#ji Ill woo

[binging-asian-dramas]

Hotel King. 7

Story: 8

Acting: 10

Chemistry: 10

Comparable to: Innocent Man (kdrama) ; Hotelier (kdrama); My Secret Hotel (kdrama)

A classic kdrama that is hella melodramatic. It has an amazing cast with a pretty decent storyline that gets amped up to 100% filled with betrayals, secrets, romance, murder, revenge, evil villains (like evil evil) and heartbreaking events. There’s also some funny situations to break up all the melodramatic moments. Lee Dong Wook and Lee Da Hae is magnificent in this their chemistry together is amazing as well. My only problem is that the drama is way too long and would of been a ten for me if it was edited down to at least ten to sixteen episodes. There was way to much repetitiveness to it going back and forth with the same issues, where no development of characters were happening nor the plot. Eventually it did get there. Overall it’s a nice drama especially if you like over melodramatic ones.

[condraws]

very powerful rp moment happened in one of my WOD campaigns this week. have you ever tried to quell the apocalypse?

[kdramaxoxo]

Sorry if you've been asked this a million times, but who are your favorite couples from the last couple years?

Congratulations Anon! This ask is AMAZING and I've never been asked it before! Shocking right?? :P

My favorite K-Drama Couples 2023- Spring 2024

NOTE: I tried to include 2022 but my list got too long :)

Moving (Bong-Seok & Hee-Soo, Joo-Won & Hye-Won & Doo-Shik & Mi-Hyun): It's very obvious by this list how much I love this drama and how many blorbo-from-my-shows it created for me. And I know I'm only reviewing couples, but I was blown away by this drama. I don't even LIKE superhero shows, but I made an exception for this one and I'm so glad I did. If you like character development and plays on good vs. evil, I highly rec this! Bong-Seok and Hee-Soo are one of my favorite couples EVER and I loved the softness and epic romance of Joo-Won & Hye-Won. (And we all know that scene at the rainy window with Bong-Seok and Hee-Soo). These couples are really EVERYTHING.

Tale of the Nine Tailed: 1938 (Lee-rang & Yeo-Hee): This is the only time I've ever watched a season two and liked it better than season one. It's probably because it featured my favorite tragic half fox Lee Rang and gave him a love line with a mermaid. The two are SO sweet together---SOB!

Tell me That You Love Me (Mo-Eun & Jin-Woo): Wow. Maybe one of the softest couples I've ever seen in existence. Just watching them together was like a warm blanket in front of a cozy fireplace. I didn't like the ending choice which is a shame, but the drama was super well done and I still think people should watch it. There is also a very cute high school couple too!

The Eighth Sense (Jae-Won & Ji Hyun): not to be dramatic (just kidding!) this is the best bl kdrama I've ever seen. Literally this is it! I don't even want to tell you about the couple because I want you to just watch it! I'm dying for the writer to make another one because we need more queer media like this one!

Crash Course In Romance (Haeng-Seon & Chi-Yeol): Give me a noona romance featuring a man who has not felt warmth in 1000 years (ok not literally but this dude needs to have a warm meal made by an amazing lady!) This drama fell apart at the end (this seems to be a theme this year) but the couple makes it worth watching.

King The Land (Gu-Won & Sa-Rang): If you're looking for a low stakes, totally fluffy, rom com with TONS of chemistry (featuring MY BIAS!), King the Land is for you. Amazing skinship, kisses and just like a really fun duo to watch. Plot? Not so much but there are a billion good moments-- just look at the tags: They are full of cuteness.

Love After Divorce Season 4 (Benita & Jerome): Listen, I know I'm cheating by putting a reality tv show on this list but if you're in the mood for one, I highly recommend this season (it's on Netflix). Benita and Jerome will steal your heart and they are still together! I'm rooting for them. <3

See you in my 19th Life (Ji-Eum & Seo-Ha, Da-Hoon & Cho-Won): My bias Shin Hye Sun kills it in this drama featuring past life romance. Honestly it's not fair because this drama is totally my vibe so I'm obviously going to love the mains. But when a drama gives you more than one love line and they are both interesting and lovely?? Chef's Kiss!

Dr. Slump (Jeong-Woo & Ha-Neul): This drama TOTALLY fell apart at the end and left us all very disappointed, but that's not because our leads weren't a perfect couple! They bonded over mental illness and even took their meds together. Communication: check. Comfort/Healing: check. Chemistry: check!

