K-Drama Mid-Review: Ruler: Master of the Mask

My goodness. I've been looking for a new period drama to watch for AGES that I decided to give this one a go. It's currently ongoing and I've caught up (as of today) to the 20 episodes that have already aired. When I first saw this drama was going to be 40 episodes I was a bit put off by the length but then quickly realised that each episode was only 30~ minutes long. So this is basically a mid-point review as to what I think the drama is like, where I think it's headed and overall so-far impressions of it. 

Without having to go into too much detail (and trying to be as spoiler-less for this part as much as poss), this drama is about a prince fighting against an evil group of people that are trying to control the country and the throne. At the same time there's also a romance between the prince and a noble girl. Of course, Yoo Seung Ho (Remember: War of the Son, Warrior Baek Dong-Soo) plays the role of the prince and Kim So Hyun (Goblin, Let's Fight Ghost & (special mention) The Moon that Embraces the Sun) plays the role of the girl the prince is involved with. 

SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS

Reading the synopsis and then watching 20 episodes of this drama, there is just soooooo much more to the story than just that. If you're reading the synopsis and thinking "oh this sounds boring", please, do watch the first 2-3 episodes of this drama. It will literally suck you in. 

OK, so far we know that:

• The prince's family have all been murdered by the evil peeps
• The prince's friend (arguably his bestie) has ended up on the throne as a "puppet king" being controlled by the evil group rather than him 
• The prince has therefore been living outside of the palace as a commoner and then becomes some master trader
• The prince has fallen in love with the daughter of a minister that basically died because of him, at this point she doesn't know the prince is actually the prince
• The girl has her own revenge that she's following through with and has ended up in the palace as a court lady to carry out these plans (and has subsequently ended things with the prince)
• The queen mother has hidden agendas to dethrone the king (when does the queen mother not have hidden agendas?) 
• The evil group's leader's granddaughter is also in love with the prince and wants to save him and make him hers 
• The prince has finally met with his friend who is currently the king and the king has realised that him and the prince are in love with the same girl, he's now turned from prince's bestie to his rival

So freaking much has happened that I'm so excited to see how the story resolves in the next 20 episodes. I'm anticipating that the prince will continue planting seeds in the palace who are really his people and then eventually take back his throne. The cliffhanger in episode 20 was interesting, he's presented with 2 options - use the army and take back the throne now, or continue waiting patiently. The preview for the next episode is also interesting, the rivalry between the prince and the king start surfacing and they're both fighting over Ga Eun. Then there's also the granddaughter who's trying to take over the evil group to make the prince like her, haven't seen much of her recently but she seems pretty smart in an evil way?

Also, I don't know why but I have this impending sense of doom feeling that the puppet king / prince's best friend will end up dying by the end in all of this. I honestly have the most feels for him right now because he has literally been made a prisoner because he got involved with the prince. He's not allowed to go visit his family (his poor mother probably thinks he's dead), his best friend also likes the same girl he's liked for so long, he has to wear that hideous mask all day long, he has no power or authority even though he's the king etc. This guy needs a break.

I'm really enjoying this drama at the moment and am pretty sad I've caught up already. It's going to be hard trying to watch this week by week. There's the main plot as well as this love square, plenty of room for many plot twists. 

Also, Yoo Seung Ho is an amazing period drama actor. I think he's just an amazing actor, the only dramas I've seen him in are the ones where he plays these tragic character roles though :< I wasn't too sure about Kim So Hyun playing the main female lead but she's actually growing on me, I remember her too much from The Moon that Embraces the Sun when she was that evil little girl who wanted to become the queen... she was like what? 10 years old when she was in that?

Anyhoo, can't wait for episode 21!

K-Drama Review: One More Happy Ending

I've been stuck for a while now with writer's block trying to put together a review for a K-Drama - any K-Drama. I've actually been back onto the addiction after having fallen off because I was failing to find a good drama to watch. Having seen so many recent ones that have actually been good, it's been hard to deconstruct my thoughts and put them into words for a review. But after having seen 'One More Happy Ending' and blitzing through it in 3 days, it's made me really want to review it despite it having aired about a year ago!

