Athena: Goddess of War

아테나: 전쟁의 여신 (Athena: Goddess of War) is a South Korean drama series that aired on SBS from December 13th 2010 to February 21st 2011. The 20 episodes have an average duration of 1 hour and 2 minutes. The series is a spin off of the IRIS series that aired it's first season on 2009.

Story: While planning the reunification of the two Koreas, South Korea is developing a new technology referred to as TWR - a high speed nuclear reactor technology other countries and organisations are also interested in. To prevent terror the NTS (National Anti-Terror Service) is created by the South Korean government.
Lee Jung-woo transfers to the NTS. One day, he's ordered to go to Italy with Kim Ki-soo, a North Korean defector, to track down terrorists. At first they don't know the exact target but soon Jung-woo and Ki-soo figure out that Soo-young, the daughter of the current South Korean president who came to Italy to study architecture, is the target. When she is kidnapped, the South Korean government sends more NTS agents to negotiate but the American DIS, more specifically the East Asian branch, also gets involved in the case. In the aftermath NTS and DIS have to work together which is against the actual rules of the NTS.
Other mysteries occur and it becomes more and more likely that a huge conspiration is behind all of those incidents that involve Jung-woo and other NTS agents as well as Yoon Hye-in who joined the team not too long ago.
Summarizing this whole story is literally impossible. It has various layers from top to bottom regarding the NTS and the government, a love story (of course, what else) about forbidden love, later on a hint of one-sided love.. You have a lot of things in this drama. I personally didn't feel like it was strongly connected to IRIS (since the second season of IRIS wasn't around when Athena was aired I'm going to neglect that part) and you don't need to know IRIS to understand what is happening which is a huge plus (it has been almost 4 years since I watched the first and second season in a row and it's natural I don't remember everything). I personally think that the story is also less complicated because - compared to the parent story - I felt like Athena had a clear goal even though that might have been different from Son Hyuk's.
I quite enjoyed the story line, it was well written in my opinion. I would watch it again for sure.

Cast: Jung Woo-sung as Lee Jung-woo. As an actor, I can't really criticize him. As a character, he certainly did have his strong his points but was a creepy stalker sometime in the beginning and got me literally annoyed. But then again; writing. Jung Woo-sung is still a good actor for sure and this drama suited him well.
Cha Seung-won as Son Hyuk. I honestly love a good villain in its own way and and Cha Seung-won makes an awesome villain! It is a little bit too obvious that he's not the good guy. I really liked his acting though, I totally enjoyed watching him in this drama.
Soo Ae as Yoon Hye-in. The character is badass and I somehow really liked her. As for the acting, I felt like her facial expression was nearly the same so often that I don't really know what to think about Soo Ae as an actress. However, she still pulled off the emotional parts quite well, and the action scenes didn't show her face that much so I would say her acting was okay overall in this drama.
Lee Ji-ah as Han Jae-hee. Another badass female in this drama and I adored her character in some way. As an agent of NTS she for sure has to know how to fight and she does well in this role. As for the acting I really liked Lee Ji-ah as an actress in this drama. I kinda could imagine her to be a real person working for a government agency so she was probably one of my personal favorites in this drama as well.
Kim Min-jong as Kim Ki-soo. Ki-soo is one of the characters I didn't quite like at first but grew on me as the story proceeded and he got to proof why he had such a huge part in the drama. I would say the believable acting was a huge part of what made me like him not only because of sympathy but he was a strong character while Kim Min-jong is a good actor in this series.
Choi Si-won as Kim Joon-ho. Before anyone claims I'm biased - no, I'm not. I'm not a fan of Super Junior nor do I like Siwon. However, I think he was really good in this drama and totally deserves respect for his acting. While some of the scenes made him seem a little bit childish and insecure in my honest opinion this might have been intended (you know the reason when you watch this drama). So thumbs up!
Yoo Dong-geun as Kwon Yong-kwan. The director of the NTS actually shows his full strength at the end of this drama, and so does the actor. He definitely deserved his spot - the actor as well as the character - and I personally think the acting was well done as well. I don't really know what I should say about this but I tried.
This drama also includes two characters of the IRIS seasons: Kim So-yeon makes a cameo in the last few episodes (and I personally think it was more or less pointless to bring the character into this series as it was not really connected to the main plot of Athena) and Kim Seung-woo as Park Cheol-yong, one of the characters that still left a deep impression on me after IRIS and now after Athena as well.
Also, a bunch of idols makes cameos in this drama; Shim Chang-min of TVXQ is in the last episodes, BoA appears in one episode, Onew and Taemin of SHINee are there and Hoon of U-KISS. I wouldn't recommend watching it because of the cameos though as some of them are really short!
Other actors (in bigger roles than cameos) include Lee Jung-kil, Kim Young-ae, Lee Han-wi and Oh Yoon-ah.