The Story of Park's Marriage Contract (Yun-Woo & Tae-Ha). You probably don't know this but I've been following Bae In Hyuk's career since we was in silly little web dramas. Seeing him as a lead is really wild! To be fair, he's not nearly the actor that Lee Se Young is, but do we care about that when there's a time slip romance drama featuring a historical lady who's been thrown into the future and has to fake marry someone who looks just like her de*d husband for reasons??

Thank you so much for this ask - it was super fun!! Maybe I should do 2022 next?? :D

[world-smitten]

uneasiness is the word for Queen of Tears. This show makes me uneasy. I felt it in the first episodes where a group of men lament having to cook for the Hong's family memorial service (cooking! horror!), I felt it when Soo-cheol opened his big mouth to call Africa barbaric, and I'm still feeling it 6 eps in while Hae-in cavorts around Germany with her lousy husband.

I haven't dropped the show yet because I find it entertaining, and I have no self-discipline. What I like: Kim Ji-won as Hong Hae-in. The ensemble cast is big and probably expensive, but the money is paying off. They're all individually strong performers, and they work off each other expertly. I like the Hong family, and I like their soon-to-be usurpers. I like how the camera moves - I like how funny the writing can be. I love the soundtrack. Hae-in's fake illness is one of the more compelling fake illnesses in k-dramas. I think everything around her character is sharply drawn, and most of that lies in Kim Ji-won's performance, who knows exactly how to ride that fine line of irony and earnestness. She knows Hae-in is out of touch and vain, and plays those moment with subtle self-riducule, but she also acknowledges that Hae-in is trying, if not necessarily successfully, to be a better person.

Her husband though - lol. Baek Hyun-woo starts out as someone with a degree of responsibility and morality that his in-laws severely lack. Much of the first episodes is playing up his alienation as a decent, modest middle-class lawyer who marries Hae-in, a woman from a vastly rich family, and learns quickly that the companionship and support he thought he'd receive from her isn't there. He decides to get a divorce after he finds out that his wife didn't put him in her will - the last straw, and ultimate proof that she no longer loves him. Fair enough, thought I. Then he finds out his wife is dying. His reaction: stash away the divorce papers and lover her up so bad she'll fall for him again and put him in her will. Okay...interesting! thought I. It was a refreshing turn in his character, having our nice lead be as self-interested and petty as the in-laws he looked down on. And at that point, the writing was vaguely, vaguely aware that he was a prick for it. But it also gave him an out - see, it wasn't really Hyun-woo's idea, but his friend's, whispering in his ear like Lady Macbeth to topple the faithful King Duncan, so y'know, this conniving isn't really Soo-hyun's nature. He's definitely not that kind of guy.

The funny thing is that Hyun-woo's selfishness is the only believable thing about him. Early on, it's hammered in that working for this family is eating up at his sense of justice, but there's no underlying reason or conviction as to why or where he has this sense of justic from. I can believe more that he is a deeply materialistic man, who says the "moral" thing, but ultimatley still cares about status and money and reputation. After all, the moral compromises he regretted making for his in-laws no longer mattered when he was busy chasing Hae-in's bag lol. And like his ethics, his love for Hae-in feels similarly hollow - when he starts to see her through sun-lit filters and flares with ballads in the back, it all reads like artifice attempting to simulate a sincere falling-back-in-love, and I don't buy it. I don't believe that he's a good man, and I don't believe that he loves Hae-in. I cannot believe that people were harassing Kim Sae-ron, a real woman with a real connection to Kim Soo-hyun, over this pairing. Stand up.

In fact, this show is a lot like Hyun-woo - hollow, saying the "right" things re: wealth, but meaning nothing. The villains are grasping class upstarts. The chaebol family are so dysfunctional and bumbling that they become like children, pitiable and endearing. There's a show in here that's brilliant, and I keep seeing flashes of it because I've seen it in other brilliant shows. An upwardly mobile lawyer marries into a conglomerate, and their corruption chews him up and spits him out - Stranger. A chaebol family whose stupidity and pettiness is genuinely disturbing and suffocating - Secret Love Affair. And if you want to ogle and jeer at rich people, then Mine is as indulgent, as excessive, as voyeuristic (bordering on exploitative) as QOT while still having a moral spine. Of course, those shows had very different writers, different aims and tonal registers to Queen of Tears, which is first and foremost a brassy, sweeping crowdpleaser. But QOT wants us to take it seriously - it wants us to at least believe in the romance that it's selling. And well...I don't know if I can manage that. Personally, I'd have cut Hyun-woo out all together, make Eun-sung/Hae-in and Soo-cheol/Da-hye the main pairings (while keeping Eun-sung and Da-hye as two-faced as they already are), and have the messiness of the plot spill out from that.

