The first drama that I completed this time was The Crowned Clown/ The Man Who Became King. It is actually a remake of a movie called Masquerade which I have not seen. The story line is about a King who finds his doppelgänger who is a clown in the Joseon period. The King is in a time that has a lot of power struggles around the throne and he brings in this clown to take his place in case he is going to assassinated soon. The king “Yeo Jin-Goo” and his doppelgänger Ha-Seon have very different attitudes and beliefs and this becomes a struggle to discover who is the real king.
I liked parts of this drama, it had some twists and turns and unexpected moments which was what kept me watching. I like how the focus was on the Ha-Seon as the King and his Chief Royal Secretary and the trust and respect that they were building with each other. I also liked his relationship with Eunuch Jo and how he was able to make everyone love and feel loved around him. I also enjoyed how Ha-Seon could get himself out of situations that were unexpected and he had to just bluff or figure out his own way to deal with the problems. It made you think about what exactly it means to be a King and what exactly he has the power to do and were he becomes powerless. It makes you think about what it means to be a good king and leader of the people compared to being a good person and following your own personal beliefs and whether he gets his hands dirty or people that follow him get their hands dirty.
I for the most part did not think it was a great drama. I felt emotionally unattached for the most part and felt like the characters did not have enough depth. The story line with the real king looked more interesting and wished he would have had more a story in the drama. I also didn’t have any interest in the romance between Ha- Seon and the Queen it was boring and I didn’t feel the sparks or chemistry between them. Actually I found the Queen’s character strange with her different problems and how she was so focused on duty and was going to just end her life so easily all the time. I actually was more touched by the relationship with the Chief Royal Secretary and Ha-Seon and how things end with them.
Also it always the same story line of the rich man in the government who is stealing from the people and causes problems because he is so powerful. I also felt like with the storyline they had so many missed chances of showing the problems of having someone replace the King. They could have played up more of him trying to replace and be this other person and it felt like everyone just believed him even though he had a completely different personality. I feel like the real King should have had more of a presence in the story and wished something else would have happened there. I also didn’t really like the ending I thought Ha-Seon made a disappointing choice and felt like he had done so much hard work and if things didn’t work out with what he decided, he could never reverse it and they would be stuck in a bad cycle.
This drama was okay and was interesting enough but I was disappointed and felt like it had the potential to do much more.
The second drama I finished this month is Romance is a Bonus Book/ How To Publish Love. This drama is about Cha Eun-Ho (Lee Jong-Suk) who is a young genius chief editor at his publishing company and is an accomplished writer. Kang Dan-Yi (Lee Na-Young) is a divorced mother who hasn’t been in the job field for many years. She has no money and nowhere to live and is unable to get a job because every company discriminates against her for leaving the marketing work force and won’t hire her because of the break she took to raise her child. She needs a job so she lies on her resume and applies at Cha Eun-Ho’s publishing company as they are old friends and they have to pretend that they don’t know each other.
I really enjoyed this drama, the acting and writing of this drama was done really well. I thought that the writing of this drama was well done and I felt the characters were properly done and given depth. They weren’t just one note characters and they were able to grow and have a deeper story with more than one character. I was at first apprehensive with the older women and younger guy story line but I really enjoyed the two of them together. I mean it is pretty hard not to feel your heart flutter with Lee Jong Suk. I really liked Kang Dan-Yi’s character as well and really liked how they were friends since they were young and it just felt like it was right. I have to say this drama made me bawl my eyes out at the treatment of Kang Dan-Yi and it had nothing to do with romance or love lines which was unusual because usually the separation of love is what makes the audience want to cry but it was different this time.
I also loved all the side characters and how they all had depth and different ways that they were struggling. I also really like it was based around a publishing company because I think it was interesting to learn more about how a book is published. I was always excited to watch a new episode and felt like it should have been longer.
The one thing that bothered me a little bit was that Kang Dan-Yi has a daughter that is in school abroad and she gets mentioned a little in the beginning but is never mentioned again in the drama which I think was a little weird and it seemed like it was too much of a bother so they just ignored that fact. The fact that Kang Dan-Yi was treated so badly for returning to work made me really sad and I really hope this is embellished and isn’t really how women are treated in the workforce for coming back to work.
