What if there were Drama Bars like Sports Bars but for drama fans?

There may not be a large cross section of rabid professional sports fans and diehard Korean drama fans so this metaphor may not work. But for those that haven’t, imagine being in a sports bar with the vast array of screens, each showing different sporting events. This one has baseball. That one has MMA. Over there is basketball. And viewers are trying to assimilate all of them at once. All of them have a common element of athletic competition but there’s different objectives and strategies and rules.

Watching “Kiss Sixth Sense” is somewhat like this somewhat disorienting, many-things-happening-at-once where there’s some commonality but no synchronicity.

The only interpretation of how and why the pieces of “Kiss Sixth Sense” don’t sync up is that each character and actor seem to be acting in a different genre of drama. It’s like if multiple users across the planet on Tik Tok dueted the same script but each had a unique take and approach and someone spliced them all together into twelve episodes of hour long Korean drama television. It sounds like a viable plan for a social media account, but how did it go for this program? Let’s break it down by cast member and character…

Hwang Bo Ra as Um Ji: Genre - slapstick comedy. Does it work? Intermittently, as the character is a minor character and there are occasions where the show has gone into a more manic comic mode for a few moments. When it works, however, it only works in the immediate context of that particular scene and not within the show in general.

Kim Ga Eun as Ha Woo - office mockumentary. Does it work? For a few episodes, it’s passable. She’s a little bit of a wild card. But the interesting elements of the character are written out less than halfway through the run and the production staff seemed to realize they didn’t have any plausible direction for the character so she appears less and less. It was probably the right call but a better call would have been to have a compelling direction for the whole subplot to go.

Tae In Ho as Seung Tak - medical dramedy. He’s a part comic, part stock drama character. Does it work? No. The actor can’t muster even mediocre comedy skills and the dramatic parts are so poorly written, which might work for his skills, he doesn’t have even a shred of credible material. As referenced with Ha Woo, storyline was unnecessary and reeks of “We need to fill time and just put anything in there that can eat up 6-8 minutes per episode. We’re desperate. Anything. ANYTHING.”

Lee Joo Yeon as Ji Young - makjang parody. Frankly, this character was so thinly sketched out, that it’s a struggle to identify any characteristic other than coming from a family with money. She’s barely on screen enough to evaluate if it works or not.

Kim Ji Suk as Pil Yo - coming of age melodrama. Does it work? Not even a little and this flop of a performance is almost entirely the fault of the casting office. Kim Ji Suk is a talented actor but he’s not blessed with enormous range. This character is completely outside where his strengths lie. Need a wild and crazy and frenetic and heart on his sleeve kind of guy? Kim Ji Suk will kill that role. But Pil Yo is wistful and emotionally lost and needy and none of these traits are in Kim Ji Suk’s wheelhouse.

Seo Ji Hye as Ye Sul - romantic comedy. This is the singular pairing of cast member and character that works. Seo Ji Hye is dynamite at comedy and while Ye Sul has scenes where she’s serious and dramatic, it’s nothing that Seo Ji Hye can’t handle.With the right context around Ye Sul, she’d be a fine centerpiece of a terrifically entertaining production. Even if there was simply a good scene partner opposite her on a regular basis, “Kiss Sixth Sense” would at least be a worthwhile investment of leisure time. However…

Yoon Kye Sang as Min Hoo - supernatural crime thriller. Does it work? OMG not even close. The character is meant to be a prickly and rough exterior but kind softie on the inside roguish type. The portrayal needs an actor to be able to convincingly transition from the tough boss to kind mentor to brilliant business mind to caring boyfriend. Yoon Kye Sang delivers every line like each word is a railroad spike and he’s swinging a 20 pound sledgehammer looking to bury it in a single strike. Nuance? More like nuclear.

As for other issues, the sound has some glaring editing problems. There’s but a shred of a plot which is to put Min Hoo and Ye Sul together. Once it happens, there’s nowhere to go. The storytelling within each episode is barely stitched together and, over the course of twelve episodes, is completely incoherent. Characters that seem important in early episodes vanish entirely. Or they continue but are entirely different individuals and there’s no explanation why they’ve changed.

It’s getting close to a year since Disney+ ventured into broadcasting Korean dramas. In that time, they’ve distributed only one show (“Snowdrop”) on a wide international basis. As for the quality of their other shows, it’s been far more “miss” than “hit”. This is not to say that the Big Mouse should bail on the genre, but at this point, there’s scant evidence that they had any idea how to approach this market and nothing to indicate that they’ve learned anything since they entered.

Not recommended. But should someone pull the trigger on a Drama Bar so it possible to watch eight different dramas at once? That sounds totes awesome.

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There's lots and lots more wrong than just an uninspiring lead

Like almost everything is wrong with "The Impossible Heir".

