tVn Liar Game Korean Drama

At long last, in 2014, a drama made it to my "to post" list. Introducing Liar Game, the Korean remake of the Japanese very popular drama, Liar Game.

I had a short review on the Japanese liar game here: http://beu-tilicious.blogspot.com/2011/05/japanese-drama-liar-game.html and I loved the japanese version!

So I was really excited when I read that there would be a Korean remake of it.


The main characters:
Kim So Eun as Nam Da Jung (main leading lady)

Did she do a good job? Mmmmm, yes, I guess. She blends in very well but not outstanding. I prefer Erika Toda's version of Nao, all innocent and cute with those lovely eyes of hers.
Kim So Eun was a little bland as she blends in very well with everything around her.
Her physical traits remind me of Shin Se Gyung, however, I do prefer Kim So Eun over Shin Se Gyung. At least Kim So Eun has a large and vast variety of physical expressions that don't bore to death.

Lee Sang Yoon as Ha Woo Jin (main leading male)

Eeeks, I loved the male lead, Shota Matsuda, in the Jap version. Lee Sang Yoon's execution was mediocre. He did not perform badly, but perhaps there was a lack of focus on him that led to him to being overshadowed.
It was a refreshing change to see him act icy and cold. In my personal opinion, I do think he can perform better. It did not reach the ice cold depths of the Alaskan winter, but perhaps the icy winds in Melbourne.




Shin Sung Rok as Kang Do Young (main villain)

Well, this guy stole the limelight!!!!!!!
His execution was splendid!

What a villain. One that mystifies and draws you in again and again and deeper and deeper. I'm sure that he gained many fans and popularity with this role. Many articles and comments out there are so intrigued by him that there is somewhat in- depth analysis on his character and why he turned out to be such a psychopath with a twisted mind. People have gathered to comment and discuss and talk about Kang Do Young.

The plot and story of how the villain was connected to the two main leads is a new development from the Jap version. The writer did a great job of keeping everything tightly wound and revealing and releasing the truth in anticipated progress. Perfect.

Shin Sung Rok cannot be applauded enough for portraying a masked maniac. His whole life seemed to be preoccupied with only one thing. That is to continue his one and only desirable memory of childhood with the two leads in a game they used to play.

He called himself a failure and the last thing he wanted before he ends his miserable hellish memories and life, was to play, just once more, a game of "truth" and "trust" game with the two leads.

He is to be pitied and empathized with, even with all the evil and murderous deeds that he committed. He wins the hearts of the viewers with this trait..




General:
Ok, it was an very enjoyable drama and I was hanging off my seat through most of the episodes.

 But there were bits and pieces that i could not understand, could not put together.
The main factor to be blamed is the subtitles. The subs were not full, more like bits and pieces everywhere. Some of the important bits i had to decipher on my own. What a bummer.
For eg, why did Woo Jin's mother commit suicide? what did she lose that she had to end her life?

Overall, it's a remake worth watching with new and different developments from the original. A piece well executed and yes, the yummiest villain in all time.
Love Shin Sung Rok.

Oh ya, this is one drama with a perfectly executed ending where most, if not all, the loose strings are tied and most people are accounted for. I must say again, the pacing of the drama was excellent.

I'm having major withdrawals with this drama which i haven't had in a long long time!

Rating: 9/10 a must watch!

ALoha!

Oh dear,
it's been months, and i mean months! since i last updated my blog.
Well, the reason is because the Korean dramas of late since 2013 til date, have all been a major bore!

There is not one drama that strikes me at all. Nothing like my old favourites that would make me fall into major withdrawal modes, and i would watch it over and over again. None of them at all. I wonder if it is the beginning of the downfall in Korean dramas or it is just me. Are my standards too high? I've been fast forwarding the dramas like there's no tomorrow.

I'm currently watching "My Dear Cat" on kbsworld. Nothing much to shout about, just to past time. Eagerly waiting for "Liar Game" (korean version) and "Nodame Cantabile" (Korean version). Hopefully these will bring back my fever for Korean dramas, or else....................

My fave Korean variety is now "1N2D". This is the only Korean show that makes me look forward to it every week. Really liking JJY in it. He's kinda rude in a cute way.

How about japanese dramas? so far, i've only liked "liar game" (jap version). Wonder if there are any other wonderful jap dramas out there.................

Korean Drama Review: Master's Sun

I finished this drama a while ago...............it was alright, zipped through it in no time. Light and funny. But seriously, didn't hit the high note for me. Wouldn't re-watch this.


It's fun and entertaining but nothing spectacular. So ji Sub was yummy but that's all.


Nothing much to say about this drama so i'll rate it straight away: 7/10.

Yes, it is watchable. But i prefer "Greatest Love", " You're Beautiful", "Secret Garden".

