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Great slice of life of start up in the high tech world

10/10 is my rating. This is a 2020 South Korean Romantic Drama with 16, 72-85 minute episodes.


As young children, Seo Dal-mi (Bae Suzy) and her sister became separated when their mother and father divorced. Seo-Dal-mi chose to stay with her father in South Korea and her sister went with their mother who remarried. Dal-mi's step-father is a wealthy businessman who was able to provide Dal-mi's mother and sister with wealth and status. Dal-mi's father died on the brink of receiving an investment to realize his dream of the next big thing in the tech industry. Wanting to fulfill her father's dream and show her mom and sister that she made the right choice in staying with her father, Dal-mi strives to make a big splash on the tech scene as the CEO to a start-up. Dreams for a successful start-up business start and sometimes finish with admittance to the start-up groomer, Sandbox, which is South Korea's version of Silicon Valley. Nam Do-san (Nam joo-hyuk) was a "math genius" as a young boy and grew up to be a genius coder. He founded a start-up, Samsan Tech, with two close friends. With his business struggling, Do-san agrees to play the role of stand-in as Dal-mi's first love who she "met" as a pen pal when she needs a date to an important event. The young dreamers apply to Sandbox and all are accepted. The situation becomes complicated when Dal-mi's actual pen pal also comes into her life and discovers he has feelings for her. Will these young dreamers realize their dreams and overcome nearly impossible odds to form a successful start-up. Who will Dal-mi end up with, the man who wrote her letters and supported her in her time of greatest need, or this "new" love that is the perfect partner for her aspirations?


Spoilers* At the start we are introduced to Dal-mi's father and it was a sad moment when he died after just realizing his dream of getting investors to start a business. Young Dal-mi had elected to stay with her father when her mother and father divorced. The relationship between the Dal-mi and her father was very heartwarming. Her father's mother, the grandmother, was also a very compelling character and it was understandable why so many people were drawn to her. I love how the grandmother adopted this orphaned young man in spirit and took care of him despite his bristly exterior. The grandmother also took such careful care of Dal-mi not just physically but emotionally after her father died. It was an interesting slice of life to see what a technology based start up might go through trying to get their idea(s) off the ground. The friendships, romances, and just the character development was all very well done and interesting. I really liked 2nd guy but I did not feel too bad for him to lose the girl as it had taken him too much time to realize he liked her and, even then, he was too slow to show her how he felt. I also liked him to the extent that I was glad she didn't wind up with him because she would never have loved him as much as he loved her. The 2nd guy could have been unkind and kept Do-san and Dal-mi apart by withholding information but he cared enough about both that he told them despite it being against his interest to do so. I liked Nam Joo-hyuk in "Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo" and "The Bride of Haeback" he is a very diverse and talented actor. Suzy Bae is just incredible. I first saw her in "While You Were Sleeping" and loved the role she played as a very vulnerable person troubled by visions she could not control. There was so much chemistry between the two leads and they looked very good together. It definitely made me root for their relationship. It was interesting to observe how each team member brought talent to the table and how they moved so many concepts into developed ideas into reality. I highly recommend this and would readily watch it again in the future. One of my new favorites.

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Could have been good - but failed

6/10 is my rating. This is a 12 episode 2018 Korean drama that rates high on most sites and with time travel, romance, mystery and suspense would seem to be a good combination but it just didn't work for me. The male lead Joon-Woo played by Kim Hyung-Joong moves into the basement of a building where everyone sort of knows everyone and everyone's business. The landlady, Sun-A (An Ji-Hyun) is working herself to death to keep up with the interest to loan sharks from loans her deceased father took out on the building. She is desperately trying to keep the building in memory of her father.

Spoiler 🚨 There were several elements of this that did not work in my opinion. They sort of went from being indifferent to each other to being in a romance - I guess - although I really wasn't seeing the connection between the two. There were others in the movie who also had special abilities but they did not spend much time on those stories which was a bit disappointing. There were also grim reapers whose job it was to remove those with special powers before they caused damage by using their powers in the world. It had a lot of interesting elements that could have made for an interesting and exciting story but none of it held together very well for me. I was even bored in some parts and might have quit watching all together if it would have had more than 12 episodes.

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A Beautiful Story

10/10 is my rating. This is a 2009 South Korean television drama that ran for 16 episodes (~60 minutes/episode). The female lead, Ko Mi-Nyeo (Park Shin-Hye) is part of an orphaned nearly identical twin pair. Both grew up in an orphanage but then pursued very different paths, she studied to be a nun and the brother pursued a career in music. The brother, Ko Mi-Nam is about to realize his dream to be a Korean pop star after winning a vocal audition that gives him the right to join the Korean band, A.N.Jell. To prepare for his rise to fame he gets plastic surgery which is unfortunately botched to the point he has to have it re-done. Not wanting to miss his opportunity with A.N.Jell he works through his manager to convince his sister to stand in for him. She must pretend to be her brother for the month it will take for him to get new surgery and recover. Slowly "Min-Nam" starts to win over the band members and you get to see through her eyes the different aspect of each Kang Shin-Woo (Jung Yong-hwa) is very kind and gentle, Jeremy (Lee Hong-gi) is very happy and always looking to have fun and celebrate and Hwang Tae-kyung (Jang Keun-suk) is the arrogant lead singer who is the most difficult to win over.

