Age of Youth K-Drama Review

Age of Youth is so near and dear to my heart right now, but it's such a unique drama that I've had a hard time figuring out what to say about it. It's realistic, unpredictable, heartfelt and one of the best female-centric dramas I've seen in a while.

Overview

Age of Youth follows five very different young women—responsible workaholic Yoon Jin Myung (Han Ye Ri), confident seductress Kang Yi Na (Ryu Hwa Young), cutesy girl Jung Ye Eun (Han Seung Yeon), shy freshman Yoo Eun Jae (Park Hye Soo), and outgoing life of the party Song Ji Won (Park Eun Bin). As the five women share a house, they grow together and share their heartbreaks and triumphs.

Review

Lovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelove. 

I almost missed this show because it aired without much fanfare and initial reports complained of a slow premiere, but fortunately Outside Seoul's rave reviews convinced me to pick it up, and I was immediately hooked.

This show is something special. At first glance, it's about all of the stereotypical people you meet at college, but then you peel back the layers to find that each and every character has more going on than meets the eye. I love characters who feel real, and when I watched these women, I felt like I was watching a (slightly more dramatic) version of my best friends and college roommates. (For the record, I was the Eun Jae of our group—insanely shy and awkward and needing more outgoing roommates to teach me how to not be a weirdo and go on dates. Coco was definitely our Ye Eun, but don't tell her I said that....)

Because I went into this series with so little info about it, I was more than halfway through before I discovered that it came from the same writer as White Christmas, but once I knew that, everything made so much sense. The series definitely isn't afraid to be grim, and the latter half turned much darker than I anticipated. Like White Christmas, the series pushes boundaries and assumptions about its characters, and yet somehow it doesn't erase the soft, sweet feeling of the first few episodes. I felt like the darker elements were handled well, and the narrative had enough cute or funny moments interwoven throughout the heavier parts to maintain a realistic sense of balance.

If I have one complaint, it's that this is the one series I wish could have been longer. There were little threads throughout the series that I wanted to follow in more depth, but I got the sense that 12 episodes just didn't give the writer enough time to follow up on all of them.

SPOILERVILLE: Ending discussion

Instead of going into too much depth about the show as a whole, I thought it would be easier to give thoughts on each character's story.

Jin Myung: Where did I even get this many tears to cry over this character? Is there a year-end award for making my heart hurt most? Because Jin Myung would win it in a heartbeat. Oh wait, maybe she did win, and her prize was Supportive Dreamboat Chef, my personal pick of the available male leads (yeah, big surprise that he beat out Vengeful Ahjussi and Aggressive Douchebag Extraordinaire). Can we have a sequel just about her and Supportive Dreamboat Chef visiting each other and smiling shyly in the rain? 

Fill the sequel with cute umbrella product placement, and the show pays for itself!

P.S. Thank you for not killing yourself/your brother. I would not have recovered.

Yi Na: The whole thing with stalker Vengeful Ahjussi resolved itself a little too cleanly for my tastes. (Also, what happened to that time he tried to run her over with a Truck of Doom? Did he miss? Does he have night blindness?) Otherwise, though, I was pleased with the way her character grew over the course of the series. I quite enjoyed Ryu Hwa Young in this role, though this is the third time in a row I've seen her as the resident sexpot, and I think this show proves she has a wider range to offer.

Ye Eun: I know her arc with Aggressive Douchebag Extraordinaire took a turn for the dramatic at the end, and from what I hear, some viewers weren't pleased at her ending. Do all abusive relationships escalate that quickly? Maybe not, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen, and I thought it was thoughtful to end the storyline without the obvious change of heart/romantic reconciliation that would have happened in a lesser show.

I'll also say that I thought Ye Eun's final scene was necessary in order to make the whole thing work. Trauma doesn't go away in one episode, and moving on would have made it feel like a throwaway plot gimmick. As much as I would have liked to see Ye Eun's happy ending, that last moment was much more realistic.

Eun Jae: Awwwwwwwwww. 

This couple just made me smile. It was a pretty accurate depiction of an adorable, goofy, and immature first love, and I couldn't help but root for their sweet little romance. Okay, so I wasn't crazy about all of the "your body belongs to me" comments, but Jong Yeol was always incredibly mindful of Eun Jae with his actions, recognizing her inexperience and respecting her comfort zone. I loved how he gave her a peck, and then waited until she turned to him before going in for a full kiss. 

Ji Won: For the glue holding the group together, she probably had the least satisfying storyline. We see her interacting with everyone, but I wanted a little more background into who she is and what makes her tick, even if it wasn't as dramatic as everyone else's story. I wish she had been given her own episode a little earlier so that we could spend a little more time inside her head.

Conclusions

Watch Age of Youth. Watch it right now—but not if you're not going to appreciate it because then I'll be offended and mad. I feel really possessive of shows I love, okay?

Whenever the writer wants to reunite these ladies for season 2, I'm all in!

Where to watch Age of Youth:

DramaFever

Age of Youth K-Drama Review

And We're Back! Marriage Contract Korean Drama Review

Sooooooo I don't know if you noticed, but we disappeared for a while.

(This is where you nod empathetically like "Oh yes, I totally noticed that this random K-drama blog that only blogged intermittently anyway started blogging even more intermittently." Just humor me, okay?)


In a nutshell, my life exploded (in the best possible way), and then Coco's life also exploded.

