Queen of Ambition

야왕 (Queen of Ambition) is a South Korean drama series that was aired on SBS from January 14th to April 2nd 2013 and consists of 24 episodes with a duration of approximately one hour each. This drama is referred to as "makjang", a genre that is not easy to explain so I might write an extra entry on this one day.

Story: Ha Ryu and Joo Da-hae grew up together in an orphanage until Da-hae was picked up by her mom and her stepfather. A few years later, Yang Taek-bae goes to a house to collect money with Ha Ryu and surprisingly enough they find Da-hae next to her mothers corpse. After this event they stay together and Da-hae lives with Hong An-sim and Ha Ryu and studies for the university entrance exam. After she passes they face the problem of money and Ha Ryu decides to work for Da-hae's tution. They live like this for a while until Da-hae's stepfather who supposedly abused her comes looking for her and the tragic story starts.
Again, a few years later, Da-hae and Ha Ryu have a daughter together and Da-hae gets the chance to work at a huge company. The son of the owner shows interest in her and wants her to go to the US with him to study. Da-hae talks about this to Ha Ryu who decides to make more money and sent her abroad to study. After she comes back, she breaks up with him to follow her ambition and make it to the top of the social hierarchy in South Korea.
Actually there is so much to this story but I don't want to spoil anyone so I'm trying to not give you a lot of information. Just be warned, this drama turns out to be a battle between Ha Ryu and Da-hae with them having nothing to lose in the end. This is much more than a melodrama or a family drama in my opinion but has some thrilling aspects as well even though it is not a thriller.

Cast: Soo Ae as Joo Da-hae. After seeing her in at least two dramas I think she is not a bad actress, no, but in this drama many things seemed a little bit off or unnatural to me. Yes, of course that might be because of the way her character was written and not about her portrayal of the character but it is still not easy to fully point out what it was. As far as I remember she occasionally seemed stiff. It still did not bother me enough to fully hate her acting though.
Kwon Sang-woo as Ha Ryu/Cha Jae-woong. I quite loved everything about his acting to be honest. A loving father and "nearly" husband (or long term boyfriend), a tough enemy and a fighter as well as a good friend. I just really can't find anything I could criticize about his acting.
Jung Yun-ho as Baek Do-hoon. Let's face it, once again many people will watch this drama solely because their beloved idol is in here. Now I have to say that his acting was good enough and if there was something I missed I could usually say that it was based on the way his character was written - carefree and lacking seriousness. Nonetheless I do not think it is worth to watch this drama solely because of him. Yes, he does have a lot of scenes but I think you might start to hate Da-hae at one point.. maybe episode 16 or 18? I'm not sure anymore.
Other actors in this drama include Kim Sung-ryung as Baek Do-kyung, Kwon Hyun-sang as Yang Taek-bae, Go Joon-hee as Seok Soo-jung, Sung Ji-ru as Uhm Sam-do and Lee Il-hwa as Hong An-sim.

Soundtrack: There was not one moment in which I thought the music was terrible or unfitting to be very honest. However, my favorite track has been (long before watching this drama Ailee's "얼음꽃 (Ice Flower)" and this drama changed how I personally interpreted the title of this song without ever reading the translated lyrics (or translating it by myself). Still a very beautiful song I will probably love for the next few years as well and loved ever since it was released.



9/10
Remember when I said I don't like melodramas? I still stay with that. This drama is so much more than a melodrama even though it is usually referred to as one. It has this special, evil twist that is not necessarily about fate or a disease but about a person and her desire which causes the evil in this drama.
If you dislike dramas with a darker atmosphere, this one might not be for you. As all of my regular readers know I love crime, suspense, thriller and horror if it makes you shiver just because of the atmosphere and this drama did not go that far but gave me goosebumps, too.

My Girl

마이걸 (My Girl) is a South Korean drama series that was aired on SBS from December 14th 2005 to February 2nd 2006 and consists of 6 episodes.

Story: Seol Gong-chan's grandfather is sick. His wish is to find his lost grandchild, a girl who is not easy to find. In order to fulfill his grandfathers supposed last wish Gong-chan is looking for his cousin and meets Joo Yoo-rin on Jeju Island. Yoo-rin has a connection to his lost cousin. As his real cousin cannot be found, Yoo-rin, who is an excellent liar and actress, becomes Gong-chan's contract cousin. She is supposed to disappear after Gong-chan found his real cousin but miraculously his grandfather gets better and spoils Yoo-rin as he believes Yoo-rin is his granddaughter. Soon Gong-chan and Yoo-rin start to fall in love but as cousins it is actually a forbidden love. On the other hand Gong-chan's friend Seo Jung-woo also falls in love with Yoo-rin and wants to marry her. As Jung-woo is not related to her the grandfather, Seol Woong, also agrees to Yoo-rin marrying Jung-woo - but Yoo-rin rejects Jung-woo.
In the meantime Gong-chan's ex girlfriend Kim Se-hyun appears again as well. She became a famous tennis athlete and broke up with Gong-chan to achieve that dream but now wants him back and tries to get rid of Yoo-rin in every way one can think of.
This story is quite something. Contract marriage? Okay, cool. Well, not cool, but I understand how that is supposed to work. But contract cousins? If you really ask me about it this was bound to fail and again, one of my major issues with rom-com dramas, the plot was quite predictable in many ways but I did enjoy it. It has light hearted parts as well as more serious aspects to it and is definitely worth watching if you like rom-com. I sometimes found it a bit too much but then again that might be me. It wasn't hilarious but ridiculous in some parts but I found myself quite enjoying the latter half of the drama.

Cast: Lee Dong-wook as Seol Gong-chan. I swear to whatever I need to that I saw Lee Dong-wook in a drama or movie before but I don't remember which one and it makes me pull out my hair. (It's not Goblin, I know he's in that drama, too *cough* review upcoming *cough*.) I did enjoy many aspects of his acting in this drama, too, but sometimes it just went a tiny bit overboard and ended up in the extremely ridiculous field. I don't believe it is fully his fault but I feel like I need to mention it anyway.
Lee Da-hae as Joo Yoo-rin. I hated her character at first because it was too lively and too over-the-top all the time. She annoyed the hell out of me and usually these things don't change but again I have to say that during the second half of this drama it seemed much better. I was quite surprised when I found myself actually enjoying a drama I stopped watching in February because I hated it and then continued in.. maybe April? It might be because she seemed a bit more calm during the latter half.
Lee Joon-ki as Seo Jung-woo. Before I mention anything else, can we talk about that hairstyle? I was laughing so much! It might have been a trend back in the days but let's thank the gods of time that this is over. I quite loved his acting in this and probably forever will love him as an actor because of the very different but great characters he played in dramas. Even though many people don't like his acting, he was also one of the most realistic actors - his portrayal of Jung-woo was less ridiculous and more serious if I remember right and I loved that all the more.
Park Si-yeon as Kim Se-hyun. You probably know what I think about the second-female-leads. I was wishing for her to just disappear but things didn't work out as well as I hoped. Her acting was fine but the character was once again one of those terrible bitch characters (excuse me cursing, I don't know why but I feel like it today). I didn't even want her to die but to grow up and leave a man who didn't like her anymore alone. Is that really that difficult for females in K-Dramaland?
Other actors in this drama include Jo Kye-hyung, Hwang Bo-ra, Choi Ran, Ahn Seok-hwan, Byun Hee-bong and Jung Han-heon.