Spoiler 🚨 If you have seen the drama "Bromance" there are moments in this that are reminiscent of that. Embarrassing and cringy as you see how uncomfortable the characters are being attracted to someone that they think is a guy when they are heterosexual. There are some laugh out loud funny moments and I think I laughed more in this one than in the others I have watched thus far. I loved all of the characters in this and was sad when it ended because I so thoroughly loved the story and being immersed in the world. I enjoyed the music and looking it up after found that many of the lead characters are actually very talented, award winning, musicians. I enjoyed it the entire way through and it also ended well. This is in my top all time list and I will likely watch it again at some point.

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A magical show with lots of exciting twists

9/10 is my rating. This is a 2019 South Korean tv drama with 16, 90 minute episodes. Hotel del Luna is a hotel located “in” Seoul. It is not visible to just anyone and undergoes a complete transformation when night falls. Kang Man-wol (Lee Ji-eun) became the “boss” of the hotel when she was transporting some souls of people she killed to the hotel in an effort to make up for her actions. She is unable to find it until she drinks a mysterious liquor which curses her to be the proprietor of this hotel for ghosts. She had run the hotel for over 1,000 years when a human wanders in which is normally a death sentence. However he strikes a deal with her to give her his son 20 years in the future in exchange for his life. Ku Chan-Seong (Yeo Jin-goo), was raised by his father to avoid Man-wol and her employees and even lives outside of South Korea until he deems it safe to return. Avoiding his fate may not be that simple and he soon finds being the hotel‘s new manager may be a job he cannot refuse.

Spoiler 🚨 This was written by the Hong Sisters who have written other good dramas like ”Master’s Sun” and ”You are Beautiful“. They definitely know how to tell a good story. It is somewhat reminiscent of ”Goblin“ In that it has a delightful blend of spiritual and magical. It also has magical and ghostly elements like ”Master’s Sun”. I liked all the main characters and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each one and their back story. It was like ”Beauty and the Beast” in the way their relationship was transformative. Both leads were really gorgeous and their chemistry was really amazing. I would have given an even higher score but I’m not one that likes sad endings. It will be sad for some but for others it will not be. A lot depends on your beliefs and your own personal philosophy. If you like paranormal with twists of magic then you will really enjoy this one. I think everyone would enjoy it most of the way through. If you do not expect happily ever after it is easier to understand.

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Good but if sad is not for you avoid this one. If you don't mind or like sad this is good

6/10 is my rating. This is a 2014 South Korean television drama series with 16; 60 minute, episodes. It is known by the alternate titles “The Spring Days of My Life”, “The Spring of My Life” and “Springtime of My Life”.

Lee Bom-yi (Choi Soo-young) was sickly most of her life until a miracle happens for her and she receives a heart transplant. Well aware that the gift she received was likely from someone else’s tragedy she vows to do whatever she can to honor her donor’s gift of life. Dr. Kand Dong-wook (Lee Joon-Hyuk) falls in love with the kind and brave Bom-yi and they are set to get married. He had a one sided love for his brother’s wife and was heartbroken when they announced their engagement. He never told his brother but it drove a wedge in their relationship. Dong-wook knows Bom-yi has his late sister-in-law’s heart but decides not to tell her for fear she would seek out his brother and become his brother’s wife out of a sense of duty. Fate and cellular memory (a phenomenon where a recipient takes on some mannerisms and feelings of their donor) seem to have other things in store for the trio. Bom-yi winds up meeting the widower Kang Dong-ha (Kam Woo-sung) and his two children when she travels to the island where her donor passed. Her mission was to honor her donor but, while there, she finds herself drawn to the widower and his children and he, for the first time in years, sees in her someone he may be able to love again. Neither know, at that time, their connection through Dong-wook nor do they know the connection through Bom-yi’s heart. Is it a strange twist of fate that Bom-yi and Dong-ha keep running into each other even when, after finding out they are soon to be family, they vow to stay apart. Or is something, on a cellular level, drawing Bom-yi to the man her heart once loved? Is Bom-yi and Dong-work’s love strong enough to withstand love that exists at a cellular level?

Spoiler 🚨 Let me start by saying this is sad. The premise is good and interesting. I really like Dr. Kang and the first part of this sad mess is when he loses her. I never stopped liking him nor feeling sorry for him. I really liked all the characters. I thought there was great character development and it was all very believable and real. The acting was outstanding by the actors of all ages. But it ended very sad. I kept hoping it would not end sad, there were so many other possibilities but it did. And it took every good feeling I had about the movie and crushed it. If you do not mind sad stories or even prefer them then you might disagree with me and rate this one higher. If you do not like dramas that end sad and are laced with sad moments then avoid this. There are too many feel good dramas out there to waste hours of your life in a story that ends tragically. I would not recommend this one.

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If you liked “My Shy Boss” This has similar elements

8.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2017/2018 romantic comedy television series that has 16, 60 minute episodes.

