Princess Hours
In many respects this 2006 drama has aged well (some funny bedroom scenes and a welcome lack of childish reactions to physical contact), but in others it's a little dated.I liked the plot and characters, but the story became a bit laboured at times and pretty far fetched.
It's another case of what could be clever /sharp / witty dialogue between characters, being sacrificed to move the scenes into the scheming and under hand plans of those with their eyes on the throne.
The character of Chae Kyung was initially quite feisty, bright and no-nonsense, and whilst young, as the story progressed, she made some pretty dumb decisions, ignoring advice and what to most rational people, would be obviously bad choices. That was a shame, as she could have been so much more.
The Crown Prince was the usual aloof, cold and misunderstood character, with the third member of the love triangle being sensitive, romantic and warm. I see where many of the ideas for Boys Over Flowers might have came from.
Emotionally, between the leads, there was too much to-ing and fro-ing for me, which is what made the series a bit laboured.
I'd like to have seen less of the same falling out, getting back together and behaviour leading to misunderstandings and chaos, when it really needn't have; and more of their later relationship that was terribly condensed into the final scene.
The scheming that played such a large part of the story, was also wrapped up very quickly and didn't fit with the amount of time and scenes spent unfolding it.
I did like the cast and honestly would never have recognised Joo Ji-hoon's almost 15-year younger self. He is still a very attractive actor, but really has changed (not in a better or bad way, just very different).
I'm glad I watched it and if, like me, you enjoy seeing older dramas, it is a mostly fun watch overall.
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The characters made the story even better
May 2025I really enjoyed this, from start to finish.
The love/ hate feelings PBY's character has with film and the industry, paired with CWS's, who is obsessed with it, clash at times, yet balance at others.
It's a gentle pace, kind of slice of life in some ways, witty, touching, and occasionally sentimental.
I liked all the characters, especially Ko Gyeom's (CWS) older brother, Ko Jun (great understated acting by Kim Jae-wook), who is pretty deep, with some suppressed emotions, in part due to past responsibilities. I just wanted to wrap him up.
Whilst Ko Gyeom (desperate to act) is incredibly positive, with plenty of self-belief, Kim Mu-bi (PBY), who is working toward becoming a director, is more introverted, passive to a point, and somewhat cynical.
Ko Gyeom grew up in a home rented from a video store owner, Park Sang Sik (actor Kim Young Woong), and I ended up loving his character. He is incredibly supportive of both brothers (throughout; and of KG's friends), and his friendship with them is one of the nicest aspects of the story, to me.
KG has 2 close friends; Hong Si-jun, a talented and aspiring song writer and his girl friend, Son Ju-a, an aspiring script writer. The latter is the only character I disliked, for reasons you might get, if you have already, or eventually, watch this. Nothing could make me like her after a pivotal episode. Not what, but how, and later, her general seemingly ostrich-like approach to some things.
Loved Woo Jeung-hoo, Mu-bi's childhood friend, and the dynamic his character brought to the story.
A zany director with a heart, Ma Seong-u (actor Ko Chang-seok), was very amusing, and another who, for all his complaining and harshness, liked and supported KG.
Characters converge, it is sad and emotional at times, but mostly positive. I thought the story flowed nicely.
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Don't be put off watching
May 2025This is a really very poignant drama, beautifully acted by its young cast.
Kim Min-ha is not your typical K-drama FL, and neither was her character. Gong Myung's character was her polar opposite, but they clicked over time. He fell for her no-nonsense attitude, and often bare faced cheek! She dragged him, inwardly kicking and screaming, out of himself.
I can't say much, without giving away even more than has been in the synopsis, which makes a review slightly difficult.
It might seem sad and melancholic on the surface, and yes, there are some very sad and painful moments, however, overall, it is a surprisingly uplifting and positive watch.
I did cry, I certainly felt for the characters, and the message I took from it, that life is precious, and even when we lose loved ones, we should seek support, and live on; for them, too.
The impact of being stuck in the past and not being willing to let it go, and of the effects depression has on family, on life, and simply trying to navigate day-to-day living, is very well interpreted.