Soundtrack: Once again this was quite a retro soundtrack but a quite good with a song sung by Lee Ji-soo (formerly a member of BoM and BTL) and KARA. The soundtrack had emotional and energetic songs if I remember right and I certainly enjoyed the music.


6.5/10
This is such a retro drama and I loved it - partly. On the other hand until episode 10 I had real trouble to get through it so it wasn't really catching or particularly outstanding.
Yes, the idea of contract siblings is not a common one and gives the whole drama a unique touch but some parts were so cliché. And I wanted to kill the person who was responsible for Yoo-rin's outfits. We find a 2nd male lead syndrome and 2nd female lead syndrome and a lot of those misunderstandings were just dragging this drama (as they do in many rom-coms even today). It left me quite frustrated near the end of this drama but again, I did not hate it.

If you're into typical rom-com with an old school touch - watch it. If not.. I would not recommend it unless you're a huge fan of one of the leads.

Lovers in Prague

프라하의 연인 (Lovers in Prague) is a South Korean drama series that aired on SBS from September 24th to November 20th 2005. The drama consists of 18 episodes.

Story: Jae-hee, the daughter of the current Korean president, is living in Prague as a diplomat while getting over a painful breakup. She meets Sang-hyun, a police officer and their romance starts to blossom in Prague.
Sang-hyun's ex girlfriend Hye-joo is also living in Prague at that time - and she is pregnant and used Sang-hyun to pay for her studies for quite some time - which complicates things unnecessarily. Also, Jae-hee's ex boyfriend Yeong-woo appears which gets them not only into a love triangle..
This story is such a typical K-Drama storyline that I wouldn't even notice a difference it it was remade. Lots of cliché and very predictable but for sure enjoyable if you like rom-com dramas. The one big issue I have with this classic is literally that only the first two episodes are set in Prague - if I remember right - and they dragged the whole story a bit with lots of misunderstandings.

Cast: Jeon Do-yeon as Yoon Jae-hee. I don't know, she was somehow this typical girl and I would've wished for her to be more tough occasionally. Her acting was okay, her Czech language skill (in the beginning, according to friends from Czech Republic) is terrible but that is okay to me - I wouldn't be able to understand it anyway and I appreciate that the makers of this drama put that much effort into this.
Kim Ju-hyeok as Choi Sang-hyun. He looked like a lost puppy most of the time and while I did some of his moments the majority was not really my style. Just too lost and too pathetic which is my honest opinion and noone needs to share it. It just seemed like he was the too clingy type of boyfriend I would get rid of, too.
Kim Min-jun as Ji Yeong-woo. Ugh, I don't know why but it seems I disliked both of Jae-hee's options in this drama. Yeong-woo, as far as I remember (I watched this drama months ago and accidentally deleted my notes) wanted to get her back after hurting her and he would try harder even if she didn't want him back - which causes more hurt and difficulty than necessary. As an actor, I would chose Kim Min-jun over Kim Ju-hyeok though because I somehow likes his acting a tiny bit more.
Yoon Se-ah as Kang Hye-joo. The female character I wanted to kill so badly because she's a cheating slut. No matter her motives, I hate this. I hated her. The acting was believable enough but I'm not sure if that is a good or a bad thing.
Other actors in this drama include Lee Jung-gil, Jung Dong-hwan, Yoon Young-joon and Kim Seung-wook.

Soundtrack: This is the biggest struggle. Regarding the year in which this drama was aired, the music was decent. But when looking back from nowadays I absolutely dislike the old school music even though it does make me somehow nostalgic (I was 9 years old when this drama aired and dislike most of the music I loved back then, too). It might be a matter of taste but as of today I don't really like the soundtrack per sé but let me stay with "for 2005, it wasn't bad".


7.0/10
After all I found this drama very funny and somehow light-hearted. Yes, there are lots of things I can criticize but I still enjoyed it more than some other dramas I watched.
Can we take a moment and appreciate the dinosaurs phones? I was on the floor laughing at those things (yes, I had one, too, back in the days).
If you love romance dramas with a hint of comedy and lots of confusion you should watch this. It's a classic and definitely not a bad one even though I hated some parts for sure.

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.

The Suspicious Housekeeper

수상한 가정부 (The Suspicious Housekeeper; formerly known as House Keeper Park Bok Nyeo) is the South Korean remake of the Japanese drama series 家政婦のミタ (kaseifu no mita; I'm Mita, Your Housekeeper). It was aired on SBS from September 23rd to November 26th 2013 and therefore consists of 20 episodes with an average duration of 60 minutes.

Story: Woo Sun-young, mother of Han-gyeol, Du-gyeol, Se-gyeol and Hye-gyeol and wife of Eun Sang-chul suddenly passes away. 49 days after her funeral Sang-chul tells his children that he hired a housekeeper to help them out while he is busy at work.
Park Bok-nyeo is an extremely serious person that never smiles, has all sorts of things in her bag and does everything she is ordered to do - going as far as killing when she is ordered to do that.
All of a sudden the family receives letters that their new housekeeper is a murderer. The children try to figure out what happened on their own after a fight with their father but even though they keep on following Park Bok-nyeo, Du-gyeol, Se-gyeol and Hye-gyeol fail to find out about her secrets. Bok-nyeo threatens to quit when the children won't stop asking her private questions so that the family who learned to appreciate their housekeeper as a kind of second mother, especially Hye-gyeol, stop and ask Bok-nyeo to stay. But the curiosity stays for sure.
At first this story really sounded interesting to me, especially the title. I never watched the Japanese version so I can't compare them at all and didn't know what I was getting myself into. This story itself is like a rollercoaster - at first it goes up all the way just to let you gain speed during the first drop. When that excitement disappears you have some time to calm down and just let it flow before it picks up speed again to get you to a second exciting point - and after that it slows down and slowly takes you to the end. This was my impression after 11 episodes and after finishing it I can say that the second "drop" is actually really interesting and probably one of the reasons why I kept watching. The main problem I have with this drama, however, that the slow paced parts of the track are just too much. There are so many stories and you know they are just supposed to make this drama longer. It cannot keep up its pace for 20 episodes and that makes it lose some quality.