Jwa Yoon-yi (Baek Jin-hee) prides herself on being the perfect secretary even though her boss is too busy cheating on his wife to notIce. Like every secretary who tries to have their own life around juggling every aspect of their boss’s, she looks happy on the outside but is stressed and miserable on the inside. When scandal breaks out around her boss, Yoon-hi is let go. Nam Chi-won (Choi Daniel) arrives at the company at about the same time as a super star new Director. While he is very skilled in business he is totally lacking in social skills which earns him a lot of enemies. One of those enemies, knowing Yoon-yi is desperate to get back to work pulls strings to bring her back on but as Chi-won’s secretary. He figures he can plant a spy to bring Chi-won down. But he does not know Yoon-yi and her ability to make her boss shine. Hwangbo Yul (Lee Won-keun) is a 3rd generation chaebol who seems to have everything except many people in his life who truly care. He does not take work seriously and cannot keep a secretary because he is immature and unreasonably demanding. He has decided that Chi-won is cool and would make a good Hyung. Yul is also intrigued by Chi-won’s secretary and in lieu of luring her away accepts her recommendation for a secretary who is Wang Jeong-ae (Kang Hye-jung) a single mother who was abandoned by her philandering husband and left penniless and desperate for a job. The problem is Yul has criteria for his secretary that would exclude Jeong-ae so she has to pretend to be her younger sister and not a separated housewife. Will this one of many secretaries be the one that makes Yul grow into the successful business person hiding deep inside?
spoiler alert.
I decided to watch this one because I had finished “My Shy Boss” (MSB) and was looking for other drama that had a male lead that was really shy or had similar personality issues. This one was recommended as having a cold and not very socially adept boss that was similar to the boss in MSB. Because of that I was a little concerned that the two dramas would be too similar. There was of course a love triangle in this, as well as a friend group, another side couple, and a Bromance or two. I like all those elements and really can’t get enough of them played out in many different ways. What reduced my enjoyment about three quarters of the way through was a romance that was juvenile and over-the-top on cringe factor for me. I know that people can be sort of silly when they first discover they love each other but the age of the people in this just made that behavior seem out of place and it broke the fourth wall for me. Still if you like my shy boss I would say that this parallels in enough elements that you would likely enjoy this as well. Of the two I like my shy boss just slightly better but this one was a very close second for that type of movie. I recommend this for a romantic comedy that has workplace issues and a slice of life for the way secretaries supports high-level executive positions.

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Great romance with lots of humorous moments

This is a 2017 South Korean fantasy romance drama with 16, 60 minute episodes.

So-ahs’ (Shin Se-kyung) life isn't quite going to her plan. She is a struggling psychiatrist with a mountain of debt. Just when it seems things cannot get much worse her path crosses with the narcissistic water god Ha-baek (Nam Joo-hyuk). Ha-baek is visiting the mortal world to claim stones from other Gods that will secure his royal throne. So-ah is the descendant of a person who promised to serve the Gods in perpetuity and since Ha-baek has lost his power he intends to cash in on her ancestor’s promise. So-ah is a psychiatrist and has seen more than one patient with delusional beliefs and thinks Ha-baek is the same that is until events unfold that temporarily restore Ha-baek’s power and she is unable to deny the truth of who he is. Her destiny is to be Ha-baek’s bride and this sets her in the path of other gods who have come to Earth. The wind god Bi-ryeom (Gong Myung), the water goddess Mu-ra (Krystal), and the semi-god Hu-ye (Lim Ju-hwan) have no intention of simply giving the stones to Ha-baek and do not hesitate to put So-ah in the middle of their games.

Spoiler 🚨 I really liked how narcissistic and arrogant the water god was and how So-ah is not all that impressed and, in fact, thinks he might have some mental health issues (delusions of grandeur and all that). Seeing this God turned human struggle through the many issues humans must overcome (such as food and shelter) is very amusing. There is a loneliness to So-ah and, as her relationship develops with Have-Baek you can see how each compliments the other. He simply cares about her and while she has some other people that care about her he goes that extra step and takes care of her not in a monetary sense but in a feeling protected sort of way. I liked the Demi god too and actually felt really angry at the Gods at times for the way they treated him. The side romance between the other Gods was really cute too. This kept my interest the whole way through as I wanted to see all of the characters have good outcomes. There were a few scenes where the special effects were actually a bit horrible. In this one So-ah is thrown off a building and winds up passing a window but rather than flailing and twisting and turning she is sort of going straight down like an arrow. It makes it almost comical. In another scene, So-ah and Ha-baek are swimming underwater in what is supposed to be an emotional scene but it is so obvious the they are pretending to swim against a green screen because their clothing and hair is not swishing and swaying like it would be in water and the water is not throwing streams and bubbles like it is when you see people actually swimming. It turned what could have been a touching scene into a bit of a silly moment. I was a bit disappointed that So-ah got this wish and it seemed she could have wished for anything but her wish was really very minimal. I would have wished for something like being a Goddess so I could enter the God realm and be with him indefinitely. Or wish that you could be with him until he ceased to exist. To only wish to be together as long as you, the human, lived was a bit disappointing. And it made me feel sad for Ha-baek who would have to see her age and die and then live forever without her. But, they do end up together and I would have been really disappointed if they had not. Overall this is a good supernatural type romance with a lot of compelling elements.

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A little shy of all wrapped up

This is a 2O19 South Korean tv drama with 16, 60 minute; episodes.

Go Mi-ran (Won Jin-ah) Is a fearless “stunt“ woman working for a variety show. The very talented director of the show, Ma Dong-chan (Ji Chang-wook), is always coming up with fresh ideas that have won him acclaim and kept his projects at the top of the ratings. His next big venture is “the Frozen man” and, since it is risky, he plans to be one of the subjects but they need a 2nd and , specifically a female, to round the show out. While the Director does not. Know her at all, his assistant is aware of Mi-ran’s willingness to do almost anything to earn money to help support her family while attending college. However, this is even a bit too far for Mi-ran and she originally says no. She changes her mind when her long term boyfriend cheats on her and she finds out that if the experiment is successful it may help people with health conditions - people like her beloved younger brother. It is, after all, only for 24 hours and it is a good cause that pays well. Things go wrong during the experiment and those that were only to be frozen for 24 hours wind up frozen for 20 years. The world and everything in it has changed in 20 years and they both experience a side effect where they must keep their body temperature at 31.5 °C (max. 33 °C/88-91 °F) in order to survive. With so many bonding these two together will circumstances drive them apart?

