Bex's Cinematic Reviews

Dramas that I didn’t finish recently

Usually I try to finish dramas, but there are some that I just don’t happen to finish because I get bored or it or because something better comes along or because I run out of time from watching multiple dramas…

The Fiery Priest

Honestly it was on my list of dramas to watch… but somehow I didn’t even get hooked on the first episode. I remember it having good reviews and because I wanted to watch Lee Hani. I think I only watched abit of the first episode as like toilet bowl entertainment but I didn’t enjoy it so I never continued.

Hi Bye, Mama!

Honestly, I was excited because Kim Tae Hee was inside and the guy from Prison Playbook was inside (Lee Kyu‑hyung). But, I think it was very lackluster. It was realistic I give it that, but it was the same issue over and over again and I feel like the drama dragged for too long. There wasn’t multiple problems, it was just one problem that never got solved.

Honestly, when I read the synopsis, I remembered another drama that I watched that had a similar storyline, “49 Days”. I then searched it up and realised it is a korean belief so the drama wasn’t a remake of the other one I watched.

It was quite interesting in the beginning, but I ended up stopping around episode 13 because it was only released till that point when I was bingeing the drama and my interest didn’t hold. I was expecting abit more from Kim Tae Hee’s comeback drama, but I was not really satisfied.

Extraordinary You

This drama had an interesting story line and a plus for having the main clique elements of a rom-com. It had the hot guys, the weak girl and a dash of comedy here and there.

It was interesting, but it got boring when they revealed the main problem in the later half of the drama. Personally, I would have liked it if the plot was less complex, *spoiler alert* if there was no comic book that was related to the current story line and if it was just extras trying to change their storyline.

What actually kept me going back for more were the sweet moments between the main characters. However, it wasn’t enough to sustain my interest. I felt I was always hearing the same lines, the same problem was occurring repeatedly with no resolution. The same theme, was always there and always approached in the same way. I stopped watching this drama at episode 14 because I was honestly not interested or even curious about the ending. I actually wanted to finish it for closure, so I could move on to another drama. But, I decided to just stop watching.

Crash Landing on You

So I wasn’t intending to watch this because I don’t really like Hyun Bin but then I watched it and it was not bad… although I wished there was a happy ending for everyone…

My Synopsis:

A successful CEO of a fashion and cosmetics company had a paragilling accident that landed her in North Korea. There she meets Ri Jung Hyeok a North Korean officer of a certain rank that hides her and tries to send her back to South Korea.

Recommended even for those that do not love Hyun Bin
A cute drama, with intense action scenes, and a continuous stream of comedy
– Rebecca

My Storyline:

So she was just about to inherit the family business after being abandoned by the family and setting up her own company.

Then the accident lands her across the 38th parallel and she goes through alot of obstacles to get back to South Korea. Before that she falls in love with the North Korean officer who throughout the story will realise that they actually had alot more connections than just this incident. There she also makes friends with all the North Koreans she comes into contact with and feels at home.

There is a complication though, Ri Jung Hyeok is engaged. But to cease suspicions around her (Seri), he said she was her fiance. However, the real fiance returns from overseas and things start to go wrong.

When she finally gets back to South Korea, the villain of this drama, Cho Cheol Gang, tries to kill her to get revenge on Ri Jung Hyeok for exposing his crimes. Ri Jung Hyeok then crosses over to South Korea to protect her as her bodyguard. His group of special forces officers go after him to bring him back to the North safely.

While all this is happening Alberto, which was Seri’s ex- fiance starts to fall in love with Ri Jung Hyeok’s fiance as they bond together on their topic of unfated love. In the end, the North Korean good guys are reported by Seri’s evil wife in law and they are sent back to North Korea after being investigated for a long period of time.

My thoughts:

Honestly, it was a very good drama. I still did enjoy itaewon class more because it was more realistic I guess. This drama had alot of scenes that looked unrealistic and alot of times were I was like how does that happen?

But I loved the romance scenes and the natural falling in love of characters. I liked the theme of family and loyalty and friendship. I like the message it spread about family and friends, it shows that family is really family, except for the evil step- brother.

