Drama Review: Witch’s Romance (2014)

Grade: B-

Category

Workplace noona romance

What it’s about

Years after being left at the alter by her globe-trotting photographer boyfriend, Ji Yeon is a hard-charging career woman and dedicated journalist. But it isn’t until she meets a much younger part-time worker that her heart begins to heal—which is exactly when her ex-fiance returns to Korea and decides he wants Ji Yeon back. (Surprise!)

First impression

I was a little reluctant to start this drama, having watched only the first episode of its Taiwanese predecessor before dropping it. But it was silly of me to worry. TVN’s crack team of creative professionals took an awkwardly staged, cartoony farce and turned it into a funny, sophisticated little gem. The acting has been toned down, the story significantly tightened to focus on the lead couple, and the production values astronomically increased. I was worried about how anything could follow in the footsteps of my beloved Secret Love Affair, but I’m starting to think that a change of pace with this spritely rom-com is just the thing I need.

Final verdict

Witch’s Romance was a fairly popular and well-liked show during its run, but it just didn’t work for me. Like so many of its TVN station-mates, it felt too bland and machine-extruded to really engage either my heart or mind. This show bears no relation to the gritty, flesh-bound world of old-school Korean dramas, where poverty existed and danger was believably real. Its characters and their plastic, new-car smelling world are one-dimensional and hollow, utterly divorced from anything approaching real, physical life.

Drama Review: Miss Korea (2013)

Grade: B+

Category

Light melodrama

What it’s about

Ji Young was always the prettiest girl around, but it turns out that adult life doesn’t live up to her high school expectations: She’s single and lives at home, the only girl in a working-class family of misfit men. At work she’s an elevator girl, valued for her good looks and pretty smile but constantly demeaned by her creepy boss. But with the inspiration of an old boyfriend and President Ma, the director of Seoul’s greatest beauty salon, Ji Young decides to change her life—and save a cosmetics company—by becoming Miss Korea, 1997.

Drama Review: My Love from Another Star (2013)

Grade: B

Category

Supernatural romantic comedy

What it’s about

Chun Song Yi seems to have everything: In spite of her reputation as an airhead, she’s a top actress. She’s got an angelic best friend, a closet full of designer clothes, and a kind, well-mannered chaebol heir who desperately wants to marry her. But everything begins to fall apart when she’s implicated in a suspicious death, reminding Song Yi that her life wasn’t so perfect in the first place. When sparks fly with her mysterious, dreamy next door neighbor—a younger man who happens to be from another planet and have unusual set of skills that include teleportation and freezing time—Song Yi finally finds true connection. Which is when her troubles really begin.

First impression

Just five minutes in, I can already tell I’m going to love this drama. From its cinematic opening to its mournful piano score to the chilly nonchalance of its male lead, My Love from Another Star is just what I’ve been yearning for.

Final verdict

While moving this post’s Random Thoughts from their original home on my Tumblr account, I was surprised by how much I started out liking My Love from Another Star. I watched this show as it aired, which means that almost three months passed between seeing the premiere and the finale. During that time, I became increasingly jaded about its trajectory. It started out with a bang—its big-budget presentation was tempered with thoughtful characterizations and an intriguing central concept. But by the time episode 21 rolled around, I felt the same way I always do when I watch a Kdrama romance with a supernatural aspect: Why’d they bother?

Drama Review: Return of Iljimae (2009)

Grade: B+

Category

Action/adventure fusion sageuk

What it’s about

The epic (but occasionally tongue-in-cheek) journey a hero and his desperate efforts to protect Korea and her people.

What it’s not about

Although it was released after the similarly themed Iljimae, the two dramas are totally unrelated. I suggest staying away from the original Iljimae, which blew its wad on lots of pretty actors but forgot that it needed a script, too. Return of Iljimae’s title makes it sound like the lesser of the two, but it’s actually based on an original comic while Iljimae is based on...Lee Jun Ki’s cheekbones?

