K-Drama Reviews

Review – Shark / Don’t Look Back: The Legend of Orpheus

/ Lady Divine / 1 Comment

Review – Shark

Shark is the third (and final) installment in the Revenge Trilogy by director Park Chan-hong and writer Kim Ji-woo.  This drama varies greatly from its predecessors,  Resurrection and The Devil.  Shark is a moody, elegant revenge drama that indulges in gorgeous scenery and slow plot progression.  It’s like watching a Sofia Coppola film.  Everything is filtered down – the action, the romance, the mystery and the suspense – and yet its easy to bask comfortably in this dark emotional pool and allow yourself to sink to the bottom.

Kim Gam Nil is well suited to the careful, calculating man robbed of his father and young adulthood who returns for revenge.  Son Ye Jin does an excellent job portraying a woman who lost her first love – and in order to find him again must face the terrible secrets of her own trusted family.  Though it’s not as sexy and brooding as Bad Guy or as twisted and compelling as The Devil – Shark is an excellent series for a rainy weekend when you’d rather get lost in beautiful visuals, a slow simmer romance and a interesting mystery.

It’s a beautifully crafted drama.  Meticulously crafted, in fact.  Every shot, every detail, every lingering camera angle and detail hint at extra meaning.  Like a Hitchcock film.   Though a lot longer.  It’s long.  It’s 20 episodes.  And there’s a great deal of “sins of the father” theme going on in this show… and more than once you will find yourself thinking, “Wait… doesn’t he/she already know this/that?” and you probably won’t be able to answer your own question and it probably won’t matter cause everyone has secrets and secret identities and everyone is lying to everyone and they can’t keep their stories straight so why should we, as viewers, have to?  I absolutely LOVED this drama – and have rewatched it several times over the years (okay, okay, maybe not all of it… but probably 70%)- loving it more each time.  But of course, long convoluted crazy  romantic revenge melodramas are generally my favorites.

It also has one of the best love theme songs I’ve ever heard in drama.  Lovely, haunting and passionate – I never got tired of hearing this song. This drama also made it to my Best Kisses of All Time list.

Overall Rating:  10/10

EXTREMELY MILD SPOILERS AND MORE

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Review – Ruler of Your Own World

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Review – Ruler of Your Own World

His expression sums up my feelings about this show.

This drama has an “indie” vibe to it.  The characters are street-smart, there’s a considerable amount of informal and bad language, and the whole plot feels very realistic, brain tumor and all.  Like many indie features, you either get it or you don’t.  I didn’t get this drama.  It was like watching Holy Smoke with Harvey Keitel and Kate Winslet, or Your Friends and Neighbors.  There were so many elements that confused me or infuriated me or just didn’t make sense to me.  My biggest qualm being the romance and the most awkward love-triangle of all time.

To be fair – there were some aspects to this drama that I truly enjoyed.  Sweet moments, tender moments, beautifully complicated moments.  Did they balance out my frustration?  Not really.  People loved this drama – it has a cult following – but it just didn’t cut it for me.  I had to force myself to finish it.

Overall Rating – 6.5/10.

SPOILERS & RANTING & HEAD SCRATCHING FOLLOW

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Review – Resurrection

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Review – Resurrection

Resurrection.  Also known as Rebirth.  Also known as Revenge.

The series is the first installment of the “Revenge Trilogy” by director Park Chan-Hong and writer Kim Ji-Woo.  Lucifer (or The Devil) followed in 2007, one of my personal favorites.  The series ended with Shark in 2013, which I have not yet seen.

  

 

Did you ever see the movie Open Water?  For some reason, I kept thinking of that film while watching Lucifer a few months ago.  You knew something horrible was going to happen… you knew it in your bones… you were just waiting for the sun to go down and then God help us all.  Lucifer did not disappoint.  It will drown you.  Rebirth isn’t nearly as dark as Lucifer.  Instead it reminds me more of a Kubrick film, in both plot and cinematography.  More intrigue based than the dark soul-stealing  revenge and redemption epic of Lucifer.  Though Rebirth isn’t as fulfilling, it’s a definite standout in the k-drama universe.

—— SPOILERS FOLLOW ——

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Review – Queen Seon Duk

/ Lady Divine / 5 Comments

Review – Queen Seon Duk

THE GREAT QUEEN SEON DUK

If this show wasn’t so long, it might be the greatest thing to ever come out of South Korea.  Of course, if it wasn’t so long it might not be so darned epic and unforgettable.  Curse you, conundrums!  This show can be effectively divided into two sections:  Pre-Queen and Post-Queen.  Half of the show depicts the young life of Deokman and her struggle to raise herself to royal status.  The second half is what happens when she gets it.

In my opinion, everyone should watch this show.  Wait til you have the flu and a few days off work, if you must.  But watch it.  The “Mishil” music is still played in current dramas as a gag reference all the time.  It’s a staple of K-World.

Overall Rating:  10/10 – near perfection period-piece epic with romance, action, betrayal, friendship, rivalry, political intrigue, and unforgettable characters – it’s a massive commitment of time that will ultimately leave you deeply satisfied and possibly traumatized for life.