*spoiler 🚨 I liked the beginning a lot as it was fun to watch Mi-ran doing various experiments and what the Director would come up with. About 3/4 of the way through it felt slow and I was having a hard time continuing to watch. The concept of being frozen and response of all around them was intriguing but there were not enough plot elements to keep it interesting throughout. I also was disappointed that they were not married or at least a strong commitment by the end. With talk throughout of bad marriages I do not know if one of the writers was jaded that way or if some are embracing the idea that marriage does not need to happen for Happily ever after and I do not agree. I was glad they found a way to stay together but more formalized would have been good. Enjoyable but not one of my tops.

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Such an almost - almost fixed some of the things from season 1

In the second season, I almost thought they were finally going to realize their alcohol was a problem. Maybe they would be able to have relationships beyond the co-dependent relationship they formed with each other. Maybe they would mend some fences with their families. It was ripe for the former teacher's mom to finally accept her daughter for who she was. Maybe the yoga teacher's dad would want to be part of her life as her only living parent. Perhaps the script writer would grow closer to her mother now that her father had passed. But no on all accounts. They still have their core primary co-dependent relationship. They mutually support each other in drinking and other things that might happen around it. I mean still drinking. Just a little older. Sort of kind of letting a few people into their circle. I mean I guess I shouldn't be surprised they didn't have any healthy romantic relationships. There was almost zero character growth. And the ending? What the heck was that? Do they think there could be a season three because that really wasn't an ending.

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Three co-dependent alcoholics in need of a good rehab program

Review

Rating 6.5/10. Having a lot of alcoholics in my life over the years and not being an alcoholic myself I did not find this funny or enjoyable. If you are into the party scene and don't mind watching three women who think partying and hanging out with their friends is the meaning of life you might like this. Depends on where you are at in life's journey. But, if you're looking for a feel-good recovery-type series or one about friends who are like family, I'm not sure this fits the bill, as I didn't find it very heartwarming at all. The only people I could see liking it are those who really embrace drinking culture and are okay with it being somewhat glorified. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, and I wouldn't watch it again myself.

Spoilers

All three women—An So-hee, Han Ji-yeon, and Kang Ji-gu—had serious alcohol problems, and there were points in the show when I thought they were going to have a turnaround and get their lives together, but that was wishful thinking. I had hopes when they all had separate health issues and were told to stop drinking, or when they went to the mountains, or even in the end when they started getting interested in having real relationships. But they never did. It felt like so many missed opportunities, and they would just go right back to alcohol. They weren't very nice people, really—in fact, most of the men that found their way into their lives left me wondering, "Why would you like her?" Kang Buk-gu, the guy who was with An So-hee (the writer), put up with so much from them, and he was so cute the way he took care of them. I thought maybe they would have a real romance, but in the end, I don't know if they were waiting for his dad (the one with dementia) to pass, but the whole friends-with-benefits thing seemed to ring true when I thought maybe he would say, "That's not what I meant—I want a real relationship with you." Then Kang Ji-gu (the one who ended up doing origami and working as a delivery girl because of her whole teaching thing where her student committed suicide) never went back to teaching, and she gets with Han U-ju, a guy who seems really sweet at first, but he's really kind of weird. He's some weird artsy dude, and they kinda had an autonomous life together. It's really strange. When the three friends broke up and had a big falling out—mainly because Han Ji-yeon (the yoga instructor) would always steal Kang Ji-gu's (the teacher's) boyfriends, and she justified it by saying basically, "If they would be with me, then they're not very loyal"—but in reality, I think she got a rush from being able to do it. I've known too many women that way to think she had other motives. Anyway, they finally reconcile, but they never talk any of that through, nor did she ever really apologize, so that was odd. To be angry enough to say it is the end of the friendship to move out/kick someone out and then what? You just cool off and blend back together like it was never a big deal? But the whole thing was that they had such a tight relationship that really, it didn't seem like there was room for anybody else. But it wasn't a healthy relationship — it was co-dependency and were they ever to decide to recover their best hope of having a lasting recovery would be to stay away from each other. Their entire interactions were made possible by alcohol. They said it themselves. You drink when it is a good day, you drink when it's a bad day, you drink when it's a regular day. That's the central aspect of what I really didn't like about it. It just felt like watching a bunch of alcoholics behaving badly. I think it was supposed to be a fun girl-party vibe, and you were supposed to think, "Wow, they're really living their lives and having fun," but it just seemed like a train wreck of a life to me, with a few alcoholics that really should've gotten treatment and help. The ending was the very weirdest—I mean, An So-hee (the writer) is falling, she makes a joke about "this might be how she dies," nobody really runs to try to help her, and then it just ends. You don't even see if she fell and got hurt, if she was seriously injured, or if she was just okay. It was the weirdest way to end a series. I did not completely hat the series, it was a very lukewarm thing for me, but there was nothing I could point to and say I really liked that. I was hoping I would get some payoff as I had to chase this show across multiple platforms. And watch a lot of repetitive advertisements to see both seasons. I haven't seen one quite as scattered as this one was. They would have a few episodes on one platform, then some episodes on another platform, so that parts of the season were on one and another part of the season was on another, and maybe even another portion was on yet another. So, I had to chase it across multiple platforms to even watch it, and I can tell you I did not feel like it was worth all of that trouble.

Major Characters

Ahn So-hee (Lee Sun-bin): A sharp-tongued broadcasting writer juggling deadlines and dating disasters, whose quick wit and unapologetic ambition make her the group's resident truth-teller.