Cast: Choi Ji-woo as Park Bok-nyeo. Thinking about it Park Bok-nyeo is not the most exciting but probably the most developed character. The background story and the effects she experienced all make sense and I couldn't help but pity her. As for the acting, I think it was outstanding. I see why people might disagree with me but emotionless acting to me would be incredibly difficult. Always maintaining the exact same expression for - just guessing, I don't remember the exact episode - 10 episodes is extremely hard to do. Still, the chemistry (not in a romantic way) she had with the children, especially the youngest daughter, made it seem as if there were some feelings shown. It is difficult to explain but it really impressed me.
Lee Sung-jae as Eun Sang-chul. As a character I still don't know what I should think about him but the development the character went through - from a terrible husband and father to an actually caring person who tries to do what could be best for his children - was a huge step. So I kinda admired the character in that way. From one of my most hated characters he made it to one of my favorites. As for the acting, it seemed true to its nature. Lee Sung-jae was good in this role but I wish he would use stronger facial expressions from time to time. However, it was still a solid and actually good performance.
Kim So-hyun as Eun Han-gyeol. Han-gyeol is a typical teenage girl going through puberty and her first love while being the oldest daughter of the household and somehow taking the role of the mother and a student before Park Bok-nyeo starts to work for the family. The rebel character actually suited Kim So-hyun and her expressions, especially the huge problem with her father, were good. I enjoyed her acting in this drama and don't think they could've found a better actress for this role.
Chae Sang-woo as Eun Du-gyeol. As the oldest son he feels like he needs to act as the head of the household when his father is gone. However, his biggest issue is that he feels like he can't do anything and that gives him quite a hard time. I would say he is going through puberty as well and has to find himself and his dreams. Chae Sang-woo did well in this role, playing sometimes the tough guy and sometimes the emotional boy Du-gyeol is according to his age. So he was good in this role.
Nam Da-reum as Eun Se-gyeol. The younger brother is the opposite of Du-gyeol. Se-gyeol can't fight but is extremely good at studying and wants to make his deceased mom proud while being probably the most rational sibling in this drama. I really imagined Nam Da-reum to be Se-gyeol. Maybe it just suits his character, maybe he's just a good young actor but Se-gyeol was great.
Kang Ji-woo as Eun Hye-gyeol. The youngest sibling, Hye-gyeol, suffers the most after losing their mother. Her character is heartbroken and accepts Park Bok-nyeo as a "second" mother soon. While sometimes children can be quite annoying it was heartwrenching to watch her in this drama. Kang Ji-woo is incredibly cute but she did so well in this drama and was either getting along quite well with Choi Ji-woo or they both are just great actresses. I sometimes wonder how child actors even manage to deliver really good performances but she did.
Other actors in this drama include Wang Ji-hye, Song Jong-ho, Jung Moon-sung, Park Geun-hyung, Shim Yi-young, Kim Hae-sook and Jang Seo-won.

Soundtrack: Actually the soundtrack of this drama doesn't include many songs. About the instrumentals I really loved the one playing everytime Park Bok-nyeo was about to appear - I guess it's one of the Park Bok-nyeo themes.
As for the songs sung for this drama by idol singers my favorite is "Twilight" by Yoo Sung-eun. Except for that, Lim Kim sang a song titled "부탁할게요 (I'm Asking You)" which I personally liked, too. The song I can't stand, however, is sadly the one on the drama performed by Kim So-hyun and the band. I don't know why but I'm not a huge fan of her singing or the song.


5.5/10
I see why the rating might seem bad but it's mostly because of the long times without anything happening that was worth noting. I found myself on my phone way too often while just listening to what was said but this drama failed to keep me focussed. Now you can say that it is just not the perfect drama for me - while I love the mystery and suspense I found myself bored by the daily life of the family and the hint of romance that were supposed to be there but probably wasn't. And for the story itself 20 episodes were too much, 14 to 16 would've been completely fine. The length however might be the main problem about the episodes that were just used to fill in without anything, really. Plus, I personally found the first two episodes incredibly boring so I wasn't sure if I should continue watching at all. I'm still glad I did though as this drama has more to it than one expects.
Recommended to fans of family and melodramas. According to what I heard and read the Japanese version is much better so if you know and liked that maybe you should skip the Korean version as most people were disappointed.

It's Okay, That's Love

괜찮아, 사랑이야 (It's Okay, That's Love) is a South Korean drama series that aired on SBS from July 23rd to September 11th 2014. It consists of 16 episodes with a duration around 58 minutes per episode.

Story: Ji Hae-soo is a psychiatrist in a hospital in Korea. Due to some events in the past she is scared of intimacy. Her personality as well as her trauma make it difficult for her to have a relationship that lasts for a long time.
On the other hand Jang Jae-yeol is a popular novelist who had his ex-girlfriend plagiarizing his novel. Instead of getting back at her he cancels the lawsuit and decides to go back to writing. A construction for three months starts in his home and he moves into his house in Hongdae for the time being - which eventually makes Hae-soo his roommate along with Hae-soo's senior Jo Dong-min and Park Soo-kwang, a young man who suffers from Tourette syndrome.
As the four of them live together they eventually get to know each other and despite not really liking each other at first Hae-soo and Jae-yeol fall in love. Over time, they help each other to heal their scars from past traumas and tragic events within their families.
Personally I thought this story line sounds like the most basic K-Drama stuff you can find. Just by that description and by knowing K-Dramaland I had an idea where this would go and had pretty much 90% of the story figured out between episodes 2 and 6 which is actually sad. This drama in itself was kinda obvious or maybe it was just me. While I kinda do like the idea of two messed up characters getting together and helping each other this was just turned into the basic romance and especially Hae-soo's character was a victim of poor writing in my humble opinion. While I liked her at first I came to hate her as the story continued. In the early episodes, the story was quite fast-paced which made it very interesting and kept me going but towards the end it turned out so slow that I found myself getting annoyed over it.

Cast: Jo In-sung as Jang Jae-yeol. While his character is the typical good-looking player in the beginning it turns out soon enough that there is more than meets the eye. I do see his character to be one of the better developed ones in this drama, especially regarding the events of the past. It seems like the writers were really thinking about how his character could or should be developed. As an actor Jo In-sung definitely did a great job portraying him. The acting felt real and I totally believed everything he said. Definitely a great actor in a great role.
Gong Hyo-jin as Ji Hae-soo. As some of you might now I love Gong Hyo-jin ever since Master's Sun and she is still one of my favorite actresses. But her character in this drama was okay in the beginning and started to turn into a stupid, useless crybaby female lead somewhere along the way. I do remember that it was the end of episode 6 and the beginning of episode 7 where I was close to yelling at my laptop because how blind and stupid can a person be?! After calming down I still continued to watch it and it got slightly better again but let's say I still can't bring myself to like her character in this drama. However, I see it more as a thing of bad writing. The writer(s) probably didn't really know what to do anymore and fell into the cliché-trap.
Sung Dong-il as Jo Dong-min. The old man in the household, Jo Dong-min, is quite an interesting character. While he can be noisy and childish he also has a serious side to him that mainly shows when he's treating his patients. I totally enjoyed the acting of Sung Dong-il and think that this was a great show for him.
Lee Kwang-soo as Park Soo-kwang. How creative to turn the syllables of the actors name around if you can't think of a character name. Anyway, as a character Soo-kwang suffers from Tourette syndrome and therefore has trouble with females. But he loved Oh So-nyeo for quite some time and started to not only care for her but buy her a lot of things as well. Regarding the acting I actually enjoyed seeing Lee Kwang-soo in this drama. I don't know much about Tourette syndrome patients but it seemed like he really learned about his character and managed to make it seem real.
Jin Kyung as Dr. Lee Young-jin. I don't know much about her but I liked her acting. As a character Lee Young-jin goes through the struggle many women seem to know; choosing between your career or your own family. I felt like I could understand her and that this character really came to life so definitely kudos to the actress for doing such a good job.
Lee Sung-kyung as Oh So-nyeo. A pretty girl doing a lot of things she actually shouldn't do but she doesn't care. That's Oh So-nyeo. I think Lee Sung-kyung did well even though her character came off a little annoying and more than a little bit manipulative but then again it was probably again the writing and she didn't do a bad job in following what she was supposed to be like.
Other actors in this drama include Do Sang-woo, Do Kyung-soo, Yang Ik-joon, Tae Hang-ho and Cha Hwa-yeon.

