong in this show. The story is about a star teacher and a small side dish restaurant owner. How do they cross path together? Yet the writer make it in the every worst possible way: childhood relationship. The main story is boring and predictable, while the side stories are all over the places. Choi Chi-Yeol himself already has a lot of personal problems including his teaching issue, his past trauma and his digestion issue, yet they mix it up with Hae-Seong problems, the students situation, the All-Care complicated mothers, and most unnecessarily metal ball serial killer as well as the online hater. With all those, it becomes excessively too much on the plate. The romance is mature and calming, but too slow and frustrating as well (speak your feelings, seriously!). First half of the show is painfully slow and focuses to much on the students.

Most of the cast's perfromances are outshined by Jung Kyung-Ho. Roh Yoon-Seo is definitely in the same level with him here, but the third best performer here is Oh Eui-Shik as a mentally-disabled brother which means there is a problem. The chemistry between ML and FL is only bare minimum. Make up team is doing an absolutely horrendous job here. They make Chi-Yeol looks like falling in love with a fifty years old woman. I get it that they are poor, but why does she look like a fashion-blind when she can afford a Starbucks coffee maker?

Chi-Yeol is supposed to only be able to digest foods from Hae-Seong family. Yet he has seen to eat normally in multiple occassion, including when he treats Hae-Seong family to a premium restaurant. The girl that hugs Chi-Yeol earlier is disappeared, yet they somehow forget about her.

Apart from the mature romance as well as Jung Kyung-Ho and Roh Yoon-Seo performance, there aren't any reason to rewatch this show. Maybe it's just me, but if you ask, it's a no no from me.

Read More

Unique Action Story

Impressive storyline, I must say! This is probably the first show I've ever watch that has no-nonsense plot, no fillers just story. The theme, although seems cliche, is actually new and fresh. The cast is packed with star talents. They can't go wrong on the potrayals; they all fit their own characters. There are a lot of characters, and they're introduced thoroughly one by one. The introduction style with back and forth timeline is really smooth, and every past story matters and impactful to the present story. Hence even with 20 episodes, I still feel it's not enough as more explorations still needed here and there.

As an action show you'll expect this to be fast-paced. However the pace is extremely slow, and nearly painful and confusing at the beginning (maybe that's why Disney dropped 5 first episodes altogether). I believe several people lost faith and drop this show after 5 episodes.

Even though it has an impressive storyline, doesn't mean it's flawless. There are a lot of plot armors in this show. People with superpowers are prone to death when being thrown from height, except if their ability is immortal. However, Kim Bong Seok and Lee Jae Man survive this situation multiple times. Kim Du Sik somehow survives every bullets from the first North Korean infiltration only by flying, even though the North Koreans surround him and they have AK-47 in their hands. During Jang Ju Won's Russia operation, it is weird that it takes so long for the force to shoot Ju Won after being dropped from the sky.

There are a lot of unhinged ending on this show, especially why Bong Seok decides to disappear from the school after the incident. Also the reason Frank stops doing his mission also needs explanation, so second season is a must.

Read More

Love Starts with Passion, Goes with Reality, Ends in Solidarity

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS??? I was expecting a normal law show but damn, it's so heartwarming! This show contains different cases every episode, no, different life lessons every episode. Have you ever tought how a law genre could be mixed up with slice of life or how a law genre could bring a heartwarming feeling? This is the result! The story composition is somewhat outstanding. More importantly, they still able to put the forte of the show in the courtroom and lawfirm. Everything else such as the office politics, personal issues, etc, are just seasoning. The moment when they collage the previous cases near the ending, it's very beautiful how they can put together all of them!

Pace of the show is extremely fast. The case on Episode 4 is really great, and the case on Episode 10 is just magnificent. I can understand why there was a sudden hype after Episode 10 airing. Character development is somewhat very strong here. Both Yun Seok Hun and Kang Hyo Min looks very well-masked about their own personality. But as the story progressing, we begin to slowly (quick, to be honest, considering Seok Hun "suddenly" becomes very open to Hyo Min) peel the layer one by one.

