This past two months of Korean Dramas were pretty disappointing…
The first drama that I had completed was Abyss which is about Cha Min is heir to a successful cosmetics company but the one catch is that he is ugly. He accidentally dies but somehow some aliens hit him as he is falling to his death so they give the mysterious marble called Abyss and they revive him and now has become handsome and looks nothing like how he used to. His old friend Go Se-Yeon is the opposite she is beautiful and she knows it, she is a prosecutor and is working on the case of a serial killer and gets caught up in deadly plans and Cha-Min is going to save her even if it means she can’t be beautiful anymore. The two of them team up to solve the mystery of the Abyss and serial killings.
For the most part this drama kept me entertained and was pretty exciting and interesting through the whole drama. The concept felt somewhat new, be able to stop someone from dying, it really was an interesting concept to explore. I also liked the idea that your beauty depends on what your soul looks like, whether you are a good person. I wish that could be the same in real life! Although I didn’t really understand how Park Bo Young could be considered to not be good looking? I actually liked Bo Young’s looks better than the other version of Se-Yeon but whatever. There was the right amount of romance among the mystery and suspense in the drama that was enjoyable and thought it was perfect.
The drama is not perfect and sometimes the way the characters would act could drive the audience a bit crazy sometimes! For example when Cha Min is on the run from the police he keeps using his credit card everywhere and when the police keep showing up where he is, he doesn’t understand that they are tracking his card. Also the many times they did things when there lives were being threatened and didn’t have proper protection. It just that sometimes the logic of the characters can get a bit frustrating but I could kinda brush it off as it is their character and sometimes in real life people under pressure can’t always think rationally and act the way you would think.
Also the ending has some lacking logic and understanding of how things could happen. But at the same time I was happy about the ending and feel like it was good enough and made me content even if it isn’t completely explained. That being said there are probably many better dramas and that people could easily find a better one to watch but the lead characters carried the whole drama and I liked them. So this drama was interesting but the lack of explanation and mess with the logic left it feeling like it could have been better.
The drama had effort but fell short with the story line.
The second drama that I finished was Angel’s Last Mission: Love. This drama is about Dan who is an angel that is a bit of a troublemaker and is given his last mission which is to find true love for Yeon-Seo who is a blind, bitter, former ballerina who doesn’t believe in love and has had so many tragedies in her life. It stars Shin Hye-Sun and Kim Myung-Soo/ L and I thought it felt like an odd match because they seem like different ages even though in real life they are a few years apart. Shin Hye Sun does a very good job at acting and I think she was the reason that the drama went as well as it did. Kim Myung-Soo was good as well did a good job as being a playful angel but for some reason I didn’t buy the love between them that much. I feel like we didn’t get to see the process of them falling for each other completely, and again the story relies on the two of them having a childhood connection which is so overdone and tiring in all Korean dramas right now.
I didn’t really like the whole mythology of the God and angel story in this drama and frankly it doesn’t make sense and I was unsure how we were supposed to feel about everything. The whole idea that angels could disappear for doing wrong things felt harsh and that a human could give life to an angel was just so confusing. I didn’t really understand Ji Kang-Woo’s story with his girlfriend and how she looks like Yeon-Seo it just was so weird and random. The deity doesn’t really make sense in the drama to me, I still not sure what Kim Dan was supposed to accomplish with the mission regarding Yeon-Seo since his choices seemed to be considered wrong. What was the real plan? What I really don’t understand is that why didn’t they just reunite in “paradise” instead of getting in trouble and worrying about dissipating. Honestly I hated the whole concept of the angels and deity and how awful all the rules and actions of everybody. The ending was just as nonsensical as the Abyss with the rules just being thrown out the window and they just decide whatever and do what they want.
This drama did draw me in and cause me to be emotionally invested so it does tell me that the drama had some good elements and acting that played on my emotions, so it did have it’s moments. Honestly Dan was fun to watch with his playful and good natured self with the stern Yeon-Seo. It does have some mystery and suspense that does surprise me and catch me off guard. There are many elements that were done well because I found it interesting and was pretty interested to keep watching each episode. There was some sweet moments that made me believe in them as a couple even if it didn’t always hit me that way in the whole of the drama. The ending doesn’t really have logic but I was content with the things unfolded.
It wasn’t a terrible drama but the mythology got really messy and took away from the drama.
The third drama that I finished was One Spring Night. It was supposed to be a realistic looks at how couples are which I am not sure if they accomplished that goal. It is about Lee Jung-In a librarian who finds herself in a long term relationship with her boyfriend Kwon Ki-Seok and he has everything that on paper that would make a good husband but she meets Yoo Ji-Ho a pharmacist and a single Dad and she creates a connection with him and wonders if she should make a relationship with him. So I wouldn’t necessarily call this drama realistic because it seemed over the top in a lot of areas but if this really is the way that relationships work in South Korea that would make me sad.
