My Love Eun Dong

사랑하는 은동아 (Beloved Eun-dong) is a South Korean drama series that aired from May 29th to July 18th 2015 on jTBC. The drama consists of 16 episodes.

Story: After "The Beginning" this drama shows how actor Ji Eun-ho/ Park Hyun-soo meets his first love Ji Eun-dong again. However, Eun-dong lost her memory and therefore doesn't remember what happened before an accident. There are only hints that her memory is still hidden somewhere and just waits to come out. There are only some problems: Jo Seo-ryeong liking Ji Eun-ho doesn't make things easier since she tries to keep them from meeting. And Eun-dong's husband isn't happy about Eun-ho looking for her either..

Cast: The main cast in this drama consists of Joo Jin-mo as Ji Eun-ho and Kim Sa-rang as Ji Eun-dong/ Seo Jung-eun. While I liked their acting after all, I have a feeling they did lack some kind of chemistry from time to time. I don't really know how to put this in words so I'll just leave it like this and stay with "they lacked something but delivered a solid performance at the end of the day". My personal respect for Kim Tae-hoon as an actor is growing anyways. As Choi Jae-ho I felt sorry for him at first anyways but his character was one I honestly started to hate later on - something was fishy.
While I think she's really pretty, I just start to think Kim Yoo-ri can't do anything but stick to annoying female side characters just like Jo Seo-ryeong. I started to skip her scenes not because of poor acting but because I wasn't able to deal with her character at all.
Of course there are many more actors but it feels like things only deal with those few characters. Watching the last few episodes I don't even remember any deep dialogues but characters just seemed to disappear.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack was okay. The songs were beautifully used in the certain situation but it's not like I really fell in love with those songs and will listen to it over and over again.


After all this drama received a rather poor rating with 4.5/10 from me because I was SO close to dropping it after Ep. 11. It's a romance drama. There's literally nothing else about it even though there are some funny moments and the story turns out too obvious too soon.
To me it felt like they just showed everything they had within 10 episodes and suddenly noticed they had to fill more episodes so they had to slow things down and come up with some basic things. Sitting through the last episodes was a torture for me but some people might enjoy it. If you like an emotional, sometimes even melodramatical romance drama, this might be perfect for you. If you're looking for more comedy this one might turn out boring. Oh, and if you're a fan of Baek Sung-hyun or Jr. - just watch "The Beginning", you'll be fine with that.

Hidden Identity

신분을 숨겨라 (Hidden Identity) is a South Korean drama series consisting of 16 episodes that aired on tvN from June 16th to August 4th 2015.

Story: The story follows Investigation Team Five, a special team that is said to be nonexistent even in police records. Since it is a secret unit that doesn't always obey the law in order to get what they need, they tend to be criticized for their methods. But only Investigation Team Five led by Jang Moo-won can deal with one of the most dangerous criminal organizations led by the Ghost. It is just natural that the members of the team get themselves into huge trouble as well as personal affairs while working.

Cast: Cha Gun-woo played by Kim Bum is a rather complicated character. I really liked the acting all the time, especially when the past became relevant to him again. While I'd say the acting was great (and I might be biased, I won't even deny it), some of his fight scenes were just funny. Someone who has been through military training and manages to deal with.. a group of people at one time can't even deal with one person later on? To me it seems like someone didn't think about this.
Park Sung-woong as team leader Jang Moo-won was a pretty cold character most of the time. The type of team leaser we often get presented, taking responsibility for everything but not getting too involved. The acting was good, including most of the action scenes but sometimes there was something missing about the character itself. I totally blame the writing for this though.
Jang Min-joo is one of the characters I don't really understand. She has a sense of loyalty and sometimes that seems to be the only reason why she accepts things the way they are. However, Yoon So-yi delivered a solid performance in the end. Yes, sometimes she seemed to accepting though she was opposed to the idea of Gun-woo joining the team (you will understand that later, not in the first episodes) but it's not that bad and her acting therefore wasn't too bad either.
Lee Won-jong as Choi Tae-pyung is someone who already has some experience acting in a crime series. His acting was good, his character a little weird but loyal and there's actually nothing I can complain about.
Kim Tae-hoon is in this series as Min Tae-in and while I wasn't sure about his character in the very beginning I came to like him and was hoping for something more. His character is probably the one suffering the most and I just felt sorry for him. His acting was good regarding the fact that he wasn't around all the time.
Lim Hyun-sung as Jin Deok-hoo was simply lovable, I was happy to see him around. The acting wasn't anything special but worked well with the story and the team.
Other actors in this series include Lee Kyung-young as Choi Dae-han, Choi Jung-woo as President Lee (I simply forgot the rest of his name), Kang Sung asYoo Jin-woo and Heo Jae-ho as Jung Sang-joon.