Han Ji-yeon (Han Sun-hwa): A free-spirited yoga instructor embracing her post-divorce glow-up, blending zen vibes with a penchant for impulsive adventures and heartfelt vulnerability.

Kang Ji-gu (Jung Eun-ji): A quirky freelance composer and budding YouTuber pouring her soul into music and mishaps, whose optimistic energy and creative chaos keep the trio's spirits high.

Kang Buk-gu (Choi Si-won): The charming TV producer and honorary fourth wheel who crashes their drinking sessions, bringing his own mix of professional savvy and boyish charm to the mix.

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Hidden Gem. Enjoyable watch. Interesting glimpse into Korean boy band music industry

Review

My rating is 9.5/10.

"Entertainer" (also known as "Ddanddara" or "Ttanttara") is a rare hidden gem that will puts a smile on the face of those that love dramas that have well developed characters, a glimpse into the music industry for boy bands. An unlikely group of characters who were burned in a variety of ways by the industry take on impossible odds carving out their own bit of success in the tough Korean music industry. The story has a bit of romance, some revenge against the big entertainment company, and tons of realistic behind-the-scenes glimpses—like the real struggles of rookies chasing their dreams. The bromance aspects are amazing (the band really feels like family), the music is super catchy, and there's a great mix of humor and inspiring moments. Romance isn't the primary focus there is a lot about personal growth, friendship, and never giving up. Perfect if you're craving something uplifting without heavy angst. I would rewatch it, and I highly recommend it for an underdog story that'll warm your heart!

Spoilers

I loved pretty much every minute, but I couldn't rat it perfect because I just wanted more closure. The ending felt soft and a little too open for me—everything wraps up happily, but so many things are left hanging. Like, do Geu-rin and Suk-ho ever get a proper full-blown relationship? They're still stuck in the flirting stage with all the lingering looks and age-gap vibes. I prefer something more definite! Na Yeon-soo (the drummer) quitting the band to help his family mom and focus on his education was such a letdown. He was there for most of the series and to have him fall short just when they had hit some success was disappointing. The Entertainer Band was starting to do well, but we never see them hitting it big—no sold-out crowds or real breakout success. Just steady but not stellar. Ha-neul (our lead singer) starts getting close to the new female drummer toward the end, but it's barely beginning. No idea where that was headed. And Geu-rin being in veterinarian school? That felt random—we never saw her have any real passion for animals to make that land properly. And she struggled so hard to be the manager it also felt like she quit before the finish line. A bunch of storylines just end softly: nice and positive, but not fully tied up. I wanted more payoff for the band's future especially. What bothered me most was the forgiveness stuff with Lee Ji-young (the one who falsely accused Ha-neul of harassment) and that sleazy KTOP director Kim Joo-han who set it all up. Ha-neul forgives her and him way too easily, and then Suk-ho helps her get an acting gig and even assists the director with his new restaurant? They barely show any real remorse, yet their bad actions get rewarded. I get the theme of moving on, but it didn't sit right with me. Also, Ha-neul's name gets cleared, but there's no big public reveal that fully sets the record straight in the industry. Still, the heartwarming vibes, band chemistry, and messages about dreams and second chances are wonderful. So the softness of the ending and not having every storyline did not ruin the show. It just would have improved it. I also did not like that Jackson's Ji-noo was never cleared. It was pretty obvious he had been set up but there was no official press conference or public acknowledgement that he was also a victim. It never fully showed what happened with that incident. How did he come to be drunk or drugged. What was the deal for "Luna"? And the real Luna never got anything either. Basically she was forced out so that lying girl that was willing to falsely accuse someone who befriended her could have a spot. And there was no repercussions from that either.

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Premise sounded promising but too short to deliver any meaningful content

Review

6/10 is my rating and I think I am being generous because I did like the premise, the couple was cute together and I think it was a good attempt. The problem is Revenge Lovers: tries to cram a full-blown revenge + second-chance romance + corporate intrigue + surprise family drama story into only 8 episodes of ~25–30 minutes each and with recaps and a long intro it is only about 20 minutes of original content per episode so only about 160 minutes total which is not even three hours. Which is about the length of some movies.

So. the revenge part is over almost before it starts. Which makes the title and even the synopsis a little misleading. He entices her into the fake relationship, they do the one big public humiliation scene with the ex, and then… poof, revenge complete. So, it you plan to watch it to get some big revenge drama "fix" this is not it. Then there is the other part of their agreement, the “psycho fiancée” (Reina) which also is over almost before it starts. His fiancé shows up, acts unhinged for literally one episode, gets dumped off-screen, and is never heard from again. Same with the ex-boyfriend—he gets publicly shamed once and basically disappears. Because everything is so rushed, none of the emotional beats land. There’s no slow burn of him actually tormenting her, no real satisfaction when the side villains get theirs, and no time to process any aspects of their emotional connection. I would not recommend it to anyone looking for a good, well developed and enjoyable story. I was not even all that attached to the characters. Maybe if you read a webtoon and wanted to see the live, but other than that I can't think of others that would want something that has more problems than pluses. I would not watch it again and will not recommend it to others.

Spoilers

My daughter who reads way more Webtoons than I have said this is the general pattern when you see such a short series adapted from a webtoon. That it is going to be rushed and ultimately sorely lacking. And it was true of this. Things would just happen, some big reveal and you would be like "did I miss something?" and no you didn't. The premise and plot could have easily supported a 12 or even 16-episode script, but since they only had budget for 8, so their solution must have been to just omit background stories, build-up, all the things that would have helped it cling together and make sense. It was like watching something and hitting a 10 second skip periodically. In general, as I understand it, it suffers from the current Japanese streaming-drama disease: super short seasons + too many tropes they feel obligated to check off and not enough screen time to fully develop and unspool anything. When you only have 8 half-length episodes, something has to give, and in this case it was coherence, believability and emotional payoff.