Let's start with the well-worn scenario. Who's the successor to a conglomerate empire chairmanship? The illegitimate son that probably needs some intense psychotherapy for his simmering rage issues and definitely should learn some impulse control? Either of the legitimate sons that couldn't outfox a 4 year old in a Monopoly game? The bloodthirsty and estranged wife? The brilliant schemer secretary with no apparent blood relation to the current chairman?

Here's the problem: it's impossible to care about who wins the succession battle because it's impossible to care about any of the characters involved. The villains are laughably incompetent. The hero (or the one who is supposed to be) is as boring as dry paint and an ABYSMAL judge of character for someone who is supposed to be so brilliant. And the morally ambiguous anti-hero bad boy is so unbalanced that he's easier to pity than to root for.

Shorter: all these characters suck.

And that's if they weren't so conceptually cliche' (which they are and painfully so) and inadequately portrayed.

Lee Jae Wook - let's rip every bit of possible personality from his acting as possible. Great idea.

Lee Jun Young - he would kill playing a character with a serious mental disorder. But In Ha is obviously meant to be just not terribly bright and a bit overly ambitious.

Hong Su Zu - it's possible that she can act. Probably not. The smart betting money is definitely against her. But with a character so bland to portray, there's no way to ever start to figure that out.

Lee Ji Hoon - while it might be unfair to Hong Su Zu to judge her based on this show, there's enough history from other shows to declare with certainty that Lee Ji Hoon is awful. Yes, the character is supposed to be loathed but this performance is so bad, it comes across as pathetic instead of someone worth hating. It's a nauseous experience to watch him.

Han Sang Jin - no real notes on the performance but it should be noted that there's no small number of actors that bear some tiny bit of resemblance to Choi Jin Ho and could be believable as having 50 percent of Choi Jin Ho's DNA. Hang Sang Jin, however, is not one of them. Theoretically, it comes out later that he's not the chairman's son actually but that would betray the all-powerfulness and all-knowingness of the chairman character.

Choi Jin Ho isn't bad.

Choi Hee Jin is pretty good but gets 90 seconds of time on screen per episode. When she does make a brief appearance, she's treated like garbage by everyone. Literally every single other character is toxic to her. It's not fun to watch.

On top of the overall narrative structure, the direction and editing seems bent on making things more interesting by making the smaller arcs as baffling and poorly sequenced as possible.

Bad show. Very bad. Even for those that are ardent fans of one of these cast members, stay away. Far away.

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Is team-mance a word?

Well, if it's not, it should be. Or at least after season 1 of "Flex X Cop" it should be.

It's easy to find grievances here. They tend to be very upfront. First, the name is dumb. The marketing poster is a mess. The theme song is so cheap and grating. The whole opening credit sequence actually is awful. And the first impression that Ahn Bo Hyun makes as Jin Yi Soo is [grimacing emoji]. It's such a caricature of a shallow, arrogant, entitled rich brat that is falls flat. And speaking of flat, Jang Hyun Sung as the conglomerate chairman just quite can't deliver the gravitas of that role and never seems like the deeply emotionally torn person that the character he's portraying is meant to be.

Oh? And the name. THE NAME. Why is it Flex? Why is there an X? Did the producers just pull random words and letters out of a bag to determine the name? It's just so dumb.

But the heart of the show is pure 24 karat gold. Kim Shin Bi and Kang Sang Jun don't get loads of lines but their characters, the young somewhat naive and excitable one and not quite as young hard-nosed and stern one, are the perfect complements to each other and to the lead characters. Park Ji Hyun is flat out strong as Kang Hyun. Her character is the violent crime team leader and she's almost all business all the time. In the moments when she's not in work mode, she's still tough and direct and no nonsense. Even in the solitary scene where she is comforting Yi Soo, it's not explicitly tender or sweet.

And the whole production works because Ahn Bo Hyun is playing Yi Soo. Despite the first impression, once this actor and character have settled in to this complex role, the combination flat out slays. Beneath the couture wardrobe and expensive cars and luxury watches, is a man that is deeply broken and intensely driven and fairly insightful with just enough self-awareness. Although it's probably not a serious enough role to warrant award consideration, it's a role tailor made for Ahn Bo Hyun's sheer physical size and his rare ability to alternate between blazing cockiness and tender vulnerability.

There's some nicely written mysteries for the violent crime team to solve early on as Yi Soo works his way in to a role within the team. Some are more credible but the one that is the least believable somewhat validates itself at the end with a dramatic scene between Yi Soo and Kang Hyun. Eventually, the overall arc meanders back to Yi Soo's personal backstory and conglomerate family and the violent crime team fades somewhat to the background. While it's still an entertaining arc, when the focus spotlights Yi Soo alone, the magic of the chemistry between the four team members is lost.

Fortunately, while much of the last few episodes is entangled with Yi Soo's family shenanigans, the final episode balances things back with a sensational, touching montage, a not-so-unexpected twist and setting up what will hopefully be a season two that continues this team-mance (someone please contact Merriam Webster and have this added immediately) at the same level of excellence.