It was more interesting towards the back, but I wish there was a happy ending for everyone and not just the main characters. However, it was a realistic ending so I can’t really criticise it.

Ending Again (또한번 엔딩)

So this was a web drama that I just finished watching on Youtube yesterday. It was a web drama that I looked forward to each week…

My Synopsis:

Follows the life of the girl that was dumped by her boyfriend of 8 years when he wanted to go overseas to improve his skills as an Illustrator. They had agreed to date 10 years and get married, leaving her broken hearted. Because of a housing scam, she loses alot of money and enters into a contractual marriage with her one night stand that goes to the same university as her. While in that marriage, her 8 year ex comes back…

Cute in the beginning but boring and predictable at the end…
A good time passer
– Rebecca

My Storyline:

It starts off with her having a one night stand and then the housing scam and her contractual marriage. She is a intern in an art exhibition company and through the drama we find out that her favourite illustrator happens to be her ex boyfriend.

She goes through the series with falling for her contractual husband and organising her ex-boyfriends first solo exhibition. Halfway through the series, we find out that the husband only married her to get revenge on her ex for stealing his scholarship (?)

Another small storyline in the series is her bestfriend that initially let her stay in her house when the scam happened. Her bestfriend unlike her falls in love very easily and is sign to always have a crush on someone. Her last crush works out in the end of the series, where she had meet a guy and tried to spend more time with him by searching for a cat.

It ends with her and her husband ending the contractual marriage and starting to date.

My Reflections:

I honestly looked forward to the series in the beginning because I love these storylines and the series had a fast enough pace. But towards the end it was just predictable and boring. The sweet moments were not enough to cover the storyline…

I honestly don’t understand the part about revenge… how does marrying her get your revenge? He already dumped her and left her… I just don’t understand how that is a revenge… And honestly, the main character probably didn’t understand it either because she got back with him within half an episode (not even one episode of dilemma). But they tried to make it seem like a very big problem having several scenes of the husband saying that he would tell her the reason for marriage soon…

What I liked most was the illustrator aspect of the drama because I am into illustrations recently and enjoyed the illustrated scenes… The scenes between the awkward husband and the main character were cute but then there were not alot of scenes surrounding that so I became bored and uninterested towards the end.

Start-Up

So with quarantine and so much time on my hands I decided to watch another movie to take a break from re-organising my room…

My Synopsis:

It follows a son of a retired volleyball player, whose name is Taek Il. He is rebellious and leaves his home because his mother and him cannot see eye to eye when it comes to studying and life. He settles down and works are a Chinese restaurant where he makes friends with the colleagues there and also helps a tom-boy out.

So-so movie, expected more because of the actors but the plot was so-so…
Was not very interesting, was not very heartfelt, was not very funny…
– Rebecca

My Storyline:

It starts off with him and his friend Sang Pil on a motorcycle that Taek bought with the money his mother gave him to pay for his tuition fees. Then they get caught by the police for not wearing helmets and his mother comes to scold them.

He leaves his house and then settles down in the Chinese restaurant after seeing a sign that they are hiring and provide food and lodging. One night he finds this tom-boy that he had an argument with before he worked in the Chinese restaurant and she was getting beat up by two guys. Later she starts working at the restaurant also. Meanwhile, Sang Pil turns to being a loan shark to earn money to support his grandmother.

It turns out the two guys were pimps, who were involved in minor prostitution and the chef in the restaurant was a loan shark boss who did not want to go back into the trade. Things start to turn sour for Sang Pil, when he sees the dark side of his job and is attacked by a debtor. Next comes the main problem in the story, his mother who started a toast store while her son was out, happened to buy a illegal store. She also borrowed from the loan sharks and they were coming to collect money infront of Taek and Sang Pil and the tom-boy. They started beating all of them and it lead to his mother landing a volleyball like slap to the loan shark.

In the end, Taek and Sang Pil leave in the same house with their mother and grandmother and they all peel chestnuts to earn money. They then order chicken and the delivery man turns out to be Sang Pil’s superior that quite the trade and became the boss of a chicken store.

