Quite possibly one of the most mysteriously addicting shows I have ever watched. Despite it’s problems, and we’ll get into that later, it absolutely stunned with witty banter, romance, bromance, mystery, and the supernatural. And the music! What originally seemed like a mish-mash of supernatural mythology worked perfectly in this Korean drama. Gods, goblins, grim reapers, cursed children, and ghosts all wandered the streets together.
If you haven’t seen this show – open another tab and watch it immediately. Without delay. Count up how many candles were lit during the making of this drama…(seriously, they went overboard with the open flames in this show) and that’s how many feels you’ll get.
Overall Rating – 10/10. Everyone Is Okay With Gong Yoo Living Forever.
If you have watched it (probably more than once already, am I right?) then you’re probably itching to talk about it.
The adorably unethical story of a shrink who falls for his patient and proceeds to chase her around for an entire show. This is one of those perfect dramas where six hours passes in what feels like an hour. Your face muscles get a little tired from smiling so often. You genuinely laugh out loud. The pacing is perfect – there is not even a moment of wasted time or character interaction. It’s expert writing paired with expert direction. Not to mention actors that both charm you, amuse you, and feel comfortable walking around your television. It’s easy to believe they really exist so you grow very close to them very quickly.
The last few episodes turn melodramatic, but otherwise it’s a feel great romantic comedy worth checking out. This drama also made it to my Best Kisses of All Time list.
Overall Rating 9/10 – Don’t Fall In Love With Your Shrink Unless You Are In A K-Drama.
Our main male lead is an independent contractor who lives alone in a massive warehouse (massively cool warehouse) and dreams of one day escaping to an island paradise. He is known by the codename HEALER. And he looks very good in black. Ji Chang-Wook is a star for a reason. He shines in everything.
Our main female lead is a young street reporter who works for an online news source and dreams of being a more successful reporter. Her father is a coffee shop owner/criminal lawyer. Many of the criminals he helped in his long career have now become his employees and act as an extended family for our young heroine. Needless to say, it can be pretty cushy to have the support of such a clan. And it’s ripe for comedy gold.
Our second male lead is a seasoned reporter, well established and celebrated for his work. He has been looking for the whereabouts of a “child” for many years, who was adopted. She’d be about the same age as our lead female… coincidence? Cough, cough.
Outstanding Supporting Cast all around, without exception. Everyone is great in this.
There is action, there is intrigue, there are complicated but exciting plotlines with many twists and turns. We’ve got people under cover and double agents and secret identities and mysteries of the past mixing up with mysteries in the present. There’s breaking and entering, there’s cyber crime, there’s lots of insanely good choreographed fights. Did I mention murder? Revenge? Childhood ninja training?
The production value is top notch. The music is great. It’s a fun, fun, funnnnnnnn show. There’s also a nice romance and plenty of satisfying flirtations and longing stares to keep your heart racing with the action.
Every single episode is quality. Too good for a major review with spoilers – just watch it. Watch it. Watch it, watch it, watch it!
Jaime the Drama Noona recommended PUCK! starring Lee Kwang-Soo and I’m glad she did. Some K-Dramas just make you feel better about yourself. For example, this K-Drama made me feel better about how crap my finances are… and my mismanagement of them. Apparently I am not alone in the world of hopeless debt and broken dreams. This was strangely comforting to me. It also made me feel better about how lonely I am and how difficult it is to connect to people, but that’s a tale to be saved for my shrink.
PUCK! is the story of a loan shark… or rather, an “enforcer” who works for a loan shark. You know, the guy sent to beat you up and scream “Where’s My Money?!” That guy. It’s actually great casting for him. He’s a big dude. This is the first time I’ve seen him play someone openly hostile. I’ve seen him fall in love and sob-snot-cry and be adorable and funny and lovable. I have not seen him throw someone down a flight of stairs before, however, so let’s just say this little show let Lee Kwang-Soo stretch his legs a bit.
The plot didn’t interest me at all. I didn’t care one bit whether or not the good-hearted hockey underdogs ever won a game. I didn’t care that Lee Kwang-Soo magically mastered some impressive ice skating abilities in… what? One day? The time line of this show was rather ambiguous but however long it was, it wasn’t long enough. Anyways, it doesn’t matter. None of it mattered. This was more of a character study than anything else: A brief glimpse into the psychological life of what is usually a cliche one dimensional character, the loan shark. It’s like when a random storm trooper took their helmet off in The Force Awakens and suddenly there was a character there instead of a blank slate.
