October/November 2018 Korean Drama Reviews

The first drama I finished was 100 Days My Prince. The drama stars D.O as Won-deuk/Crown Prince and Nam Ji-Hyun as Hong-Shim. The story is about the crown prince and there is plot to kill him. He gets attacked and in the process he loses his memory and meets Hong-Shim and is forced to get married because of a law that he made.

I feel like this was a decent drama, it had a good storyline and all the characters made sense also the motives were well thought out. There was a variety of characters and stories that were happening in the drama which made it more interesting. I was excited to see D.O. in a drama again and he didn’t disappoint! I think he made a great male lead.

I found that it was a bit slow, the amnesia part felt long and somewhat dragged out with regaining his memory. I think that the drama had a few cliche moments with the amnesia, revenge and just the whole I want to control the King and choose who I want to put on the throne. The ending was a bit lacking for me, I wanted to see what the two of them together would look like, I feel like I didn’t get a full picture of how their regular life between the two of them was going to feel like, it felt unsatisfying. I mean with the amount of time they had they should have finished better. I felt like the drama didn’t offer me anything that hasn’t already been put out there. It wasn’t the worst but it was far from the best historical type dramas already made.

I think one thing that stuck in my mind after watching the drama and I enjoyed was getting to see D.O. dressed up as a Crown Prince and walking around being all smart and tsundere ! I thought he was really cool!

The second drama that I watched was Devilish Joy. The story is about Gong Ma-Sung (Choi Jin-Hyuk) who is a neurologist doctor that meets a woman Joo Gi Bbeum (Song Ha-Yoon) who is a celebrity and they have a whirlwind romance one day and ends with Gong Ma-Sung ending up in a car accident and suffers with short-term memory loss that only allows his memory to last one day. It also stars Hoya from INFINITE who is Gong Ma-Sung’s cousin.

I enjoyed the first couple of episodes because they were pretty exciting and interesting. I think there was pretty good chemistry between the leads and many kiss and romantic scenes between them which isn’t always the case. The height difference between them was kinda cute as well. The acting was good and believable it had a good balance of sad and happy moments between them. The ending was cute and it was an unexpected ending to what it felt like was going to happen.

I did not really enjoy the storyline that much after a while. Someone had pointed out that the story was very much like Boys Over Flowers with a rich guy trying to help a poor girl especially when she is being bullied. I felt like yes the story wasn’t that fresh to me and I mean even in BOF there is memory loss for a part. Joo Gi-Bbeum even resembled Geum Jan-Di in BOF. I thought I would like this drama more than I actually did but I think what frustrated the most was Gong Ma-Sung’s illness. How could he function in an important job with that bad of a memory loss it would take me so long each day to catch up reading what you wrote every day. You would have to read more than just yesterday’s notes, life is more complex than that, you would have to review weeks and months of materials to get back each day and that would be exhausting. The ending bothers me because there is no rhyme or reason to when his condition worsens or can get better. I also found Joo Gi Bbeum character kinda annoying, her hair also really bothered me, the bangs were terrible and it looked like she was wearing a helmet. I found this drama hard to take seriously and didn’t really feel the pain the characters were feeling. I just found that I couldn’t connect very well to the story and the characters.

One scene that stuck in my mind in after watching this drama was Gong Ma-Sung lifting Joo Gi-Bbeum up on the counter and kissing her. At least they had good chemistry together!

The third drama that I finished watching was The Beauty Inside. The drama is about Han Se-Kye (Seo Hyun-Jin) who is famous actress but she has a secret she changes into a different person for a week every month and this has caused her to be misunderstood. It also stars Seo Do-Jae (Lee Min-Ki) who is an executive at an airline company that his grandfather owns. He suffers from a disability where he can’t recognize anyone’s faces and has to work hard to hide this secret. The meet each other and their secrets become revealed to each other.

I have to say that I really did enjoy this drama, at first I wasn’t so sure since I had watched the movie and thought it was interesting so I hoped that the drama was going to also be entertaining. I really enjoyed Han Se-Kye character and loved how strong and courageous in how she helped others and stuck to her beliefs and her acting was also very good. I actually didn’t mind the changes that they made to the story it actually felt more believable than the movie since she could still be herself for most of the story. I thought it was fun when she would change into different people, I think I would have liked to see her change more in the drama but overall I think it had a good flow. This drama also had some good comedic timing but also had some terribly sad scenes. It had a good range and I definitely was able to feel the emotion and connect to the characters, well at least I was able to connect with Han Se-Kye’s emotions. I have to mention that Lee Da-Hee (Kang Sa-Ra) who is Seo Do-Jae’s sister definitely shone in her role in the drama and I thought she had almost a striking look, I feel like she could have even been the lead role.

At first I really didn’t care for Seo Do-Jae’s character, he was so stiff and his personality seemed really boring. I don’t know why it didn’t feel like it really fit well in the story. He eventually did start to grow on me but the acting did feel really flat but I haven’t seen Seo Hyun-Jin in any other drama so I wasn’t sure if it was his acting or the character that I was struggling with but eventually I stopped noticing it as much. I was hoping that she would be able to find her Dad and see that he also struggled with the same problem, since it seemed like they wanted to mention him and that they might come back to it but nothing seemed to come of it. It just seemed weird that her mom almost made her father presence seemed mysterious. I mean if they didn’t want to get into what her dad was about, they could have just said he died or that he was a bad guy that didn’t want to take any responsibility. One thing I thought was kinda weird in the drama was the dog King Kang, she was kinda treated like a toy with the weird clothes and the unnatural placement of putting her on counters. It just seemed odd and the dog didn’t really act like a dog.

