The first drama that I finished was Hi Bye, Mama! The plot is about Cha Yu-Ri (Kim Tae-Hee) who died 5years ago and was watching over her child and husband as a ghost. She suddenly gets a chance to become human for 49 days and she is given the chance of life again. In the meantime her husband has remarried and her child that she never got to meet has been able to see ghosts and Yu-Ri makes it her mission to fix the problem.
This was an interesting drama because it was focused on Motherly love as opposed to romantic love and what it means to be a mother. I think it had a good message especially because it seems like adoption is kinda of a taboo idea in South Korea. For some reason adoption is not accepted or normal thing in South Korea. I think this drama tries to validate the idea that if you adopt a baby you become the parent and nothing is wrong or abnormal with that and the relationship is the same as any other parent child relationship. Even though Yu-Ri is the blood mother of Seo-Woo doesn’t automatically mean that Seo-Woo will accept her as her mother because she has been raised by Min-Jung and their bond is important. Honestly I wasn’t really expecting the drama to go in the direction that it did, just because it doesn’t seem like a happy ending for everyone and usually Kdramas don’t go in that direction. So this drama has a different feel and is about relationships that tie us all together but not necessarily the ones tied to romantic love. It was honestly refreshing to have a different kind of drama among the usually sweet and sappy love stories that are typically told.
The one thing that bothered me was that Yu-Ri’s parents felt like they had to separate themselves from Seo-Woo and that just seemed so sad and would feel devastating to lose that connection. It didn’t really make sense to me but I assume it had to do with culture and that they didn’t want Seo-Woo to know that Min-Jung wasn’t actually her biological mother but I feel like they could have worked around that. Honestly I don’t think it is healthy for the child to not know who there parents are because I think it messes a kid up if they find out their parents have been lying to them all their lives. I like that they honestly showed Gwang-Hwa struggling with post traumatic stress disorder after losing his wife in surgery. Even after she comes back to life that it doesn’t automatically make him all better and that this will be something he will have to work towards again. I think everyone is always waiting for this one thing to fix everything and there doesn’t seem to be any magical anything that can fix everything wrong and you just have to keep taking one step forward.
I didn’t really care for all the ghost and spiritual stuff because I disagree with all of that in this drama but I felt like there was still a good story about family love and we all struggle with what happens after death and we all wish our loved ones could come back to us, I found it comforting but also made me very sad. I thought it was an interesting story and isn’t a typical love story so if you like more of a family drama this one was pretty interesting and felt fresh.
The second drama I watched was called 365 Repeat The Year. It is a sci-fi genre drama and is about 10 people who are given the chance to travel back one year in time. They are able to reset the year but then bad things start to happen to the people who have reset. It focuses on Ji Hyung-Joo (Lee Joon-Hyuk) who is detective and wants to get to the bottom of the strange events plaguing the people have reset. It also stars Shin Ga-Hyun (Nam Ji-Hyun) who is a crime webtoon writer and she is given the chance to reset and fix an accident that had happened and finds herself trying to solve the mystery with Hyung-Joo.
I really enjoy fantasy and sci-fi dramas and this one exceeded my expectations, there was consistently a plot twist coming around the corner just about every week. Everything would get switched and you would have to adjust your thinking. The acting and story was just great and kept you focused and interested the whole time. I would really recommend this drama if you like trying to figure out mysteries and who really is the culprit. I really had no idea who it was going to be and was really thrown off all the time.
The only logic of it all that bothered me was that they were warned they could die, so I couldn’t figure out why they didn’t all just leave the country or even just go to a different part of the country to get out of their predicted routine? But I don’t know if they thought if they wouldn’t catch the person doing it eventually they would be found to be killed. The ending was a little anti climatic and I wished there was more of a personal connection for Ga-Hyun and Hyung-Joo because this drama does not really have any romance either. I felt like it was getting there but the focus is really not on romance. I also found some scenes a bit gory and disturbing so if you feel squeamish about showing murder then you may not like this drama, or maybe don’t watch it before bed or in the evening.
If you like mysteries and time traveling dramas, I would highly recommend this drama as I found it really interesting and wasn’t disappointed with the drama! It has great pacing and action and always seems to leave you shocked and excited for the next episode!
