May and June 2024 Drama Reviews
May and June 2024 Drama Reviews
Lovely Runner
This drama is about Im-Sol (Kim Hye-Yoon) who is a after being in an accident became paralysed and she has become the biggest fan of Ryu Seon-Jae (Byeon Woo-Seok) who is a singer/actor and is a top star but he has become weary of the spotlight. Im-Sol hears one day after meeting him in person that he has passed away from suicide. She miraculously is able to time travel 15 years in the past to when she was a high school student and she wants to be able to save Seon-Jae who is also a high school student.
I didn’t think much of this drama because the idea of a crazy fan didn’t seem that exciting but I really underestimated this drama and especially because it became so popular. I think this drama is so enjoyable because of the different layers because of the time travel we are able to experience different realities. I was really impressed with the story telling of this drama and the way they could have time travel without it getting to confusing or just the basic logic of the drama doesn’t get muddled. I really respect the way they did the time traveling because usually time traveling dramas by the end don’t make any sense and the logic just goes straight out the window. I think the reason that the drama was so popular was the chemistry between the two leads and the way Seon-Jae was portrayed, I think it was the undying devotion that he has for Im-Sol. That no matter what happens the two of them would find each other and be drawn to each other. This drama was so entertaining and I don’t think there was ever a boring episode, it was just so entertaining all the way through. I was sad when it ended and knew it would be a while before I could get another great drama like this one again. It has the humor and emotional, and touching moments. This is a great well-rounded drama that is really enjoyable and so easy to watch.
The only thing that I have to complain about is the bad guy in the drama, they don’t really explain what his motives were and what his story is about. I feel like they could have spent a bit of time trying to explain why he was obsessed and what his problem was really about because it feels like a bit of a loose end. Other than that I don’t have any other problem with this drama. I highly recommend this drama!
Missing Crown Prince
This is a historicial drama about Prince Yi Gu (Suho) who gets kidnapped by the Royal Physician Kim Joo-Hun (Choi Sang-Rok) to help some superstitious problem with his daughter Myung-Yoon (Hong Ye-Ji) that whoever she married will die so he causes them to become unconscious and puts them in a room together as if to have them married so the bad luck will transfer to him and she can marry without a problem. Her father doesn’t realize that the man they chose was the crown prince and is the man he wants her to marry. She wakes up in the middle and helps him escape and he believes that she is the servant of the household. Meanwhile the crown prince witnesses a rendezvous between the Queen Dowager and an unknown man. The Queen dowager then starts to plot against the King and Crown Prince.
So this drama is a typical historical royal drama with the battle over becoming the King and over the battle for power. It has a few unique elements to the drama but overall I feel like the common old men scheming and the politics are the same. I was a bit disappointed that this drama wasn’t very different and I had hoped for something more interesting. I also didn’t really feel much in the romance department either, I don’t know if it was a lack of mature acting or if the characters weren’t that great. I think at the beginning it was better but as the drama continued I just didn’t really feel it. I think I found myself being more drawn to her father Choi Sang-Rok as he is devotion to his love was quite admirable even though I didn’t agree with anything that he did. I also found the ending somewhat disappointing and thought it wasn’t the right fit at the end. I also hate when they put these superstitious crap in the drama, it feels so annoying and I skip over all that talk.
Overall it was a decent drama but I still found it lacking in many areas and the concept didn’t feel that fresh to me.
Hide
This drama is about Na Moon-Young (Lee Bo-Young) who husband suddenly disappears without warning and he is believed to me dead. She doesn’t believe that he could have died like that and she is forced to take over cases her husband had been working on and finds that he had been into all kinds of trouble with a sketchy company along with overwhelming debt with their firm. She is left to pick up the pieces and she tries to figure out what he had been doing leading up to his death.
I thought that this maybe an interesting drama and I think Lee Bo-Young is a great actress but the drama was really lacking in my opinion. I think when it comes to revenge dramas there needs to be a solid and believable reason to enact revenge and when it feels weak the drama falls apart. I feel like this drama reminds me of “My Happy Ending” but I feel this one is more lacking. My Happy Ending had way better plot twists and really pulled me in for the first half and this drama did not really pull me in at all. It should have but they didn’t really make the main characters someone that we understood and cared about. How are we supposed to be shocked by the husband when we were given no time to get to know him. I feel like it should have been more interesting and I should have been more shocked by the plot twists but I just simply wasn’t.