I think this is all a sign to watch My Liberation Notes again.

[iris-sistibly]

I saw a post on Instagram saying that Park Ji-eun originally intended to write a sad ending for QoT, Hae-in was supposed to die in 2034 after her cancer relapsed then Hyun-woo continued to live on until old age and reunite with Hae-in in the afterlife. But then she decided to do otherwise because she saw how fans reacted so she decided to give us more of a ✨happier✨ ending instead.

I can't confirm whether it's true or not, but perhaps that was the reason why Eun-seong's villain arc was dragged to the end because they had to scrap the original plan out? And we didn't get to see more of BaekHong moments with baby Soo-bin because the story of Hae-in's cancer relapse would have taken some time to tell.

Realistically speaking, the original would have made sense since her illness (even if it's just some made up disease) was very rare so it's really possible that she might get sick again after some time. Some fans say that the original plan would have been better, but honestly I don't think that it would have made much difference with how it ended, because either way, Hae-in was gonna go first so might as well give them some more time to be together. After all, they deserve it. The only difference really is that Soo-bin would have lost her mother at such an early age which would have been so cruel.

So...yeah, if Queen of Tears ended the way it was allegedly supposed to be, it would take me awhile to recover.

[grimmshood]

i genuinely hate this drawing NOW so id probably go back, reassign tracks and also do different outfits too. criminal taemin is ABSOLUTELY getting swapped out for a look from deja-boo or she is. chun-woo is getting the taemin track instead (most likely idea.) and ill switch blink to red lights (already one of his assocaited tracks) and woojin will probably get switched to chase if i can't find outfits to go with any of his other songs. changmin gets to keep his track though bc spider fits his voice enough for me

augggh the really old drawing i have of nospin as different solos is in dire need of a redraw...............criminal ji-woon WILL have to go though...

[coreancitizen]

First impressions: 'Marry My Husband'

SYNOPSIS: Terminally ill Kang Ji Won (Park Min Young) is killed shortly after she catches her husband in bed with her best friend in their home. She comes to in the middle of her former office and, after a totally understandable freakout, realizes she's back in 2013, 10 years before her "death." She begins to plot her revenge against the two who'd wronged her.

THOUGHTS: With the similar setup (maltreated heroine gets a chance to fix her life after some time traveling), there's no avoiding the comparison with the delicious "Perfect Marriage Revenge." Especially with the ML sporting oversized suits that could have come straight from Seo Do Guk's closet.

SPOILERS AHEAD

But there are enough differences in the first two episodes for MMH not to feel like a slower-paced rehash. A key one: There are rules in this time-traveling scenario. In PMR, once Yi Joo broke off things with her fiance, the timeline already deviated. In MMH, things that are supposed to happen still happen, BUT they can happen to somebody else. Ji Won still got her knee skinned, but she managed to avoid the scarring on her arm when the general manager stepped in and shielded her from the coffee pot. He got the scar instead. The series leans heavily on recreating the past and giving different outcomes.

The biggest difference I'm kinda worried about is the lack of an over-the-top antagonist like Lee Jeong Hye. MMH's villain duo seem a bit lightweight; I don't see anyone flinging lawn chairs in a ballgown in the middle of an afternoon. They're more annoying than entertaining.

Look, it's Park Min Young so the acting is on point. Ji Won is starting to regain a bit of her old self, thanks to some self-help books and some new allies (a rather timid manager and an exuberant younger co-worker). She's also getting more encouragement at work from the general manager, Yoo Ji Hyuk (Na In Woo), who seems to know waaaay too much about things and about Ji Won.

I'm definitely wondering if he's also a time traveler. He was there to save Ji Won throughout her whole freakout (Coffee pot? Check. Flight of stairs? Check) And how did he know about the dreaded school reunion?? I'm betting he met with that popular chef who seems to be from the same class as Ji Won (and seems to be her first love?) to set up a more positive experience for her.

There's enough in the first two episodes to make me curious, so I'm sticking around for a bit. I'm not expecting the breakneck pace of PMR but I do need the show to pick up its speed a little.

[rei-does-stuff]

Watching more of Crash Landing On You and the main character is so fucking funny I love her, she’s putting EVERYONE in their place and is so smug about it she is my everythinggg

“I’ll make sure I give you Ji-woo’s autograph!”