I think this drama was the winner of the month and would choose this one as my favorite.
The third drama that I completed this month was Spring Turns to Spring/ Spring Must Be Coming.The story is about Kim Bo- Mi (Lee Yu-Ri) an aspiring tv news anchorwoman who is selfish and only cares about her career. It also stars Lee Bom (Uhm Ji-Won) who was a actress but retired and is a content housewife to her husband who is a member of the National Assembly. They take a drug that causes the two of them to switch bodies on the spot and the timing is unknown and random. They have to live each others lives and try not to get caught by the people around them.
This is a straight comedy drama and was really enjoyable to watch and see all the hi-jinks they get themselves into. I loved the lightheartedness of the drama but also had intense moments as well. I thought it was refreshing to not have a romance in this drama and keep it about family and friendship. The acting was soo good and you could always tell when the two of them switched bodies just by the way they were acting. It had a lot of funny moments that were sometimes subtle or sometimes more slapstick. I thought it was a good balance of keeping things funny and serious. There are some serious issues that get addressed like cheating romantically and politically.
It had a good beginning, middle and end at times it may have gotten a bit repetitive but it was still worth it to keep watching. It felt like the episodes could have been cut a little bit shorter because it felt like it was dragging once in a while but for the most part it was a good light hearted drama that brightened my day.
This was a fun drama that didn’t take itself too seriously and was charming.
The last drama that I finished this month was Touch Your Heart/ Reach of Sincerity. I could never remember the name of this drama it felt so generic. The plot is a Oh Yoon-Seo (Yoo In-Na) is a disgraced actress for having been caught up in drug scandal rumours and is desiring to be able to work as an actress again. She is given an opportunity to get a role if she works as a lawyer’s secretary for a while to gain experience for the role since she is considered a poor actress. She goes to work for Kwon Jung-Rok (Lee Dong-Wook) as his secretary and he is considered a serious and boring guy that only knows how to work and Oh Yeon-Seo shakes up his world. The two of them are reunited since the drama Goblin so I think there was high expectations for their chemistry in this drama.
I really liked some of the comedy in this drama especially with the staff at the law office and thought it had some good funny moments. I think the acting was pretty well done and the story had some interesting law cases that came into play, but I wished they had more of them and had a longer part in the drama.
I didn’t really enjoy this drama that much, I think the writing of the drama was not done that well and the characters just didn’t feel right. I didn’t really find myself caring about the characters and at time I found Oh Yoon-Seo character kinda annoying and it just felt like there was something missing and the same went for Kwon Jung-Rok, I didn’t really find myself falling for his character and instead I just didn’t even care if they were together or not. I thought they should have focused more on the court cases since they were more interesting.
I also think that they should have had more time spent on the stalker issue because that would had more of an interesting concept and it felt like it was wrapped up so simply. It’s a shame because I was excited to see the two of them reunite but I think the writing of the drama really prevented the two of them to shine the best they could and bring the chemistry that they had earlier and instead just felt forced and limited. I feel like if you want to check out a good romance from this month Romance is a Bonus Book was a better choice.
Upcoming Dramas
1.
He Is Pychometric- Lee Ahn is able to read peoples memories through his psychometric touch and wants to become someone that can help solve crimes but still needs help with figuring out and controlling his powers.
2.
Kill It – It is an OCN drama that is about a veterinarian who is an assassin who needs to complete a mission to find out more about his past and a Detective who is trying to solve murder cases and they seem unintentionally involved in each others lives.
3. 
Eulachacha Waikiki Season 2- This is the second season with Lee Yi Kyung the only remaining actor from the first season. He is still running the guest house and is joined by his two high school friends and others that live at the guest house. I hope it will be as funny as the first season was..
I may pick up another drama but honestly I haven’t’ been very interested in any of the ones airing right now. Let me know if you are watching them and if there is another good one airing currently!!
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