Lie To Me

This was a re-watch. In retrospect, I think this show suffered a lot on the second time viewing. I had fonder memories of it the first time around. For instance, I had forgotten entirely how torturous the final two and a half or so episodes were. I still love Yoon Eun Hye, who plays Gong Ah Jung, a civil servant who works for the Ministry of Tourism. Her character tells a little white lie about being married in an attempt to one-up a frenemy, and it ends up being blown all out of proportion, linking her to the chaebol CEO Hyun Ki Joon, played refreshingly by Kang Ji Hwan. He starts out very gruff, cold, and aloof but quickly assuages any worries about him being the stereotypical terrible human being CEO type but actually being quite charmingly naive and humanly broken by a previous love and some complicated family issues. Sung Joon plays his younger brother, Hyun Sang Hee, though I feel like his character must not have tested positively when the show was airing because he gets dropped rather abruptly about 3/4ths of the way through the series. Jo Yoon Hee plays Oh Yoon Jo, the ubiquitous former girlfriend who returns and insists on everything falling into place the way she wants it regardless of the feelings of anyone else involved character.

Hong Soo Hyun does a great job as Yoo So Ran, the frenemy of Gong Ah Jung. The elder romantic triangle between Gong Ah Jun's father, the woman he loves, and another friend is really sweet and deserved more air time. Certainly some of the time wasted in the last two episodes could have been better spent wrapping up that subplot more satisfactorily.

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Mystery Queen (AKA Queen of Mystery)

I loved this drama. It was definitely a mystery/police procedural drama and not a romance drama (if this show was made in the US, there probably might have been a romance subplot between the main two characters but societal expectations in Korea are different and there isn't and that's just fine. It didn't need any romance). This show is about Yoo Seol Ok (played by Choi Kang Hee), a neighborhood ahjumma who is basically like Sherlock Holmes in her ability with deductive reasoning. Seol Ok gets involved in investigating some crimes that occur in her neighborhood because Chief Hong Joon Oh (played adorably by Lee Won Geun), the head of her neighborhood police station, consults her for help with his investigations. They cross paths with Ha Wan Seung (played by Kwon Sang Woo - who can smirk at me any time he wants to, thanks), a detective in the drug unit/violent crimes unit who is something of a loose cannon. He and Seol Ok clash quite a bit, but form a bickering partnership in order to hunt down some criminals. The various cases that they encounter are interesting (watch out for the whole serial killers are like mice - if you see one, you know there are more in the walls - trope) and Seol Ok gets to shine as a not typical female character. The supporting cast in this drama really round out the experience and make you glad to join them each episode.

Don't expect an ending where things are wrapped up tidily. I was honestly a bit flabbergasted by the ending, since kdramas don't typically have multiple seasons but it definitely felt more like a season finale in a U.S. procedural show with some big plot reveals right at the very end. I would not be unhappy if there was a second season of this show. Choi Kang Hee's clear delight in playing Seol Ok is wonderful and the bickering, sibling-like interplay she has with Kwon Sang Woo's Ha Wan Seung is very engaging. Highly recommended, especially if you're looking for something not your typical kdrama fare.

Story is really only minus half a star because of how many loose ends there still were at the end of the last episode.

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My Lovely Sam Soon (AKA My Name is Kim Sam Soon)

This was one of the first K-dramas that I watched (and just finished re-watching for probably the fourth or fifth time). It's a noona romance, with the main character Kim Sam Soon, played by Kim Sun Ah, as a 30 year old patisserie, and Hyun Jin Heon, played by Hyun Bin, as the restaurateur and chaebol heir who is three years younger than her. This drama has a lot of silly "imagination scenes" where the characters (though Mostly Sam Soon) have flights of fantasy about what they would /like/ to do but don't. There's a secondary female lead character, Yoo Hee Jin (played by Jung Ryeo Won), who is Jin Heon's lost first love, and her friend from the U.S., Dr. Henry Kim (played by Henney Daniel). I had forgotten how very, very much I hate the second female lead character. I hate the character so much that I actually feel bad towards her actress for having to play her. People spend a lot of time in this drama telling Sam Soon that she is fat and ugly (though, neither is really an appropriate descriptor for her) and even Sam Soon is pretty hard on herself. That said, she doesn't let that stop her from living her life. This is an older drama (from 2005), so the production quality is quite dated, but it's worth watching even with that.

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Emergency Couple (AKA Emergency Man and Woman)

This is a "second chance at love" show. The premise is a divorced couple meet again as interns in the same Emergency Room. Sparks fly. The primary couple is Oh Jin Hee, played by Song Ji Hyo, and Oh Chang Min, played by Choi Jin Hyuk. I'll be honest. Choi Jin Hyuk flips my switch, so I'm inclined to love anything that I see him in because, yeah. Ahem. Anyway. They are a couple that married young and against the wishes of his family and then broke up spectacularly after a year. Six (I think) years later, they meet up again when they are both assigned as interns to the same team in the emergency department of their hospital. What follows is a couple re-learning what it was that attracted them in the first place, and also what ways they had to grow before they could really be successful together. The show does hit a point where it starts to drag a bit when some tragic things happen and Oh Chang Min spends two or three episodes kind of back sliding and wallowing, but once you get through that, you're rewarded with a couple of wrap up episodes that tie everything up neatly and satisfactorily. The secondary couple are really fun to watch together and have just as satisfying, though less delved, story as the main couple. The supporting cast is fun. I've already watched this drama twice and will probably watch it again at some point in the future because, as mentioned, Choi Jin Hyuk, damn. That voice, that smile. Mmph.