So, it’s basically about this horribly depressed and hopeless loan shark lacky. And the things he has to do. And the toll it takes on him. Whether or not you considered this little show to have a happy ending or not depends on what you were focusing on. I thought it had one of the most devastatingly sad endings of all time. And I liked it. It was different. It was short. It was nice to have Lee Kwang-Soo as the main character and the handsome boys play the second leads for one. The bleak focus on poverty, the precarious financial stability of the average person, and the desperation it can create really worked for this little show. It reminded me, in a way, of What Happened in Bali… where Ha Ji-Won was basically ruined by her dire financial circumstances.
So check it out. To take a break from the longer dramas. To enjoy Lee Kwang-Soo. To explore the dynamics of loan sharks. To watch some unbelievable hockey. There’s more than one reason you might enjoy this show…
Scarlet Heart Ryeo… can we just give you an award for having one of the sexiest ensemble casts in history? I mean… good Lord… that’s a lot of handsome devils in one show.
I don’t want to over-review this drama because it’s better to just watch it unfold. So I’m gonna keep this short. Well… short for me.
The first 8-10 episodes of this show were solid.
They were sweepingly romantic, filled with tense political intrigue, familial love and hate, and suppressed emotions. All the sexy brothers and in-house fighting. All the playing and flirting! The love triangles! The rescues! The bickering and jealousy and shenanigans! I loved it so much.
But Do Not Be Fooled! These gorgeous achingly beautiful people and their full hearts are only bait to lure you in to one of the most tragic, depressing dramas of all time!
Moon Lovers is a romantic dream… until it gets serious… and bloody… and depressing as hell… as will happen when you base your drama on the sons of King Taejo, founder of Goryeo. But strap in – cause as far as melodramas go, this is top tier. Death by a thousand cuts! You will bleed out slowly as this drama consumes you body and soul.
No one is going to have a good time. NO ONE. It’s brutal.
This show has some of the best villains, which are really essential to a good melodrama. Just… cruel people. Some are genuinely evil, but most of them have very human motivations for the things they do. Jealousy. Being misguided by the people they trust most. Familial devotion. The best villains are the ones that kinda make your heart break, after all.
Behind the scenes footage of our villain (in orange) played by Hong Jong Hyun, who can seduce me to the dark side any time he wants to.
Anyways, it’ll end in tears. Your tears, specifically. You have been warned.
Though it’s a time travel story, you’d never really know it. The female lead, our time traveler from the future, doesn’t do much other than start out a little hellion rule breaker and before she slowly, sadly, adjusts to the past and all the impossible restrictions and repressions it affords its people, especially of the female gender. The modern woman was literally beaten out of her, as she went from defiant and interesting to suspicious and fearful.
Honestly, I suppose that’s realistic. Goryeo is not exactly on the top of the list for a modern time traveler, even one lucky enough to jump into the life of a privileged person living comfortably in the palace.
I really like Lee Joon-Gi. His anime boy bangs in this show were really working for him, too.
Lee Joon-Gi career is almost all wins. He has a cute devious smile and gives us some of the firmer K-Drama kisses on the market. He was well-cast as the tormented 4th prince destined to ascend to the throne via murder and betrayals. Other than Yoo Ah In from Six Flying Dragons, I’d say he’s one of the best portrayals of the fourth son of King Taejo. Plus he just looks sexy as hell in all black.
Lee Ji-Eun was unknown to me before this show, but delivered a convincingly cute duck out of water, with her beautiful face and her beauty industry skills. Then she basically just had to look sad and miserable most of the show, which she delivered on. But damn, I missed the plucky gal from the start of the show so much… it was Empress Ki all over again.
Confession Time: I did not like this drama the first time I watched it. I know, right?
But it’s one of those shows that kept calling me back… and I liked it more and more every time I watched it. I think the more K-Dramas I watched, the more I realized I had a unquenchable craving for melodramas… and tend to repeatedly watch any story that is soaked in tears and blood.
This is me. 😉
Now, it’s safe to say Scarlet Heart Ryeo is one of my favorites.
