Review – Doctor Stranger

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Review – Doctor Stranger

What an odd little show.  I have so many conflicting emotions about this drama – because there were so many things I really, really liked and quite a few things I wished I could have vetoed in the writer’s room.  But overall – it’s one of the few medical dramas I enjoyed.

Plot:  A brilliant surgeon and his young son are sent on a secret diplomatic mission to North Korea – only to be betrayed by their own country and kept by the North Koreans!  The young man grows up there, following the footsteps of his father to become a doctor, but due to the lack of equipment and technology, learns “old school.” His childhood sweetheart and fiance is taken by the secret police shortly after agreeing to marry him.  When he’s near graduation, he is taken by the government to a secret facility to perfect his craft of heart surgery, by devious and nefarious means.  He spends several years imprisoned in this nightmarish place – secretly searching for his fiance.  He finally finds her right when his opportunity to escape the country presents itself – and attempts to flee with his lady love only to lose her in the process.  Several years later, in South Korea, a series of events leads him to be hired as a new surgeon at a prestigious hospital.  There he meets a woman who looks identical to his fiance, but claims not to know him.  Who is this mysterious woman?  And will he ever find his lost love?  While all these burning questions linger, there is an awesome new woman in his life who vies for his heart… but can he ever escapes the secrets of his terrible past and get over his first love?

Overall Rating – 8/10.  Pyongyang Medical School is Not For The Faint of Heart.

More Discussion and Spoilers Follow….

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Why Visit K-World? – A Beginners Guide to Korean Dramas

/ Lady Divine / 6 Comments

A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO KOREAN DRAMAS

Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about Korean Dramas from my friends, students and coworkers.  “What’s the deal?”  They ask.  “Korea?”  Sometimes it is difficult for me to remember there are people who have never watched a K-drama before.  I know, right?  (at this point I’ve convinced almost everyone I know to at least try at least one) So in order to help the newbies… here’s what you need to know.

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Review – Man to Man / ManXMan / Man 2 Man

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Review – Man to Man / ManXMan

A good summer drama with a lot of exciting action sequences, exotic locations, and hammy comedy.  It wasn’t perfect – and kinda tried to pack too many layers on its club sandwich, if you ask me, but I still had fun trying to eat it.  It’s not quite one genre or another, which I think was the only failing of this show – as I kept wanting it to lean left, into more exciting action/suspense, or just stay firmly right in the romantic comedy zone.  The constant shuffling between the two made me feel a little jet lagged.

Plotline:  A secret agent (played to perfection by Park Hae-Jin) goes undercover as a bodyguard to a goofy, middle aged actor (another ideal casting decision to choose Park Sung-Woong) – who, by the way, was hysterical – and gets romantically entangled with his over the top possessive female manager (Kim Min-Jung).  Missions to recover stolen artifacts, corrupt politicians, the extremely sexy Yeon Jeong-Hun, showbusiness shenanigans and more will entertain you for hours.

Sure, there are better shows.  But this one was fun trip with a huge cast of stars, tons of cameos, and… well… a little something of everything, really.  Unfortunately, that also meant it wasn’t a lot of one thing, which was ultimately its downfall.

*Quick Editor’s Note: Since posting this review, I have gone back to this show numerous times… and watched random episodes any time I wanted to laugh, enjoy Park Hae-Jin’s facial expressions, or just chill out and enjoy the show. It reminds me of Master’s Sun – in that you can just click on any random episode and have a good time watching it. Anyways, it’s 2021 now… and I’m going to have to bump up my viewer rating to reflect how fun this show is to rewatch.

Seriously, though, Park Hae-Jin’s facial expressions are the most enjoyable aspect of this show. Recently I reviewed Taxi Driver and said I didn’t think anyone else could pull off the action/comedy required for the main role, but thinking about it… Park Hae-Jin could have also nailed that role. 

Man2Man_1

Overall Rating – 9/10 (original rating: 7/10) – Undercover Romantic Tactics Will Be Used.

 

Review – In Need of Romance 3

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Review – In Need of Romance 3

The more I think about this show, the more I dislike it.  I will admit being biased, as I don’t care for Kim So-Yeon.  She’s one of my least favorite actresses in K-World.  She’s like Seth Rogan… krytonite to my viewing experience.  So, I should have known better going in… but I thought, Sung Joon might save it… or Namgung Min.  Nope.