First impression

In spite of our uncertain beginning, I’m really starting like this show. It’s trying to be a Korean version of The Princess Bride, which is a very noble calling indeed. The modern narrator is acting like the grandfather in that movie, guiding us through a series of stories about Iljimae’s youth. The Joseon setting has all the storybook charm of Florin, and its inhabitants—including a baby-eating giant and a flamboyant Chinese spy who only walks sideways—have the quirky, one-dimensional glow of fairytale characters. Korean dramas may love over-the-top people, places, and ideas, but they rarely venture into the realm magical realism. I’m hoping this mythical hero’s quest could change that.

Final verdict

Return of Iljimae really hit the sageuk sweet spot for me: It’s sweeping and glorious and tragic, stuffed full of genuine emotion and powerful friendships. But best of all, it managed to sidestep all the things that usually annoy me about this kind of drama.

Drama Review: December Fever (2004)

Grade: B

Category

Romantic comedy that morphs into straight-up melodrama

What it’s about

Ten years after her shotgun wedding to a powerful doctor, Young Shim still doesn’t fit into his home. She works like a slave on behalf of his family and always keeps a smile on her face, but her husband’s mother and sister never let her forget her roots as a poor country girl. The more she tries to earn their respect, the more insults and cruelties they lob her way. When Young Shim finally decides to venture into the wider world on her own, she meets a handsome younger man who leaves her longing for human connection. But their blooming relationship is not without complications—he’s the ex-boyfriend of her new sister-in-law, and might just be using Young Shim to exact revenge for being dumped. When a terminal cancer diagnosis is given, Young Shim is forced to choose: does she stay in an unhappy marriage, or does she strike out on her own?

First impression

To offset all the recent dramas I’ve been watching lately, I wanted to try something retro. That’s exactly what this 2004 series is: from the clunky cell phones to the tragic finale lurking at the end of its 17 episode running time, it’s a perfect exemplar of the early oughts on Korean television. These older shows might not be as slick as what’s on the air today, but they do have lots of charm and somehow feel more emotionally genuine than even the best modern shows. Bring on the ill-fated, old-school noona romance. I dare you to make me cry, drama. I dare you!

Final verdict

When I started watching December Fever, I expected it to be just another treacly love story with a self-consciously tragic ending, probably intended for fans of 2002’s massively successful Winter Sonata. But in truth, this drama springs from the same gritty, downtrodden family tree as What Happened in Bali and I’m Sorry, I Love You, both of which were also released in 2004.

Drama Review: Heirs (2013)

Grade: B-

Category

Light melodrama of the high school persuasion

What it’s about

Thanks to her mother’s position as a live-in maid, hardworking Cha Eun Sang is exposed to a world of privilege she never imaged. But when her mom’s employer gets her a spot at a posh high school intended for Korea’s one percent, Eun Sang quickly comes to realize that life with money isn’t always perfect. At Empire High, you’re either bullied or a bully. And when two of the most dangerous boys at school show an interest in Eun Sang, things really spiral out of control.

First impression

This underwhelming, overstuffed pilot episode is not without promise. It’s shaping up to be a twist on the Boys over Flowers–school of mean-boy storytelling, complete with a healthy dose of corporate intrigue and lots of forbidden young love—the rich boy and poor girl, the almost step-siblings, the celebrity offspring and the regular guy. As expected, Park Shin Hye is immediately compelling as the sad, old-before-her time Cha Eun Sung. Lee Min Ho is okay as the laid-back Kim Tan, but I’m not quite sold on him in the role yet. (Also, as predicted, he looks way too old to be in high school.) What I am sold on is that, in spite of his aloofness, he’s thoughtful and introspective and might just have Prince Charming tendencies.

Final verdict

If you’re willing to spend twenty hours with a show that never really develops a central plot or finds satisfying resolutions for most of its characters, you could do worse than Heirs. It’s an easy watch that’s filled with cute moments and the kind of snarky one liners that rarely make appearances in Korean dramas.

Drama Review: Bridal Mask (2012)

Grade: B-

Category

Action-flavored fusion sageuk

What it’s about

The struggles and triumphs of a masked vigilante who stands up for the Korean people during Japan’s occupation of Korea in early twentieth century.