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Plus Nine Boys.

This is a short little drama centered on a family of four men (three brothers and their uncle) who are in their 9th years of their various decades (9, 19, 29, and 39). Apparently, according to the wikipedia page for the show, there is a common Korean belief that the ninth year of a decade will bring more hardships than usual. In this show, there are basically four couples - the uncle, Gu Kwang Su (played by Oh Jung Se), who is a television producer who was once dramatically denied during a marriage proposal ten years earlier. His love interest is Ju Da In, played by Yoo Da In, who was the woman who left him and is now a divorced single mother with a five year old daughter. The oldest brother is Kan Jin Gu, played by Kim Young Kwang, a travel agency employee who has been something of a playboy, and the woman who has been his best friend that he's now fallen in love with, Ma Se Young (played by Kyung Soo Jin). The middle brother is Kang Min Gu, played by Yook Sung Jae, who is a high school student and competative Judo athlete, who falls for an older girl, Han Su Ah (played by Park Cho Rong). The youngest brother is Kang Dong Gu, played by Choi Ro Woon, who is a child actor well known for a very popular role when he was younger, but who has found acting awkward as he's gotten older. There's a little girlfriend for him, as well, named Jang Baek Ji (played by Lee Chae Mi), but his story line is much more about his struggle with his acting than his relationship with her.

This is a very bitter sweet show, as well as being on the short side (it's only 14 episodes long). The love stories are nicely romantic and each one has it's own distinct flavor. Unfortunately, the pacing in this show is uneven, which makes it sometimes feel really draggy, which is surprising considering how much ground they have to cover with just 14 episodes to cover it. My favorite couple was probably Jin Gu and Se Yeong.

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She Was Pretty

I just finished re-watching this k-drama that stars the vastly entertaining Hwang Jung Eum as Kim Hye Jin, a woman who was the beautiful, popular girl who became "plain" when she got older, and the vastly adorable Park Seo Joon as Ji Seong Jun, the man who was the tubby outcast boy who fell in love with her but is now attractive, fit, and successful. This show is, really, the reward for the Second Lead Syndrome caused by Kill Me, Heal Me - where Park Seo Joon's character does not get Hwang Jung Eum's character as a romantic partner. As wish fulfillment for Second Lead Syndrome it suffers a bit early on by just how awful a human being the adult Ji Seong Jun has become. It takes a little bit overly long for him to turn into a human being again - during which time, one gets the chance to absolutely fall in love with Choi Shi Won, who plays Kim Shin Hyeok, a goofy and good natured writer who loves the "ugly" Hye Jin just the way she is. (In fact, when she has the inevitable make-over mid season, his reaction is shock and dismay 'But you were so pretty just as you were!') Luckily, Seong Jun does become human eventually and the wrap up of the romance is charming, sweet, and satisfying.

And almost secondary to the real shining relationship in this drama, which is the womance between Kim Hye Jin and her roommate/best friend Min Ha Ri, who is played by the stunningly beautiful and doll-like Go Joon Hee. Very often in k-dramas, the two women who fall for the main guy are catty and awful to each other. Even when they have otherwise been friends, introducing a guy to the mix often ends up with at least one of them turning to Leona Helmsley levels of evil. Not She Was Pretty. The love these two friends have for each other shines through from beginning to end in this show and is the real reward for watching. The love and support they show for each other is envy- and awe-inspiring. And worth every single moment of screen time. There's more than one moment in the show, especially early on, where I think that these two could just go off and leave all the guys behind and it would be one of the most satisfying love stories. :) I would seriously watch it again and again just for their story lines.

I do love the interactions between Park Seo Joon and Choi Shi Won, too.

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I actually watched this one third (started with Reply 1988 and then watched Reply 1997) and I think it suffered somewhat in comparison to the other two series, even though this one is the one with characters actually born around when I was born. :) I liked the cast a lot and thought that they had good chemistry all together. I was bitterly disappointed by the husband reveal, since I was firmly hoping for the opposite outcome even though I was pretty sure it wouldn't happen. The suspense that was found in 1997 was lacking in this one. It was a genuinely warm and touching show, like the others, and well worth watching. The parents were, as always, delightful.

