Belated Fourteen: Better Late Than Never?
Hi everyone, due to the massive radio silence on this blog I think I need to welcome myself back again on blogosphere, and you who’s reading this. Anyway, if you are here, you must be or probably are a drama enthusiast (the fanboying, fangirling, swooning, crying, or the anger that that makes one want to flip a table are only all too familiar……) Welcome to thetalkingcupboard if you are new here! If you’re a returning reader, I would like to express my sincere apologies for the long disappearance but most importantly, my appreciation – thank you for coming back and for your patience. It is your support that would keep bloggers like me and many others going; kamsahamnida!
2025 —– 2011
Just to cover some background, the blog is 14 years and 3 months old. Yes, not as active now and also not as quick to churn out posts as regularly as before. But hopefully this post creates a new starting point in terms of writing about shows and serves as a reminder to myself that deep down, I am still that drama fan who enjoys watching and blogging about them. My first post here was in July 2015.. so I only came after the site turned 5. I am always and forever grateful to Mimi @ muchadoaboutlove (also, happy birthday!!!) for allowing me to share her space and pen thoughts on kdramas (mainly) and other series such as cdramas, jdramas, movies etc. alike. The last time I published something was in 2020… so until today more than 5 years have also passed since. Honestly, now that I am writing down in words the amount of time that has lapsed, I can hardly believe it myself. I guess time waits for no man.
Personally, I think I became jaded? Like in terms of drama watching, despite new content appearing at breakneck speed these days. However, I think if you’ve watched dramas since forever (from being a kid to a teen then to an adult) you will get there more or less because the same kind of tropes that hook all drama fans or viewers alike get recycled, the same kind of kdrama plot point that you can immediately predict what’s going to happen next without watching the next 5 minutes, the same kind of cliffhangers appear at the end of each episode… ok so you’d know or understand what I mean if you’ve been here long enough. It reached a point whereby my total drama watchcount in a year (say from January to December annually) was below 10. Adulting means less time to bingewatch, less patience to wait every week for the episode(s) renewal, maybe even less time to eat, sleep, recharge, rest etc, so you end up just barely watching anything? Or perhaps because there is so much content available nothing is really super fantastic or cannot-miss? Nonetheless, now that so much time has passed since you’ve all last heard from me I finally have a somewhat substantial list of dramas for this year(s)-in review.
In summary, most of the dramas that are going to be listed aired last year in 2024 but a good majority of the 2024 ones I only watched and finished this year. A handful are newer dramas that only aired this year, while the rest would have aired 2023 or before. I’ll try my best to sequence them in a reverse chronological order – by their airing year (newest to oldest). Disclaimer: these are purely random ramblings and incoherent thoughts that reflect my entirely personal opinion about the said drama. I guess by the time you read this post you would have finished watching most, if not all of them, but hopefully some of you can find some hidden gems to pick up!
Cdrama: The First Frost 难哄
This is the first cdrama I got invested in and sat down proper to watch after a long slump. It also kept appearing as Netflix’s Top 10 most watched dramas for quite a long period of time and I’m glad there’s good reason for it. Despite it being all about the romance, it surprisingly had a lot of heart unlike other love stories. As I hadn’t read the novel, I went in without having any preconceptions or knowledge about the story, or the characters and the world they live in. Although the cast is generally young, one of the best parts about it was the acting. It also made sense since the same actors Bai Jingting & Zhang Ruonan acted as their high school selves and in the present world, 6 years down the road. An interesting tidbit I’d thought to share is that Bai Jingting purchased some of the clothing worn by Sang Yan in the drama. After the filming ended he’d taken the costumes back and adopted them as his own. He also said that his fashion sense became more influenced by Sang Yan; that he’d used to wear brighter colours more, but his current wardrobe became more neutral in terms of colour scheme.
Zhang Ruonan’s portrayal as Wen Yifan also won my heart – despite her vulnerable circumstances and background, she was strong and steadfast in her own right which is amazing. I think I wouldn’t like it so much if she was painted as a damsel in distress in all fronts. The healing also went both ways – Sang Yan healed Yifan but Yifan also healed him. Yifan reconciled her difficult past and was able to finally move on with her life fully, no longer trapped in the past. The 18-year-oldSang Yan whose heart was broken, soul crushed on that fateful rainy night finally found out the truth about their break-up and slowly but surely went on his way to happiness and forever. Let me share some of the original soundtrack from the drama for you to soak in the feels and your listening pleasure ❤
The Trauma Code: Heroes On Call
A webtoon adaptation brought to life on screen – headlined by Joo Ji Hoon, Ha Young, Choo Young Woo & Yoon Kyung Ho. Honestly they make a great team, when it comes to saving lives. If you’re looking for a pure medical drama I would say this show is not for you – the drama is mostly not very realistic, but it’s also easy to get into. Meaning to say even if you don’t like medical shows, you would still be able to roll with it relatively quick. You could think of it as going to a theme park and taking a high-speed rollercoaster with all the twists and turns and before you even realise it the ride has ended. That was how it was for me – Joo Ji Hoon as the titular Baek Kang-hyuk is super entertaining to watch. His dynamics with Jae-won, Jang-mi and Dr Han Yu-rim in terms of the transition from being at odds initially to eventually aligning their values and showing mutual support for each other. One thing I want to highlight is that drama is not try-hard in terms of the comedy. Some parts are quite OTT, but it works well in the overall context and allows the story to flow naturally through its course. Good for a quick drama fix if you’re looking for one.
Love Scout
Since Secret Forest, it’s safe to say that Lee Jun-hyuk has been getting more and more recognition especially on the international front, and he is finally acting in a drama of his own as the lead man! What a long way he has come since City Hunter. His co-star is Han Ji-min, starring as the workaholic lady boss Kang Ji-yun and I am glad to report that the pair have a believable chemistry that makes the show very watchable. The promotional materials all screamed romance, and while Love Scout is indeed about Ji-yun’s and Eun-ho’s love story, it had a lot of heart while showcasing themes like family, kinship and grief. And something in common is that all characters (both lead and supporting) each have a background and circumstances that revolve around these ideas. Given these situations they grew up with or found themselves in, we also come to understand their actions and motivation behind certain decisions.
We also slowly see how our characters develop throughout the story as they navigate their lives and relationship in the drama’s world. I was pretty surprised by the amount of heart the show had. Two relationships I will highlight for this purpose would be Eun-ho’s relationship with his daughter, Byeol and Ji-yun’s friendship with Mi-ae (portrayed by Lee Sang-hee). Byeol is extremely understanding of her dad, she shows great maturity and knows how tough it was for her father to bring her up as a single parent. Despite a small conflict midway through the drama, they only grew closer than ever. As for Mi-ae, she was the one who knows Ji-yun the best and tries her utmost to help her close friend even when they have differing opinions or when Ji-yun is being stubborn. She was the kind of friend that probably as a viewer, you would love to have a friend like her. I had planned to wait till the full series was released before watching in one go but in the end after trying out the first few episodes I found it hard to resist..so towards the end I was waiting fervently for the weekly release on Netflix. I get that in every romance there needs to be a necessary “angst” phase that shakes our OTP’s core – although it was hinted pretty early on the coincidence to me was rather unrealistic. Besides that I think other parts of the drama are still enjoyable, which made up for a nice watch 🙂
The Art of Negotiation
After the success of Taxi Driver, Lee Je-hoon is back to headline another drama this time set in the corporate world. If you’re looking for any hint of romance or any wow factor, unfortunately this drama has none. There is a lot of business talk, the terms are very technical which the average viewer wouldn’t know if not working in the Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) field. In my opinion, the part I would consider dramatised would be the quartet coming together to form a team. Given that the drama is short, this team is formed rather quickly without much explanation (well, because we have to get the story going right).
