K Drama Reviews

So, I had promised in an earlier post that will do the review of the K-dramas I have watched. These are not new, but for viewers overseas like me, maybe it will help you decide which ones to watch when you are trying to figure out from the list of k-dramas provided to you by AsianWiki or google.

So I am going to do the following Reviews:

1. Pinocchio (2014)

2. Playful Kiss (2010)

3. The Heirs (2013)

So, let's start.

Pinocchio (2014)

Starring Lee Jong-suk and Park Shin-Hye (both of whom are generally likable by the mass) it had a convincing story and end. The USP of this show was the innovative concept of a person having Pinocchio syndrome. Its exactly as it sounds. People can't lie. Instead of their noses getting longer, in this show, people get hiccups (only the heroine is actually shown to have this hiccup issue though. Though it may be assumed that the Pinocchios has similar problems). It has an air of Lee Jong Suk's debut drama "I can hear you', where the protagonists are bound by a crime in the past and they complement each other in their future work of solving that distant crime. Park Shin is spunky in this drama, unlike in You're Beautiful and The Heirs where she seems to be helpless and too accommodating. Lee Jong Suk is resplendent as usual. 

I won't go into summarizing the show, you'd find it anywhere, instead I would give my impression of it. 

I was hooked onto this show right from the beginning by some excellent acting and convincing plot twists. The added bonus is of course a sizzling on screen chemistry between the leads (I wish, people stopped linking Park Shin Hye with every male she has ever acted with). It has a healthy dose of romance sprinkled judiciously along the tight detective story style narrative. Also, just when you start getting skeptical about demonizing a woman for every crime under the earth all along the first half of the show, her human side is finally shown in an convincing manner. 

All in all, though the pace drops a little in the middle, it picks up near the finale and overall leaves you with a feeling of time worth spent. I would recommend it of you are a fan of handsome heroes with innate sense of style and enjoy crime stories.

Playful Kiss (2010)

The image above describes perfectly the story and attitude of the show. One of my friend's recommendation made me pick up this show to watch and more importantly because I wanted a show where Kim Hyun Joong gets the girl (BOF left me wanting for more Hyun Joong). Well, he does get the girl here, but it seems only because she didn't seem to have eyes for anyone except him. In fact, so complete is her devotion towards Hyun Joong, tom Cruise himself couldn’t have wavered her. It was absurd and kind of offensive at times to all the female population. She is always one step behind him and her eyes downcast, exactly like in the image above. It evident that it is based on a manga written for women of 70s-80s. 

The story can be summarized in one line. There's this girl who isn't that great in looks or studies, falls for this genius, good looking hero adored by the entire school and continues her devotion until he breaks and deigns to marry her. Oh, and this also promotes that getting married before finishing your studies is okay. 

I felt so bad that one of my biggest crushes had to star in such a story line. But except BOF, dramas don't seem to have done much for Hyun Joong's Hallyu success. Though visually striking, I would recommend you to watch it only for Hyun Joong.

The Heirs (2013)

I would always say yes to a Lee Min Ho show- be it a drama or movie. I was kind of saving this show for later view during one of those inevitable blank periods when there seems nothing worth watching. The Heirs, though it started gloriously (despite some cringy moments when Min Ho showcases his English speaking ability), falls kind of flat at times. Min Ho's character seems to be the worst affected right after Shin Hye's. In fact, everybody else's characters seemed to have better back stories than the leads. Also, I did not dig Lee Min Ho's hairstyle plus he looked too old to play a high schooler. They just could have replaced the grand mansion to be college or university instead. It definitely would have been more convincing. 

The story strives to prove the line that "All that money, but still miserable." What the future Heirs of wealthy families have to go through. And in contrast, the middle class families are marginally better from they have their own set of issues not related to their immediate families but to do with their dreams of future. 

The guy who shone the most, in my opinion, was the CN Blue Drummer, Min Hyuk. He is by far the best actor of the band, though I have yet to see how the guitarists have fared in their respective dramas.

The story is nice and has a definite pace, though Lee Min Ho's antics seems to be a rich boy's rebellion against his rich father. The lady playing his mother had a better characterization than him.

I would recommend you to watch it, not because of Lee Min Ho and Woo Bin, but because it was worth watching. And the ending was really nice, though there were still some lose ends, but you don't care about them by the time the last scene arrives. It is a drama, and worthy of repeat watches.

So, that’s it for today. See you next time.