“Really??? When????”

“After the reunification! :D!”

“D:” LIKE DAMN HE WAS SO EXCITED GIRL RELAX 😭

She’s such a good contrast to the main love interest too, I am already yelling at them to kiss or something

The side characters are really funny too

“I’m definitely not gonna tell anyone! I’m gonna just get amnesia when I return home!”

“She’s telling the truth! If you watch South Korean Dramas 9/10 are suffering from amnesia, its a common illness in capitalist countries!”

“Is it because they drink too much American soda??”

I <3 them

[sixcostumerefs]

Performance Stats: 2023 South Korean Production

A few notes:  - this includes the performances in both Seoul (Mar-Jun) and Sejong (Jul) - There are likely some mistakes. I only have limited information from social media.  - If you use this information, please credit and tag. sixcostumerefs here, six.costume.refs on Insta.

Performances by actor: Aragon: - 이아름솔 (Lee Arumsoul): 51 performances, including 2 in Sejong - 손승연 (Sonnet/Son Seungyeon): 50 performances, including 2 in Sejong Boleyn: - 김지우 (Kim Ji woo): 45 performances - 배수정 (Pae Su-jeong): 56 performances, including 4 in Sejong Seymour: - 박혜나 (Park Hye-na): 40 performances - 박가람 (Park Ga-ram): 61 performances, including 4 in Sejong Cleves: - 김지선 (Kim Ji-sun): 47 performances, including 2 in Sejong - 최현선 (Choi Hyun-sun): 54 performances, including 2 in Sejong Howard: - 김려원 (Kim Ryeo won): 58 performances, including 2 in Sejong - 솔지 (Solji): 43 performances, including 2 in Sejong Parr: - 유주혜 (Yoo Ju-hye): 54 performances, including 2 in Sejong - 홍지희 (Hong Ji-hee): 47 performances, including 2 in Sejong

Performance combos: Out of 64 possible combos of queens for any one performance, 41 combos were used. Another 4 combos were scheduled to happen, but the cast for those changed prior to the performance due to injury/illness. The combos that were scheduled to happen but did not go ahead are:

The other 19 combos did not happen at any performances. Those are:

Every queen did get to perform with every other queen several times.

[cantsayidont]

MY NAME (2021): Pulpy, violent, derivative Korean crime drama about a young woman named Yoon Ji-woo (Han So-hee) who sets out to avenge the murder of her gangster father by joining the gang of which he was a member and then, at the behest of the organization's crafty boss, Choi Mu-jin (Park Hee-soon), infiltrating the Inchang Metropolitan Police under an assumed name to find her father's supposed killer, a senior narcotics cop (the avuncular Kim Sang-ho).

The plot (whose major beats you'll likely anticipate just based on the preceding synopsis) is kind of a gender-swapped riff on the Hong Kong film INFERNAL AFFAIRS (remade in the U.S. as THE DEPARTED), with some echoes of John Woo's Hong Kong classics (in particular HARD-BOILED), albeit executed with far less thematic unity. There are some stylish moments, but MY NAME never finds a consistent groove, and it only occasionally goes hard enough to compensate for its awkward pacing, clunky structure, and numerous lapses in plausibility and plot logic. Only in the finale does the show serve up the emotional grandiosity needed to give the bloodshed some real juice, and it's still let down somewhat by a weak coda.

Park's cool charisma is a major load-bearing element throughout, but Han, curiously, is more convincing in the action scenes than the quieter moments, perhaps because the scripts struggle to give Ji-woo (or any of the show's very few female characters) any meaningful interiority. An ill-advised early time-skip also undermines the clarity of her motivations and priorities, which too often leaves her seeming like a supporting character in her own story. CONTAINS LESBIANS? There are barely any women other than Ji-woo. VERDICT: Moderately diverting if you can stomach the brutal violence, but even its strongest moments feel recycled from earlier, better examples of this genre. CWs apply for attempted sexual violence in the first two episodes, and episodes six and seven include some scenes of graphic self-harm.

[watsonneith]

Everyone saw Train to Busan before me, but I need the internet to know that I am here for Korean zombie shows in a way I will never be for American zombie shows. American directors shamble around their architectural critiques of capitalism; Korean directors just say, "Let's have the four-year-old call out financial trading. You suck, daddy."

Also, life goal: be Ma Dong-seok's character when I grow up.

My other favorite is Kingdom. Most shows overlook historical costuming when they design their zombie set, but this story is just as much costume as it is running and screaming and trying to avoid being bitten.