I have to say though, that Kim Dae-myung as lawyer Oh Soon-young was a standout for me. The actor’s comedic timing is impeccable – this drama is quite serious so his character was a breath of fresh air in the show’s context. His portrayal can be so matter-of-fact but funny at the same time. The other thing I felt done well was our veterans’ characterisations – Sung Dong-il, Jang Hyun-sung and Oh Man-seok starring as the chairman and executives of San-in Group respectively. Their characters reflect the 3 sides to the story – the protagonist, antagonist and finally one that must remain neutral, as much as possible so throughout he’s shuffling between both sides trying to judge which is best for the business.
Buried Hearts
I’ve not watched a revenge thriller with makjang elements in a long time – it’s also been a while since I last saw Park Hyung-sik on screen; he has way more difficult scenes with the veteran actors and actresses than with the lead actress – I must say his portrayal of Seo Dong-ju was a different side of Park Hyung-sik that we usually get to see because of the emotions he has to portray, from the introduction there was a quiet intensity around him, and as more things were revealed we could see more of his range showing extreme emotions like hatred, anger, grief etc. It was great that he was able to show another range of his acting chops through this drama, and despite having more scenes with veteran actors and actresses his stage presence did not diminish. The whole family drama, birth secrets and the finances involving Daesan Group was quite crazy – it did make me quite invested from the beginning (with loads of twists and turns, almost topsy-turvy), but the ending and/or near-ending fizzled out somewhat for me.. I will say I didn’t like it as much because it felt hollow, empty. While I get the idea that the desire for revenge often leads to nothingness even after success, mainly because you used a greater evil to defeat evil and in the process you cannot undo all the sacrifices made and tragedy caused as a result of it – I can’t really bring myself to fathom why writer-nim chose to create some unnecessary suspense in between only to end the story in this manner. Sorry, but this was a big meh for me.
To end off I’d like to highlight one thing – I found Huh Il-do’s characterisation one of the most interesting of all, and credits to his portrayal by actor Lee Hae-young. I think his nuanced performance and the drama was able to slowly reveal President Huh’s internal conflicts and multi-faceted roles (as a father, husband, Daesan’s president, chaebol or non-chaebol side). Due to the fact that a lot of President Huh’s intentions and/or motivations are kept hidden from the surface (even from the people “closest” to him), I liked that his acting was “just nice”? I was really not quite sure how to put this across – the evil, the regrets, the remorse, the betrayal wasn’t over-the-top. For most I think there is a tendency to overdo things, after all this is a makjang so it’s really easy to cross the line and veer towards exaggeration, if you know what I mean.
Hyper Knife
From the get-go, when Disney+ announced this drama it was already highly anticipated. It wasn’t solely due to the cast Park Eun-bin and Sul Kyung-gu, but also the entire premise to me was really intriguing. And I am here to report that I wasn’t disappointed! I ended my watch thoroughly impressed by the script, acting and the direction. The theme of “genius” is very important here – on the surface it’s quite hard to understand but I think the drama does a fine job explaining the mindset of a genius, and that even geniuses have people they look up to and thrive to be like them or even better than them. After all, this is quite a human trait isn’t it? We live in a competitive world, and in order not to fall behind or become ‘outdated’, we continuously thrive to improve ourselves.
Of course, when Jung Se-ok (Park Eun-bin) receives validation from the person she had always admired/looked up to, naturally she would be overjoyed. However, that happiness is short-lived because the same person caused her to lose her status as top resident doctor of the hospital and hit rock bottom. Imagine the unbearable pain of betrayal, not knowing what went wrong. This pain eventually transformed into hatred for and desire for revenge towards her ex-professor Choi Deok-hee (Sul Kyung-gu), and its only natural she would want him to experience the rock bottom she was once in, or possibly something worse. As the story progresses at the same time going back and forth between the past and present, Deok-hee and Se-ok discover more truths about each other until finally all cards are shown on the table.. for me as a viewer, the relationship between the duo is a fascinating one – by the end you’d realise they were soulmates all along, albeit in a twisted manner. Highly recommended – must-watch!
Cdrama: Blossom 九重紫
Ok, I only picked this up because people in the office were raving non-stop about it so I became curious to see how good it was myself. The cast are all unknown to me, since I’ve been away from cdramas for quite long and they’re also very young. What I like about this drama is the fast-paced storytelling (there is also a downside to it which I will talk about later) as we jump from one plot point to another fairly quickly so there is no time to feel bored or “let your guard down” in a sense? Many things are happening at the same time and as with all chinese historical dramas the number of characters are sprawling, so it takes a while to understand and grasp what is going on.
After the rebirth arc, our titular character Dou Zhao (played by Meng Ziyi) sets out to change her fate by putting in her best attempt to change the events from her past life. Dou Zhao defies the odds of the role of women in those times – she’s independent, capable and intelligent which makes her a good strategist. And that’s why she is able to let events unfold in the way she wants to in this life – of course, until the later stretch when things spiral out of her control and the necessary ‘angst’ as in all dramas. I like to see a strong female lead on my screen, thus am really glad Dou Zhao is one. Surely, in order to let the romance develop and subsequently blossom there would come times that Dou Zhao needs rescuing and that’s when General Song Mo (played by Li Yunrui) gets acquainted with her (apart from her recognising him as that man from her past life). Blossom does a fairly nice job in serving up the romantic feels at the right time; you can’t help but get invested in the love story and want the best for the couple. Song Mo’s characterisation makes him captivating – because he’s such a great fighter he can be ruthless, yet also fiercely loyal and principled in his own right. As you watch further, you’ll find out that all along he’d actually craved the affection and validation from his father which he could never get and hence it was doubly traumatising when he lost his uncle, the one who was like a fatherly figure to him instead of his biological dad. Apart from some logic stretches and a small amount of filler scenes which I didn’t care for, Blossom turned out to be quite enjoyable. Nonetheless, Nirvana in Fire is still irreplaceable in my heart 😉
Blood Free
Since the release of Blood Free, Joo Ji-hoon has been on a roll churning out projects left and right. You barely have time for a breather and he appears back on the small screen again (not that I’m complaining) because frankly speaking I think he made great choices with the scripts and in each drama and character there is an aura that is not repetitive in all projects, and although Joo Ji-hoon is not new to the industry I find it pretty amazing that all these performances come from the same actor. I guess a part of it could be attributed to the fact that his portrayal from the previous drama is still somewhat fresh in my mind before watching the next, but I was truly not bored at all. Wow. Applause! There is a fine line between good acting and over-acting – I like it when the acting is to the point and matter-of-fact, meaning just sufficient to portray who the character is and able to get the point in any particular scene across. Basically, you don’t need flowery acting to impress. The same goes for Han Hyo-joo – the first thing I think one needs to understand is the outer shell that Ja-yu as a character has created for herself. As a CEO you already have so much to think about for your business, add on death threats and live protests below your company’s building, in order not to get hurt or let things get to you you’d have to act like or look unfazed towards whatever’s happening right? What’s more in front of everyone, the media, her own staff to whom she’s paying their salaries – showing weakness externally surely would not be the way to go. However as you observe and continue to watch, there are subtle nuances in Ja-yu’s expressions that tell you she isn’t immune to all these stressors or threats and just perhaps tired or even jaded but she has to keep going.
Which brings me to my next point – Blood Free is penned by the writer of Secret Forest, Lee Soo-Yeon. Therefore it is no surprise that writer-nim has a way to bring us an intriguing dynamic between our characters Ja-yu (Han Hyo-joo) and Chae-woon (Joo Ji-hoon) that is non-romantic. Despite the fact that romance was out of the picture for this one, like in Secret Forest, there is a somewhat understated but purposeful connection between the two. Due to the nature of their jobs as well as their other motives/intentions that they each have to keep hidden, they’re both generally a man and woman of few words. As we progress this connection deepens – Chae-woon not only sees Ja-yu as the VIP/subject person he has to protect, he is genuinely concerned about her physical and mental well-being. That way it becomes not just a job, isn’t it? Ja-yu went from totally distrusting Chae-woon to reluctantly relying on him, then even going to the extent of sharing her personal struggles with him. A typical CEO wouldn’t do that to his/her bodyguard right? After all this is a drama, so I did love getting these OTP glimpses given our very dark premise. Lastly, I also liked that the show stayed grounded in making it a reflection of society, and life – just brushstrokes of it but good enough to bring the idea across. That’s why genetic engineering will always be controversial, right?