I would like to have had a bit more about Ko Yeong Hyeon, who befriended Hui-wan in College. There was more to her character, but it wasn't fully revealed.
I would recommend this; it isn't long, and the episodes flew by for me. I didn't feel miserable at the end, either!
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Sending a message about corruption and greed?
I really liked Nam Joo-hyuk in this role. His character is a little arrogant with those in authority, most of whom he has no respect for, but much softer with others (at least on the surface). He handles the many sides of Kim Ji-yong with ease.The drama title says it all, really, and this is a very violent watch, with some shocking scenes. The torture can be quite graphic.
Most of the characters and plot, centre entirely around the Vigilante's fight against what he sees as a broken justice system, and is based within the Police Academy he attends.
The baddies are incredibly bad; the few goodies are a mix of righteous, and/or self-interested, or basically nice. One character is very ambiguous indeed and definitely needs therapy! There is another that I doubted almost from the start and still did at the end.
It is totally OTT in terms of the fight scenes, but very thrilling and gripping... entertaining, even though that may seem wrong to some.
Character back stories are inserted here and there, which was definitely needed and improved where some were coming from.
It occasionally raises ethical questions, but they never get answered sufficiently, especially when what underpins those answers, is itself rotten almost to the core.
The cast is varied with some familiar faces. Yoo Ji-tae, as Vigilante's kind-of-nemesis, is built like a 🧱💩🏠 The actor is 48, so boy must he work out! A lot is made of his physique and strength, although Vigilante certainly doesn't make an easy target, I suppose to prove it isn't always about bulk. I did get irritated when his refual to see that one character had to be 'dealt with', was the cause of things taking an even worst turn.
Definitely left open for a S2.
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Not a bad watch overall
June 2024This is described as a Horror Film, but my idea of that genre is different. It can be horrific, but it isn't ghosts, demons and stuff going bump in the night.
It's a mild (hence rating, which is 15 on Netflix) slasher type film.
Kazuya is my cup of tasty and plays a cold, emotionless lawyer, Ninomiya Akira, who goes through the motions of 'normal interactions' with others.
He ends up on the radar of a criminal profiler and also becomes the target of a serial killer.
He is to marry a woman whose father's law firm he held a high position in; but on the shocking death of her father, he is now its Head.
As the investigation, serial killer, Akira's past and his own investigation into The Lumberjack, all converge, there are shock revelations and surprising outcomes.
I quite enjoyed this, but in true Japanese fashion, it is crazy, OTT and does have something of a 'B movie' feel to it. For me, that actually adds to the enjoyment.
There is obviously blood, but honestly it's unrealistic for the most part and really tame in comparison to some drama series, never mind other films!
There is also a quite disturbing aspect to it, too, which I found surprising and made me feel sorry for characters involved. Somewhat thought provoking at times.
I think it would have benefitted from more in-depth coverage of the past, when key characters were children. I found some aspects rushed and had the story given more time to those parts, that would certainly have created a stronger connection with some characters.
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Captivating
Feb 2024I watched this in one sitting and my goodness, what a watch it was.
It has a real-life feel in terms of Lee Tang's (Choi Woo-shik) day to day routines, plus his lack of both direction and motivation. Consequently, there are slower paced episodes, but these still manage to both captivate and unnerve.
Detective Son Suk Ku (Jang Nan Gam), is weary, somewhat arrogant in attitude at times and fixated on a happening in the past.
The cat & mouse interactions between these 2 is often tense and occasionally amusing.
Supporting characters veer from weird and unsettling, to just unsettling.
LT's family are supportive, but at the same time wrapped up in their own lives. The mother seems to talk at, not to him, quite often. His relationship with 2 friends felt to me to be more one of convenience than care, even though long-term.
SSK's police partner is a rookie and lacks judgement. Others in their department are a mix of older and jaded, with one showing a more investigative mind, but at the same time lazy, not wanting to lead on his thoughts. Overall, as is so often the case in K-dramas, the police are portrayed overall as inept, cutting corners, lazy and corrupt.
