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Odd but Charming

The MDL synopsis has little to do with the drama I viewed. It's so skewed: Jeju Island was purgatorial, not gorgeous; Do Hye Na never died in the drama; and Woo Shi Hyung wrongly entered the afterlife.

Irish Uppercut was an odd little drama, but it had a satisfying ending. Considering many K-dramas fizzle out, I was pleased. The acting was superb, and the drama had charm and originality. I imagine the current low rating is due to the compressed story telling time of 8 episodes of 15 minutes each. That doesn't allow for extensive backstories, much character growth, or a sweeping story arc, but Irish Uppercut exceeded my expectations.

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Even Park Seo Joon Couldn't Save the Second Season of Gyeongseong Creature

It was jarring to have an 79-year time skip for season 2. Of course, everything changed in costume, set, and tone. The protagonists were no longer fighting an occupation—it became the run of the mill mad scientist bad guys. None of the new cast were properly introduced, and we didn't understand their motivations. What happened to our heroes in 79 years? We're told Tae Sang had treated Seung Jo as a younger brother, but we were never shown this. MOST OF SEASON 2 WAS A CASE OF TELLING, NOT SHOWING; that's never as compelling or interesting.

If a bad guy calls, and I KNOW he's a murderer, and he wants to meet me in an abandoned building out in the boonies, I'd think to myself, "Self, that's not a good idea. Don't do it." But our heroes didn't think twice. Thinking is evidently hard. It had to take major acting skills to yell, "It's a trap!" once they were surrounded. Yeah, it was a trap of lazy writing. Of course, the cop who was tailing them must have stopped for a burger, because she was nowhere to be found until long after the mayhem had occurred. Maybe she had to pick up her dry cleaning on the way.

I have no idea why the bad guys had such a hard time keeping up with our heroes, because they always returned to the pawn shop. For 100 years, they always returned to the pawn shop. Why bother tailing them? After an especially harrowing escape, I thought (silly me!), they had best hightail to a hotel or remote cabin somewhere to elude the bad guys. No, back to the pawn shop, where everyone from the cops, who had the place bugged, to every bad guy knew where they holed up. They still couldn't find them half the time!

The ending was ambiguous, leaving the viewer feeling incomplete. Nothing was resolved, and I'm afraid there won't be a third season as there hasn't been any indication from Netflix. And I have so many questions!

TL:DR: Season 1 had compelling stories: occupation, freedom fighters, separated families, blended families, and the struggle for survival. Season 2 introduced new characters with no background and didn't resolve anything. Season 1 should have been two episodes longer and completed the story in the past with everything tied up in a bow. Season 2 shouldn't have happened.

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Great Abs Make You Impervious to Knife Wounds

A little cringe-y and the misunderstandings went on too long. FL did have cause to be upset with the ML, but she pushed him away instead of communicating. A sentence or two from either of them would have cleared things up. How hard is it to say, "I ghosted you because I was in a coma. I didn't come back into your life then because I was afraid I'd endanger you."

The ML was stabbed, bled profusely, got wet from the rain, spent the night outdoors, got chilled, rode a wagon 3 hours (?) into town, then attended his girlfriend's play because he wanted to support her career, AND THEN WENT TO THE HOSPITAL AFTER HE COLLAPSED. What kind of idiocy is that? And what girlfriend would allow it?

ML had great abs and was an enthusiastic kisser, so I've awarded an extra half star. Hard work and enthusiasm should be rewarded.

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Redemption of Kang Tae Ju

I avoid melodramas, and I hate angst, plus the low rating was enough to deter me until I saw Viki was going to remove the drama soon. I clicked play on impulse and was treated to a fresh (though older), realistic drama revolving around an opportunistic playboy; a naive, sweet girl; a cold, repressed man; and a spoiled, rich woman. The sweet girl, Han Eun Su, navigated the murky waters of the betrayal of her true love, sabotage from a jealous woman, and a controlling spouse. Unlike so many dramas today, I had no idea who would end up with whom, or who, potentially, would be destroyed. Out of the quartet, three were self-centered and manipulative. Eun Su did her best to deal with them all fairly and with decency.

