I learned after my first two reviews to wait a month or two after I watched the last episode before reviewing something. Sometimes there is something better out there and I just don’t know it or the show isn’t as bad or as good as I thought it was after the end. That said, I’m glad I’m reviewing this after some distance. On the surface, Her Private Life is a fabulous piece of fluff…..digging deeper, well, its just that…..more candy, not exactly healthy but okay in controlled doses.

STORY:
This is the story of Duk Mi (played by Park Min Young) who is a fangirl (like a rabid fan – and a little too much like me). She just idolizes Cha Shi An, nicely done by One. She also has a real job curating an art gallery. Queue ornery but very breathtaking new director, Ryan Gold played by Kim Jae Wook (way to beautiful for comfort). It isn’t long before he realizes something is up with Duk Mi and well it all spirals out of control in a nice cotton candy flow-y way.

CHARACTERS:
Two leads aside, I liked the supporting characters a lot. Also, Duk Mi plays this part very similar to how she does in Secretary Kim so I’m concerned she might be a one note wonder. I haven’t seen Kim Jae Wook in anything else yet, but I plan to. Their romance is a little textbook but entertaining. The storyline of Duk Mi becoming an emotional support for Ryan Gold is touching and removes some of the cliché-like taint from the story.

Duk Mi’s friend’s Eun Gi and Seon Joo are good for some laughs (I do like Park Jin Joo’s Lee Seon Joo the very best). The co-workers including Cindy (fellow celebrity stalker) are interesting and Cindy’s mother is so out of control, its like watching a car accident. I admit I found Cha Shi An endearing and sweet and hoped he’d have more visibility in the show or at least at the end, perhaps a concert or something. I was a little frustrated his character never found out the identity of the fan (it was Duk Mi). That would have been nice to see his reaction to realize he knew her, but….it wasn’t necessary to carry the story to the ending.

MUSIC:
The music wasn’t bad but forgettable. Truly, I can’t remember one song about this show, but I wasn’t annoyed by it. I don’t make a habit to download songs but over the summer I found a few shows with music now firmly planted in my playlists. (Is that a good thing or a bad thing?)

RECAP:
Park Min Young, like Secretary Kim, has fabulous hair and costumes. I want fabulous hair and costumes!! I will say that considering her last two shows were with Kim Jae Wook and Park Seo Joon, she must be the luckiest actress in all Asia. I’ll admit that I want to watch all her movies just for the leading men.

If you are looking for earth shattering, scenes that make you want to scream or cry, political intrigue, or high art, please don’t watch this show. Her Private Life is something lighthearted and friendly that you can detox with when watching too many c-dramas. When your done watching, I promise, you’ll be smiling….however, also ready to move on.

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What I have learned about Taiwanese dramas so far as they are great on female characterization but still a little “meh” on execution. The same is true with The Wonder Woman. By far the females in the show are the most interesting part and there are even some “oppa” worthy males. Alas, that’s all it is. Good female characters with a bland story.

STORY:
Du Aisha is a tough no nonsense business woman who will do a lot (but not everything) to be successful. Her mother and brothers are an emotional mess and her father abandoned her when she was a child. Yi Fei Yang is a rich business man running a competing company who wants Du Aisha’s company and her expertise on his team. His own family is quite dysfunctional as well, with his father and mother married but pretending to be invalid and caretaker rather than husband and wife.

Each have a group of family, friends, and co-workers that may or may not want the best for the two and their prospective companies. Standard corporate hijinks ensue and oh yeah, they fall in love (betcha didn’t see that one coming).

CHARACTERS:
Aviis Zhong does a fabulous job of creating a tough but loveable Du Aisha with just the right amount of strength and enough vulnerability to make her appealing watch. Wes Lo’s Yi Feiyang is playful and fun and loyal, and I loved the dichotomy between the two played out on screen. Du Aisha isn’t mean, just gruff and Yi Feiyang isn’t weak, just flexible. A match made in heaven. There wasn’t riveting chemistry between the two but wasn’t it off putting.

Jack Li and Lan Zhang play the 2nd leads and their chemistry certainly never manifested on screen. Perhaps it was because I found Ye Xuan (Jack Li) to be a weak and almost whiny character. Xiao An was big time whiner almost to the point of off putting. She was saved from being completely forgettable with her short foray on the dark side during the last few episodes.

The other characters were interesting from Demi Yin’s Wen Jing Jing, the conflicted business manager to Steven played by Ckay. Both showed more depth and conflict even though the writing didn’t give them a lot to work with. I thought they were complicated and interesting. Qi Zhen Kai played by Gabriel Lan was a decent bad guy, but I would have liked a little more of a life lesson taught to Vicky and Du Nan Cheng (Du Aisha’s brother). Both of which weren’t bad, necessarily, but sure were obnoxious and needed a good spanking.