The plot is basically about a young girl who was a nanny for a rich boy all through her childhood, watching this kid from infancy until he was about 10 or so.  For him it was all sunshine and roses, but for her it was hell.  Time jump about 17 years and she’s grown up to be a bitchy, successful producer of a home shopping network and he has grown up to be a naive, successful musician.  They have a ten second romance before his identity is revealed, and then they basically switch roles from their childhoods – with him acting as the caregiver and her as the busied dependent coming in and out without appreciating him.  And, you know, they slowly fall in love.  I guess.  You’ve also got all the coworkers at the home shopping network going through their own romances – none of which are very noteworthy.  They’re so cliche and one note, they’re basically wallpaper.

One of my pet peeves is tedious voice overs – especially when they’re trying to be poetic or introspective and it doesn’t seem to match the character at all.  This show was stock full of annoying voice overs of our two main character musing about life and love and blah, blah, blah.  Just, show NOT tell, please.  If you couldn’t get that message across in the drama, then it’s lazy writing to try to throw it on top as a voice over.  Yuck.  The voice overs were like those contrite memes with inspirational sayings.  Also, the dialogue was a mess.  There were too many instances of a character saying something that sounded way too measured and preachy for sporadic conversation.  What, did they memorize this speech before hand?  It felt so unnatural.  Our male lead calmly lecturing our female lead about her emotional state… “maybe you’re just a person who doesn’t recognize your own feelings” was ridiculous.  People don’t talk like that.  Even therapists don’t talk like that.  The whole show was like this.  Groan inducing.

What the show DID have going for it was open mouth kissing.  And quite a bit of it.  And bed scenes (mainly “after” where there’s a dude without a shirt and the girl mysteriously sleeps in pajamas).  It was quite frank with its sexual tone.  If only I cared about whether any of them ever got laid, ever again in their lives.  But I didn’t.  I basically just enjoyed the eye candy and fast-forwarded through massive chunks of the eps towards the end.  Honestly, I should have just watched some kiss compilation videos on youtube… saved myself from the constant eye rolling.

Overall Rating – 4/10.  French Kissing Does Not Make Up For Bad Writing.

Review – Fight My Way

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Review – Fight My Way

There’s nothing spectacular about this drama – it’s middling at best – the plot isn’t intricate and the characters aren’t necessarily as developed as they could be – but it still manages to be charming.  Simple and charming.  A straight forward love story with light obstacles and people overcoming their hardships rather easily.  Not that I didn’t still enjoy it – cause I did.  Park Seo-Jun is a great actor and really killed it as a mixed martial arts badass with a tender heart.  And Kim Ji-Won was lovable as the country girl with big ambitions to be an announcer that just needed to find her place.  They had great chemistry and it was delightful to watch them come together, moving from long time platonic best friends into lovers.  Also, the second romance of the second leads was equally engaging – the long time couple who were struggling with their relationship and status as they moved through life.  It felt very real and believable and my heart was genuinely moved by both of their stories.

But this show is popcorn.  A tasty snack.  It didn’t try too hard.  And I didn’t try too hard either.  I just enjoyed it, as a delicious treat but not a real meal.  I think after viewing a lot of K-Dramas you get spoiled on the potential of what 16 hours of storytelling can actually provide a viewer.  I mean… that’s a lot of time.  A LOT can happen.  Or a little can happen, and it can still be fun, if it’s done right.  I had fun watching this show, but it didn’t challenge me or make me think or offer me any new insights into humanity or relationships.  So in a way, I’m a little disappointed in it.  Cause the story line could have been so much more than it was.  But as it was… I still wouldn’t skip it.  Check it out.  It’s pretty freakin’ adorable.  And it was cool to explore a little more of the professional fighting world, even though honestly I feel even that could have been done better, too.  There were a lot of funny moments and a lot of cutesy “rescue” scenes that I loved.  The little vignette stories at the end of each episode were particularly fun to watch.  The coach, in particular, was my favorite side character… gah, what a cutie!

Plot:  Four teenagers with big dreams become young adults who have settled for lower expectations due to varying circumstances.  They each try to find their way back to their passions as their relationships further develop.

