michelleoc

Suffers by comparison

This is my personal opinion. If you are wondering if you should watch Family by Choice, I would say yes, because I realize I'm in the minority here.

Yes, I watched Go Ahead first. No, I didn't love it. I felt it was entirely too long. However, Family by Choice, left out most of the episodes that had heart and, for me, wasn't able to recreate the bond of the found family.

What I liked:
-The acting was good.
-They didn't have both male leads fall in love with the FL.
-Ju Won's friend Dal. Loved her storyline with Hae Jun.
-Ju Won's dad.

Not so much:
-A lot of bad kisses. Not feeling the chemistry. Actually, I didn't believe the romance. It could have been left out.
-The actors looked exactly the same from high school to 10 years later.
-San Ha's dad. He was just there for the food and alcohol.
-I wasn't really able to feel the strong bond between the siblings, because we didn't have enough of what they went through as children to stand together against the rest of the world.
-Ju Won's dad was a lovely character for the most part; however, he seemed to love the boys more than her!
-an ode to terrible mothers. Every mother in this show was a nightmare.
-bad mother shout out - Hae Jun's mom. So, you leave and don't come back for 20 years. The reasoning was extremely weak, and she was being such a martyr. Then, moving close so she can see him from afar. Then, they have one conversation and all is forgiven.
-storyline for Ju Won's dad and Hae Jun's mom - came out of nowhere and ran at lightning speed.

My biggest complaint:
-San Ha's storyline. I had so many problems with it.
-First, both parents were gone when his sister died. Did Child Protective Services not get involved?
-San Ha saying he wants his mother to keep thinking his sister's death was his fault. Why?
-This storyline overshadowed every other. It was extremely toxic. The actress did an excellent job, I hated her so much.
-Why would he go and take care of her? It might have made sense if he was underage and had no choice, but he was an adult. Respect for an adult/parent is one thing, but to suffer abuse from your mom for over 10 years? Plus, he was in med school - even a bystander could see that she needed psychiatric help. She should have been committed.
-I completely lost respect for him when he went to see her and got on his knees at her bedroom door. What the heck!?!?!?
-This storyline, for me, seemed to overshadow all the others, which really drove my enjoyment down.

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The scenes in Korea saved it for me

The good:
when they were in Korea (meant more to me because I just returned from my first visit there).
The not good:
-The acting. With some of the actors, you could actually almost hear what was going on in their minds, "Now I walk to the door, stop, turn." Wooden or over the top acting by all.
-The makeup for the FL. The pink, pink cheeks and the pink lipstick. Learn to blend the makeup, people!
-The storyline. I've seen this story 100 times done better.
-Costuming. The women all dressed so skimpily and sleazily. Are shorts, midriffs and high heels a thing in the workplace? Not a good look for anyone.
-No chemistry between leads, partially because I felt like I was watching them "act".

My rating is only what it is because of the Korea shots, otherwise it would have been even lower.

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Exceptional Acting

For me, this drama had an unnecessarily convoluted plot, and it seemed like every episode I was thinking, "Ah, yet ANOTHER bad guy." That being said, if you haven't watched this show, you really should. I'll admit that this isn't my normal genre. I have watched other shows of this type, but never have I seen better acting or such a wonderful relationship as the two leads had.

Yoon Kye Sang as Myung Joon. He's a father desperate to save his daughter, and as such he will do anything. However, we see throughout the drama that he still has a moral compass and wants to do the right thing. I've seen him in a couple of other shows and enjoyed him, but here, in this part, he absolutely shone.

Yuna as Ro Hee. She is someone to watch, for sure. Her part was emotionally intense, difficult to play without showing too much emotion. She had been used in her short life, and when she comes across Myung Joon, she finally finds someone that cares for her. More often than not, she is the adult of the relationship, and that's fun to watch. Her emotional range is amazing. For the most part, she was required to be unemotional, but in the last episode the dam breaks and she falls apart. I fell apart with her. Watch her closely, she doesn't have the mannerisms of a child, but of an adult. When sitting on the couch, her hands are folded the way an adult in charge would be. She was exceptional.

I also appreciated the respect she commanded, that people listened to her even though she was "just a kid".

This drama was worth the time, and then some!

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A little too formulaic

Just my personal opinion, but I REALLY don't like watching needy people. The FL was so desperate it really irritated me. I also wasn't feeling their relationship on a romantic level. I appreciated that they became friends, but it felt like the ending was forced to make is a HEA ending. When I watch shows, I'm all about the ML and FL ending up together, being the ultra-romantic that I am, but maybe because it was movie, there wasn't enough time to show why they fell in love. It also would have been good to have more of a secondary story about someone's choice to remain single. This movie definitely touted -- single is bad.

That being said, I did enjoy it for what it was.