Soundtrack: I personally came to like the OST even though I wasn't impressed at first. The songs go well with the atmosphere of this drama and I especially liked Chul Gu's "신세계 (New World)" and Mad Soul Child's "It's Over". After all it's not one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard but pretty good.



My rating for this series is a 8/10 after all. There are some things I really enjoyed, a lot of things I just accepted and things I didn't like at all. So what is it I criticize the most?
1. The logic. Mostly it's about the fights. Usually the agents are quite good but all of a sudden they lose each and every single fight? Once again, if someone has been through military training the person usually is good at fighting but still loses against some gangsters? And, if you lose against someone while fighting three times, does it make sense to even fight one more time instead of simply using your gun? Because as far as I've seen they do have guns. The fact that it's a serious drama makes the logical flaws worse.
2. The story itself. This drama was said to be about undercover cops. And that's misleading in fact because only one of them has been undercover. The others usually just take roles for a few hours, maybe a few days, but I wouldn't define that as an undercover thing.
Some things were obvious, others were only added to make the story longer than it actually would have been. Was it really necessary to make Jang Min-joo's father a part of the story? The family background didn't help the whole story.

Those are the things that bothered me the most. I also noticed that it started off pretty fast and exciting, lost it's pace somewhere around Ep.9/10 and started to change again in Ep. 15. Episodes 13/14 were the weakest point in my opinion since the suspense is destroyed when one figures out who's involved with the Ghost.
What else can I say? Regarding the whole "undercover" description I've had high expectations and thought it would be somehow similar to Line Walker but it wasn't.
Do I recommend this? If you don't expect much you won't be disappointed and I openly admit that this drama has a rewatch value solely because of the music, the cast and some interesting things within this series itself.

An Ethics Lesson

분노의 윤리학 (An Ethics Lesson; also known as Ethics of Anger) is a South Korean movie released on February 21st 2013 with a duration of 110 minutes.

Story: Jin-ah is a popular girl desperately in need for money. That's how she got in touch with loan shark Park Myung-rok. Her neighbor Kim Jung-hoon is a police officer who's spying on her in her apartment. Her former boyfriend Han Hyun-soo who still loves her visits her apartment frequently and hears her with her lover, married Professor Kim Su-taek, one night. After fighting with her Hyun-soo kills Jin-ah and Professor Kim gets arrested. Jung-hoon, who recorded the murder, is contacted by Hyun-soo. Myung-rok meets Jung-hoon when he's trying to remove the camera and the microphones in the middle of the night. This is how the men get involved with each other, except for Professor Kim who doesn't know what's happening to him.

Cast: Lee Je-hoon as Kim Jung-hoon delivers what he's supposed to do though it does not become clear why exactly he has been spying on Jin-ah. There are signs that he had a crush on his beautiful neighbor but then again the viewer doesn't get to know this for sure. After all his acting is quite satisfying.
Kim Tae-hoon as Han Hyun-soo seems to be a good actor as well but, and this is only my opinion so don't hate me for that, he seems to be a little too old for such a passionate and at the same time sometimes just.. stupid character. Usually one would expect someone younger when it comes to really impulsive and passionate characters but then again his acting fits his character after all so that's not much of a problem at the end of the day.
Jo Jin-woong as Park Myung-rok made me crack up, for a loan shark he's quite funny but also has his options to make things go his way - or to at least try that. As a loan shark and a gangster I really had difficulties to take him seriously.
Then there's Kwak Do-won as Professor Kim Su-taek. While him cheating on his wife is definitely something about morals it doesn't make him a charming character. As for the acting, I loved the way he developed while being interrogated over days or weeks.
Lastly I need to mention his wife, Sun-hwa, played by Moon So-ri. She doesn't have many scenes so there's no development and her character appearing in the end makes it seem incredibly random like -  "oh, we could add a little bit of a wife seeking for revenge as well!" but her behavior in that one scene is interesting. It doesn't seem like it's her first time dealing with.. uhm.. sudden circumstances.