[rughydrangea]

2022 drama year in review

Normally I’m very good about getting this in by the new year, but I had a few 2022 dramas to catch up on, so I’m late. I’m glad I took the time to catch up, though, as it’s got me excited about dramas for the first time in a long while. They’re still good! (Even if there should be more sageuks.)

Joining the pantheon of my favorites:

Little Women -- Hands-down the best adaptation of Little Women I have ever seen. The acting, directing, music, plotting were all superb. But there are two aspects of the show that really stood out to me: 1) Little Women is a novel about sisters born into poverty, who have no clear path out of that poverty. They all spend much of the novel learning the difficult lesson that being poor isn’t a state they will someday be liberated from but the noble condition in which they will live their lives. And poverty is explicitly linked with virtue in LMA’s worldview--when Jo starts to write racy stories to earn money, when Meg resents being the wife of a poor man, these are portrayed as moral failings that must be corrected. And though Amy does eventually marry into money, it’s not a road without hardship--she essentially has to salvage the man that Jo threw in the trash and teach him how to be a human again. Bless this drama, then, for refusing to romanticize poverty and ending with the sisters thriving off their stolen money. Living in this painful, heartbreaking, corrupt world as poor girls did not purify them, it merely hurt them. Stealing money from those who made them suffer may not fit LMA’s vision of ethical living, but it’s what In Joo, In Kyung, and In Hye deserved. Long may they enjoy their ill-gotten gains! 2) Finally, a Little Women adaptation willing to make the objectively correct decision and let Jo and Laurie end up together. Every other adaptation and the original novel found dead in a ditch. All hail Jung Seo Kyung.

My Liberation Notes -- Following up My Ajusshi was kind of an impossible task, but damn if Park Hae Young didn’t manage it. A thoughtful, heartfelt, deliberate show that never took the easy away out and somehow found the beauty in the small, painful, confounding details of life. I have like Kim Ji Won since Heirs and adored her since Fight My Way, but this drama showed an entirely different side of her, tamped-down and bitter and wonderful. And though one could argue that the show glamorized alcoholism (I don’t think you can drink that much soju and still look that good), it was all worth it for Mr. Gu. May we all get an alcoholic gangster hottie who worships us on command.

Through the Darkness--This drama was a lot more gruesome than I thought it would be? But it was also smart and deliberate and compassionate. The entire cast was great, but Kim Nam Gil was incredible, doing so much with silence and stillness.

Quite good:

Alchemy of Souls--So stupid. So fun. What is there left to say?

Love Like the Galaxy--It kind of lost me in the middle, but I was back on board for the end. Unexpectedly, my favorite part of the show hands-down, and the only story to make me cry, was the emperor and his doomed love triangle. Is this how I know I’m getting old?

Under the Queen’s Umbrella--Silly and heartbreaking in equal turn. Every time a mother hugged her child I melted. Lots of good, rounded, complicated characters but then there were also a few who were pure, cartoonish evil, which was less fun. The acting saved some of the more confounding writing decisions.

Not bad:

Strange Lawyer Woo Young Woo -- It started out so strong, but really limped to the finish line. I simply have no patience left for heroically idiotic breakups.

WHY??!?!?

*** ***** -- It turns out that when you watch a show that is absolutely not for you, you are not going to like it! I’m glad for the people who loved this show, but every time I saw a novel-length essay explaining how dramatically flawless it was, I truly felt like I was living in an alternate universe. Some of the acting was good, but a lot was aggressively not. The product placement was dizzying. Every single aspect of the premise and a lot of the conflict felt like it was scripted by aliens who hadn’t quite grasped human behavior. Still, I am grateful that it gave me something supremely silly to focus on at a very stressful point in my life, and it’s tough to fault a show that is pretty clearly for a younger age bracket for not appealing to me, an old person. The secondary couple ruled, though.