LT's luck in evading proven involvement in murders is pretty funny. The overall effect of his lifestyle on his personality, especially after meeting another character, is noticeable.
There are adult themes/scenes, violence (of course) and clever dialogue.
A further key character is strangely charismatic, but completely irrational and very formidable. Seemed to have a head made of steel too.
I really enjoyed this and it kept me entertained from start to finish. I laughed out loud and at one point, felt terrible for doing so, because it was inappropriate for the scene, but it was hilarious.
I really enjoy watching CWS act and he has the ability to keep me invested in a drama, even if it's not as good as this one was. Would happily watch again.
There are scenes of/references to, sexual assault/rape, suicide and bullying, for those who find these a trigger.
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Time slipped but the drama didn't... too much.
Oct 2023I love the plot; not the usual time travel, but a time slip.
Bae Hyun-sung is so good in his lead role as character Kang-san, who ends up worlds away from his original life. The emotions this relatively young actor is able to convey with his eyes, is exactly what makes his character so watchable and believable. Gentle, kind and pretty adorable. He never abuses the changes in himself either, but hangs on to his good nature.
Jung Woo is also good as a struggling writer with principles (Dong-joo), but living a life that pushes them to their limit. He has a sometimes abrasive exterior, but is really quite mushy inside.
Supporting characters/actors are interesting; from family, to friends, law enforcement and the villains living in wealth, but also the shadow of their past.
It started really strong and grabbed my attention, but as the drama neared its mid-way eps, I found the story somewhat laboured. Old ground was covered too often and so regardless of whether the angle from which an event was seen, was different, it wasn't different enough and didn't really impact the story sufficiently.
Then, as the final episodes rolled out, the pace picked up quite sharply again and it was really good.
I liked how Dong-joo's relationships/ friendships changed, but felt the way his character was written to behave in certain situations, sometimes went against his personality, seemingly to drive the story forward. He could be so incredibly selfish, yet at other times too much the opposite. Overall he made for an entertaining character.
Hyeon-soo, a MC and police officer, I often found infuriatingly arrogant in her assumptions that she was right about stuff. I found her character lacked substance. The actress (Park Yoo-rim) was OK, but didn't really seem to 'be' the part.
The police team were woefully blind to the obvious clues that someone in their ranks was 'off', even when they suspected a leak and clues had become glaringly obvious. Frustrating!
I loved DJ's best friend, Yong-dae, who never judged and was such a supportive and understanding friend; and Mal-geum, who is linked to KS's past (how their interaction was portrayed in the present day, I found touching, poignant and really quite sad).
I never liked Myung-seok, but assume he was a better person than I thought, with his motives being to change things (I hope).
Loved Oh Man-suk as Kai, too. He was SO cool.
It's cleverly done, how the connections between the characters come together and there is a fair amount of tragedy.
An extremely dark and upsetting secret is also revealed at the end, which may be too much for some (refer to 'Tags' for the drama).
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Dark, depressing and uncomfortable
Aug 2023First off, apart from graphic violence, there are scenes containing rape, domestic abuse and suggested self-harm, so be warned ahead of viewing.
It starts off fairly evenly, lulling us into a very false sense of security, before escalating and that escalation never stops until the very end.
The way in which those perceived to be less attractive, are overlooked, spoken to, and at worst, not even loved by their own parents, is horrible. School is one thing (teachers woefully absent as usual), but the workplace is reminiscent of the UK in the 70s/80s.
The main character's dreams, held from being an infant, were quickly slashed, as she grew older and her looks hsd diminished by the time she was a teen. Although a talented and confident dancer, she was never accepted, getting verbally abused, and soon gave up. Her mother was cold and unsupportive.
As an adult, she vents her craving for the adoration and attention of an audience, by performing often exotic dance routines online, wearing a mask and various wigs.
The story follows her double life, which due to several interactions with a co-worker, culminate in her having something of a melt down.
From there on, her luck goes from not great, to catastrophically awful.
The story does a FFWD (which I know annoys some, but it does fit in this instance) and the hatred and vengeance from the past wreaks havoc in the present.