When I read what this drama was about, I was worried. I can’t think of one movie or show that actually dealt with weight issues or weight loss in a way that wasn’t 100% fat shaming, other than Bridget Jones. Especially considering the Korean obsession with perfection seems to mirror our own in America. But… I absolutely love the two leads. Is anyone cuter than Shin Min-A and So Ji-Sub? So I took the risk and settled down for Episode 1 fully expecting to be disgusted, annoyed, outraged or offended. But none of those things happened. Sure, the overweight girl wasn’t terribly overweight… but that wasn’t the plot. This show wasn’t about morbid obesity, it wasn’t about societal stigmas or culture wars, and it wasn’t about the deeper philosophies of aesthetics. It was about a beauty who had let herself go, the pressure of school, of work, of a stagnant relationship taking its toll on her physical and mental well being. Yet she persisted on, pushed forward with as much optimism and confidence as she could muster – even as her world broke down around her. It was a standard rom com.
To say I was charmed immediately is an understatement.
This show is sweet, light on the serious drama, and aimed to please. It hits the bullseye. It’s a fluffy romantic comedy with just enough conflict to throw our main characters together and make it deeply satisfying when they both fall head over heels in love. It’s a big “Awwwww” moment in K-drama form.
Overall Rating: 8.5/10.
So, how did a show about weight loss manage to overcome all the usual hurdles and actually be a sincerely adorable romance? Let’s discuss…
Every once in a while a drama pops up with a premise so outside the box that you can’t help but love it. Even if it gets caught up in twists and turns and makes a big messy knot of its own plotline. Even if describing it to friends makes you tongue tied. Even if just trying to REMEMBER all the random turns and sharp angles and unexpected twists makes you feel crazy. Even if you could have chopped off the last five episodes and not missed anything. You forgive it. Cause… wow. The plot! The amazing, spectacular plot!
W Two Worlds is a story about a hero. A hero the likes of which only exist in our fantasies. In comic books. In graphic novels. In Korean Dramas….
This drama is full of action and adventure. It’s a mystery. It’s a thriller. It’s a science fiction show. It’s a dark fantasy and a fairy tale mixed together in a blender. It’s all over the place! And it’s fun. It’s really, really fun… cause honestly, there is NO WAY you will guess what’s going to come next. From episode to episode. It just keeps changing shape, changing genre, changing our expectations. It’s a glorious chameleon of superb and complicated writing, solid acting, and no holds barred imagination.
Our hero is the star of this show (in the general sense and in the meta sense). He’s an Olympic sharp shooter. He’s orphaned by an unspeakable crime that he’s framed for. He’s a man on a quest for vengeance. And he’s inexplicably wealthy, young, and attractive. Basic hero formula.
Only he’s NOT REAL.
He is the creation of a writer in another dimension. He is the main character in a graphic novel. The world he lives in exists for him and because of him. And his story line is about to come to an end… the writer is finishing the series and finishing off our hero with it.
But our hero is not ready to be put down!
Remember that old video to Take On Me by Ah Ha?
Rating: 8/10. A twisted, convoluted, extraordinarily fun show that proves reality is what you make it… and what it makes you.
Let’s Discuss! SPOILERS AHEAD… but not very many….
Sinking in the Swamp of Sadness – Review – I Miss You
Well, this drama was a big ball of bawling. If you made a drinking game involving how often the characters broke down into hysterical tears, you’d be drunk off your ass before the end of episode two, possibly a danger to yourself and others by episode four and definitely dead from alcohol poisoning by episode six. Meanwhile, the show would keep crying without you, pouring booze on your fresh grave until the very end of the drama. Now we know how Artax felt.
Ironically, the saving grace of this show wasn’t the excessive sadness. The lighthearted moments, the sentimentality, and the stellar cast managed to pull what would otherwise be a huge disaster up onto the shore – leaving a mangled but otherwise recognizable ship of Korean melodrama. Thus it manages to be decent. Not great, not even good… but watchable. If you’re in the mood.
Overall Rating: 5/10.
Glass Half Empty or Glass Half Full? Let us discuss….
Iris & Athena. Two BIG-BIG budget action shows. They even forked out for helicopters. You’d think that would be awesome, right? Koreans running around in black tank tops or tailored suits carrying firearms? Elaborately choreographed fight scenes reminiscent of kung fu movies? Big explosions? Improbable escapes from improbable situations? Porcelain and plate glass breaking apart like candy? International spies and exotic locations?
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