[anditendshowyoudexpect]

when i started watching Agency i couldn't imagine i'd end up enjoying it so much, probably the most i've enjoyed a kdrama this year. really did not see that coming

Strangers Again kept me entertained but i fast forwarded a bit through the last few episodes. the lead actors (i loved Kang So Ra in Misaeng and it was nice to see her again, while the male lead was an unknown. those eyes! soulful, someone said) were great and had just the right chemistry of two people who had known and loved each other for years, and i think this drama could have been really good if it had dug deeper and meandered less. to its credit, it ended how i hoped it would. all in all, not a waste of time but not something i would watch again either.

now, how the makjang of Red Balloon will end this weekend, i can't predict. my ardent wish to see everybody burn is still very much ardent. i can't believe i'll finally be free of it. human condition, so much human condition. let's kill them all, because they are too real and recognizable

the first two episodes of Call It Love were good. well done show, luring me in with all the My Mister stuff (i laughed when it turned out that Woo Joo, while dressed almost exactly like Ji An, did not possess her stealth and ingenuity. and why would she). no, seriously, they were good, and not nearly as depressing as some comments made it out to be. but surely we can't trust it yet. never trust a tv show. it will find a way to let you down. anyway, will definitely watch next week. i am mildly curious as to what this relationship will be like, but tbh for a drama with 사랑 in the title, that's the last thing i'm finding interesting about it for now. side note: the person who came up with the idea of using this god awful purplish filter and all those who thought it was a good idea should be forced to wear tinted glasses of this color for the rest of their life, even in the shower. and see all their dreams through this filter too.

CCIR: i would watch Kyung Ho (hey stupid android stop autocorrecting, he is not a lying ho) and Jeon Do Yeon, and the four teens being cute for ten hours straight, but i think it's safe to say we all know what's coming. the honeymoon is over! oh well. someday i will get my proper middle-aged romance. as it is, you're just making me want to watch Should We Kiss First? again. i mean, SWKF has terminal illness BUT NO ONE FUCKING DIES. also i love it smth silly.

OH! speaking of which, i almost forgot. i did finally watch Recipe for Farewell a few days ago. well, three episodes of it. now this one is definitely my thing, terminal illness notwithstanding. i only stopped myself because it was almost 7am and i wanted to binge the rest (and i will. it's so nice to know i have it waiting for me)

[drama-suggestions]

Rom-Com Dramas

Extraordinary attorney Woo (2022) (16 episodes)

9/10 rating on MyDramaList and 8.7/10 on IMDb

Extraordinary Attorney Woo is the story of Woo Young-woo, an autistic lawyer raised by her single father. She graduates at the top of her law school class and obtains her first job at Hanbada, a large Seoul law firm. Her intelligence and photographic memory help her become an excellent lawyer, but her communication is initially seen as odd and awkward. She also encounters people who are prejudiced against her and others with disabilities, such as her fellow colleague Kwon Min-woo, who often tries to sabotage her. Her approach is often unique and helps resolve cases in unexpected ways.

2. Business Proposal (2022) (12 episodes)

8.7/10 rating on MyDramaList and 8.1/10 rating on IMDb

Shin Ha-ri goes on a blind date with Kang Tae-moo, CEO of Go Food, but it goes awry when her date turns out to be Kang Da-goo, the chairman of Go Foods parent company. Young-seo tricks Ha-ri into meeting Tae-moo at his request. Ha-ri lies to Tae-moo and bribes him into pretending to be his fiancée in exchange for 800,000 won per date. Despite feeling betrayed, Tae-moo still loves Ha-ri and they become a couple. Young-seo moves out of her father's house and finds out that she is now Sung-hoon's neighbor. Sung-hoon is upset with her for deceiving his boss, but eventually realizes his growing affections for Young-seo and they get together.

3. Crash Course in Romance (2023) (16 episodes)

8.5/10 rating on MyDramaList and 7.8/10 on IMDb

Nam Haeng Sun, a former national athlete, now owns a side dish store and is attracted to Choi Chi Yeol, a popular and hardworking private instructor known as the "1 Billion Won Man". Despite his reputation, Choi Chi Yeol has become increasingly aloof and irritable due to his growing success. Nam Haeng Sun embarks on a new career in the private education field and discovers a deeper connection with Choi Chi Yeol. However, their relationship is not without challenges, as they must learn to confront their own shortcomings and trust in each other's strengths. It has a satisfying ending that resolves the issues of the characters.