For someone who shies away from angst, this drama was saturated in it with little let up until the last 30 seconds! Normally, I'd despise such a drama, but the actors did such a good job with their roles. I hated all the characters at various times in the show (except Eun Su, although I wanted to give her a good shaking from time to time); then, I'd feel compassion and understanding and wish for their happiness! There were no perfect characters—they were all gloriously flawed and alternately wonderful and terrible.

I appreciated the dilemmas presented: horrible secrets of the past don't dissipate and can destroy the future; mistrust is a killer of relationships; getting everything you think you want won't necessarily make you happy; and holding on to toxic relationships won't make them better.

I love how raw and original this production is compared to current dramas. There weren't the usual tired tropes, or, when they were present, they were given new life. The music was of its time and added to the feel. Eric Mun did an amazing job as Kang Tae Ju, a disgusting, immoral reprobate who was respectful of his elders and had his own finely tuned sense of morality (it was okay to have an affair with an engaged girl, but married women were off limits; it was okay to accept an expensive watch as a gift from one of his admirers, but a car was too much).

I appreciated that the writer respected his characters and his audience. When Tae Ju talked about wanting lots of children and a house with a yard for them all to play in, the viewer knew he wasn't thinking of sharing that with his fiancée. When he gave up his idea of a house with a yard for a city apartment to defer to his fiancée, the viewer knew he'd given up on the happy life he'd envisioned for the security of a wealthy one. I love that the writer and actor didn't have to spell it out for the viewer.

And, now, I've got to watch something fluffy, because I've suffered. It was worth it, though.

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Don't Trust Grandma to Take You to Eat Pork Cutlets

I'm not the best reviewer for comedies, as I don't watch many, and my taste usually runs to very dry or dark humor. This has neither, but it has a wonderful cast of familiar faces: Jung Sang Hoon as the ML; Lee Joong Ok, the reliable supporting character; and Kim Young Ok, everyone's favorite grandmother in K-dramas. What hasn't Young Ok been in? I've watched her in 21 dramas, some of them my favorites. She has a knack for choosing good projects, or she elevates them.

The Pork Cutlets is about a village chief with three small sons and a pregnant wife expecting twin sons. She is insistent he gets a vasectomy. At the same time, the village is upset with a Jindo dog who keeps impregnating the villagers' dogs, and the two neuterings become intertwined as a topic of conversation amongst the townspeople.

This is a comedy, but it's also about community and family: sweet, supportive, and a bit too nosy, but that's small town life in a nutshell.

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Love Solves Most Ills

This drama introduced me to the concept of NEET: individuals who are not in education, employment, or training. In Japan, this comprises people aged 15-34 who are not employed, not engaged in housework, not enrolled in school or work-related training, and not seeking work. In the drama, a young girl, abandoned by her parents, had taken care of her ailing grandparents and dropped out of school. She was a homebound person through poverty, depression, and lack of emotional support after her grandparents' deaths.

Fictionally, in the drama, the Japanese government started a program to marry NEETs to government employees in order to help them, promote childbirth to alleviate Japan's troublesome declining rates, and help society. This is how the ML, a government employee, ended up married to the FL, a NEET. Their relationship was on paper, but, as often happens in dramaland and in real life, close proximity brings feelings, and life becomes complicated.

The drama was a quiet, sweet affair, and I was pleased to learn something from it.

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Put Away Your Critical Eye and Just Enjoy

Why would you want to watch horrible people and politicians (but I repeat myself, snicker). Because Ji Chang Wook and Song Yoon Ah's performances are worth viewing. I'm not a fan of extended fight scenes, but I could watch Ji Chang Wook skip rope on loop. That move of a knee in the face mid-air before landing, impressive! The fight scenes were pure fiction: the human body cannot sustain that much damage. I'll register my complaint here, but I still enjoyed the action scenes because of Ji Chang Wook. He excels at action, but he can play innocent, vulnerable, and sweet well. Easy on the eyes, too.