So while the opening credits should be skipped highly recommend just about everything else.

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Monologuing

This will circle back to "The Kidnapping Day" but it will be a bit of a scenic route.

It's easy to pinpoint the scene that transformed Bill Murray from one of many cast contributors on an after-dark weekend sketch comedy show. Sure, he was already known as one of the charter members of Saturday Night Live but he was anything but a bankable movie star. But one modestly budgeted, lightly raunchy summer camp comedy changed that. In the late 1970's and early 1980's, the summer camp setting was became one of Hollywood's favorite locations for everything from horror to teen drama to comedy. In 1979, the poor ragtag kids camp up against the rich, spoiled kids on the other side of the lake was the basis for one such movie. In "Meatballs", Bill Murray played the first of the many iterations of the sardonic, sarcastic, lazy, laconic and acidic cool loner. And like in many other of these roles, the centerpiece of the role is an extended monologue where he sheds his aloofness and delivers a fiery speech to rally his followers to new heights.

The rest of "Meatballs"? Pretty generic stuff. But the monologue from Murray is spectacular. Much of it is simply repeating over and over and over again "It just doesn't matter!". Screaming the same phrase at the top of his lungs. It just doesn't matter. Repeatedly. It just doesn't matter. Again and again and again.

It just doesn't matter.

"The Kidnapping Day" is a drama, unsurprisingly, about a kidnapping. Myeong Jun, a dad down on his luck with a critically sick daughter, kidnaps Ro Hee, the daughter of a rich doctor, hoping to ransom er for enough money to pay for his daughter's surgery. But nothing goes as planned because nothing in Myeong Jun's life does. As things spiral out of control, there's almost everything but aliens and ghosts and mermaids thrown in. Murders. Crooked police. Power hungry wealthy families. Stoic killers. Mouthy bad guys. Unethical medical experimentation. Orphanages. Slums. Mansions. Hospitals. Boats. Beaches. There's so many elements that it's impossible to coherently piece them together.

It just doesn't matter.

The rich family floats in and out when necessary as a plot device but they're mostly there to advance some forward action by the bad guy. The bad guy is basically a mouthy venture capitalist. He's not a flop as a villain, but it's a fairly generic character. The crooked cops are even less prominent than the rich family.

It just doesn't matter.

Kim Sang Ho plays a critical support role but the script asks far too little of him and it's one of his least compelling performances. The problem is less severe with Kim Shin Rok's Hye Eun (Myeong Jun's ex wife). She's meant to be a morally ambiguous character, part regretful mother and part brilliant schemer. But the mother side is never convincing and the schemer side rarely makes sense. If she's supposed to be in hiding, why would she wear some of the most garish outfits in the Eastern Hemisphere? Why has she anticipated so many things but left an absolutely vital item unaddressed until far too late? And for a character that viewers should be on the fence about, she's indefatigably unlikable. The performance by Shin Rok is solid but she's too often asked to do things with the character that are, even in the most charitable light, confounding.

But it just doesn't matter.

Even Park Sung Hoon who has been on a tear of scintiallating performances in 2023 with terrific performances in "The Glory" and as an unconventional police officer in "Not Others" comes across flat here. It's the maverick cop with a heart of gold. And it's not a fresh take on the archetype.

Guess what? It just doesn't matter.

The plot meanders through the kidnapping, the morally murky medical people, the venture capitalists, the police, the power hungry family and ends up with a weak final confrontation. A cliffhanger from the end of one episode transitions to a completely different place and an almost total absence of a resolution to a main character on the verge of death. The police are dumb when it's convenient that they be dumb. And then they wise up at the most convenient time. The crime scene is abandoned. Literally. The investigators take the bodies and apparently then just leave. It's bizarrely implausible.

One last time. It just doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter because the characters of Ro Hee and Myeong Jun and the performances by Yoon Kye Sang and 12 year old Yuna are transcendent. They are magical when they are together and the moments when they are pulled from each other are heartbreaking. It's an oddball pair, the rich girl from a sheltered life and a guy with a lifetime of fumbling away his chances at every opportunity. For Yoon Kye Sang, it is without question and by a considerable margin his best work of recent vintage. And for Yuna? It's a performance that can hardly be believed to have been rendered by someone of such young age. Among non-romantic relationships that have been portrayed in this genre, it is in acutely rarefied air. And it is why all of the other things just don't matter.

Minor items:

It is always welcome to see Kang Ha Neul in a brief but excellent cameo.

Same with Kim Ki Doo.

Kim Dong Won does a nice job with the nearly mute assassin with unclear loyalties role quite nicely.

It just doesn't matter? Actually, nah. Not at all.

"The Kidnapping Day" is a tremendously entertaining drama thanks to the lead performances and it is highly, highly recommended watch.

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Why so serious?