My Reflections:

Honestly, I did not have any feelings for this movie. I am not sure what it is supposed to be about… It wasn’t very funny also in general. It was an ok movie, but if I had paid for it and watched it in the cinema, I am not sure if I would have enjoyed it either.

I was really interested in the movie due to the cast and the trailer looked funny… But then I am not sure about the whole plot. Like there was nothing really interesting and there was no plot twist… Maybe having Ma Dong Seok as a loan shark leader? But that is not very surprising either I mean that is half the characters he plays…

There were not very heart-felt moments or anything… it was just ok…

I guess the most heartfelt moments were when Sang Pil was interacting with his grandmother and when Taek Il’s mother was trying to protect the money Taek earned and gave her from the loan sharks… but it didn’t last very long or made me tear… (I tear quite easily when it comes to family scenes)

Kim Ji Young: Born 1982

I have been bingeing alot on videos but mostly Youtube and Korean Variety Shows so I decided on watching a movie… I found this online and it was a movie that I wanted to watch because I know it caused alot of controversy in Korea last year

My Synopsis:

The story of Kim Ji Young a girl that dreamed to be an author but was hired in a marketing firm and lived her older years as a housewife. It tells her story of her mental illness and struggle to live as a woman in the setting.

Movie that touches on the gender stereotypes in Korea and the struggles with being a mother…
Not too heavy, yet not a very light movie to watch
If a girl, leaves you thinking how blessed you are in this modern age and society you are in that has less strong gender biases…
-Rebecca

My Storyline:

It starts off with a normal setting, families during new years. This is when the wife goes to the husband’s home and cooks up a feast. Here, we see signs of the problem, she suddenly starts talking as if she was her mother and not her.

Throughout the film, it showcases the things that girls had or even now have to go through: from being looked down upon when being a working mom/ housewife, to being harassed on the bus, to having secret pictures taken of them in the toilet, to being less favoured compared to their brothers, basically everything Asian girls grew up with which was a much stronger stereotype in the past.

She has that mother in law that loves her son and puts her son above everything. She has that father and aunt that loves her younger brother the most. Her saving grace is her husband that loves her so and her mother and sister that believe that girls should be cared for and should be treated equally compared to males and stands up for equality. There is also a character called Chief Kim, who is a female superior in the company that has put up with so much gender bias but also is the one who offers her a job in the future.

My Reflections:

Honestly, like more themed movies, it was slow paced with cinematic scenes to display emotion. But I am not the type that greatly appreciates those and like monologue alot better. Nevertheless, it is a great movie that talks about the hardships of being a wife in the Korean society. I am sure alot of these scenes are still happening, but hopefully significantly less.

I loved how the husband was trying to take care of her and his character honestly saved the film. Because without him, I would feel so bad for Kim Ji Young, because it would seem like only her family would be on her side.

At the end, it also shows that he sacrificed for her too and became the one taking the lead in parenting by picking up their child at the daycare center. While, Kim Ji Young fulfilled her writer dream by having a published article in a magazine. The last few scenes were very impactful.

It ended with her staring into the sunlight and smiling which was unlike before. Before, she used to sit down or stand and stare, looking very out of it or sad and the sky was always dark or not as bright. But the last scene, where it was so bright and she looked so proud of herself, really hit me.

And the final scene, was her typing and in her voice, telling her story. She was Kim Ji Young, born on April 1st 1982…

Itaewon Class

I was putting off watching this show because I was focusing on finding a summer internship but I took a break from socials and people in general and watched all 16 episodes in one sitting…

My Synopsis:

It is the success story of a middle-schooler called Park Saeroyi, who stuck by his principles throughout the drama because his father was proud of him living that way. It is a story about his lifelong goal of getting revenge what was done to his father by the Chairman’s spoilt and twisted son, by setting up his own pub to defeat the Chairman’s company.