Between suddenly switching jobs, adding 3 hours/day to my commute, spending my free time spackling stuff and washing baseboards so that I can sell my house and NOT spend 3 hours/day commuting, and trying not to panic about where we're going to live when our house actually does sell, something had to go—and that something was blogging. And showering. But mostly blogging.

To be honest, I kind of took a breather from all dramas for a while. There weren't many shows that I was dying to watch over the last few months, and I had been living and breathing dramas for so long that when everything else in my life suddenly went into flux, I kind of needed a palate cleanser in my entertainment as well. I made halfhearted attempts to start a few shows, but nothing really captured my attention.

(For the record, Entertainer was the worst. I want those two hours of my life back! Do you know how much grout I could have scrubbed in that time? SO MUCH GROUT! ...Aaaaaand this is how you know you've officially gone crazy. You count your hours in Grout Standard Time.)

The point of this very long exposition is this: I did manage to finish one show in the last three months, and that show is Marriage Contract.  Here's why:

The Good

What it's about: Marriage Contract is about young single mother Kang Hye Soo (UEE), who finds out she has terminal brain cancer and agrees to marry rich heir Han Ji Hoon (Lee Seo Jin) and give him her liver in exchange for boatloads of cash.

For the record, this plot is the kind of thing I generally avoid like the plague. It sounded like the most ridiculous K-drama melo clichefest of all time, and the plot didn't really have any massive surprises that deviated from that expectation.

Just look at this poster.
 It screams "We're rich and soon to be sad," my two least favorite K-drama cliches.
Image source

So how, of all things, did this end up being the only drama I watched to the end? The answer rests on the cast, but primarily UEE.

Lee Seo Jin is incredibly charming, and he had many moments where I just wanted to pat him on the head and squish his dimpled cheeks, but this was UEE's show, and there aren't enough words to state how much she blew me away in this role.

I always thought UEE was good for an idol actress, but no. In this role, she was phenomenal as an actress. Period. Her portrayal of Kang Hye Soo was vulnerable, strong, and completely heartbreaking all at once. Above all else, Kang Hye Soo felt like an actual human, not some plucky-but-downtrodden K-drama heroine-bot.

I'm not crying—YOU'RE crying!
....Fine, I'm bawling my eyes out.

As I said above, Lee Seo Jin wasn't exactly a slouch either. Before the drama aired, there was a lot of discussion about whether or not these two could pull of believable chemistry in spite of their 17-year age gap. It's something that initially concerned me about the casting, but once the show began, it didn't even cross my mind.

Aside from the central couple, I also really, really, really loved Eun Sung, Kang Hye Soo's daughter. Most television shows and movies, both Korean and Western, tend to include oddly precocious children. It's like no one knows how actual kids act, so they just write adult characters, shove them into tiny child bodies, and pretend it's cute.

What I love about Eun Sung as a character is that she acts like a 7-year-old girl. I read some initial complaints about how people thought Eun Sung was "bratty" or "annoying," but I have to wonder if those people ever spent any time around actual 7-year-old girls. Even if you believe your kid is the most well-behaved angel on the planet, I'm sorry to tell you that ALL kids throw tantrums sometimes. Then take into consideration that Eun Sung only really acts out in response to stressful life situations, and you can't really blame her.

Dear TV writers: This is what a child looks like.
You might be confused because she isn't spouting off words from the dictionary or talking about fossil fuels.

I love how genuinely playful Eun Sung is, and I also love how both Hye Soo and Ji Hoon embrace her childhood. They talk at her level without being patronizing and encourage her to be a kid, playing along with her games. They don't let her run wild, but they also respect who she is as a person, even if it's only a 7-year-old person.

The Quibbles

First of all, episodes 1–4 were an honest snoozefest. I'm glad I continued, but if the beginning doesn't compel you, keep going.

Second, most of the side characters, even our second leads, were pretty unnecessary. We got some emotion from Ji Hoon's mom and I loved Hye Soo's supportive bestie, but for the most part, all of  the secondary stories felt empty. Does anyone really feel like they were super invested in what happened to Hye Soo's childhood admirer or Ji Hoon's harp-playing ex? (You can say yes, but you'll be lying.) What about all the rest of Ji Hoon's family and their cartoonish villainous antics? So boring. I can abide villains, but I have to draw the line at boring villains.

The last quibble—and this is a big one—is that episodes 10-13 tanked Ji Hoon's character and nearly made me stop watching the entire drama. When a woman says "You're making me uncomfortable. Please stop contacting me, or I'll call the police," it is UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES OKAY to keep following her. When a drama takes a woman clearly expressing her discomfort and then frames it to say that she's just hiding her true feelings and true love means never giving up, no matter how many times she says no, that's the very definition of rape culture. I don't care if she kissed you one time and now you've gotten it into your head that she secretly loves you. If she says no, that means leave her alone, and any drama that says otherwise deserves a swift kick in the family jewels. 

AHSDIFHSOIDHFOIWHEGUHBRGSDJFBSLJ SO ANGRY!

I'm really angry about episodes 10-13 Ji Hoon, but it all felt so out of place that I'm just going to assume the writer went on a cocaine bender for a week and snapped out of it after while.

But What about the Ending? (Spoiler-free)

I don't want to ruin it, but I will say that this genre of drama usually ends in one of two ways: either they milk the tears and make it feel emotionally manipulative, or they end with a magical reversal of fate that feels unrealistic and cheap.