If you want a Japanese revenge romance that actually commits to the revenge and has room to breathe, people usually point to older classics like Hana Yori Dango or Boys Over Flowers* (longer seasons) or the Korean version of the same story. Modern short-form J-dramas almost always pull this same bait-and-switch. It pulls viewers in with an interesting cast and promising premise but then produces a series that is whirlwind fast and holier than swiss cheese.

Synopsis

This is a quick 8-episode Japanese rom-com (approx. 24 minutes per episode) that dives straight into a messy workplace betrayal. Maika has been with her boyfriend, Narimitsu for three years and is waiting for him to ask her to marry him at any time. She is absolutely crushed when she finds out that, instead of a proposal, her boyfriend of three years is cheating on her. On the heels of her finding out about the infidelity, Shun, a handsome new CEO comes to the company. And he immediately seems enamored of Maika. After a couple of encounters where Maika is clearly distraught seeing her ex become engaged to a fellow office worker, Shun proposes a deal to Maika that will benefit both of them. They become a couple for Maika to get revenge on her sleezy ex and for Shun to get out of an arranged marriage. The story comes from Ryo Morita and Chika nada's manga Fukushu Kareshi: Dekiai Shacho no Kao ni wa Ura ga Aru. What starts as a simple ruse to get revenge and to get Shun out of an arranged marriage, quickly becomes something more.

Major Characters:

- Hattori Maika (Konno Ayaka): A resilient but freshly crushed staffer at a hotel management company, navigating the sting of her colleague's infidelity by jumping into a high-stakes fake romance that forces her to reclaim her spark.
- Satori Shun (Suzuki Jin): The polished, secretive new CEO of the Bird Left hotel chain, a reluctant heir dodging a suffocating arranged marriage by orchestrating a sham relationship that peels back his guarded layers one reluctant smile at a time.
- Matobe Narimitsu (Kondo Shori): Maika's charming but utterly duplicitous coworker and ex, whose casual cheating unleashes the revenge engine and keeps stirring the pot with his smarmy opportunism.
- Saionji Yuria (Tomite Ami): The scheming office interloper locked in Matobe's affair, whose manipulative maneuvers crank up the jealousy and corporate catfights, pushing Maika to evolve from victim to victor.

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The 25 year time jump was not done well

Overall Rating: 7/10  
(First half ~6/10, second half ~8/10)

It has a really fun and unique premise – a top star from the 90s/early 2000s suddenly disappears at her peak and reappears 25 years later with no memory, trying to make a comeback in today’s industry. The setup is fresh, and the show is mostly entertaining, especially once the romance finally kicks in during the latter half. If you’re mainly here for swoony romance, be patient – it is a slow burn in that regard and really only happens in the last episode or so.

The biggest issues are pacing in the beginning and, most noticeably, huge consistency problems across the 25-year time jump. A lot of characters feel like completely different people in present day compared to their younger selves, which hurts the emotional connection. Still, when it hits its stride in the back half, it’s genuinely charming and satisfying. Worth watching once if you like second-chance tropes, celebrity comeback stories, or just want something light with a happy ending – but probably not a rewatch for me.

Spoilers

The single biggest problem I had was how unrecognizable Im Se-ra / Bong Cheong-ja (Uhm Jung-hwa) became after the time jump. Young Seol-ah was ice-cool, confident, snobby (but only when someone truly deserved it), and emotionally rock-solid – basically peak diva energy. Older Bong Chenong-ja? Constantly on the verge of a panic attack, doing these breathy little “HAH!” gasps at everything (I seriously thought she was going to hyperventilate multiple times), and crying over literally anything. It felt like two different characters from the past to the present.

I kept waiting for them to say she had a brain injury from the car accident that altered her personality, because that would have at least explained it. But nope – they never mention it. Instead, we just have to accept that the poised princess of the 90s turned into the most fragile, whiny Ajumma imaginable overnight. The frumpy “bag lady” wardrobe and that wild hair were clearly to be comedic and show she “let herself go,” but come on – someone with decades of red-carpet training doesn’t suddenly dress like she shops exclusively at the dumpster just because she gained weight and lost her memory. She remembered being They Im Se-ra because she went on and on about not being the young beauty she thought she was, so she would have remembered all the glam treatments she did back then. I know they dressed her like that to make her look heavier but they could have accomplished it without making her look homeless.

She wasn’t the only one with personality whiplash:

Kang Du-won (Oh Dae-hwan) went from a bumbling, slightly incompetent but basically harmless dude when he was Im Se-ra's manager to a full-on cartoonishly evil schemer. He was polished with a businessman like demeanor that did not match that early shy slightly nerdy looking manager from before. People can hide their dark side, sure, but this wasn’t subtle two-faced behavior – it was a total core rewrite.  

- On the flip side, the villains who were supposed to stay awful – Ko Hui-yeong (the jealous rival actress), was perfectly consistent. Evil then, evil now.

Go Bong-goo (Song Seung-heon) was thankfully the most consistent of the bunch. You could totally buy that the starry-eyed young fanboy grew into a more reserved, mature version who still melts around her. His character arc felt natural.