Soundtrack: The OST of this drama actually includes quite a few huge names in the K-Pop and OST business like Davichi, Crush, Wheesung, Hong Dae-kwang, Yoon Mi-rae and M.C. The Max. The Korean song I probably like the most was Crush feat. Punch's "잠 못드는 밤 (Sleepless Night)". While I did enjoy the OST overall I have to say that the songs that stand out the most are not Korean songs and are actually in no way related to this drama. I'm talking about "Hero" by Family of the Year specifically. While I neither liked nor disliked the song before I still knew it (which 90% of the people commenting on Youtube didn't seem to do) I have it stuck in my head now.


6.5/10
Overall this drama was, and is, one of the most hyped dramas of 2014 and again it seems to be my own problem. I love the actors, I liked the idea but I literally ended up either yelling at my laptop or playing on my phone towards the end of the drama. And what I mean with my own problem is this; I dislike dramas most people love most of the time. And I like dramas people heavily criticize. Is it because of expectations? Possible, I was looking forward to watching this drama. But I couldn't bring myself to give it a better rating than 6.5, I even considered a worse rating with 5.5 or 5.0 for some time but I've seen much worse dramas.

Recommendation? I don't know. If you like a little bit of psychology, family issues and romcom than this might be a great option for you. I can't really explain what it is that makes me dislike this drama and it's hard to give a recommendation if you can't really find something to point out.

Hyde, Jekyll, Me

Okay, at first I feel like I need to warn all of you. You will read my personal opinion on this drama below (I think I should change the style a bit but you will see that soon) but I've read quite mixed reviews about this drama.
This is solely my opinion in this entry. I see why some people maybe don't like it at all but I've seen much worse.

하이드 지킬, 나 (Hyde, Jekyll, Me) is a South Korean drama series that was aired on SBS from January 21st to March 26th and consists of 20 episodes. The drama is based on a webtoon.

Story: Gu Seo-jin is the Director of an amusement park called "Wonderland". He's very cold and rude towards most people while trying to please his father. Only very few people know that he suffers from DID, more commonly known as Multiple Personality Disorder. Robin, the second personality, is the total opposite of Gu Seo-jin; polite, always smiling, caring and "saving others is just his personality". Five years ago, Robin disappeared after an incident but suddenly he struggles to come through again on the same day Jang Ha-na arrives at Wonderland.
Jang Ha-na came back after spending five years in the USA to take her fathers' position in Wonder Circus, one of the attractions at Wonderland. Gu Seo-jin plans on closing the circus and firing the people working there but Jang Ha-na fights back as much as she can. Right on the day she arrives the fate of Gu Seo-jin and Jang Ha-na becomes more and more entangled as Ha-na is the only witness in the case of Dr. Kang Hee-ae, Gu Seo-jin's psychologist. Ha-na is the only one who saw the culprit and suddenly Gu Seo-jin needs her to find the doctor and finally get rid of his second personality.
- I personally don't know much about DID and how treatments work or the way people behave but I believe that this was just one point of the story and it was not totally ridiculous what happened, at least if you're not an expert. There is much more to it and while the writing could've been better it was quite nice to not have a purely evil second female lead. Also, the side stories where not the best but definitely interesting enough to make me finish this drama within 4(!) days. It is true that it loses its pace towards the end it turns more into a melodrama than the comedy drama it is supposed to be though. 

Cast: Hyun-bin as Gu Seo-jin and Robin. I'm not really sure what I should tell you about his acting. While he did have some chemistry with the female lead Robin and Ha-na seemed more like kids playing around in the beginning. Also, the character Robin seemed just overacted but that might be because of the writing. So between Ha-na and Robin there was no romantic chemistry whatsoever. On the other hand Gu Seo-jin's change was well-portrayed, and he did have a way better chemistry with her than Robin. I don't know, maybe two totally different personalities were a little bit too much for Hyun-bin as an actor but he was way more realistic as Gu Seo-jin, and it was way easier to believe it. He definitely improved towards the end as Robin, too, but I think it was not the best role for him.
Han Ji-min as Jang Ha-na was - excuse me for being straightforward - bad. Between 70% and 80% of the time she looked lost and dumbfounded. I kinda see that her character might have been confused often because of Robin and Gu Seo-jin but this definitely was not a good role for her. As mentioned above she does have some chemistry with Gu Seo-jin but it's not strong. Also, I did mind her character being a little bit slow and stupid partly. Again, something to criticize about the writing but it could've been slightly better if they chose another actress.
Lee Seung-joon as Secretary Kwon Young-chan was one of my favorite characters. He's caught between a fear of losing his job and his sympathy for Robin who was like a younger brother to him. As the responsible person trying to connect Ha-na with both worlds his acting was sometimes too much (I know, I'm repeating myself but writing - can't blame him for that) but in total his performance was one of the best ones.
Sung Joon as Yoon Tae-joo was the better villain in this. As he is a charismatic actor in a strong role he managed to shine in his spot as a side character. Now if you plan on watching this you won't understand why I wrote "villain" but just wait. At first I wasn't really suspicious of him but in the end this is a K-Drama and he started to seem too nice at some point.
Hyeri as Min Woo-jung was totally not my style. As a quirky, playful little girl she took over an annoying part at first but I believe she was supposed to be like that. She would be the one that is the closest to a second female lead but not as bad as others. I also think she had a great chemistry with Eun-chang.
Speaking of Lee Eun-chang, Lee Won-geun did a pretty good job in my opinion. Being part of the circus he met Min Woo-jung and eventually became the person watching over her. He was a ray of light more than once and definitely did a good job.
Han Sang-jin as Ryu Seung-yeon was - again - simply bad. Now I don't want to believe that it was actually the actor but the character and the way it was portrayed in the webtoon. As a villain I can't take him seriously, the music, the acting - he just seems like the "I-want-to-be-a-villain-and-I'm-jealous-as-hell-but-I-can't-do-it"-character you see in comics. A villain that is bad at being a villain.
Other actors in this drama include Lee Deok-hwa, Kwak Hee-sung (who is quite good-looking btw, need to check him out!), Oh Na-ra, Shim Eun-jung and Lee Joon-hyuk.

