Dramas Reviews Galore

I’ve been away for several weeks but I’m back, excited as ever and ready to write! I’ll start with several short reviews. Those dramas are finished for weeks but I really wanted to write about them either because there were disappointment, way too underrated or the contrary!

DESCENDANTS OF THE SUN 

“You can’t fight your fate.”

 What can I say about Descendants Of The Sun except that it was a huge success and I don’t really know why. All right maybe I have an idea and maybe it’s not the right one but I promise Song Joong-ki must have played an important role. That said, the drama wasn’t the hot mess I thought it would be. I’ve read so many good and bad things about it, I was excepting the worse but surprisingly it was not only watchable, it was (sometimes) entertaining. 

My main problem with Descendants Of The Sun was the cheesy romance. And ironically my main problem was also the central point of the whole drama. You can’t always have what you want in life. I’ve really liked some of the writer’s, Kim Eun-sook, previous projects. The unforgettable Secret Garden, the sweet City Hall or the funny forty-something band of Gentleman’s Dignity. I disliked The Heirs despite the pretty cast, but that’s another long story. So I kind of knew what to expect but Descendants Of The Sun kind of took me by surprise. The tacky romance, the teen level love dialogues almost finished me. I was excepting some fleur bleu kind of romance but not to that extend. And it started within the first fifteen minutes. Yoo Shi-jin (Song Joong-ki) falls for the sexy doctor Kang Mo-yeon (Song Hye-kyo). It’s love at first sight, at least for him. After the usual complications that only occurs in dramas (I won’t lie, I love them), our soldier and sexy doctor manage to meet during a date or two but you know, drama won’t ever get enough complications.  And after some more, they’ll both call their fresh (or no existent) relation quits.

The two lovebirds pushed by fate and universe, will meet again in an imaginary country, Urk. He’s there to help the natives, she’s the chief of a voluntary team send by her hospital. You help the poor autochthones while promoting your hospital. It’s killing two birds with one stone. I didn’t like the first two episodes. I know you set the scene during those episodes but in the facts we didn’t learn anything at all, except that Yoo Shi-jin fell deeply in love. I was honestly scared not only to feel bored but also to be frustrated all through the drama. But the Urk’s part happened to be quite entertaining. There were action, humor, danger, pain and…more cheesy romance. Well once I decided to stay stick to the drama, I had to deal with it. ‘So bring it drama, more of those killing lines. I’m ready for anything!’

As crazy as it may sound, the earthquake was my favorite part. Exaggerate in many ways, a bit far-fetched, emotional, painful, tearjecker (naturally) I still found it right. It perfectly combined the soldier’s interventions and the doctor’s cares and made the whole part quite interesting. I liked this state of emergency and how the drama manged all the elements in presence. 

During that earthquake, I particularly liked the story of the cutie, Lee Chi-hoon (Onew). The drama took the time to show the young doctor’s inner conflicts regarding the Hippocratic Oath, his goals in life and the field reality he wasn’t really aware of. That earthquake and its sub-stories was definitely an interesting section. I wouldn’t mind having another earthquake. One or two, it’s no difference in a drama that had more disasters in 16 episodes than any other drama in the decade. Our leads and most of the cast, encountered so many calamities and difficulties, I ended betting with my sister, wondering what would come next. Earthquake? Done. Mines? Done. Risky and contagious virus? Done. Weapons and drug traffickers? Done. I bet for a Zika’s episode. I lost but four more episodes and I swear I would have won.

Urk must be the most unlucky country on earth, no joke. Or is it our characters? Anyway I found the whole disasters’ succession quite redundant. I guess you need climax in every episode and Song Joon-ki can’t do all the work by simply standing there. As I said the whole part in Urk stayed my favorite part despite, the heavy clichés: the poor kids, some intentionally tanned (please guys), the villain (Argus portrayed by David McInnis) taking control of the whole city, the usual traitor and two or three kidnappings.                                                                 

The comeback in Seoul, gave the drama new opportunities to crazy and unexpected developments. Most of them really got me hopeless. 

If the romance between our leads killed me most of the time, the love line between Seo Dae-young (Jin Goo) and Yoon Myeong-joo (Kim Ji-won) won me over. More than their love story it’s probably their diametrically different personalities and their alchemy I found so sweet. They were funny, touching, pitiful in many ways but deeply in love. Despite all the problems in the way. And their main problem was Myeon-joo’s father, Lietenant General Yoon (Kang Shin-il). When his opposition to Dae-young started I was like “No, not agaiiiiiin. Not that chorus again, we know it by heart”! Thank God the chorus didn’t last long. The writer had pity on us. I remember Jin Goo from Falling For Innocence (the first two episodes) and from a movie I can’t recall. Two episodes aren’t enough to judge but I found him so endearing as a soldier passionate by his work and… his woman! He’s impartial, has his principals but is torn between love and duty. Can I have one like him? I mean, dedicate and cute? Just asking. Kim Ji-won, for me, was until this drama, the bitchy Rachel in The Heirs. Talk about a reference. She managed to make me see her differently and like her quite a lot. Those two were undeniably a lovely second leads’ couple that worth the ride. I’m anticipating their next moves in dramaland (comeback quickly). 