Heading into the finale, I had no idea which way Marriage Contract would go. Somehow, it managed to strike a balance between the two, giving viewers an ending that was satisfying without being overly saccharine.

Conclusions

The plot may not be fresh, and it's certainly not without its flaws, but incredibly compelling acting and a warmhearted story elevate Marriage Contract above most dramas of its genre.

Where to watch Marriage Contract

DramaFever

Viki

  

And We're Back! Marriage Contract Korean Drama Review

New Drama Alert: Answer Me 1988/ Reply 1988

There's a new installation in the nostalgia-filled Answer Me series on the block! In spite of my hesitations about yet another trip back in time to guess the husband, it's shaping up to be a comfortable little drama that stands on its own merits.

What it's about: The year is 1988, and five childhood friends from the same neighborhood learn to navigate all the emotional ups and downs of transitioning from childhood to adulthood, including first loves, family strife, and undying friendship.

Number of episodes watched: 4


Thoughts so far: Having watched both Answer Me 1997 (which Coco reviewed) and Answer Me 1994 (which I reviewed), I honestly wasn't sure if the third time around could maintain the charm of the first two. I also wasn't totally sold on the idea of Hyeri carrying a show, which made me hesitant to even start it at all. With 20 episodes that are each at least 90 minutes long, it's a big commitment!

As it turns out, I shouldn't have been worried about Hyeri. If there's one thing the Answer Me series consistently does right, it's choosing the cast. While I can't always say that they choose the best actors or actresses to fill the roles, they always, without fail, choose the right ones. Hyeri makes Deok Sun come alive, and it's impressive that the director saw that potential and insisted on casting her in the face of criticism.

In terms of the plot, I'm also pleasantly surprised. While I really loved a lot of things about Answer Me 1994, the long episode length and the determined focus on the husband question did the series a disservice. When I found out that the writer/director team went back on their word about not having a husband guessing game this time around, I was somewhat annoyed, but at this point in the show, I'm okay with the direction the series is headed.

Even if the flashback framework places a huge emphasis on guessing the husband, that element was never really what drove either previous series for me. What keeps me watching series after series is the cozy, relatable feeling they give. Answer Me 1994 spoke to me because my own love story was so similar to the one in the drama. Similarly, Answer Me 1997 reminded me of all the fangirl wars my friends had over N'Sync vs. Backstreet Boys in the '90s. The central friendships and the throwback nostalgia suck me in every single time, regardless of who the husband is.

So far, Answer Me 1988 is, if anything, even more relatable than the other two were, at least for me. I love that this time around, we're seeing stories from the entire neighborhood, so there's a character who speaks to everyone. From the first few minutes of the first episode when all of the kids were running back and forth with their various side dishes, I realized that this series was on to something special. It's a full community packed with characters who live and breathe, and within minutes, I was already laughing and crying with all of them.

Is there a love triangle (or square or pentagon) on the way? Yes, obviously. But the inevitable shipping wars don't bother me right now because there are so many other threads to enjoy. Hopefully the series can focus on those human stories instead of narrowly focusing in on the one thread of Deok Sun's husband.

As long as I continue to feel like I'm part of the neighborhood, this drama will be a success in my book. What about you?

Ok, ok, but I'l admit finding the husband is a little bit fun too.

Where to watch:
DramaFever

New Drama Alert: Answer Me 1988/ Reply 1988

Cheer Up/ Sassy Go Go Korean Drama Review

Image via

When Cheer Up! (aka Sassy Go Go) began, I was already prepared to give my heart to it, as long as it was the sweet, lighthearted school series it promised to be.

Well, it wasn't exactly what I expected from the trailers, but what I can say is that this series was an incredibly pleasant surprise, and it completely won over my heart even more than I anticipated.

Just how much do I love it? Enough to overcome my recent blogging laziness to gush over it the same day it ended. Now that's true love.


What it's about: Kang Yeon Doo (Jung Eun Ji) is the leader of her school's dance team, a ragtag group of outcasts who rank at the bottom of the academic barrel. Kim Yeol (Lee Won Geun) is the number one student at school, and he leads the "cheerleading club," which is really a study group for the top 5%, both academically and financially. The two eventually find themselves forced to mesh their two teams into one. Can they make it work?

Why I'm so in love

Well-written high school dramas manage to capture that feeling of being 16 or 17. That's what Cheer Up! did for me. It's been a long time since I was in high school, and my high school was pretty much nothing like Sevit High (thank heavens!), but as I watched, the characters transported me back to my own experiences in a sweetly nostalgic way.

The most obvious example is the handling of the romance. I will admit that it took me a few episodes to get a handle on Yeol's character because the idea that a K-drama character would actually flirt instead of being a rude and coldhearted was so incredibly foreign to me.

Gah this face! I can't.

But that's exactly how teenagers fall in love in real life. This drama showcased one of the most natural and comfortable K-drama romances I've seen in a long time. In dramas of all genres, I often find myself wondering how these people went from accidentally falling onto each other's lips to being willing to die for each other. I also wonder if they'll actually enjoy being around each other once they no longer have to defend their love.

Cheer Up was completely different. Sure, the leads accidentally fell onto each other a couple of times, but overall, their relationship progressed the way real relationships do. They became friends, flirted, and gradually developed feelings for each other. There was no pretending to hate each other. There was no noble idiocy. When they liked each other, they said it. When they wanted to hold hands, they did. And when they thought about each other, they burst into the giddiest eye smiles I've ever seen.