One character in particular is amazingly portrayed; blind to their complicity, failings and own twisting of reality, because facing up to all that, would be even more painful and leave no one to lash out at. An honestly hateful person who wants to be the victim.
I found the story and mix of characters, frankly depressing. It gets quite ridiculous at times too, which spoilt any realism built up in scenes.
I can't say I enjoyed it, but I can't say it was bad. It was horrible really. How people can drive others to lose who they are, features strongly, and is sickening, as is the obsession with looks, that is very prevalent, not only in S.Korea, although they do seem particularly obsessed with it.
The cast are excellent. It has a docu-drama feel at times, even though, as said, the plot in terms of what's believable or possible, goes off the rails quite often.
The ending was quite something, but lacked in one major aspect, which I can't say in this, but will add a spoiler comment.
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Never a dull moment
I loved way more about this than I didn't.The very few gripes are honestly not worth mentioning.
Fabulous cast, many actors/tresses I love, all of whom played their characters so well.
It is quirky at times; the character of
Young-rak's wife is totally off the wall. I loved her! Her outspokenness made for some really funny scenes and, at times, not low level discomfort too.
I so felt for Kang-ho and as his story was revealed, thought him so brave. Lee Do-hyun portrayed him excellently.
There were many scenes that made for a tough watch. How cold, heartless and thoroughly evil some of the characters were.
Those were tempered by opposites, however, and that prevented this drama from becoming overly melodramatic and depressing.
I completely disagreed with the methods of the Mother in question. Yet I still liked her character; she was forced to toughen up, make sacrifices, cope alone, keep going and work her arse off. However, for me that didn't excuse her dictatorial approach toward her son as a child, or actions that bordered on abuse. Nothing can excuse some of the things she did. Yet I still couldn't dislike her.
Her character seemed to mellow through the story and her capacity for forgiveness, on several occasions, I found a bit unbelievable, but given her circumstances at that point, I did get it. She also repeated one of her previous mistakes regarding another character, which disappointed me, but she came through in the end.
Kang-ho's behaviour, I thought was out of synch at times, with what his character's age was supposed to have reverted to, but, I could care less. He had me in bits on numerous occasions.
I also loved Mi-joo. What a great young woman, with real strength of character. She never played the victim and was so tenacious. I really liked the relationship she had with her twins, too.
In fact, all the village women in this drama were tough in their own ways really.
Life wasn't particularly easy or a bed of roses, for any of them.
The men were funny, capable, but rarely the bosses ;)
Sam-sik was a conundrum for me... I loathed, liked, was amused and shocked by him, in turns. Drove me nuts.
The foreign character, Andrea, was weirdly likeable. I wasn't sure at first. The way he spoke was odd at times (and not when he was practicing his Korean), but then I find many of the foreign characters represented in K-dramas to be a bit odd in general. He helped out a lot though and wasn't insignificant. How they interacted together was lovely.
Plenty of suspense and a terrific watch. I never got bored, was pleased with the ending and so enjoyed the actors, who really made the story shine.
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S1-3 combined on Viki app. An OK watch to pass the time.
aka: The Night I Became An AnimalGreat variety of characters and differing relationship scenarios, with some really selfish ones in the mix, who had no regard for the feelings of others.
My favourite couple were the country girl and tattoo artist.
At the other end of the spectrum, was the guy who didn't want kids with his wife; and the last couple, were just... "what the hell?"!
Sometimes it did feel like the individual story was built around the very samey bed scene they almost all ended up with.
I found myself rolling my eyes once too often.
I did like the entire cast, though.
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Not what it seems
I am not sure what was being aimed at when making this: quirky? comedy? statement on mental health? social politics?I was kept engaged throughout, but really didn't like a number of the characters.
I did like the aspect that poor communication and perspectives of childhood, can really screw us up!
A child's imagination can be an escape, a hiding place, a better place, or a nightmare; but what if imagination and reality become blurred?