4. I’m not a Robot (2017) (16 episodes)

8.4/10 rating on MyDramaList and 8/10 on IMDb

Kim Min-kyu lives a luxurious but isolated life due to a severe allergy to physical contact with other human beings. Jo Ji-ah is trying to create businesses based on her inventions. KM Financial owns the Santa Maria team headed by professor Hong Baek-gyun, who has secretly created an advanced humanoid robot called AG3. To convince Min-kyu not to sell the team, Baek-gyun sends the robot to him as a demonstration, but it short-circuits and Baek-gyun asks Ji-ah to pose as the robot, giving the team time to repair Aji 3. Ji-ah impersonates Aji 3 and Min-kyu falls in love with her, believing she is the robot. He is disturbed by this and "reboots" her, erasing the robot's memory. Baek-gyun then replaces Ji-ah with the real Aji 3, and Min-kyu discovers Ji-ah's deception and nearly kills him. Ji-ah confesses her love to Min-kyu and they rediscover their love. Aji 3's secret cache is hacked, revealing Min-kyu's illness, which is used to attempt a take-over of KM Financial and complete the sale of the Santa Maria team and Aji 3. Min-kyu manages to thwart the attempt and restores Aji 3 to the Santa Maria team. 2 years later, the Santa Maria team successfully launches a new robot and Min-kyu and Ji-ah are happily living their changed lives.

5. True Beauty (2020) (16 episodes)

 8.3/10 rating on MyDramaList and 8.5 on IMDb

Lim Ju-Kyung is a high school student who has been discriminated against by her family and bullied by her peers in previous school due to being perceived as ugly. She masters wearing makeup and quickly rises to fame. Su-ho is a student of Class 2-5 in Saebom High School who is popular for his handsome looks and being the top of his class. His dysfunctional family and a tragic incident from a year ago have turned him into an ice-cold boy who hates being the center of attention. He is formerly best friends with Seo-Jun and shares Ju-Kyung's penchant for horror comic books. This series, which has an entertaining bromance, explores Ju-Kyung's life and her aspiration to become a cosmetologist.

[kdramacrybaby]

Marry My Husband (2024)

Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Revenge, Time travel

Synopsis: Kang Ji-won is terminally ill with cancer, and tries to find comfort in her best friend (Jeong Su-min) and husband (Park Min-hwan). But in the end, she discovers that the two are having an affair, and are planning to spend the insurance money from her death to build a new life together. While confronting them, she takes a fall and passes away - only to wake up again, now 10 years in the past, and with a chance to do it all over again. Can her fate be changed? And why does her manager, Yoo Ji-hyuk, suddenly show such an interest in her life?

Episode info: 16 episodes / Runtime around 70 minutes

Lead cast: Park Min-young (Kang Ji-won), Na In-woo (Yoo Ji-hyuk), Lee Yi-kyung (Park Min-hwan), Song Ha-yoon (Jeong Su-min)

Link to watch: You can watch on Amazon Prime and Dramacool

Drama rec masterlist | Drama rant thread (beware of spoilers)

This created quite the buzz when it first came out, and I've been wanting to watch it for a while because it seemed to many people loved it a lot.

And while I did like most of the drama, there were also some things that I did not - that being mainly the romance, which is obviously quite a large part of the overall drama.

To be fair to the drama, I'll start with the things that I liked about it.

The revenge plot was overall interesting. I'm not usually much for time-travel, but I think they handled it as well as they could have with this drama. Did all their rules make sense? Not all the time, at least to me, but I didn't bother me that much. I'm always up for watching some cold-blooded karma being served (go watch The Glory, if you're also into that).

I loved how the women really came together to love and support each other through this drama. While there was of course the conflict between Ji-won and Su-min (as well as another plot point down the line I can't discuss because of spoilers), all other scenes between the female characters were so supporting and uplifting. This really saved the drama so much for me.

While Park Min-young is, as always, absolutely fabulous as a female lead in a romance, I really do think Song Ha-yoon stole the show this time. I've only seen her in Fight For My Way, as the sweetest human being, so this was definitely a new look. But man, she did crazy so well. Definitely one of the better antagonists I've seen in a drama like this - there were so many layers to her character and while she was absolutely vile, I also felt so sorry for her in the end.

Now for the things that bothered me:

The romance didn't do it for me this time, I'm sorry to say it. The chemistry just didn't hit right. And while I would usually also complain about him being her boss and all that (which I don't like either), it wasn't that. They mostly said and did all the right green-flag things, but it wasn't it for me. There are some other things I can't really discuss without spoiling, so I'll just say that I don't always agree with how they do things and why. Communication isn't really their strong point here (not when it actually matters anyway).

Useless love triangle drama as always. While Ji-won deserves the world, I don't need to always have several men in love with the female lead. Gets tiresome after a while.

Do we really need to still be doing the "take your glasses off" for the magic transformation into a better looking person? Both male and female lead got the treatment this time, so at least it wasn't just the woman. But why can't glasses be part of a glow-up? Contacts aren't always the answer.

They bring in a character near the end, and I really felt like it was too much (and without proper setup for it to work like they wanted). The drama would have been better without adding something else just for the heck of it, right as we're getting to the last half of the story.