 But undeniably the first couple of Descendants Of The Sun is Yoo Shi-jin and Seo Sae-young! That bromance was just great. Brothers to the bones, dedicated to their jobs, they were so fun and great you couldn’t help having that stupid smile on your face every time. The two together were like a fresh drink in a hot summer! Cheers! 

Kim Eun-sook succeeded in creating attaching characters. And I mean not only the leads. From Song joong-ki’s soldiers team to Song’s doctor’s team, to the Lieutenant and the sexy humanitarian doctor, Daniel (Cho Tae-kwan). I got attached to most of them even if they were put in some crazy circumstances. 

I can’t finish my review without mentioning two things: the astonishing cinematography and the OST. Most of dramas of that time slot looked cheap compare to the beautiful job done in Descendants Of The Sun. The landscape, the angles took by the camera brought amazing images. If you can’t endure most the cheesy in the drama it’s partially because of the cinematography. 

Then we have the OST. They used the songs in way tooooo many scenes and without warning most of the time, that’s a give but the songs were gorgous. Chances were high for me to suffer the same syndrome as in Boys Before Flowers (Almooost Paradiiiiiiiiise. Rings a bell to anyone?) but Heaven had mercy on me. Nice songs and I won’t hide it, I still play most of them on repeat. 

Descendants Of The Sun isn’t the horrible thing I thought it will be. It was just another overrated drama. I can even point out one reason that could explain his crazy success (…Song Joong-ki...haven’t said anything. I’m out). I guess you don’t always have to search for a reason. People just got hoocked in a way I don’t really understand and I won’t try to rationalize that attachment. 

It was a fun ride I won’t do twice tough. I’m patiently waiting for Song Joong-ki’s following project and writer Kim Eun-sook’s new drama. The latter will probably be cheesy but she keeps coming with hotties as her heroes, I simply can’t ignore that fact. She’s clever, I swear she is. 

GOODBYE MR. BLACK

“Revenge is a dish served cold.”

Talk about a disappointment! I had so many expectations about Goodbye Mr. Black, I’m writing my review with a bitter after taste. 

I barely believe the writer managed to beautifully mess an Alexandre Duma’s novel, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, which was the base of this revenge tale. Goodbye Mr Black isn’t a tense and powerful journey of a tortured and betrayed hero, it’s a common makjang revengeful drama, full of crazy twists and birth secrets. I’ve been into the story till episode 7. It was interesting enough for me to ask for more. It was a deja-vu but the Thailand part actually did the job except for the poor directory. Goodbye Mr. Black’s cinematography always felt like in process. Like the director wasn’t sure about what to do. ‘You know what, let’s just put one scene after another and we’ll see after.’ That’s an option, but definitely not the best one! Someone should just tell him.  Despite the terrible directing, the story in Thailand was captivating. Yes the way our hero Black/Cha Ji-won (Lee Jin-wook) has been trapped was deja-vu. Nothing new, which is already too bad. But if you add to that a poor directing, it’s really too much drama. If you’re not going to be original at least be beautifully stunning! 

So our so perfect and beloved hero has to face all the problems of the universe. Over one night. Harsh. Cha Ji won grew up with his father, Chae Jae-wan (Jeong Dong-hwan) his sister Cha Ji-soo (Im Se-mi), his best friend, Min Seo-jae (Kim Kang-woo) and his first love, Yoon Ma-ri (Yoo In-young). The two best friends grew up being soldiers in the Navy. Nothing should normally shatter this perfect picture into pieces except that Min Seo-jae is the most frustrated guy on earth! I mean seriously frustrated. His father, Min Young-jae (Lee Dae-yeon) is a gambler, a swindler and the most embarrassment of his life. Despite his friendship with the wealthy Cha family, he’s always seen his poor background as a handicap. On top of that Min Seo-jae is deeply and crazily in love with Ma-ri who only has eyes for Cha Ji-won. That obviously makes him a future problem for our hero.

And indeed one thing leading to another the best friend will entangle himself with the very worrying Baek Eun-do (Jo Guk-hwan). He’s an obscure businessman who approached Ji-won’s father several times in order to work with him. So when the latter dies in Thailand in strange circumstances and his sole heirs Ji-won and Ji-soo are put aside, Min Seo-jae is giving the opportunity to finally take his revenge on this life that gave him nothing but frustrations and bitterness. When I say that Ji-won and Ji-soo are put aside, I merely mean the first one is framed as a murderer by Min Seo-jae and Beak Eun-do and Ji-soo is reported missing. Pouf, gone. 