I did love Seol-ah’s rise-back-to-fame storyline – starting from nothing, clawing her way up, dealing with all the ugly industry politics. And I loved that literally every single bad person got their comeback in the end (justice was served and it was delicious). The final happy ending wrapped things up nicely.

So yeah, I don’t regret watching it – the good parts are genuinely good and heart-fluttery – but man, those character inconsistencies and Seol-ah’s nonstop breathy whining made me roll my eyes more than once. Nearly quit watching after the early episodes. One watch was plenty for me.

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A light predictable romance drama. Bonus is few tackle alcoholism in a negative light like this.

Rating: 9/10

This drama was quite good. It was refreshing that it tackled the difficult topic of alcoholism in South Korea as I see evidence of it, almost a promotion of it, in many other dramas. Where extreme alcohol consumption and frequency is treated as comedic and portrayed as normal. The romance is believable and heartwarming. There were some surprises in store, which kept it interesting. I recommend this for anyone that likes relatively light romance. It could be difficult for those that are dealing with alcoholism in their family, but it could also make someone feel "heard."

Spoilers

Weak points for me was I did not believe the mom (Park Soon-ja) having liver disease, unrelated to alcohol, was necessary. It did make the alcoholics in the family believers in liver health and also showed how solid Geum-joo's love was for her mother. But, having one of alcoholics develop the disease would have made more sense if you even had to go there. If anything having the mother develop it, maybe from hepatitis, made the wrong point. It could be interpreted you don't have to worry so much about alcohol because you can even get it if you don't drink alcohol. I don't think the juice was worth the squeeze on that story line.

This was missing the dynamic tension of a love triangle. I have a love hate relationship with love triangles but always miss them if there isn't one.

The secondary romance between the Taekwondo master (Bong Seon-ok) and the main girl's sister (Han Hyun-joo) could have been better. I was especially disappointed when their love was challenged as being "inappropriate" that neither of them fought much for it. They were ready to just give up because his older sister disapproved. Weak. A weak romance if you aren't willing to fight for it. He at least seemed to be really in love with her, but they never gave us anything that made her seem to be really in love with him. They had a date where things were heating up a little, then the sister found out, and she was just like never mind. My friendship with your sister is more important than any relationship with you. I also didn't see where he so much wanted to be a father to her kids. Heart-touching moments with the kids where maybe he took them fishing, played ball with them, or did something other than the Taekwondo they were already doing would have been more convincing. Being someone's dad is a big deal. Even a stepdad. And it never really showed the kids liking him at that level either. So that secondary romance just fell flat for me.

Synopsis

Air Date: May 2025

Genres: Romantic comedy, drama

Number of Episodes: 12

Average Runtime per Episode: 70 minutes

Han Geum-joo (Choi Soo-young) possess an above average talent for fixing automobiles. In such a male dominated field she feels as though drinking culture is an essential part of the job. Knocking some drinks back with her male co-workers seems like the best way to fit in. We start out the journey when we experience her telling her fiance, who give her an ultmatim, that she prefers alcohol to him. And that encapsulates what is really a problem with alcohol for her but there is, of course, more to the story of her relationship choice as well as her perception of the party life. Her mother has had enough, so when she learns of her daughter's broken engagement, she halls her back to her hometown Bocheon, to set her head on straight. She immerses herself in the world of engine oil and enjoyment of simple smaller town pleasures such as home-cooked kimchi and starts to think this change might be so bad. But then she collides with Seo Eui-joon (Gong Myung)—her high school first love turned stoic health center director, fresh off a mysterious burnout from his glamorous Seoul surgeon days. What starts as a prickly reunion laced with unspoken regrets spirals into a reluctant alliance: Eui-joon, haunted by his own hidden battles with the bottle, becomes her unlikely sobriety coach, while Geum-joo's unfiltered spit fire personality opens his armored heart. Geum-joo and Eui-joon find that second chances are often worth the while.

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If I Had Watched as it Aired the Ending Would Have Made Me Rage Quit and Not Wait for Anything Else

8/10 is my rating

I am probably being generous with the rating because I know I can immediately watch Season 3. If I was watching it as it aired, I think the way it ended would have frustrated me a lot.

Review

I liked Squid Game Season 2 for what it is - which is a solid follow-up to the first season. It is notable that they were able to keep the same intense, cutthroat survival vibe that had me glued to the screen albeit not liking the "icky" way it made me feel in my brain. The early episodes hooked me with all the clever planning by Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) to take down the game’s twisted system. That, for me, was a pleasant departure from the gore. I was so pumped for his strategy that it was disappointing when it didn’t pan out the way I hoped—it felt like all that buildup went nowhere, and the story shifted back to him in the games and it felt like here we are again. It was also hard to understand his feeling about the money on one hand yes it was "blood money" but, on the other hand, not spending it on good things was a slap in the face of all those who played so hard and died. They had the choice to leave and chose not to. So, winning and frivolously giving it away or just sitting on it also felt wrong. It was a dammed if you do, dammed if you don't type situation.

If you loved Season 1, you need to watch this to keep up with the story—it answers some questions—but don’t expect a tidy ending.