I think if I could watch any drama this fall I would choose this drama to watch! I think what will stick in my mind after watching this drama is the friendship Han Se-Kye and how they comforted at the funeral! I thought it was very touching!

 

The fourth drama that I finished watching was Fox Bride Star/Where Stars Land. The drama is about Lee Soo-Yeon (Lee Je-Hoon) a mysterious, smart, prestigious guy that keeps people at a distance that recently started working at the airport in Passenger Services. He meets Han Yeo-Reum (Chae Soo-Bin) who just got transferred to Passenger services and is considered clumsy, full of mistakes and lets her emotions overtake her leading to mishaps.

I enjoyed this drama for the most part it was full of action and relationship focused. The drama had a pretty good pace and it didn’t feel like it was getting boring. It did a good job of giving all the different characters in the drama space to develop them a bit and because they had a lot of characters it was able to jump around without the story getting stale. I also like that there were secrets that we had to unravel as we watched. I think the chemistry was also pretty good, I know from watching Lee Je-Hoon that he is able to kiss well and thought he did a really good job of acting! I also like the whole fantasy part where he is given the power to use his arm and have a super strength that kept the story interesting.

I have some issues with this drama, I think the biggest problem was the ending, there are issues that aren’t resolved and questions left unanswered. Also people have thought it was really strange why Lee Soo-Yeon’s face wasn’t being shown at the end of the drama. It just felt somewhat unnatural that Yeo-Reum was left out of the loop for so long and it just felt like it was a long way to end the drama. I also didn’t really care for Yeo-Reum’s character, at first they really were trying to make her ditzy and causing problems. In the beginning honestly I don’t know how she could have even solved some of the problems and it felt like unfair treatment. I also have to mention the whole Soo-Yeon not wanting to live his life in a wheelchair and how he would rather die. I felt like this was insensitive and after watching the drama life where Lee Dong Wook’s brother Seon-Woo was also treated badly because he was in a wheelchair. I feel like the Korean culture surrounding people in wheelchairs seems very unfair and disturbing and I am sure it is like this in other cultures as well and I wish dramas would encourage people to see people with disabilities in a better light.

I think one moment that will stick with me is when Yeo-Reum tried to push Soo-Yeon up against the wall and he turned it around on her. I loved the innocent looks Soo-Yeon could give sometimes and then change it up. I also loved it when Soo-Yeon walks out with some lipstick on his lips unknowingly!

 

The fifth drama that I finished was Room No. 9. This drama is about Eulji Hae-Yi (Kim Hee-Seon) who is becoming a very good lawyer that seems she will do anything to win her cases and is planning to become senior partner at the prestigious law firm she is working at. She has everything going for her and even a prestigious boyfriend Ki Yoo-Jin (Kim Young-Kwang) who is a doctor and is planning to become a hospital director. It also stars Jang Hwa-Sa (Kim Hae-Sook) who is a death row convict and Have-Yi meets her and through an incident their bodies are exchanged.

This was a different drama, I wasn’t expecting much from it other than a break from all the romantic comedies. It was pretty exciting for the first couple of episodes because of the body switch. Things got slow and then would pick up again and then would get slow again. The pacing was a bit off for this drama but yet I would still want to keep watching. The mystery and the way it was portrayed was kinda confusing at first and how it could possibly happen and be pulled off. I also didn’t really love it when they switched bodies. I kinda found Jang Hwa-Sa in Hae-Yi’s body was kinda boring and I found myself missing the strong and dynamic real Hae-Yi and was glad when the switch was over. It is somewhat of a darker drama with not much love or romance in it which I was fine with.

What I liked about the drama was the twists and turns and unexpected events. It was confusing but that probably was okay because it held my interest longer. I think the last couple of episodes and the beginning were better than the middle part of the drama. It was a completely satisfying ending although I think there could have been a bit more revenge for my liking or at least some shouting matches. I really wanted one of the characters to just let Young-Bae have it but no one really expressed their feelings to him directly or at least when they had all the power. I liked how the relationships the drama focused on was friendships and family and the importance of it. At first I couldn’t relate much to the characters, especially with the body switch but once they switched back and they showed better understanding of each other I found I could connect to the characters.

I think the moment from this drama that will stick with me when Hae-Yi played along with Jang Hwa-Sa’s mother who has dementia and pretended to be Jang Hwa-Sa and reassure her that Jang Hwa-Sa is okay. It was just a great gesture!

The upcoming Dramas that I will be watching:

1. Mama Fairy and the Woodcutter: It is about a fairy who came down to earth and her winged clothing were taken and so she hasn’t been able to leave and go back to the fairy realm. Her husband who had them died and she has waited for the reincarnation of her husband to get them back. I have watched 6 episodes already and I am enjoying it quite a bit, I love fantasy dramas!

2. Feel Good to Die: It is about an office worker who has a terribly annoying boss who has no social cues and she finds herself getting stuck in a time loop and comedically tries to stop it. I have watched a few episodes and I am enjoying it, it has comedy and also some seriousness.

3.Children of Nobody: It is about a woman whose life falls apart because of an accident and about a children’s counselor who is also affected by the accident and a detective who gets involved. I am not really sure what it is about but it sounds interesting.

4. Memories of the Alhambra: It is about a man who goes to Spain for business and meets a former guitarist and somehow their lives get entangled. This is a Park Shin Hye drama and I am kinda sceptical about it since I haven’t really enjoyed her latest dramas.

5. Coffee, Please: It is about a pretty overweight woman who after drinking magic coffee becomes a beauty. It is also about a handsome webtoon writer who doesn’t believe in love and the woman has a crush on him. I hope this won’t be an offensive drama about people being overweight and if it is that I may drop it!