You just snuggle away, you two little lovebirds!

I saw some commentary from people saying they didn't know how much Yeon Doo liked Yeol because she hadn't expressed her feelings out loud, but I actually appreciated that their feelings were so obvious through the little details that we didn't need the screenwriter to tell us how they felt in the overt ways they do in other dramas.

 Instead of having Yeon Doo clutching her chest and asking the camera "Why is my heart beating so fast? Do I like him?" we saw her feelings in other ways. When I saw her grinning from ear to ear on the phone with Yeol, I didn't need to hear her feelings out loud because it was spelled all over her face.

This is what swooning at 16 looks like, folks.

I guess that's what made the drama fun for me — not only did the characters act in line with their personalities, but they also acted true to their age. Whenever they did something that I remember doing, it created the kind of connection that I don't generally feel with your typical chaebol/Candy stories.

 I don't know what it feels like to end up in a fake marriage while running away from loan sharks (shocking, I know), but I do remember when the boy I liked put a Valentine's note in my locker and I walked around the rest of the day with a dopey smile on my face. I'm a little suspicious that a Post-It company was sponsoring the whole show, but I don't even care because asking Yeon Doo to the movies with a sticky note was exactly what Yeol would do.

The romance was so cute that there was at least one squee-dorable scene in every episode, but there were a lot of other things going for this series, as well. The show was populated with a full cast of characters, all of whom had their own stories. Ultimately, it's a series just as much about friendship as it is about love, and it didn't disappoint on the friendship front.

Nearly every episode spotlighted a different set of characters, helping us see their joys and struggle. I admit that it might have been overly ambitious to tackle so many serious character arcs in a 12-episode series, but they still managed to make me care about an awful lot of people for so few episodes. It's impressive that I was so invested in Teacher Yang when he only really took center stage for one episode. But they managed it somehow, and I might have shed a tear or two over the empathetic educator. Or three. 

If there was ever a series that could have filled 16 episodes, this was it. Still, considering how many balls the show tried to juggle in such a short time, it was pretty smart with the pacing. I certainly never felt bored, and I found myself wishing that more shows would try the shorter format to cut all of the filler scenes that I didn't really miss.

Of course, there's also a downside to fewer episodes. For a straightforward romance (like Ex-Girlfriend's Club, for example), it's easy to wrap everything up in a shorter time. Cheer Up tried to do so much that they definitely had to rush some of the resolutions a bit. For how much time Soo Ah spent being a villain, her turnaround was pretty fast, and I almost wish they had left Dong Jae out of the series entirely since they barely skimmed the surface of his character.

I know that Soo Ah's handling upset a lot of people, but even though I thought it was resolved really fast, I don't mind how it all fell out in the end. Yes, Soo Ah was terrible, but she was never an outright villain. Instead, she always seemed to be lashing out in desperation. Does that excuse her actions? No. But I think there's a difference between being forgiving and justifying bad behavior, and I always felt like the show recognized when Soo Ah crossed the line, even when her friends graciously extended the hand of friendship. 

In the end, I felt like the series took Teacher Yang's approach to Soo Ah: He told her straight out that having a hard time didn't make her behavior okay, and yet he was always there to offer a helping hand when she wanted to turn around.

In spite of some quick fixes and underdeveloped characters, I was genuinely surprised that the series managed to give us so much resolution at the end, even if it was a bit rushed. With every passing episode, I grew increasingly convinced that the finale would be a hodgepodge, unsatisfying, open-ended mess, and yet I finished the show feeling pleased overall. I would rather have a series that moves fast and quickly checks off a bunch of boxes in the last episode than one that drags on episode after episode and still doesn't manage to wrap up its story.

Even baby Ji Soo turned out okay! But next time can he not rip out my heart so much? Okay? Okay.

Conclusions

Driven by winning performances from Eunji and Lee Won Geun, Cheer Up is a surprisingly well written, heartfelt series that captures both the enthusiasm and the heartache of youth. If the fluffy teasers didn't seem up your alley, it's still worth giving a try — it very well may surprise you.

Where to watch:

DramaFever

Viki

Cheer Up/ Sassy Go Go Korean Drama Review

Ex-Girlfriend Club Korean Drama Review

Ex-Girlfriend Club simultaneously makes me excited and furious to review. Excited because, in spite of going up against some major drama heavyweights, it ended up as my favorite summer series so far. Furious because apparently no one in Korea felt the same way, so dismal ratings cut the series short.

Overview

Bang Myeong Soo (Byun Yo Han) is a webtoon writer who writes a series about all of his ex-girlfriends. The series gets picked up for a film adaptation by Kim Soo Jin (Song Ji Hyo) and the production company where she works. Of course, Kim Soo Jin happens to be one of Myeong Soo's exes. The three ex-girlfriends who appear in the webtoon (played by Lee Yoon Ji, Jang Ji Eun, and Hwa Young) also show up to make things difficult.

Review

It's hard to talk about this series without first mentioning its cancellation. It was initially scheduled for 16 episodes, but it was cut down to 12 midway because of abysmally low ratings in Korea, even by cable standards. 

When I hear that a series has been cut short (especially a series that was only 16 episodes to begin with), it automatically sends up red flags as a viewer. I assume that the entire series is such a hot mess that it needs to be put out of its misery. (Nail Shop Paris immediately comes to mind, though I don't even know if that show was supposed to have more episodes in the first place, and I'm too lazy to Google it.) I also figure that the cancellation probably means that the ending will be a hodgepodge of people scrambling around trying to end things as quickly as possible.