Overall Rating – 8/10.  Mixed Martial Arts Means More Shirtless Men.

Review – Beautiful Gong Shim / Dear Fair Lady Kong Shim

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Review – Beautiful Gong Shim / Dear Fair Lady Kong Shim

So, apparently it’s just been a really good year for dramas.  Especially romantic comedies.  I have fallen in love over and over and over this year.  And here we go again, with Beautiful Gong Shim… which is not only romantic, but hysterical!  I don’t even know where to begin to explain how awesome the main two characters are.  Gong Shim and Ahn Dan-Tae are such a bizarre, adorably weird, memorable couple.

Gong Shim wears a plain cut wig because her hair’s been falling out in chunks due to stress.  She has a beautiful, successful older sister, her mother is a former Miss Korea, and she is the black sheep of the family – the less attractive, invisible, oddball artist who can’t get a job.  She’s also hysterical, over dramatic, feisty and fearless.   On a personal note, I absolutely loved her style… everything she wore was so perfect on her.

Ahn Dan-Tae is the bum who lives in the upstairs roof room, wandering the streets in flip flops and capri pants, eating all his meals from the convenient store.  Though he’s a lawyer, he rarely charges his clients so he works as a driver at night to pay his rent.  He’s incredibly goofy, carefree, good natured, and honestly… totally adorable.  This is the same actor, Namgung Min, that just scared the pants off me in Remember with his mesmerizing performance as a psychopath, so it was awesome to see him turn his acting skills to this offbeat lovable performance.

The plot is about Gong Shim finding her footing in the world and falling in love, but it’s also got a great birth secret mystery with rich family shenanigans going on in the background.  There are so many great characters and never a dull moment… but I’m too charmed by the lead couple right now to properly review the actual storyline.  You can trust me, the story is great.  Everything about this drama is great.  It’s a winner.

The romance is… atypical, to say the least.  These two run around like crazed teenagers half the time and it’s really fun to watch.  There’s a lot of physicality in their performances – and you could tell they had a blast making this show.  They also both have extremely expressive faces and it’s a nonstop play of growls and frowns and pouts and smirks and smiles with them.  Gah, they were so ridiculously wild and cute!

Overall Rating – 10/10.  Maturity is Highly Over Rated.

A new all-time favorite.

Review – Flower, I Am! / Me Too, Flower!

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Review – Me Too, Flower!

In which a show with a ridiculous name turns out to be ridiculously good.  A female cop struggles with depression and anger issues.  A high school drop out leads a double life as a penniless parking attendant and a wealthy handbag designer.  Throw in a magnificently glamorous CEO, a wacky therapist, a young rookie cop whose cuter than a puppy, and a free-spirited step-sister and you’ve got this unusual show.

Lee Ji-Ah and Yoon Shi-Yoon both shine in this show.  Lee Ji-Ah’s portrayal of a miserable, cynical, pissed off police woman on the verge of a breakdown was awesome.  I loved her immediately and her grouchy, funny, blatant demeanor.   Yoon Shi-Yoon did what he does best – a playful, cheerful, energetic enigma – except I thought his character was better in this show than in others.  He’s such a weird little dude, but there is something oddly infectious about him.  And his chemistry with Lee Ji-Ah was surprisingly on point.

This show made it to my Best Kisses of All Time list. So… you know… strap in!

I enjoyed every episode of this little gem.  I laughed, I felt genuinely moved by the characters, situations turned in unexpected but natural ways.  It took the usual “secret rich boy” motif and turned it on its head, handing us a shocking new version of this old chiche.  And… lest we forget… it also gave us the achingly, unnaturally gorgeous Han Go-Eun prancing around in amazing outfits.

In a lot of ways, it reminded me of Heart 2 Heart, in that it was just an unexpectedly down to earth story about mental health, families, and relationships.  Loved that one, too.

Overall Rating – 9/10 – Curing Depression With A 2 Billion Won Kiss.