This drama is just ......well, plain nice. That's all.

korean drama review: The Queen's Classroom

oh have you watched this drama?
Just finished it and i'd say it was above my expectations.

Starring:
Ko Hyun Jung as Teacher Ma Yeo Jin

She's known to me as the face of Korea's cosmetic brand, RE:nk. I've never actually watched any of  her dramas, this is the first.
I must say, my first impression of her wasn't a really good one. I took on her physical qualities at first sight noticing only her bloated face (very!) and lack of a neck that seems not befitting at all on her tall and slender-looking body. She seems "off", kind of weird. However, as the drama progressed, i got used to it and didn't seem to mind the "weird" ET look.

Teacher Ma is like a witch, a demon woman. That's her nickname amongst the kids and in the school. She plays a cold as steel teacher with the weirdest way of teaching the kids. She teaches them not only academically but more on social values and ethics and her way of doing so is eccentric and sure does not look like she understands any of the children's needs. That is how it is felt on the surface. However, deep within she cares more for the children's well-being (emotionally which will lead to physical results), more than even herself. She uses the façade of a witch to steer the children in the right direction. In the end, she is always the victor, well able to conquer and eradicate all social inequality, ostracism and bad social behaviour.



The other stars of the drama are little children. The main child actor is

Kim Hyang Gi as Shim Ha Na

I've never seen her before, it's my first. And she is good. Really good. She displays poignancy and charm in her acting and i enjoyed her performance very much.


I've seen some of the other child actors before and most of them are good in acting, maybe, perhaps, possibly with the exception of this little guy:

Somehow i felt some of his parts were a little off, but overall still good. Some of his parts felt a bit pretentious , like we know he is acting.




I cried a lot with this drama as the story is so good. Plenty of hurdles, mishaps, misconceptions etc and each of them was tackled with a good ending. However, some of the "endings" were too lenient and too far fetched.

For eg, in one of those stories:
one of the kids had been stealing and putting the blame on our lead child actress. The thief even had the audacity to ostracise the lead child actress by getting things all mucked up and turning things around so that the lead child actress takes all the blame. Teacher Ma uses her eccentric ways to make the thief own up and the lead child actress stand up for herself. It was good, but the ending of where the thief was able to clear all conscience in just a short amount of time, and all the the other students forgave and so easily accepted the thief into their social circle again , is just plain ridiculous. How can such hurt and scars be gotten over so easily?
Well, that's just one of the not-so-realistic parts of the drama.


But all in all, the drama was good.

And the best part? Haha, you wouldn't have guessed, it's the background music!! Some fantasy, witchery background music that plays throughout the drama. I just love it! it fits so well.




My rating: 8.5/10.It's an underrated drama .

korean drama review: I Hear Your Voice

I just finished this drama and would like to pen  my thoughts on it.

Please be forewarned of SPOILERs ahead!

The 3 mains:
Lee Bo Young as Jang Hye Sung
Lee Jong Suk as Park Soo Ha
Yoon Sang Hyun as Cha Kwon Woo


I was impatiently waiting for the drama to finish airing so i could watch a marathon on it. I like Lee Jong Suk and Lee Bo Young. Particularly like Lee Bo Young for her wonderful performance in My Daughter So Yeong which i truly enjoyed.
So i was really looking forward to this one. Plus, i watched the episode of Hwasin featuring the three main characters and that got me more excited to start on the drama.

Eeek, my "nightmare" started. I never would have imagined that they actually really really paired Lee Jong Suk with Lee Bo Young. They look like siblings instead because Lee Bo Young looks, and in reality is, way much older than Lee Jong Suk. So it really turned me off.
I knew Lee Jong Suk had a crush on Lee Bo Young and i always thought it would be one sided since he is still in high school (not even in uni!) and she is already an experienced working woman nearing her 30s.

I thought it would be like High Kick Season 1 where Jung Il Woo had a one sided crush on his teacher that never worked out. I could accept that.

But not this! it was a ridiculous pairing and i highly dislike it. Why oh why did they spoil the drama this way. I would have truly enjoyed it if it wasn't for this ridiculous pairing. As much as i like both of them i cannot, i repeat, i cannot, accept them as a pair of lovers.

And every time they kissed, hugged, touched each other, looked into each others' eyes, i would start "gagging". I would grimace in "disgust". Yup, "disgust" is a strong word to use, but i gave it heavy proportion due to how much it bothered me.

I know, there are those large age-gapped couples around like Demi moore and Ashton Kutcher. I don't know why, i just cannot see Lee Bo Young and Lee Jong Suk as lovers. It gave me the shudders as if they were committing "sibling relationship" (can't remember the word for it!). Can you imagine your younger brother looking  into your eyes, wrapping his arms around your waist and starts french kissing you??


This coupling really gave me "nightmares". On the final episode, they were kissing intensely and that image made me unable to sleep! I wish i never watched this drama.