For a program that is set primarily in a beach front town and featuring a cast of young, single twentysomethings searching for romantic entanglements and with no serial killers or zombies or alien invasions or natural disasters or economic catastrophes or even a mild food allergy, a viewer might expect "Manatsu no Cinderella" to be nothing but start-to-finish hijinks and giggles and cartwheels.

It's not.

There's few jokes that land. The romances are lukewarm. The dialogue is cliche. For some reason, most conversations between characters are blocked so they're standing at unnatural distances away from each other. Most of the cast has a single facial expression (pout, giant grin or shocked face). There's also a single entry on the soundtrack that is repeated nonstop. Twists though? None.

So not recommended?

There is one thing. Nana Mori puts on a clinic of taking a tissue thin character and imbuing it with enough charisma and an easygoing, natural air that when she's on screen, it's a worthwhile watch.

But that's it. And for those that might appreciate Nana Mori here, the recommendation is not this lifeless, empty summer yawnfest. Instead, flip over to Netflix and check out "Maiko-san Chi no Makanai-san".

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Big hearts for this season although it needed a quicker pulse at the end

“Hospital Playlist” had a stellar first season which left some very large matters unresolved at its conclusion. So there had to be little doubt that there would be a season two, but considerable question about whether it would be able to maintain the same degree of excellence. With its return engagement now fully released, Hospital Playlist does, for the most part, match the high bar set by season one. The primary ensemble is not only splendidly cast, but the characters are deftly written. The dialogue and production values are excellent. There are few scenes that are not entertaining or meaningful. If only it could have built up to a higher pitched conclusion, the second season of “Hospital Playlist” might have ended up as one of the very top productions of 2021.

In fact, the first four episodes of season two are far and away the best run in either season and among the best of any drama. Much of the credit goes to some outstanding material for Jung Kyung Ho’s Jun Wan as he struggles with a relationship that is both long distance and secret leaving him unable to share his woes. Alongside this arc is a marvelous narrative of a mother waiting for her child’s heart transplant and Jun Wan’s perseverance when her resolve falters. Jung Kyung Ho is tremendous here and, of the five main actors, his performance stands out.

It stands out to some degree because the other four are less compelling in season two. It is only by a small degree, but it is a decline nevertheless. For Jo Jung Sook and Jeon Mi Do, the main issue with the characters of transplant surgeon Lee Ik Jun and neurosurgeon Chae Song Hwa are that they are as superhuman as any comic book hero could be. They are both brilliant doctors, warm friends, funny, terrific bosses, etc etc. Song Hwa’s largest flaw is that she can’t sing. Ik Jun’s flaw? He’s nosy but he has the best of intentions. Without more serious flaws, the characters lack depth.

As for Yoo Yeon Seok’s Jung Won, with the possibility of priesthood out of the picture and the only one of the main five in a relationship for the entire season, his personal narrative became boxed in and without suspense. Despite that, the relationship between Jung Won and Shin Hyun Bin’s Gyeo Wool is a delight. It is so delightful, in fact, that just a series of small day-to-day interactions between them is as captivating as almost any of the heavier storylines.

Kim Dae Myung was quietly the star of season one. And Suk Hyung’s personal life is set up to continue to push him forward as the most compelling character. Professionally, his child deliveries always have potential for high emotional impact. Personally, his complex relationship with his mother makes his story fertile ground for big moments. Mostly, however, it is Ahn Eun Jin’s Min Ha that stands out here. Her pursuit of Suk Hyung despite his intransigence delivers because of the splendid work by Ahn Eun Jin. Now that Shin Hyun Bin is getting leads in other productions, Ahn Eun Jin should absolutely be next in line.

If there is a serious flaw of season two, however, it is not in the main characters or the actors portraying them. The ensemble, rather, is as good as any cast save perhaps “Vincenzo”. But the storytelling takes a noticeable dip in quality after episode five. The passage of time lurches forward irregularly for several episodes. A patient that seems to be a long term ICU inhabitant is prominent for a couple of episodes and then never reappears. Another recovering from a brain injury intermittently pops up but not often enough to leave an impact. Jung Won’s mother, played by Kim Hae Sook, has the most consistent screen time of any supporting character but outside of a brief health crisis, has an almost indistinguishable relationship to the primary narratives. And there is a deliberately painfully long build up of the central relationship of both seasons of “Hospital Playlist”. The length of the suspense is not an issue. Whether the payoff delivers is questionable. It’s a solid scene, but not the devastatingly memorable one fans were undoubtedly expecting.

A more minor quibble - the episodes are incredibly long. Very easily, the season could have been sixteen or twenty episodes of more manageable viewing time.

And a major plus - where season one excelled with the development of the main ensemble of five, season two is borderline magical when it allows supporting characters to take the reins. Shin Hyun Bin, Ahn Eun Jin and Ha Yoon Kyung all have episodes where they are captivating. Jung Moon Sung, however, is hands down phenomenal throughout season two. The relationship between his Do Je Hak and Jun Wan is more entertaining than any of the romances. The arc of his wife’s pregnancy is the most poignant of the second half of season two.