SOUNDTRACK:
If I can’t remember a single song, its not a great soundtrack, but it also means that there wasn’t an annoying repeating song. So again, “meh”.

RE-WATCH VALUE:
Well, I’m not planning on re-watching this anytime soon. It was entertaining, just not enough to watch over and over and over (PS. I have a list if you’re interested).

OVERALL:
The Wonder Woman is a great show for female characters…..its just that, other than Du Aisha, they just don’t get to really shine as they could, given the dialogue and episodes (focusing more on them and less on Yi Fei Yang and his strange parentage). Watch it if you need to calm down from binge watching one of those shows that you just can’t let go of (ie. Ashes of Love, The Untamed, Goblin, Hotel Del Luna, etc).

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Let me preface my review with the fact I’m new to Korean Dramas. This is my second one completed, and I loved the show and everyone who was in it. I read the other reviews, some not liking the romance, some not liking hair styles, and some not liking the ending (valid concern). Because I watch this with subtitles, watching the series only once doesn’t work. I watched this all the way through twice and recommend that to anyone who is watching this with subtitles.

Hae-Jin Park did a superb job as the undercover agent “Kim Seol-woo” and might I add, his facial expressions are priceless, and the very reason to watch it twice. I found his performance funny, touching, and believable. He not only is easy on the eyes but has a fabulous range as an actor. I’ve looked for other shows with him in it, hoping to find the same magic.

Sung-woong Park was wonderful as the second lead “Un-gwang” and made it impossible for me to hate him. At first, he appears as a prima donna but soon shows his heartwarming side and was a perfect foil for the HJP character with their “bromance.”

It doesn’t matter what anyone else says, Min-Jung Kim did a fantastic job as Do-ha. Before you complain about her hair or personality, realize she is the personification of a normal every day woman. I loved that she wasn’t overly made up or her character was a smooth operator. I was able to enjoy her more because she was more like me, a boring normal person. Watching that type of character interact with an entire cast of characters that were so far from normal was fun and a perfect piece of escapist television.

The bad guys were awesomely bad. The good guys were quirky and just enough bad that it is hard to tell who is bad and who is good at times. The side characters are funny, and I was never bored, even the second time through. Here is the spoiler. The last episode was fine until the last five minutes. It just didn’t give me the satisfaction of seeing the story resolved. Its almost as if the writers wanted me to make up my own ending. While my imagination is that expansive, I would have liked to see it play out between the three main characters on the screen instead of in my head.

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Warning: You won’t like my review if you haven’t read the book

Last year my love for Guardian and The Untamed led me to find Priest and MXTX. Both are excellent writers with a fabulous sense of character and world building. Is it any wonder that I’ve read more of their books? For MXTX I like Heaven’s Official Blessing best and I am anxiously waiting for the release of season 2 of the animation series. Priest….she’s a goddess of the genre and I love her books (yes…I wrote a whole article about her). I was excited for Word of Honor (based on Priest’s Faraway Wanderers).

This book wasn’t my favorite of Priest’s and neither were Zhou ZiShu and Wen KeXing my favorite characters. What I did like about the book was that these two nasty, morally grey characters joined forces to do some good and right some wrongs. Word of Honor started out the same way. Two not so upright and forthright characters join forces to right those wrongs. It was exciting to watch the very sketchy Wen KeXing and all the viciousness…..just like the book! And Zhou ZiShu was the pretty assassin from the very first scene…..LOVED IT!

The introduction of the characters of Gu Xiang, Cao Wei Ning, and Cheng Ling was just perfect. Zhou Ye, Asher Ma, and Sun Xi Lun played them just like I pictured them in the book……..thank you. Ye Bai Yi’s story line was different than the book, but I got the same feeling from Huang You Ming’s performance (he must have read the book too). The Scorpion King was actually more sympathetic in Word of Honor than the book and I actually liked it. Truth be told, Li Dai Kun’s portrayal of the Scorpion King was rather compelling and towards the end, my favorite part of the show…..even though it wasn’t true to the book.

This is where my good feelings about Word of Honor ends. I understand Chinese censorship (wrote an article on it) and I get what they can and can not show on TV. Since I’ve read the book, I also know that pretty much the entire book can be televised in mainland China with the exception of some of the things the Scorpion King does and the final bit of the book detailing the type of relationship the two main characters have and how Wen KeXing came to be in the ghost realm. In fact, in Word of Honor, Wen KeXing says and does a lot of things I didn’t think would get past censors.

So why why why why why did they have to whitewash Zhou ZiShu like they did? Does censorship include not having characters with a history of bad deeds? Isn’t that Wei Ying in The Untamed? Maybe he was toned down a bit in the end compared to the book but why Zhou ZiShu? He went from being the very hot morally ambiguous man to a Boy Scout and long before the end of the show. It happened right there, in the middle……gone was the vague good guy who’s only difference between him and the bad guy was his refusal to seek power and instead seek a comfortable life for his last days. By episode 24, he had ceased being Zhou ZiShu as written by Priest and became someone else……I blame the screen writer for this.