First impression

As voted by readers of my blog, I’m giving another shot to this 2012 drama about a masked freedom fighter during Japan’s occupation of Korea. The first time I started watching it, I sat through all of ten minutes before moving on. I made a snap judgement back then: Between a cartoonily impossible opening sequence and the impromptu dance party that followed it, I was sure Gaksital wasn’t for me. But this time I’m going to stick with it. I’m in the mood for a show that has more on its mind than goofy comedy and the same old love triangle angst. Will Bridal Mask give me what I want? Only time will tell.

Final verdict

Unpopular opinion alert: I thought this much-loved drama was middling at best. 

Drama Review: Love Rain (2012)

Grade: B

Category
Romantic melodramas

What it’s about
In the 1970s, a young couple is torn apart by fate. Forty years later, their children meet and fall in love, only to find their relationship complicated by their parents’ shared history. (Not to mention a scheming model, a nasty mother in law, and a ridiculous amount of miscommunication and laughably misguided self-sacrifice.)

First impression
I’ve saved this drama for a rainy day (har har), and in the wake of Cruel City I’m in the mood for a melodramatic romance that’s dripping cheese. Love Rain is sure to deliver on this front: it reunites the creative team behind the Endless Love series of dramas, which includes the hugely successful Winter Sonata, Autumn in My Heart, Summer Scent, and my beloved Spring Waltz. Love Rain’s pedigree is obvious from the very first scene—it’s slow and gentle and full of gorgeous scenery. I don’t find either of the leads very appealing, though, and I have a love-hate relationship with the works of the show’s creators: they can be swoonily romantic and frustratingly stupid, often at the very same time. Looks like I’m in for more of the same here.

Final verdict
Usually I like reviewing dramas right after I finish watching them, when things are fresh in my mind. In this case, though, I’m not so sure that’s the right approach—it’s hard to remember how much I enjoyed the early episodes when the show’s last quarter was such a mess. A solid, well-thought out finale that brought together the drama’s many characters and narrative threads would have left me in the mood to talk about the lead couple’s great chemistry, the cast of compelling supporting players, and the charm of this drama’s multigenerational love story. But now all I can think about is how all those good things were wasted by a rushed, unsatisfactory finale.

(Spoilers ahoy!)

Drama Review: Can We Get Married (2012)

Grade: B+

Category

Family drama

What it’s about
Can We Get Married explores the stormy romantic and family relationships of six women of different ages, including a brash middle-class widow and her two daughters. Its story charts their interconnected lives through breakups and reunions, weddings and divorces, late-arriving love and contented parenthood.

First impression
This stylish and cinematic opener suggests a more sophisticated take on life and loves than most rom-coms. (Now if only the characters would speak a little more slowly....) I’m still fairly apprehensive about this show, however. I’ve read wildly varied reviews about it, many of which weren’t positive. Other bloggers have reported hating all the characters and finding the plot draggy. But I’ve also heard that it’s realistic and more nuanced and well made than the typical Kdrama romance. All I know is that I better like it, because I’ve sworn to stop being so wishy-washy and giving up on dramas midway through their runs.

Final verdict
Can We Get Married is a realistic, quietly funny and subtly feminist take on modern love.

Drama review: Meteor Garden (2001)

Grade: B+

Category: Youthful love story/Taiwanese

What it’s about
If you’re visiting this website, you almost certainly know already. Along with its international cousins Boys over Flowers and Hana Yori Dango, Meteor Garden is the most essential of drama romances. The first of four live-action series to be based on an original Japanese manga, Meteor Garden tells the story of an everyday college girl who catches the eye of her richest, meanest classmate. When she stands up to him, he decides to bully her out of school, only to fall madly (and rather inexplicably) in love with her unrelenting stubbornness and brave personality. They overcome countless obstacles on their quest to be together, including a number of other love interests and his nasty, controlling mother.

First impression
Oh, how I love you in all your guises, Hana Yori Dango. You are the queen of Cinderella stories and the ultimate comfort-food viewing. Your Japanese and Korean incarnations introduced me to new cultures—they were the first dramas I watched from each of their respective nations. This makes it strange to come to Meteor Garden with some knowledge of Taiwanese television—I’ve already seen all three of the leads in other shows, and have a good idea what to expect from both this drama’s story and its execution. Tdramas always seem to be more romantic than Jdramas and sexier than Kdramas, so I’m pretty certain that love is in the cards for the two of us.

