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A really good soul-swapping storyline

I tuned in because of Kim Jung Hyun. I saw him in Crash Landing on You and thought his acting was superb. Plus, this drama received some high marks. There is a twist to the soul-swapping storyline in that Shin Hue Sun's character has both souls in one body fighting over who will dominate. She does an amazing job of acting masculine within a feminine body and during a submissive female cultural period of time. I think her acting dominated the storyline, and I was especially charmed by the "texting" she started with the King Cheoljong. Kim Jung Hyun's acting was again superb. He has range in his acting skills and will be a dominate leading man in many, many types of dramas, of which many I will tune into. Another character that held me through the drama was Cha Chung Hwa. I have seen her in several dramas, and she never fails to entertain. She is also an excellent and versatile character actress and commits herself to every part. The story ebbed and flowed, with some parts slower than others, but still carried the viewer forward to the finale. It was exciting, heartbreaking, romantic, intriguing, funny, and typical all in the right places. The only improvement I would recommend is in the music score. I think musical compositions can add so much to a storyline, but for some reason the producers did not feel that was necessary here, but I felt it was lacking. Other than that, I applaud the screenwriters, producers, directors, the main and supporting actors, and the rest of the cast for a really entertaining production....thank you!

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Gripping!!

Full of twists and turns....you think you've got the story figured out, you think it's predictable, then bam!....something unexpected changes with the storyline. This one kept me glued to the screen. Amazing writing, amazing cast, and well produced. You think you're watching a storyline about getting revenge, but it's so much deeper and more meaningful, only you won't realize it until you watch it to the very end. One of the best laid out and thought out plot lines I've seen in quite awhile. The kind of drama that has South Korean entertainment taking over the world. I highly recommend this series. Congrats to all the cast and crew on this one!!

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Starts Out Great, Ends With a Meh

A cute, yet boring take on a transformational curse storyline. She periodically turns into a man. The problem is she is in a committed, loving relationship with her devoted boyfriend. The entire series was how they work out being in a relationship together when they never know when she will turn into a guy, and when she'll turn back.

That's it. That's all it was. It was "oh hey you're a man now...let's act awkward and sad...then we'll get used to it and gaze lovingly at each other as we begin to accept this...then an antagonist will come and turn everything into chaos...Oh hey you're a woman now...let's cuddle and hug............oooops, you're a man again......lather, rinse, repeat, on and on.

Episode after episode has some version of this. So, it got really boring after episode 4 to the very end.

There were a couple other storylines thrown in...the triad between the sister, her first love, and the woman who loved him. There was also the best friend and the guy who had a crush on her. Neither of these went very deep. The characters did strange things and were awkward around each other. These were mostly awkward and boring.

In the end, everything and everyone came together to give us a happy ending, but as the viewer, it felt very sanitized and fake. Nothing overly wrong with this drama, but nothing really great about it either. It was just meh.

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Humans Are Not Horses

This was the finale to the Squid Game series. Will the games continue? It appears the ending left the possibility of a spin-off. Many did not like the 2nd or 3rd installment of Squid Game and felt there should have been nothing after the 1st series. It's true the 1st series landed with a bang. It's almost impossible to follow that with something as good. The writer took a different approach by focusing more on the characters working the game, the pursuit by the brother of the Front Man, and the psychological toll the games had on the character of 456. I felt the writer did the only logical thing by not trying to duplicate the 1st series, but go deeper into the story of the actual characters.

I mean what can you say about a series that presents a modern-day fight to the death for the entertainment pleasure of the elite wealthy? It's horrible, but not out of the question considering we live in a world where certain people can buy countries if they wanted. It hits a little too close to home, and it's a tragedy of modern life. I thought it was done well. The acting, the sets, everything was done really well. But the story really does leave me with an icky feeling. But then this isn't a feel-good type of drama.