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Short on romance, but some very laugh out loud moments

Liked:
1) Lee Jung Eun as Im Sun made this show for me. I've always loved her as an actor, but wow, she totally shone in this role! Her comedic timing is brilliant and she's very good at physical comedy. She was strong when needed, and vulnerable when necessary. If I WERE to watch it again, I'd probably just watch the scenes with her in it.
2) The Im Sun/Ko Won relationship. I loved it. I appreciated that the writers showed a little bit of what is required of an idol, and I liked how he learned her secret early on. Their scenes were wonderful, and I liked how they showed him most with Im Sun rather than Mi Jin.
3) Choi Jin Hyuk. Always.
4) Mi Jin's best friend. I loved her supportiveness, and they had some emotional scenes together.
5) Mi Jin's parents. At times they were irritatingly over the top, but in the end, I enjoyed watching them. Lee Hak Chan as Mi Jin's father, this may sound strange, but I love his face.
6) The mystery and the red herrings. I was surprised by the culprit, and that doesn't often happen.
7) The OST, especially Jung Eun Ji's Stay. She has a hauntingly beautiful singing voice.

Not so much:
1) Jung Eun Ji as Lee Mi Jin. Her pursed lip talking got on my nerves. Was she trying to be cute? Pitiful?
2) The relationship between Mi Jin's best friend and the ML's office mate. He was WAY too old for her!
3) The lack of romance. Literally the last few minutes of the last episode. I'll include lack of chemistry between leads. I couldn't even root for them to get together; I just wanted the show to be over by that time.
4) The styling. ML - all I could focus on was his ridiculously pointy sideburns. 2FL - terrible haircut, possibly achieved by using hedge trimmers. Mi Jin's mom - her red lipstick was absolutely caked on.
5) The female prosecutor served no purpose.
6) WAY too many flashbacks! The show could have been shortened if they'd left most of them out.

So, all in all, I enjoyed it. It's a fun watch if you want some laughs, but just look for too much romance.

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Chae Jong Hyeop - seriously!

Story - it was a really interesting premise, but wasn't executed as well as it might have been. I loved the idea that he thought in Korean, so she had no idea what he was thinking. However, she's known and worked with Akito for years and never heard his thoughts? She said that she has to look in someone's eyes, but there were times when she was hearing their thoughts and not looking them in the eyes. I really loved her being able to "talk" to her dad - that was very touching. However, the writer of the book showing up in the last two episodes felt like it was just thrown together. The older scientist guy was seriously overacting, the second couple was a wasted of time, and Nikaido Fumi as Yuri often seemed outmatched by Chae Jong Hyeop.

Chae Jong Hyeop is absolutely the star of this show. Open, energy-filled (think puppy on the loose), and innocent, I loved his joie de vivre. Him going back and forth between Japanese and Korean was a feat in itself. He was open about his feelings, not afraid to put himself out there. His smile could seriously power a city.

Nakagawa Tuishi as Akito was very good as 2ML. I adored him in Today's Kira-Kun, and if you haven't seen it, you should.

Though there was something a little off about this show, it was short, low angst and Chae Jong Hyeop made me smile, a lot. Watch it, I think you'll enjoy it.

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Really fun watch!!

Loved:
1)Uhm Tae Goo as Ji Hwan. Tough on the outside, marshmallow on the inside. I loved watching his progression, not only in love, but in life in general. His little confused pout was so cute. He's got that deep, sexy voice going on, that goes along with his physical power to make him dangerous without lifting a finger.
2)Found family - Ji Hwan and his baby deer. Each of them played perfectly against the others. I cried a little a couple of times with these guys. I love how they took her in, took care of her and loved her.
3)Childhood friends. I know a lot of people hate this trope, but I love it!
4)ML and FL - I was disappointed in their lack of chemistry together, but they were so stinking cute!
5)The comedy. I'm not normally a big fan of slapstick comedy, but it's been a while since I have enjoyed a ROM-COM so much.
6)The OST. Didn't love the bubbly intro music, but the rest was beautiful.
7)Costuming for ML and the baby deer.
8) Im Chul Soo as the Meow Group boss - he was so amusingly over the top.
9)Eventual bromance between Ji Hwan and the prosecutor.
10) Hot scene between 2ML and 2FL.
11)Cute ending.

Didn't Love:
1)The content creator that wanted Ji Hwan.
2)The storyline of the second couple - ESPECIALLY the accidental pregnancy. It took away a lot of time that we could have been watching our main couple.
3)Not enough time for our main couple to be together.
4)The prosecutor took forever to grow on me. Finally, in the last couple of episodes, I was on board with him.
5)Kisses were poorly done.
6)What was with the pink satin suit on Ji Hwan!?! He looked gorgeous in everything else, but was he going to prom or something?
7)FL bangs and clothing. The bangs looked like something from the 70's and they dressed her in the worst, oversized, unattractive outfits.
8)Drunk kisses.