Every episode, I was praying that Seok Hun shouldn't end up with Hyo Min. Why did they have to do that? Jin Wook and Chae Yeon are 16 years apart irl and 11 years in the show. They have more like uncle and niece vibe. Some non-recurring casts (only play in one case) look nervous and expressionless. Also in episode 4 when Seok Hun fights with Choi Cheol Min, Cheol Min's front door has a smart lock on it. However, Hyo Min is able to enter and separate the fight.

Too bad they don't provide us better story on Hyo Min's twin sister after her returns, but in the end the final scene is very very impressive. The soundtracks are good, I think they are all in English? Should I recommend this show? Absolutely! While all the cases seem heavy in this show, the slice of life side will give balance to it. My second 9.5 this year!

PS: I rarely ask for a sequel, but this show deserves a second season!

Read More

Heartwarming Romance of 2024? This is The One!

Let me be honest, this series is not my cup of tea. I don't really like the story especially at the last third of the season. However, It is quite reasonable that a lot of people recommend this series, thanks to the main leads duo. Kim Ji-Won and Kim Soo-Hyun have an outstanding performance, and that is the reason why a lot of people ship them in real life. Hong Hae-In character is a good example to never give up on your life, and to never let you waste your life even though you only have a little left on it. The one she does in the press conference, I think it is because she knows that she will die either by the disease or in Eun-Seong's hand. She does it to protect her family. It resemble the phrase from Grace that "the one that has nothing to lose is the most terrifying". We also see how hard Soo-Cheol is trying to grow up, trying hard to fix everything and improve the quality of his family life. But on top of those, it is Hyun-Woo's love that against all odds, holds Hae-In and the throne of Queens.

Additionally, we get a really good soundtracks. They placed precisely it in the scenes.

The storyline is, although not flawless, has a great point. The pace was extremely slow in the first half of the series, and additionally each episodes are very long. Many audience may not be able to endure it. But trust me, if you follow, it will slowly suck you into the "hell" of the pitiful Queen's family— pitiful since the only members that have clear mind are a deserted aunt and an ex-spouse of the heir. The pace will catch up on the second half. More heartwarming scenes are coming after then, but there will be a few pointless filler episodes. However, I hate that Beom-Jun and Seok-Hwa don't do anything regarding the return of Da-Hye. During hard situation like that, logically any family will draw a line and make her choose clearly whom she will take side.

As I have stated on the beginning, I don't like the last third of this show. The story goes downfall after their return to the house. It is somewhat weird that Hong's family somehow stops looking for the secret money after then. Honestly, I totally despise the idea of Hae-In surgery's memory loss effect because it is boring and overused. Combined with Eun-Seong coming to Germany to become the first person Hae-In sees after the surgery, it becomes the worst plot because we all know what will come next. I will be honest that I would rather have Hae-In died of the cancer rather than this plot. The quality of this conflict is somewhat lower that other previous conflicts, and it puts aside the "main conflict" of the Queens Group. The pace also slows down after this premise, making the whole pace looks inconsistent and seems like the writer is forcing this conflict only to fulfill the requirement of 16 episodes. Fortunately thanks to this plot, we get the saddest part of the story— when she reads her diary. Final crash and the stand-off moments are also the things that I don't like. I get it that they are trying to make Hyun-Woo the hero of this story, but they should come up with something better and original. The pace speed up again in the last episode causing the ending to be a bit rushed. They should show the heartwarming moments of Hae-In trying to recover memory, probably a whole episode of it. I would also like to see how the tenseful family of Hong's turned into something more warm. They have brought out the story about the tenses during office meetings, when in family room, on the dining table, during the ceremonies and many more, but they never tell us how it turns after all of this moments.

I don't really like most of the Yongduri's residents. They are often cringe and overreacting at everything. Also visual effects of this series is not the best. You can see it clearly during the boar accident. And when are they going to remove the pop up stores??? I want to see the new concept so bad!!!!