Honestly, my favourite drama to date!!!
Honestly, better than goblin, or anything else I have watched so far
Friendship, principles, morals, family, loyalty, romance, success, hardship, perseverance – everything is covered in this well written and acted drama!
– Rebecca

My storyline:

Saeroyi, is this charming young middle schooler who transfer to another school due to a change in his fathers work station. There on the first day of transferring he sees his classmate being bullied and stands up to the bully who he knows is the Chairman’s son. The chairman comes in with his saeroyi’s father and it ends with his father being proud of him sticking to his principles and quits his job.

Saeroyi falls in love with this student called Oh Soo Ah and there are scenes of him, his father and her preparing to open a pub. The whole drama falls into place when his father gets hit by a car and dies in an accident. At the funeral, the police come in and says the other party wants to come to a settlement and Soo Ah sees the photo of the car and says it is Jang Geun Won’s car who is the chairman’s son. He then goes straight to beat him up. This ends with him being sentenced to jail time for the assault, and Geun Won escaping jail by framing the car accident on someone else with the help of threats to the police in charge.

This is the start of Saeroyi’s new life where he studies everything about his enemy through his biography and sets in stone his long life plan. On the day he is released, he goes to Itaewon which is the place Soo Ah said she loved and lived at. They meet and he tell’s her he plans to set up his own pub in 7 years and he says he will go deep sea fishing and manual labour to get the money to set up a pub in Itaewon. Exactly 7 years later, they meet and he is seen to be setting up the pub.

The pub is seen to be tacky, with no customers. And then other characters are introduced. Jang Geun Soo, and Jo Yi Seo are the two students that are reported to drink at the pub and result in the pub getting a suspension of service. Saeroyi’s actions and words had a great impact on both of them and they both ask to work at his pub. Jang Geun Soo as the server and Jo Yi Seo as the manager.

Under Jo Yi Seo, the bar flourishes day by day and start becoming a threat to the Chairman. Throughout the challenges, Saeroyi sticks to his principles and does things his way, the way he thinks is right. It is definitely the hard way, but he sticks to it and gets things done. He believes business is done by valuing the people and their trust, unlike normal business people who would just say it is about profit. There he also portrayed as someone who loves Soo Ah no matter what she does and always tries to understand her.

Jo Yi Seo on the other hand, loves him and the only reason she was working there was because of him and Jang Geun Soo loves Yi Seo. Although there was the theme of romance, I like how it was not a very big part.

In the end, Saeroyi became the big threat to the Chairman, upon achieving franchise status and striving for success. The Chairman discovers he has cancer and his son who went to jail for his past deeds was released and kidnapped Yi Seo and Jang Geun Soo and Saeroyi went to try and save her.

In the end, Saeroyi releases he loves Yi Seo and they live happily ever after as a great Itaewon Class family.

My Reflections:

Honestly, I was hesitant to watch this because I heard the ending was bad. But I loved it so much!!! I do agreed that the last part of the drama was slower than the rest, but I think the pace was just right. I think it shows the freedom that he was trying to achieve and they closed off all the storylines well.

Everyone had a happy ending… idealistic as it is, it matches Saeroyi, and who doesn’t love a happy ending.

I am a sucker for family, loyalty and friendship themes. It was nice to watch a main character stick to his principles of helping others and getting rewarded in the long run. It reminds me to be kind and help others because no one will know what happens in the future. And even though you may not know, or there is no immediate benefit, it always never hurts to be kind and trust and respect others.

I loved the cute scenes with Yi Seo and her boss. And the family like characters in the story, they all look out for each other and understand their differences. They had characters that I feel Korean society would look down upon (i.e. gangsters, dropouts, ex-convicts, foreigners who are not white, children born out of wedlock, orphans, transgenders) and they made them great. They started off as people who were thought to be nothing, but they achieved something through hard work, determination, teamwork and belief.

This drama made me have the feels and cry every single episode. It is the drama of the year and the century! You can relate to it, you can cry to it, you can feel admiration for the plot twists and you can love it!

I’m telling the Truth but I’m Lying: Essays

Honestly, I started off the year saying I’ll read books… but this book took me a long time to finish compared to the first one…

My Synopsis:

About a girl called Bassey and her life from when she was young to when she gave birth to a Son. It is about her trying to live her life, survive and feel “normal” with her diagnosis of bipolar II and anxiety which she gets in the middle of the book.

