The first drama that I finished was Mama Fairy and the Woodcutter/Tale of Gyeryong Fairy. The story line is that Sun Ok-Nam (Moon Chae-Won) is a fairy during the Goryeo period and when she came down the waterfall on earth someone stole her fairy dress with wings and therefore could not go back to the fairy realm. She meets a woodcutter who she suspects stole her dress and they get married and have two kids but he meets an unfortunate end and she is left on earth for 699 years.
She thinks she meets her reincarnated husband when professor Jung Yi-Hun (Yoon Hyun-Min) and his assistant Kim Geum (Seo Ji-Hoon) find their coffee cafe on the mountain. She isn’t sure which one is her husband but decides to follow them back to Seoul to find out since both of them have no memories of their past selves. It is based on a webcomic which I have not read so I can’t really comment on how it was different or the same.
This was a strange drama, the dynamics felt weird with the different age differences. The hypothesized mother, father, and child all seem to be close in age and it feels wrong when she changes to her old person form as fairy. The story is okay I guess, I mean I am so sick of reincarnation being the storyline. I don’t like or believe in reincarnation and I think it is a lazy technique in story telling and been so overdone in Korean dramas. For some reason I don’t particularly like Ok-Nam’s character in this drama, I don’t really know why but I found her kinda annoying with what she would do or act like especially when she can’t figure out who is her husband.
There is some weird backstory with Jung Yi-Hun that felt kinda forced or didn’t come across the best with what exactly happened with him and his past. The ending was okay but I didn’t feel like it had that strong of an impact. They also had some weird other fairy story line that I didn’t really find the characters enduring or have much comic relief. Instead I found them annoying and the love line between the young guy and older fairy was just uncomfortable to me and I felt like their parts where too long. Also I wished that the fairy had more fun powers but it wasn’t that exciting with her just making coffee and talking to plants all the time. The CGI in the drama was far from the most advanced and well done, I did get used to after a while but I am sure they did not have a big budget for graphics. I mean for the cat they could have probably used a real one!
What I liked about this drama was Kim Geum, his character was really enduring and sweet. I loved when he interacted with Jeom-Soon and thought it was really sweet. I also hung in their with this drama because I wanted to see what Jeom-Dol was inside his egg. I think that really was the best part of the drama when Jeom-Dol came out of his egg. Honestly I wanted to see more of the fairy realm because I love the fantasy part of the drama but they only showed a little bit. At least there was not too many plot holes or something unfinished except maybe with the whole Jeom-Dol and his part and the ability to go through time or something!? There is no ambiguous ending where you feel empty after watching so many episodes. It was a relatively good drama for trying to accomplish a fantasy genre with a limited budget.
The second drama that I finished watching this month was Feel Good To Die/ Happy If You Died. The plot of the drama is Lee Roo-Da (Baek Jin-Hee) works under Baek Jin Sang (Kang Ji-Hwan) the manager of the advertising department. Baek Jin Sang is a terrible boss since he only sees life in black and white and doesn’t have any empathy for his fellow workers. He is rude and mean when he finds fault in others. Lee Roo-Da has a lot of anger against Baek Jin Sang and she wishes he would die and later on he gets hit by a truck and she wakes up realizing that she is reliving the same day over.
This was an unpredictable drama it went from plot twists to filler episodes that got boring. I never knew if I was going to be bored or enthralled with each episode I watched. I was really disappointed at times when they had a chance to relive their day and use it to change what happened and try a different option. I feel like the characters did not use the time loop as effectively as I would have wanted them to use it, like if something went wrong why did they not try to solve the problem more efficiently by going back to starting the day. It didn’t always make sense to me why they did the things they way they did! The reason for the time loop and all that is a bit of a stretch with why it happened and how it all worked.
Also at the beginning you will probably hate Baek Jin-Sang’s voice it is enough to make you want to stop watching the drama, but as he mellows out his voice also does the same. The whole business end of the drama got boring to me after a while and how to fight a big corporation was a used boring idea to me that felt like it got dragged out. Also the chemistry between the characters was really lacking it felt forced and apparently in the manhwa the love interest is completely different.