It’s in those crazy circumstances that Ji-won, in mission in Thailand, will meet a girl named Khaya (Moon Chae Won). She has no family, no memory and barely survives in Thailand by selling juices on beach or stealing autochthones with his accomplice Go Sung-min (Lee Wong-jong). A rich and kind Korean citizen, Kim Ji-ryon (Kim Tae-won), vainly tried to help Khaya as his fellow compatriot, but the girl is stubborn. She doesn’t trust anybody and only counts on herself. But her stubbornness won’t last long, the situation will make her trust Ji-won more than anyone else in the world.  And the fugitive Cha Ji-won will need all the help and trust in the world to stay alive.

You never know your friends. Min Seo-jae betrayed his friend to finally enjoy what life never gives him. It’s crazy to see how far your frustration and your jealousy can take. The most insane with Min Seo-jae’s character is everything was the fruit of his imagination. Cha Ji-won’s father loved him like a son, Ji-won like a brother and Ji-soo like a potential husband. He was surrounded by love because of the barriers he erects in his heart, he never felt it.

Cha Ji-won and Min Seo-jae was definitely the main couple in the drama for me. The love-hate relationship, this bromance turned into frenemies was mostly insane.

To escape Min Seo-jae and the terrible arabuji, Baek Do-eun, Ji-won has no choice. He has to “disappear” and come back stronger than ever to start his revenge because reasonably a revengeful drama without a good vengeance is pointless. 

Five years after Cha Ji-won’s disappearance, Khaya, who has finally been persuaded by Kim Ji-ryoon, is now back in Korea and goes by the name of Kim Swan. Cha Ji-won choose it for her back in the time, it was natural for her to pick that name. Swan’s been adopted by Kim Ji-ryoon’s mother, Jung Hyun-Sook (Jung Hye-sun) and works as a journalist for Panda Magazine, a small independent Internet journal, run by Seo Woo-jin (Song Jae-rim). The latter is a former law student, Kim Ji ryoon’s friend and the son of Seo Jin-tak (Choi Jung-woo) a big name in Cha Ji-woo’s father’s company and not exactly Ji-won’s best ally. It’s complicated, but only on paper. Swan, the lost orphan, isn’t alone anymore. She has a lovely family, a job she loves but something’s missing: Cha Ji-won!

Don’t be too sad Swan, the man you love is back. He goes by the name of Black and is determinate to make the villains bite the dust. It’s going to be bloody and violent, not to put under kids’ eyes. At least that’s what I thought. But the result was never up to my expectations. Far from that. The story had the typical elements: love triangle, sacrifices, a dying hero, threats, birth secrets but didn’t even managed to use them to its advantage. 

A lot of water has passed under the bridge, Min Seo-jae is now married to Ma-ri, he’s the company’s CEO, lives in Cha Ji-won’s familial house, enjoys the life of the rich and famous and works with his fierce associate, the crazy arabuji. When his best friend he thought died, resurfaces, Min Seo-jae has to deal with some tiny complications. Next to nothing complications: he framed him for murder, tried to kill him and is partially responsible of Cha Ji-soo’s disappearance. Min Seo-jae and Baek Eun-do cling into power like shellfishes on their rock. Of course they won’t give in so easily. All these elements provide excellent material for a perfect revenge but again the drama wasn’t able manage. All the skulduggery that surrounded the company where dull, flat and not very exciting. The strategic game between Black and the villains was not the best thing the drama offered. And the problem is the drama didn’t offer us much good things. That hurts when you have bunch of talented actors. 

I did like the team behind Black, Go Sung-min (the one from Thailand), his daughter Mei (Ha Yeon-joo) and Ahn Gye-dong (Bae Yoo-ram). Funny and dedicate, I loved their interaction and how they were a big family with Swan, Kim Ji-ryoon and Seo Woo-jin. 

Goodbye Mr. Black missed the boat. Instead of serving us a good and breathless revenge drama, we ended up watching a classic and highly predictable drama. 

I won’t say this drama wasted talented actors….wait yes I’m going to say it! It did and it did it masterly. Being a huge fan of Moon Chae Won it breaks my heart cause I know I’ll have to wait a year or two (aaarrgh) to see her in another tv project. I’ll be patient if I have to but come back in something awesome. I’m also talking to you Song Jae-rim and Kim Kang-woo in case you might not understand.

Goodbye Mr. Black. Literally. You did your best but you won’t be missed.

MEMORY 

“Live your life to the fullest.”