Soundtrack: I usually love the soundtracks of actions series and this is not really an exception. The instrumentals fit the atmosphere so well that I really loved the soundtrack a lot. And let's not forget about the OST that includes lots of famous (and great) singers. My personal favorite is most likely 박효신 (Park Hyo-shin), a singer I love to death for his voice, and his song "널 사랑한다 (You Who I Love/I Love You)". The second song I really liked a lot would probably be TVXQ/DBSK's "아테나 (Athena)" for the awesome feeling that it has to it. I know that many people also loved Tae-yeon's song for this OST, "사랑해요 (I Love You)". So to summarize: This OST consists of great names with even greater voices.


8/10
I quite enjoyed this drama, maybe I liked it even more than the first season of IRIS but I know I shouldn't compare the dramas. Still, Athena is a spin-off that could totally stand on its own feet. IRIS tells some background story that was not necessarily necessary and the only clear connection is the government - and Kim So-yeon's cameo that still seemed a little bit forced to me as it didn't belong to the main story. I personally think that the idea of love connecting enemies is way more interesting than a love triangle between agents of the same agency and this drama balanced action, political and romance well enough for me to seriously like it and not skip any scenes.
Recommended to fans of action dramas that include romance and can handle a bit of creepy stalker behavior. Also, if you liked IRIS I think this is a must-watch.

Kill Me, Heal Me

Yay for my 75th K-Drama!

킬미, 힐미 (Kill Me, Heal Me) is a South Korean drama series consisting of 20 episodes with a duration of one hour each that aired on MBC from January 7th to March 12th 2015.

Story: Cha Do-hyun suffered through a horrible incident in his childhood. He happened to lose all of his memories from when he was seven and eight years old due to the trauma - and created different personalities; Shin Se-gi, Perry Park, Ahn Yo-sub, Ahn Yo-na and Nana, all of them very different in nature. He went to America when he was 17 years old but was suddenly forced to come back after 11 years abroad.
Soon he meets Oh Ri-jin, a young psychiatrist. To not endanger his former psychiatrist, Do-hyun hires Ri-jin as his personal doctor who has to stay with him 24/7. As his memories start to return bit by bit Do-hyun understands how closely entangled his and Ri-jin's fate is while Ri-jin is busy hiding the fact that she is Do-hyun's personal doctor from her family.
Back in 2015 it was obviously DID season with two dramas airing the first episode within two weeks. However easy it might seem to compare the two, when I first started watching Kill Me, Heal Me it was a mess - the first 4 or 5 episodes are a total mess, poorly written, not because of the DID topic but just how extreme everything is. Luckily that got a little better later on. The storyline with DID seemed to be new to Korean viewers at the time, mixed with many totally different personalities and a lot of comedy it does have a certain charm. Some parts of the story were very well done, for example the background story explaining why different personalities were around. However, many of the light-hearted and funny scenes seemed forced to me, and I think especially Oh Ri-jin as a character was poorly written in the beginning. Towards the end I started to enjoy this drama more but it still wasn't the most exciting story I've ever seen.

Cast: Ji Sung as Cha Do-hyun. I did like his acting in the main personality, Do-hyun. As Se-gi, he was okay (that eyeliner looks terrible on him though). Nana was pretty much okay, too, but you don't see him often in that personality. After all I think especially Yo-na and Perry Park were incredibly overacted and I sometimes couldn't even laugh about it. Yo-sub seemed pretty much fine to me as well. So many personalities definitely were a challenge and some were great - others not so much but I see that maybe even the best actor might struggle with 7 totally different personalities in one drama so I would say he did well even though it was not perfect.
Hwang Jung-eum as Oh Ri-jin. Oh boy, I hated her in this role. I can't stand her voice when she's yelling and that happens a lot during the first few episodes so I watched it on mute. As for the rest of the drama, sometimes her acting was overdone as well, sometimes not so much. I mainly think that the way she had to behave according to the writing is responsible for the ridiculousness in some parts. In the end she delivered a solid performance even though I didn't quite like her.
Park Seo-joon as Oh Ri-on. First, I love the name Orion (it's pronounced like that), such a beautiful name! As a writer his character sometimes has is times of ridiculousness I think but it was still pretty much alright. I enjoyed his acting even though sometimes I wished he would behave differently or say things more clearly but of course you can't show all of the secrets right away so he had to keep quiet. I somehow liked him in the beginning and at the end but not so much in between though and I can't really explain why.
Kim Yoo-ri as Han Chae-yeon. You know, in the beginning I was happy this was a drama with a second female lead that was not manipulative, not jealous and not as bitchy as one could've expected according to other dramas. I was wrong and it annoyed the hell out of me. While I think she's not a bad actress I wonder why most of the characters I saw her play seemed the same. Maybe it's just the fact that she has a pretty face that fits those roles. She's not outstanding in this role though but it's not bad either.
Oh Min-suk as Cha Ki-joon. While in the beginning he seems to be the villain he's actually not that bad. I totally believed his acting even though I didn't quite like the way his character was written. I can totally see him as the son of a chaebol trying to protect his position and therefore searching for a way to destroy his opponents. I would probably say that he was the mose realistic actor in this drama.
Kim Young-ae as Seo Tae-im. When you watch the drama you will know what I mean when I say she is also one of those very typical K-Drama characters. I really enjoyed her acting, too, so nothing negative to say about the actress but I wish sometimes those chaebol characters would act a little bit more human and less money-oriented than they do.
Other actors in this drama include Shim Hye-jin, Ko Chang-seok, Choi Won-young, Kim Hee-jung and Park Jun-gyu.