While it is a somewhat anticlimactic conclusion, “Hospital Playlist” is a captivating production with one of the best casts assembled and is highly, highly recommended.

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A monster series with big teeth and a bit of a limp

"What makes us human?" is one of the biggest questions in any art medium and the zombie genre has made exploring this question one its most consistent themes. While "Sweet Home" is not a true zombie production, it shares enough characteristics to fall somewhere in that corner of horror entertainment. One of the common threads that pops up here is that sometimes the most evil beings are the ones that are still unaffected-on-the-outside humans. The twist, and it's a good one, is that not all the creatures that look like monsters are monsters.

It's particularly poignant with Song Kang's Hyun Soo who alternates between struggling with wanting to live and a battle to retain his humanity. Although there are some exceptional human vs. monster melee's, the high points of "Sweet Home" are unquestionably the quiet exchanges between Hyun Soon and Go Min Si's Eun Yoo. The quality of Song Kang's work tends to peak and valley and this is definitely among his finest performances. It does falter and the show does in general in the final two episodes as the first primary arc pushes to a resolution while setting up the next act.

The crew has put together a mostly excellent package of special effects, sound and camera work. There's a couple of instances of less convincing cgi that detract but it's a minor distraction.

It's a fairly solid cast although only a few stand out with notable performances. Kim Gab Soo is one of them who exudes optimism balanced with knowledge of the grim reality. Lee Shi Young and Park Gyu Young both shine as strong women battling both personal emotional loss and deadly creatures.

A few holes emerge too. Although the setting is an apartment building in Seoul, there's not just a massive amount of people that never appear, but there's no attempt to explain their absence. Dozens (possibly?) of creatures appear outside the building in moments, but that still leaves millions in the city unaccounted for and scores within the building. Two mutants appear, one early and one late, that fall right on the human/monster line and seem ideal for additional attention, but don't receive it. Overall, the coherence of the narrative is uneven but the spotlight is focused enough for the most of the series. But when the plot has to expand to incorporate new introductions and beyond the group's struggle survive within the apartment building, the tension subsides and the flaws begin to protrude.

Some entries in this genre are must-watch even for viewers who aren't hardcore horror buffs. "Sweet Home" falls short of that bar, but it is an entertaining and, at times, compelling series. Whether it remains so in a follow-up season will require more disciplined storytelling as it appears multiple arcs will splinter off. And it may need more range and intensity from Song Kang than his body of work has shown he's capable of providing.

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Well executed show hobbled by a lack of direction

Crosswalk cliche score - 4 - did manage to squeeze in a bit of a twist, but couldn't stay away from this trope

Little sib score - 6 - Dam's bro was dull but Kim Do-Yeon was fantastic as Sun Woo's little sister. She barely appeared as the show wore on though.

Power coat score - 9 - Woo Yeo may not be the most dynamic character, but the dude had a sweet collection of threads.

Product placement score - 1 - Subway, ewww. They even centered an entire episode around it. Ick ick ick.

Cameo score - 10 - Ko Gyung-Po is nice and Jung So-Min is even better (although a few more speaking lines would have been nice). But Oh Jung Se's appearance is sublime. It's brief but magical.

Overall, I enjoyed the show but it's a sugary snack of a show rather than a memorable, must-rewatch powerhouse. Hyeri nails Lee Dam's impulsive and positive character. Jang Ki-Yong certainly sell the weariness of a near 1,000 year old creature and seems to be having a nice arc to the character in the first half. But unfortunately, the writing lets down and it's back to Boringville for Woo-Yeo. And that's the main problem with the show. It progresses sharply in the first half, but it struggles to set up any lasting tension. Obstacles arise, but none seem particularly threatening and, soon enough, are easily dispatched.

I think that the impression that secondary couples are usually better than the primary is very often incorrect. But IN THIS SHOW? Kang Ha-Na and Kim Do-Wan are heavenly. Every moment they are together on screen is a joy. Very likely the best secondary couple of any show I have seen.

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Yikes

In the first episode of “Police University”, much of the screentime is shared by Choi Woo Sung and Oh Man Seok who are essentially the de facto family of the main character Kang Sun Ho played by Jung Jin Young. Choi Woo Sung’s part generates a few chuckles and Oh Man Seok gives the episode a certain amount of gravity as he guides Sun Ho through a difficult ordeal and towards the titular school. Compared to the average drama, they’re not particularly noteworthy parts or characters but specific to the qualities of this production, they serve as the apex of entertainment value.

The remaining characters, storylines and acting performances have painfully few bright spots. Krystal is an accomplished actor but the character of Oh Kang Hee has not much to do except to serve as the love interest of Sun Ho. Seo Ye Hwa is one of the finest character actors in the industry and puts a noble effort in playing an administrator of the school but there’s just so little to work with.