Zhang Zhe Han and Simon Gong were phenomenal as the leads and at no point did I question the type of relationship they had from the moment they started traveling together. The flirting, the looks, the body language……MUCH MUCH more overt than any other c-drama I’ve ever seen. And don’t get me started on their portrayal of Lord Seventh and Wuxi…..completely did away with their relevance and their purpose……I hated that because I LOVE THE BOOK ABOUT LORD SEVENTH!!!

However, I won’t be giving this the highest marks….because how far it strayed from the book. Please know this was a wonderful show (not as good as The Untamed if you’re interested in the comparison). Watch for the fun of it, but if you’re looking for the real Faraway Wanderers………..you’ll only find that in the book.

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I’ve avoided doing less than complimentary reviews until now. So watch Black for Song Seung Heon and enjoy, but if you want to watch it for any other reason, you will only be sadly disappointed (well except for the two other grim reapers).

STORY:
I’m avoiding spoilers (mainly because its just not that interesting) so here it is in a nutshell. An inept policeman gets killed in the line of duty and at the same time a grim reaper #444 has lost one of his charges who has taken over the dead body of a human. Needless to say the grim reaper takes over the body of the police officer and becomes Black (Song Seung Heon) looking for the missing charge and also solving the murder of the police officer with the help of Ha Ram and a strangely inept police force.

CHARACTERS:
Black is a very complicated character that encompasses about three or four characters with a back story. I’ll admit at one point, I got lost as to why and how, but it didn’t matter because Song Seung Heon dragged me right along with him and I’ll admit, he was riveting. I’ve watched two other shows with him in it just because it was Song Seung Heon. Both sucked and now Black…..this man has deplorable taste in shows which is too bad because he is a powerful screen presence.

My mother told me that if I don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. So I will say this, if Go Ah Ra wanted Kang Ha Ram to be an irritating, ridiculous, sad character that I just couldn’t wait to die, then she did an extraordinary job. Sadly, her character did not die soon enough for my taste.

Lee El did alright as the second female lead but her character was another one, I was hoping a grim reaper came to take her away. Please note that I think this must have been the writing because she played one of my favorite characters in Goblin, so it wasn’t the acting.

The rest were so so but not really engaging. The best characters were Black’s grim reaper friends played by Jo Jae Yoon and Lee Gyu Bok. They were funny and interesting when everyone else was “meh.”

MUSIC:
I have absolutely no clue other than to say it wasn’t memorable enough to stick in my head but certainly not as entertaining as other soundtracks.

OVERALL:
Watch this for Song Seung Heon but don’t have high expectations. Also, see what awesome actors Lee El and Kim Won Hae are because you will see how well they did with such boring material (and you will appreciate Goblin and Strong Woman Do Bong Soon even more)

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I have yet to find a non-historical C-drama that keeps me on the edge of seat as the wuxia-based ones, and Meteor Garden is no exception. That said, (and others will disagree with me) I liked it better than Boys Over Flowers which I could not finish. I believe (not quite sure) that the story is based on the Japanese story (who have their own version) called Hana Yori Dango and I plan to watch that one in the future. After completing the show, I took a week before writing the review, to ensure I looked at it with impartial eyes (no emotion involved here, folks).

STORY:
Shan Cai, fabulously done by Shen Yue, comes from a poor family and is able to attend a prestigious university. Unfortunately for her, she has a run in with F4, a group of the richest most popular boys on campus. Hijinks ensue. The leader of F4, Dao Ming Si, played very nicely by Dylan Wang, decides that Shan Cai deserves a smack down and begins plotting against her and (no surprise here) he falls in love with her by episode 5. Don’t worry….its not that easy. She doesn’t want anything to do with the bully and when she finally does, his mother protests and not in a good way and all of that unfolds over the next 44 episodes.

The story does touch on some touchy but not unwelcome subjects such as bullying, sexual harassment, anger management, and emotional immaturity. Where I thought this show excelled was addressing these subjects without making anyone out to be an evil villain….after all that’s reality right? Humans are fallible, and this show illustrates that very well. Like many c-dramas, the middle dragged (I admit I skipped about 5 episodes) but it picked right back up and became more engaging.

CHARACTERS:
Truth be told, I hated the two main characters until sometime around episode thirty-something (ok. I hated Shan Cai longer than I hated Si). That said, the characters were really well flushed out….because they made me feel something the entire show, even if it was loathing. These two leads were the most immature characters in the entire show and that is why it worked. It was almost as if all the other characters were a crucible to forge Shan Cai and Si into better human beings.

There was a sweet story-line between Shan Cai and Hua Ze Lei, well done by Darren Chen, Si’s best friend and another member of F4. He is the second male lead and a calming presence on the screen when Shan Cai and Si get overly emotional (and they do…a lot). I know it was intended to be a love triangle, but it was well done and entertaining as well as touching.

