Review of the Week

Ghost/Phantom

The Love of So Ji Sub Continues

**********Warning Spoilers**************

Title: Phantom/Ghost 유령

Network: SBS

Episodes: 20

Starring: So Ji Sub, Choi Daniel, Lee Yeon Hee, Uhm Ki Joon

Aired: May 30, 2012 – August 9, 2012

I am going to be very honest and admit that the only reason I started watching this drama was because of So Ji Sub. Obsession, I hear your name loud and clear. Ghost, unlike the title would lead us to believe, is a drama that deals with political intrigue in the digital world. For some odd reason, the title, ahem, I thought this was a drama about the main character being able to see the ghosts of dead people, I could have sworn there is a drama with that premise out there, and no not the Master's Sun or Oh My Ghostess, but I digress. It is a drama about how money and power corrupt and how easily one can either destroy or be destroyed by a simple click of the mouse. And although, this drama contained no romantic storyline, one side crushes and potato crushes aside, I kept watching episode after episode and enjoying each episode tremendously.

The heart of the story revolves around the friendship of two very different people. Kim Woo Hyun and Park Gi Young met when they were both in the police academy wanting to make a difference by becoming police officers with a focus on cyber crime. Through a series of events during their time in the academy, Kim Woo Hyun becomes a lieutenant in the police department while Park Gi Young seemingly switches sides to become a hacker known as Hades. They both start looking into the apparent suicide of a well known actress and stumble upon corruption at the highest levels of politics and the police department. As we watch Kim Woo Hyun investigate the death of the young actress, we wonder which side is he really on. How does he know the murderer and most importantly why is he not arresting him. Early in the drama there is an explosion involving both friends, of which only one survives.

Through a series of circumstances, the survivor is mistaken for the other, and so for most of the drama we have Hades walking around with a police officers face. So Ji Sub does an excellent job of playing to characters brilliantly, and one of those playing a character playing a different character. And I'm not only saying this because of my massive hard on for So Ji Sub.

Park Gi Young pretending to be Kim Woo Hyun must find out the truth about his old friend and all the secrets he was keeping. With the help of the rest of the cyber unit, except for the fucking bastard traitor, Gi Young takes it upon himself to clear his friend's name and bring down the man behind the corruption.

Ghost does an excellent job of exploring that very thin line between evil and doing evil things in the name of good. Hades, Park Gi Young, by all extents and purposes is a criminal, even when he is pretending to be Woo Hyun. Even that pretense can be seen as wrong, especially when one takes into account that he is pretending to be his dead friend to his dead friend's child. But, in his mind, he is doing these things to right all the wrong caused by Jo Hyun Min, the evil behind everything.

Does the end justify the means? Park Gi Young would like to think that it does, but as a viewer I'm left with the impression that good men who do evil things are tinged with that evil. It's not something that can be washed away or forgotten. One can pretend that he didn't cause the death of Hyun Min, but it doesn't change the facts that lead to that death. This is the first Korean drama that I watched that was not a romance, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. But, fucking shit, a kiss between the main characters would have made it much better.

2015 Year in Review

2015 Year in Review – Korean Dramas

First post of 2016, and it will be a look back at the dramas I have watched this past year. Most of these were released prior to 2015, but like I do with most things in life I procrastinate my Kdrama watching, it's part of my charm. I watched most of these dramas in the first quarter of the year and then I took a very, very long break before I started up again when Oh, My Venus, starring Shin Min Ah and So Ji Sub, started in mid November. Apparently, my girl crush on Shin Min Ah is alive and strong and I must of missed how incredibly sexy So Ji Sub was when I watched Master's Sun because damn that boy man is all kinds of steamy.

I watched twenty-one dramas in 2015 not counting the two web dramas I threw in there just for shits and giggles. Seventeen of those I watched from January to April, and then my hiatus from Kdramas began. During this time, I watched some American television. Caught up on some old favorites, Teen Wolf and Supernatural, and realized that American shows don't hold the same appeal as Asian dramas. I mean who in the holy hell has 10 years to devote to a show, well almost 12 now with Supernatural. I got so spoiled by dramas that were all neatly told and finished with one season that waiting to see will or won't they just no longer appeals to me. Sure, I'll still catch a show here and there, mostly once they've been canceled, so I can marathon that shit on Netflix, but I'm no longer excited or looking forward to shows that air in the U.S.

So, with a giddy heart I began watching Oh, My Venus, and promptly remembered how much I fucking hate waiting for new episodes. To fill the time between new episodes I watched some dramas that were already finished and easily available, hello Hulu. Starting from the beginning, in 2015 I watched:

1. A Witch's Romance

Cute and entertaining, older woman, younger man. Not too many cliches and a very satisfying ending.