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A Good Treasure Finding Tale

Just a good old fashioned treasure finding story. A mystery abounds in trying to use clues to find the treasure. Along the way the ML falls in love with a helpful (and smart) damsel. There are plenty of bad guys and one sinister femme fatale who put kinks into the treasure hunting. There are twists and turns, a mystery to solve, teenage drama, overly comedic scenes, and plenty to keep you tuned in. This is good 'ol Kdrama at its finest.

Loved the actors!! The casting director really got the right actor in the right part. It is just entertainment in its purest sense. This reminds me of one of the first Kdramas I watched, and why I got hooked on Kdramas in the first place. Try it. I guarantee you'll enjoy it if you are just looking to be entertained.

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Whooo's a Good Dawgyy? You Are That's Who!!

If you are in the mood for a fantasy/generational curse/reincarnation drama with some really cutie pawtootie (paw--get it?) dogs as part of the cast, then this is your drama.

Basically, a Josean royal who is a devotee of the Mountain God for most of her life (supporting female lead), marries someone else who is killed as a traitor so the officials come after her. She is saved by her faithful servant girl (female lead) and lover (male lead--who is also a palace guard??? or someone high ranking) who run into the mountains and is protected by the Mountain God (supporting male lead). The mountain god has fallen in love with his long time devotee. The servant girl's lover is caught, imprisoned, and set to be beheaded. The servant girl is carrying their child and in a moment of weakness reveals to the officials where her mistress is hiding in order to save her lover. Back to the mountain we go where a pursuit and fight ensue. The mistress, her servant girl, and the lover/palace guard are cornered on the side of a cliff. The mistress chooses this moment to end her life using the sword of the palace guard and falls over the side of the cliff. The mountain god sees only the bloody sword and his love falling to her death and mistakenly blames the servant girl and her lover. In a rage, he curses their unborn baby with a canine twist which is passed along to future generations.

As the drama starts, it is present day. The descendent of the servant girl is now a high school teacher, living a low-key life as her family suffers from this curse. Whenever they kiss someone, they turn into a dog by night, person by day. They have 100 days to have the person they kissed kiss them back as a dog in order to stay a human. Otherwise they stay a dog permanently. The reincarnation of the guard is a handsome, but cold and dorky math teacher at the same school. She accidentally kisses him while drunk, and the curse springs into action. Now she has 100 days to get him to kiss her as a dog. The twist is, he is afraid of dogs. The high jinks she goes through to finagle this kiss out of him is quite funny, and my favorite part of the drama. In the process the two fall in love again, the curse is lifted and for a while all seems well. Here is where the second twist comes in.

The mountain god is also a teacher at the high school, and he has been the one to bring the two together, watch the curse play out, and watch them suffer. After the curse is lifted, he plots to make them suffer more. The reincarnation of the mistress is one of the students who has shamanistic abilities. She is drawn to the mountain god/teacher, and begins a quest to figure out what happened in the past to make the mountain god want these two to suffer. This is where the historical back story plays out and in the end the mountain god realizes his love's death was not the fault of these two.

The story was cute, mysterious, dramatic, and hilarious all rolled into one. The end was a bit anticlimactic but still cute. I know most watch for the male lead played by Cha Eun Woo. He was superbly beautiful in every scene, and did a nice acting job of being scared of the cutest small dogs in the world. The rest of the cast played there parts well too. This is a nice fantasy drama. Don't go into it with any high expectations. Just some silliness and fun, and you'll enjoy the ride. I guess I could say it was bark-ah-licious..........too much?

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Typical but Not Typical Rom Com

It was the typical girl meets boy, they can't stand each other in the beginning, boy has some sort of issues to work through, they are thrown together through an "arrangement," and end up falling in love.

It was not typical in the female lead's character. Strong, independent, a fighter, she doesn't just take on the role society has deemed she should have. Her character is what kept me going through the series. I loved Kim Ok Bin's Mi Ran!!! Feisty, stubborn, physically talented, a brain, witty, always there for the underdog. I loved this character. She wasn't unsure, lacking confidence, overly needy, or any of the other stereotypical female roles that you usually find in rom coms.

Also good in the series, the supporting characters, although I think their storylines could have been expanded. It was a really good, funny, feel-good, all-around enjoyable rom com, and I would highly recommend it. The actors all did well in their parts.

