#and there are some people who. i could very easily picture being in han joo won's shoes (dealing with murder)

[katierosefun]

Do you ever think how incredibly Young Juwon is when the series starts? He was 27?? I just turned 26 and I do Not think I'm capable of handling whatever mess he was in by the time I'm 27 like, he's just a big stupid teenager

happy belated birthday, mineh!! i hope your 26th year is a good one!

but also, yes, to address the rest of your ask . . . maybe since i'm only 23, 27 years old still feels so distant to me/feels a little more grown up to me, but at the same time. i do think that 27 is still a remarkably young age to have the kind of career that joo won has had at that point. like, working in foreign affairs + already an inspector at 27, whereas when you look at the manyang substation, hwang gwang young is the only inspector . . . and i would guess that he's anywhere between his late thirties to early forties, but he's also rather ambitious in his own right. and then you look at cho gil gu, who's def. older than hwang gwang young (or at least, he seems at least a few years older) but isn't at inspector status yet. ji hoon is the youngest in the group, although i think according to the script book, he's only a year younger than joo won . . . and he's only a patrol officer. (then again, ji hoon also started his police career later, i think.)

and then if you look at all the people working in the violent crimes unit, too, i think that puts everything else in perspective. like, ji hwa had been working in violent crimes for eleven years, i think, and she's probably forty years old. that means she would have started violent crimes when she was twenty nine, which is still rather young, but she at least had a few years on joo won before she started to get into the really nitty gritty parts of work. kang do su is relatively young too (i would say that he's probably in his early or mid thirties??), but still: older than joo won.

so that said: yeah. han joo won is def . . . i think incredibly young given the work that he has to handle. that said, i feel like that just. speaks so much to who he is as a character, because i don't think he ever really had a chance at being young? like, an actual child? (which is probably why he simultaneously seems grown up and. like. childish. something something people who grow up way too fast are constantly swinging between "eerily familiar with disturbing concepts that most people only have to reckon with when they're fully grown" and "astoundingly immature").

[kdramafacination]

So. dramafever shutting down still has me worried about other drama sites closing, but I can’t let that rob me of my love for my dramas. 

I started watching 2007′s “Que Sera Sera“ a few nights ago. I’ve had it on my queue for a long time, but the reviews on dramafever worried me enough to keep me from actually starting it. After dramafever‘s disappearing act  I went somewhere else and saw the drama available there. I started reading reviews and saw that there were a couple that said Que Sera Sera wasn’t that heavy. I love Eric Mun, and since I had waited and waited to watch this drama, that review was all I needed to launch me into watching it. I finished it last night and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. I’m a sucker for melodramas. I always intend to watch something lighter but my true self steers me towards melodramas like magnet to metal. 

This drama sort of nearly killed me. I DID love it.

I meant to take screenshots of every episode but  didn’t because I was WATCHING it too much to be able to do that. 

Eric Mun  and Jung yu-mi shine in their acting. Lee kyu-han and Yoon ji-hye are just as good in their second male lead and female lead parts, and the rest of the cast is good. I hesitate to use the terms “second leads“ though, because this is a multilayered (and yet very up front one dimensional) drama. But really there is never any doubt who the main players are regarding love, with a capital L. Eric Mun, as Kang Tae-joo is slick, yet rough, and when we first meet him and over the next few episodes, he (shouldn’t be) isn’t likeable. But of course this is a drama, and one of the main reasons I love and watch them is so I can like male leads I shouldn't like. 🙂

I liked Han Eun-soo, the female lead. She was sweet and thoughtful and innocent without being irritating, and she was a little odd which is always endearing. I think Jung yu-mi played the part perfectly.

Cha hye-rin (second female lead, if you will) is played brilliantly by Yoon ji-hye. I felt sorry for her because of her would be relationship with her step brother, and I also wanted her to stop all the damage she was causing to herself because of that love. I felt her hurt and anger and the fact that she couldn’t control things. She really excelled at showing her panic and hurt and anger. When the time finally came for Kang Tae-joo to tell her “lets just stop while we can" it felt like she WAS the character she was portraying.

Han Eun-soo’s feelings for Kang tae-joo at the beginning are tangible and convincing, going from serious crush to love, and that never changes. At one point early on, she says to him brokenly that she “is filled with him to her fingertips” and you can see how badly she’s fallen for him even though he’s the way he is. 