The best character, BY FAR, in the show was Dao Ming Zhuang played by Dee Hsu. She brought the real emotion to the scenes whether it be tears or laughter, she had me riveted….and yes, I wish they had used her more. The rest of the characters were well flushed out and less volatile than the two leads (it was a relief). Dae Ming Feng is another villain that the writers wanted me to like in the end….sorry, didn’t work for me.

MUSIC:
Last night I downloaded the River song used in the show….love it (It’s the Bishop Briggs version). The songs were mainly sung by the members of F4 and they were catchy and not annoying, but I didn’t download them. Thankfully, the music added to the scenes.

RECAP:
Meteor Garden is worth watching but don’t expect a binge worthy show that leaves you all white knuckled and out of breath. The actors all did so well, I am looking for other shows they are in. The entire 49 episodes were entertaining although, I might need someone to explain the last episode. It almost felt like a hallucination.

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I am not sure where to begin. To start, if you like fantasy, love, loyalty, family dynamics, action, suspense, adventure, mythology, megalomaniacs, or psychopath’s, you should watch The Untamed. If you slow paced action, simplistic story lines, or two-dimensional characters, you might want to look elsewhere. The Untamed is a complicated action packed romp of Wuxia that will leave you in tears and begging for more.

STORY: This show is about Wei Wuxian, an orphan who grows up in the Yunmeng Jian Sec as a brother with the sect leader’s children. This is based off of the book Mo Dao Zu Shi and due to censors, some parts of the book are not included but there is no mistaking, the main relationship in the show is between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, the second son in the Gusu Lan sect. What plays out on the screen is so incredibly beautiful and poignant, it is breathtaking. The two spend their time fighting for justice and truth and a clear conscience. The genius of the show is the very first episode starts in the middle of the story of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. When you meet Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, and Jiang Cheng in the very first scene, it becomes a tantalizing bait to ensure the unsuspecting audience just keeps on watching.

CHARACTERS:
Wei Wuxian is played by Sean Xiao just masterfully. He is just the right amount of playful, intense, loving, and flirty; a perfect foil to Wang Yibo’s version of Lan Wangji. These two just have chemistry in spades and it is probably the most entertaining couple I’ve had the pleasure of watching in a long time. But it doesn’t stop there. I read an article recently that said that Lan Wangji was a bit wooden, but I disagree. He had to be the polar opposite of Wei Wuxan and Wang Yibo did an INCREDIBLE job pulling off such an interesting character. He spoke so much with his eyes, that he must have practiced for weeks to get them just right.

The characters grow exponentially with Wei Wuxian’s two siblings, the loving Yanli (Lulu Xuan) and the combative but family-oriented Jiang Cheng (Marius Wang). There are the Wen siblings of Qing and Ning (Zoey Meng and Paul Yu) and several other family groups of various dysfunctional dynamics. Add a few psychopath bad guys, some weird monsters, a token female or two, and you’ve got yourself a cast that delivers large amounts of fun and excitement for 50 jam packed episodes.

I held off watching this show for almost a year (I prefer binge watching to waiting for things to come out). I’m also not a big fan of playing a favorite, but there is a reason why this was one of the most popular c-dramas in 2019. Truth be told, the only reason I’m not giving it a 10 is because of the lack of well-developed female characters. Outside of that flaw, this show is 100% perfection from the vicious sword fighting to the bunny metaphor (you’ll love it……I promise).

MUSIC:
Within one week of starting this show, I downloaded all of Lin Hai’s soundtrack for The Untamed and the duet sung between Xean Xiao and Wang Yibo. I have not been moved by a soundtrack so much since my last John Williams download. Certainly, this is one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard for any drama. If you like good music, you can always watch the show just for all the awesome flute and zither pieces (and every time you hear the songs, they remind you of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji…..sigh).

RE-WATCH VALUE:
As I write this, I’m on the 3rd time through watching. I’m still addicted. Hopefully, there is a cure and I can move on to finish Eternal Love of Dream soon or anything else for that matter. So re-watch at your own discretion and if you are addicted like me…..well, you can’t say that I didn’t warn you.

OVERALL:
The Untamed is just perfect. Its more than a love story, more than adventure, and more than I can describe in just one review (so I’ll write an article or two later on). I tried to avoid spoilers in this review but if any of you are hesitating the only thing off putting in the show might be the violence (it gets a little bloody in spots and I have to admit there was a few things I didn’t think I’d see on TV like cutting off of tongues and branding). If you have some time and tissues (I cried), then snuggle up and watch The Untamed.

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Can I just say that so far, I have loved everything the Hong sisters write? This show is no exception. I believe these two women really excel at character development through action and dialogue. The Master’s Sun is no exception. It is all about the characters or at least in the case of this show, its all about the main characters.