Final verdict
Meteor Garden has all the shortcomings you’d expect from a drama of this vintage—it looks, feels, and sounds dated and its production values are bargain basement. But I’m still a sucker for its swoony, starry-eyed love story, and this might just be my favorite of its incarnations.

Drama Review: Capital Scandal (2007)

Grade: B

Category

Action romance

What it’s about

During Japan’s occupation of Korea, a naïve, uncompromisingly idealistic bookseller joins the underground resistance movement. She befriends a colorful cast of characters there, including a tough gisaeng and a ladies’ man who bets his friends he can turn her into a modern woman—in spite of her conservative values and the traditional hanbok she always wears.

First impression

I can’t say that I love this show’s opening. The action is cartoony and the costumes look like they belong on stage at my local high school’s talent night. I’m optimistic that it will get better as it goes along, though—I’m a big fan of its playboy-redeemed-by-the-love-of-an-upright-girl theme. And how can you go wrong with something that’s based on a novel by the author of Coffee Prince’s source material?

Book Review: Crazy Rich Asians (2013)

Kevin Kwan’s novel Crazy Rich Asians is a beach read with the soul of a Korean drama.

Its premise even sounds like a novelization of Boys over Flowers: Hardworking Rachel, a second-generation American of Chinese descent, visits her boyfriend’s family in Singapore only to discover that they’re insanely wealthy and powerful. In fact, the Young family is so loaded they even put Goo Joon Pyo to shame—after seeing their family compound, a stunned character theorizes that they must be “richer than god.”

Once upon a time, sex-and-shopping novels from authors like Danielle Steele and Judiths Krantz and McNaught were all the rage. Crazy Rich Asians is definitely a throwback to this era, but with a modern twist: it’s a shopping novel. There’s hardly any sex—the only lust to be found in its pages is inspired by bespoke suits, real estate, and thirty-carat jewels. Which, in its own way, is also reminiscent of Kdrama.

The novel’s opening scene says it all: A group of these crazy rich Asians arrive at a posh British hotel only to be treated with racist disdain by the manager. Within the space of a paragraph, the hotel’s owner arrives with the news that he’s just made a mint by selling the place to a nice family from Singapore. As you might expect, the crazy rich get their room and the manager gets his walking papers.

Drama Review: Ojakgyo Brothers (2011)

Grade: B

Category: Family drama

What it’s about

The Hwang family struggles to keep their small farm after a young usurper appears with a written promise saying it actually belongs to her. Secrets, lies, and four separate love stories develop from there.

First impressions

As my Mvibo.com membership lasts for three more weeks, I’ve decided to tackle another of its rare gems. This 58-episode weekend drama has a cast of thousands, including my current honey, Joo Won. Like Family’s Honor, the only other home drama I’ve watched, Ojakgyo Brothers actually seems to be a collection of mini-dramas that revolve around individual family members and are connected by a central storyline. In spite of occasional forays into the lives of its older generations, the four Hwang brothers are clearly the stars of this show, with their assorted love stories playing out against the backdrop of the family’s fight to keep their farm.

Final verdict
Another blogger often writes with disdain about shows intended for housewives to use as background noise while they’re ironing. There’s no doubt that Ojakgyo Brothers fits this bill; it’s casual and breezy and unspectacular in most every regard. Even as someone who doesn’t speak Korean, it was possible for me to follow the story with one eye while I did other things. (Not ironing, though. I would never iron. Life is too short for bad housework.)

Movie Review: Silenced (2011)

Grade: B

Silenced is difficult to watch, and it should be.

Based on a novel that was inspired by real events at a Korean boarding school for deaf children, Silenced follows a well-meaning teacher who joins the school’s staff only to discover that his employers have a long history of brutal abuse against their charges.

The movie’s running time is neatly split split in two. As creepily atmospheric as any horror film, the first half is set in a world of unsettling shadows tinged with the unnatural. From the uncanny likeness between the principal and his twin brother to the otherworldly glow of the jellyfish in his office aquarium, nothing at the school seems quite right from the very beginning. Silenced’s second half morphs into a brightly lit (but no less troubling) courtroom thriller charting the legal struggles to end the cruelty at Ja-ae Academy.