The most compelling reason to watch is for Song Yoon Ah's performance as a scheming psychopath. She is evil to the core. She wouldn't bat an eye to kill someone who MIGHT be problematic to her, and it wouldn't even be worth her time to find out if they were clueless or innocent before snuffing them out. And, yet. I was mesmerized by her. Song Yoon Ah played her part with such nuance that the viewer understood her and felt her vulnerability. I've got to admit I was rooting for her in a perverse way.

I've rated it higher than most would, but Ji Chang Wook, Song Yoon Ah, and that inventive OST made this a pleasure.

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Humor, Intelligence, Action, and Mostly Heart

I didn't know this series wasn't finished. Ack, I have to wait until 2027 for season 3. I'd complain that life is unfair, but as that's the theme of Joy of Life, I don't dare!

I fell in love with the character of Fan Xian. All he wants is a simple, happy life, but that's not what fate has in store for him. He begrudgingly takes on duties and responsibilities out of a sense of decency and wanting a better life for others. He becomes the pawn of the Imperial family, but he's the chess piece that refuses to move in the expected direction.

Zhang Ruo Yun does an amazing job as Fan Xian. He's intelligent, brave, iron strong, and emotionally vulnerable. He is unshakably loyal to his friends, family, and love. I live for those scenes where he is listening to atrocities and is internally livid, yet outwardly calm.

The Imperial Court intrigues keep the viewer unbalanced. Who to trust? I've decided no one! And yet, I keep hoping for redemption for some of them, even those who don't deserve it. The actors have done such an excellent job balancing villainous tones with sympathetic ones.

I'm off to add more of writer Wang Juan's dramas to my list. I've added an extra half star for writing intelligent characters.

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Bizarre

So bizarre that my first thought was that I was watching a J-drama. I double-checked the next spoken sentence and ascertained it was, indeed, a Chinese drama. It's dark, dangerous, and deviated from the average drama.

The leads were adorable together. He's the boy your parents warned you about: the bad boy. But not your typical bad boy who did poorly in school and hung out with the wrong crowd. This boy was smart, menacing tall, feral, and definitely detrimental to the well being of those around him. She, on the other hand, was tiny. The ML often picked her up around the waist with one arm and carried her like his own personal Barbie doll with a curtain of glossy black hair. She was kind, brave, and resourceful and an absolute addiction of the bad boy.

The mood was black, and it seemed it was only night in their world. The visuals were striking: the ML and FL fell from the dark sky into a heart-shaped pile of pink balloons (please don't ask why the balloons were there, as logic has no place in this drama, and I'd have to explain the leads landed, miraculously unharmed, on their feet next to a tank containing a murderous mutant octopus with huge ears which was mind controlled by a zombie, at which point the explanation about the balloons hardly matters, right?). Do I care that the plot is ridiculous? Not a bit, because I'm not bored. And the OST was as wild as the action.

I thought I'd picked a tiny filler to watch between the longer dramas, as Viki only showed six episodes. I realize now it has 40 (but only 18 minutes each), which Viki will mete out on a weekly (?) basis. Bah, humbug. Here's hoping the drama keeps its frantic pace, phenomenal weirdness, and ends well.

Update: the weird, frenetic darkness morphed into a montage of musically-enhanced make-out scenes (although I've got to say that Cui Yu Xin and Fang Jin made kissing an art form; I seriously don't know how they got past the censors). That's when I lost interest and found something else to watch. I like kissing (and they had some excellent hugs), but I require a little plot to hold my attention.

I recently came back to finish the series, hoping it would regain the bizarre dark energy of the initial episodes, but it finished poorly with stilted dialogue, nonsensical reasoning, and so-bad-that-it-almost-got-interesting again plot. It's as though the drama was stitched together by committee: a guy on crack, a romance novelist, and a hapless student who was forced to write an ending for his class grade.

It's hard to rate this one. I'd give nine stars for the first episodes. They were a wild ride. I'd drop to maybe a five for the latter episodes. That would average to seven, but I've got to add a half star for the OST. It suited the drama well, and the intro song became an ear worm.

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