Love Your Enemy
I talked about Joo Ji-hoon’s high appearance rate earlier right? Yes, so this was the actor’s latest outing in a romantic comedy together with Jung Yu-mi as our lead couple with a love-hate relationship. If you’re a seasoned or avid kdrama viewer, there is nothing flashy or unique about this drama. But that’s what I liked about it – I think this is a good example of a conventional kdrama rom-com with all the traditional elements put into play. The newer variety of rom-coms tend to fuse elements like serial killer, stalker etc and most of the time if not done well these just feel out of place and you’d rather not have them in the show. Since there is nothing refreshing, the drama is highly predictable in terms of storyline – what I’d suggest is to just enjoy the ride. Laugh, cry, soak in the romantic feels.
Joo Ji-hoon’s delivery of Seok Ji-won is slick, even when he confesses to Yoon Ji-won (Jung Yu-mi) it’s so matter-of-fact yet enough to make your heart flutter. They both say a lot of things they don’t really mean to each other out of spite and also out of the unresolved wounds from 18 years ago, when in actual fact they’d missed each other dearly and the reconciliation forced them to revisit the feelings that they’d kept hidden all these years. Jung Yu-mi’s performance was also solid – from Ji-won’s shock and disbelief that her first love appears right in front of her after 18 years, the initial denial and the eventual acknowledgement and awareness that she still held feelings for the same person. Indeed, the developments in the story also aided this; personally I felt that Jung Yu-mi handled her character’s transition well. Other than the main OTP, Yoon Ji-won’s (since the main characters have the same name I need to differentiate them via surname in writing) relationship with her grandpa stood out to me the most. It’s so endearing, and over all these years Grandpa Yoon has been her own family, which makes their bond all the more special. All in all, this is a classic tribute to the conventional kdrama rom-com – thank you dramaland for bringing back what made us all fall in love with kdramas.
A Shop For Killers
A Shop For Killers is a drama that turned out to be not quite what I envisioned – if you did not read the novel the synopsis doesn’t actually tell you much about what the show’s actually all about. It was wilder than my imagination, in a good way. In my opinion, the opening sequence was really well done – riveting and strong enough to pique your interest to keep watching. By this time, uncle Jung Jin-man (Lee Dong-wook) is no longer by his niece’s Jung Ji-an’s (Kim Hye-jun) side and it is also about the time when Ji-an begins to receive death threats and having unknown people trying to kill her. The drama progresses as we move back and forth between the past and present, and Ji-an is let on about her uncle’s double life. It only gets better beyond this point – I was slightly wistful when the short 8 episode run ended.
One thing that would be good to note while watching is being aware of which character’s perspective the story is being told in: Just Ji-an and Jin-man for instance have conflicting views of the world they live in (typical high-schooler & secret agent/mercenary/relative). Having the awareness of a character’s viewpoint would in my opinion help you to understand why they say certain things or act in a certain way and the extent to which each will go as more is revealed. Also credits to actor Seo Hyun-woo for his portrayal of Lee Seong-jo; he’s a great actor I’m so glad that he’s getting more drama roles now. Overall, I feel this show is pretty underrated, in a sense that it wasn’t really talked about much? Maybe because there’s no love story? Anyway, do try it if you haven’t!
Red Swan
When was the last time we saw Rain, aka Jung Ji-hoon in a classic full black suit with tie? The closest to it was probably in 2010’s Fugitive: Plan B but that’s like 15 years ago? And now he still looks the same – as a renewed and more matured version of himself. Drama wise this isn’t the best of its kind, but I do love both Rain and Kim Ha-neul so I delved into it without thinking much. Both have been in the industry for a while now and have sufficient experience to carry their roles well. Before I talk about them, let me give credit to all of our show’s villains for making them so detestable that you can’t help rooting for both Wan-soo and Do-yoon. There are a lot of “wolves in sheep’s clothing” in the context of this drama, but the two standout performances for me would be from Yoon Je-moon as Lawyer Han Sang-il and Seo Yi-sook as Chairwoman Park Mi-ran. So vicious and despicable it reached the point whereby I started to dislike the characters for just appearing on my screen hah. Without the need to say anything or sinister music.. just argh! What trouble are they up to this time..
It is worth noting that all the characters in Red Swan somewhat have their own agenda – whether the intentions are harmful or for the sake of truth prevailing. It was quite interesting to find out bit by bit, all their secrets and hidden motivations as the drama progressed. Some of the reveals bend slightly towards makjang, but I would say the drama does a fairly good job of explaining such that eventually it all makes sense. The fight scenes were filmed pretty well too – nice to see Rain in action again after Fugitive: Plan B. Do-yoon is excellent in his job, even when complicated emotions arise in the mix he tries his best to remain steadfast and unwavered as he protects Wan-soo and works towards his cause at the same time. Most importantly, he is confident he can do it well despite the endless amount of dangerous situations he gets thrown into in the course. Kim Ha-neul portrays Oh Wan-soo with the right amount of weakness – the fear in her eyes, unsettled because everyone who’s against her all want her and the people close to her dead; yet she is also able to stand up to her enemies in Hwain Group. Overall, this drama lies in the neutral zone for me – hit or miss. Personally, I also feel this is not the two leads’ best work to date but still watchable.
The Whirlwind
If you guys know me from my previous blogposts, you would know that I am a big fan of scriptwriter Park Kyung-soo who is known for his works such as The Chaser, Punch, Empire of Gold etc. He came back with The Whirlwind last year, released on Netflix June 28. And indeed, writer-nim did not disappoint – the drama was one hell of a ride and thoroughly enjoyable. You’d think you knew everything but actually you knew nothing! The twists and turns, edge-of-your-seat drama, and things that happen when you least expect it. The cast was a bonus as well – helmed by veterans Sul Kyung-gu and Kim Hee-ae, along with other veterans. This is the actor’s first drama series by the way (and at the time of this post he is already back with Hyper Knife which I have talked about earlier!). The acting as well as writing are brilliant, and the scenes are paired with some really amazing background music. Park Dong-ho and Jeong Su-jin, despite being “enemies” have screen-grabbing chemistry as they take turns in attempt to outwit each other – and that is credit to the veteran actor and actress, coupled with good writing for creating this unique dynamic of neither friend nor foe. It is reminiscent of Jung-hwan and Tae-joon in Punch, which writer-nim is soooo good at. Bravo!
My Sweet Mobster
This is a drama that I didn’t think I would end up liking so much – kdrama comedy doesn’t sit well with me especially if it’s very extra, In the case of this drama it can indeed get quite extra and each of these scenes usually take a longer than average screen-time. I shall not get into the details; some of it was quite funny (like LOL kind of funny), whilst some were just okay as it went abit overkill. However, I liked that there was a revolving theme that the show constantly succeeded in reminding us of and it is commendable that the essence of this is not lost up until the end. You could think of it as something like a social commentary – whether people deserve second chances, whether bad people could change and genuinely turn over a new leaf, how someone’s past influences others’ perspective of them etc.