Ah, I effing loved the story, it was an almost perfect rom-com for me. I don't think I've seen such a mature and refreshing rom-com since 'It's Okay, That's Love' in all honesty. Without revealing too much about the story, it mainly revolves around 4 former girlband idols who disbanded and are now living life in their mid-30s struggling to get their love lives on track. Although there is a focus on one of the girls, there's a perfect balance between all of them with each having a very distinct personality. By the time the drama finishes, you're left feeling connected with all 4 ladies and sympathise with each of them. It's very Sex in The City-esque and that's what works amazingly in this drama. The only tiny critique I would have about the story is that I think they may have tried to squeeze too much into 16 episodes and if it were 20 episodes long, they could have drawn out some of the other plots longer. [*SPOILERS AHEAD*] For example, the part at the end where Yeon Soo suddenly agrees to marry some other guy despite still having affection for Hae Joon was quite unexpected - I was hoping they would give each other a chance again as Hae Joon still cares for Yeon Soo. Maybe it wasn't enough for him to want to try their marriage again but her agreeing to marry some other guy that seems quite out of her ordinary personality was quite disappointing. To me, it felt like the writers had to create some sort of happy resolution for her because everyone else has found happiness with love by the end. You could argue that Hae Joon didn't end up with anyone but he's happy that his best friend and the woman he once loved are happy together and that's enough for him *shrugs*. Annnnd I would've loved to see Da Jung and Gun Hak's relationship grow more and more until they finally share a bedroom again(!!!) and maybe Dong Mi getting hitched with her toyboy - but maybe that's asking too much.[*SPOILERS END*]

Honestly, there was no one in this drama that made me stop to think why their acting was so shite. The 4 girls - Mi Mo, Dong Mi, Da Jung and Ae Ran were perfectly casted. My favourite had to be Dong Mi, she's just so hilarious for a 34 year old and comes across as very obviously inexperienced in love, often turning to her soul sisters for advice. Her falling for the wrong men, paying tons of money to attend mixers and then ultimately falling for someone unexpected was hilarious. She's literally the classic virgin amongst your girlfriends. Yoo In Na portrayed this character amazingly, having always seen her in other dramas play either the hapless female lead that needs saving ('Queen In Hyun's Man, My Secret Hotel') or the bitch everyone hates ('My Love From Another Star'), it was great to see this side of her acting. Jang Na Ra really stepped it up in this drama compared to when I saw her in 'Fated To Love You', I didn't like her as much in that drama - I'm not sure why either. In this drama, although she was great, I still found her a little irritating at times, I think it's her whole cutesy demeanour when she's drunk to be honest and that baby-voice she puts on. I don't want to sound like a hater because she was great when it came to showing emotion of the character but yeah, just little irks. Overall, the girls were great!

Jung Kyung Ho as the main lead (Soo Hyuk) was surprising for me because I still remember him as the cold blooded undercover cop from 'Cruel City', it was great to see him play a more lighthearted and comical character. I think he did brilliantly, he was funny, charming and serious all at the same time.

This was my first time seeing Kwon Yool in anything so I actually have no comparison of him to make to anything. I thought he was OK in his role (as Hae Joon), I did end up feeling so freaking sorry for his character by the end though. His first love was taken by Soo Hyuk and she ended up having his child and dying, his second love (Mi Mo) was taken again by Soo Hyuk which he had to just let go and still be best friends with him by the end. I came to the conclusion that he has got to be the most forgiving man on this planet. It's also sad that he gets absolutely nobody by the end of the drama whilst everyone else gets hitched with someone. Somebody give this guy a break (or a girlfriend).

This was an extremely solid drama from start to finish, I kept wanting to watch episode after episode which is quite rare for me these days. I was so interested in everyone's relationships in the drama and not just Mi Mo and Soo Hyuk's. Almost everyone had a past and the whole concept of ladies in their 30s being single / having issues with their married life / cheating boyfriends etc is just so relatable. Although some concepts in this drama were quite mature (sexual references for example which you don't see in a lot of dramas), they really managed to put a comical spin on it and it was just so lighthearted and fun to watch.