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Youthful Angst Meets Adult Wisdom

This was a coming of age story with all the happiness, sorrows, ups, downs, and amazing experiences one has with a group of friends that just go through it all together. I like that they diversified the group of friends. Friend groups that are all alike, their families are carbon copies of each other are so boring and cliche'. This group was well mixed. The top athlete/superstar yet whose family is poor and sacrificing everything for her, the fatherless child whose single-parent is so busy providing for their home she is neglecting her daughter (I could relate to this one), the son thrust into poverty by the mistakes of his father yet taking responsibility to care for his brother and mother, the smartest kid in the school and bored to tears by everything, and the kid who fails academically because the school fails to offer him and his skill set anything other than studying for the next test. These kids came together and experienced first love, bullying, pressures from school, parents, life, disappointments, failures, successes, forgiveness, fun, fear, and heartache. They took the viewer along with them every step. I laughed, I got bored, I cheered, I got angry, I cried. The storyline moved me along with the lives of these 5 people just like surfing a wave onto the sand.

I read a lot of reviews that were angry and disappointed at the ending. I wasn't. This is the type of story where you get hooked into the characters and want more. I think the ending was purposeful to provide a second series. Anyway, I hope so. There were some unanswered questions, and information about these 5 characters that could lead easily to another series to fill in the gaps. The writers know how to provide a rich storyline and very developed characters. I do believe they could provide us with another amazing story of Na Hee Do, Baek Yi Jin, Go Yu Rim, Moon Ji Woong, and Ji Seung Wan five or ten years later that would be very satisfying to those of us who loved this story. I hope we will see more.

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A Chip Off the Old Kdrama Romance Block

This drama fits the mold, which must be successful because there sure are a lot of them. "Scarred in youth" boy meets "going through hell" girl and it's hate at first sight. But then they are thrown into an adventure together, which magically causes them to fall in love, psychologically heals the boy's scars of the past, and gives the girl a new lease on life. While the typical-ness of this drama made it mediocre, several of the actors kept me moving through the storyline. I come for the storyline plus the acting, but minus a really good storyline, its usually the actors that keep me watching, and this one did not disappoint. I thought some of the music in it was really good as well. It's a good drama to just turn off your brain and be entertained for awhile. But keep the expectations low.

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Wow! Buckle up....You're in for a Ride

Last episode:
I liked the last episode but didn't love it. I thought including the two main leads coming back to each other in a war-torn country was a bit much. I'm not sure that was really necessary. Regardless, the last episode does wrap everything up nicely and gives us viewers plenty of romance between the two main leads. There are three strengths with this Kdrama that I believe made it a hit. 1) The chemistry between the ML and the FL. They were really good, and very believable in their attraction and love for each other. 2) The writer (or the director, or even the actors themselves) allowed the two leads to show us they were in an adult relationship with each other. There weren't any awkward physical interactions that seem to occur in so many of these dramas. This boosted the romance so much, and made their story together that much better for the viewer. 3) Lastly, the intrigue was top notch. The storyline of the parents ambition, the coverups and substitutions that occurred to keep the family image intact, the revenge, and, of course, the 406/phone/kidnapper angle--all came together to give the viewer the suspense needed to keep you dying to see the next episode. A really good Kdrama!! Congrats to all the cast and crew on this one!!! And with that.....I think I'll go watch it again.

Just watched the 11th episode:
#$@% what a story!!! I'm overdosing from the climatic endings and the "what will happen next" cliffhangers!! This is very well written. I am reminded of Reborn Rich which wove an intense and unbelievable plot around all these characters. And, just when you think you have it figured out....bam!!....there is another twist. The twist and turns of this story have kept me glued to my screen. I can't wait for the last episode to see how this ends. One of the best Kdramas of 2024-2025!!!