And what happens to Yoon Sang Hyun? Is there no love line for him? what a pity. He should've been the main pairing with Lee Bo Young, they look so much more compatible. And he has a rather cutesy character in the drama. Fun and cute.



And yet another flaw in the drama is this guy, Jung Woon In:

He is the main villain in the drama, Min Joon Guk. Yup, he did well. But why is he never dead? He keeps reviving and the whole drama is circled around this one bad character. The drama is about prosecutors and lawyers taking on criminal cases and the entire drama had like only one criminal case that goes on and on for 18 episodes.

This guy keeps popping up, threatening and frightening people, killing people and always gets away with it. Of course, in the end he gets what he deserves, but i think it would have been nicer to keep this mighty villain toward the end and have more other criminal cases to show off Lee Jong Suk's inner voice reading skills.

It became tiresome to watch because it felt repetitive with no new ideas/criminal cases.




Rating/conclusion:
Personally, i would not even recommend this drama.

However, if i were to put the main couple issue aside, it won't be that bad, i'd give this a 6.5/10.



PS: i dislike the Cyrano agency couple even more! Father and daughter french kissing.... ewww. I gave up on that drama.


Aah, what should i watch next to erase such horrendous kissing memories ???

April 2013: Drama update

Phew, gave up on plenty of dramas............
it's been some time since i could find any drama that i could watch through, and i mean sitting it out and watching joyously.
Not much so far.

Given up on these:
Faith,
Iris 2,
Level 7 civil servant,
My Love Madame Butterfly
Panda & Hedgehog -this is ridiculously childish and lacks any plot whatsoever, even if Lee Dong Hae stars in it.


Currently loving:
Shut Up Family ~ seriously the best! Jjang! Love this to the max. But i'm pretty bias, i really love Shim Ji Ho. I've got a little more to go and i cannot bear to finish it and end my Shim Ji Ho "worship". He is just too hot. I guess i'll just leave the last few episodes un-watched so i can drag out the heartbreak of not being able to watch him anymore.
Given also, Shim Ji Ho does not have very many dramas for me to go through and he's pretty inactive in the acting arena. Don't think he's a full time actor. He was really very hot in "color of woman" too.


Just started on:
Incarnation of Money - hope this one is good and does not disappoint. Kang Ji Hwan's "lie to me" was such a disappointment.

korean drama review and thoughts: my daughter seo Young

Ta Dah, just finished this drama and it's time for a review.

This drama runs 50 episodes long and finished airing in March 2013. It's in the melodrama, romance and a touch of family zone.

Just thought i'd give it go, and yup, it was good. The title of the drama sounds "old-fashioned" and boring, so don't be fooled. It's not the plot or storyline that is unique, but more of how it was brought about; engaging and page turning.

The main characters are:
lead actress, Lee Bo Young as Lee Seo Young

To romance lee bo young -- Lee Sang Yoon as Kang Woo Jae

The plot  and storyline is quite cliché-d.  Very poor woman (Lee So Young), who saves every $1 and penny, meets rich guy (Kang Woo Jae) and develops a relationship to which the parents of the man vehemently objects to. They go through many hardships to be together, including personal mental and emotional turmoil to see if they really  love each and need each other.

In between the main romance, there's family issues whereby Seo Young and her father have a broken and untended relationship which cause further complications and is the root of a time bomb for Woo Jae and Seo Young's marriage.

I really love to watch the father. I'm not sure why, but Chun Ho Jin (as Lee Sam Jae), did a great job with all those emotions vividly and abundantly displayed for us viewers. Well done Chun Ho Jin. The love and sacrifice he had for his daughter Seo Young were all piercingly touching. The guilt he piled on his shoulders was so heavy that he seemed to be crawling on his knees most of the time. He had a selfless and very sacrificial heart for his children.



Well, what i love best from the drama are not the main characters, but the sub ones. I love watching Park Hae Jin and Choi Yoon Young. Damn! these two are just too cute!

Twin brother of Seo young -- Park Hae Jin as Lee Sang Woo

To romance Sang Woo -- Choi Yoon Young as Choi Ho Jung

Oh my, this couple is as cute and delicious as any iced vanilla cupcake there is. Choi Ho Jung literally glues herself to Sang Woo ever since she met him. And she's been doing that for quite a few years! She's so cute and innocently sweet it's hard to resist her charms.
When they finally became a couple, it was even more entertaining to watch! Haha, they are just so sweet. I love them.



The most boring parts are the ones with CNBlue's Lee Jung Shin. I know he is very pretty and all, but his parts are boring. I usually fast forward those.
Even the scenes of the parents of Kang Woo Jae are better in terms of entertaining level.


Overall, nice drama, and if you have time, you can watch all 50 episodes, if not, just skip to the parts with Lee Sang Woo and Choi Ho Jung. That'll keep you entertained enough.

Rating: 7/10