As for the rest, it’s generally difficult to identify whether the flaws are because of the actor portraying the character, the dullness of the storyline, the ineptitude of the direction and editing or the banality of the dialogue. Most scenes are a train derailment of repetitive dialogue, exaggerated facial expressions and oddly timed cuts between shots. The most obvious examples are Lee Dal and Yoo Young Jae who play Sun Ho’s pals Beom Tae and Joon Wook. They are written as comic sidekicks, but the attempts at comedy are juvenile and painfully unfunny. While Lee Dal and Yoo Young Jae might garner laughs with better material is doubtful, there is at least faint hope that they have some modicum of talent that could be revealed in future works.

Despite the towering whirlwind of blame to be shared throughout the cast and crew, one particular individual stands out as so blatantly incompetent that even with better talent alongside him and behind the camera, he would have still have no chance at performing at a professional level. In episodes 2-3, the only possible compelling drama was the boot camp ordeal lifted straight out of “An Officer and a Gentleman” - Instructor bent on drumming out a cadet is met with the youngster’s desperate perseverance to stay. It’s a duel of wills between two men passionately bent on proving the other wrong. It’s hamstrung by the nonstop recital of cop cliche’ dialogue from Cha Tae Hyun’s Dong Man who wants Sun Ho to out of the university. But the dialogue is a mere distraction to the flat delivery, clownish expression and awkward movement from Jung Jin Young.
Instead of admiration for indomitable spirit, we are left with a string of painful cringes and a desperate hope that it will be over soon. There are other actors that are equally unskilled tasked with lead roles, but there are some small redeeming qualities that those individuals usually have:

Pretty
Pretty and tall
Pretty tall?
Jung Jin Young has none of these traits. If there is any moment where Jung Jin Young appears to have some idea of what he should be doing it is when he is running. However, it seems to be effective only when he is running away from the camera and we are fading to the next scene break.

Some of the OST is not terrible, but that is scant solace.

Not recommended. Not even a little.

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Jinxed. At First. And Second. And after that too. And it just goes on and on.

Wow.

Outside of an outright parody where acting performances are MEANT to be terrible ON PURPOSE in order to lampoon the source material, "Jinxed at First" is very likely the worst collective acting performance a commercial production has ever wrought.

The plot is silly, but no more so than plenty of other fantasy concepts.

The production quality is nothing special, but it's not awful either.

None of that matters. Na In Woo or Seohyun create characters to a certain degree. And it's possible that the production wanted them to act in the manner that they do here. So perhaps not all blame should fall on these two leads. But they're the faces on screen so deserve at least some. Both overplay their parts so grotesquely and clownishly that the moments when neither are on screen are a mercy to the audience. But the mercies are fleeting as most of the supporting cast and characters fit in to two personality categories - 1. fossilized driftwood. 2. hyperactive, emotionally unbalanced toddler.

Kim Dong Young has some nice moments as a loan shark with a softer side. Lee Ho Jung is solid as the arranged fiancee of one of the aforementioned pieces of driftwood. Both are significantly far down the list of supporting characters and get scant screen time, but there's some moments there. That's the extent of the positives.

Conclusion: Pass. Hard pass.

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Ji Hwan Y Dangerously

Making a reference to a forty year old movie is probably not the ideal method of appealing to the younger demographic on MDL. Perhaps something iconic like "Breakfast Club" or "Beverly Hills Cop" would spark the right nostalgic vibe. But a forgettable, middling, sophomoric mess? Terrible idea but here goes anyway.

"Johnny Dangerously" was a 1984 movie meant to capitalize on the emerging stardom of a young Michael Keaton who had just exploded as a comedic star after back-to-back hits in "Night Shift" and "Mr. Mom". Pairing Keaton with Amy Heckerling, the Greta Gerwig of the 80's who established herself with the scintillating "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" should have been a can't miss project. It was a massive failure though. Probably because the concept was a parody of the incredible mafia movies of Coppola and Polanski. "Johnny Dangerously" was both a critical and popular bomb.

"My Sweet Mobster" encounters some of the same problems. Meant to be a comedy starring a zoot suited gangster that meets the girl of his dreams and wants to do right by his family, both start strong and score genuinely funny moments. And both don't really know what to do beyond lampooning the tough guy stereotype. Once the joke about the gangster not being such a big, tough, heartless guy, but a kindhearted softie gets played a few times, there's got to be somewhere else to go. It's fun at first. The more chaotic and frenzied it is, the more at ease Han Sun Hwa is. And Uhm Tae Goo is legit a delight as the flummoxed suitor. And Im Chul Soo takes his nemesis to an absurdly sketch comedy level. But at some point, "My Sweet Mobster" can't squeeze any more gags out of the cute, awkward gangster likes the bubbly kids streamer. And the options are:

1. Cut it short. The big secret gets revealed. Happy embraces. Roll credits. But it's a 16 episode contract, so this is a not an option.