After 7 episodes:
The major theme--the children of terribly ambitious parents who grow up trying to please these selfish parents but realize how damaging it has been to their lives. In the end, the two main leads try to fix their wrongs into rights so they can be happy with each other. It's a wonderfully romantic story that is set in a thriller/mystery/political corruption drama that really keeps you glued to the story. I love that the main leads are able to express their love for each other in an adult manner. There is no stupid, juvenile embarrassment when expressing affection. It is real, and the actors do a superb job expressing the characters love for each other. I don't know what will happen next, and that is a BIG part of the appeal. The suspense is huge!

After 4 episodes:
I just wanted to post quickly and say that THIS Kdrama is good!! It's got the best hook that grabs you and won't let go. A mystery in the relationship between the ML and FL, with maybe a psychological thriller twist that makes you want to keep watching to see what happens next. Great acting by the cast. They are supremely evil, mysterious, timid, intense, comedic, and all sorts of divinely abnormal. The mothers are vicious. They all roll together to take you on the ride of your Kdrama life. We need to get a poll/wager going on who the real 406 is.

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Edge of Your Seat Thriller

It's a romance embedded into a psychological thriller and murder mystery. Raw, gripping, sexy, and even sweet at times. A who-dun-it mystery that will keep you glued until the end. You have to watch it to the end because it will be a surprise, one I did not see coming. The musical score is good and helps with the tense, mysterious, and dramatic scenes. I would say my only complaints are that it shifts between present, past, and future and sometimes it s hard to tell which moment in time you're in. Also, there are awkward transitions between some of the scenes that I'm not sure make sense and add little to the story. Over all though, it was really good. Congrats to the actors--these roles were dark at times and could not have been easy to play--also the production value was outstanding, clothes, sets, lighting, camera angles, it was all done well.

At 8 episodes it's just the right length. I can easily recommend this one.

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Is this Drama Taking on a Toxic Oppressive Industry?

I just finished Idol I. It was not what I expected. In the end it was a murder mystery with romance on the side. The storyline was interesting enough and the characters likable enough to keep me viewing each week. No big statement on how toxic the Kpop industry is. Just a likable Kdrama--no fuss--no muss--just regular Kdrama stuff. I left my initial impressions below.

I've only watched the first two episodes. I'm wondering if this drama is less about the murder-mystery who-dun-it aspect, and more about shedding light on the toxic music/idol industry. Our ML is an anxious/ paranoid idol who doesn't seem very happy doing what he is doing. He appears trapped in a system that continues to oppress him whether it's the perfectionist expectations of the music label and his fans, his fellow group members who seem to despise him for succeeding out on his own, or the fans who stalk him making him paranoid and his life miserable. None of this surprises me about our ML.

I've watched too many You Tube videos of former idols who are now away from industry and speak about:
1. Excessive control by the music label
2. The pressure to always be perfect
3. Live secret personal lives to keep up an illusion for their fans
4. Physical and emotional abuse
5. Sexual harassment and abuse - this came from former female idols about unwanted attention from groping CEO's of labels.
6. Toxic fans, unrealistic fan expectations, stalking, online harassment

I'm a Kpop fan, but only listen to the music. I really don't follow the idols mainly due to the scary fans. I also have a hard time with what the music labels make these idols do all for the purposes of making money, especially all the pretense...all for money.

Is this drama taking on the toxicity of the Kpop industry? I think there is more here than at first glance? It's worth sticking with the drama to see.

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Season 5 - Brought the Entertainment

I've watched every SI and I always start the season excited, but end feeling let down. This season was no different but I would say the "down" part of it was slightly elevated. I think the best place to start is to just list my likes and dislikes about this season. I will also write some on the contestants and the coupling up at the end. If you do not want to read spoilers then don't read the end of the review.

What I liked:
-Cooking together in a kitchen/eating place was back and I loved it!! Especially in the first few episodes when the contestants are meeting each other and flirting over cutting carrots and making rice.
-I thought the Inferno sets were really nice. The places the couples could hang out and talk looked comfortable and inviting.
-Paradise was enjoyable, which included some activities like bowling. It was nice that some activities were included as just watching couples eat and drink gets boring.
-Loved the couples photo shoot competition, and also the truth game they played.
-The competitions were also good. Matching up with colored balls where the pink ball was the kiss of death. Very funny!