Review – Secret

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Review – Secret

This is one of those old school melodramas that just punches you in the face repeatedly and you ask for more while weeping.  Talk about some sad, twisted fates.  I adored it.  Soap opera galore!  Stories about guilt are always fascinating – especially when you find an actor who can really pull it off.  But guilt mixed with remorse mixed with sheer desperate drive to push forward despite it all?  That’s the second male lead.  His performance wore me out.  He’s truly unlikable in every way, so of course I found him mesmerizing as a character study.  I do love my wretches.  Damn, he was damned.

Plot in a nutshell:  After an unfortunate accident, a young woman takes the blame for a hit and run accident, even though it was her boyfriend who was responsible.  Her boyfriend quickly, ruthlessly, abandons her to pursue his own career and ambitions while she rots away in prison with their child (oh yeah, you can have babies and keep them in Korean prisons, apparently!)  At the same time, the lover of the woman who was killed in the hit and run goes on his own quest for vengeance against them both, further complicating their already complicated lives.

This drama is drowning yourself in a bucket of sorrow waiting for that one redeeming moment… and it does come, but geesh… you’ll be swallowing that gallon of tears and human suffering for a long, long time.  You have to be in the mood for this kind of drama.  It’s awesome… but it’s also uber melodrama.  If you are in the mood for a classic melodrama – look no further.  Melodramas can provide some of the most intense emotions you can ever imagine, but they can also drain you dry like a vampire.  You have to be prepared going in.

I liked the main couple, and their romance was awesome and different… but I wouldn’t exactly call it a comfortable ride.  Think of the worst things that could come between you and your lover – that is what these people have between them.  It’s harsh.  And it’s wonderful.  IF YOU ARE IN THE MOOD.  If you are… it’s like crack cocaine.  If you’re not in the mood for melodrama, don’t even bother.

Overall Rating – 8/10.  Being Responsible For Your Own Messed Up Life Is Ample Melodrama, Don’t Add Someone Else’s.

Review – Queen In Hyun’s Man

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Review – Queen In Hyun’s Man

Though the first two episodes of this drama are notoriously slow, this is one of the most interesting (and romantic) time traveling between Joseon Era & Modern Times shows out there.  Why?  Because the two main leads are so interesting (and romantic).  They feel fresh… even though it’s not a new show (it came out in 2012).  Ji Hyun-Woo plays the thoughtful scholar who snickers at jokes, explores the new world with a reserved wonder, quietly observes situations before taking action, and is totally hard for his modern companion and doesn’t hide it.

Ji Hyun-Woo and Yoo In-Na are crackling with chemistry.

Yoo In-Na plays our leading lady, an adorable ditzy actress who’s won over by her time traveler almost instantly… oh the way he talks, she mutters.  Their banter is so refreshingly real.  It feels like an actual couple, not some k-drama construct.  She’s lying through her teeth, flirting, trying to show off, and he’s teasing her, testing her.  They make this show.  There’s really no other reason to watch it.  The plot is decent, but it’s watching this 300 year time gap couple cuddle in the library that makes this show stand out.  It literally made me feel like a giddy school girl every time these two were together, starting about episode three and kicking into full gear by episode four.

You will be helplessly charmed.  It’s not cheesy or gimicky or cutesy.  These are two grown people falling in love, just… head over heels in love.  And it’s magnetic.  Check it out if you’re in the mood for lots of PDA and heart melting romance.

Overall Rating – 9/10.  Dear God, Let Me Be Reincarnated As Yoo In-A In My Next Life.

Review – Legend of the Blue Sea

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Review – Legend of the Blue Sea

A profoundly unspecial fantasy romance.  Oh, how I wanted to love this show!  But every little thing about it was so enormously contrived and flat.  The “romance” was just a nonstop series of cliches and ridiculousness.  Just like in the show Tomorrow With You, the writers and director seemed to think that putting two attractive people opposite each other is all it takes for everyone around the world to collectively sigh.  Well, this gal groaned.  Loudly.  And because I wanted to like it, it just made it worse.  It was like forcing yourself to enjoy a treat way past its expiration date… it was just dry and a bitter reminder of all the other dramas that have done this better in the past.  You know, the fresh ones.

Plotline, basic version:  A mermaid comes to land following her one true love… but if she doesn’t win his affection in return, she will die.

Overall Rating – 5/10.  A Can Of Anchovies When You Ordered Fresh Salmon.

More Grumbling and Ranting and Spoilers follow….

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