This is a charming drama that is better than its title implies. Choi Hyun Wook steals every scene he is in. He’s also a pretty good singer (assuming that was really him singing in the drama). The drama has a Back To the Future vibe to it and it doesn’t quite stick the landing but it comes close enough.

One thing I always wonder when I see dramas where the protagonist time travels to the past then returns to a changed present is what supposedly happens to all of the memories the protagonist had from his life before he time traveled. As a result of the changes he made noone else in his present life would have those same memories, right? And he would have no memory of his revised past.

I need to know in case I ever time travel.

Leia Mais

What just happened. The story and acting were compelling but the ending just wiped out everything. Okay, I'll admit that the ending was more logical and realistic than the whole "one more chance to do over" storyline but...what? (sputters to oneself.)

Because the ending wiped out most of what happened before (ironic since the initial premise was to wipe out one's past mistakes and start over), it felt as if all of the emotions developed over the course of the story became empty. But I don't hate this drama because it completely fooled me and I have a grudging admiration for that. Plus the ride was fun while it lasted.

Leia Mais

ugh. First, I think that the women should have concentrated on setting up their businesses and dumping their respective boyfriends who regressed to middle school with each other. All sorts of sniping and glaring and hurt feelings. I kept expecting the boys to start pulling each other’s hair and slapping each other.

As for, Yoon Ha, she comes across as inept (everything she accomplished at Tae Jin was a result of work Joon Gi, Chang Soo or Yi Ji did for her) and somewhat hypocritical (e.g., criticizing the privileged for abusing their power then using her brother’s power to take revenge on those who offended her). And when the first male lead declared that he fell in love with Yoon Ha the first time they met, I wondered what the prior 15 episodes had been all about.

Finally, after all of the fuss about the brother’s disappearance, the “resolution” seemed to be almost an afterthought.

Leia Mais

One of the best dramas I've watched. This drama has a lot of complicated political intrigue and beautiful cinematography, and, importantly, a lot of very smart characters, including plenty of smart women. There was some romance but it paled in comparison to the wonderful heartfelt bromances. And, unlike most Korean dramas, everything wasn’t neatly tied up into one big happy pill, which made Nirvana’s ending much more meaningful and satisfying. I nearly gave up after the first episode because it was confusing with too many characters being introduced too quickly and too briefly (hint: learn their names!) but I’m glad I stuck with it. I would recommend this drama to people who like complex plots and who like to watch smart people behaving intelligently.

Leia Mais

This is basically a romance set during the 1980 Gwanju protests. I thought that the Romeo and Juliet couple, beautifully acted by Lee Do Hyun and Go Min Si, pulled all of the appropriate heartstrings. But the characters surrounding them leaned melodramatic and simplistic. The evil villains, for example, were simply evil, whose evil acts were motivated by evilness. The troubled relationship between Kim Myung Hee and her father did not resonate with me because the whole thing seemed kind of over the top but, at the same time, petty. The Lee siblings’ characters had little depth or complexity. And the Gwanju protests and why and how everything went horribly wrong seemed to be simply background noise, albeit terrible background noise, to move the love story along.

Leia Mais

I had high hopes for this drama after the first couple of episodes but I became less enthusiastic as I kept watching. First, Jung Geum Ju’s antics and tactics started bothering me as she stepped up the lying and coercion and criminal activity. i know that the drama is a satire but it also seemed to be touting her prowess and skill and showing that the ends justify the means. Plus she never developed as a character. Second, I didn’t like the way that Yoon Hee Jae kept pursuing her after she rejected him. If someone says no, the other person needs to back off; it doesn’t matter how sexy or attractive he is, he needed to respect Jung Geum Ju’s wishes. I do think, however, that Ju Ji Hoon’s acting was amazing. Kim Hye Soo not so much, especially her cringe-worthy overacting at the hotel suite towards the end. There’s a way to do that over-exaggerated acting and make it funny (I’m thinking of Han Ji Eun in Be Melodramatic) but Kim Hye Soo’s was too much.

Leia Mais

My expectations may have been too high because I was underwhelmed by this drama. I think that the ending focused too much on the charming, but very predictable romance, at the expense of the other story lines. The “surprise” was not a surprise because the happily-ever-after ending was such a foregone conclusion that I assumed immediately that the shooting was a setup. What I liked instead throughout the drama were the flashes of humor, such as when Moon Ho pushed Jung Hoo’s “dying” face down. Or when Min Ja paused during her escape from her lair to stare longingly at all of her knitting projects.

Leia Mais

Sorry. I'm not against dramas poking fun at serious issues and if this one had done it with more cleverness and less ham-handed cheap laughs, it might have worked. I truly felt like IQ points were screaming and dying in my brain as I watched this.

For example, I can’t stand the mother pimping out her daughter, even though it’s clearly being played for laughs, and the whole gay-not gay thing seems tonally off to me. (I’ve never been a big fan of the Coffee Prince/You’re Beautiful approach to homosexuality where the writer uses it as a device to advance conventional, heterosexual love. The underlying message seems to be that True Love can override sexual preference, as if homosexuality is a choice and all you need is to meet that one special person. And I disliked Personal Taste because of the male lead coyly pretending to be gay in order to advance his agenda.) Except for Do Bong-Soon and her grandmother, the women are weak and Do Bong-Soon herself isn’t very bright. Those things, added to the sadistic kidnap/murder theme, make me feel that there is a misogynistic streak running through this drama.

ETA: Another thing that bothered me is that stock value in the male lead’s company dives after news reports surface that he is gay. It’s played as if that’s funny. It’s not.

Leia Mais

I started and dropped this drama three times before finishing it. The biggest problem I had with it was the Orchid fairy character. I rarely enjoy dramas where the female lead character is artless, naive, and not too bright. There was also something about Esther Yu's wide-eyed delivery that exacerbated all of those characteristics. But I kept hearing such glowing reviews about the drama that I pushed through to the end. I think I understand why people like it. Both the Esther Yu and Dylan Wang characters do evolve over time. There is some welcome humor to leaven the plot. Plus the costumes and sets are alternately beautiful and over-the-top campy, which made it fun. I also liked the Dan Yin and Jie Li characters.

Leia Mais

The Niao Niao character makes this a great and entertaining watch because she is one of the toughest and smartest drama heroines out there. Although the love story is beautiful, it is watching her stand up for herself and come into her own that makes this drama special. There is a lot of intrigue and fighting and revenge but there is also a lot of humor sprinkled throughout, which makes the 56 episodes race by. Ling Bu Yi makes for a worthy suitor who is just as principled (and stubborn) as she is, but just as emotionally damaged too. Watching the two of them clash and fall in love and clash some more is addictive. There are also some great side characters. One of my favorites was Empress Yue, who deserves an entire drama devoted to her. I also really really liked Niao Niao's interactions with the scholar.

I think this is one of the best, most epic romances around.

Leia Mais

This drama was mind-bending and imaginative and a lot of fun. I liked the fact that I never knew what was going to happen next. The writer was very very clever and managed to pull it off, for the most part. Lee Jong Suk was perfect for the role. After all, he looks like a manga character come to life. I always underestimate his acting ability due to his looks but he routinely exceeds my expectations. No exception here. And I always love Han Hyo Joo, who seems to pick good projects. There were a few particularly inventive things that stood out from the usual drama. The fading in and out from manga drawings was magical, especially due to the fact that they kept the manga aesthetic rather than trying to make the portraits exact copies of the subjects. And I could tell that the writer tried really hard to make everything tie together, while throwing in unexpected delights such as the water in the bathroom, probably my favorite scene. Well done, everyone.

Leia Mais