Year: 2017

A Year of Disappointments and Pleasant Surprises

I started writing this blog almost five years ago (Five years!!! Quick, someone give me awesome ideas on how to celebrate when our blogiversary hits!), and I have to say that 2017 was an off year in K-dramas. Maybe it was just me being busy with real life and getting jaded with dramas, but based on the responses to my two K-drama slump posts, I tend to think this was an off K-drama year for quite a few people. Like 2016, which I dubbed “The Year of the Dropped K-drama,” I dropped a whole bunch of shows without making it remotely close to the end. Even worse, I didn’t even start a whole bunch of shows for several K-drama cycles. Unlike 2016, though, I also found myself at the opposite end of the spectrum this year, pleasantly surprised by a few gems I didn’t expect to like nearly as much as I did. To cover the year of mixed bags, I’m reviewing the best and worst things about every drama I watched (or attempted to …

The 10 Best Smart, Strong Korean Drama Female Leads

Ever since my Queen In Hyun’s Man review, I’ve been thinking about the stereotypical dumb-as-a-rock-but-nice kdrama female lead and searching for some smart, strong female leads to root for instead.  I really, really liked the leads in that show, but I was infuriated that she kept calling herself stupid the whole time (and no, I don’t think that his response of “You’re not stupid; you just don’t know anything” made things much better). In many dramas, it’s much worse. The male lead often belittles the female lead for her stupidity, pushing on her forehead with his finger and saying things like “Do you just smash things with this rock?” or “I’m surprised you can even chew food with this useless lump.”  (I don’t know if those are actual kdrama insults, but they sound like real kdrama insults.) If a man did this to me, I would break his finger off.  And then do some calculus out of spite. Now, I’m not saying that every woman has to be a rocket scientist, but these shows seem to consistently …

K-drama Snack Fix: Korean Snacks Box Review

You know when you’re watching a K-drama and you see the characters eating treats of all kinds, and suddenly you feel like you need to eat that thing RIGHT NOW? (I have consumed a shameful amount of ramen this way. Seriously, ramen companies should be the ones paying for product placement—not Subway.) A while ago, I saw some of my fellow K-drama-loving buddies posting about Korean snack box subscriptions that they tried out. Well, if you’ve ever been curious how those snack boxes work—and, more importantly, how those snack boxes taste—I decided to give one a whirl and share my experience. Disclosure: Korean Snacks Box provided a free box for me to try. If you decide you’re interested in trying it out and buy some snacks through this post, I receive a small payment. But rest assured, I will never lie about food—all opinions in this review are my own. What’s in the Box? Every month, Korean Snacks Boxes has a different set of snacks to match the monthly theme. Because I got the November box, …

20th Century Boy and Girl, Because This Is My First Life, Go Back Couple, and Revolutionary Love Reviews

Ok, remember that K-drama slump that went on (and onnnn and onnnnnn)? I know I’ve cried wolf on this before, but this time I think I really, truly might have at least one K-drama from the currently airing shows that I’ll be able to enjoy from start to finish! I tried the first few episodes of four shows so far: 20th Century Boy and Girl, Because This Is My First Life, Go Back Couple, and Revolutionary Love. As it turns out, some of the ones I anticipated the most aren’t as great as I had hoped, but some dark horses ended up being pleasantly surprising! Let’s review. 20th Century Boy and Girl What it’s about: Top actress Sa Jin Jin (Han Ye Seul) and her lifelong best friends navigate single life. Things get complicated when Jin Jin’s childhood crush Gong Ji Won (Kim Ji Suk) suddenly appears back in her life. Episodes watched: 8 (30 minutes each) What I like so far: Out of all the premieres I checked, 20th Century Boy and Girl has the …

And the Great Drama Slump of 2017 Continues

Two months ago, I wrote about the massive drama slump I was facing. At the time, there were a handful of promising shows coming up, so I thought the slump would have to pass sooner or later. It didn’t. Now it’s October, and despite attempting to watch quite a few shows, I have managed to finish exactly ONE K-DRAMA since mid-July (two if you count Age of Youth 2, though I’ll be re-watching with subtitles). I’m genuinely starting to wonder: is it just me? Or is the second half of this year genuinely kind of lackluster? Let’s take a look at everything I’ve watched—or tried to watch—in the last three months of drudgery. K-dramas I actually finished School 2017: As of my previous post, I genuinely thought I would give this one a pass. But then I started seeing adorable screencaps everywhere, and I ended up marathoning eight episodes in a row to catch up. Is it the best show I’ve ever seen in my life? No. I certainly could have used less emphasis on …

