Drama Reviews No. 11

Voice – This was sick. The screenwriter must be a very disturbed person to come up with such a horror. But I have to praise the make up artists and the special effect team, without their work the show would of be a joke. Jang Hyuk was overacting in the first episodes. Then his madness came in handy. This show is not for the faint hearted. Watching it I was like paralyzed, I didn’t like it, but I couldn’t stop. Like when I saw on TV a documentary on plastic surgery. They showed how the doctors lifted the skin from someone’s face to remove a tumor and to correct the nose bone. It was horrible but I couldn’t press the remote to switch channels.

Lookout – This was an intense drama. I always liked Lee Si-Young, it’s not a strech for her to be a badass, but who surprised me was Kim Young-Kwang, he gave a layered and a good performance. In my mind he was just a model from Runway Cop, I didn’t credited him as a good actor. He proved me wrong. The incompetence of the police and the corruption was annoying, as always. And I have to mention Park Solomon as Yoon Shi-Wan. He was beyond creepy. He surpassed Kim Jae Wook’s character in Voice. The ending pissed me off: why didn’t die or was punished that little monster? WHY???

Deserving of the Name – This was another time travel drama, and still came up with some new things: the instrument (the needles) and the way (dying) fit well the story, they had a meaning and a purpose. The show had a heart, everyone was improving, they became better persons. The comedy and the drama was well balanced. Kim Nam-Gil and Kim A-Joong were fun to watch, they had great chemistry, I even would say, that they were enjoying the filming and working together. The whole cast was good, they are all pros, so no complaining of the acting.

My Sassy Girl – I approched it with caution. It turned out that I enjoyed it more than I thought. If you don’t expect a true saeguk, and you are willing to overlook some overacting, than you can have fun watching it. Everything was solved quickly and easily, wasn’t much angst in it. The colours were bright, the cinematography was beautiful and the characters were over the top. Well, it’s a comedy. The title is misleading, has nothing to do with the film with the same title. Joo Won has good comedic chops but he’s still bad at romancing. Or he just didn’t have chemistry with Oh Yeon-Seo.

Master’s Sun – At first, the ghosts freaked me out (this was the reason I didn’t watch this show ’till now), but towards the end they became less scary. The show was mildly entertaining. The machmaker, Mrs. Goh was really creapy, so were Kong Shil’s wanderings in the cemetery at night.

Because This Is My First Life – I started it for Lee Min-Ki and Jung So-Min, who I thought were a perfect couple on screen, but I ended up watching it for the cat (she’s beautiful! :) ) and to see how many words I recognize, how many expressions and sentences I understand in Korean. Lee Min Ki was so wooden and emotionless like a doll, when he kissed Yoon Ji Ho, it was so out of the blue for me, that I thought, I dozed and I missed some scenes. It looked like Jung So Min was the only one from the cast who could emote normally, but she couldn’t manage to create any chemistry with Lee Min Ki despite her efforts. Esom and Park Byung-Eun’s characters were a nice pair, they were witty and funny in a good way. This show was meant to be a rom-com, but it had little real romance and little comedy. It had lots of plot holes instead. It was a disappointment. I laughed at the cat related product placements.

About Time – At the beginning resembles of Master’s Sun. Choi Michaela (Lee Sung-Kyung) needs Lee Do Ha (Lee Sang-Yoon), he’s a shelter to her because he stops her time, then he’s stabbed in an attempt to save her. I barely managed to watch through the first two episodes. But from the third episode I got emotionally involved. The PPLs weren’t inserted in a very subtle way in the story. When Bae Soo-Bong (Im Se-Mi) said looking at a face cream that her skin is better and better even though she’s under great stress, and it’s the cream’s merit, I laughed out loud. The ending disappointed me. I know that the show was supposed to be a fantasy romance, but the story had melo vibes, so I expected a darker ending. Watching the last episode was like seeing a parallel universe. And two key characters (Beth and Do Ha’s father) had personality transplant at the end. On the bright side Lee Sang Yoon and Lee Sung Kyun made a cute couple as actors and beyond.