Sountrack: The very first thing I would like to say is that the instrumentals in Han Sang-jin's scenes were terribly chosen. No, it was literally horrible. It made the comic-like villain come out even more and it would've been funny if it didn't make me facepalm all the way through.
As for the songs sung for this drama there are two songs you keep hearing all the way through: Baek Ji-young's "Because of You" and Park Bo-ram's "Falling". I can't say that I didn't like the songs (I even have Baek Ji-young's song stuck in my head) but they are also not really special. To be very honest those songs are the typical ballads you hear here and there and everywhere in K-Dramaland. The only thing that really stood out was Snuper's "하이드 지킬 (Hyde Jekyll)". While it is for sure not the best OST song it is the most listenable outside of the drama and the most unique showing also Snuper's cuter style.


7.5/10
I know many people will actually have a "What in the world..."-moment now reading my rating. I did have things to criticize, mainly about the characters and the writing but also the soundtrack. But as I mentioned in my very short, small written introduction I have seen worse and I legitimately enjoyed this drama until episode 16 at least. Well, I enjoyed the majority until then. After that it did make a melodramatic turn that I personally didn't like that much but it's still okay and it was obvious that things needed to be resolved.
I don't know who I should recommend this to. As I also mentioned above it might depend on your expectations but many people dropped this drama, found it too slow-paced or simply poorly written. I checked some profiles on MyDramaList (sorry not sorry) and some of them seem to like dramas I loved as well while others who liked this drama didn't have much in common with me at all.
I'd say: If you want to watch this, keep your expectations low. Maybe that's the whole point, that after reading so many bad reviews my expectations were so low that I found this to be way better than I expected. And maybe that works for other people, too.

Kang Koo's Story

강구 이야기 (Kang Koo's Story) is a South Korean drama special that was aired on March 29th and March 30th 2014 on SBS.

Story: Kyung-tae is considered a good-for-nothing gangster and goes to Kanggu, a place at the coast. After a friend of his died, he wants to take care of his friend's older sister Moon-sook and her son Kang-koo. As the story goes, Kyung-tae falls in love with Moon-sook and also becomes closer to Kang-koo but there are two problems - the two of them don't know that his friend and Moon-sook's brother, Jung-soo, died and Moon-sook is sick..

Cast: Lee Dong-wook as Kyung-tae showed a huge variety of emotions in this drama, at least this was my personal feeling. I liked his acting as well as his character after all though it wasn't a kind of character one would expect in a series dealing with "gangsters".
Park Joo-mi as Yang Moon-sook was nice to watch in this movie as well. She seemed to soft in some parts I think, for a strong woman who's working even though she's sick and who raised a child mostly on her own it's just that it didn't work that well.
Shin Dong-woo as Kang-koo was just the perfect son. His acting was good, the way his character changed was portrayed in a nice way and in general his acting seemed stable. Regarding the fact he's one of these "child actors" (he was like 15/16 when this was filmed) he's definitely an actor to look out for in the coming years.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack supported this drama perfectly! The only problem about this soundtrack is that basically no one knows all of the songs that were included and I couldn't find any information on that! Grrrrr..


In general I gave this drama special a 6.5/10 rating solely because I did have some.. too melodramatic aspects. It's not that much my style but I still enjoyed watching it after all. The scenery is incredibly beautiful in this drama so if you want to see some wonderful places in South Korea, this drama might also be to your liking.

Recommended if you like sweet but sad love stories and not that much blood!

Lie to Me

내게 거짓말을 해봐 (Lie to Me) is a Korean drama series that aired from May 9th to June 28th 2011 on SBS.

Story: Gong Ah-jung is a woman in her late 20's. Her best friend stole her first love, and when she meets her best friend and her first love who got married one day, she tells the lie that she got married before as well. Without mentioning whom she got married to, the small lie develops into a big issue and rumors are spread of a civil service officer being married to World Hotel's president Hyun Ki-joon. In order to avoid the truth being exposed, the two of them come to an agreement. Signing a contract, the two of them are married for a certain time to protect Ah-jung's pride and to help Ki-joon to sign with Chinese investors. As if it'd be as easy as it sounds.. Yoon-joo, Ki-joon's ex-fiancee appears, and also his younger brother comes back and so the chaos evolves.

Cast: The two main characters Gong Ah-jung and Hyun Ki-joon are played by Yoon Eun-hye and Kang Ji-hwan. Those two actors have a great chemistry and I really hope I'll see them once again in a drama that might be a little better to show off their great chemistry and abilities. Sung Joon appears as the second male lead character Hyun Sang-hee, Ki-joon's younger brother. While I totally fell for his character in the first few episodes, it seems as if the writer's simply forgot about him later and his acting seemed a little bit.. forced? The same issue appears when it comes to Oh Yoon-joo played by Jo Yoon-hee. Probably the last two characters I'd count to the main characters are Chun Jae-beom played by Ryu Seung-soo and Hong Soo-hyun as Yoo So-ran. To be completely honest those two seemed to be way more important characters than Sang-hee and Yoon-joo somehow, and I admit that I loved to hate So-ran but I seriously don't get who thought about the sudden change of her character.. what in the actual world happened?! Oh, right, the write changed after episode 10 I think..

Soundtrack: The OST is one of the better parts of this drama for me. I'll tell you more about what I personally think about this drama later but M to M's "안녕 정말 안녕 (Goodbye, Really Goodbye)" is pretty much awesome, beautiful and definitely not overused. Probably one of the best drama OST song's I've ever listened to. Comparing it to other ballad songs used in different dramas I definitely fell for this one. I also really liked Kim Hyung-joon "이 밤이 지나가면 (Midnight Passes)". Except for a few really adorable things about the theme song by Yoon Eun-hye and Kang Ji-hwan themselves called "Lovin' Ice Cream" (who in the world thought about that title? geez) and the OST itself I personally feel like the ballad songs were definitely the better choices in this drama.


Conclusion? If someone dares to mention "Lie to Me" around me it's the best to hide because my only reaction by now is:
YES! I'VE MADE IT! HA! I'VE FINISHED THIS DRAMA AS WELL.