Before I say anything else about this series, let's just make this clear: As far as quality goes, Ex-Girlfriend Club didn't deserve to be cancelled. This was a decision based in money and ratings, pure and simple.

Frankly, this was a refreshing gem of a series, and even though it wasn't the flashiest show out there, I really enjoyed it for what it was. For once, we didn't have a plot that involved rude chaebols or amnesia or any of the other crazy plot devices that are so common to K-dramas. Also, unlike most other dramas where exes reunite, neither one of the leads was a terrible jerk.

Instead, this was a quiet, surprisingly funny series about two relatively normal, relatively nice people who just didn't work out the first time around. Maybe that's too boring for the average viewer, but I found it immensely refreshing. I loved how the series peeled back the layers of their relationship over time to help us learn why it failed. Every time we think we have the whole story, we get another little piece that changes our perspective on the relationship. 

I particularly appreciated how they held back Myeong Soo's side of the story for a while and let us follow along with Soo Jin's assumptions. That's how real relationships often work: we see the faults in others, but we're blind to the hurtful things we do.

I get that dramas thrive on—well—drama, but I really liked the relationship between Myeong Soo and Soo Jin. Byun Yo Han was the perfect choice as the nice-to-a-fault everyman Myeong Soo. He's charming in kind of a goofy way without having the perfect chiseled looks of most K-drama leading men, and it really worked for this role. He and Song Ji Hyo also did an excellent job portraying not only their romantic chemistry, but also their friendship. The way they playfully interacted with each other made me believe that they had been the best of friends for years.

Now, I loooooooooove Song Ji Hyo and want to be her best friend, but I did have a few complaints about Soo Jin as a character. She was great at the beginning of the series or in scenes where she and Myeong Soo interacted alone, but I felt like Soo Jin kind of disappeared in group scenes after a while. I don't know if it was poor writing not giving Song Ji Hyo enough to do or Ji Hyo just defaulting to a blank face every time she didn't have lines, but I found myself confused about Soo Jin's personality for the second half of the series, especially when her only real reactions involved suddenly being cutesy with Myeong Soo.

Just because Soo Jin turned into a bit of a blank slate doesn't mean that there was nothing going on, though. The real draw of this series was the rest of the ex-girlfriend club. Some of the scenes where the entire gang interacted were laugh-out-loud funny, and the progression of their relationship with each other was definitely a highlight in the series.

A special shout-out goes to Lee Yoon Ji, who seriously just needs to start being the female lead in every single show ever already because she's amazing and perfect and I can never get enough of her. Too bad she's having a baby and won't be in anything for a while....I mean, YAY for her! (But sad for viewers.)

If there's anything the shortened series really made me miss, it was more backstory with the three exes. We got hints about them at the beginning of the series, but I felt like we never fully got past the surface because there was so much initial emphasis on the central romance and then they ran out of time.

So how did the shortened length affect the series? In the overall story arc, I don't think it was terrible. There were a couple of episodes right after the cancellation announcement that seemed directionless and devoid of energy, but I'm happy to report that it picked up again at the end, and the series as a whole remained intact. 

Basically, tvN lucked out because if any show could handle being cut, it was this one. The plot wasn't exactly high concept, so it's not like they had to tie up a bunch of loose ends before the conclusion. Frankly, I was a little worried after episode 8 that they wouldn't have a way to fill the remaining episodes without heading to Crazytown, and when I watched the finale, I felt just as satisfied as I do with most drama finales, if not more.

But all of that is beside the principle of the matter, which is that just because tvN could cut episodes without ruining the series doesn't mean they should. I'm a firm believer that series extensions or shortenings should be a function of making the best drama possible, but sadly, that's never the case. Just because I wasn't sure how the writers could fill 8 more episodes doesn't mean that they didn't have a plan. They should have been given the chance to execute their original vision, especially since much, much worse shows get to finish their runs untouched.

This is how I imagine tvN execs making their decisions. Except they have villain mustaches. And monocles. 

Canceling the show sends the message that the whole thing was a failure, and I can't help but feel for everyone involved in the production who put together something decently good, only to get the axe because Korean viewers didn't give them a shot. When I saw how deflated the writing, direction, and acting was in those few episodes after the announcement, I can't help but assume that the news hit them hard. 

What makes matters even worse is that tvN didn't even cancel the series in order to push up their next offering (Oh My Ghostess, which admittedly looks Ah-MAZE-ing). Instead, they made the announcement without having a concrete backup plan, essentially sending the message that they would rather air nothing at all than let the series finish its natural course. If that's not a completely undeserved slap in the face, I don't know what is.

Conclusions

If you heard the news about the cancellation and decided to skip this show, I would recommend you reconsider. I, for one, really enjoyed it. It's a perfect light, fluffy watch for anyone who's tired of the endless amnesia, wrist grabs, and wicked stepmothers in dramaland and wants to see some nice, but flawed, people falling in love for a change.

P.S. This drama was also incredibly smart with its music choices. I dare you to watch and see if that "Rose of Sharon" song isn't stuck in your head for days. My personal favorite had to be this little tune, which was used as the perfect romantic tension builder and immediately made me run to Youtube to find it. You know I can't resist an angsty keyboard.