What I didn't like:
-There is a certain amount of SI that just seems so contrived. Like the contestants are given a role to play and then they play it out, only some are really bad at playing their role. There are so many times when it doesn't feel natural with the contestants. But then reality shows are all about putting people in unnatural situations and see how they react.
-Dating is so different from this show. Korean dating is even different than this show. So it's frustrating to have to watch people "date" in an unnatural way. Really the only thing they do is have numerous conversations but they aren't allowed to know their age or what they do, which in Korea forms the foundation for how people communicate to each other, at least until they go to Paradise. So a great deal of this show is watching and listening to all these awkward conversations.
-For the first time, the panelists disappointed me. More often than not, when I was frustrated with the show, the panelists kept me entertained, but not this time. They did well in the first episodes, really funny and entertaining, but the last couple of episodes I found the panelists to be too judgmental. Almost mean. One example was when Hyun-woo made a confession about his feelings at the final dinner. I thought he was sweet and sincere. The panelists just made fun of him, and I thought what they said was quite rude. In Season 3, drama queen and asshole, Gwan-Hee, got away with so much bad behavior and the panelists for the most part excused it. In this season, they were especially hard on certain contestants who were not nearly as bad as Gwan-Hee.
-I didn't like that they cut out the final challenge and winning couple's dinner. We only saw bits and pieces. But they seemed to do this by making the final choice long and drawn out. I would have preferred the challenge and seeing the couple's date.
-It's getting annoying to watch scenes play twice, and lines repeated two or three times over.

My thoughts on the contestants and the couplings: Warning!! Spoiler Alert!! I actually do not believe any of these couples will end up together once the show is done. Let's just be real here. They are on this show for exposure and to inject some life into their careers.
1. Choi Mina Sue and Lee Sung-hun - Mina Sue was this season's drama queen and boy did she bring the drama. She was definitely the contestant everyone loved to hate. Sung-hun was a breath of fresh air for this show. Incredibly intelligent and successful, he didn't play mind games, just brought his calm and confidant self to the mix. He was a favorite of mine. He was really patient with Mina Sue as she proceeded to try on every guy on the island, but in the end they left together hand in hand.
2. Kim Goeun and Woo Sung-min- Goeun ended up being the female that three guys were vying for. She stayed mysterious to the very end drawing out the suspense endlessly in terms of who she would end up with. The panelists were all surprised when she chose Sung-min but I wasn't. She and her 2nd choice, I-geon, knew each other from a mutual acquaintance and I always wondered if she knew something about I-geon that we the audience didn't know and maybe it was a red flag(???). Who knows.
3. Kim Min-gee and Song Seung-il - these two were definitely the two funnest people on the island. They spoke very openly and honestly and said some things were just hilarious. They are the type of couple people enjoy hanging around because they're so funny together. My favorite of the season.
4. Lee Joo-Young and Kim Jae-Jin - they were the "artistic" couple. She a designer and he a dancer. They were really cute, romantic, and adorable to watch.
5. Park Hee-sun and Lim Su-been - a low-key couple that the producers tried to interject some drama into their relationship, but it just didn't work. They were cute and adorable but so very boring as well.
Others that didn't get picked - You can't talk about this season without talking about Jo I-geon. About as hot a guy as you can get. I saw him in the Kdrama The Trunk and he's smoking hot, hot, hot. He was brought on as a game-changer and he didn't disappoint. I'm sure he did this to get more exposure for his career and I hope he gets it. Also brought on as a game-changer was Lee Ha-eun. She got very little air time, but what I did see of her, she seemed really funny and a fun person to be around. Lastly, Ham Ye-Jin, Youn Hyun-Jae, and Shin Hyeon-woo who along with Ha-eun and I-geon were sitting there at the very end not getting picked. I enjoyed all of these contestants who came across as sincere and nice people. And it just goes to show that attraction is a weird and funny thing because sometimes the nicest people end up alone.