*SPOILER AHEAD* An extra 'hell-yeah!' to the female proposing to a man part at the end between Mi Mo and Soo Hyuk! *SPOILER END*

K-Drama: W - First Impressions

W is another highly anticipated K-Drama that people have been saying rivals Uncontrollable Fond which is also currently airing. Those who have read my previous reviews, you'll know that I very rarely watch dramas as they're airing because I can't handle the cliffhanger endings and having to wait a whole week for the next episodes to be released and subbed. The synopsis of W had me intrigued right away thought and I felt I had to watch it on release date.

The story depicts a romance between a surgeon in the real world and a rich man from the world of a webtoon. What's interesting is the "supernatural" cross-over between reality and fiction - how would that even work? Lee Jong Suk plays the main character - a rich guy inside the webtoon called Kang Chul and Han Hyo Joo plays the main female lead - a not-so-talented surgeon called Oh Yeon Joo. I like to base my preconceptions of dramas I watch on the actors / actresses. I've seen Lee Jong Suk before in 'Doctor Stranger' and 'Pinocchio' before so I was really excited that he was in this drama as the main lead, he'll no doubt do a good job. I've never watched anything with Han Hyo Joo in it before so at the same time I was excited to see how good the acting is in it from her.

As of writing this first impressions review, I'm up to episode 4 which is the current episode that just aired this week. I must say - I am hooked. Although on the outside this drama just seems like any old romance drama, you can see how much thought the writers have put into making this concept even possible. The majority of the first 4 episodes show the webtoon world which is pretty much Seoul, it's not based on a fictitious location so when Yeon Joo goes into the webtoon world, it's not actually much different to the reality that she comes from except time goes much faster in the webtoon world (7 days in the webtoon world = 30 minutes in the real world).

***SPOILERS FOR EPISODES 1, 2, 3 AND 4 AHEAD***

Without boring you with the minor details, the plot as of now seems to revolve around this webtoon creation that Yeon Joo's father made that became famous over time and as Yeon Joo's father attempts to kill Kang Chul to end the webtoon, Kang Chul refuses to let his life end and whatever Yeon Joo's father tries to do with the webtoon, Kang Chul changes the circumstances so that he lives.

Yeon Joo ends up in the webtoon after Kang Chul gets stabbed (as per Yeon Joo's father's plans to have him stabbed and killed) and ends up saving his life.

After that, she ends up flitting in between the 2 worlds and ends up landing herself as the suspect for stabbing Kang Chul and ends up in jail. This makes her tell Kang Chul everything about who he really is and the world he's really in, the shock of this reality to Kang Chul that everything around him is fake causes his world to completely stop.

As Kang Chul's world stops, he finds a portal of some sort that leads into the real world where Yeon Joo is back at.

Just like that Kang Chul ends up in the real world like a terminator and THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET INCREDIBLY EXCITING. We also find out that the source of the portal is the wacom tablet that Yeon Joo's dad was using the create his webtoon - spooky.

That pretty much summarises the first 4 episodes of the drama. I'm so so so incredibly excited for next week's episodes because Kang Chul is now in the real world. I'm really enjoying this drama at the moment, from my summary it may seem like the plot is a very serious one. Kang Chul is a very serious character, he also oozes cool-ness and Yeon Joo is a very ditzy, confused and daring character, she brings a slight humour to the drama that makes it even more enjoyable. The romance seems to be going at quite a fast pace with already 2 instances of kissing in the space of 4 episodes(!!)

And not to mention, Yeon Joo's disgust at the lacy bra option she was given when staying at Kang Chul's place.

And her constantly trying (but failing) to take Kang Chul by surprise... you go girl! 

Can't wait for next week!

K-Drama Review: Descendants of the Sun

Following swiftly on from my last post about my first impressions of DOTS, it's finally come to an end. This drama was one of the very few that I've followed from beginning to end as it aired week by week because I'm impatient and can't actually wait a whole week for next episodes.

I adored the concept of a doctor falling for a soldier from the very beginning and although this drama was short (16 episodes in total), I feel like everything fell into place very quickly. The romance was a love at first sight thing and the romance between Myung Joo and Dae Yong was already established. Overall, I really enjoyed this drama from beginning to end, great choice of main cast.

*WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD*

The ending was a bit of a downer for me, episode 15 and 16 didn't make as much of an impact as the rest of the drama did. I didn't like how they "killed" off Shi Jin and brought him back to life for the second time running. Killing people off and bringing them back to life once in a drama I can sort of accept but doing it twice is a bit of a shitty situation. It's also pretty unrealistic how he can always come back to life after being shot to pieces for the first time and then shot, tortured and beaten for the second time, poor guy must be full of holes. 

To make matters worse, Shi Jin then randomly shows up in front of Mo Yeon in some dessert in the fictional Urk like "I'm baaaaack!" prompting a pretty angry response from Mo Yeon who thought he was dead for the past year. Same with Dae Young showing up in front of Myung Joo. Of course, what really happened was explained to save ourselves from sheer wtf-ness - they were captured, beaten, tortured and then saved by the North Korean dude who is also known as Shi Jin's "friend from far away".  I'm not going to lie, despite the repeat-death-plot, the reunion for our main cast was very sweet. 

And of course, the army was glad to have them back in one piece. 

Apart from the slightly crappy ending, I really like how well Song Hye Kyo and Kim Ji Won playing Mo Yeon and Myung Joo respectively portrayed their sadness when we thought Shi Jin and Dae Yong really died in episode 15. Amazing acting skills. 

The final episode was more of a wrap up, tying up the loose ends and explaining to us what really happened. It's a happily ever after ending with all our characters. 

Mo Yeon and Shi Jin finally get away from their work lives to spend quality alone time together

Dae Young finally gets approval from Myung Joo's dad to be with her forever and ever

Even Seung Joon and Jung Yeon FINALLY get together! Ugh, the sexual tension between these 2 throughout the drama was frustrating

The drama pretty much ends there, nothing significant happens apart from lots of lovey dovey scenes, I loved the scene in the army cafeteria when Myung Joo makes everyone lower in rank to her close their eyes including Dae Young (who is lower in rank to her) and takes the opportunity to steal a kiss - ahhhh, you go girl! Everyone opens their eyes and applauds to the very sight of their successful love story.

And not to mention, Shi Jin and Mo Yeon return to their special beach in Urk as the pebble signifies and talk about the stars, making wishes, Shi Jin asks Mo Yeon what she wished for and she said she wished that Shi Jin would kiss her and... 

Awww I love happy endings. In the final scene of the drama, our cast is in Vancouver attending Daniel and Ye Hwa's wedding then there's a power cut and a waitress busts in saying a volcano has erupted LOL - I'm sorry but I found this so cheesy - can they ever get away without being followed by a natural disaster? It was a bit of a "TO YOUR BATTLE STATIONS!" moment.

Apparently not. 

Very enjoyable drama, just not a very satisfying ending. I feel it's slightly over-hyped across East Asia but totally worth watching if you're a fan of Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo. 

K-Drama: I Miss You / Missing You

THE BINGE CONTINUES.

I'm sorry all my recent posts have been solely about K-Dramas, I promise I'll talk about something different soon... ish.

So I've started watching I Miss You / Missing You, this drama was aired in 2013 so it's not a recent one, I'm just late to the party. Or rather, I'm scraping the barrel looking for any decent k-drama to satisfy the time during the week where I'm waiting for new episodes of Descendants of the Sun to be released.

ANYWAY.

I'm currently on episode 5 of this drama and it's been nothing but 5 episodes of deep, painful, sadness. The childhood segment for the first 4 and a half episodes of this drama contains so much tragedy that now I understand why some people have dropped this drama because well, it's just too sad. By the time you reach episode 4, every child (by every, I mean the only 3 kids in this that are really concerned) in this drama are just broken. In fact, I'm so glad they've fast forwarded into the future now as the adult part is probably going to be more tolerable no matter what happens to them.

Sadness of the plot aside, there's a handful of good actors and actresses taking on the roles of the main characters which actually pushed me to watch it.

Yoo Eun Hye plays our tragic heroine Soo Yeon, I've seen her in Goong and Coffee Prince previously but those were like, completely different roles to this so it's interesting for me to see how well she does in this role. Child actress Kim So Hyun plays the childhood counterpart of Soo Yeon, although it looks like she's been in a range of things I've watched (The Moon That Embraces the Sun, Rooftop Prince, IRIS 2(!?!?!)) I only remember her being in The Moon That Embraces the Sun LOL, she was the evil princess that I LOATHED. Great memory.