Spoilers

Once he was back in the game, I was rooting for him to convince the new players. I wanted them to believe so they could avoid getting hurt and it seemed like there was hope in the red light, green light game where they were listening to him on strategy. He tried so hard to convince everyone it wasn't just these benign children's games. That people would die and that there wouldn't be groups of them making it to the end. But history has shown repeatedly, using the Holocaust as one example, that people will ignore warnings about horrors because it’s easier to buy a pretty lie than face a harsh truth. That whole cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias angle struck home because I have seen it play out in real life both in history and more recently. To me the trans character, Hyun-ju, felt totally forced. I just didn’t see how that character added anything to the story—her connections with players like Jang Geum-ja (Kang Ae-shim) or Jun-hee didn’t justify her role; it seemed like a diversity checkbox. Same with the druggie character, Thanos (Choi Seung-hyun)—his real-life drug scandal made his role feel like a stunt. He was an over the top almost Batman joker type character. For an actor making a comeback after drug allegations, that seemed like a poor choice as it would take people out of the moment thinking about the real person behind the character. I was disturbed that there was a pregnant girl, Jun-hee, because it felt like they added that just to show there were no depths to their depravity. I saw fans on X ranting about these same issues, so I know it’s not just me. I loved that they mixed up the games, though. The pairing-up game was brutal as hell—imagine hearing people getting taken out and walking through blood pools. The new voting rule after each game kept things fresh and not just a Season 1 rehash. 

I’m not a gore fan, and chilling with straight-up evil characters isn’t my thing, but knowing the show’s vibe, I always brace for the worst-case scenario. If I think, “Could this happen? Could something worse happen?”—yup, the worse thing’s probably coming. That dulled the shock a bit, in this second season relative to the first.

The ending, though? Just straight up infuriating. It’s not a cliffhanger—it’s a middle finger. No closure on major characters or plotlines, leaving you hanging with nothing. Netflix’s greedy, profit-driven model is killing what makes K-dramas great: those tight 16-episode seasons that tie everything up. Fans on X are pissed, and I get why—some ditched the show entirely. I waited to binge, which saved me some rage since I know Season 3’s is already available. But if I’d watched this as they came out, I’d be fuming. I mean nothing ended tidy - it was mostly left wide open. Park Gyeong-seok (Lee Jin-wook), the dad helped by North Korean defector guard Kang No-eul (Park Gyu-young) for his sick daughter, ends up at gunpoint after the rebellion flops. She suggests saving him but how? And what happens to both of them? Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) never finds the right island because the captain sabotages drones and kills mercenaries, confirming his role in the game’s corruption. But, they did find a hatch and it blew some of them up so they must have been in the right place. Are they still coming? The fates of surviving players are left totally up in the air, making the cliffhanger feel like a cheap ploy to string us along. Which would not have been so bad if it wasn't Netflix. Netflix will just end a show if the profit isn't there. They also create these cliffhangers in a way that only serves to ensure true fans will be looking for another. It is completely profit over people.

Synopsis

Season 2, which dropped on December 26, 2024, packs **7 episodes** with an average runtime of **65 minutes** each, ramping up the psychological warfare and brotherly betrayals while introducing a vibrant new cast of misfits in games that probe deeper into themes of revenge, identity, and the inescapability of systemic cruelty. Fans of the original's intensity will devour this escalation, but newcomers might want to start at the beginning—it's darker, more introspective, and ends on a cliffhanger that demands the finale.

Three years after his pyrrhic victory, a haunted Gi-hun abandons escape to America and launches a vengeful crusade to dismantle the Squid Game's elusive architects, only to find himself back in the arena amid a fresh batch of 456 broken dreamers facing deadlier evolutions of the childhood gauntlet—now laced with votes to quit or continue, testing fragile alliances and buried guilts.

**Major Characters:**
**Seong Gi-hun (Player 456) (Lee Jung-jae)**: Scarred by survivor's remorse, the once-bumbling everyman evolves into a steely avenger, infiltrating the new games to end them forever, his fractured psyche fueling both heroic resolve and self-destructive rage.
**Hwang In-ho / The Front Man (Lee Byung-hun)**: The enigmatic game master, revealed as the 2015 winner and a disillusioned architect of despair, grapples with his brother's pursuit while enforcing order, his stoic facade cracking under familial ties and moral erosion.
**Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon)**: The tenacious detective, still reeling from Season 1's revelations, goes rogue in a high-risk infiltration to expose the operation, his loyalty to family clashing with the deadly risks of getting too close to the truth.
**The Recruiter (Gong Yoo)**: Returning with expanded menace, the slick ddakji dealer expands his predatory recruitment, his polished exterior hiding a web of manipulations that draw even more souls into the abyss.
**Myung-gi (Player 333) / Thanos (T.O.P.)**: A fallen K-pop rapper turned crypto scammer, cocky and self-serving, whose online infamy follows him into the games, where his manipulative charm unravels amid paranoia and desperate bids for relevance.
**Hyun-ju (Player 120) (Park Sung-hoon)**: A resilient transgender woman and former sex worker fighting for her child's future, bringing fierce vulnerability and unapologetic authenticity to the arena, challenging prejudices in a fight for dignity and survival.
**Geum-ja (Player 149) (Kang Ae-sim)**: A cunning, foul-mouthed grandmother and con artist, whose street-smart savvy and maternal ferocity forge unlikely bonds, turning her into a wildcard ally in the chaos of betrayal.
**Yong-sik (Player 007) (Yang Dong-geun)**: A jittery, tech-obsessed young gamer burdened by his mother's debts, whose awkward innocence and quick wits shine in puzzle-like challenges, highlighting the games' toll on the digital generation.
**Seon-nyeo (Player 044) (Chae Kuk-hee)**: A faded shaman whose eerie prophecies and spiritual rituals unsettle the players, blending mysticism with sharp survival instincts in a bid to divine escape from the mortal coil.
**No-eul (Player 149) (Park Gyu-young)**: A stoic North Korean defector and soldier, hardened by defection and loss, who allies with Gi-hun with disciplined precision, her quiet strength masking a storm of unresolved trauma.

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