Overall, I recommend this series for you all. If this type of genre is not your favorite, you may get bored at the beginning though. That is because you need to take your time to enjoy this series, as it has once again, long episodes. But when it comes to heartwarming romance, I still think this is the best for whole 2024, and it may take quite a while for me to get over from this.

Read More

Life Through A Grey Decision

No Other Choice is what would happen if you put a dark character into a comedy. The story always revolves around grey area. You will ask yourself multiple times whether you should root for the main characters or not: "Ain't there really no other choice for them?". All the actions, characters and decisions are morally questionable. On top of that, they were still able to add comedic touch to the story, the unique comedy that isn't slapsticks. Visually, the cinematography is excellent, all of the dark agenda happened with minimum light. No need to talk about the casts, it's very outstanding here especially Son Ye Jin.

For a dark comedy that highlighted a harsh truth about job competition, I still feel this one only delivers minimum number of messages. I also don't like the storyline about doctor Oh that left out hanging.

I recommend this to be watched at least once, and enjoy the cinematography.

Read More

Surprisingly, it's a great show. The overall storyline is very cliche, like your bedtime fairytale story. It always very lightweight, cheerful and happy around the main couples. On the other hand, it's also very absurd. This absurdity is the strength of the show and the way they cover up the clicheness of a fairytale story. Don't think about realistic because the overall show is very absurd and hilarious, especially the first half. I like the twist about the interpretation of "Cinderella". The comedy style of this show is slapstick-ish. The storytelling style with main leads absurd thought depictions, animations and insulted narrations also seems fresh.

I feel the quality of the story has gone down a bit in the second half of the show. The story about Cha Min's mother feels unnecessary.

Watch this show if you're searching for a lightweight comedy show.

Read More

Well, it's a great escape movie, very action-packed. The original idea was great, and the execution was as expected from an escape movie. There was a mixture of comedy, even though it was mostly actions. The story has a lot of plot armours. Two main leads pulled ridiculous moves and survived multiple times. However thanks to the good directing, they were able to cover it up and it was really thrilling. Jo Jung Suk did really well here, outshining everyone including YoonA. She didn't look like a female lead at all here, I must say. He even had a better backstory while YoonA's character didn't get at all. The storyline was missing the part why they both stopped climbing in the first place. I didn't get why they kept running with gas mask on when there wasn't any gas around, even when knowing the mask was limited. On the other hand, the visual effects team had done well here.

Overall it's a good show to watch if you're seeking an action-packed story.

Read More

It's surprisingly fun to watch: A totally unserious gangster show. The original idea was great, where all the heirs refused to reprise the role as the leader. The casts were good, nothing could go wrong with a bunch of prominent actress. The comedy punchlines were good, I consider them not really cringe.

While the duration of a movie is always short, the story is still underdeveloped. They added characters such as Ji Yeong, Mi Mi and Yeon Im to bring more complication to the overall storyline, yet nobody of them got any closure. I mean it's alright if they didn't want to do it, but he made a promise earlier. Instead the closure was all about Hyeon Sik, whose character development was a bit questionable earlier.

I will still recommend this show for anyone who is seeking for a laugh, since it has a lot of comedy.

Read More

Great Show with Higher Potential, Still Down to Drain at The End

This show has a very very great potential, probably the highest-potential-that-never-reached that I've ever watched so far. The combination of coming-of-age and police university is fresh and unique. I came with no expectations at all, but the story about university life is lightweight, heartwarming, and easy to enjoy. The first three episodes were heavy, in fact the first episode was very very heavy. Character development is really nice in this show. No stupid breakups, thankfully (even though they have another kind of stupidity).

I also have no expectations with the casts, but they were all actually great on it! Chae Soo Bin, Kang Daniel and all others suprisingly delivered the "students" character well! However, I didn't prefer to have Soo Bin play her teenager character herself.