I feel like the drama had all the ingredients for a great drama but it just really fell flat for me and was disappointed. Again the reason for revenge was even really enacted on the right person. I also think they gave away things too quickly in the drama so there wasn’t a proper build up to make you anticipate the plot twists. I think it was hard to understand Moon-Young’s character and motives because the way she acts doesn’t always make sense to me and it gets frustrating watching her at times. It is like maybe don’t get involved with your husband’s shady business and get out of that city with your child. It also doesn’t seem like she is a great heroic character either since she keeps getting tricked and trapped. I feel like there are better thriller and revenge dramas out there than this one. Its not horrible but its not that good either.
Joseon Attorney: A Morality
It is about Kang Han-Soo (Woo Do-Hwan) who is a lawyer in Joseon period. He wants to avenge his parents through using the law. He gets involved with Princess Lee Yeon-Joo (Bona) who is undercover and taking care of an inn. She is interested in helping the people of the country and wants to be able to help her brother who is King but doesn’t have much support in court. She wants to help Han-Soo with his cases and they start to develop feelings for each other.
I was disappointed with this drama, I really thought it was going to a fun and interesting drama but somehow it just missed the mark for me. I found it most interesting when he was trying to work on cases for the normal people instead of working on his revenge. It just feels like all historical dramas are focused on the rich people that are running the show and the King has no power. It just feels like it is all the same and a plucky young guy is going to challenge the older men that are running the show. It just feels like they rely on these elements in dramas but doesn’t make it intriguing alone. I did not feel the romance in the drama and I just didn’t care whether or not they ended up with each other.
The sister was the most interesting character of the drama and would have wished there was more of story around her. I only felt any emotions when it came to her story line. The King made me especially angry I didn’t even understand how he thought what he was doing was going to give me power. I wished it would have focused less on revenge and more on Han-Soo making a difference by using the law against the court. I think this drama had potential for a great story but it just fell flat to me. Maybe I have watched too many historical dramas lately but this just didn’t hit the mark for me, especially after watching My Dearest this was just too bland.
Dare To Love Me
This drama is about Kim Hong-Do (Lee Yoo-Young) who desires to be a fashion designer but is working for a design team of a mid-sized apparel company and isn’t being treated very well and isn’t very happy with her job. It also stars Shin Yoon-Bok (Kim Myung Soo) who lives in the traditional Sungsan Village that lives like they are in the Joseon period. He is considered a scholar and his Grandfather is the leader of the village and he is considered the young master. He is investigating thefts from his village antiques and there he runs into his old webcomic teacher Hong-Do. He had run away from home when he was in highschool to learn how to draw webcomics and Hong-Do was one of his teachers and he is excited to see her again as it had been a few years.
I feel like there was many problems with this drama and again it is based off a webcomic and I don’t think it probably translated well into a drama. I haven’t read the webcomic but I didn’t really enjoy this drama and it felt very boring and I have a feeling the webtoon probably was better. So the characters just don’t really have much depth to me and I really didn’t even care much for either of them because the writing didn’t make me care. The first couple of episodes seemed like it could be interesting but it promptly got boring after that. I really feel like they missed the opportunity to showcase Hong-Do and how she could grow as a designer. It was more interesting when they showed her coming up with ideas and figuring things out but soon they just had a her busy working on screen but we don’t really get to see her make anything.
They didn’t really make us care that much about the antique theft story line, it was really boring. It wasn’t really explained how things happened and the reason different things were important. Even the evil guy behind everything it was poorly explained why and how he was doing the bad things. It really was just glossed over and seriously someone is going to kill people over a jade box? They don’t even explain the importance of it and even the explanation of the death of Yoon-Bok’s father was bizarre.
I also found the village stuck in time to be super weird that people would choose to live in the olden times. I don’t really get what the rules are supposed to be either? They can have cellphones and electricity? The only reason I can think the village would exist to show other people about the past to help preserve the history but yet it is closed off to the public. I also think it would be good to show others how they used to do things but I can’t imagine living there full time. Also to keep the traditions of having classes of people is super weird to me. The drama just seemed really weird to me at times.
I also am not a fan of Noona romances where it is the older woman and younger man because usually men are more immature so it feels unrealistic to me. I think especially because he call her teacher through the whole drama even when they are dating and it just feels wrong. I find her to be immature so she kinda matched him a bit so it wasn’t that bad but again I didn’t really feel much romance from them. I did not feel myself being pulled into the drama much and had a hard time completing this one.
It was an okay drama that is lighthearted and without much substance but at least it is has a happy ending.