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I re-watched Mary Stayed Out All Night. This is something I watched originally early on in my k-drama watching career, as it stars the Prince of Asia, Jang Geun Suk, who I loved so very much in You're Beautiful that I went on a binge watching everything I could find with him in it. Mary Stayed Out All Night (or sometimes it's known as Marry Me, Mary) has Moon Geun Young as Wi Mae Ri, the daughter of a father who is always on the run from debtors, and Jang Geun Suk as Kang Moo Kyul, an indie rocker who plays with his band in Hongdae. There's also Kim Jae Wook (who was delightful in Coffee Prince and another compelling reason for me to watch this show, though the stiffness that was an asset for his character in Coffee Prince is kind of a hindrance for his character in this show) as Jung In, the son of the chaebol who was childhood friends with Mae Ri's deceased mother. Rounding out (squaring out?) the love square is Kim Hyo Jin as Seo Joon, a temperamental actor and Moo Kyul's ex-girlfriend who's still holding a torch for him.

Mary Stayed Out All Night is a contract marriage drama. Mae Ri fakes a marriage with Moo Kyul in order to try to get out of the arranged marriage that her father and the chaebol arrange between her and Jung In. The pacing is uneven in this show, hitting a period just before the end where it really drags on, but I still find it utterly charming. When watching the early episodes, I really feel like one of Jang Geun Suk's goals was to follow up You're Beautiful with a drama where he smiles his adorable, heart melting smile as often as he made his twisty mouth, bitter pants face in You're Beautiful. Where the drama starts to drag is in the latter episodes, where his character gets much more broody and does a lot less smiling. I will say that this is the drama that showed me that Jang Geun Suk knows how to kiss a woman. :)

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This is a marriage contract kdrama. I'm a sucker for a good (or even mediocre) marriage contract drama. On the upside, this one's good. Jung So Min (who I loveloveloved in Father Is Strange) plays Yoon Ji Ho, an assistant k-drama writer who is in need of a home in Seoul. Lee Min Ki (getting back into the swing of things after his military enlistment) plays Nam Se Hee, a rather stoic software engineer who has a house with a sizable mortgage and rather particular requirements for a tenant. Ji Ho ends up renting a room in Se Hee's house and, finding themselves comfortably compatible, decide to have a contract marriage to resolve some side problems (cohabitation with the opposite sex still being somewhat frowned upon and Se Hee's parents pushing a lot of blind dates on him). Neither Ji Ho nor Se Hee are particularly demonstrative people, so much of the series is them failing to communicate with each other effectively, but it all ends rather satisfyingly. The supporting cast really breathes life into this drama - with the main pair being so self-contained, it really relies on their surrounding friends, family, and acquaintances to push the two to stand out more. Things do reach a point towards the end where there's a little bit of frustration of the stubborn refusal to effectively communicate with each other on the part of the main couple, but it is balanced out by the delight of how the other two major couples end up. This drama is not a quick dash to the finish line, but a slow stroll through the park on a day that's not quite warm enough for it.

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I also recently finished watching Goblin: The Lonely and Great God. This show is also by tvN. It was beautiful, poignant, lyrical (to borrow Christina Bertani's descriptor), and all around wonderful. It stars the always amazing Gong Yoo (who I first loved in my first K-drama, Coffee Prince) as the Goblin cursed with immortality and Kim Go Eun (who did her television debut in 2016 in Cheese in the Trap) as the Goblin's Bride, who can see ghosts and is the only one who can break his curse. It also stars Lee Dong Wook (who, I will be perfectly honest, I feel in love with while watching him on the variety show Roommates and have loved in everything I've seen him in) who plays a Grim Reaper and his love interest is played by the very beautiful Yoo In Na (who I've seen in several shows and I'm very glad she finally gets to play a character who is not an utter bitch). There is no one on this planet who is as good at the wounded, kicked puppy look as Lee Dong Wook. You just want to hug him and carry him around in your pocket. I give this drama 5 out of 5 on DramaFever (where I watched it) and 10 out of 10 on MyDramaLIst. I'd give it 1000 out of 1000, even. The bromance between the Goblin and the Grim Reaper is amazing and would make this drama a joy to watch even if everything else in it sucked. Luckily, nothing in it sucks. Except maybe the age difference between the Goblin and his bride. But given how chaste k-drama romance is, I am easily able to give that a pass. :)

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Yoon Shi Yoon plays Yoo Hyun Jae, a 1990s top star who travels tot he future (otherwise known as 2017) and ends up entangled with Kim Min Jae's Lee Ji Hoon and his best friend Choi Woo Seung, played by Lee Se Young. Ji Hoon dreams of debuting as an Idol and Woo Seung is masquerading as Ji Hoon at the hagwon to prep to take the civil service exam, since she can't afford the lessons herself. The supporting cast in this drama is just as stellar as the lead actors. Hyun Jae is such a delightful goober, you can't help but root for him. Be prepared for some second lead syndrome (and also to flip flop on who the second lead actually is). Yoon Shi Yoon really embraces the whole fish out of water concept, while still embodying the kind of confidence one would expect from a (former) top star. It is something of a coming of age story, while not being quite like anything else I've watched. It was really endearing. The pacing can be somewhat problematic, and some of the petty machination stuff got a bit draggy, but all in all, this was a rough little gem that I thoroughly enjoyed.

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