2. Keep going back to same well. This was the route taken by "Johnny Dangerously" and it did not work.

3. Revert to stock drama storylines. Triangles. Hospitals. Roadtrips. This is where "My Sweet Mobster" goes and while it's not entirely unpleasant, it goes exactly to the exact destination and along the exact route in the exact manner as any regular viewer of k dramas can expect. Which is unfortunate because the two leads had a lot of promise if they had just avoided doing exactly the usual, typical, same ol', same ol' familiar stuff. It's also just a drag to go from light, fun romance with a supporting cast of fairly lovable goofballs to family angst and corporate & legal melodrama.

4. What could have worked was investing more screen time in the aforementioned supporting cast. Kim Hyun Jin isn't going to win any awards (see my review for "Peng" where he was one of the four horsemen of the borepocalypse) but the one night stand with Moon Ji In that becomes something more is terrific. And there are hints of other potential subplots with Moon Dong Hyuk with Song Seo Rin and Kwon Yool with Shin Soo Hyun (like repeated, explicitly telegraphed, unmistakeable flashing lights saying "LOOK AT THESE TWO. RIGHT HERE. THAT GUY. WITH THAT WOMAN. THEY'RE GONNA BE A THING. JUST WAIT.") Do these go anywhere? No. Foreshadowing with a payoff? When there's sixteen hour long episodes to insert said payoff? If drama malpractice was a felony, this crew would be behind bars for a long time. Then there's the backstory for Park Jae Chan and his first love? It's there but to what end? None that makes any sense other than make life more miserable for Ji Hwan. And the most endearing of the supporting characters, Yang Hyun Min's Jae Soo, gets used for cheap laughs, reduced to a plot device to set up a final conflict and transformed in to a blubbering weakling.

Had these supporting characters been given meaningful and fully explored subplots in a more ensemble style show, "My Sweet Mobster" could have been a massively charming and entertaining watch. It's still good but it simply can't turn a cheeky, cute romance in to a riveting sixteen episode run.

Recommended but with cautions that it will get frustrating to watch. Perhaps if it had a love broker* though...

*see Michael Keaton in "Night Shift"

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Change is bad. And not changing is also bad.

Soundtrack #1 was a delightful, short, sweet drama. And while churning out another drama just like it would have been a bad idea and recreating something entirely new wholly unlike Soundtrack #1 wouldn't have made any sense, the creators of Soundtrack #2 kept the core elements the same - a production focused almost entirely on the romance between the leads and a backdrop occupied by the music industry. A few other elements seem familiar too. There's a facade of a love triangle, but it's clear from the moment that it appears that the late appearing third corner is a distant third wheel.

There's not a terribly prodigious amount of material to review. The episodes are short. There are only six of them. The supporting cast is capable but they are more props than characters - existing to prod a bit of dialogue out of a lead during the moments when the other lead isn't present. The music is a bit livelier than the usual drama ballad and it's pleasant, but it's not the stuff that is going to light up the charts and fill an arena. It's more suited to busking in a park.

Is the plot credible? There's no ghosts or time travel or generation-repeating curse so points there. A music prodigy ends up washing out and teaching music after school to kids? Easy sell. Probably happens all the time. Is a guy who churns out YouTube material and winds up crazy wealthy and driving every luxury car brand on the planet believable? Well, it doesn't violate the laws of physics as we know them so it's possible. Is it possible that THIS GUY did that? Less likely.

And that's where #2 lives up to it's own moniker as not number one. THIS GUY is not Park Hyung Sik. And while Steve Noh, even to a viewer who has no physical attraction to the male gender, objectively by scientific means of measurement is very, very physically attractive. But he is not anywhere near the talent as an actor that Park Hyung Sik is. And casting Steve Noh as the successor to Park Hyung Sik's lead role does not work. Not even a little. Part of it is that the character is so insecure. But the frenetic, try-so-hard-all-the-time, suffocate-everything-he-touches approach overwhelms all the other aspects that were meant to humanize the character. In short, where the previous lead was always cool and natural all the time, this lead tries too hard to be cool all the time. It's change and it's a bad change.

Meanwhile, Geum Sae Rok's Hyun Seo is too much like Han So Hee's predecessor. Musical talent? Check. Struggling in her career? Check. Has a musical white knight come along that recognizes her talent? Check. Unsure of her own feelings for the male lead? Check. In short, it's not change and while it's not as bad as what did change, it's still bad.

Points for being short and well-shot and having lots of pretty stuff to look at. But with so much riding on how good the leads are, these lead characters and the actors playing them just don't measure up.

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If a drama was a sampler platter of the genre

Think of the things that most frequently appear in a Korean drama...