STORY:
The story is fairly simple, poor Tae Gong Shil (well done by Gong Hyo Jin) sees ghosts and that makes her life miserable. On a fateful rainy night, the driver of a car picks up Tae Gong Shil who is waving from the side of the road; even though the passenger tells him to drive on. Tae Gong Shil climbs into the back with Joo Joong Won, the CEO of Kingdom (delicious performance from So Ji Sub). From the moment she touches him she realizes the physical touch from Joo Joong Won blocks her ability to see ghosts and soon after that she just can’t get enough of physical time with CEO Joo……yeah……me either. He was a fun character……and very easy on the eyes.

Like all good shows, they start to form a strange relationship fraught with ghosts, jealous rivals, a childhood kidnapping, and a few not very nice people. Will they fall in love? Sounds inevitable to me.

CHARACTERS:
The best character by far is Tae Gong Shil, she has so many conflicting facets to her character that we can’t help but be captivated. At first I didn’t think the character of Joo Joong Won was keeping up but come episode 10…..wow, he practically burst on the screen all over again and became so much more fun and multi-dimensional. Both these characters kept me on my toes the entire show. The other supporting characters did a great job but, in the end, when one of these two were on the screen, that is all you see.

MUSIC:
The music wasn’t very memorable except the song Touch Love, I am considering downloading it as it was pretty cool. The rest didn’t detract from the story but didn’t add much as well.

REWATCH:
Please watch it again just to see if the characters are as interesting the second time around. I just can’t stop thinking about Tae Gong Shil and Joo Jong Won. There are many words to describe them, frustrating, lively, infuriating, good-looking, funny, but NOT boring.

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If you are looking for the same old formulaic television show that holds no surprises, no conflict, and a nice tame romantic relationship, this show is NOT for you. Ashes of Love engenders such emotions in me that I had to write two very long articles to exercise those ghosts left behind after I completed the show. Those contain spoilers and can be reviewed if you want to get more detail. For this review, I’ll be brief.

STORYLINE: Jin Mi is a grape fairy that saves Xu Feng (well not so much saves as doesn’t eat him like she plans) then he takes her where he lives to experience real life. Wow. Does she experience real life in spades. Lots of funny scenes, sad scenes, frustrating scenes, cool scenes…..lather, rinse, repeat. Jin Mi already has friends in Rou Rou (who is dead…sort of) and Mr. Puchi (not dead) then meets more with her trip to the heavenly realm like Moon Immortal, Run Yu (Night Immortal), and Liu Ying who fill her life with all kinds of adventures.

Jin Mi is a bit emotionally handicapped due to some unfortunate medication given to her at birth by her mother. Xu Feng is a bit in love with Jin Mi almost from the beginning and sadly, so is Run Yu. I’m not sure if Mr. Puchi is in love with her, but he’s a fun character just the same.

CHARACTERS: As I wrote in my article, these characters from top to bottom are fun, entertaining, sad, depressing, frustrating, and annoying. In short, you won’t be bored with a single one of them, even the wacky Moon Immortal and his strange red strings.

MUSIC: The music was nice and I do enjoy the YouTube videos online using those same songs. The battle scene could have had more ominous music, but that was spoiled again by YouTube as a fan of the show posted a much better version musically.

I still like Eternal Love more than this show, mainly because of Mark Chao (sigh…..) but this C-drama had to be the most incredible experience as I watched every character just sparkle on the screen. I found every single performance stellar. Leo Luo as Run Yu, INSANELY GOOD (could talk about his performance for hours) and Yang Zi and Deng Lun, I give them a standing ovation for portraying such an epic love story.

If you have a heart condition, I don’t recommend binge watching this show. I did for the last 10 episodes and it took 24 hours to calm down.

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Depressing subject but Masterfully Executed

This is the first drama I’ve watched that I would term “important”. Tomorrow is important. It is an episodic drama based around the subject of suicide. It is sad, I won’t lie. The Korean War veteran episode had me crying ten minutes in until the very end……sobbing.

The story follows Choi Joon Woong, played by Rowoon, who in doing a good deed, ends up in a coma and the new volunteer with the Grim Reapers Crisis Management Team. The team consists of Goo Ryun and Im Ryung Goo portrayed brilliantly by Kim Hee Sun and Yun Ji On. Those two were amazing and their back stories destroyed me.

Lee Soo Hyuk is the conflicted Grim Reaper Park Joong Gil and Kim Hae Sook plays the head honcho, Jade Emperor. Again, amazing amazing amazing. I was never bored when either of these characters were on the screen. Park Joong Gil definitely is a character we can love to hate then love again.

Each episode is a new character pushed to the brink of suicide. Each story is relatable and painful. They do have comic relief in each show so the viewer doesn’t need medication to survive the show.