Honest, raw, explicit, depressing, but depicts her life the way she expressed it
Not sure if I recommend it to be read because it is not a book I would say you learn anything from, it is hard to relate at least for me
But if you like being in someone’s head, this is a book you may want to read
– Rebecca

My Storyline:

Honestly I do not remember a lot of details. I just remember her family not really being proud of her so she moved to Brooklyn to have a life of her own, her own space. Then she runs into relationship problems with cheating boyfriends and also in general she loses faith in romance and just does not want to ruin people(?) or harm people because she feels she isn’t normal.

In the end, she gets a diagnosis and eats her meds, but after a while she feels that the meds take control of her life and decides not to take them. She then spirals and is admitted into the hospital where they observe her and after being interviewed by some students, she is released and then goes back home where her family are conscious of her. But in the end she writes about her son and how much she loves him.

My reflections:

So I just finished reading this book… and honestly it was a hard read for me because it is hard to relate to the author…

If I’m not wrong she is writing and penning down her thoughts but towards the end, where it was more I guess personal and relatable I found myself wanting to read more. Before that it felt very distanced, very third person, with very few details(?) that I could hold onto.

But this book is very I would say depressing, for the lack of a better word… it is just the deepest parts of someone’s brain their thoughts and their hardest times in their life. Not sure if it is because I read it over a large span of time (i.e. maybe a month or more) then all the memories and impressions of the book are scattered… but that is the lasting impression I have about what I read.

I applaud the author for really penning down all her feelings, and I hope it really was a therapeutic experience for her…

There were moments where I could relate to, some thoughts everyone would have once in a while but reading this book honestly made me feel grateful for the life I have and bad for taking it for granted.

There are other people with uncontrollable personal problems and I am here with problems that I can sort of fix. I am honestly find it very respectable and I applaud her for being able to get through it and I hope I can do the same with my life 🙂

Dating Class (필수연애교양): Web Drama

So I got lost in Youtube videos and didn’t really watch dramas or movies… But I finished this drama in one day because it was so cute. It is a web drama that can be found in this link https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtXbA3JYx4Yy-I38VxnRo4792acy5Fafq.

My synopsis:

It is a story about an university dating class where students are paired up and they carry out missions to learn about the whole process of dating.

It is a very cute drama with multiple storylines that are well-developed enough and have resolved endings.
Definitely a web drama to watch that will leave you with no regrets!
– Rebecca

My Storyline:

Basically it starts off with a girl who stands infront of the classroom and she falls in love with this senior who she partners up with in the class. The earlier episodes also shows that her roommate is going through a toxic relationship and asks her to join the class.

Through the class, the drama explores and depicts the different personalities of 6 main characters in the story. I thought it would just be about the first girl I saw in the beginning but as the episodes went on, more and more background stories were revealed. This helped me understand the characters more and also added more depth to the storyline.

Storylines include:

Girl crushing on her senior
Senior taking the same class as his ex-girlfriend that he still has feelings for
Girl feeling harassed/ taken advantage of by a senior
Girl falling in and out of a toxic relationship
Guy learning to understand and like a girl
Father and son learning to put the past behind
Guy trying to hide his sexuality
Girl having family problems which leads to her breakup
School bullying in terms of groundless rumors

Overall, the drama has alot of themes. It has parental love, friendship, toxic relationships, crushes and so on…

My reflections:

Honestly, this show puts alot of things into perspective. This is also one of the reasons why I love watching dramas, they verbalise what people usually think in their heads with monologues and helps me understand and relate to people in general.

It reiterated things I already knew but reminders are always good.

People understand you through your words and actions
You are precious and you shouldn’t be with someone who does not treasure you
Stand up for what you think is right
Everyone has a backstory, do not judge without hearing their part or at least trying to understand

Miss Independent Ji Eun 2

So this is a web drama that I followed and watch one episode each week on Youtube’s Dingo channel…

My synopsis:

This drama follows Lee Ji Eun an university student that just turned 20 years old and is trying to live life to the fullest. She started on the wrong foot by dating a guy that was two timing her with another girl, and that other girl made her life hell in the beginning. She learns about university life and she and her friends get into romantic relationships of their own. The story mostly revolves around her but sometimes the episodes focus on the other 3 characters around her.