Park Yoo Chun plays the main love interest Jung Woo, I've seen him in Rooftop Prince previously and I'm not the biggest fan of his acting but he seems alright in this drama. Yeo Jin Goo plays the childhood counterpart of Jung Woo, I absolutely ADORE this kid, he's phenomenal in any role he's placed in, amazing in Warrior Baek Dong Soo, even more amazing in The Moon That Embraces the Sun. Thumbs up for this guy.

Again, Yoo Seung Ho plays the antagonist in this drama - Hyung Joon, I'm yet to get to that part but I already know the drama is going to portray him as a complete prick that ends up with nobody by the end of the drama. I can't take his cane seriously in this though and whoever came up with his "English" name needs to be shot - what kind of awful name is Harry Harrison!? (EDIT: Ok, turns out his name was just poor translation from a fansub I watched). Not going to lie, I'm enjoying the romance between Hyung Joon and Seo Yoon and will continue to do so until Jung Woo steals her away. As for the child counterpart of Hyung Joon - never seen the kid in my life in another drama so I won't comment there.

So to summarise my long winded first impressions of I Miss You...

Plot is looking okay so far, I'm looking forward to seeing more of the story unravel now that they've fast forwarded into the future and have filled everyone in on the tragic and traumatic childhood past. I just hope they stop killing off people so needlessly i.e. that detective I already forgot the name of and now nurse Jung... poor nurse Jung, she was a total bitch but it seems like she brought Hyung Joon and Soo Yeon up.

Commenting exclusively on episode 5, it ended very awkwardly with Jung Woo trying to scale a metal gate to reach the Seo Yeon sounding person who he doesn't know is actually Seo Yeon yet...

ROLL ON EPISODE 6.

K-Drama: Warrior Baek Dong Soo

Easter break and come and gone and in it, I've finished Warrior Baek Dong Soo. I actually started this drama a couple of weeks ago but completing it has been rather slow since it's hard to cram in more than 1 episode a day during the week after coming home from work, eating dinner etc etc. By the time I settle down to watch an episode it's already like, 11pm. Anyhoo, because of this much needed 4 day weekend, I've managed to blitz through the rest of it and I'm here to rant about the bitter injustice of the ending of this drama 

*****[SPOILERS AHEAD]*****

I'm a pretty big fan of period dramas if they're well done, like Empress Ki which I wrote a lengthy review about. Overall, I really enjoyed Warrior Baek Dong Soo, there was character development (maybe not for all the characters but for the ones that actually mattered), suspense, a fair share of baddies and lots of people dying as with most period dramas similar in genre to this. Ji Chang Wook is a great period drama actor like he was in Empress Ki, this drama also developed my new found interest in another actor Yoo Seung Ho. Like always, I won't go through what this drama is about because you can read that up for yourself (and if you're reading this review you probably know already what it is) but in sum, it's about best friends becoming enemies and yeah, tragic endings. 

Rather than go through each episode I think for this review, I'll talk about the major aspects of the drama as well as characters - there were a fair few but I'll mostly be referring to Baek Dong Soo (played by Ji Chang Wook) and Yeo Woon (played by Yoo Seung Ho).

Plot

It's hard for me to summarise the plot in terms of good and bad because there were actually 2 plots, one is the actual story behind the 2 best friends becoming enemies and the other is the treason plot in the palace. The story of the 2 best friends was so-so, this part starts from the beginning from when they were kids and carries on throughout Dong Soo grows up with Yeo Woon but then Yeo Woon ends up betraying him and becomes an assassin working with the baddies to assassinate Yi Sun who is the heir to the throne. Of course, you can already tell the ending won't be pretty, the ending actually made me enjoy the drama less.

The treason plot was nicely done, I liked how it was a battle of wits most of the time, the plot didn't really begin until Crown Prince Sado died and Yi Sun became prospective heir to the throne so in terms of pacing, you'd have to wait a fair while until the real plot appears. What was even more cool was when Yoo Seung Ho's character Yeo Woon turned his clan on the baddies and ended up helping Dong Soo save Yi Sun. In the end the baddies got what they deserved, justice prevails as always (in Joseon dramas anyway).