2. Pinocchio

Park Shin Hye finally learned how to kiss. A very enjoyable drama starring one of my all time favorites, and a new one.

3. School 2013

Speaking of new favorites, Lee Jong Suk along with Kim Won Bin make this bromance drama.

4. Healer

This drama was everything I wanted City Hunter to be.

5. Master's Sun

Way better than I thought it was going to be; the only downside is that fact that So Ji Sub doesn't have black here in this one.

6. Full House (Thai)

Dare I say, better than the original.

7. King 2 Hearts

I loved everything about this drama except for the fucking villain. I wish M would go choke on some donkey balls.

8. Heart to Heart

This might just be my favorite drama of 2015. I found the first episode annoying, but it pulls you into the story and by the end you want just one more episode of the two protagonists.

9. It's Okay, That's Love

A drama that dealt with heavy issues without getting weighed down.

10. Good Doctor and 11. Emergency Couple

Two medical dramas, both of which were meh.

12. I Need Romance

A drama so bad that I couldn't make myself watch the next two installments, although they feature completely different casts.

13. Let's Eat

Yummy food and zany characters. I still can't make myself watch the second one.

                                     

14. Marriage Not Dating

Entertaining without ever becoming boring.

15. I Hear Your Voice

Another older woman, younger man drama. There might be hope for me yet.

16. Love Myself or You

The only Taiwanese drama I finished in 2015, although I tend to enjoy them, for some odd reason I have really hard time getting into Taiwanese dramas.

17. Cunning Single Lady (Sly and Single Again)

Regardless of what you call it, this drama was pretty entertaining, but just boring enough that it started my almost nine month break from Asian dramas. So, maybe it wasn't all that entertaining.

And then, came November with the start of Oh, My Venus, and I was hooked again.

18. My Love from Another Star

Why??? Why did I wait so long to watch this wonderful drama. Yeah, it was everyone was fucking saying how wonderful it was and I didn't want to me disappointed, Kill Me, Heal Me.

19. High School; King of Savvy

This would have been an okay drama if it wasn't for the characters. I don't understand why they had to give the main heroine the brain and emotional maturity of an elementary student. She was such a weak ass person I just wanted to slap her.

20. She Was Pretty

She gave me the biggest second lead boner. Seriously, who wouldn't pick Choi Siwon???

21. Oh, My Ghostess

Funny, and romantic and at time suspenseful; this drama was such a great watch.

So, there are the twenty-one dramas I watched in 2015. I also watched Dream Knights featuring GOT7 and EXO Next Door. This were shorter web dramas less than 15 minutes per episode, so like a movie just divided into chapters. I really enjoyed both of those because they were light and fun, and because both GOT7 and EXO are a bunch of cuties. And, I may have become a bit obsessed with So Ji Sub, but look at him. Can you blame me?

2014 Year in Kdrama or What Exactly Did I Miss?????

 

 

 

After not having watched a single Korean drama in more than a year, I am more than ready to catch up with everything I’ve missed and watch some new and some favorites from past years.  Currently I’m watching “A Witch’s Romance,” which I am enjoying much more than I thought I would.  So, here’s to a New Year filled with drama, romance, bro-mance, friendships, and heartaches all in Korean, of course.

Episode 1 in Pictures: Arang and the Magistrate

Title: Arang and the Magistrate (아랑사또전)

Network: MBC

Episodes: 20

Starring: Lee Joon-Gi, Shin Min-Ah, Yoon Woo-Jin, Yoo Seung-Ho

Aired: Aug.-Oct. 2012

Let's all appreciate how utterly beautiful and sexy Shin Min Ah is

Guilty Pleasures

Guilty pleasures.  We all have them.  Those things we enjoy more than we probably should; maybe we enjoy them in the middle of the night when no one else is around just so you don't have to explain your fascination to others.  I have any number of guilty pleasures and they range from my unhealthy love of instant ramen to my love of '80s hair bands, from trashy romance novels to badly made SyFy movies and so many, many more.  However, my biggest guilty pleasure are musicals.  There is nothing wrong with musicals, but I'm not just talking your standard musical, although I do love them as well, I'm talking about those corny movies dealing with someone trying to become a famous singer.  You know leaving their small town to venture into the big city only to find out that it's harder than they thought so they end up serving beer at a seedy bar for tips.  I love those movies too.  Truth be told if it has to do with someone breaking into song a drop of a hat for no real good reason I'm all over it; I'll admit to even watching Glee.  I'm going to date myself but Eddie and the Cruisers was one of my favorite movies growing up, and don't get me started on Disney Princess movies and the many sing-a longs I've had with them.