I did find the different plot twists interesting and fun and honestly the character of Baek Jin-Sang was kinda fun and how he kept dying and Roo-Da trying to help him even though he didn’t understand what was happening was pretty entertaining. There was good, touching moments in this drama that felt right.
The third drama that I watched was Coffee, Please Do Me A Favor/ Coffee, Please. This drama is about Hyun-Woo (Yong Joon-Hyung) a romantic webtoon writer without actually having any experience in love. His assistant Seul-Bi who is cute and chubby and is made fun of constantly by others about her appearance. She has a long time secret crush on Hyun-Woo. Seul-Bi gets a chance to drink magical coffee that turns her into the stereotypical beauty and takes Seul-Bi’s job with the name Oh Go-Woon.
This drama does not have a good message to me, it does not celebrate body diversity and the harmful belief that you need to look a certain way to receive love. Seul-Bi gets a chance to change the way she looks and the man that she is in love with will finally be able to love her now. The funny thing is that I wanted to keep watching even though I knew it was not going to have an ending that I would agree with mentally. I can relate to the character of Seul-Bi and cannot deny that if I was given a chance to look different I would be able to say no and not indulge in that fantasy of having the perfect body. So I guess I wanted to keep watching to see if the drama would be able to redeem themselves and I found that they did not. The drama did get shortened it was originally supposed to have 16 episodes which is confusing because it was filmed in 2017 so I’m not sure how they could just cut out many episodes and still have an ending that made sense.
What bothered me at the ending was it was a cop out, Seul-Bi “decides” she has to work on herself which is fine but that would be the most important message of the drama and they don’t really show us how miraculously she is supposed to love herself when the whole outside world is treating her like trash. Also it makes me sad that they don’t show her in a healthy, romantic relationship because I think not showing this still makes it feel stigmatized that if you aren’t skinny you can’t get a boyfriend. The more they show women of all types in relationships will bring more change in how people are treated. Another problem was the two different characters of Seul-Bi didn’t seem to match well and they seemed like different people and didn’t feel like they was a smooth continuation of the character between them. I found some of the acting to be over exaggerated but for the most part was fine.
I have to say it was still an entertaining drama and it wasn’t too long since it was shortened, I did find it entertaining and really hoped that the ending would have been good. I enjoyed seeing Joon-Hyung again I really miss him in “its dangerous beyond the blankets” show. I enjoyed the other actors as well and found it funny and entertaining, there might have been a bit of overacting but it seemed to fit the mood of the drama. So if you can ignore the message of the drama I thought it was a nice fluffy drama.
The fourth drama that I finished was Children Of Nobody/Red Moon Blue Sun. This drama is about Cha Woo-Kyung (Kim Sun-A) who is a child counsellor at a children’s centre. At the start she is pregnant with her second child and is content with her life. An accident happens and Woo-Kyung is forced to deal with things in her life she doesn’t understand. It also stars Kang Ji-Hun (Lee Yi-Kyung) who is detective and gets put on a case that deals with the death of a famous child abuser. He believes that even if someone is murdering a child abuser they need to be punished by the law. Through his cases he meets Woo-Kyung and coincidentally she keeps popping up in all of his cases.
This is a dark drama especially because it is dealing with child abuse although I don’t think they really show any of the child abuse happening. It does have graphic scenes but I don’t think they are really with the children. But I don’t think it is overdone or takes away from the story line. First of all I loved watching this drama which is weird to say because it is dark but it was so intriguing and left me wondering all of the time. I was never bored with this drama and I continued to want to keep watching the next episode.
The acting is so well done in this drama as well, I felt like I believed every character that came on the screen. I feel like it pushed your boundaries on what you think is morally right or wrong. There is good and evil in this drama but at times the lines seem to blur and you start to wonder what you really believe when it comes to suffering. I just love the complicated characters in this drama, everyone is complex and far from boring. There doesn’t seem to have all the usual drama tropes that you see in so many dramas. It felt fresh, exciting and the mystery always had me guessing and wanting more. I also found it interesting that there is no love lines, it feels refreshing and at the back of my mind I wanted to start coupling the characters out of habit but I am glad that they didn’t try to do that, because that was not what the drama is about!
