July and August 2024 Kdrama Reviews

July and August 2024 Korean Drama Reviews

Sweet Mobster

This drama is about Seo Ji-Hwan (Um Tae-Goo) is the CEO of a meat company and he is a former gangster. He is living a new life and with his former gang members he is trying to live a proper life and help those around him. It also stars Go Eun-Ha (Han Sun-Hwa) who is a youtuber for children and is having a hard time with her current company. She wants to really make a connection and help children and isn’t caring about the same things the company cares about. She gets involved with Seo Ji-Hwan and his company and misunderstandings happen and there lives get mixed up together.

So after the first episode I wasn’t so sure about this drama as it was a bit silly and over the top for the first episode or so but it got so much better after the initial episodes. I really started to enjoy this drama and all the characters were fun and interesting. I have to say that the Seo Ji-Hwan character was so good, his voice is dreamy and you can’t stop watching him. He is the perfect character that is scary and mean to those around him but just a big marshmallow inside and to those he loves. It is a very entertaining and humorous drama that was very easy to keep watching. It has serious moments at time but the ridiculous bad guy that dresses like a rich middle-aged women is too funny at times to take it too seriously. I always love a good cast that makes friendships a top priority and the thirsty deer team is so good and endearing.

At times I would get somewhat bored with the gangster stuff with the prosecutor or the kitty gang but it isn’t a large part of the drama so it wasn’t that bad. I also was somewhat disappointed with the ending it felt really lackluster after everything. I wanted to see more of a happy ending but it just seemed kind of flat and I even have a hard time remembering how it ended exactly, but it was still a happy ending so I am content.

For the most part this is a great drama that I would highly recommend checking out!

Bitter Sweet Hell

This drama is about No Yeong-Won (Kim Hee-Seon) who is a psychiatrist that sees patients but is also a celebrity that appears on tv to give advice to others. She is married into a successful family where her mother-in-law controls many things. She is married to Jae-Jin (Kim Nam-Hee) who is successful surgeon and is a kind and loving father. Bad things start happening and she finds out her husband is having an affair with a mysterious woman who seems to be targeting their family. She teams up with her Mother-in-law to save their family.

This was an interesting drama because it was one that seemed more like a typical melodrama but this one had some odd humor thrown in here and there. It was somewhat endearing despite the dark subject matter at time. I had to skip over some of the violence because it was getting a bit much for me and honestly the villain of the story was kinda tiring after a while. At least they didn’t try to make a weak reason for the villain, if they are simply crazy there doesn’t even need to be a strong reason for the way they are acting. I think that the story was pretty decent for most of the series since you couldn’t always guess what was going to happen next or who was going to die.

I think the acting was really well done in the drama as well. I think some things got a bit more obvious at the end and I really find the whole son’s secret really tiring and I’m tired of always having to go to that subject matter. I am kind of tired of the way they portray men in all of these type of dramas of being weak and always doing the wrong thing and being so easily controlled by women. It was a bit weird of an ending though and some characters are just weird. Overall it was not bad of a thriller type of drama, it has violence and dark subject matter but it did seem to hold my interest for most of the drama.

The Auditors

This drama is about Shin Cha-ll (Shin Ha-Kyun) who is legendary auditor and gets recruited to work at the audit team at JU Construction where there is a lot of corruption happening. Shin Cha-ll is a serious worker that can cut through all the crap and doesn’t really believe in people but only in the truth. He meets Goo Han-Soo (Lee Jung-Ha) who is a newer hire and only wants to be on the audit team so he can get transferred to the Florida branch but Shin Cha-ll doesn’t let him get away with that attitude and says he will transfer him. The current president of the company has stepped in for his older brother who is a coma at the moment. The Vice president is the third son and has been treated very badly by his family but he wants to become the president of the company and has a lot of ambition. Shin Cha-ll quickly makes enemies in every part of the company.

So I wasn’t sure if this was going to be an interesting drama since auditing doesn’t sound very exciting and business doesn’t hold my interest very much but surprisingly I enjoyed this drama. Not every part of business side of the drama did I always fully understand or enjoy but it was interesting how they dealt with people and how the characters interacted. The vice president was mesmerizing especially when he wore his man bun, he was so confident and acted out in the right way, he was really fun to watch. You also have to watch to the end to figure out the mystery of the drama and I had my suspicions of the bad guy eventually but it wasn’t that obvious and it was pretty entertaining. Every case was so extreme that there was many crazy moments in the drama. There was no romance in the drama and the ending seemed like they were leaving it open ended. It really seems like they could do a second season.

I have to say that Goo Han-Soo’s character was slightly annoying to me at times because but I get that his character was supposed to balance out Shin Cha’s character that was so straight laced. For some reason I didn’t really care for Han-Soo and just the way they made his character, I feel like it got better through the episodes though. Overall it was a good drama that kept me interested, it felt like there wasn’t much filler and it got straight to the point. It was compelling even though you wouldn’t think that auditing was an exciting department in a company. I would recommend this drama if you like thought provoking cases and well done script.

Blossoms in Adversity

This is a Chinese drama that is about Hua Zhi who is a free-spirited young woman whose family gets in trouble with the Emperor and the men in the family get sent to exile and she is left to hep her family members get through these hard times. She meets Gu Yan Xi and she helps him not knowing that he is the Emperor’s nephew and has become head of the Security guard and then has to get involved with confiscating her family’s property.

I really enjoyed this drama I love a smart female lead that is able to problem solve and outsmart the people around her. It really is great drama to boost female morale because she proves that anyone can succeed if they have good ideas and good support. It is just so entertaining to watch her lead the family and get them out of sticky situations. The romance is really sweet and not obnoxious at all and they really are an amazing couple that are able to understand each other and their intentions without even having to speak. I also loved all the side characters and the different story lines and characters going on through the drama. Even though this drama has a lot of episodes it really doesn’t feel that long and I could have watched more of this drama.

I think the only part I didn’t like was towards the end when Hua Zhi seems to upset the Emperor even more than necessary and I was confused why she would antagonize him when he has so much power. I think it seemed out of character at the time but the ending was a good one so at least that didn’t go on for too long. Overall it was a great drama that you will love if you like historical dramas with a smart female lead.

Upcoming Dramas

Good Partner

This drama is about a rookie lawyer that joins a famous law firm and thinks she has joined the corporate law department but is shocked to find she has to work in divorce law. She works under a veteran star lawyer and doesn’t really want to work with her and finds her in disagreement on a lot of issues. They both have to depend on each other as the cases start to get personal.

Serendipity’s Embrace

It is about a woman who has a bad past when it comes to her love life and is happy in her career as an animation producer when she meets her old classmate. He has returned to Korea and is now a financial planner he meets her and his old feelings of his first love get reignited.

Bad Memory Eraser

It is about a man who was a promising tennis player but was hurt as a child and can’t get past this bad memory and his adult life has been affected. His brother then went on to become a famous tennis player and he has to live in this painful shadow every day. He meets a psychiatrist and she has developed a way to erase bad memories. He is able to get her treatment and erase his bad memories.

DNA Lover

It is about a woman who is a genetic researcher and loves to try and figure out a way to make DNA a factor in finding a compatible partner. Unfortunately all of her relationships have ended in heart break and being cheated on. She has best friend who is firefighter that really is rooting for her success in love and she meets a doctor while drunk and she sprays with some hair growing spray she created out of anger.