Let’s Play: K-drama Dream Brunch

Do any of you have a go-to ridiculous ice breaker question for when you’re getting to know new people? Like “If you were on a deserted island and could bring only one book with you, what would it be?” (An unabridged Oxford English Dictionary, obviously. That thing can be used as kindling to start fires to stay warm. If you bring a book to read for pleasure, it’ll just turn soggy and useless in the first rainstorm anyway.) Aside from “What superpower would you choose?” (anyone who says invisibility is creepy and automatically off my friendship list, FYI), my other favorite get-to-know-you question is “If you could have brunch with five famous people from any time in history, who would you choose?” It’s so interesting to hear justifications for different answers.  But now that I’ve been blogging for several years, I want to adjust the question for my online K-drama-loving buddies. This one’s a toughie, and I’m excited to hear your answers! Which K-drama Characters Would You Invite to Brunch? But first, some rules (because …

Strongest Deliveryman and Manhole Reviews

Well, despite being in a deep and dreadful drama slump for several weeks (and getting increasingly bored with Bride of the Water God), I managed to rouse enough energy to try out a couple of NEW new shows. With lots of busy stuff going on in real life, I gravitated to the new comedies—Strongest Deliveryman and Manhole—first, though I’m still trying to build up the courage to try out Save Me. Can any of these break the recent drama curse? Strongest Deliveryman Food delivery is no laughing matter. What it’s about: Choi Kang Soo (Go Kyung Pyo) and Lee Dan Ah (Choi Soo Bin) are hardworking delivery people who clash when they start working for the same restaurant. They also get tangled up with a couple of rich kids, Oh Jin Gyu (Kim Sun Ho) and Lee Ji Yoon (Go Won Hee). Episodes watched: 4 First impressions: I like it, but I’m not in love with it. At this point, I’m sticking around for our central characters, all of whom have some interesting little quirk …

When Akshaye Khanna revealed why he would not star in Vinod Khanna`s biopic

Actor Akshaye Khanna says he doesn`t look like his late father and actor Vinod Khanna. Asked if the `Mom` actor would like to essay his father`s character in a biopic, Akshaye told IANS over phone from Mumbai: “To portray any real life character, you have to look like that person. I don`t look anywhere close to my father… Not an option.” Vinod Khanna died in April 2017 after a prolonged illness at the age of 70. The actor was admitted to Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital in the first week of April after reportedly suffering from severe dehydration. Asked if he wants a biopic to be made on his father, Akshaye said: “I haven`t ever thought about it so I can`t say. But I think biopics by nature, I suppose as accurate as they can be, the better for an actor. “It`s very challenging as well as risky for an actor to portray a real-life character because you are portraying some one who actually existed. So, it becomes really difficult.” Akshaye feels that one must …

All the Ridiculous Reasons I’m Not Watching Any K-dramas

I’ve already finished waaaaay more dramas this year than last year, but I’ve finally hit the first big drama slump of 2017. I’m watching exactly one drama right now (more on that later), and I just can’t seem to muster the energy to watch any others. Here are all my terrible justifications for skipping out on everything airing. Currently airing (or very recently completed) K-dramas (in alphabetical order) Bride of the Water God: The only show I’m actually watching right now. I’m embarrassed to admit that the only reason I bothered is that it looked so bad that there was no way it would disappoint me. Look, I don’t know either. I never said it was a good reason. Criminal Minds: Where even does one watch this? I probably would have tuned in for Lee Joon Ki and Moon Chae Won, but then mediocre viewer reviews started to roll in. No way am I expending effort tracking down a mediocre show—especially if I have to watch it on some skeezy site that crashes all the time and is …

Fight My Way and Suspicious Partner K-drama Reviews

I started out last drama cycle with sooooooooo many shows on my list, but at the end of the day, I really only managed to finish two—Fight My Way and Suspicious Partner. Both had moments I really, really loved. Both also disappointed me in some ways. So let’s review both shows and see how they fared! Fight My Way Review Fight My Way started off on the slow side, but wow, did it steal my heart somewhere in the middle. I’m a huge sucker for friends-turned-lovers stories and slice-of-life dramas, so this ended up being an extremely pleasant, at times laugh-out-loud funny watch filled with well-rounded, lived-in characters who felt like real people. I loved Kim Ji Won’s Choi Ae Ra from the get-go—she was brash and stubborn while still being vulnerable and human. It took me a little longer to figure out Park Seo Joon’s Go Dong Man, but I ended up falling for him totally and completely by the end.  I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a K-drama male lead quite like …