  

Memory is the kind of drama I wouldn’t even put an eye on before. A premise with a sick hero? No thank you. I like to be surprised. If the hero is dying I rather found out later even if it has to kill me. At least I will give the drama a try. Knowing upfront Park Tae-suk(Lee Sung-min) is suffering from Alzheimer and will slowly loss his memory along the episodes, wasn’t frankly a good news. But then the mere fact that Lee Sung-min was confirmed for the role bothered me. I love him. I started Memory with so much apprehension. I didn’t want to spend all my time crying and wondering when the drama will drag me to the grave because of the melo. 

But the drama surprised me by being a beautiful show, not gloomy and depressing but human and warm. 

Memory took the excuse of Alzheimer for our hero to change his life and restart the investigation of his child’s death that happened 15 years ago. Park Tae-suk (Lee Sung-min) was married to the actual prosecutor Na Eun-sun (Park Jin-hee). They were the happy parents of a little 4 years boy Park Dong-woo. I say were because the latter lost his life in a hit and run. Despite the determination of the couple, they never been able to find the culprit and ended up divorcing. Park Tae-suk is now a successful lawyer. He’s part of a tv program, he’s known for winning most of his trial. His not only ferocious, he’s talented. Scouted by Lee Chan-moo (Jeon No-min), right after his child’s death, he’s devoted to that man who saved him and to the firm that offered him a new chance in life. Call it reconnaissance.

 

He’s now married to Seo Young-joo (Kim Ji-sun) an understanding wife and has two kids, Park Jung-woo (Nam Da-reum) and Park Yeon-woo (Kang Ji-woo). A perfect picture. The only problem is our successful lawyer is going to be diagnosed with Alzheimer. After the shock, the denial, Park Tae-suk will have to make choices: keep on being the ferocious and emotionless lawyer he is or change completely his ways; take the time to be with his family or keep on dedicating his time to his job. Confronted to so many choices, one thing is for sure for Park Tae-suk, he has to restart the investigation of Dong-woo’s death.

I have a soft spot (such a delusional euphemism) for Lee Junho. When I read he was casted as Jung Jin, the new recruit and Par Tae-suk’s right-hand, I was just like ‘No way I’ll miss this’. His first drama and it has to be with Lee Sung-min, talk about a first good drama experience! Lee Sung-min is talented. He was astonishing in Misaeng and I was expecting him to be as good in Memory. 

 

 And he delivered. Park Tae-suk seems like a simple character on papers: a blinkered lawyer who has to deal with the consequences of an incurable disease and the impact the latter will have on his family and job. But the thing is our hero is more complex than that. He has inner battles that could only be delivered by someone with as much talent as Lee Sung-min. The writing was good enough for watchers to not only care about the different and interesting cases but also to put ourselves in Park Tae-suk’s shoes. I suffered when he first lost his way, was cringing on my seat when he was losing track of his conversations, cried when he went to his ex-wife’s house instead of home, was screaming the names he couldn’t recall and wanted to be his personal agenda when he started to forget important meetings. 

More difficult cases will come for Park Tae-suk. How to defend the best firm’s client, the very disturbing Shin Young-jin (Lee Ki-woo) who’s accused of conjugal violence when you just decided to practise law differently? How to close your eyes when everything pointing it out to him? How to hide your condition while slowly (as slowly as Alzheimer can let you) changing? That’s where Jung Ji, the newbie, helped by Bong Sun-hwa (Yoon So-hee), the secretary will become a key point to Park Tae-suk. 

Freshly graduate, Jung Ji he has a poor background and being hired as trainee in a big lawyer firm is a unique chance in life. He idealizes the job and his first case with his ‘mentor’ Park Tae-suk is going to ruin all his hopes. Yes he’s poor, but he rather pays back all the money he received before starting than becoming a shark. He has principals and won’t betray them. Well only fools don’t change their minds because our newbie eventually decided not to resign. And he will earn next to Park Tae-suk more than experience, he’ll learn to make the right choices and that justice sometimes comes from blood but worth it in the end. In the process, Jung Jin will fall for Bong Sun-hwa’s beauty and witty spirit. And God knows I found them particularly cute together.

They’ll both become our hero’s best allies and support. And he’ll need all the support in the world because the reinvestigation of Dong-woo’s death will make him confronting his employer and will reveal a dirty truth.

The last two episodes were a bit rushed, but that doesn’t change the value of the show. It was a melo I loved from one end to the other. There were lot of tears but I managed them mostly because there was an investigation and a thirst for justice. I completely immersed myself into it as our hero. 

The underrated Memory was incredible because we were not only witnessing a man losing his memory, it was a journey of finding out what’s really matter in life, a seek of justice and a battle for his loved ones. Park Tae-suk changed for the better and I was happy to see it.