Where to watch Ex-Girlfriend Club:

Viki

Ex-Girlfriend Club Korean Drama Review

A Breath of Fresh K-drama Air: Angry Mom Korean Drama Review

Via

I thought the premise of Angry Mom sounded terrible, and I didn't want to watch it. By the end of its run, I was obsessively counting down the days until each new episode came out.

The end.

What, that doesn't count as a review? Okay, let's get into it, then.

As I said before the show even started, I had some big qualms about how the premise could be executed in a way that wouldn't leave me rolling my eyes for half of the episodes. I mean, who in their right mind would believe that a 37-year-old actress could pass as a high school student? Not me!

I'm happy to admit that I completely underestimated Kim Hee Sun.

Without Kim Hee Sun, this show wouldn't work. Period. She not only managed to look much younger than her age through styling (though admittedly still not like a teenager), but she also carried herself like a teenager, taking on the swagger of her alter ego Bang Wool in a way that was both hilarious and convincing.

Of course, the humor of watching Kang Ja/Bang Wool take over the school isn't enough to carry an entire series. More than the fact that she made the show's premise possible, the series worked because she was its heart. Kang Ja felt like a real person, and a complex one at that—she was at once furious, fragile, temperamental, loving, jaded, hopeful, rash, and loyal. As someone who is often frustrated with one- or two- dimensional K-drama leads, I found Kim Hee Sun's Kang Ja to be a breath of fresh air.

It's possible that Kang Ja could have made the show bearable on her own, but fortunately, she was also surrounded by a full cast of well-rounded characters. The vast majority of the characters started with very realistic flaws (not just the all-too-common flaw of "I'm rich and evil and love to murder people!"), and they grew throughout the series. Even some of the characters who initially appeared to be stock characters surprised me with their development. Watching everyone in the core cast of characters learn and change together made the series immensely satisfying to watch.

Naturally, if we're talking about characters who won our hearts and made us care, we've got to give a shout-out to this guy:

I know I'm not the only one who developed an itsy bitsy Bok Dong obsession over the course of the show and may or may not have spent some time Googling actor Ji Soo just to find out what else he's been in (nothing, basically) and just how creepy a noona crush would be (For the record, he's 23, so not that bad)....

But in all seriousness, this was a breakout role for Ji Soo, and with good reason. Sure, he's a good looking guy, but that's not really what made me take notice—if looks were the only thing that mattered, they could have dropped any chocolate-abbed idol into the role and called it good. As the troubled kid with a side of puppy love, Ji Soo had a powerful screen presence. Even at the beginning of the series when his part wasn't all that big, I often found myself drawn to his character, even if I was just watching him react in the background.

It's kind of the same way I felt watching Ji Chang Wook in Healer. Honestly, Ji Chang Wook is not the "hottest" Korean actor I've ever seen, but something about him draws me in and makes me keep watching. The same goes for Ji Soo. As much as I may joke about having a noona crush, the kid's got some serious on-screen charisma that worked in tandem with an immensely likable character to create some K-drama magic, and I'm excited to see where he goes from here.

I heard some complaints about the writers adding in fan service scenes once Ji Soo's popularity skyrocketed. To be honest, I didn't see it as a detriment to the series. From a narrative perspective, it actually made sense to develop the character of Bok Dong, who was intricately connected to the major players in the drama. If they included random scenes of him shower brooding, that would be one thing, but making us care about his character arc? There are worse forms of fan service.

(Side note: If you loved Bok Dong as much as I did, dewaanifordrama over at Samsoon Down the Rabbit Hole kindly put together some translations of interviews with Ji Soo. Go ahead and feed that Ji Soo obsession!)

Of course, with a cast as massive as this one, there were bound to be a few cardboard cutout characters. I know they were trying to depict the scope of the corruption, but with so many bad guys, about half of them were regular ole villains with nothing really interesting going for them. There are only so many hours in a day to spend on baddie back stories, ya know?

Aside from the characters, the writing itself really shone in this drama. The premise came from a screenwriting competition, so I wasn't surprised to see some originality in the pilot episode, but I was delighted at how well the writing held up throughout the series without falling into too many typical K-drama cliches.

One example jumps out in particular. Everything I know about K-drama writing led me to believe that there was no way Ji Hyun Woo could be the lead male without the entire series revolving around an angsty romance between him and Kim Hee Sun's character. Then, after meeting the lazy husband in episode 1, I figured it was only a matter of time before he had an affair or did something else terrible to clear the path for True Love. I mean, that's K-drama 101, right?

He's as surprised as you are.

Maybe it says something about the state of K-drama writing that I was so surprised (and pleased) when the writers chose not to go down the obvious romance route. Wait, what? You mean to tell me that a man and a woman can work together and have a friendship without wanting to jump each others' bones? 

Shocking, I know. 

The lack of a romance allowed the writers to turn the series into a moving story of the love between mothers and daughters rather than love between men and women (though I did take some issue with the moms=good/dads=bad dichotomy that was pervasive through the vast majority of the series). It also gave Kang Ja's husband a chance at his own character development instead of shoehorning him into a villainous role out of necessity.

The lack of a Kang Ja/No Ah love story was a good move, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the series was impervious to the siren song of love. Honestly, one of the weakest plot points for me was the Baro/Kim Yoo Jung loveline. It almost felt like they got distracted by Ji Soo and then were like "Oh crap! We only have four more episodes, and Baro's been on the payroll this whole time! Quick, quick! Make the kiddos fall in love!"