There are very unsettling aspects to this drama. A dangerous and manipulative cult; dysfunctional relationships; loss; threat; confusion and self-doubt. Quite a bit of very unpleasant violence and horrible manipulation by the cult.
I found the ending bizarre, as what I imagined the premise to be, was turned on its head.
I am not against seeing smoking in dramas, as people still do and I see the effects of alcohol and hallucinogenic drug abuse as being far worst. However, the amount of characters that chain smoked, I found off-putting.
To be honest, I didn't get it at all and so just felt blank about it. Not even sure if I actually liked it or not!
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Visually stunning
A wonderful bit of escapism, with some really touching moments, humour and action (of a martial arts/supernatural kind).The acting was fine and the cast beautiful, with lovely sets and costumes.
The story is entertaining, but it did drag in several places for me. If it hadn't gone off on unnecessary tangents at times (for example some of the focussing on Jie Li, which lent nothing to the story) and stretching out of scenes, the pace would have been improved. I felt the end stories were wrapped up in a somewhat rushed manner, when compared to aspects of the rest of the story.
The opening episode grabbed me and the final episodes were quite gripping (and sad in some cases), but my attention drifted quite often in between.
Dylan Wang was a delight, as were the majority of the cast. However, as is too often the case, the childish way in which Orchid spoke, drove me nuts. It is not necessary to speak like a kid to convey sweetness or naivety.
I would have liked to see a bit more of the dragon in his true form too.
Some of the more modern guitar music I didn't feel was appropriate either and that distracted me.
Overall a decent watch, and if I watched again, certain bits I'd definitely FF.
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Action and revenge
Loved the cast and characters; all the females were strong, no nonsense, smart and independent, ranging from truly wicked and heartless, to tough on the outside, soft on the inside.I loved Do Bae-man's Auntie, Do Soo-kyung, brilliantly represented by Kang Mal-geum who often gave her mature character a feel of youthfulness.
This is an unusual drama, as it spans military, political and corporate crime.
There is all the usual scheming, intrigue, manipulation, abuse of power and threat.
It is a cleverly put together plot, very entertaining and gripping, though heavily fiction orientated, so if you want true to life, you might find many faults.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and really liked Ahn Bo-hyun and Jo Bo-ah together.
There is a tiny bit of romance (fitting I thought), but this is very much a revenge drama.
The character that I thought went through the biggest transformation was Noh Tae-nam; used by everyone, including his own mother, left to his own devices, totally lacking any moral compass or compassion (what happens when no love, direction or guidance have ever been provided), all his wrong doings covered up, selfish and repulsive.
However, I couldn't believe that by the end I actually felt for him and even liked him.
There is plenty of action, but also
**a nasty sexual assault case and also some quite distressing scenes of bullying in the Army**, which could affect some viewers.
There are some very moving moments too.
Nicely concluded as well, with no question marks or loose ends.
P.S. even though the actual Doberman, Bolt, wasn't in a huge amount, he stole the scenes he was in, completely 😁
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Didn't raise me up
I personally felt the issue of erectile dysfunction was used for cheap jokes and as a way to grab attention. It belittled the problem, if anything.The problems the main character had around feeling like a failure were different and tackled better though.
Why does Yoon Shi-yoon take these kind of roles, I wonder? He's played a couple where the character is the under dog; bullied, humiliated, the butt of jokes and with low self esteem and lacking in confidence.
I did like how this character didn't radically change though, in terms of his basic personality. Instead of transforming into a polar opposite, he accepted who he now is, what makes him happy and that those things should not be diminished or affected by the goals, aspirations and achievements of others.
Nowhere near my kind of drama though, sadly.
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Sweet
Short, sweet, nice story.Quite a low budget feel though and not great sound quality. Small, young cast, who worked well together and seemed to enjoy themselves.
I actually think this would make a decent full length drama.
It is difficult, to my mind, for any decent story to be conveyed in such short and so few, episodes. The cast don't really get a chance to build on their characters either.
I thought they did well, considering that.
I still feel it's a shame that S.Korea only partially commits to the BL genre. I haven't seen anything yet, which gives us full length episodes. A real shame.
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