I would say that 70% of the men in this drama were horrible and seriously needed to get some professional help. I thought they should hand out restraining orders to most of the men in this drama because yikes their behavior was abominable most of the time. I think the father not taking the daughter’s sides bothered me quite a bit as well, that is just unacceptable to me. This does make Ji-Ho look really good at the same time and maybe they wanted him to shine. I would say this drama has a lot of over the top issues but at the same time they deal with it in a very subdued way that maybe makes it feel more believable.
Honestly at the beginning I really didn’t care for the drama that much and it just feel mismatched and the OST felt very dated and it was just odd overall but it slowly grew on me and the music didn’t feel so jolting as I got used to it. At first I was really frustrated with Lee Jung-In because it felt like she was cheating and was being very wishy washy in her behavior and it bothered me but maybe it is a realistic response to someone trying to get out of a long relationship. I guess this drama went to different places that may feel uncomfortable because they wanted to show a better picture of how people tend to act and resolutions are not always clean and easy.
The reason I wanted to watch this drama because of the fact that Ji-Ho was going to be a single dad and I thought that would be so great. I am sad that they didn’t show as much or focus on his relationship with Eun-Woo because I think that would have been so great. I didn’t realize that it was such a taboo thing in South Korea to be a single parent, I forget since in North America it isn’t something that would be that big of a deal since adoption is also prevalent and a wonderful thing here. It made me sad that was considered something so terrible, I feel so sorry for the kids and how they would be treated by society! The ending felt very unresolved they didn’t deal with Jung-In’s dad and they didn’t update us on what was happening with her sisters or even Ji-Hoo’s friends. It just feels so unfinished but maybe that again is a fact of life, since life is messy and doesn’t have perfect endings. So I will say that I found this drama interesting and it grew on me over time.
I think it was the better drama this month but it was slow and the ending was lacking.
The last drama I watched was My Absolute Boyfriend which is a remake since there is a Japanese and Taiwanese versions but it was based of a Japanese manga. This drama is about Eom Da-Da who is a special effects make-up artist and she somehow accidentally gets wrangled into taking Young-Goo a boyfriend/dating robot for a little while and she agrees to take him in and hide their secret and meanwhile she is struggling after getting out of a serious relationship with her long-term boyfriend and takes advantage of Young-Goo to help get over her relationship.
The first half of the drama was interesting and had some intrigue and interesting ideas but at a point I wanted to just stop watching this drama and found it tedious and boring. Honestly I am so over the whole human/robot love story. Seriously if I suggest watching another one please comment and tell me to just stop! I remember watching the Japanese version a long time ago and I remember thinking I liked it but I can’t remember much about it, so i thought I would like this one as well but I was wrong. Also the Japanese version I watched a long time ago and recently the Korean dramas have had a lot of robot dramas that I think I am just so sick of this topic as well. I will never be able to get over the whole robot never aging, can’t have children, breaks down, is not a human. I seriously could not take the drama seriously when Eom Da-Da would be all upset about Young-Goo and I just wanted to scream ITS A ROBOT PLEASE STOP. Maybe I am jaded and bitter already but it was just too much for me and all the sickly sweet moments just felt empty to me and boring. I can’t put my finger on what was missing but I just didn’t believe the love.
The whole Diana plot thing was just so weird and random to me, although she may have been the most interesting character in the whole drama. Also this drama had too many episodes, it was just so unnecessary. The ratings were apparently bad for this drama as well. I also think I am tired of Yeo Jin-Goo since this has been two bad dramas in a row for me, and now he is in the new Hotel De Luna which I am going to watch but man, this dude needs to take a break already. The ending is pretty awful as well since it leaves it open ended and confusing about what happened? Honestly I really didn’t care, I wish she would just find a new guy at this point and forget the rest of the men from this drama. So I simply wouldn’t recommend this drama, unless you love the whole robot love idea which I have discovered that I don’t…
Upcoming Dramas
1. Perfume- It is about a middle-aged housewife that has a weight problem and is dealing with a cheating husband and divorce. She miraculously gets a perfume that makes her young and beautiful again.
2. Hotel Del Luna- Normally I don’t really like dramas about ghosts but it has IU in it so therefore I wanted to watch it. Again we get to see Yeo Jin Goo even though I feel like I need a break from him but whatever I hope it won’t be awful. It is about a woman that gets stuck at a hotel for ghosts for the last millennium and about Yeo Jin Goo who becomes the new manager.
3. Mr. Temporary/ Undercover Teacher. I am also not a fan of Yoon Kyun Sang but I am willing to give it shot mainly because it is an OCN drama and I need a break from nauseating romance stories. It is about a Lawyer that only cares about money but with a murder case at a high school his reputation plummets and he decides to work as temporary teacher.
4. Doctor John- This is a medical drama dealing with the subject of pain management. It will focus on trying to solve patient’s mysterious pain and will tackle it like a detective drama.
So I hope everyone is enjoying the summer and let me know which dramas you liked and which ones you plan on checking out next!