The problem that arose with this drama was the lighting, man there were many dark scenes that had me trying to adjust my screen so I could see what was happening. I get that it was supposed to be dark but I still want to be able to see the scene, it was somewhat distracting and took you out of the story. The other problem I had was it felt like I needed more time with Kang Ji-Hun the detective, I feel like he had a background story that was never acknowledged or had time to flesh it out. The ending is good but I feel like I needed more closure with the story and the characters. But overall if you like a good mystery/thriller I would suggest you watch this drama. Of all the dramas I watched this month I would definitely pick this one as my favorite!
The last drama that i watched this month was Memories Of The Alhambra. This drama is about Yoo Jin-Woo (Hyun-Bin) who is the CEO of a large and impressive investment company. He seems to be a guy that is often misunderstood and hasn’t had to lean on anybody since he is self sufficient in every way. He gets a call from a video game creator asking him to buy his video game since he doesn’t want Jin-Woo’s rival and former friend to buy the game. Intrigued Jin-Woo hops on the next train to meet the creator in Granada Spain at an old hostel run by Jung Hee-Joo (Park Shin-Hye). Accidents happen and Hee-Joo and Jin-Woo fates get tangled together while Jin-Woo tries to figure out how to solve everything that has gone wrong.
So when I first started watching I wasn’t totally sold on the story it took a couple of episodes for me to start enjoying this drama. This drama is about playing a video game that in some ways comes to life and stops being pretend and becomes real to the characters. I really liked this drama and thought it built some great momentum and suspense. I enjoyed Hyun Bin of course because he is a great actor and his character was so interesting. I think this drama illustrated some interesting points about mental health. It showed Jin-Woo struggling to keep himself sane inside a lawless and cruel game. I thought it did a great job of portraying struggles that other people may have had a hard time putting to words of how they feel when every one arounds them is telling them they are crazy. Also it does have some beautiful sites since they did go to Spain for the shooting of the drama. This drama felt fresh and exciting and I did enjoy most of it and the ride you go on while watching it.
I have some complaints and that would be Jung Hee-Joo her character started to drive me crazy. She has very little purpose in this drama, she feels like a side kick and acts like a clueless, confused crying heroine that needs a man in her life to be complete. I simply did not understand her character she is faced with a crazy guy who everyone believes is crazy and mind you he is quite handsome but she choices to just accept him. She doesn’t even question all the weird things she sees him doing and I felt like come on that would never fly in real life. I would have loved it if she actually started playing the game and become a more interesting part of the story but instead she has to sit at home waiting for the guy to call her. The romance in the drama was utterly a waste of time and useless especially because it goes absolutely nowhere.
The ending is so disappointing their is no reunion just left open ended. The logic of the game also is very shaky about where Hee-Joo’s brother is the whole time is never properly addressed. I feel like this drama had so much potential to become a well rounded drama if they would have put in a little more effort into story. They wasted a lot of time in the last episodes watching a scenario from one characters view and then re-watching it from another character, which felt wasteful and super unnecessary. The deaths in this drama felt just shocking like I hoped they could come back to life all the time! The writer made an interesting world for the characters and plot but the ending and love line were disappointing way to end this drama.
Upcoming Dramas
- Romance is a Bonus Book : It is about a genius writer and an editor who meets a lying copywriter who gets a job working under him. It sounds like a complete typical romance drama but I am a sucker for Lee Jong Suk!
2. Spring Turns to Spring : It is about two women who do a body swap. This has been done a lot lately so I guess it is a theme this season. Not expecting too much from this but looks okay.
3. The Crowned Clown: This drama is about a King and a commoner who look identical. The King decides to swap themselves because he feels like his life is being threatened. I have watched a few episodes and I didn’t really like the first one but it did get better but I don’t really care for all the politics that come with historical dramas! with who is going to control the King so I hope it will stay interesting!
4. Touch Your Heart: This drama is about a lawyer and his secretary who is a former hallyu star who is in hiding after being in some tabloids but she really wants to get back into movies. We get to see Lee Dong Wook and Yoo In Na reunited from being in the Goblin together. Maybe they will get their happy ending in this drama!
5. What’s Wrong, Poong Sang/ Live Or Die: I watched a few episodes and I have already dropped this drama. This drama feels so depressing and everything felt hopeless for all the characters. I honestly found all the characters unlikable and did not feel curious about their lives at all!