So yeah, overall, it wasn't a bad drama. I was entertained while watching, and though I was frustrated at times, there were also things I really did like. Still, I can't give this more than three stars. Mostly because I was a little disappointed after all the hype I saw.

[sageglobalresponse]

5 popular Korean TV series stealing the hearts of Nigerians in 2024

Korean dramas capture Nigerians' hearts with their captivating stories, talented actors, and unique blend of genres.

K-dramas, the creative expression of Korean culture with a unique blend of drama, romance and humour, have captivated Nigerian viewers.

With their intriguing stories and distinctive mash-ups of genres, Korean TV shows have emerged as a prominent force.

It's not just the stories that captivate Nigerians. Korean shows boast a powerhouse of talented actors who bring these characters to life with remarkable authenticity.

Best Korean TV series in 2024

Here’s a list of Korean series that are particularly popular among Nigerians in 2024:

1. Queen of Tears (2024)

Synopsis: The series depicts the crisis and rekindling of love between Hong Hae-in, played by Kim Ji-won, a third-generation chaebol heiress of Queens Group, and Baek Hyun-woo, played by Kim Soo-hyun, the son of farmers from Yongdu-ri, and their three years of marriage.

Director: Jang Young-woo and Kim Hee-won

Cast: Park Sung-hoon, Kwak Dong-yeon, and Lee Joo-bin

Where to watch: Netflix

https://youtu.be/Gg2D8zrzlOA

2. Marry My Husband (2024)

Synopsis: The series begins in 2023 when Kang Ji-won played by Park Min-young, is terminally ill with gastric cancer. After catching her husband, Park Min-hwan played by Lee Yi-kyung, in bed with her best friend, Jeong Su-min, a scuffle ensues in which Ji-won is accidentally killed by Min-hwan.

Ji-won then awakens in the year 2013, having been sent back in time following the intervention of her late father's spirit. As she relives her life with the same knowledge and information as in the previous timeline, she discovers that to live a better life, she must transfer her misfortune to others. She then resolves to have Su-min marry Min-hwan to exact revenge and escape her miserable fate.

Cast: Na In-woo, Song Ha-yoon, and Lee Gi-kwang

Where to watch: Prime Video

https://youtu.be/lfJGSxXf9Xg

Director: Park Won-guk and Han Jin-seon

3. Doctor Slump (2024)

Synopsis: It is a romantic comedy series about the hate-turned-love relationship of Nam Ha-neul played by Park Shin-hye and Yeo Jeong-woo played by Park Hyung-sik, who had promising prospects in their careers, but fell into a slump due to different circumstances.

Ha-neul and Jeong-woo were high school rivals who despised each other and parted ways after high school. But when they are forced to quit their jobs as doctors, they end up living together at Ha-neul's house.

Cast: Yoon Park, Gong Seong-ha, and Oh Dong-min

Where to watch: Netflix

https://youtu.be/xCwAwwm4-sY

Director: Hyun Jong Oh

4. Love Song For Illusion (2024)

Synopsis: The story follows Yeon Wol played by Hong Ye-ji, who hides her identity and becomes an assassin to avenge her family. Her mission is to assassinate the king but she falls into a trap set by an unknown person. She wakes up the next day with no memory of her past and is appointed as the crown prince's concubine.

Director: Lee Jung-seob

Cast: Park Ji-hoon, Lee Joo-won, Hwang Hee, and Ji Woo

Where to watch: Viki

https://youtu.be/3vkGu5R1IKo

5. A Killer’s Paradox (2024)

Synopsis: The series follows the story of Lee Tang played by Choi Woo-shik, who was discharged from the army six months ago, struggles with his life and dreams of visiting Canada. He works at a convenience store and relies heavily on his parents for support.

One night, he is assaulted by a customer, leading to a violent confrontation and the subsequent murder of the customer. Tang is guilt-ridden and prepares to turn himself in, but discovers his victim was a serial killer.

Dutiful detective Jang Nan-gam, remains uncooperative and keeps investigating. It is unclear if Nan-gam is onto him, but Tang continues to kill, revealing his hidden talent for accidentally offending evildoers.

The story explores the question of whether Tang is serving justice or evading it.

Director: Lee Chang-hee

Cast: Son Suk-ku, Lee Hee-Joon, Kim Yo-han, and Jung Yi-seo

Where to watch: Netflix

https://youtu.be/X2rXQ0rEfPI