Ohh man this one was all kinds of levels of cringe to me. I found it quite hard to watch because of the acting, however I really appreciate the overall storyline of this episode. I was so so happy with the ending. I really couldn’t have thought of any better ending than the one the writers ended up going with. If I were to completely ignore all the cringe dialogue that went on between the characters, I’d say this one was pretty solid. Lots of great humor, especially with the obligatory “using a urinal for the first time” scene. This is such a guilty pleasure, I love me some trash tv.

Read More

Cause I can't help falling in love

This is the highest rated drama on MyDramaList that I have watched to this day, but, as much of an emotional attachment I have been able to develop to this drama, I cannot help but recognize its many flaws that make it quite an overrated drama overall. Now, don’t get me wrong, this drama was freaking awesome. I loved the leads and the side characters to bits, and the music, although not the most impressive soundtrack, did contribute quite a bit to the waterfall of tears I shed for this drama. But because I loved it so much I can’t help but wish for some parts of it to be a little different. So here we go: Right off the bat, I’m just gonna be honest and say that I didn’t like the drama at all during its first 3-4 episodes. It just didn’t click with me right away. The comedy was a little ridiculous, but I learned to get past it and love the drama anyway. The first “part” of the drama that happened in North Korea felt very repetitive. It was the same sequence of “ooh boy she’s come up with a plan to get out of North Korea” only to be followed by “oh man, another unforeseen obstacle prevented her from escaping successfully” and repeated several more times to the point where I just didn’t even hold out any hope for her escaping AT ALL. Now to address some cliches. 1)Fated to meet *barf* 2)Ri Jeong Hyuk’s brother’s death caused him to become distant and cold-hearted (dramatic much? I get that you loved him, but plenty of people lost their loved ones and didn’t act like the world suddenly ended) 3) Now this may just be my personal opinion, but the “big bad villain following the rich South Korean heiress into her country to kill her” sequence was a little ridiculous and super annoying to watch. While we’re on the topic, I tend to err on the more realistic side of Korean dramas, and watching these two lovesick idiots take bullets for one another time after time and end up in a hospital bed was just a little too gruesome and depressing for me. I tend to avoid dramas where characters face violent or even fatal encounters for that exact reason. Last two complaints, I PROMISE. I wasn’t a fan of how Ri Jeong Hyeok kept lying to the South Korean officials about his intentions for the sake of saving Yoon Se Ri from legal troubles when he left. He was clearly making her miserable and yet he kept lying I JUST UGH. While I’m probably one of the few (or maybe not lol) people that thought that eliminating the second male lead was a bold and frankly quite a fun choice, I can’t say the same for how they wrapped up the ending of the drama for the main leads. Once again, largely personal opinion, but I found it so depressing how the couple could never truly be together and had to rely on two weeks for every YEAR to meet each other. I didn’t watch 20 hours of a Korean drama only for you to tell me that they don’t even get a proper happy ending! Now, while I just typed up a huge freaking essay of complaints about the drama, I have to admit that watching CLOY was one of the best experiences of my life, all the frustrating parts of it aside. The side characters/second leads were so well developed over the course of the drama that I felt like the love story between Jeong Hyeok and Se Ri had a dramatic impact on all the characters on both sides of the 39th parallel. This drama explored all angles of the story and wrapped up the side characters’ narratives even better than it did with the leads, and while I will always cherish the main leads’ romance, it is the side characters that ended up completely stealing the show and making this drama one for the ages.

