Alaskan

Serenade of Peaceful Joy is an odd title for a drama that deals primarily with an emperor and the reforms he attempts during the Song dynasty. I like the emperor when he is governing but hate him when he’s dealing with his personal life, including the way he treats his empress and concubines. He’s not mean to them but he unintentionally hurts them because he’s basically clueless. It’s especially crushing to see the empress change from a cheerful, smart, opinionated girl trained in martial arts and swordfighting to a repressed, uptight, and infinitely sad woman. Not much joy there. Not very peaceful either. It should have been called Elegy of Endless Melancholy.

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First the positives: Shin Hye Sun is a great actor, many of the scenes were beautifully staged and shot, and the premise was interesting.

Unfortunately, my list of negatives is much longer. I felt that the promising premise was squandered by big gaps in the writing and poor execution. For example, I had trouble believing that the ML would fall as quickly as he did for a FL who stalked him and said very strange things, instead of scurrying away as fast as he could on those long legs of his. Ahn Bo Hyung did a good job when the drama required him to act emotionally frozen. Except that he pretty much did that thoughout. I thought that the child actors were very good but I struggled to believe that the leads had fallen deeply in love when children. I blame the writing for that. The whole car crash subplot fizzled, primarily because it required one to believe that characters would react in implausible ways. The ending had more gaps and, “Wait, how can that be … ?” than the average drama.

I think that the drama was ruined by poor writing.

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I felt like this drama never became too predictable. I liked the fact that the villains were sympathetic (well, except for Hosung, whose pretty face I wanted to punch (haha) by the end). Yes, there were legal bloopers but they weren’t so distracting that I couldn’t shrug and get past them. Most of all, I liked the point counterpoint as everyone tried to manipulate and out-maneuver everyone else. I sometimes feel like I’m losing brain cells while watching some Korean romantic comedies. With Punch though, I think that I had a net gain in brain cells because I was also trying to figure out Jung Hwan’s next move.

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The long, drawn out romantic moments between the two leads are, well, too long and drawn out. Gah. If they show one more sweet moment between those two, I’m going to go into diabetic shock. They keep gazing at each other with such sappy puppy dog eyes that I can’t believe that the whole country, let alone the rather obtuse palace dwellers haven’t figured it out. You know it’s bad when you think that Kim Yoon Sung killing a bunch of people is much more romantic than the Crown Prince declaring undying love (over and over and over) for the I-can’t-believe-no one-has-figured-out-that-he-is-a-she leading lady.

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The lead couple has sizzling hot chemistry. You might enjoy this, especially if you like the combination of smirky teasing hero (there are times when I sympathize fully with the villain’s desire to throttle the hero) and fierce and fearless heroine. There are enough political machinations, elaborate fight scenes (oddly bloodless for the nameless hordes, only the main characters seem to bleed), and lavish spectacle to keep things interesting. I especially appreciate the touches of humor, which keep the story from bogging down under its own weight and seriousness. Both lead actors, Yang Mi and Ethan Juan, are killing it.

Sure, there are logical lapses and “wait, what?” moments. There are some fantasy elements that might remind you of Harry Potter. But I don’t recall any shirtless scenes in Harry Potter, particularly anything approaching the Ethan Juan shirtless scenes….

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I fast forwarded through this one a lot. Jung Kyung Ho is one of my favorite Korean actors but this drama is a mess. Is it a commentary about Korea’s class divides and rich parents and their precious children, with their associated pressures and competitiveness? a star teacher’s journey back from a stressful and isolated existence? a murder mystery? I wouldn’t have a problem with it being all of the above, if the writer had done a better job of pulling it all together or making many of the side characters more than one-note caricatures. I assume it’s also supposed to be a romance because, well, the word “Romance” is in the title, after all. But there is little romantic spark. Nam Haeng-seon comes across more like Chi-Yeol’s older sister than a possible object of his desire. Plus I really really hate how she treats her brother. Finally, why do many Korean romcoms have serial killers lurking in them? Is it an attempt to add dramatic tension to poorly written fluff?

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Look, I understand that K dramas manipulate viewers’ emotions and I’m fine with that. The dramas usually try to make you root for the desirable but flawed hero and the plucky heroine. I can also accept time travel, body switching, and girls passing themselves off as poorly-disguised boys. I can even enjoy dramas with lawyers doing things that would get most lawyers disbarred; medical dramas with doctors who should lose their medical licenses; teachers who would normally be fired, if not criminally charged for abuse; and police dramas with police officers who need good psychiatrists. Although there are moments in every drama where logic takes a leap, I can get past most of them.

Doctor Stranger, however, violated the most important canon of Korean drama law: Thou shalt not brazenly insult the intelligence of your viewers. The drama starts out okay, if a little over the top, what with evil plots and Magic Hands Doctor but it quickly devolves into a mess whose primary purpose seemed to be to jerk the viewer around. One big problem was the romance that drove the story. The actress who plays the grand romantic interest is more wooden than my dining room table and the male lead regresses into a pathetic puppy whenever he's around her (for little reason, since the actors seem to have little chemistry together). I began to hope that the female lead would be shot and really die. On the ground, instead of falling into the water, which, in this drama, seems to have life-regenerating powers. I don’t even know where to begin on the farcical who-is-the-better-doctor-competition. It is better to draw a sheet over it and send it to a well-deserved end. Plus the malpractice/revenge subplot is just … my god … no.

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Many things bothered me about this drama, not the least of which was the Jang Se Mi character, who came across as predatory and creepy. I’ve never liked the drama trope that indicates that it’s a sign of true love when someone ignores a person’s NO and instead aggressively pursues that person (e.g., Secret Garden). Jang Se Mi was particularly problematic because she got too close when the object of her affection was sleeping or impaired or physically weak. I did wonder at one point whether the writer was tryng to play to homophobic fears. In addition, all of the other love lines came off as more crude and tawdry and less romance and roses to me.

The writing seemed so off that I looked up the screenwriter Im Sung Han.

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I wonder whether I would have been able to power through this drama had I waited and binged the whole thing. Instead, the plot and the acting are not interesting enough to sustain interest during the lengthy time between every episode's airing. I'm finally giving up and I feel that a weight has been lifted. Haha I'm free. At first the dogs were kind of cute and it was fun having a high school story revolve around the teachers rather than students. The drama was intermittently funny, especially the scenes with Yoon Hyun Soo. I also liked the actor Park Gyu-young in "Dali & the Cocky Prince" and "Romance Is a Bonus Book."

But Cha Eun-woo cannot act to save his life. Whenever he is on screen, I feel like I'm watching a brick wall, albeit a pretty and decorative brick wall with nice eyebrows. It doesn't matter whether he is running around with a sword slicing people up or putting on glasses and teaching, he looks like all he is thinking of is his skin care regime.

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I enjoyed this intense, moving drama that deals with friendship, rivalry, and love. The main character, Ryu Eun-jang, may be one of my favorite characters in dramaland and the actor Kim Go-eun does an amazing job bringing to life all of her character's charm, ambivalence, and insecurities. Park Ji-hyun, who plays her prickly frenemy, by and large succeeds in portraying a complex, selfish, and aggravating, but understandable, character. And the love interest acted by Kim Gun-woo is immensely likeable.

(Mild Spoiler: Some people may be disappointed with the redemption arc of the rival but I have no problems with it because this story is ultimately about Ryu Eun-jang, not Cheon Sang-yeon, and Ryu Eun-jang’s compassion and love are what make this drama special.)

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