It was very refreshing to see Uhm Tae-goo in a rom-com role – his portrayal of Seo Ji-hwan made him so endearing. He has such a cool aura as an ex-mobster company CEO, earning the respect of all his employees at Thirsty Deer through his sincerity, care and concern for them. Yet at the same time, he can get all flustered and clueless especially in front of Go Eun-ha (played by Han Sun-hwa) – it was nice to see different sides of him in just one role. The actress was very natural as Eun-ha; I don’t know her well from her previous dramas and didn’t really have an opinion of her but one thing for sure is that she did make an impression on me through My Sweet Mobster. The whole ‘love at first sight’ thing was a tad unrealistic in my opinion but for the sake of the OTP progression I guess it was necessary in hindsight. The big ex-gangster family living together with Ji-hwan was the most heartwarming thing for me – considering all their complicated backgrounds they wouldn’t be a typical family but every scene where everyone is gathered at the big house’s dining table just screamed “family”. With Eun-ha’s subsequent addition it only made my heart even fuller ❤️
A Virtuous Business
Note: A Virtuous Business is the Korean remake of British (UK) television series Brief Encounters, which is attributed to in the show’s credits. For me, I watched this straight without going into the original version so I am only penning my thoughts on it as a standalone drama with the same plot idea(s)/synopsis. You may beg to differ. The set-up in this case is deliberate, but also important to tell our story. You could tell that the production team put in a lot of effort to re-create the vibes of a rural village set in the 90s. Our main characters’ outfits were also well-considered and befitting of the times they lived in. The show touches on themes like female empowerment, friendship, and what it means to be a woman living in those times. We have very experienced cast at the helm – Kim So-yeon, Kim Sun-young, Kim Sung-ryung and Lee Se-hee who each embody the traits of their characters with enough depth (especially when the script sometimes fails to deliver), that made it easier for me as a viewer to feel for them as a victim of their circumstances. Their evolving friendship throughout the course of the drama was a highlight, as they continued striving hard to make the lingerie business successful – standing up for and being there for another. What I liked most was how the quartet confided in each other about their personal problems. Back then there was much more embarrassment than now when you become the talk of the town so you end up just struggling silently – but sometimes you need a third party, and a true friend to help you to see what you cannot when you are stranded in a sticky situation yourself.
I also want to take this opportunity to give a shoutout to actor Im Chul-soo for his acting here as Young-bok’s (Kim Sun-young) husband Park Jong-seon. And since I’d just talked about My Sweet Mobster (MSM) earlier, it’s worth noting that it’s the same actor who starred as our resident gangster villain Go Yang-hee. While there wasn’t much depth character wise, his outfits and the way he walked in MSM did crack me up, lol. While each of the four ladies have different problems or struggles which you may relate to varying extents as a viewer, the most heartbreaking arc for me was Young-bok and Jong-seon’s story. I personally feel their side story was one of, if not the most well done out of all. Young-bok who’d believed that her husband had truly turned over a new leaf after serving his prison sentence, only to have to end up reliving the same nightmare or trauma from back then when Jong-seon’s desperation drives him to make the wrong decision. Imagine her horror upon finding out that her husband had been involved in a hit-and-run, and the victim had to be her good friend’s husband! I truly felt her pain, and having to initially mask that pain and conflict in front of her friend Geum-hui (Kim Sung-ryung) was just.. ouch. The sad thing I have to say about this drama though is that it wasn’t consistently good since the writing faltered here and there and I wasn’t able to see some of the things I’d hoped to see more of. For instance, we do not see some of the points of conflict that causes rift(s) between characters get throughly resolved and were more of touch-and-go, which made me wonder whether I would have enjoyed the show more if I was able to see further exploration and/or resolution. Therefore, this also ended up in the neutral zone for me all in all.
Good Partner
While I was doing the brainstorming for this post, Good Partner was that drama I told myself that I must Must MUST talk about. Maybe not talk, but rave hah 😉 In my book, this was undoubtedly one of the best offerings in 2024 dramaland. The OST is nice too. And Jang Na-ra truly, truly DESERVED the Daesang trophy from the annual SBS drama awards held on 21st December last year. Cha Eun-kyung (Jang Na-ra) looks like she’s had everything one needed to succeed in life – she’s a star divorce lawyer at one of South Korea’s top law firms Daejeong and married to a doctor with whom they have a 13-year-old daughter together. After having handled countless divorce cases on behalf of her clients, she ended up having to deal with her own divorce matter. It is journey of one’s growth, redemption and self-love. Jang Na-ra’s interpretation of Eun-kyung is remarkable, even more so with the fact she revealed in an interview with VIU that her personality in real life is nothing like the lawyer she portrayed. Eun-kyung is sooo good at her job – from the get-go the way she deals with each case at hand stems from her years of experience. I felt like I saw divorces in a new light from watching the drama – though we always knew that family issues were multi-faceted and complex, it was nice to see the show unpack these factors and considerations in every case featured.
Nam Ji-hyun has a chemistry with her co-star that sparkles – as rookie lawyer Han Yu-ri who begins her journey at Daejeong at loggerheads with her superior Cha Eun-kyung. This chemistry allows them to bounce off each other and we get a very compelling duo. They embark on a quest of mutual understanding, healing of past and present wounds and slowly evolve to become good partners as the title suggests. It is hard to pinpoint one thing that made this drama so amazing for me, because it was good in many many ways. Good Partner deals with divorce, and the hurdles that come our characters’ way in a mature, well-thought-out way. Very often, we get trapped in our own emotions and find it hard to separate it from the rational side of things. The show allows us to explore several perspectives about an issue – providing food for thought on multiple occasions.
Apart from Eun-kyung and Yu-ri, there is another character I would like to bring to the spotlight here – that’s fellow partner lawyer Jung Woo-jin (actor Kim Jun-han starring). Woo-jin was that silent rock for Eun-kyung, and also for his subordinates Jeon Eun-ho (Pyo Ji-hoon) and Yu-ri. He’s calm and doesn’t say much, but when he does it’s safe to say he’s the wisest of the bunch. I also felt strongly for him many times during my watch – Kim Jun-han’s portrayal definitely made him unforgettable. Despite the heavy and sensitive topics that the show touches on, it does not forget to have comedic moments in between. Let me just give one example since I do not want this to be spoilery for those who have not seen it – I thought it was very entertaining how Yu-ri set out to confirm with Woo-jin and Eun-kyung respectively that Woo-jin wasn’t Eun-kyung’s ‘office husband’ (which we’d already knew otherwise). I am not sure how popular Good Partner was internationally but it enjoyed high ratings in South Korea and I definitely see why. Not just the acting, the execution was pretty solid in all fronts. It was also smart not to push forward on the romance between Eun-ho and Yu-ri, such that the show would not shy away from its themes of focus, Please give it a try if you haven’t!
The Judge From Hell
I am really not a fan of fantasy elements in dramas personally (unless the show uses it to tug at your heartstrings like in Please Come Back, Mister / Hi, Bye Mama) but this entire drama is built on the whole Hell and demons premise and now that I’ve emerged on the other side I would say that this worked relatively well for the show’s entirety. Not so much the heart part, but the premise was essential for us to see demon judge Kang Bit-na’s journey of growth and character development. Park Shin-hye absolutely shone in her role – and surely it was intentional but the production team made sure to differentiate demon judge Kang Bit-na and the real Kang Bit-na. Of course, Park Shin-hye is already gorgeous but the choice of make-up and costumes for her role had a sparkly quality which is just like her character in the drama. She is already a big name in the industry so while I wasn’t super WOW-ed, her acting in The Judge From Hell still impressed me in a way that felt very natural. Yes, it is role-playing but I felt that the actress was very well-assimilated into it given that a lot of the stuff is imaginary.