Honestly, I've never dropped a drama I've started - not even You're Beautiful which has a really critical review and the lowest rating I've ever given a series - but I was so close to just stop watching this.
I readily admit that this drama has it's up's and down's - and I admit that the kiss scenes are pretty much awesome (I would've loved to add a gif of one of those scenes but such a spoiler would be unfair). What is sad, is that the down's appear about 100 times more often than the up's.
In fact I feel like I would have to rate two parts of the drama. I remember until episode 8 everything was fine. Episodes 9 and 10 were okay. But following episode 10 I found myself thinking "Why am I even doing this to me?.."
The first part definitely deserves a rating about 7.5 or 8/10 because it's cute and funny, a typical romance-comedy serie, nothing special in the plot but at least entertaining.
The second part therefore would get a rating of 1/10 maximum just because there are some cute things about it - but the characters completely change, the story loses it's natural and adorable flow.
Just look at this.. ew. Ah-jung was so strong before and then suddenly people ask her what's wrong and that's her answer? Ew, ew and ew.

As for the rating, the average of those makes 4.5/10. The last episodes ruined that drama for me, I just didn't want to watch it but I kept telling myself that it might get better. In the end. And well, at least the scenery was beautiful from time to time, so there were actually interesting things to look at.

At least it is not completely bad - it also might appeal to those who are new to K-Drama - but I refuse to even consider watching this again. Yes, some scenes, maybe in youtube compilations. That's all.

Anyway, this is just my opinion. Maybe I've finished too many K-Drama's before and couldn't deal with this because it's so much of a typical K-Drama (look at the entries about 'tropes' I've written earlier - everything is included in this one) but also be reading other reviews I've seen some mixed opinions. People either love it or they hate it. Easy as that. I belong to the latter category.

And this picture is perfect to show me while watching it..

Korean TV Stations: SBS

SBS or Seoul Broadcasting System operates a huge number of TV and radio stations within South Korea. As for TV, SBS and SBS Plus are the most commonly known channels but the station also operates SBS Golf, SBS E!, SBS Sports, SBS CNBC, SBS MTV and Nickelodeon Korea.

Both, radio and television, were launched in 1991. The formal owner is the SBS Media Holdings company.

See the Bright Tomorrow

Some of the most popular TV series aired on SBS and other channels operated by the Seoul Broadcasting System include Faith, You're Beautiful, That Winter The Wind Blows, To The Beautiful You, The Master's Sun and You Who Came From The Stars. Because of airing many hit dramas it is one of the most commonly known South Korean Broadcasting Stations.

All About My Romance

내 연애의 모든것  (All About My Romance) is a South Korean drama series that aired on SBS from April 4th to May 29th 2013.

Story: Kim Soo-young is newly elected into the national parliament as a member of the Great Korea Party, the most conservative party with the largest number of members in the parliament.
While trying to breaking into a room where the GKP No Min-young, a member of the minor party, hits him with a fire extinguisher and the two of them become known as "the fire extinguisher couple".
No Min-young entered the political world after her sister, a member of the parliament, died in a car accident.
Somehow the two of them start developing romantic feelings but after all their love is forbidden since their ideologies are too different...

Cast: So Shin Ha-kyun accepted the role of the male lead Kim Soo-young. He has a killer smile, that's true, and actually the rather cold politician can actually be such a charming man. I only think he looks completely different with his hair cut short in later episodes.
Lee Min-jung can be seen as Lee Min-young she's such a cute and cheerful woman in this drama and I would so wish for her to date Shin Ha-kyun for real! They make an awesome couple in this drama but then again, I shouldn't confuse actors and their characters.
Park Hee-soon acted as Song Joon-ha in this drama, and all I say is second male lead. That already explains everything else. He's doing an incredibly good job though, I like him. As the second female lead An Hee-sun we have Han Chae-ah. A rich child of a company she's not used to not getting what she wants and is deeply hurt because she cannot get Kim Soo-young.
Others in the cast include Jin Tae-hyun as Kim Sang-soo, Jang Gwang as Maeng Joo-ho, Cheon Ho-jin as Ko Dae-ryong, Gong Hyung-jin as Moon Bong-shik and Kim Jung-nan as Go Dong-sook. But there are so many characters in this one (regarding the drama is set in the parliament from time to time) that it's impossible to list all of them.

Soundtrack: Regarding the season in which this drama aired it's not surprising the title track is cute, cheerful and refreshing. The first track on the OST that appears in the drama quite often is performed by Baechigi and Shin Bo-ra and is called "사랑하니까 (Because I Love You)". Yes, after hearing it a few times in the drama one gets tired of the song but it is actually such a perfect song for the spring season that I can't help but listen to it. Tiffany of SNSD performed a nice ballad track for the OST, as well as Shin Yong-jae of 4Men. Those two songs appear in the rather sad and confusing parts of the drama but both of the tracks are pretty solid.
Another quite well-known track is called "I love you" and performed by Akdong Musician. The song as well as the MV is incredibly cute and once again perfect for the spring season and you should definitely check it out. And just because I have to mention it about cute, bubbly and spring as well - Dal★shabet performed a track for the OST as well and it's also worth listening to.


My personal rating is 8/10 but I really liked this one as well. It's just that there are too many characters and it's hard for me to follow the political stuff but it's actually a cute story and worth watching if you don't watch dramas only for young actors.

You Who Came From The Stars

별에서 온 그대 (You Who Came From The Stars/ My Love From Another Star) is a Korean drama series that aired on SBS from December 18th 2013 to February 27th 2014. The drama consists of 21 episodes, a special episode was aired on February 7th 2014 as well.

Story: Do Min-joon is an alien who came to Earth 400 years ago. In the past he experienced that his extraordinary abilities can cause him a lot of trouble so he's trying to stay on his own without getting involved with humans too much.
Actress Cheon Song-yi ends up in his class in university and by chance also moves into the apartment next to his so the two of them get to meet often. Since Cheon Song-yi is the reincarnation of a girl Do Min-joon used to know he tries to protect her as good as possible and therefore has trouble hiding his true identity..

Cast: Kim Soo-hyun accepted the role of the cold-hearted alien Do Min-joon. What can I say? He's good and he knows that.. now I really want an alien invasion because come on, those abilities are like super cool, plus, his body isn't getting older. At least in the drama. Jeon Ji-hyun can be seen as Cheon Song-yi. She's pretty, and the role of an arrogant top star is definitely made for her, it was indeed realistic. Her acting therefore is great! Park Hae-jin as Lee Hee-kyung is the heir of a company and has been in love with Song-yi for ages. He actually does a really nice job as well seeming like a lovesick fool from time to time but he's cute the way he is. Yoo Se-mi played by Yoo In-na has been Song-Yi's best friend for a long time and she has been in love with Hee-kyung for a long time as well. So in this drama we have a love triangle that's more complicated than the usual triangles are.
But every drama with more than 10 episodes needs a crime story in the background, right? What makes it more complicated in this drama is, that the people involved are siblings of some of the main characters - or close friends.
Lee Jae-kyung, Lee Hee-young's older brother, played be Shin Sung-rok is involved in the whole thing as well and finds himself in a conflict with Do Min-joon because of it (a war he obviously can't win if you ask me). On the other side is Oh Sang-jin as prosecutor Yoo Seok, Yoo Se-mi's older brother.
As you might see by reading this cast/character part the relations between the characters are way more complicated than they seem to be. All of the actors were amazing though so the cast is a huge plus for this drama, I just feel like a correlation chart would take about half of my wall because there are so many characters and they all are somewhere connected to almost everyone else..