Overall, though, the series was a really well-executed blend of serious subject matter injected with just enough humor to keep viewers from feeling bogged down. It was a smart series, and a series with a lot of heart.

Spoilerville! Read on at your own risk!

For those of you who actually watched the series, let's talk about episode 14 a little. I'm generally wary of big tragedies as tear-jerking plot points, but I actually thought this was (mostly) done really well. For the entire series, the characters (and the viewers, by extension) had been told over and over and over again just how dangerous the school annex was. Not only were the characters dismissive of the threat, but as a viewer, I also didn't take it that seriously. I just figured it would be used as evidence that the bad guys were corrupt, and then everyone would move along their merry way. Then when the catastrophe hit, I figured some anonymous students would die and it would be sad, but it would help them catch the bad guys. When they killed characters we knew and loved (like the glasses kid), I was completely blindsided. I don't know if they did that on purpose or what, but for me, it was like they pulled the rug out and said "SEE? We've been saying this was serious, and even you, the viewer, didn't take us seriously! This is exactly the problem!" The way the episode was set up in close proximity to the anniversary of the Sewol ferry tragedy especially made it feel like more than just a cheap emotional ploy and more like a serious reflection on society.

I'm on the fence about Jin Sang's death, though. The second he stayed in that school, I knew he was a goner. As I already said, I appreciated that the deadbeat husband got his own redemption arc. Unlike some of the people I saw commenting throughout the series, I never hated him. He wasn't as courageous as Kang Ja, but he made little comments throughout the series that made it clear—to me, at least—that he loved Ah Ran as his own and that some of what we saw as weakness was his own attempt to protect his family. That's why I was so happy to see him and Kang Ja moving towards understanding each other better before his death.

In the context of a redemption narrative, I can see why having the coward die to save his daughter makes for a satisfying ending, but it all felt a little too neat and tidy to me. He gets turned into a martyr, we all cry with Kang Ja for a scene, and then everybody's back to catching the bad guys again. I liked that they closed with Kang Ja's wistful tribute of "and the fathers" in the final scene, but the immediate effects of losing a spouse (and, in Ah Ran's case, a father) were handled in a way that made it feel too much like a plot convenience to make us cry. Am I the only one?

So what did you think of Angry Mom? Were you as taken with it as I was? Did you get caught up in the Ji soo hype? If Kim Hee Sun walked into a high school claiming to be a student, would you believe her? Let's discuss it all!

Where to watch Angry Mom:

Viki

A Breath of Fresh K-drama Air: Angry Mom Korean Drama Review

My Newest K-drama Love: Healer Korean Drama Review

Sometimes I feel like becoming a K-drama reviewer has made me a jaded K-drama viewer. I have seen and critiqued so many shows that most dramas don't get past a "that was decently fun" or "meh, not the best I've seen." I sometimes wish I could capture that magical feeling when I first discovered dramas and everything was SO AWESOME, even if it had glaring plot holes or triple amnesia.

Well, I haven't built any time machines recently (YET!), but thanks to Healer, I was able to recapture that feeling of really, really loving a drama for the first time in way too long. I loved this show. 

There's a lot of hype over Healer, which definitely added to my personal enjoyment of the series. I don't always catch the biggest shows right at the height of their popularity, but this time, my personal fangirling happened to coincide with everyone else's fangirling, which only made me more excited.

No, seriously. I got waaaaaaay too excited. Like texting all of my non-K-drama-watching friends and family and telling them to watch Healer excited. I. can't. stop. gushing. over. this. show. 

So if you want an even-keeled review, I might not be able to help this time...

I guess mass obsession is great for the people caught up in the moment, but it does tend to put a damper on the viewing experience for people who come to the drama a bit later. It's easy to think "Wait, that's it? What was all the fuss about?"

So here's my disclaimer about Healer: It's an action romance. Nothing more. Nothing less. It isn't going to shatter your worldview or leave you thinking for months after the last episode. It's just an action romance.

Do you disapprove of people leaping off of buildings? Then this isn't the show for you.

But still. As an action romance, it's practically perfect in every way.

Healer knows exactly what kind of show it is, but it doesn't let a "fluff" genre like action romance get in the way of doing a good job. The writers, actors, and directors took a decently engaging plot and executed it with care, transforming it into an incredibly engaging viewer experience.

When I say that almost every element worked, I really mean it. The pacing was excellent, spacing out less-exciting scenes to avoid that dreaded "episode 15 slump." There was a nice balance of laugh-out-loud humor, heart-thumping romance, and nail-biting action throughout the series. The soundtrack was catchy and memorable. Perhaps best of all, no one caught amnesia!

Above all else, Healer had a well-rounded cast. Instead of focusing on the main leads with maybe one or two fun side characters surrounded by one-dimensional filler characters, the world of Healer was stuffed to the brim with people you couldn't help but love and care about. There really weren't any weak links. I can't even pinpoint who my favorite character is. It's clearly Min Ja—until Young Shin's dad makes me cry. Or mini Healer pops up to save the day. I mean, my favorite part of the entire show wasn't even a romantic moment—it was that stunning training sequence between Teacher and Healer in the abandoned building.

But seriously, Min Ja is obviously my real favorite.

Even the main villain was more nuanced than usual, and I caught myself feeling sorry for him from time to time. Aside from the Big Bad Elder and his sniveling sidekick, everyone had a story and some depth.