Hated:
1)Ji Hwan's father.
2)Episode 15. We moved from a rom-com into a violent drama in the blink of an eye. I felt like someone else had written that episode and it belonged in another drama. Unnecessarily bloody and violent. There were any number of ways that they could have brought some tension to our characters without changing the feel of the entire show. This is why I had to drop my rating.

However, I can heartily recommend this (if I had to do it over again, I'd just skip episode 15) rom-com, because it did the comedy so well. I also always like seeing so many actors that I've seen in other works.

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Personally, I found Season 1 so much better

And this is why. Multiple corrupt police and government officials got promoted following season 1 and continued their corrupt ways. We, as the audience, already knew they were corrupt. Then, they added more corrupt people. As I mentioned in my review for Season 1, the same people tend to play the same type of characters from drama to drama. You see an actor come up on screen and you already know he's corrupt. There is such a thing as overkill on the corruption story, and I think this season surpassed their quota.

There wasn't as much police procedure in this season, just a lot of time spent on the bad guys, showing how they are always a step ahead of the police.

ML was excellent. He'd lost weight since Season 1, but he still had that "worn out" look about him. I missed him having so much interaction with the two police that he worked with in season 1. He was more of a lone wolf in this season.

I loved Go Gyu Pil and Hyun Bong Sik in their roles again this season. They are always good for comic relief.

Perhaps, if I hadn't watched this right on the heels of Season 1, I might have enjoyed it more.

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Very suspenseful

This drama had more twists and turns than a corkscrew! I must say, corruption isn't my favorite thing to watch, but I watched an episode every day on the treadmill and didn't have to fast forward at all. I would not recommend binging it. You kind of have to let things marinate after you watch an episode. It was very dark, with pervasive tones of grays and blues, which was effective to the feel of the story. A note of warning, don't get too cocky and think that you know what is going on, and who the bad guys are, because you'll probably be wrong!

Acting: Lee Sung Min as Taek Rok - I've only seen him in a couple of guest roles, and he was fabulous in this. A tired, overweight, chain-smoking, disheveled, grizzled cop just trying to move to retirement without making waves. That quickly falls by the wayside when he gets blamed for the murder of a co-worker. Then the cat and mouse game begins. There was something sad yet endearing about his character. His loneliness was almost palpable.
Jin Goo as Jin Han - he was very good. I really liked the developing bromance between him and Taek Rok.
And, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Go Gyu Pil as the dormitory manager. I love him, and he brought some levity into all the seriousness.

Somewhat of a cliffhanger ending, since there is a season 2. I hope that we get a different case rather than a continuation of the case from season 1. I'm ready to move on.

My only minor quibbles:
1) Why do the same people always play the bad guys? There are a couple of the actors that when I see that they are in a drama, I know that they are corrupt.
2) Oh, so many names to keep straight! I finally just decided that as long as I knew what was going on with the main characters, that's all I needed.
3) The psychiatrist was under-utilized. That whole storyline didn't make much sense and was never completely fleshed out.

Do yourself a favor and watch this. And, if possible, watch it in a dark room, because some of the scenes are too dark to make out faces or what is going on.

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This one had me mumbling as I was watching it

Very unpopular opinion here, but it's just my opinion -

I love Ji Sung - he is such a talented and charismatic actor. I don't know why I kept putting this one off, but now I wish I had continued to keep it on the back burner.

There was a lot to like about the show:
1) Ji Sung
2) Second couple - they were just so cute
3) The entire pain management team was fun to watch. They had the ability to be serious, but there was a lot of levity from them as well.
4) I loved the fact that the hospital politics was low, and we got more focus on the doctors and the cases they handled.

Now the causes for my mumbling:
1) Lee Se Young as Kang Shi Young. I have liked her acting in other works, but she really bothered me here. This character cried in every episode. She was kind of a stalker toward Dr. John and followed him around a lot. For being a resident, she had an awful lot of free time! And the strange haircut...when they first showed her at the conference from the front, I thought she had a bob haircut and it looked really cute. Then she turned around, and it WAS a bob, just with a lot of long hair underneath it. It was so distracting! Add her wide-eyed staring at Dr. John all the time, I didn't like her at all.
2) The romance. It should have been left out. I love me some romance, but the leads had absolutely no chemistry with one another. I think that this is the first time I've watched supposed romantic scenes and been uncomfortable. They acted like they were acting, and I didn't believe that they liked each other at all.
3) Do medical shows have medical advisors? If so, the advisor for Dr. John must have been on vacation when they were filming.
A woman has had her arm amputated and feels pain - she knew nothing about phantom limb pain?!?! They warn amputees about this. She thinks that he has a fever, and she checks his forehead with her hand. She checks his pulse with her thumbs.
Multiple instances of patients writhing in pain with no medical staff close to them and the side rails are down. She's worried that he's gotten this dreaded disease a few hours after contact when she's already told us the incubation period was 10 days.
They stated that the actress had not signed a DNR form, and then were yelling when he was performing CPR. And can we talk about how fake the CPR looked. Get the disease names right - it's lymphedema, not lymphadenia (maybe a translation error, I'll give a little slack on that.) There is no way they would have hired him back at the same hospital after being in prison. Him not being able to feel pain, there is no way he would have been walking around outside barefooted, at night especially.
4) The last few episodes. He leaves for three years without contact. She CONTINUES to try to reach him (have a little pride, woman!). Come to find out, he's been back for a year and following her around, then he shows up in her face and she just forgives him (she's crying of course).