Move review: Cyrano Agency (2010)

Grade B+

Have you ever wished a drama production team would make your life perfect—choosing your outfit, compiling a soundtrack, manufacturing reasons for you to spend time with your crush, and even giving you the perfect script for the occasion?

Well, some of the lucky characters in the 2010 Korean movie The Cyrano Agency have almost exactly that.

Drama Review: That Winter, the Wind Blows (2013)

Grade: B-

Category

Romance melodrama

What it’s about

A con man with a heart of gold pretends to be the long-lost brother of a lonesome chaebol daughter, who just happens to be blind and at the mercy of a group of not particularly trustworthy servants. He hopes to convince her to hand over a huge sum of money so he can pay back gangsters who think he robbed them, but guess what? He falls in love with her instead.

First impression

So far this show is delightfully reminiscent of last year’s Padam, Padam, which I loved: There’s an intense, slightly unhinged male lead, an epic bromance, time spent in prison, and Kim Bum. (It should go without saying that I heartily approve of all of the above.) I can’t wait to watch more of this gorgeously shot, mature drama.

Final verdict

The first half of this show is dark and melancholy and crackling with dangerous, taboo sexual chemistry. Unfortunately the latter portion doesn’t live up to this promising beginning—the story loses steam by episode 8 and it quickly becomes clear that the writer and production team have no idea what to do with all the wonderful toys at their disposal.

Drama Review: Baker King Kim Tak Gu (2010)

Grade: B-

Category
Underdog family melodrama

What it’s about
Two brothers—one illegitimate and raised in poverty, the other a pampered chaebol son—are at odds as they struggle to find their places in the world. (Think Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, if they had been long lost siblings and heirs to a baking empire instead of wannabe wizards.)

First impression
My grand tour through the CVs of the flower boys next door continues with this hugely popular melo starring Yoon Si Yoon, Mr. Enrique Geum himself. As Dramafever helpfully reminded me, I started Baker King once before, right after finishing Me Too, Flower. I didn’t even make it through the first episode back then—the cheap production values, cheesy script, and mediocre acting prompted me to drop it almost immediately. From a quality standpoint, its opening is probably the equivalent of an American daytime soap. Now that I’ve seen more dramas, though, I know you can’t really judge a show by its kid-centered opening sequence. But according to the preview pictures, it will be many, many episodes before my beloved Yoon Si Yoon even makes an appearance. Will I last that long? Maybe, maybe not.

Movie Review: Masquerade (2012)

Grade: B-

We’re spoiled when it comes to male leads these days: Korean dramas are filled with flawed, nuanced characters that change and grow as their stories progress, from Oh Soo in That Winter, the Wind Blows to Kang Ma Ru in Nice Guy.

Korean movies? Not so much, at least based on last year’s hugely popular film Masquerade. A spare, unidealized take on life in the palace, Masquerade offers a bawdy peek into what it might really have been like to be king during Korea’s Joseon dynasty. But unlike Ma Ru, its male lead actually is a nice guy—which is the movie’s biggest problem.

(Spoilers ahead)

Drama Review: It Started with a Kiss (2005)

(Note: I think I may have finally fallen under the spell of Tumblr. Every time I go there, it’s like the best party ever—people only talk about things I want to hear about, and I can attend in my pajamas. Sometimes I even post things, if you want to visit.)

Grade: B-

Category: Taiwanese Romantic comedy

What it’s about

A sweet-hearted girl who’s awful at everything follows her dismissive crush—a total babe who’s perfect in every way—through high school and college. The fact that her dad is best friends with his parents makes it all the easier to stalk him (especially when they move into his house).

Drama Review: The World That They Live In (2008)

Grade: B

Category

Workplace slice-of-life

What it’s about

A group of stories centered around the production of dramas for a fictional Korean television station. The centerpiece is the relationship between a pair of producers—one an established pro and the other his up-and-coming ex-girlfriend—but the lives of many other characters are also explored.