Soundtrack: I sincerely LOVE 장재인(Jang Jae In)'s "환청 (Auditory Hallucination)" with rapper 나쑈 (NaShow). It is a really great song one can listen to a lot even though you might not be very interested in the drama so I sincerely recommend it. Another great song is "Healing Love" by Luna (f(x)) and Choi (Lu:Kus). I really recommend listening to these songs if you didn't know them until now.


5/10
I know I might not have said that much about my personal opinion on this drama but as you can see I didn't like it that much and I don't get why it has such high ratings. While it is not really a bad or uninteresting story at least the first 5 episodes almost had me dropping this drama because I hated every single thing about those episodes, except for the actors and the music. Well, I couldn't stand Hwang Jung-eum to be fair but mainly because of her voice. I still continued watching the drama though because I never drop a drama - I finish what I start no matter how much I hate it. And to be very fair, the story got better and better towards the end. But until you get there you might hate a lot of things. So if you really are a fan of the actors or want something that is mainly funny because it is ridiculous you might go through the episodes without problems.
I know my opinion is an unpopular opinion. Maybe it's because I prefer more mature dramas and at first I found so many childish points that show which audience this drama was supposed to appeal to that I was freaking out. But if you really enjoy love stories that are usually popular among most people you might like this. If you read more than one entry you might have figured out that usually the very popular, hyped dramas are totally not for me.

Confession of Murder

내가 살인범이다 (I'm a Murderer; Confession of Murder) is a South Korean movie directed by Jung Byoung-gil released in 2012.

Story: Lieutenant Choi Hyung-go is chasing the serial killer who killed 10 women one rainy night. During the chase he gets a scar after fighting with the murderer.
Later, Jung Hyun-sik, the son of the first victim, who became close to Hyung-go after the cases commits suicide.
In 2007, two years after the statute of limitations that originally was 15 years ended, Lee Duk-soo publishes a book with the title "Confession of Murder". He describes the murders and states that he needs to talk about it because of the guilt. The book turns him into a bestselling author but also gets him kidnapped by the family members of the victims, among them Han Ji-soo who still tries to find her daughters' remains.
During a live debate broadcast with Lee Duk-soo and Choi Hyung-go another man who only refers to himself as "J" calls and asks questions to which only the real murderer can know the answers. Now everyone is carefully trying to find out who is the murderer and what will happen.

Cast: Jung Jae-young as Choi Hyung-go. He was brilliant in the role, I totally believed every little bit of this even though I only fully understood it in the end. While he can portray the rough cop and the poker face I honestly did like the emotional side as to why he can't let it go, too.
Park Si-hoo as Lee Doo-suk is a perfect flower boy in his role. I think that the part of the "nice killer" fits him in this drama and that he also portrays it in a believable manner while sometimes the way he uses to ask for forgiveness seems a little bit ironic and not serious. I'm talking about a specific scene with the doctor, if you watch the movie you might understand where I'm coming from.
Jung Hae-kyun as J. He was barely seen without a mask for the most part of the movie so judging facial expressions is more or less impossible. However, the way he talked he didn't seem to be a normal criminal but totally insane. I don't know if that was how the character was written or if it was his acting but yeah..
Kim Young-ae as Han Ji-soo was awesome especially in the end but also in the flashbacks. A mother in grief trying to find her daughter so she can let go peacefully. All the sides of her character seemed more or less realistic.
Other actors in this drama include Jang Gwang as the director of the broadcasting station, Jo Eun-ji as Choi Kang-sook, Choi Won-young as Jung Tae-suk, Kim Jung-goo as the snake hunter and Min Ji-ah as Jung Soo-yeon.


So I personally think this movie is interesting but not one of the most mind-blowing I have seen in my life which is why I rated it with 8.5/10. The main reason is that some of the chases just seemed kinda overdone and totally unrealistic (you will get me, I just mention the ambulance so you know which chase I mean).
What I can say for sure is that in this movie nothing is what it seems to be. It surprised me quite a lot how the mystery was solved but you will have to watch it yourself to find out. I recommend this movie to lovers of crime and suspense stories with a lot of action.