Read More

I'm getting emotional just thinking about this drama

I don't think a whole novel would be enough for me to fully describe just how amazing this drama was and how incredibly well the characters were developed. This is actually my first 10 star rating. As a musician myself, I could really relate to Seo Ri when she struggled with the violin. Same reason I could never hate Tae Rin since I could relate to her hatred and jealousy of fellow musicians who are favored more and are generally better than you. I cried so much in this drama that I stopped keeping count. I can recall several moments where I had full on breakdowns during some of the really emotional scenes. The actress Shin Hye Sun is so freaking good though, cause whenever she cries I suddenly want to cry with her. I felt for Chan so much throughout the whole drama and I'm glad he was mature enough to realize that his crush on Seo Ri could never be anything bigger. Though I'm not kidding, had the writer been bold enough to make the second lead win over the girl in the end, I would not have minded one bit. Jennifer is honestly such a gem of a character and I always looked forward to seeing her more because she says the most hilarious things. Later on we learn her tragic story, and I'm glad that she also got a happy ending like all the other characters. Love you, Jennifer. The ending was one of the most beautiful endings I've ever watched in ANY show EVER. Honestly, I'm still in a bit of a KDrama slump right now because nothing could possibly rival this masterpiece. The beginning might feel quite slow, but I honestly never felt bored watching this drama because of the character and relationship development constantly going on. Have fun watching the best drama ever.

Read More

Kind of a confusing mess

This drama was a pretty interesting watch. In a weird way, though, they somehow managed to rush the romance yet make the story drag at times at the same time. It feels like the romance between HYR and LSY kind of appeared out of nowhere, but it was still pretty cute nonetheless. The day-to-day life of airport employees that this KDrama showcased was interesting, and I have a deeper respect for airport employees now because of that. Not gonna lie though, I was extremely confused with the bad blood between LSY and his hyung, but I just kind of went along with the storyline anyway. Altogether, this was a nice drama, but they could have expanded on the romance a bit more and shortened the uninteresting office drama.

Read More

Political angst and great comedy

This was my first Kim Yoo Jung drama, and damn, she's a great actress. The story was kinda boring at times when they focused more on politics and not romance, but it didn't last too long and it was still interesting, just not very entertaining. I wish this drama gave us more of a conclusion to the romance, maybe telling us what is next for the couple, instead of just leaving them there with some issues unresolved. Overall, there were quite a few ridiculous but also amazingly hilarious moments in the drama, and I was enjoying every second of the episodes where Yoo Jung's character struggled with maintaining her identity a secret.

Read More

Well then

This drama was so short and so strange that I don’t even know what to say about it. I appreciate the drama’s overall message about how we shouldn’t let our gender decide how we want to live our lives, despite the fact that the gender roles were often quite overexaggerated. I don’t know about China, but no one in my family is limiting my career choices to secretary or flight attendant or trying to marry me off to a nice, rich man. Despite the flaws, especially the really weird and incomplete ending, this was a very enjoyable 3 hours for me, and it’s always fun to watch some “trash” dramas every once in a while. Would recommend.

Read More

Nice, quick watch for destressing

To be honest, I don't really remember the Chinese version of this drama very well because I watched it over a year ago. I have to say, though, this version of the drama left me with a much better impression than the Chinese Drama. The story was quick but not rushed, and I have to say that I liked the way the main leads were written in this drama a lot better. I'm still always going to be team Wu Bosong/Woo Dae Sung because I still think Cha Heon/Jiang Chen is a piece of crap human being for putting the FL through so much heartache. Both dramas had a really catchy theme song, and I could definitely feel the magic that the Chinese Drama had in the Korean version as well. I wasn't the biggest fan of either of these dramas, but I needed something to watch on Netflix during a time that I couldn't really invest in a more serious drama, and this did the trick. My overall attitude toward Cha Heon was a lot better than for his Chinese counterpart (don't know why - I just hated the ML in the C version), however I think they should have picked a different actor for the role. Kim Yo Han's acting skills majorly lacked compared to his co-stars, and I found his expressions and lines to be largely stiff and unconvincing. While there's also been criticism for the FL, I have a soft spot for So Ju Yeon, so I kind of don't mind haha. This drama is nothing revolutionary, but the overall product was a lot better than its Chinese version, in my own humble opinion. I’d recommend if you have time to kill or are into this sort of thing :)

Read More