As for Kim Jae-young, I have mixed feelings about his outing as detective Han Da-on. Largely, it could be due to the nature of the role since its somewhat one-dimensional and “all about justice” besides the sad childhood secret/backstory. I guess there wasn’t much room for Da-on to be interesting as a character, save for the fact that he got involved in a demon’s business and affairs. Nonetheless, Da-on was the one of the main catalysts for Bit-na’s eventual growth which was essential but yeah.. I wasn’t blown away by his delivery, in a sense. The same goes for the romance – I didn’t find that our lead couple had good chemistry?? If any of you who’s reading this happen to be a fan of the love story please don’t kill me.. I’m sorry but I’m also not able to tell clearly what didn’t work. It just fell flat on all aspects to me, whether it was execution, storytelling and acting wise despite the show trying really hard to sell it to whoever watching. The last ramble/thought I have would be how the drama ended the way it had started; meaning that it was evident that we went one full circle in that all our characters are physically/mentally in better places and the drama didn’t lose the essence of the story it wanted to tell. The most obvious and meaningful parallel scene would be the one with Bit-na and schoolchildren at the courtroom lobby – watch to find out?
When The Phone Rings
Gosh, the hype that surrounded this drama was unreal.. like right off the bat from the time it aired. There was endless talk about it on dramaverse and across several news platforms as well. The pilot episodes were really strong in terms of set-up – very quickly we see how different Paik Sa-eon and Hong Hee-joo are as individuals and how they got themselves involved in this business/”loveless” marriage. A lot of mystery surrounded the premise, thus it made me want to keep watching on to see what would unravel. And from the get-go, our lead couple Yoo Yeon-seok and Chae Soo-bin have electrifying chemistry, despite their characters not marrying out of love. But whether there was really no love, or it changed from love to no love is another story (more on that later). I think this feeling as a result of the watch is a combination of good acting, writing, and scene execution so kudos to the whole team for delivering.
In my opinion, Yoo Yeon-seok’s performance in emotionally heavy or charged scenes was the most stellar. I’m actually not sure whether it is more difficult to act emo or act cute (aegyo) – I think each has their own challenge or difficulty but at the same time it varies from actor to actor. All the instances whereby Yoo Yeon-seok took my breath away as Paik Sa-eon was when he had to express emotions such as sorrow, fear, anger and pain; the actor did exceptionally well in those scenes that I very much felt for Sa-eon and his situation. As for Chae Soo-bin, I am just glad that she’s gotten more recognition through this drama. The last I’d seen her was in Rebel: Thief Who Stole The People where it was an ensemble cast (as with sageuks usually). It would have been quite a challenge to pick up sign language for the role and immerse herself in it for such a natural result. It was a pity because the writing for When The Phone Rings flopped real hard somewhere in the middle, thus it wasn’t as gripping as when it had first started. For me, I was already invested so I told myself I had to see it through to the end, but yeah.. some of the narrative choices were rather questionable. If you watch for the acting though, you wouldn’t be disappointed.
The Auditors
Shin Ha-kyun came back on mainstream television with a drama set in the corporate world, after 2021’s Beyond Evil. The drama is focused entirely on the auditing team at JU Construction and their newly appointed team leader Shin Cha-il as they strive to expose various corrupt practices in the company. The format is episodic; the team solves a single case over 1-2 episodes, with a brief introduction of the next episode’s issue. This was undoubtedly a show for Shin Ha-kyun’s character as the titular lead auditor, and while it was not the actor’s best performance he was still good as most would expect. Facing up against Cha-il is Hwang Dae-woong (played by Jin Goo), as JU Construction’s shady (or not?) vice president. The actor also gave a pretty solid performance, however in hindsight I wished that Cha-il and Dae-woong had resolved their differences earlier so there could be more room for the bromance.
The main gripe I have about this drama is Lee Jung-ha’s character Gu Han-soo, whom I felt was written too one-dimensional or simplistic even for a rookie auditor role. It’s just a pity the writing made him mainly serve as a plot device to clash with Cha-il, and even as the show progressed there wasn’t much growth on his part as a character. The Auditors also had a tendency to skim the surface on the workplace social issues, without delving into them with much depth. Overall, its more suitable for a breezy watch without too much focus on the relationships between the characters in our drama world and in-depth character development. A hit or miss, to conclude.
Connection
I’ll be shallow and admit that a big part of me looked forward to this drama because of Ji Sung – I missed him on my screen and was excited to hear about his comeback drama after 2 years. Correct me if I’m wrong – it is his first time acting as a drug addict (albeit the addiction process being an inadvertent one) and once again I am awed by his acting as detective Jang Jae-kyung who becomes embroiled in a complex web of lies, secrets and deceit involving his high school friends. On a make-up and appearance perspective you can also see Jae-kyung’s face becoming paler as more time passed – it was a smart move by the production team to keep to the realism of the storyline and his circumstances. There was a fair bit of criticism on Jeon Mi-do’s reporter character Oh Yoon-jin but I personally think it’s because Yoon-jin as a character didn’t get a proper ‘resolution’ like the other characters, so all the ambiguous points about her somewhat vanished? Still, I appreciate writer-nim’s courage not to portray her as just a righteous journalist, but also someone who is limited by her circumstances thus unabashed for having an eye for money.
The most compelling part of the drama for me would be the characterisations. All the characters, whether lead or supporting were written very interestingly and Connection succeeded in creating several morally grey characters. Not that we condone them for their wrongdoings or bad behaviours but the drama made good effort to help us understand each of their underlying motivations and perhaps even warped sense of justice. On that note, here’s a shoutout to Kwon Yul for his portrayal as villain prosecutor Park Tae-jin – I have always felt that his acting has been limited to the roles that he tends to get typecast in but this role was a phenomenal turn for him. And I knew I was sold because the minute Tae-jin appeared on screen each time I had hated his guts so much. And especially in the scenes with Ji Sung, they were both equally good – I think that says a lot. Dear directors and PD-nims, please cast Kwon Yul in a greater variety of roles!
Lastly, I’d like to add that I absolutely loved how Connection stayed true to itself on the kind of story it wanted to be and the lessons us as viewers could take away from. We went one full circle – things were no longer the same but true friendships were re-defined and re-forged. It sure took a lot of time and sacrifices before the baddies paid for their crimes and before Jae-kyung started hanging out with his good friends from the past again, but the outcome was satisfying and I was thankful for that. The narrative is tight, the pacing is fast and the direction is slick – my suggestion is to pay close attention while watching so as not to miss out on details because in certain weeks it could be a lot of information packed in one (1) hour. Watch to explore flaws in the human mind and the factors that make or break a friendship or relationship through a murder mystery.
Flex X Cop
During the time Flex X Cop aired and while watching I didn’t notice but I later found out this was apparently based on a Russian television series Silver Spoon. I guess both the Russian title and the Korean title (“Chaebol x Hyeongsa”) make sense – the lead character Jin I-soo (starring Ahn Bo-hyun) is a chaebol, meaning ‘rich person’ who becomes a policeman as part of Gang Ha Police Station’s Violent Crime Investigation Team 1 due to an assault case. Initially scorned by the whole team, I-soo reluctantly starts to report to work and has to investigate actual violent criminal cases with the team. It’s procedural style, just like we see on a lot of western crime series but with kdrama touch. As a result, the whole show follows this kind of recipe (crime happens, investigation is launched, clue sniffing, closing in before the final arrest). If you don’t like this kind of storytelling style, it could possibly get repetitive episode after episode so I thought it would be good to know.
I-soo’s initial interactions with team leader Lee Gang-hyun (starring actress Park Ji-hyun) were ice-cold and a lot of it stemmed from her preconceived notions about chaebols but as time passes they grew to understand and appreciate each other more amidst the case-solving. Still, the drama is not romance-forward so consider yourselves warned if you’re looking for any form of love story. In shows like this the end result is equally important (meaning justice is served etc) but I personally enjoyed the process of getting there more. The endgame is more or less foreseeable, but I liked how I-soo resolved his childhood trauma and how Gang-hyun found closure for her father’s bribery case. Very good character development for their respective journeys of growth and self-realisation! It was also lovely to watch Gang-hyun’s scenes with her parents Hyung-jun (Kwon Hae-hyo) and Mi-sook (Yun Yoo-sun); the vibes were such a contrast to I-soo’s family and were much needed comfort away from the dark, violent cases and shady chaebol family secrets. Not that the drama is inherently dark since there are comedic elements, but sprinkles of warmth here and there shouldn’t hurt right? When the featured crime hit a bit too close to home for our hero and heroine respectively, I appreciated that the drama took time for them to process their emotions before starting again. My favourite was also the Team 1 & Team 2 hijinks and how the leader of Team 2 An Byung-sik (Kim Kyeol) eventually warmed up to Gang-hyun and willingly disobeyed their superior’s orders to help her. Overall, a fun watch – yay or nay?