In the first episode, the Jade Emperor advises the Grim Reapers that South Korea’s suicide rate is extremely high. Actually, it is very high. For a country with the resources it has, it is rather surprising. This show calls attention to some of the reasons behind that ridiculously high rate. THIS IS WHY TOMORROW IS IMPORTANT.

And if you need some eye candy, all the grim reapers are just plain…..pretty.

The soundtrack is well done. The story was well done. The acting was well done. I will NEVER watch this show again.

Really, please watch it. One episode a week should work. I managed once every 2 or so days. There are many that would benefit from watching this show and I have never said this about a drama……ever.

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Quirky but NO Kissing Scenes - Dang it

I love the idea of bad things being cute jelly like creatures rather than scary monsters. The School Nurse Files promised to be just that. Strangely enough, The School Nurse Files also managed to make jelly like creatures be very far away from cute and instead are gross and scary so it goes to show….a little production money spent on special effects is worth it……you can turn gummy bears into monsters.

STORY:
Ahn Eun Young is a school nurse that has been able to see ghosts and jellies (manifested in weird colorful gelatinous-like creatures) all her life – especially since the death of her mother. She works at a very strange high school that appears to be overrun by these jellies and so she is never bored. She meets Hong In Pyo a Chinese teacher (teacher of Chinese not a character from China). He has an aura she is attracted too and the two pair up to fight the jellies….and a bad guy or two.

CHARACTERS:
Nurse Ahn is a very well-done character. I actually feel sorry for her throughout the show because its as if she doesn’t want to have to see ghosts and jellies, she just does and feels compelled to rid the world of the bad creatures.
Hong In Pyo appears to like Nurse Ahn (although I never saw that she reciprocated – dang it). He also wants to help her make the school a more normal place.

The two seem to collect students along the way helping them. These students then are in on the secret that they are fighting the bad things. The high school students were actually quite interesting but with only 6 episodes, not too much story on them.

MUSIC:
The music is considerably creepy which works well with the story, but I’m not interested in downloading a single song. Truthfully, the music just freaked me out…..very chilling.

REWATCH:
I am not a horror-genre loving person and the jellies were just a bit to gross for my tastes (especially the character brought in to take care of the mites) but if you like horror or really strange creatures, this could be something to watch over and over. Me….not so much.

OVERALL:
If there will be a season 2 (only 6 episodes in season 1), then I’d watch it, but only if they promised me a little heat between Nurse Ahn and Teacher Hong…..dang it. It’s a great horror k-drama, and it showed the realism of school life with just enough ick that made me grateful that I was no longer high school age. Give it a try if you like this kind of thing but don’t expect any kissing or declarations of affection….dang it.

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Different from the Normal Cliched Drama

Mystic Pop-Up Bar or Ssang Gap Pocha is not your standard k-drama. In fact, it is just different enough, that I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to watch something out of the ordinary. It is the story of Wol Joo (well done by Hwang Jung Eum) and her tragic death five hundred years ago which means for the last five hundred years, she’s been working as a after-life employee helping people deal with their life long regrets through dreams.

STORY: Wol Joo is someone who can enter others dreams (even when she was alive and mortal 500 years ago. In the beginning, we see that she is called in to help the crown prince who appears to be in a coma because of some bad vibes. Because she’s young and pretty and so is he…..well, you know what happens. The resulting turmoil leads to Wol Joo committing a sin involving a spirit tree and a curse. Now 500 years later, she only has a few more people to help. She is aided by Chief Gwi and her friend the Sam Shin. She also finds a mortal (Han Kang Bae) who can help her and agrees to help him with his problem if he helps her with hers. I’d say more but then I’d be giving spoilers and frankly……you don’t want to know these spoilers ahead of time.

Its enough to know that Wol Joo is doing time as an afterlife government employee and over the next twelve episodes, she needs to complete her quota in order to save those she loves most. There is very little romance in the show, but I didn’t miss it (There is some….don’t worry). There is a good amount of comedy which made all the difference in the world!

CHARACTERS: Han Kang Bae played by Yook Sung Jae is actually the most fascinating character as the mortal who would love to give up his spiritual abilities and live a normal life. Is there anyone sweeter in this show? He’s nice, he’s caring, and all he wants is a family. A character such as him sometimes can be played too melodramatic making us pity him, instead I found myself cheering him on. Maybe its that super sweet smile of Yook Sung Jae, but I just loved his character and how selfless and loving he was. Watch the show just for him.

Choi Won Young plays Chief Gwi who is kind of goofy and a little mysterious. He’s also a civil servant that helps Wol Joo with her quest. We don’t find out the truth about him until much much later into the episodes (not that we didn’t see it coming). His story line is interesting, and his character is both funny and engaging with just enough enigmatic behavior to make me curious to keep watching and hoping he was who I thought he was. Okay…Watch the show just for him.