 

I've tried really hard for this slight obsession not to bleed into my Kdrama watching, and for the most part I've been successful mostly because I don't think I've found any true musicals a la Rent or Sweeney Todd, but what I have found are dramas dealing characters wanting to be successful in the music industry, unfortunately, none of them work in a skanky bar with scantily dressed women.  Three of my favorites are Heartstrings, You're Beautiful and Shut Up Flower Boy Band. 

Ok, yes this one is my all time favorite .... ever.

This slight obsession with all things musical led me to watch K-Pop the Ultimate Audition also called K-Pop Extreme Survival I wasn't going to watch it because, but not only is it about an all boy kpop group it is also about a girl pretending to be a boy to be part of said group how could I pass this up?  I'm weak and I couldn't.  So I watched and for the most part I did enjoy it.  The story is about a young tomboy who plays classical piano but really wants to be a hip hop star.  Seung Yeon ditches her prestigious school in England, returns to Korea, hides out from her parents, tries out for the most popular kpop group, M2, alongside her best friend, Ji Woo, makes it as one of the finalists, lives in a house with seven guys, falls in love with Woo Hyun, the assholey lead of M2, dances, sings, is found out, something ... something happily ever after.  Ok, it's not the greatest drama dealing with music, that distinction belongs to Shut Up Flower Boy Band, but it's not the worst, Dream High 2, cough cough.
The best thing I can say about it is that it was cute and short.  They cut the drama down to 14 episodes so I saved two hours of my life. Hooray.  I would even venture that I kinda liked it. The lead played by Ko Eun Ah was great, the music was pretty okay.  The only things were that I have no idea how they thought she was a guy with big ole boobies that she had even after they were taped down, and it had the most awkward kisses ever to grace dramaland.  We are talking Heartstrings awkward, but there were more than one.  You'd figure they would learn how to kiss after the first one, or they would be more comfortable doing it after the first kiss, but no every kiss in the drama was deer in headlights kiss. Shudder.

Wild Romance? Where? Did I Miss It?

Last weekend I decided to finally finish watching Wild Romance after many, many months of it being on my on hold list.  The drama originally aired between January and February of 2012, I watched the first episode probably sometime in March of last year and then promptly dropped it.  I hated the first episode.  I hated the characters, I wanted to bitch slap them so hard they would see cartoon birds circling their heads.  Last weekend, I was in the mood to give second chances so I decided to watch Wild Romance from beginning to end, damn it I was going to finish it no matter how many alcoholic drinks it took, the vodka did help by the way.
The drama stars Lee Dong Wook as Park Mu Yeol, a famous baseball player, and Lee Si Young, as Yoo Eun Jae, his spunky female bodyguard.

If only they looked this good in the drama...sigh.

The drama starts off with our two leads meeting in a karaoke bar and getting into a drunken scuffle since Eun Jae is a diehard fan of the rival baseball team.  This being dramaland it leads to her becoming his bodyguard to protect his image and her job.  They instantly hate each other, and I can see why because I hate them too. It seems that Mu Yeol is being stalked and that is the cover that they use for her becoming his bodyguard.  The first half of the drama they spend sniping at each other and making funny faces as they try to go about their daily lives.  She slowly warms up to him realizing that she has feelings for him that move beyond disgust, and just when you think that maybe this drama will be good in walks the crazy ex-girlfriend.
She is literally crazy something about her being bipolar and prone to go into catatonic stages.  She comes in to add a wrench to our main couple's pursuit of happily ever after.  It really pissed me off that our lead male has more kissing scenes and make out scenes with the crazy ex than he did with the main lead.  For an episode there I thought the drama was going to really surprise me and he was going to work it out with the ex and they would have the happily ever after.  Maybe that would have been more enjoyable.
The last fifth of the drama finally comes back around to the stalking plot, and it was meh.  It seemed to much like they were trying to turn what should have been an entertaining rom-com into a thriller complete with murder, psycho best friend, and bat shit crazy housekeeper.  I didn't buy it and only mildly entertained.  I knew from almost the start that the housekeeper was the stalker; she was just plain weird and overly hovering.
The only reason I didn't drop this drama a second time was because of the hilarious side couple of Manager Kim and Kim Dong Ah.  These two had more chemistry than the lead couple and more ahhh moments also.  They were wonderful.  From her asking about his fantasies and offering to watch porn with him to him losing his robot facade to defend her against the psycho bad guy.  I just loved them.  I want to see them in a drama again with more airtime.