The Tale of Lady Ok
Let me just share my reason for picking up this drama which I only started and completed a couple of weeks back – Choo Young-woo was awarded Best New Actor at the Baeksang Arts Awards held on 5th May 2025 for his role(s) here and that got me curious to have a look-see? The only other work I know him from is The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call which I wrote about earlier in this post and during some of the cast interviews for Trauma Code, him starring in Tale of Lady Ok was briefly brought up and his fellow sunbae-nim actor Joo Ji-hoon did joke about it a bit. More on him later.
Okay, anyway I am a sucker for sob stories/underdog stories so I was already drawn in at the first 2 episodes. From Goo-deok (starring Im Ji-yeon) being so poor and having to resort to ways to earn money to escape her life of slavery to losing people dear to her…as a slave you’d already have to fight for survival in a tiger’s den but the stakes are immediately raised exponentially when she has to act like or even become a noblewoman? I mean it could serve as a cover given the world of a difference between a slave and noblewoman but it’s also doubly dangerous? So yes.. given that the introduction was like that you would know the consequences when it all goes down and stand-in Tae-young’s true identity is exposed. The context here is that I dived into the show without reading the premise or looking at any promotional materials so I found it quite surprising that things were happening this quickly (so whatever I said earlier happened in the two opening episodes, and in a sageuk at that). Only when I reached the end and kinda reflected on the grand scheme of things that I realised its perhaps because the entire drama spans a very long time frame so in order to tell everything in 16 episodes writer-nim was in a hurry? LOL however guys I do not mean it in a bad way, it’s just that things happen in doubly quick time thanks to the pace; when you watch you’ll know.
Im Ji-yeon was the absolute star of the show obviously – I mean this is a story about her character, Lady Ok Tae-young. And this is what we get; the role is also quite different from her other filmography so I thought it was nice getting to see another side or perspective of her acting. Tae-young’s kindness, grace, mental strength and empathy for others – she showcases all these qualities in several instances you can’t help but root for her. Back to Choo Young-woo and the whole curiosity (plus a bit of FOMO?) reason, I’m still going to maintain that I wasn’t blown away by his portrayal. A part of it I believe is jadedness… after all, it is a challenge for a relatively new actor to play 2 lookalike (yet different) roles but props to Choo Young-woo for doing a reasonably good job as both Cheon Seung-hwi and Song Yun-gyeom. There is consistent effort to distinguish between the two and I see it not only in a production point of view (like the costumes, writing etc) but also in a performance point of view. Seung-hwi, because of what he has been through in the past (and therefore stripped of nobleman status) is more relaxed and somewhat carefree, whereas Yun-gyeom is more serious because of the “burden” he has to carry as the magistrate’s son. I could have been a tad harsh in my assessment, but since he is still considered a newbie and so young in age he can only become better as he gains more experience over time? I would consider this a modern-style sageuk, meaning it’s by and large watchable even if you don’t usually watch historical kdramas. Ultimately, its just that the background and story is set in the Joseon era, but the execution leans towards contemporary.
Moving
Moving is that drama I didn’t know I needed – a very special gem that will stay in my heart for a long time. It truly went beyond the “superhero” and fantasy vibes to deliver one of South Korea’s best offerings from the year 2023. Love, Love and LOVE. In recent years I haven’t had the habit (and maybe time?) to check out teasers or trailers before dramas air, so most of the time I would say I enter the watch quite ‘blind’ in a sense? So to speak, this means that I kinda just start watching without much background information of the said show; I also don’t actively seek out social media platforms to see what people are saying. The most I would do is perhaps read the episode description on Disney+ before I press “play”? Thus I found it quite surprising when this started out to appear like another ordinary kdrama – parents sending off their children to school, nothing strange about that? Frankly, I was even baffled thinking about how the fantasy element was going to tie in to Bong-seok’s (Lee Jung-ha) and Hui-soo’s (Go Youn-jung) school story because it seemed so impossible and out-of-this-world. Yet, I was fascinated enough to wonder how everything in the drama’s world would eventually fall in place.
Kang Pool, the author for the original webcomic that Moving‘s story is based on also penned the drama script and that to me is a BIG plus – because writer-nim knows his own work the best, right? Just like cdrama Nirvana in Fire from back then – honestly it does make a difference, because having a different person write and adapt it to television also means another interpretation of the same story. I was very impressed by the young actors in our main cast namely Lee Jung-ha, Go Youn-jung and Kim Do-hoon – they were still able to hold their fort despite acting alongside huge stars like Ryu Seung-ryong, Han Hyo-joo, Jo In-sung, Kim Sung-kyun, Cha Tae-hyun and Ryu Seung-bum. They’re all much more senior, some veterans even, so to them, great job done for bringing Bong-seok, Hui-soo and Gang-hoon to life. Deft scriptwriting, together with smooth execution on the show’s part and good acting all around made for a very fulfilling 20 episodes. I think Moving’s greatest asset lay in the fact that as far-fetched and dark the drama world was, it was ultimately all about a parent’s love for their children, kinship, and family ties. Granted, a lot of the circumstances were rather extreme but it’s also a very human trait that desperation drives one to go to great lengths to protect what matters most to them. I introduced it as the show I never knew I needed, because as much heartbreak (for the characters) as I had felt, it brought me great comfort too. Well done, Moving!
Random spotlight: Disney+
Before I move on to the last handful of dramas, let me make a brief digression about Disney+, the latest subscription video streaming platform that is currently in trend. Over time it has proven to be a strong competitor in the industry among other key players such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. I’m writing this paragraph out of nowhere because I’ve enjoyed a fair bit of content exclusive to or licensed to the site. For the purposes of this post, just consider my point in a kdrama sense. The projects picked up have been really interesting – such as Moving, A Shop for Killers, Revenge of Others, Blood Free, Light Shop, and now the latest Nine Puzzles; particularly because they all feel different from the usual kdrama fare. With that, I believe Disney+ has succeeded in differentiating itself from its closest competitors which hopefully means that it is here to stay! Since the world of Disney is “The Most Magical Place on Earth” (hah), I’d like to say thank you and please continue to create magic on Disney+! Alright, back to the main topic.
Adamas
Well, Ji Sung already did a fantastic job acting 7 personalities in a single drama way back in 2015 through Kill Me, Heal Me so I thought two highly different twin brother characters wouldn’t be too tough for him and I was right indeed. He’s always able to deliver through his chosen projects and I do think this ability is recognised both locally and internationally thus I won’t elaborate further. Adamas was strong from the start – the set-up was super intriguing, wild even. It was so crazy I thought to myself, could it get any madder than this? And on top of the impressive Ji Sung, we have a bunch of very well-acted and interesting supporting characters. This, in my eyes was a huge success on the drama’s part, especially on the shady characters – because it only got crazier as I got deeper into the episode count and as a result, couldn’t help but get more and more and MORE invested to unpack the mystery and reveal the truth about the Adamas. There’s a whole list – I’ll just name some as a shoutout: actress Hwang Jung-min (not the male movie actor), Seo Hyun-woo, Heo Sung-tae, Park Hye-eun and Oh Dae-hwan in their respective roles. I’ve liked Seo Ji-hye since her Punch days, and it’s the same here as well. She continues to strike me as an actress to look out for, and I sincerely hope that she’d get her breakthrough and be cast as first female lead in the near future (most would probably know/recognise her from Crash Landing On You as Seo Dan).