Wol Joo (great job by Hwang Jung Eum) was loud, funny, sad, strong, but NEVER whiny. Oh, how I love strong female characters and Wol Joo is up there as a strong female character. The more we watch her the more we see that Wol Joo has her heart in the right place and is willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING and I do mean everything for those she loves. This is my first show with Hwang Jung Eum in it and I will say, she’s got fabulous comic timing and I do love that she was able to be vulnerable without being weak. I have no patience for weak female characters. Now that I think about it….Watch this show just for her!

There is a whole cast of smaller characters including Jung Da Eun playing a young mortal and an old immortal (great job…by the way). Each enhance the story of the three main leads instead of taking from it. I especially enjoyed the friendship between Sam Shin and Wol Joo……again with those strong and interesting female relationships.
MUSIC: The music was good and enhanced the show. None of the songs stood out to me but its likely because there were only 12 episodes instead of the usual 16ish….barely enough time to really flesh out the characters let alone the music.

REWATCH VALUE: I haven’t re-watched it yet (because I’ve moved on to something else) but I will likely revisit Mystic Pop-Up Bar again. It’s a very interesting story that I wouldn’t mind viewing it again and again. Its doesn’t have me in the throws of obsession like some dramas (ahem…I’ve written many articles about those), but it was really well done.

OVERALL: Mystic Pop-Up Bar was a refreshing and new type of drama for me. It was a gripping story line that blended magic, mythology, and modern-day issues in a very entertaining way and I just loved all those fun characters. Heck! In the end…..I’d watch it again, just for all those enjoyable characters.

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If you don’t like shows that delve into fantasy (and I do) and obscenely beautiful broody males aren’t your cup of tea (as they are mine) and you don’t like k-dramas in general (I adore them), watch Legend of the Blue Sea anyway because Jun Ji Hyun is just such a talented comedic actress that I would watch anything she’s in….giggling endlessly watching her shenanigans.

STORY: This story is about a mermaid and a man (yep….story that has been around for hundreds…if not thousands of years in many cultures). There is an intriguing back story that goes right along with the current modern-day story that makes it all just a little more suspenseful and a little more fun to watch. And yes, the mermaid and the man meet and fall in love and do they have the happy Disney ending or the tragic fairy tale ending? Well I won’t give you a spoiler except to say, probably (yes, I’m being ambiguous)……just watch it…..okay?

CHARACTERS: The best character of all is the mermaid (Sim Chung) played by Jun Ji Hyun. She meets Heo Joon Jae in Spain and hilariously learns about being human and of course, he doesn’t know she’s a mermaid. I laughed out loud for the first ten episodes as she stays true to her mermaid self-dealing with the human world. From the moment Heo Joon Jae finds her in his closet wearing his hoodie eating his food, its just more fun than a barrel of monkeys. I can’t say enough good things about her performance. Just know that it isn’t all fun and games and when she gets serious or sad………wow, the audience follows her right down the emotional drain.

Heo Joon Jae is played by Lee Min Ho and he does a great job of creating an interesting character that is fun, serious, broody, and intelligent all at the same time. From the first moment he graces the screen as the town agent, we know there is more to Lee Min Ho than broody good looks. While he wasn’t as funny as Jun Ji Hyun, Lee Min Ho gave us two distinct characters that worked towards the same goal quite nicely.

The side characters were very very very well done. From Lee Hee Joon’s (is he a bad guy or good guy?) portrayal of Jo Nam Doo to Tae Ho’s (Shin Won Ho) and Cha Shi Ah’s (Shin Hye Sun) very strange relationship to the money grabbing Ahn Jin Joo (Moon So Ri)…..they are all very interesting, including the serial killer, and Heo Joon Jae’s very sad family situation. Not one character bored me. I would have loved to have seen more of little Yoon Ah and the very funny homeless woman (who actually does not have a name), but they wisely stopped at 20 episodes.

MUSIC: The music was enjoyable, but not killer…..whether or not the soundtrack is fabulous depends on if I buy one of the songs. None of the songs really stood out but were nicely used and not overly annoying.

RE-WATCH: I plan on re-watching but I wasn’t compelled to with episode 20…….lets face it….some shows you are just compelled to watch over and over and over. Legend of the Blue Sea is sweet and lovely, but once through might be enough.

OVERALL: If nothing else, watch this for Jun Ji Hyun. I thought she was funny in You Who Came from the Stars, but she was doubly hilarious in this show. This woman is not afraid to take on anything and sure has incredible timing, whether it be comedic or dramatic. I plan on watching everything she’s in because so far, she’s never disappointed me. Good News! Legend of the Blue Sea is entertaining. The characters are amusing and for twenty episodes, you keep biting your nails, asking the question…..Disney ending or Sad Fairy Tale ending?