Now my personal rating? As you might have noticed I found the movie at least enjoyable but it still only gets 6/10 from me because it seriously missed the point. A movie that's supposed to be a crime and maybe even melodrama movie isn't supposed to be as hilarious as this movie is, it just seems like a whole parody of another gangster movie. If its aim was to make the audience crack up the rating would have been better but since it is supposed to be a rather serious movie (as far as I've read) it turned out quite bad.
That being said, I like the way the scenes were used. For example in two scenes, when Hyun-soo calls Jung-hoon we see what Hyun-soo is doing first and hear Jung-hoon through the phone, in the next scene it's the opposite, we see Jung-hoon. It's actually pretty nice but can turn out kind of repetitive it it's used too often.


If you're looking for a good laugh you definitely should try this movie but if you're looking for a serious gangster movie, this one is not for you.

Bad Guys

나쁜 녀석들 (Bad Guys) is a Korean drama series that aired from October 4th to December 13th 2014 on OCN.

Story: The title 'Bad Guys' basically describes the team perfectly. Commissioner Nam Goo-hyun asks former detective Oh Gu-tak to help solving a serial murder case. Oh Gu-tak chooses gangster Park Woong-cheol, professional killer Jeong Tae-su and psychopath and serial killer Lee Jeong-mun as the 'bad guys' who are the best for this job.

With Park Woong-cheol's strength , Jeong Tae-su's skill and Lee Jeong-mun's intellect. Mix those together right and there won't be a criminal under the sun they can't catch.

Getting out of prison whenever they have a case, the team members decide to do something useful with their abilities - and figure out the truth behind a serial murder case.
Detective Yoo Mi-yeong is there connection to the police and helps to solve the cases though she's an ambitious person willing to do a lot to get promoted.

Cast: At first we have Kim Sang-joong as Oh Gu-tak, the 'Mad Dog'. Just the way he was planning everything through the first two episodes made me feel uneasy about the character, I could never guess what he was up to. But then again, as an actor, Kim Sang-joong deserves all my respect for playing this role that well.
As Park Woong-cheol we see Ma Dong-seok. Yes, the character isn't the smartest person on earth.. definitely not, but strong and therefore a good addition to the team. About Ma Dong-seok - I don't remember him playing any other main roles before and this one was really good as well. It somehow suits him, and I can't really explain why.
Jo Dong-hyuk accepted the role of Jeong Tae-su. Except for him being hot and classy as a contract killer (I can't help it, I just loved the serious businessman-look he was wearing all the time.. and I'm still a young woman after all), I think his characters' history was one of the most interesting I've ever seen. And there was one scene (I seriously cannot spoiler too much about this) when I was really crying because of his loss.
As genius psychopath Lee Jeong-mun we see someone who might be the reason for many girls to watch this: Park Hae-jin. Now, after watching this, I'm definitely impressed with his skills. From a second male lead desperately in love in You Who Came From The Stars his character in this drama is a psychopath who was one of the youngest serial killers ever. There's a huge difference and I love the fact he's not sticking to one of the character types but actually tries something new - and definitely succeeds.
Others in the cast include Kang Ye-won as Yoo Mi-yeong (I came to dislike her character from time to time..), Kang Shin-il as Nam Goo-hyun and Kim Tae-hoon as Oh Jae-won (and I hate making good guesses about something fishy sometimes).

Soundtrack: One thing OCN is incredibly good at are sound effects. Sometimes the music and the sounds they used were just creeping me out. God, I hate you for doing that, OCN, I hate you all so much. But then again, when it comes to a series like this, it's necessary. Cute or cheerful songs or heartwrenching ballads wouldn't support the rather dark atmosphere.

As an overall rating? Ha ha, funny, you can make a guess. It's OCN Original and I have nothing really negative to say about this series.
10/10.
The only thing I wasn't happy about were the melodramatic happenings during the last episodes. But then again, this is also a charming point of this series - the way the characters change.

I'm still laughing about the person who had the idea to censor knifes, but not guns, in a drama that's rated 19+. Like, come on.. we all know there's a knife and we all know someone gets stabbed. So why do you have to censor the knife when this is a series for adults..? Tsk. I don't get it. It's somewhat cute.

Did I miss out on anything? Well, this series deals with the dark sides of human souls in the end. If you have a weak heart, this series probably wouldn't be a good recommendation. Otherwise, go ahead and give it a shot because it has a different charm with being impressive especially when it comes to plot and character development.

And did someone mention a possible Season 2?! Yes, please! Just.. OCN, please don't make me wait four years or something..