Soundtrack: The soundtrack is love, okay?
It's just the typical effect for me - the most played song in the drama which happens to be "My Destiny" by Lyn happened to get on my nerves like nothing else after some time. Personally, I'm in love with the two songs performed by Kim Soo-hyun himself, "너의 집 앞 (In Front of Your House)" and "약속 (Promise)". But sure with vocalists like Huh Gak, K.Will and Hyorin singing songs for the soundtrack it can't be that bad.

So at the end of the day the drama is good. Yes, it's a basic and romance-comedy drama and it's definitely worth watching it. But my personal rating is 8.5/10 though. Yes, I like it but I don't get the hype about this. Someone please tell me why like everyone said it was soooo amazing and definitely the most amazing drama ever and so on and so forth. I can only guess that it's like this because of Kim Soo-hyun and Park Hae-jin (they both make fangirl hearts flutter) and Jeon Ji-hyun and Yoo In-na for the fanboys (they ARE pretty, omg..)

What made this drama as successful as it was? I'm really curious but we'll probably never know.

Rooftop Prince

옥탑방 왕세자 (Rooftop Prince) is a Korean drama series that aired from March 21st to May 24th 2012 on SBS and consists of 20 episodes.

Story: After the Crown Prince Lee Gak's wife dies in 18th Century Joseon he tries to find out who killed his wife and finds himself transported 300 years into the future, in 21st Century Seoul together with the three members of his investigation team.
Landing in the rooftop apartment of Park Ha the chaos starts. Somehow she believes the quartets story and becomes their guardian as well as their teacher on living in the 21st Century with all those modern technologies. Lee Gak meets Park Ha's stepsister and believes that she is the reincarnation of his wife. He takes on the identity of his reincarnation Yong Tae-yong and tries to figure out what happened to the real Yong Tae-yong (whom he thinks got murdered because the reincarnation can't exist in the same time as he does) while solving the murder that happened 300 years ago.

Cast: The four time travelers are Crown Prince Lee Gak played by Park Yoo-chun, Lee Min-ho (born in 1993, not to be confused with the other, more popular actor Lee Min-ho) accepted the role of the incredibly smart Song Man-bo, the sword fighter Woo Yong-sool was played by Jung Suk-won and we see Choi Woo-sik as Do Chi-san who becomes a really good friend to Park Ha. Surely those four overact a little in the beginning but regarding the fact that they've never heard about a shower since that didn't exist in the Joseon Dynasty I think those reactions are quite understandable so I think they were the right ones to do the job. And I have to mention that this extremely.. gay character (excuse me, I lack words to describe this.. maybe swishy would be an option?) Choi Woo-sik accepted was hilarious. I'm not even surprised some people think the actor is gay as well (and it wouldn't be bad if he was).
Park Ha as well as her past character Boo-yong were played by Han Ji-min and I really felt like she accepted the story she was told too fast. Imagine four strangers in historical clothing appear in your apartment and tell you they come from the same place but time travelled. But that's the writer's fault, not her's, and I really like her family-oriented behavior. It seems completely true, and no matter how much her stepsister Se-na tries to get rid of her and how bad the things are Se-na says - Park Ha forgives her all the time and tries to become closer to her sister. Talking about Hong Se-na already - we have Jung Yoo-mi in that role that once again falls under the category bitchy-second-female-lead. As well as her past-self Hwa-yong who was Boo-yong's real sister.
And because every Korean drama needs a bad guy we have Lee Tae-sung as Yong Tae-moo and Lee Gak's cousin Prince Moo-chang. He's probably the character many people dislike for his motives and his personality. I agree with them. But Lee Tae-sung did an incredibly good job, I think I'll have trouble thinking about him as a good guy (if I manage to watch a drama with him in a 'good guy'-role).

Soundtrack: Talking about the OST the first thing I need to talk about is Vol. 1. I really like the fact that there are various instrumental parts that work for both, the historical part as well as the modern era-parts. And since I'm a huge fan of instrumentals used in OST's I'm definitely happy about that. But then I was a little annoyed by the songs Baek Ji-young and ALi sang for the drama. I like both of them as singers but I couldn't really connect it with the drama.
Another OST was released in late April and I have to admit that I don't remember anything - I've read that rookie group Twilight recorded a song for the second OST but don't remember the song at all (and I don't think the group still exists though, they disappeared in 2012 already). Besides for hearing their group name, I don't think there are any other artists included in the second OST that most people are familiar with. Because it is Korea and most singers are trained for years I think they can sing, yes, but that's all I can say.

My personal rating is 9/10. I'm not a huge fan of sad endings nor of supernatural things like time travelling but this one made me laugh so hard that I had to watch some scenes around four times so I could stop laughing and actually noticed what happened. It's hilarious, especially the expressions shown by the time travelling characters.

The Master's Sun

주군의 태양 (The Master's Sun) is a Korean drama that aired from August 7th to October 3rd 2013 on SBS.

Story: Tae Gong-shil who was called "Tae-yang" (which means 'Sun', just in case you didn't notice that while watching the drama) when she was younger because of her bright mind is involved in an accident and wakes up with the ability to see ghosts. Ghosts go to see her and ask for favors which makes her life a lot harder so she can't go to university. Also drinking alcohol is a baaaaaaad idea because some crazy ghost might take control over her body. One day she meets chaebol Joo Joong-won who spent his whole life making more and more money. Because of a trauma in the past he has built a cold exterior that no one, not even his father, can get through.
In the first episode while being out to help a ghost Gong-shil jumps into Joong-won's car. Though he was not willing to take her back into town, Joong-won gives in when she fearfully screams because of a ghost appearing in front of her. Tae-yang realizes at some point, that, whenever she touches Joong-won, the ghosts just disappear. And so he becomes her 'secret hideout'.
The love story that evolves around those two definitely is not one we've seen 20 times before. Tae-yang's ability to see ghosts makes things a lot more difficult and puts them in danger from time to time as well.

Cast: The main cast consists of So Ji-sub as Joo Joong-won (who makes a perfect cold-hearted chaebol, it's really easy to believe he really behaves that way) and Gong Hyo-jin as Tae Gong-shil/Tae-yang. If you want to see a bunch of charisma, here you go~ they make a great onscreen couple and it's also really easy to believe that Gong Hyo-jin is really a confused, lost and desperate young woman who is so definitely not willing to let go of her secret hideout!
Seo In-guk can be seen as Kang Woo, who's the poor second male lead - or not so poor in the end because of the second female lead (and why are those second female leads either annoying as hell or just bad characters? Can't there be someone who's less annoying?) Kim Yoo-ri as Tae Yi-ryung. Not to forget: We see Choi Jung-woo who acts in a lot of SBS dramas as Kim Gwi-do (and basically the first person to ship Joong-won and Tae-yang, I always imagined him standing there like a cheerleader) and L or Kim Myung-soo who appears in a few scenes as the younger Joong-won.

