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Romance Show with Misunderstanding-fest
This is one of the classic 2010s kdrama romcoms. It has almost of the essential elements, and it's not my liking. This show started with a bizzare interaction between a lawyer, Kwon Jung Rok, and an actress turned secretary, Oh Yeon Seo. Jung Rok was so cold and harsh to her earlier, and it's really painful. However at some point, he turned warmed towards her. Both Jung Rok and Yeon Seo have a great character developments throughout the show.To bring more surprise, the best performer in this show was Jay Kim who play the villain Lee Gang Jun. Both Dong Wook and In Na were doing a good job, but I couldn't find the whatsoever glofied Goblin-chemistry (I haven't watch Goblin). Both had several flat and wooden moments. The supporting casts were all great, adding humor to the show.
Writing is a bit a problem here. Compared to other works released around the time, I don't know where to put it. A lot of shows have more swooning and butterflies moment, and a lot of the other brought heartwarming feelings. This one was quite mid, not funny enough for comedy, not swooning enough for romance. Instead, they built the story on a pile of misundestandings, which is the thing I hate the most. I don't understand why Se Won hid the news of Gang Jun's return from Jung Rok, and I couldn't understand the reason why In Na didn't tell Jung Rok about her plan to return to acting. Judging by the personality, Jung Rok had zero tendencies to respond outrageously or something like that. To add more pain, they started all this misunderstandings sh*t very early, like from episode 7. These misunderstandings were already too much, that such story about Lee Gang Jun return was unnecessary. It only added more burden and shifted the vibe too far. The peak is the ridiculous 'I love you so I have to break up with you' moment. At this point, I had enough after holding so much ridiculousness from like 7th episode, that I had to drop it.
It's still a good one time watch. I don't know whether you'll enjoy it, but I don't think you'll find it if you're searching for a swoon-full 2010s kdrama.
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Could Be A Hit If The Mystery Hit on Point
Let me tell you, this show is supposed to be great. The mixture between idol, mystery and romance is really fresh. The mystery itself is good, especially the twist at the end. The idea of the mystery involving idol, complicated relationship, ambitious officials; these all are perfect elements for a crime-romance show. The storyline also very focus and straightforward, no need any silly side stories. Unfortunately, the execution looks missing something. They failed to turn this combination into something big. It's not totally fail, just SO SO CLOSE to be on point.The mystery is supposed to be the hotshot of the show, but it lacks sparks. I feel the murder case is dragged too long for nothing. It takes 11 episodes to resolve the murder, and the resolution is quite easily earned. The romance is just great, but I think it's because the highlight of the show is somewhere else. Some characters are left behind, especially Chung Jae.
Not much complain on the cast side. Jae Young and Soo Young were doing great, and their chemistry as well. Jae Kwang, Hee Jin, Hyun Jin and even our father Kim Won Hae all did well. However I think Jong Woo's anger looks a bit unnatural.
Weakest point of the show is the mystery resolution. Judging by how wet Hye Ju's hair and coat at that time, I don't think she was able to mop the scene squeaky clean. Also after that she searched the whole room for her earring, like she dropped fingerprints everywhere. What was the police doing??? Also it's bothering me how Se Na easily trusted everyone around La Ik, she trusted his manager, reached Hye Ju for attorney, etc.
For a show that involves a boyband, the soundtrack is little underwhelming. Overall it's still a good watch, but don't expect fluffy romance or complicated mystery.
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Masterchef®: Season Joseon
This is my first ever historical K-drama. I have zero knowledge about Korean history, so I might have missed out a lot of historically incorrect things. Bon Appetit, Your Majesty is mostly a belly-tickling food showcase. The original concept is good. Everything about the food is excellent, the visual of the food presentation, the cooking process, the reaction of the "customer", the explanation of the cooking process. The concept is very similar with Masterchef show: Chef Yeon Ji Yeong gets a challenge to cook a dish with a concept, serves it to the judge(s), the judge tastes and comment the dish and the cook gets to explain the dish and cooking process. The political side looks very confusing to me with no knowledge in Korean history, but some on screen explanations are quite helpful.The casts are quite good. YoonA and Lee Chae Min are doing a good job, although it's not something extraordinary. The Ming Chief Envoy somehow has the worst Chinese accent compared to his colleagues.
However, the pace is extremely slow. It takes 5 episodes for the Ming Cooking Competition. Unfortunately when this pace applies to anything else, it becomes painful. They use the receipt of request-cook-serve-judging phase pattern almost the whole show. After repeating it a lot of times, the tone and vibe switch drastically after episode 10 and with such pace it's not appealing at all. Also it turns a bit makjang after episode 10. All about the cookings disappear too after this episode, and it becomes like another show. The final episode is a massive letdown. I don't care if the king goes to the future, but those grenades are ridiculous!
The soundtrack is quite okay. Watch this show if you're quite okay with a slow pace.
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