Neutral feelings about this drama series…
If you have time to kill, it is a decent series (but only if you like the very innocent university student storyline)
– Rebecca

My storyline:

Honestly there isn’t anything really more than I want to point out in the storyline. She just happened to be attractive in the eyes of this other really popular senior and is the naive sweet typical korean drama girl. Her best friends also end up together with each other and that to me was cuter than the main characters relationship because they seemed more natural together.

The guy actually took a chance and sort of ended the friendship because he no longer wanted to just be friends. Then they all went on a trip before he went off to the Korean army. There they had to wash dishes together because they lost a game and there the girl confessed to liking him and they kissed.

My feelings:

To be honest I am not sure why I watched it. I didn’t like the main girl character because I felt she was very awkward at life or in general. But I think in the epilogues she was more of herself? The main male character too… I didn’t really like them because I guess they were too innocent, too nice, and I honestly do not think it is very realistic. They were cute together visually but then the things they did were just cringe in my opinion and it was hard to watch.

The two other friends were more interesting to watch but I am probably abit biased because best friends to lovers scenario is my favourite.

XX

So I was waiting for “Playlist Global” channel on Youtube to release the English subtitled episode but then I took a chance and downloaded Vlive. And they had all the episodes already uploaded with English subtitles so I guess I know where to watch my shows in the future…

My synopsis:

This is a drama detailing the life of a top bartender that works in a speak easy bar. When she was in university, she was betrayed by her best friend that slept with her boyfriend. She walked into his house and sat in a chair in a living room and waited for him to come out. Her best friend becomes her boss when she buys the bar in attempt to scout Nana (the bartender).

Honestly nothing but praise for this drama!
Highly recommend!!!
– Rebecca

My storyline:

Basically, it is about how the two friends become friends again. The whole drama revolves around the cheating incident and has the re-occuring theme of loyalty between friends.

In the beginning, Nana almost quit her workplace because if her ex-best friend. But, with time, they start to become more friendly with one another. We also find out that Nana’s colleague Danny has had a crush on her since 2 years ago.

The turning point in the two girl’s relationship was probably when Yu Mi, the ex best friend, started having suspicions that her boyfriend was cheating on her. Nana had her suspicions first and was thinking about whether she should tell her. But in the end, she decided to tell her and this lead to a big fuss happening, which ultimately lead them to work together to get revenge. In the last 2-3 episodes, the ex boyfriend came back into the picture by becoming the person in charge of a launching party that Yu Mi really wanted to host at the bar.

The last scene is of the girls talking to each other with just their facial expressions and smiles after Nana stands up for herself against her ex boyfriend.

My feelings:

Honestly this is the best web drama of the year so far! And I honestly think nothing could top this!

This was Hani’s first attempt (?) at acting after EXID. She is honestly the best idol-turned actress I have seen, at least if I compare all the other first pieces that idols have done. If you didn’t know she was from EXID you would think she was a new and upcoming actress. She managed to deliver lines with minimal awkwardness and really allowed me to relate to the role.

The characters in the drama were all quite consistent and they were all interesting in the scene that I wanted to know their story. There was not a character I felt was redundant. However, I did not really understand the ex boy friend character. He did not understand why Nana felt that their past relationship was a horrible memory that both girls wanted to forget. He was even offended by those statements when they were told to him and looked back fondly on the past relationship. It is as if he did not date anyone between the 5 years after they broke up, but he was the one that cheated on her with her best friend.

I also really like the storyline. Honestly, it did occur to me that maybe the girl Yu Mi’s boyfriend was cheating on might be someone else or maybe he did not cheat. But, it never occurred to me that she would get cheated on by her boyfriend’s secretary that she treated as a friend. The secretary was also very sneaky and tried to frame another girl as the cheater.