Okay, so I know I already just said "above all else" to explain the importance of the cast, but I'm going to "above all else" that "above all else" with this most most important factor in my Healer obsession:

Ji.

Chang.

Wook.

Wow. Just WOW. Look, if you want to see some handsome eye candy, you can head to pretty much any show out there, but if you want to see some actual acting, look no further. By virtue of their scripts, the vast majority of K-drama actors (including, I'm afraid, some favorite veterans) simply swing back and forth between stoic disdain and full-on shouting with very little in the middle. Ok, so some sob-crying usually makes the cut.

But Ji Chang Wook is one of those rare K-drama finds who doesn't over-act or under-act. Instead, everything he does feels incredibly natural, like I'm watching a real person living through these experiences, as out-of-the-ordinary as those experiences may be. 

As Healer/Jung Hoo/Bong Soo, he was able to convey more emotion with the slightest little twitch of a facial muscle than many actors and actresses do with a massive screaming fit. Not only that, but he acted with his entire body instead of just his face. Perhaps that's his theater background at work. Whatever it was, it worked, and now I'm completely mesmerized by him and may have to watch Bachelor's Vegetable Store to see more (words I never thought I would utter in a million years).

Of course, we can't talk about him without his leading lady. I haven't really had strong feelings either way about Park Min Young in the past, but I felt that she suited this role well, and the Jung Hoo/Young Shin couple was my favorite kind of OTP—one where I could see why they wanted to be together, and I believed the relationship development wholeheartedly.

Do I really need two screenshots to prove my point? Probably not, but are you gonna complain about it?

While we're at it, we should also mention the third member of our trio, Kim Moon Ho. Yoo Ji Tae could have disappeared next to our OTP pretty easily, but he held his own really well, keeping me absolutely invested in his side of the story.

Ok, so here's the part of the review where I talk about things I didn't like:

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.

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Uh, I guess I didn't like it when Young Shin did obviously dangerous things like getting into the villain's car? I also didn't really like that "Eternal Love" song because it sounded like it came straight out of the 90s, but not in a good way.

Other than that, I really can't think of anything. I mean, the logical part of my brain knows there were probably problems with the show, but they don't come to mind at the moment, and I would really rather just bask in the glow of my enjoyment a little while longer. Don't rain on my Healer-obsessed parade, okay?

So thank you, Healer, for reminding me how thoroughly enjoyable a K-drama can be. My feelings for you are genuine.

Where to watch Healer:

DramaFever

Viki (2-week delay for North America)

My Newest K-drama Love: Healer Korean Drama Review

Drama Dilemmas

I'm winding down on a handful of dramas over the course of the next week or so, and I'm facing some major drama indecision. I know for sure that I want to watch You Are All Surrounded, but I like to have a backup drama going between episodes. I just can't decide, though!

So, friends of the internet, I'm turning to you for help. In order to narrow the options, I'm following that old wedding rhyme "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue." If it works for a lifelong commitment, it should work for a 20-episode commitment, right?


Something old: Winter Sonata

Aren't they cold standing in a snowstorm without coats? NO. Because love. 

Pros: I'm slightly ashamed that I haven't ever seen this one. It's such a classic that I feel obligated to get around to it at some point just to enrich my drama understanding.

Cons: From what I hear, there is some serious melodrama going on here. Not my favorite, but I can let it slide for a drama staple.

Something new: Secret Love Affair

Boom chicka wow wow.

Pros: Ever since Sungkyunkwan Scandal, I have been dying to watch more Yoo Ah In dramas. Fashion King and Jang Ok Jung didn't quite make the cut, but this one has rave reviews from people I trust. It sounds like a drama with brains.

Cons: If I'm being totally honest, I have a really hard time watching adultery. I get frustrated that so many movies and shows represent the cuckolded spouse as a terrible person, thereby making the choice as uncomplicated as possible. (Something Borrowed, I'm looking at you. You steal your best friend's fiancee, but we're supposed to think it's fine because A. you best friend is a monster and B. you are Ginnifer Goodwin? Nice try.) For a subject that has the potential to cause such deep, lasting emotional pain, it feels like a cop-out.

Something borrowed: My Love from Another Star

He may be an alien, but that's no excuse not to wear the trendiest haircut in Korea.

Pros: I'm "borrowing" this suggestion from everyone who already watched this show. I feel left out that I'm the only one who didn't watch it, so maybe I should just jump on the bandwagon.

Cons: Kim Soo Hyun's face. There, I said it. I mean, it's a handsome face and all, but he never seems very expressive. What if I watch one episode and hate him, but then I'm stuck watching the whole thing?

Something blue: Heartless City/Cruel City (Blue because of the whole police theme, not because it makes me sad--I hope)

You can tell it's gritty based on the monochrome poster.

Pros: I don't know why I haven't watched more K-drama thrillers. I mean, I love movie thrillers. I'm currently mid-binge watch of the Infernal Affairs trilogy, so undercover cop stuff is right up my alley.

Cons: I'm already watching a cop show as my simulcast, so maybe it'll be overkill?

Well, what'll it be? Convince me in the comments! Or just vote. Because that's what I'm actually going to follow.

Which show should Vivi watch next?
	Winter Sonata
	Secret Love Affair
	My Love from Another Star
	Heartless City
pollcode.com free polls

Drama Dilemmas