The third drama I watched was Find Me In Your Memory. It stars Lee Jung-Hoon (Kim Dong-Wook) who is an anchorman and has a condition hyperthymesia that gives him the ability to remember almost every moment of his life, he can’t forget anything including the most painful memories. It also stars Yeo Ha-Jin (Mun Ka-Young) who struggles to remember her past and this allows her to life in a more carefree manner. She is a top actress and meets Jung-Hoon on his news show and triggers painful memories for Jung-Hoon with her words.
This drama was an interesting drama because it goes from romance, tragedy, thriller to even some comedy. It has a lot of versatility and keeps it fresh and interesting as the drama progresses. The whole memory part of the drama and memory loss is not a new topic for Kdramas and yet it was still an interesting take on the idea of memory. I thought this might just be a typical bubblegum type love story but I was happy that it did have some more dimension to the story. I was happy enough with the ending even though it seemed like it could have been more dramatic but it was good enough. I thought Jung-Hoon was going to be this really stiff un-moving character through the drama and was pleased that he grew with the drama and really felt the chemistry between the two of them.
It wasn’t like blow your mind kind of drama but it was steady and entertaining and slowly crept into your heart. The main problem seemed to be with the ending and how they set it up with the type of breakup, it left the audience screaming give me more. It felt like it was cut off right before the big moment. But I can forgive those type of things and felt like this drama was a good drama that maybe wasn’t as flashy as others, but it was certainly entertaining and kept me interested.
It was a decent romantic drama that kept me interested and had some shocking and exciting events that happen to make it more than just about the romantic relationships. It has some edgier moments that make it pretty entertaining.
The last drama I watched was Hospital Playlist. The story is about five doctors who all went to medical university in 1999 and now work together in the same hospital. The director is Shin Won-Ho and screenwriter Lee Woo-Jung previously worked on the Reply dramas. So the focus is on the many friendships and hardships and heartaches of living life. A second season is planned for 2021.
If you have watched any of the Reply Dramas you know that the dramas will be a large cast and show the intricacies of every day life of a group of people, that you will fall in love with and wish you could be a part of their friendships. I absolutely adore this drama and it made me laugh and cry all the time. I really want to be in a friendship that is portrayed in this drama, it almost makes me sad that I can’t be apart of something like that. I think it works so well because they have a very large cast and it show the intricacies of how everyone is connected to each other. It also keeps it interesting because they have different patient stories in every episode. There are a lot of moving parts but it keeps it interesting and shows the different sides of the 5 main doctors.
I love how the director and writer make their characters, they are so full of life, they show their faults and their talents and it just makes you love them more. They portray the characters in such a relatable way that you can feel for them in the serious moments and the comedy is also so perfect and lightens the heavy moments. Their dramas are about life and living but it also has the perfect amount of romance and questioning of who is going to end up with each other.
One quote really stood out to me when I finished this drama and it goes something like this; “There are three types of people in this world, people who are the happiest when they are eating good food, people who are happiest eating alone, and third type are people who are happiest watching other people eating good food.” This really stuck with me because I think everyone can find where they are themselves in these three types. I just really admire the friendships in this drama and I enjoy the romance but I think showing what it means to be a friend is so important and meaningful to watch. It makes me feel lonely not having some close friends that will always be there for you in the happy and sad moments of their lives. The ability to not have to explain something for someone to understand you and able to comfort you without even having to talk about it.
When I first started watching the first episode or two, I had trouble trying to figure out who everybody was and I was a little bit lost to what was going on but I realized that is usually how the director sets it up. I knew that if I kept watching it was going to get good and thankfully it got so much better. Also the series ends with lots of questions up in the air because there is going to be a second season just in case you don’t want to watch it and then have to wait until 2021 to find out the answers. The characters all became so lovable and memorable that I really think everyone can find something to enjoy in this drama. Hospital Playlist has easily become my favorite drama this round!
Upcoming Dramas
1. Soul Mechanic/ Fix You
It is about a Psychiatrist that is trying to heal people and he meets a woman who needs his help but he also needs her help to fix his problems/traumas as well.
2. Oh My Baby
It about a woman who fertility is in jeopardy and she wants to have baby quickly since her time is running out. She has given up on finding a man to marry so she wants to find a sperm donor among the men in her life since it is illegal for a single women to get a sperm donor through the medical system.
3. Dinner Mate/ Would You Like To Have Dinner Together
It is about a woman who is a content creator for streaming services and she gets her heart broken and meets a mysterious stranger who is a psychiatrist that specializes in dealing with heartbreak. They keep meeting each other without sharing their details and the woman doesn’t know that he is the man she is trying to get to work on a show together.
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