Joon-hyuk started out by gaining my sympathy as the adopted son, and stepbrother to Hye-rin, a stepsister and stepbrother who are in love, but can’t be together because the parents don't approve. But he also made me angry for not being willing to be as strong as Hye-rin, and throw his fears and greed away and go for it. In the end I disliked him yet still felt badly (a little) for him. But I liked the kind Joon-hyuk from earlier in the drama far more than the sarcastic scheming one later on.

Even though Hye-rin is strong and strong willed enough to defy her parents (and friends and the public’s) with their disapproval, Joon-hyuk is not. When he repeatedly tells her that there is no hope, she turns to Tae Joo  and asks him to be her fiancée. She knows his past, knows he’s pretty much a gigolo, or at least willing to date for some perks. Usually fast cars, watches, vacations, you get the picture. But he doesn’t agree, he’s pretty choosy and doesn’t like messy entanglements, plus he has no desire to sleep with her. Already here I think, the seeds of Eun-soo love are growing, but because of added glitz to Hye-Rin's offer, and his own nature, in the end he does agree, and they embark on a scheme to fool everyone around Hye-rin, especially her family, and especailly the man (Joon-hyuk) who she really loves. Hye-rin hopes her fake fiancée will make her family stop trying to marry her off and that her fake engagement will get her some peace from forced arranged dates, but her parents do not like Tae-joo although her father admires his ability to reign Hye-rin in. What Hye-rin really wants is to make Joon-hyuk  so jealous that he is willing to make a go of it with her in spite of the opposition from her mother and father. She wants him to see that if she can make her parents accept Tae-joo, then she can convince them that Joon-hyuk would be even better, and her parents wil be relieved she's with Joon instead of this loser Tae-joon. She's trying to make Joon-hyuk be willing to fight for them. Then she will throw Tae-joo aside, and he was only a pretend fiancee anyway.

Tae-joo is a pawn in her game, not only a consort. He doesn’t know that she and her stepbrother Joon-hyuk were in love, and doesn’t know that hye-rin is using him to make Joon-hyuk jealous. He only thinks it's to fool her parents. He does find out the truth before too long though.

Meanwhile Eun-soo is heartbroken. She had grown on Tae-joo. He had agreed in a way (like someone indulging a kid) that they were "dating (two meals, a kiss, shared elevator rides, you get the picture) but also because tae-joo, even though he barely realized it yet, had begun to like her. But that only lasted about two weeks, and then along cane Hye-rin with her offer of money and position, and off our fickle Tae-joo went. I think inside he didn't want to acknowledge that the steel cool Tae-joo could actually fall for someone, much less an innocent like Eun-soo. Eun-soo is perfect in her confusion and betrayal, and ultimate acceptance that she simply wasn’t the type of girl for a man like Tae-joo.

Hye-rin’s father’s Shopping Mall is the background for a lot of the drama because it’s where all four main leads end up working. Needless to say, Joon-hyuk meets and falls for Eun-soo, which only enrages Hye-rin who knows that Tae-joo really does care about Eun-soo as well. So now both of "her men" are in love with Eun-soo, only Tae-joo refuses to admit it to himself, or Eun-soo.

However....

Tae-joo cannot deal with seeing Joon-hyuk and Eun-soo become a couple, but Eun-soo, even though she still loves Tae-joo, finds comfort with the kind Joon-hyuk. But by now Hye-rin has stopped loving Joon-hyuk, and really does fall for Tae-joo, who is losing his mind over his feelings for Eun-soo.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

When (episode 9 and 10 wow!!) they finally get together it's so perfect. When they return home to face Hye-rin and Joon-hyuk, and Eun-soo's mom as well....I knew it was too good to be true.

Hye-rin taunts Eun-soo that it won't last because Tae-joo won't be happy and then Hye-rin gets her father to tempt Tae-joo with money and power. Eun-soo's sister is sick and they need money for the Drs, and suddenly everything goes south and Tae-joo leaves Eun-soo again. So stupid.

Lots of sorrow, anger, episodes of angst. Tae-joo never stops loving Eun-soo but those episodes! 😪

In the end it felt to me that Hye-rin and Joon-hyuk hadn't come out better for the fire they had been through, but Tae-joo had. He wasn't living for money anymore, he had truly fallen in love with Eun-soo and her only. He accepted that he lost her and was a better person in his life. Eun-soo doesn't really change, she is still sweet and she hasn't become bitter. She is sorry she hurt Joon-hyuk and she is still trying to be a good sister and daughter. And she never stopped loving Tae-joo.