Soundtrack: The OST is.. okay, let's just stay with this. Except for me not being a huge fan of Gummy (why is she featured in this many OST's anyways? Not hating, just wondering) my personal highlights were Hyorin's "미치게 만들어 (Driving Me Crazy)" and Hong Dae Kwang's "너와 나 (You and I)". Though I actually like the song itself as well, I just don't feel like Melody Day's "All About" fit the story or the drama and actually this song was so annoying while watching the drama.
Other artists who recorded songs for the OST include T-Yoon Mi Rae and Seo In-guk.

Though it does have some flaws - I'm not even denying that it's one of my favorite K-dramas and therefore has a rating of 10/10. Yes, we do have some typical things - Second Male Lead-Syndrome, bitchy second female lead, traumatic events in the past, love triangle (one should think this gets boring someday but it obviously still works relatively well) - but at the same time it is different from what I've seen in K-dramas before. Maybe it's because of the touching stories some ghosts tell, maybe it's simply because the whole story is about a woman who's able to see ghosts and therefore - pardon me - ends up like a crazy mess. Oh, and maybe it's just because we seriously want to know how
THIS

ended up like THIS

But this drama made me realize that I'm weird. The story of a dog's ghost made me cry an ocean but Ep. 12 (? You'll know what I mean when you see that scene) leaves me completely emotionless like "Oh, yes, good job, you did protect her, now what?"

That Winter, The Wind Blows

그 겨울, 바람이 분다 (That Winter, The Wind Blows) is a rather well-known drama that originally aired from February 13th to April 3rd 2013 on SBS and consists of 16 episodes.
The drama is based on the Japanese series 愛なんていらねえよ、夏 (I Don't Need Love, Summer) that was aired in Japan in 2002.

Story: Oh Soo is on of the best gamblers in the Cheongdamdong neighborhood but lives a rather meaningless life: He was left behind by his parents under a tree when he was a baby and lost his first love. There's another man called Oh Soo who takes care of his home.
The gambler Oh Soo is in a relationship with the actress So-ra who's nearly obsessed with him and doesn't realize that he doesn't love her as much. When she has to leave for one year, she plans to get him arrested for embezzlement afraid he might leave her for another woman when she's not with him.
One day, Oh Young, the heir of a company, appears at Oh Soo's apartment door and asks for him but he realizes that he's looking for the other Oh Soo. Later he reads out a letter the brother of that woman wrote to her because she is blind but has to run away soon. The other Oh Soo returns and dies. At the same time Oh Young's father passed away and she left.
One year later Oh Soo is in a difficult situation but suddenly a company attorney appears mistaking him for the dead Oh Soo who would've been another heir for the same company as Oh Young since they were siblings. Thinking he might be able to repay a debt he has left because of So-ra he decides to become the Oh Soo that died one year ago..

Cast: The cast is actually a really good one, the main reason why I watched this drama. At first we have Jo In-sung as Oh Soo. I've never heard about him before but I think it was actually a good drama for him to become more popular. Song Hye-kyo is seen as Oh Young. I don't know if it's really that difficult but I still think it's rather hard to act as if you're blind. I mean you can't show any reaction to the things you can't here and feel and remaining emotionless while 'looking' straight ahead needs a lot of proficiency. Oh Soo's best friend and partner Park Jin-sung was acted by Kim Bum, the main reason why I watched this drama. He's not a coward, quite the opposite, and he wants to take every risk to save his life. I quite like Kim Bum taking the roles of impulsive characters, it fits him well. Especially if he's confronted with a woman like Moon Hee-sun who was played by Jung Eun-ji of A Pink. Watching the two of them fight is actually one of the funniest things in the drama. And yes, Eun-ji did a good job as well.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack was performed by good and popular ballad singers who participated in many many many soundtracks before. My favorite track was sung by Yesung of Super Junior and is called "먹지 (Gray Paper)". I've been listening to this song without a break for hours because it's so beautiful. Another really good song was "그리고 하나 (And One)" by Taeyeon of SNSD. Though I'm not a huge fan of SM Entertainment artists, I really liked those two songs. But I'm not that much into the ballad genre so to me, the OST was a little bit boring after some time.


My personal rating: 6/10

Why such a 'bad' rating? It might be because it's a melodrama but from time to time I almost fell asleep.. some dialogues were written in an incredible boring manner, there weren't that many exciting scenes - and usually I've heard a melodrama should make people cry? If that's the case it definitely didn't work. I think it's good if you're into that genre but I doubt I would've finished this if it wouldn't have been for the cast who put a lot of effort into this. The soundtrack is nice but if you're more into dance pop or rock ballads it's definitely not the right OST for you.
On the other hand, the scenery, the filming and the characters are nice so.. take those really beautiful gifs for now.

The Musical

더 뮤지컬 (The Musical) is a Korean drama that aired from September 2nd to December 23rd 2011 on SBS.

Story: Go Eun-bi wants to become a musical singer. Musicals are her life, she dreams about musicals at night. One night she's singing in a park and gets the advice that she shouldn't think about becoming a musical actress without talent. Willing to prove the person that he was wrong she decides to take a break from her medical studies and participate in numerous auditions but fails all of them. Two weeks before she has to return to med school she's desperate and participates in an audition for a male musical actor dressed up as a man but she's discovered and thrown out. Following she meets a woman in the restroom claiming to be a musical instructor. Eun-bi once again decides to leave school, for a year this time, and she strongly believes that she can make her dream come true.

Cast: At first we have Koo Hye-sun as Go Eun-bi. Personally I love Koo Hye-sun's characters, all of them are such strong females. A princess who knows how to defend herself and acts the way she really is. I can't wait to watch more dramas with her. Choi Daniel participates in the drama as the composer Hong Jae-Yi and somehow one just has to like his character in this drama. Another important male character is Yoo Jin played by Park Ki-woong, another actor I really like and respect.
Other important actresses included in the main cast are Ok Joo-hyun as Bae Kang-hee, Ki Eun-se as Seo Ra-kyung and Park Kyeong-rim as Sa Bok-ja.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack goes well with the whole 'Musical' topic. Makes sense, doesn't it? There's one duet I really love by Koo Hye-sun and Park Ki-woong, I think it's in episode 10 but don't remember cleary. However, this duet was nearly perfect and I would've loved a studio version of this but couldn't find anything - sadly. However, I think the whole soundtrack is nice but can be pretty annoying if you're not a huge fan of musical songs.

My rating is 6/10 which would be like a good average but not because the story is bad or someone did a poor job. No, I just feel like it was somehow boring from time to time. I didn't skip any scenes, that's not like me, but some things were just unnecessary in my personal opinion.