It was all nice and great, until the writer decided to switch the vibe after episode 11. Disney tried so hard to put a western touch in to this show, but clearly they need to learn something: NOT EVERY SHOW HAS TO INCLUDE A MENTALLY-ILL VILLIAN WHO DOES CRIME FOR NO REASON. Now the audience would be confused: audience who were up because of the heartwarming vibe would find it difficult to enjoy the thriller part and vice versa. The chance of university students to collide with and take down a dangerous drug-political cartel was very low, yet they made it as close as possible. Wi Seung Hyun made a very ridiculous decision by confronting Han Sol alone, with the consequence of dragging his friends who watched the video. The amount of time skips in this show is too much! They were just a first year student, suddenly they were already having an on-site training at a station, then suddenly again they completed the training. A lot of things missed out from their void, they should even try to explore the "other side" of the seniors. Instead, they made the seniors disappeared in the later episodes.

In conclusion it's a great show to enjoy, although it's a bit confusing due to the vibe switch. Watch this if you can cope both.

Read More

It's a fast-paced and lightweight mystery show. Unlike other heavy mystery shows, the murder plot is very easy to understand. The quality of story, acting, comedy punchlines and everything is just alright for me. I like how they put spotlight on suspecting everyone in the mart, but nothing really standout in that plot. I can't complain a lot, considering the number of episodes we got here. It's something possible to enjoy, but probably not something that could make you seat and binge-watch it. The cinematography was excellent though. Lee Kwang Soo performance was outstanding, probably outshined everyone else, except Ahn Se Bin. She is really a promising actress.

Things that are bothering me: I couldn't understand why everyone was trying to play righteous, especially why Dae Seong didn't report the slipper and stockings he found at the first murder location. While suspecting Gong San, they suddenly shifted focus to Meat because of Fish suggestion and suddenly they forgot about her for a while. I didn't undestand why because she was more suspicious since she visited more suspicious places and caught in wrong place wrong time several times. The reason why Meat bought tampons and who kept delivering random items to Lee Gyeong Ah remained unknown until the end. Finally, I didn't get the reason the killer murdered Gyeong Ah and Bo Yeon. What "control" did he refer to?

It's still a good watch to kill your time, since it's fast and very easy to enjoy.

Read More

This show left me in a tight spot. If you look at the show summary, you can tell the storyline is lame. And it's actually lame, how the heck a student ends up with a shaman? However, they transformed the lame story piece by piece into a beautiful and fun parts. Each part of the story is enjoyable, and it has a generous amount of comedy. The comedy quality is really good and consistent here, thanks to Park Seong A, Pyo Ji Ho, The Flower Master Shaman, and all the casts playing them. Then when you try to think about all of it by connecting each piece of the show into one story you'll start to think it's lame again, especially on the last two episodes. Looks like they've lost it from there.

The casts delivered this story beautifully. Cho Yi Hyun was astonishingly excellent in this show, she played the highschooler and shaman very well and fun. Cha Kang Yoon also did a great job. Choo Young Woo was also good, although I prefer the Bong Su version of him rather than the original Gyeon U.

This show lacks of backstory telling. The backstory of each characters were rarely told, several even left behing. I can't understand why Seong A actual parents left her when she was their "moneymaker". They didn't told us what made Gyeon U family tied so hard to Yeom Hwa, and where's the closure between Gyeon U and his family? Pyo Ji Ho was often left behind, and even had no backstory. His parents didn't even attend his graduation, I wonder why. It looked like he had been put aside especially since Seong A left the school. Yeom Hwa accused General Dong Cheon of resenting her after separating her from her deceased baby, but what kind of "resentment" was never clear.

This show has good music. Overall it's very funny and fun to watch and rewatch, even though the storyline could make you scratch your head.

Read More

A very quick romcom. The fighting phase is intense and the reconsiliation phase is swoonworthy. I feel the 30 days waiting time was too quick, they should've dive deeper about how they both fall in love again . They added too much cliche here. White Truck of Doom and double amnesia, but dang it, they made it important to the story. The comedy level is really good here, even though most of them were just slapsticks. Kang Haneul and Jung So Min both delivered it very well.

Overall it's refreshing to watch. Rewatch if you need a refreshment from your tense daily life.

Read More