Now come cozy up beside me and let’s talk about why this show completely rocks my socks, shall we?

———————— MASSIVE SPOILERS & RATINGS FOLLOW ————————–

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Review – Protect the Boss

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Review – Protect the Boss

Protect the boss is about a young woman who’s struggling to enter the business world even though her resume is as spotty as her past.  A teenage thug, a protestor in college and the daughter of a martial arts teacher – she’s a big ball of raw girl power but hardly the type most big businesses are looking to hire.  By a humorous turn of events, she gets hired as a secretary for a goofy, floundering young CEO.  Romantic shenanigans ensue.

MINOR IMPRESSIONISTIC SPOILERS & RATINGS FOLLOW

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Review – Nine Times Travel

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Review – Nine Times Travel

Nine Times Travel.  Proving you don’t need incredible special effects or overly elaborate scientific explanations to master the art of time travel and exquisite television.  Keep it simple and it will grow exponentially on its own.  For what started as a rather simple drama with a “day time” television feeling, I was pleasantly surprised how quickly this show leveled up.  I had a full blown emotional heart attack during episode nine and was revived only to die of shock again a few episodes later.  The crash cart was brought out and “Clear!”  By the end of the show, I felt like I’d been dragged across twenty years and half the world.  And I wanted to do it again.  And possibly again… in twenty years.  Or an alternate time line.  Or, ya know, some conundrum worm-hole double-layered mess that gets Hawking hard and gives me headaches.

Overall Rating 9.5/10

SPOILERS and CONTINUED REVIEW

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Review – My Love From Another Star

/ Lady Divine / 1 Comment

Review – My Love From Another Star

I absolutely loved this show! The premise was cool:  a hip, uptight alien gets distracted by human business and looses his ride back to his home planet.  And for the record… what’s up with that?  They’re advanced enough for space travel but don’t bother with communication devices?  Did anyone ask him if he wanted to stay?  Nope.  Did any of his fellow aliens even bother to see what was going on with M.I.A. Alien?  Nope.  He was like the kid in Home Alone… maybe they realized he wasn’t there after the ship had already taken off.  Anyways, I digress.  Alien boy is stranded on earth in the Joseon Era and hangs around for 400 years, until present day.  He meets a wacky actress and romance and silliness follow.  Adorable rom-com.

And yet… somewhere around episode 17 or 18, I lost all interest in what was happening.

————— SPOILERS FOLLOW ——————-

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Review – Monstar

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Review – Monstar

Monstar is a musical delight.  The cast was plucky and varied, the plot was just enough to keep you interested for 12 hours, and the music was by far the best of the “teen musical” k-drama choices out there.  There were moments that I didn’t care for and characters I didn’t have much interest in, but overall I enjoyed this show tremendously.  It doesn’t really warrant a long review, in my opinion.  It’s just pop-tastic fun in high school with rival bands, a slew of instruments and a broad range of musical styles.  These are talented kids.  It didn’t have the same emotional punch as Shut Up Let’s Go but it wasn’t as cheesy as Heartstrings.  If you want a feel-good musical show, this is a safe bet.  Snaps to the director – far more convincing lip syncing in this drama than most, and most of the musical numbers were played in full.  Too bad the soundtrack doesn’t cover the 30 plus exceptional musical moments in this show.  Thankfully, there’s some great playlists on youtube that have just about everything.

Overall Rating:  8/10.  Plot Rating:  6/10.  Romance Rating:  7/10.  Cuteness Rating:  9/10.  Music Rating:  10/10.

Review – Master’s Sun

/ Lady Divine / 4 Comments

Review – Master’s Sun

An overall enjoyable series starring Gong Hyo Jin as Tae Gong Shil, a young woman who is tormented by her ability to see ghosts and So Ji Sub as Joo Joong Won, your typical CEO who is impervious to human relationships after a tragic event in his past.  Commence romance and supernatural shenanigans.  The episodes are fast-paced, varied and largely compelling.  Lots of side-stories involving ghosts to keep up the speed when the main plot lags.  I believe everyone can find something to like about this show and highly recommend it for online streaming or download.

————- MASSIVE SPOILERS & RATINGS FOLLOW ————-

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Review – Lie To Me

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Review – Lie to Me

Lie to Me is one of those dramas that once you accept the plot has about as much weight and logic as a toddler, you can just sit back and enjoy it scuffling around the carpet with wad of crayons in its hands.  There’s a lot to enjoy, too.  This drama offers us a glimpse at the rare bird of open-mouthed kissing.  As if aware of how spectacularly alien its presence is, it makes sure to show off all its feathers and give us some of the most memorable kissing scenes in drama-town.  The Karaoke Kiss.  The Cola Kiss.  If you’ve seen it, you know exactly what I’m talking about.  The fighting-then fake marriage-then real romance of the main couple is the main dish of the drama.  This dish may appear more appetizing than it is due to the above mentioned (and more) kissing scenes.

Everything else in the show is just colorful side-dishes.

MAY I TAKE YOUR ORDER PLEASE?  READ MORE….

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