The Midnight Romance in Hagwon
The drama is about Seo Hye-Jin (Jung Ryeo-Won) who works as a tutor teacher in a private educational institute and she is pretty well-known in the competitive neighbourhood for private education. It also stars Lee Joon-Ho (Wi Ha-Joon) who is the first student that Hye-Jin tutored and is special to her. It is 10 years later and he had become a successful student even going to a prestigious university and has a good job at a big company. He decides that he wants to become an instructor at the same institute that Hye-Jin teaches and they spark up a romance.
It seems like a lot of people have been liking this drama but I have been struggling to get through this drama. It may be a cultural difference as I where I grew up we didn’t have any private education institute that existed like this at all. It was more like there must be something wrong with you if you need extra help outside of class. You should be able to study and doing your work out of class alone and if you have problems you ask your teacher or other students. This type of atmosphere I don’t really understand and it seems bizarre that the institute is supposed to figure out the questions the teacher will give and basically give a cheat sheet. I can’t imagine being in school all day and then expected to go to more classes and then go home and do homework. The South Korean education system is too much and that is super crazy to me like this is asking for a mental health crisis.
So the subject matter of this drama doesn’t have a lot of interest to me and they seem to make a mountain out of a mole hill for much of this drama. I can’t really get into it because they are so dramatic over every little thing and I kinda think it ridiculous for much of it. Again I don’t really care for the Noona romance dramas and it just doesn’t appeal much to me. The romance is also bizarre how they barely can even get into a relationship and then they jump into bed. It felt so wrong and I just don’t really get the romantic part of this drama and I find it almost annoying. I think if they would have focused on the students and the problems that they were facing and the fight against the other private school it would have been more interesting to me. Also the dark lighting in the drama drove me crazy they had these important scenes that were happening and it was always so hard to see, you will have to turn up your brightness.
I actually was more interested in the side character romance because it seemed more natural and interesting to me. I think I also feel like if you are going to do a slow drama it better have a good message or a life lesson that can be learned. I think dramas that do this well was My Mister and Liberation Notes and I felt like I was being seen or understood. I find this drama lacks any depth to the emotions or deep life meanings so I am just disappointed in this drama. It seemed like there still was people that liked this drama so it is possible that you may like this drama and it just wasn’t for me.
I wouldn’t really recommend this drama unless you love the younger man and older woman type of romances.
Silent
This is a Japanese drama that is about Tsumugi Aoba who had a highschool sweetheart Sou Sakura and he broke up with her when they finished highschool and disappeared and hasn’t been heard from since from even any of his friends. 8 years later Tsumugi is working in Tokyo at a music store and she loved listening and discussing music with Sou Sakura when they were dating. She runs into him and she realizes that he can’t hear her and has lost his hearing. She decides then to learn sign language to be able to communicate freely with him again.
This drama focuses on a lot about what is like to be deaf and the struggles that come with living among normal people and the struggle to communicate. I thought it was interesting to dive into how our hearing affects our lives. How lives can be impacted by hearing loss and I like how they thoroughly went into a lot of these issues. I also loved all the signing in the drama and I thought it would be lovely to be able to learn how to sign but they sure made it seem more easy than it actually is to learn. At times the drama would frustrate me like the story line with Minato and how he just gave up the relationship like it all seemed weird to me. Also Tsumugi is trying so hard with Sou and at times he is so frustrating because he ignores her feelings and tries to just make the decision for her without communicating his feelings.
I think this drama is lacking the romance that I was expecting and it just never really makes it. I think this drama shows an interesting perspective that really makes me think and have empathy for those struggling with hearing loss. I think though overall it is lacking the connection between the characters that I was desiring. It felt like they had a connection but it really wasn’t that deep but maybe that is the point, sometimes you just are drawn to a person and just being with them in any form is enjoyable. It was a good drama that explores some interesting ideas and feelings.
Upcoming Dramas
Sweet Mobster
It is about a children content creator finds her career getting into trouble and she gets mixed up with a successful Ceo that was once a convict and hires ex-convicts for his meat company. I have watched a few episodes already and it has been very entertaining so far!
Bitter Sweet Hell
It is about a psychiatrist that finds out her husband is having an affair with a mysterious woman who seems to trigger some tragic events. She teams up with her mother-in-law to save their family.
The Auditors
It is about an auditing team that is brought in to clean up the corruption at the Ju Construction Company and the dynamics within the team to solve the problem.