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This K-drama was so full of heart (pun intended) that I watched it again, and the second time with my teen-age nieces and nephew. This is a story of a man who focuses his life on getting revenge before he dies of heart disease, instead he gets a heart transplant, and then he begins to change as a person. He falls in love, develop friendships, finds a purpose, and (dare we hope) a happy ending. Jung Hyung Ho plays Kang Min-Ho up to all kinds of corporate shenanigans to ensure the company his father built, and his uncle stole was destroyed. May I say that Jung Kyung Ho was hilarious and got funnier with each episode, seconded only by his trusty side-kick Woo-Sik. The trio of Min-Ho, Woo-Sik, and Ok Hyun were amusing as Captain Hook, Tinker Bell, and Wendy.

Yoon Hyun Min did very well as the friend turned not-so-nice guy and his story line of the progression from good to bad was believable. The budding relationship between Min-Ho and Soon-Jung was sweet and well played out. Still, most of the scenes were stolen by the funny comedic timing of Jung Hyung Ho. I hope to find another show with him playing such a well-rounded and entertaining character. The other supporting characters were well developed and well played in this upbeat K-drama. Please note that I prefer all bad guys eventually get punished for their misdeeds and this show did not disappoint in that regard.

The music and camera work enhanced the story and did not detract from it. I found little about this show to complain about as long as I’m a person easily entertained by lighthearted comedy and drama, and I am. If anyone reading this review prefers to watch a serious drama with lots of angst. This is show is not one for you. While there is a smattering of serious scenes, the majority of the show can only be described as moderately paced fun with interesting characters and witty dialogue (keep in mind my dialogue was subtitles). I love that there was a moral to the story, especially at the end. Please give me more K-dramas like this.

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Intelligent Drama on Love and Marriage

I gave it a few days before I wrote about this show, but my opinion hasn’t settled down yet. So here it goes. If you want something cute and fluffy…….this AIN’T it. If you want some comedy thrown in with some WAY TOO realistic drama……please watch Because This is my First Life.

STORY:
This is a story of 3 different couples and how they negotiate love and marriage and its very messy. Truly….that’s it. THAT is what this drama is about. The spoilers will now commence.

COUPLE #1: Yoon Ji Ho (played by Jung So Min) and Nam Se Hee (played by Lee Min Ki) are two people who need each other for convenience purposes. She needs a place to live and he needs a reliable room mate that will take care of his cat and the recycling (and not pee in his fridge – who does that? I can’t believe they put that in there). He hides all emotions behind logic and science because it hurts too much to feel (I can relate) and she can’t figure herself out and what she wants out of life despite being a smart and driven woman up until the 2nd episode (kinda ticked me off watching her get a little wimpy). They get married because his parents threatened him (even though he’s nearing 40, I guess that’s a thing in South Korea) and she doesn’t want to leave Seoul.

COUPLE#2: I hated these two more than anyone. Yang Ho Rang (played by Kim Ga Eun) and Shim Won Seok (Played by Kim Min Seok) have been dating for 7 years and living together for much of that time. She wants to get married and have kids and he doesn’t know what he wants, and he developed an unsaleable up that he’s been spending a lot of time trying to sell. (For someone so smart, he was way stupid on what is a good idea.) He is fighting marriage and she wants marriage……and they break up and get back together only to break up to get back together again….lather, rinse, repeat.

COUPLE#3: Woo Soo Ji (played by Lee Som) wants to be a CEO and never get married so she can care for her mother. Ma Sang Goo (played by Park Byung Eun) is a CEO and seems to be a player but ends up wanting to have a serious stable relationship with Soo Ji who fights him tooth and nail. She fears taking risks that might hurt her income because she is worried about her mother…..more confusion and sadness ensues.

This isn’t a bad show, I’m feeling a little sarcastic writing this review because it put me through the ringer. To be honest, I cried through episode 7 – 9 and sometimes out loud sobbing (how embarrassing). I’ve never cried so hard through any drama including Goblin and The Untamed. Why? Why did they need to do that to me? This is why I prefer fantasy or comedy shows instead of these painful realistic dramas that remind me that life is WAY TOO hard sometimes.

I will give it a good rating, but I’ll never watch it again. It hurts too much, and no show should hurt this much. From sexual assault to sexual harassment to revolting parents (his parents are just too much for me), this show touches (very nicely) on some uncomfortable subjects which they deal with head on and in technicolor. This show illustrates a lot of important women’s issues and does so with elegance and strength. Hat’s off to the screen writer. She did an incredible job! The friendship between the 3 women is so AWESOME.......but it would take too long to write about it here. I'll write an article about it. Again.....this writer is very talented.

MUSIC:
It was good but frankly, I just can’t relive a single second of this show so no interest in downloading anything.

REWATCH VALUE:
No way. That would just be considerably difficult, and tissues are in short supply in my area of the country.

OVERALL:
This is a good show. It’s a sad show at times, but the writing, the plot, the dialogue are insightful, smart, and quite lovely. So watch it, but please….only if you have tissues on hand.

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