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Real and Raw

I'm currently finishing the Kdrama Bon Appétit, Your Majesty and began exploring the story of King Yeonsangun of Josean. This led me to the movie The Treacherous. As a foreigner embracing entertainment that is coming out of South Korea, I have realized much of it is the sanitized Kpop and Kdrama version of Korea. When I find a more realistic story, I find I'm drawn to it. Much like Bon Appétit, this movie is also a fictionalized version of the tyrant king. However, it did not try to cover the tyranny with the fiction. Every country has its shameful history and South Korea is no different. In modern times this king would have been diagnosed and treated for a mental illness where perhaps he would have lived a fairly decent and fulfilling life with medication. In ancient times, his illness was the terror and death of many thousands in his country. The portrayal of this has been superbly captured in the storyline, the acting, and the production of this film. It is a hard watch at times, but the actors portrayal of these characters caught in the grips of tyranny without much support or resources is powerful. It is raw, especially in the portrayal of the sexual appetite of the king. The film did not shy away from the realness of this. It is definitely different from the usual Kdramas I've seen and the unrealistic innocence portrayed, but it has also captured a sense of reality that others have not, and for that, I really liked it. I also appreciate the hard work it took for the actors to do some of these scenes. The madness, the sense of powerlessness, the portrayal of being forced to do something you wouldn't do is very real in the characters portrayed by the actors. I have much respect for those who worked on this film.

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A Love Story Based on a Drunken One-Night Stand

I debated on whether I wanted to write a review or not. I had a love/hate response to this drama. So I guess what I'll do is just list my likes and dislikes and you can be the judge as to whether to watch or not.

What I liked:
*The actors and the acting, especially the two main leads. There was chemistry between these two and that made their love story that much more precious.
*There was a little of everything in this story. It was cute and funny at the start, then the writer brought intrigue and mystery into it. The story flowed fairly well and it kept me tuned in every week when new episodes came out.
*The costumes and sets were nice. This kept the visuals of the drama top notch.
*The relationship between the two main leads was one of adults. Their romance was not awkward, and it wasn't full of unrealistic juvenile behavior, which I always appreciate when a writer does that.
*I liked that it wasn't the usual historical romance with rampant palace intrigue with the horrible queen mother plotting to take control. The mystery and intrigue was one I had not yet experienced in a drama. It was something slightly different and I would say that kept me tuned in every week.

What I disliked:
The main thing I did not like is how this great love between Seon Chaek and Yi Beon started as a drunken one-night-stand. Seon Chaek was introducing Josean young people to modern day cocktails and mixed drinks. She drank heavily....really heavily. This was really unrealistic as I think if anyone had drank as much as it showed, she would be dead from alcohol poisoning. Anyway, she drunkenly meets up with Yi Beon, and winds up in bed with him spending the night. It is his first time, and from this he falls madly in love with her. I don't like the impression that this great love can happen from a drunken night of sex. In life this almost never happens. I didn't like the possessiveness that Yi Beon's character displayed because of the one night stand. Rather than love, it seemed more like "you slept with me, now I own you." The portrayal of this just left me with a bad taste. His character softened though as the story progressed so that helped. But really it was because Seon Chaek perceived this possessiveness as love, and loved him back for it. Again, I really didn't like the toxicity of representing possessiveness as love.

The switching up part of the story was weak. I honestly did not understand that two different characters had switched places until the end of the story. I thought the modern Seon Chaek had hit her head and she was unconscious and dreaming the whole thing. Because of this I didn't understand the little boy character when he appeared, nor why they had these strange flashbacks to the modern time. The scene with the two of them together in the modern world, the clock ticking, and having to write the ending was really weird. Seo Hyun's character in the modern world was never developed, and I don't believe we found out why she didn't want to be in Josean anymore. All in all, this part of the storyline was very weak and strange.

Overall what really made this drama good was Seo Hyun and Taec Yeon. They did an outstanding acting job in their leads and it really kept the storyline strong in places where it was weak. Well done to both of them!

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