I'm glad we had a happy ending. 😌

I think the actors were perfect for their characters. It’s definitely filled with a rollercoaster of emotions.  I would finish one episode and click on the next one immediately. I think I dreamed about it.

There are plot twists, romantic and not that I didn't see coming. There were several times when I covered my mouth with my hand and was like "no way!" And those moments are what make this drama (to me) one that stands out. I really enjoyed it. Ok I was obsessed with it.

I wasn’t sorry to see it come to an end. I was ready to see how it was going to resolve itself and what was going to happen to the people I’d become so obsessed with. I was so afraid of what the ending would be.

Now that I can breathe easily and I know what happens, I will watch it more slowly just to enjoy everything. The first time I was on the edge of my seat so much. I honestly plan to watch it back to back and this second time around I'll savour it and just immerse myself in the story without the worry.

This older drama wasn't and isn't for everyone. I'm sure a lot of people don't like it. But I really did/ do.

[thekoreanlass]

Somehow I often stumble across Ji Hyun Woo’s dramas and I just stay for good, enjoying his acting and the entirety of the drama. For some reason, he’s a magnet of good content and he’s just undeniably a really good actor in the present time.

The last time I watched him was during ‘Angry Mom’ and even then he was really good at portraying the teacher role while concocting a potential romance with Kim Hee Sun’s character in the story, which went down the pipe in the end. Anyway, that drama was good, nonetheless, since it focused more on school and politics, good parenting. and justice.

Now, as soon as I heard the team up between Ji Hyun Woo and Lee Si Young for the medical romcom drama, Risky Romance (also Life and Death Romance), I became really excited, looking forward to another superb performance by not just him but also Lee Si Young.

Risky Romance is Ji Hyun Woo and Lee Si Young’s reunion drama since acting together in 2010 KBS2’s ‘Becoming a Billionaire‘ drama series.

The Story

Risky Romance tells the story of a genius neurosurgeon, Han Seung Joo (Ji Hyun Woo), who has a great desire for winning and an empathetic endocrinologist, Joo In Ah (Lee Si Young), who is obsessed with hormones.

Ha Seung Joo used to be a very warm and understanding person until he witnesses the death of his close friend and gets himself into an unexpected car accident, which transformed him into a person with anger management problems with extremely fluctuating emotions. He lashes out at others whenever he is angry and nothing can stop him now.

Throw in a perky endocrinologist, Joo In Ah, that is very obsessed with hormones that she can discuss it to anyone all day without getting tired of it, and the drama will surely spiral to even more chaos as she determinedly follow Han Seung Joo around, begging him to take a blood test with her to know the level of his testosterone. Joo In Ah strongly believes that Han Seung Joo’s abrupt change is because of his malfunctioning hormones; the overproduction of testosterone means more male dominance and anger.

But because Ha Seung Joo is a stubborn prick with a level one-hundred pride that would stop him from taking the test to deny Joo In Ah’s claim, he does everything to defy her even as far as going below the belt and crossing the line.

Plus, for some unfounded accusation after seeing her picture in his dead friend’s belongings, he deduces that Joo In Ah is the reason why his friend is dead and eventually he turns into an even more asshole towards her, wanting to take everything from her even if Joo In Ah looks like she couldn’t even harm a mosquito.

What Ha Seung Joo doesn’t know is how wrong he was and that his plot for revenge is soon going to backfire at him in the most devastatingly comic fashion. Falling in love has never been more intense than this hormone-centric medical romcom drama!

What I like about the drama?

The drama has been interesting since the beginning, creating a more unique way of joining the medical drama trope with less hospital politics and less operating room scenes–that are rather taxing to watch if you don’t have a medical background or you’re not really into it or you don’t want to be bothered by so much technicalities–and instead with topics revolving around hormones and how it affects our chemistry and emotions.

I guess, the creator’s intention is to make the viewers more comfortable with a medical drama by talking about hormones and something more relatable, which is romance. Add a punch of comedy, some mystery and drama and voila!–you get that less typical drama you might be looking for.