Unfortunately, the weakest link in our said show is the writing, especially the ending which really infuriated me. It felt like the premise, reveals and arduous search for the truth was all built up for the final moments, only for it to become…nothing? Like, the whole point of the story was just lost after all that effort to build up the tension and intensity. I think you can tell by now, but I was really disappointed by the finale. Ultimately I just told myself it’s okay, I did it for Ji Sung and the precious supporting cast.
One Dollar Lawyer
Alright, if Flex X Cop was that crime/police procedural drama with kdrama comedy sprinkled over, One Dollar Lawyer is the legal drama to that similar effect. We already know Namgoong Min can act funny very well as we’ve seen in Chief Kim and Beautiful Gongshim (he can also be a very convincing and hateful villain!), so it’s no surprise that his delivery of the titular one dollar lawyer Cheon Ji-hun is on point. He reunited with his co-star Kim Ji-eun from The Veil, but this time in a very different genre and vibe. Though I am new to her, the actress did a fine job as trainee prosecutor-turned-lawyer Baek Ma-ri and was able to match up to her more experienced sunbae-nim. Together with Ji-hun and Sa Mu-jang (Park Jin-woo), they make a fun trio with good camaraderie. And no unnecessary loveline to complicate things! The best scenes were when the three of them appeared on my screen together to showcase their wits and team spirit. I think it’s my first time seeing Namgoong Min with curly hair in a role; I definitely welcome a new look of his. And by the way, I love all their outfits – the patterns, colours and style not only fit with the drama’s vibes, they are very chic and stylish.
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, this drama is procedural style – every episode deals with a different client who requires legal assistance, much like Flex X Cop where there is a new murder case every 1-2 episodes. A downside for One Dollar Lawyer though, is that the tone is uneven and the transition between the serious and funny isn’t as smooth as the former – I think it could be attributed to both weaker writing and not-so-good execution choices, especially in the later half of the full run. To add on further, I am glad that the said show ended in 12 episodes because as much as I was entertained by the trio, further prolonging something with a lack of any proper plot or story was rather ahem…painful. Nonetheless, there was no lack of effort from our main cast PLUS supporting actors, particularly Choi Dae-hoon and Gong Min-jung starring as prosecutors; so I took heart in the fact that I stuck throughout the journey for them. Better luck next time, perhaps?
Revenge Of Others
High school angst, hidden intentions, suicide, bullying… despite knowing from the premise clearly that student Ok Chan-mi (Shin Ye-eun) transfers to her
The drama was overall quite far-fetched about how they literally sent the police detectives on a wild goose chase throughout, but I guess if the case could be cracked by the cops then there would be no story to go on with? Shoutout to Seo Ji-hoon as well, who plays fellow student Seok Jae-bum who happens to be from a chaebol family that owns a hospital – I remember him from Solomon’s Perjury and cameo in Signal. His performance here deserved some applause and many thumbs-up! Jae-bum was without a doubt the most interesting character in our show for all that we got to see of him (ah, the wasted potential), which brings me to the ending which I had mixed feelings about. For all of the questions posed by Revenge of Others we ultimately got the answers to them, but of course greedy me hoped to see more of Jae-bum’s arc for instance.. then again we can’t have everything in 12 episodes?
Ghost Doctor
I am pretty much convinced that Rain (aka Jung Ji-hoon) has a flair for comedic acting. He stars as Doctor Cha Young-min in said show, who unfortunately slipped into a coma due to an accident. However, he gets reincarnated as a ghost limited to the hospital only and meets Go Seung-tak (Kim Bum) who has the ability to see ghosts. One of the most memorable things about the drama was definitely the bromance – we don’t get this as much as we used to in dramaland nowadays (think the trend has died down a bit?) but I do welcome a good bromance for sure. Young-min and Seung-tak are already funny in their individual scenes, so when both are together sparks really fly. The petty hijinks and the squabbling between the duo cracked me up, a lot. It was almost as if this was the OTP we all watched for, since it stayed consistent throughout even when things turned emotional.
We’ve had quite a few ghost dramas before, all touching on the idea of life after death or someone being on the verge of death. While these premises are nothing new, I do feel that the reason they sell is because these are raw issues and very close to life in itself. Albeit fantasy in element, it begs the question of what would you do all over again if you had a second chance. People always say “Life is short, treasure it.” While it could always be on the back of our minds, it’s not really quite the same when it plays out on the screen in front of your eyes. I liked the mini side stories of the other ghosts Guk-chan (Han Seung-hyun), Hoon-gil (Tan) and Bo-mi (Yoon So-hee) as well – it was nice we got to see them as ghosts talking about their past lives, and also the lives of the people whom were left behind in the world. I thought Tess’s and Chairman Jang’s stories were poignant as well – credit to veterans Sung Dong-il and Lee Moon-soo for top-notch acting. Another thing the show did well would be the respective character development for Young-min and Seung-tak, using the whole “possession” and mentoring thing for them to chart a journey of evolving maturity and self-realisation which is important as by the end, they’ve become better versions of themselves. More could have been done to flesh out Uee’s character Jang Se-jin though; it was a pity that writer-nim sidelined her too much, save for the part of ending the life support for her father. Prepare to laugh out loud (literally), with some tissues on the side with Ghost Doctor!
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
It’s safe to say that this was THE drama that catapulted Park Eun-bin into international fame. At such a young age she already has had a long long longggg acting career so locals would presumably be familiar with her but I think this project was the one that she hit the ball out of the park with audiences globally. Truly a phenomenal performance by the actress because she rose up to the challenge to portray lawyer Woo Young-woo, who also happens to be on the autism spectrum, so brilliantly. As per the drama title, this was ultimately all about Young-woo’s “growing up” journey with the people who supported her and also those who in some ways or other “brought her down”. Joining Hanbada Law Firm to navigate the corporate world of “sharks”, taking on some cases for the firm and through all these gain sensibility and self-realisation as she adapts to the world around her. I will just point out two things about Young-woo’s development process – the first is when she begins to see the world in another’s perspective that is not the same her as own; and the second is when she actually decides what she wants for herself and her life, not want others want for her.
My favourite supporting character is Young-woo’s direct superior at Hanbada Jung Myeong-seok, starring Kang Ki-young. I am totally aware that he’s just a fictional character, but at several points I did wish that our bosses in real life were just like him. (Wishful thinking, I know) On top of that, Kang is a great actor, probably better than what he’s being appreciated for. At multiple points of the drama, I thought Myeong-seok did showcase traits of being a good leader with a very kind heart. One is objectivity, and the other is the ability to see the big picture in things, as well as some foresight. Looking past Young-woo’s differences from the average person and purely seeing her for the good she brings Hanbada and their clients. Myeong-seok also contributes to some laughs in Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and I think that is a result of great casting and some very nice acting skill 😉 (good-looking as well 😛). I’ll stop here since I think most people have watched this hehe.
Taxi Driver 1 & 2
I wasn’t going to watch this but it was getting a lot of positive feedback even long after the first season ended, then Season 2 came in 2023. For the drama gods to go ahead and actually produce a second season two years after the first (please note this is different from shows with 2 parts where the story of the second is a direct continuation of the first) must mean it was really successful right? As of this post, a THIRD <3rd> season is already in the works by the way but I remain somewhat skeptical and wonder if it could live up to the goodness of the first two seasons. That is quite a mountain to climb, in my opinion. The second season begins after a time lapse where we were last left off in the first. Don’t worry if you did not watch Season 1 though; the concept and most main characters were the same but the story is totally unrelated. Based on a webtoon of the same Korean name (which is the drama’s title in Korean), Taxi Driver was a crime procedural like Flex X Cop but Batman style haha. This means that our main cast, all part of Rainbow Taxi Company set out to take down criminals that the prosecution and police had failed to punish. It’s not hard to make this kind of format, but it is hard to make that same format stand out from the rest. For me, the X factor was in the said show’s overall presentation; for instance the whole deluxe taxi set-up was cool and so high-tech that I was pretty fascinated.
