January 2025 Drama Reviews

January 2025 Drama Reviews

Face Me

This drama is about Cha Jung-Woo (Lee Min-Ki) who is a plastic surgeon that only does superficial surgeries now to enhance patient’s appearance. He used to work in emergency medicine and after an accident and the murder of his fiancee he stopped working on medical emergencies. He doesn’t try to get emotionally involved with anyone including the patients and is very excellent at plastic surgery. After he meets Detective Min-Hyung (Han Ji-Hyun) after a client gets him involved in a murder case, he starts to have to think about his past and they start digging into his past he can’t quite remember with his accident.

So this was definitely a different type of drama because I wasn’t sure how I would feel about plastic surgeon doing these superficial surgeries. I can’t quite understand why anyone would want to cut yourself up for supposed beauty. I can’t imagine wanting to go through the pain and also what is going to happen when you start aging. It just seems like a strange concept that regular people go and get surgery like this, I guess I would only imagine the rich people or celebrities doing these surgeries. I think it was easier when he started doing work for people that actually needed it. It also started changing paths as it became more of a murder investigation then anything. I don’t think this was greatest murder mystery drama but I did find it somewhat compelling even though I think they could have done better. Also someone kept guessing the culprit and of course they were right so I guess to most people it could be considered predictable which wasn’t great. Also don’t really expect this to be a romance is doesn’t really go with that as a storyline.

It is a decent drama and was interesting to see the different patients stories that come through and it did hold my attention pretty good through the drama. It was a bit gory at times when they keep showing the bloody crime scene that sometimes I would skip over, so it is a bit dark at times. It really gives the OCN drama vibes even though it is produced by KBS2.

If you love murder mystery dramas this is a good drama for you!

Brewing Love

This drama is about Chae Yong-Joo (Kim Se-Jeong) who is a former member of the special forces of the military but has been working as a salesperson for a beer company currently. She has done whatever it takes to get the job done and is very good at dealing with any trouble that comes her way and is well respected in her company. She finds out her branch is going to close so it becomes her job to convince a stubborn brew master Yoon Min-Joo (Lee Jong-Won) to make a line of beer for her company. Min-Joo is a hyper sensitive individual and has the ability to feel what people around him are feeling.

This was an interesting drama because I have never seen a drama have an empathetic character shown in this way and I really could find myself relate to Min-Joo. It was also interesting that he is a male with that character because usually woman are shown with strong empathy compared to men. It was really a fascinating drama to watch and really enjoyed the story and the way they had to get over each hurdle that came there way. I didn’t really care about the beer business part of the drama but even that was pretty interesting as they showed how beer is made. I really enjoyed all the side characters and how they built out the storyline. I really wish men could be more open to connect to this side of themselves because how much better would life be. I thought it was a pretty compelling drama and enjoyed all the episodes. It was fun to see how Chae Yong-Joo changes and softens over time and she is such a fun character. Each character was given depth and you can connect with all of them.

I think this a great drama and would easily recommend it as a great romantic comedy.

Parole Examiner Lee

This drama is about Lee Han-Shin (Ko Soo) who is a lawyer and is able to get a job as a parole examiner who believes in justice he tries to stop inmates from exploiting the parole system through money or connections. He instead will help those that have been treated unjustly. He works with a detective An Seo-Yun (Kwon Yuri) and a loan shark Choi Hwa-Ran (Baek Ji-Won) to fight against a family business heir that acts like is above the law.

This is a pretty satisfying drama that is all about good triumphing over evil and makes you really wish for this kind of justice in real life. I wasn’t always in the mood to watch this drama and found myself having trouble focusing on this drama but it was a pretty decent drama. Some of the cases were more interesting than others, I really liked the single mother storyline and I wished there more humanistic stories. I think I am so tired of business type political storylines in dramas. Rich people acting badly is a bit of used and tired trope and of course getting away with murder. It was a pretty good drama but I would feel myself tuning out during this drama. It just didn’t draw me in much and keep me excited for the next episode.

It is a decent drama but it didn’t really offer me anything new or excite me.

Love Your Enemy

It is about Seok Ji-Won (Ju Ji-Hoon) who comes back to his hometown as the chairman of his old highschool. It also stars Yoon Ji-Won (Jung Yu-Mi) who grew up in the same hometown and is working as a teacher at their old highschool. Their families have been rivals for a long time and they were always butting heads as children but in highschool they were in a romantic relationship until Seok Ji-Won leaves town with his family abruptly and they have no contact for years until now.

This was a fairly interesting drama that held my attention decently but it still felt very lacking in many ways. I think their behaviour was incredibly childish for the age that they are and the way that they were acting towards each other and sometimes found it hard to watch. It would make sense for them to act this way when they were there teens but it wasn’t really cute watching 30 year olds act that way. I think I actually preferred the teenage actors and storyline compared to them as their older selves. I don’t know if the actors didn’t have as much chemistry or interest but it is not a good sign if you prefer the younger actors to the current ones. I think I found Yoon Ji-Woon’s acting stiff or just not very dynamic, I didn’t really care for in this drama. The forced love triangle felt so tiring and none of the tropes really hit that hard. I enjoyed the side stories more than the actual main story line. I think if you don’t take this drama too seriously it can be fun and quirky, easy watching.

I also wished for a more dynamic expression when the truth came out about the misunderstandings of the past and that they would have been resolved in a more open and explored the emotions and consequences of this. I feel like people that do bad things need to be exposed because she will keep crossing the lines and she does in the past and in the current times. The friend that was doing bad things needs to have an intervention because she barely proved to anyone that she had changed at all. If she thought she had a real chance at all she would have betrayed the main lead a hundred times over because she is selfish. The only reason she came clean was for her own guilt but also she was forced to give up on him because she was shut down so hard that she knew she had zero chances with Seok Ji-Won. Acting badly as children and teens is forgivable for a time but when no one teaches the kids what is wrong they will continue onto act the exact same way as adults it is so tiring.

The drama is an okay rom com and is fairly easy fluffy style of drama.

Upcoming Dramas

Check in Hanyang

This is about an Inn that is in Joseon time period and they make the guests feel like a King. They offer the same services to enjoy an experience of what being a King must feel like. There is a woman that is disguised as a man that joins the trainee servants to be able to work at this inn because she wants to avenge her father’s death and the answers lie at this inn. She joins some other men that are trying to get into the inn for their own purposes and there are also undercover with different goals and they need to work together to able to pass the tests.

Namib

This drama is about a star producer that gets fired from the company that she started and she is determined to make a comeback. She takes a trainee with innate talent and is going to train him to become a new star but he has a dark past and she is determined to help him and get him to be the best that he can be with her help.

Love Scout

This drama is about a woman who is a successful CEO of a head-hunting company and tends to neglect the people around her and is really only able to focus completely on her job. She gets a new secretary that she doesn’t want and finds it hard to reject him when he starts to take care of her and make her into a better person.

Motel California

This drama is about a that had an unusual family background due to her mother having a mixed race background. She wasn’t treated well by the local residents in their hometown where her Dad ran the motel. She comes back 12 years later after having left when she was 20 and is reunited with her friend who was her first love.