Character Development

Baek Dong Soo is a character that is in the center of change in this drama (the drama IS named after him after all), as a kid who witnesses so much death happening from the onset and throughout you'd be amazed if he was the same Dong Soo through 29 episodes of this drama. We see big changes in the character when Crown Prince Sado dies, Dong Soo falls into some deep pit of despair and changes after Jin Ji risks her life to snap him back into reality. Though, I do feel that this change was a little extreme and forced as he never is the same Dong Soo again. You see glimpses of his former foolish self when he's around Yeo Woon but yeah, his change was a real change. 

Yeo Woon doesn't really change, apart from seeing his softer and caring side as opposed to his cold, heartless side, he's pretty consistent as a character which is expected as he was always on the dark side to begin with. 

Other characters worth mentioning are the Sword Saint and Sky Lord, the Sword Saint is Dong Soo's master and the Sky Lord is Yeo Woon's master. They're known as the best swordsmen in Joseon so I guess that's rather significant and is a good reflection of good and bad when they fight each other and when Dong Soo and Yeo Woon fight each other. I quite liked this master / disciple relationship for both of them, except Yeo Woon ended up killing the Sky Lord, you can really see that he respected him and he was somewhat like a father figure to him. 

Romance

This was a bit of a let-down for me, Dong Soo obviously loves Ji Sun who was supposed to become Prince Sado's wife but after his death, Dong Soo took her in and she basically became one of his groupies. 

Similarly, Yeo Woon apparently likes her too, I say apparently because I never really saw this as an obvious thing, maybe Yeo Woon had trouble expressing feelings due to his tragic past but still. He never really fought for her either, we only find out that he has feelings for her when the Sky Lord points it out LOL. I was like huh? Oh he liked her? Ok then... It was as if the writers decided that although the 2 guys are enemies, they should also like the same woman. 

Dong Soo ends up with her anyway, she practically lives with Dong Soo for more than half of the drama so I don't see why Yeo Woon would've ever had a chance nor did I ever see him try to fight for her. He rescued her many times but always gave her back to Dong Soo. It's pretty obvious who she chooses anyway, I was expecting there to be more of a fight for her than what I saw. 

In terms of the other characters falling in love, they literally all fell in love with each other. I'm serious, everyone ends up with someone by the end of the drama. Even the bromance between the 2 towards the beginning of the drama was spot on. 

Ending

Here's what disappointed me the most in the drama. Yeo Woon dies. Yep, he dies. 

Towards the end Yeo Woon desperately tries to atone for every bad thing that he did and even things he didn't do so he can go back to Dong Soo and live happily with everyone. He was sentenced to death by Yi Sun based on the fact that if he's still around (bearing in mind Yeo Woon is the leader of an assassin clan by now) no one will ever be safe. To make things worse, this suggestion to him was made by another one of his best friends Cho Rip who he also grew up with. Yi Sun offers to let him make up for all the bad things he did by dissolving the assassin clan. Of course, when he orders everyone to leave the clan and live like normal people, these people went and plotted against him, inviting Cho Rip out and almost killing the guy. Yi Sun finds out and sends people to look for Cho Rip and says that if Cho Rip is harmed, to kill Yeo Woon. Yeo Woon being the blame-taker he is, sends his men away and takes the blame for beating Cho Rip up, Dong Soo finds them and fights Yeo Woon and Yeo Woon ends up deliberately losing to Dong Soo and dies. Sigh. 

I hated this ending so much because a) Yeo Woon admitted he killed Prince Sado when he didn't b) Cho Rip didn't say anything when Dong Soo asked Yeo Woon if he hurt Cho Rip and c) Dong Soo didn't believe Yeo Woon at the last minute when he always has throughout the whole drama. His death just doesn't make any sense and was almost needless, even though it was something I expected, having him turn around to try and make things right and breaking away from "fate" to jumping straight back in it was just... weird. And to make things worse, he's not even mentioned once after that.

ANYWAY, apart from my long winded rant about the ending, it was an enjoyable drama to watch. When a drama leaves an impression on me for a whole day, it's when I know it's been a good one.