-romance between leads

-secondary romance

-a supernatural element

-backstories told through flashbacks

-tent bars

-stalkers

-neighborhood police station

-parent/child issues

-sassy grandmother

-painfully long periods of flirting before the leads confess and begin a relationship

-ridiculously short period after the relationship starts that a breakup occurs

-an eventual and painfully obvious reconciliation

Really, other than period costumes and the inclusion of an ultrawealthy character, "Link: Eat, Love, Kill" covers all the usual bases. And it represents the genre relatively well. The leads do a relatively nice job with their performances. The story is a nice mix with a somewhat novel supernatural element, a decent crime thriller element, plenty of family relationship subplots and a somewhat generic romance. The direction is adequate. There's some solid acting from the very young cast members. The OST is not exceptional, but it's fine. It could have been edited down to about twelve episodes without detracting much, but it never completely bogs down.

This all seems to point towards this production being a very nice and likable way to pass time that doesn't leave a lasting impression. And that's an accurate summation.

The supporting cast is not an all-star group but there's some strong work by Kim Ji Young, Lee Suk Hyeong, Shin Jae Hwi and the very young Ahn Se Bin. There's a guest spot from Kim Won Hae which is always, always a treat. And there's isn't a single glaring bad performance despite the long roster of cast members.

Yeo Jin Goo isn't asked to play a particularly dynamic character and it works. Asking him to being an extrovert and do big things as an actor? That's not a great idea. Asking him to be mildly depressed? Super.

Moon Ga Young does what she does well. She's young and bubbly and bright and a little awkward. There's perhaps a little more of a grownup character for her here, but it's an incremental change.

The romance between the two is on par with the rest of the show - it's fine. It has some nice moments and some weaker spots. It's follows the usual course of K drama romance.

And since this review seems to have run its course (if there's anything else that hasn't been covered, just assume it was nice and fine like the rest of it), let's end this with a "sure, it's a pretty good show" conclusion.

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A promising concept undone by poor performances and some discomforting elements

An earnest small underdog businessman taking on the world with the help of his family should be an easy sell. Throw in a young, strong female lead and it's hard to imagine how it goes wrong. But "Backstreet Rookie" finds a way. It's not that it's not a mostly enjoyable watch, but there's vast wasted potential here that with a better cast and steadier direction could have been realized.

As for the strong points, Kim Yoo Jung effortlessly switches gear from bubbly youngster to driven achiever to smitten woman. She has the charm and talent and all the other attributes to take on more challenging roles. Kim Sun Young always delivers and her quieter moments with Kim Yoo Jung's Saet Byul are gems. The scene stealer is Seo Ye Hwa who has a marvelously vibrant character and crushes it.

The rest of the cast ranges from uninspired to grating. Kim Min Kyu might not be award-winning leading man material but he's better than he shows here. The overwhelming issue with "Backstreet Rookie", however, is Ji Chang Wook who is legitimate leading man material but airballs this performance. In more subdued moments, he exhibits the charisma and intensity that makes him an A Lister. But through most of "Backstreet Rookie", he's indulging in overplaying the character and the result is more clownish than comic.

Not that better acting would have solved the loose ends that crop up throughout the story. Dae Hyun's sister and husband appear early and seem to have some importance. But they rarely appear. Do Sang Woo is the villain but he is neither rehabilitated nor punished. He simply vanishes. Saet Byul's younger sister has a promising arc but it needed more depth.

As for the uncomfortable elements, it's certainly not a novel concept to have a much younger love interest for the main male character. But this relationship seems to be approaching serious red flag territory especially with a flashback to Saet Byul's youth days. The Dal Shik character by Eum Moon Sook though is really raising red flags. It's not blackface but there's, at minimum, a nod in that direction. With the growing international appeal of Korean culture, this is a bad look.

Overall, not a show that earns any sort of recommendation but should put Kim Yoo Jung on the shortest of lists for leads in better vehicles.

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A masterful pairing of writing and directing

Layers.

"Drive My Car" is a long movie. A really long movie and there's some sections where it seems like there's not a lot going on. But Ryusuke Hamaguchi is very deliberately and delicately creating one subtle layer of meaning and complexity and understanding and connection on top of another.

Yusuke and Oto are married and happily so. Or so it seems. And then Oto is gone. Yusuke, an actor with a peculiar method and a specialty in Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" presses on with his professional life as if all is well. On the surface, so it seems.

And then, Hamaguchi pulls back a bit of the veneer and reveals a bit more. Very slowly, Yusuke and Misaki, his assigned driver, in their own stilted ways, reveal who they really are to each other. Their past relationships align as opposites, one mostly light but with a darkness hidden away, the other abusive but with moments of compassion.

And as Yusuke and Misaki become something other than driver and passenger, Yusuke's work assembling the production of "Uncle Vanya" at a festival in Hiroshima is assembled, slowly, piece-by-piece. There's a marvelous interplay between the play production as it slowly goes from audition to table reading to rehearsal to live performance and the primary movie narrative. And the final scene of the play with Park Yoo Rim brings the two stories together and it is incredibly powerful.

If there's a weakness, it's a sudden transformation of a supporting character from a shallow and impulsive charmer to an introspective and insightful thinker. The scene is necessary for the narrative, but it's jarring.

Long movie but absolutely worth it. Highly recommend.

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