To me, however, it is something new but not so new, yet I must admit that the story is extremely fun while throwing in an extreme case of love-hate relationship between a very angry Han Seung Joo and a gentle sheep like Joo In Ah. They just exude the kind of chemistry that is very natural that it makes me want to overlook Han Seung Joo’s extreme asshole personality that will definitely throw you off guard if it happens in real life. I mean, I’m definitely not going to talk to Han Seung Joo if I’m Joo In Ah since he’s just a mean bully that doesn’t deserve my attention. He’s like a high school kid begging for attention with nothing else good to do in life but make her life a living hell.

Gladly, as good to be true as it sounds, Joo In Ah is a saint that easily forgives. It’s her strong suit even if sometimes she looks like a pushover, especially whenever she just allows Se Ra to trample over her. I guess, that’s what makes their contrasting personalities compatible. That they are different so they can fill in each other’s shortcomings. Joo In Ah is like the sponge that buffers Han Seung Joo’s anger and maybe she’s key to him returning back to his old warm and understanding self. After all, one can only be as angry. Hormones may malfunction and fluctuate, but just like Joo In Ah told Han Seung Jo, it’s a matter of control over those hormones.

The reference to medical stuff and the realness in their acting plus slapstick comedy is a total yes for me.

What I don’t like about the drama?

Joo Se Ra – she’s a total bitch who is ambitious and wants to take everything that is Joo In Ah’s even if the latter is only showing her good. She blames her stepsister for stepping into the family registry and for being extremely better than her and for their parents’ death. She’ll be damned once she finds out though she’s the reason why they were out that night and in car that drove them to their deaths and not Joo In Ah, who took the blame for Se Ra.

Is it just me or Han Seung Joo has done more whining than investigating what really happened to his friend and who caused it while he raided the Joo sisters home? It’s just annoying that I find this true while Cha Jae Hwan was the one doing all the research for him. Now, Seung Joo lives in blissful ignorance while in a constant battle with his wits about whether to trust In Ah or not because he’s not really doing what he aimed for while Jae Hwan is the first one to know everything.

Honestly, the drama is also frustrating in a lot of aspects. But what really annoys me is how Seung Joo could throw tantrums when all he needs to do is ask Joo In Ah about what she knows and everything should have been solved. He wouldn’t be such an asshole to her once he realizes how stupidly wrong he was about her.

Hospital politics just sucks. It sometimes make me think whether this happens in real life and if it does, then are these surgeons and doctors only playing with people’s lives? I do hope, though, that this is more false than true.

Characters

In terms of their characterization, I think the two leads are a natural. Both are frustrating at some points, but all that gets washed away whenever something really good happens and they just have these moments when they open up to each other without them realizing.

Plus, Joo In Ah is a bona fide hormone-obsessed doctor with some fun fact that will really make you laugh and amazed at how easily words flow from her mouth and how it gives her a keen eye at diagnosing someone. She’s empathetic and really kind and Lee Si Young’s gentle features show that.

Han Seung Joo is a little spit fire that is more talk and childish ploys to bully Joo In Ah which is both infuriating and amusing at the same time. He’s a ticking time bomb that is more comedic and silly-looking than annoying when angry, which is his saving grace. Gladly, Ji Hyun Woo is naturally likable.

On the other hand, I find the other characters still difficult to watch, especially Se Ra who is cunning and vicious in her own little way whenever she’s thinking about her bitterness towards In Ah. You can probably call her the modern version of Cinderella’s stepsisters or something.

Then there’s Cha Jae Hwan who looks really adorable, but fails to be the better person the moment he realizes how Han Seung Joo looks at Joo In Ah who he also has feelings for. Other than that, I am still waiting for the day that he’ll step up to his father and  not cower towards him. Your parents can only break you so much, but even if you live for their dear approval, I think he’s old enough to learn to break away from what’s truly holding him down.

Why you should watch it

Risky Romance may be just one of those typical medical romcoms that’s trying to be at least slightly different from the rest, but anyone who is looking for something light and dramatic at the same time will really love this more character-focused drama despite some of its characters being a little frustrating at times and its hospital politics side drama that will want you to question authority.

Plus, you just can���t help but keep an eye on a very angry male lead who’s a few seconds from being arrested. Just glad we have a really good-natured female lead who will buffer his anger.

Rating

Thumbs up to this love-hate romcom. It’s the first time I’m seeing real action between a love-hate relationship so I’m giving this drama a 4.3 out of 5.

On going: Review on ‘Risky Romance’ – Love story raging with hormones Somehow I often stumble across Ji Hyun Woo's dramas and I just stay for good, enjoying his acting and the entirety of the drama.