I had high hopes for this, but the writing took a definite turn in the wrong direction somewhere along the line.

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All I can say is watch it!

This one took me by surprise, I admit. When I think badminton, I remember back to playing in school - basically trying to just get the birdie over the net. There was so much strength and power watching the badminton tournaments, and watching all they did while practicing. But badminton takes a back seat to the friendships and the community. I laughed and I cried, a lot.

The young ML character of Yoon Hae Kang starts playing badminton after moving to the country. He was a middle school baseball star, so starting badminton (with his dad as the coach) didn't start out well. He started out with a big chip on his shoulder, and I wondered how long I'd have to put up with that behavior. He kept his cockiness throughout, but watching him develop actual deep, meaningful friendships was such a lovely thing to watch.

Friendships, first love, separating from your parent's help, bullying, corruption. This drama has it all.

The acting was so good all the way around. I loved the friendships between the boys, but I also loved the villagers. You know, the typical quirky characters, but each person had their own story that blended in so well with the others. The sad young couple that come to live in the village for mysterious reasons - I loved their story development and how they integrated into the community. I also loved the old lady that made a playroom, and the kids would go there, because she had Wi-Fi. How the kids were absorbed in their own lives, but also cared about the elders in the village.

I do have to say that at the beginning I hated the dad/coach. He just seemed so stupid to me. But the more I watched, the more memories it brought back of me and my own parents - how they tried to be cool and fit into my world, but all it did was cause embarrassment. I think you'll feel this more, the further you watch.

I loved watching the friendships between the boys develop, especially since Yoon Hae Kang was an outsider and didn't want to be there. As he let the other boys into his life, then it progressed to the boys letting others in as well. I just can't say enough about the friendships.

I loved the BTS music and references. The actors breaking the fourth wall and looking at the camera was funny throughout, but never more funny than when the coach said he thought the boys were cooler than BTS. The boys got really nervous and said he should never say things like that, because it could be really bad (protective Army reference!), and the dad looks straight into the camera, apologizes, and runs away.

I held off watching this for the longest time, thinking it was just a sports drama. It turned out to be so much more to me.

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Didn't like the FL at all!

It's short and doesn't take too much time involvement, but while I was watching it, I kept wondering how soon before it was going to be over. Overall, my complaints were with the writing.

1) My biggest gripe is the way the FL is written. Desperate, clingy, immature - I got the feeling that she was more afraid of being alone than anything else. To try to hang onto someone that doesn't want to be with you is so sad.
2) Cha Hun's acting was really bad. His face remained emotionless, his movements were wooden, and watching him try to act was just uncomfortable.
3) FL and her best friend - he's stuck with her through NUMEROUS relationship disasters. Their relationship was cute to watch, but her having that many ex-boyfriends would give me pause before getting involved with her. She's kind of a "love the one you're with girl." Basically, I had a hard time believing in a romantic relationship between them.

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Hot, except when it wasn't

I thought Mysterious Love was much better than this one. The script/story were so ridiculous, I spent an inordinate amount of time writing down things I couldn't believe about it. Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but the characters kept doing such stupid things it was irritating. I could feel brain cells dying...

ACTING:
Tsao Yu Ning as Jin Yan - let's be honest, he doesn't have to do much more than stand, stare, and look hunky, which he has down to an art form. He's basically the same character from Mysterious Love.
Yilia Yu as XiXi/An Yue - I thought she did a good job differentiating between the two characters.

CHEMISTRY: Hot, but it seemed like they were together less than they were in Mysterious Love. These two are seriously good together, they chemistry is definitely chemistry-ing!

For me, I was there for the main couple and was disappointed in the relatively small amount of time they spent together. First, there was the convoluted storyline involving a lot of people. THEN we had the second couple which was just WRONG! They got entirely too much screen time and I didn't care about them at all. In fact, there was a triangle, and, in my opinion, she ended up with the wrong guy!

I won't try to steer anyone clear of this drama but be prepared for a festival of eye rolling.

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