The injustice was quite heavy-handed because it touched on a lot of social issues such as school violence and/or bullying, illegal video recording and distribution and voice phishing, but in a way it also made it extra satisfying when Driver Kim Do-gi (Lee Je-hoon) and his team bring the baddies to justice. We also had some really good special appearances and cameos – shoutout to actress Shim So-young for her role as Madame Im, she killed it with a superb performance and earned herself a Scene Stealer Award at the annual drama awards ceremony. Namgoong Min also reprised his role as Lawyer Cheon Ji-hun from One Dollar Lawyer in Season 2 but actually I’m not sure what the relation between the 2 dramas was except for the fact that they were on the same broadcasting channel. We were also introduced to Shin Jae-ha in the latest season as Ohn Ha-joon: I was overjoyed that someone was able to truly match Do-gi in terms of cleverness and wits unlike in the pilot season, but I do worry that the actor is getting typecast in these supporting roles (like Kwon Yul’s case)… In shows like this, it’s the teamwork that makes the dream work so it was lovely to see the 5 collaborate for their cause and bond, sometimes by role-playing to infiltrate the suspicious organisation. And after 2 seasons, I can confirm that they are truly a family by choice (drama wise). Lee Je-hoon reportedly did a 180 degree drift stunt himself while driving the deluxe taxi for the drama (please DO NOT imitate), so I’m sure he was heartened that his effort for the role was recognised and the drama was so well-received. I would propose watching without thinking too much, to make up for the almost non-existent character development.
Doctor John
If you’ve reached this point of the post, it must be quite evident that I have a soft spot for Ji Sung oppa so yes, it was somewhere near the end of 2024 or early 2025 I was looking at what project of his I had not watched and decided on Doctor John. Now that I have emerged on the other side, you may wonder, do I regret the choice? The answer is no. I really feel that Ji Sung can legit pull off any role he’s given to act, regardless of difficulty. His portrayal of Professor/Doctor Cha Yo-han, who is also a Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis (CIPA) patient because of his inability to feel any pain or heat is imbued with a certain calmness and charisma that is uniquely Ji Sung. Therefore, I can conclude with confidence that Ji Sung’s acting doesn’t fail me even when the story or plot fails me (case in point: Adamas). I do also want to take time to appreciate his co-star Lee Se-young who plays resident doctor Kang Shi-young. I am not familiar with her works but I was sold by her delivery of Shi-young, whose initial vulnerability and self-doubt quite quickly transformed into a journey of growth and strength. My biased self is going to say that a part of that character development and self-realisation is thanks to our Professor Cha 😛 but yeah, you get the drift. The arc between Shi-young and her fellow doctor sister, Kang Mi-rae (starring Jung Min-a) and resolution was quite well-played too.
As with all medical kdramas, you would need suspension of disbelief to a certain level when it comes to the hospital practices and patient handling. My suggested takeaway for those scenes when this happens would be to think about the universal themes and ideas around science and medicine, life and death – meaning to kinda ignore what is physically shown on the screen, but instead consider what the scene is trying to reflect. Something along those lines, not sure how else to put it. While Yo-han and Shi-young did serve up some warm and fuzzy feels as a couple (and the actors had chemistry), in the end I wasn’t entirely sold by the romance itself. It also crossed my mind that the drama could perhaps have done without the love line, and for them to have mutual respect, admiration and appreciation for each other. At the same time I’m unsure how that would have turned out too so this bit will stay in the neutral zone for me. Amidst the angst, I still had butterflies in my stomach when the 2 appeared together. On this note, I would also like to add that the original soundtrack (OST) for this show was wonderful – I found myself very affected by it throughout the watch experience; it was that impactful. Here’s one of the songs for your listening pleasure below 😊 One more thing that I thought Doctor John did well was its ability to show opposite two sides to a story, and I felt that helped me understand and even feel for some of the supporting characters such as Prosecutor Son Seok-ki (Lee Kyu-hyung) and Nurse Chae Eun-jung (Shin Dong-mi); really quite heartbreaking 💔 Ah, writing this reminded me…now I’m just looking forward to the next drama I can see Ji Sung in again!
Doctor Prisoner
The suspense in this drama was sooo…nerve-wrecking. As our two leading men try their utmost to outplay each other, the viewers also get played multiple times. The outwitting at every turn is not just two-fold, its almost six-fold or even feels like ten? lol😂 The lighting used in the whole show was intentionally dark – I think because the main setting is the prison, a significant number of scenes were filmed or set there. I’d like to think it was used as an indication to show that our drama world is inherently dark, but not gonna lie if you have eyesight problems it may be hard to see. Basically you would have to take some time to get used to the purposeful “darkness” in scenes.
Namgoong Min is absolutely badass in this, man. Na Yi-je is a good example of a well-written morally grey main character. I do not think everything he did was right, but there’s a Chinese saying that goes something like “fight poison with poison”. To deal with someone like Seon Min-sik (Kim Byung-chul) probably you need to be at the same level as, or possibly an even higher level than him. And it took Yi-je three full years of preparation to even get close. The whole tug-of war and both trying to get each other was quite epic – and some plot twists in another plot twist, there was always something unexpected I could never quite get it right. Since most of the cast were senior actors with more experience, the acting was pretty excellent all around and they were able to showcase quite a fair bit of acting chops as some scenes were quite dramatic. I want to credit Choi Won-young for such a compelling delivery of said show’s big bad Lee Jae-joon, a super spine-chilling, hateful and unforgettable character.
P.S. Anyway it’s purely coincidental, but I realised that the last batch of dramas mentioned has 3 doctor shows – well, as elaborated earlier on they are all very different though. One is funny, one emotional, and one dark and vengeful. It depends on which vibe you’d like more as a viewer, and it’s never too late to give one or two a try if you haven’t! Warning: don’t watch for the medicine, otherwise you’d need to suspend disbelief in all three 😅
Closing Remarks
That’s all from me and my individual drama takes for this post folks…I did a rough tally and whew, can’t believe I watched and wrote about 30 dramas? (31 if you count 2 seasons of the same show as separate) And 22 of them were seen only in the last 1.5 years or so – but firstly sorry about the relatively uneven paragraph lengths for each show. Since it’s entirely random and I just said out whatever came to mind there were some that I ended up having more to talk about, whilst for others (don’t misunderstand) it’s not that the drama was not good, I thought it might be better to watch and try it for yourself so its shorter or more of a spoiler-lite summary of thoughts. Another thing could be because some were watched more recently than others although they were older dramas; I tried to arrange them largely by airing year but not in sequence. It’s just how it turned out, hope it isn’t too messy a read 😅 Granted, a good majority of the dramas mentioned still had room for improvement, and as I bemoan the many “what-could-have-beens”, I’m somewhat relieved that 2025 has been relatively strong in dramaland’s offerings so far, which in some way motivates me to look forward to what is to come for the rest of the year. How about you guys?
I would love to hear your thoughts as well, so please feel free to share 😊 Otherwise, if there is any drama that isn’t on this list and you would like to recommend do let me know. Meanwhile, I’m also quite keen to see what dramaland has to offer for the rest of 2025 – am excited for Our Movie starring Namgoong Min and Jeon Yeo-bin airing on SBS. I don’t think melodramas are currently in trend nowadays, but at the same time a different genre and drama focus from the usuals are welcome for sure. Perhaps I will wait for more episodes to be released to lessen the ‘agony’ of waiting weekly, hah.
Bye for now!~ Jas
