stranger 2

the first season of stranger got me curious every episodes. there's twist and turn all along the first season. but it ended with a bitter ending for hwang si mok, the main cast. somehow i'm used to "the good ones will triumph" kind-of-story, so watching how the righteous got transferred instead of getting promoted, it irritates me. anyway, i'm curious what the second season will bring. will it be as exciting as the first one? 

title: stranger 2

cast: cho seung woo (hwang si mok), bae doona (han yeo jin), lee joon hyuk (seo dong jae), jeon hye jin (choi bit), choi moo sung (woo tae ha)

genre: crime thriller mystery, police story, a bit political

ever since the corruption in the public prosecutor department made public, people started to lose faith in justice system. and the tension between the police department and prosecutor's office didn't help either. they were fighting over the right of investigative. both department leaked other side's weakness to the media, making the feud more nasty. especially after the chief of intelligence (police department) were accused to leak confidential data. people were getting more confused, which one is more corrupt, the police department or the public prosecutor department.

then came hwang si mok again. he was supposed to be transferred again to another small office when he came across a drowning incident. two teen boys drowned at the beach when there was thick fog everywhere. the warning line was cut but since the only witness claimed that he was drunk, he didn't give any help. however, somehow yeo jin found out that there was another couple at the same beach before the boys and the couple was the one who cut the warning line, took pictures and posted it online before deleting it after realizing that the boys who got drowned died. it all seemed to be a simple case, but somehow, the main prosecutor office dismissed the case only after 3 days. apparently, the couple was pretty rich and they hired an ex-judge to be their attorney. si mok thought that this was a special-treat case, filed a complaint that led him back into a mess and got his transfer suspended.

turned out his complaint got back to the main office and at that time, they were supposed to choose people that will represent the prosecutor department in joint committee between the police department and the prosecutor department to discuss the investigative rights. his name got aired once again and chief woo tae ha thought he was a good choice to become a member in the committee, so instead of transferring to another small office, he got transferred to supreme prosecutor office. 

meanwhile, chief choi bit (chief of reformation unit, yeo jin's supervisor) used the drowning case to make the public see that the prosecutor office didn't worth to gain the investigative rights. and seo dong jae (yep, he appeared again, as annoying as before) made a move to chief woo, telling him that he had some dirt on chief choi bit with the hope of getting promoted, and a bit irked when he found out that si mok once again got promoted instead of him. but chief woo put them on the same team, unofficially, to investigate the segok case, where there was a police officer got reported to have suicide while it could be homicide and the police department seemed to cover it up. they wanted to use the case to turn the table against the police department, but choi bit ordered yeo jin to investigate it as well and once again, si mok met yeo jin. 

on the side, there was hanjo again. yeon jae (former chief prosecutor's wife) tried to secure her place as her brother, sung jae, has been rising to take over the company. she hired the former ex judge who helped the rich couple to get away as one of her legal team. meanwhile, there was an uproar regarding assemblyman that's accused of corruption and it involved both departments. the prosecutor office was accused of dismissing the case that involving assemblyman's son while the police department accused of turning blind eyes since the assemblyman's son had several other cases but everything was dismissed. at this point, chief woo was clearly had connection with assemblyman, as well as chief choi bit. so i don't know which one is dirty at this point, or probably them both?

things got bad when dong jae got kidnapped. they thought the former police officers in the segok case was behind the kidnapping, but they were all cleared. later they found that dong jae submitted another case files to chief woo, a case about a dead lawyer in the middle of the road and the autopsy stated that he died because of cardiac arrest. but dong jae found out that the lawyer couldn't drink any alcohol, but there was alcohol traces found in his body. naturally, both si mok and yeo jin followed this new evidence. and they found out that both chief woo and chief choi bit as well as the former chief of intelligence were all involved in this case. and hanjo too, but at that time, both yeo jin and si mok hadn't found out about this one. on the side, yeon jae tried to cover hanjo's involvement in that case and she commented that only dong jae knew the truth. so who really kidnapped dong jae? 

again, there was another shocking turn as the one that kidnapped dong jae was someone else, someone that i never thought at first. but as the drama goes on, it became clear about why this person kidnapped dong jae. luckily, they found dong jae alive, but in bad condition. at the end of the series, we saw dong jae recovering and was about to give testimony about the dead lawyer's case. the kidnapper got arrested, both chief woo and chief choi bit had to pay for their dark past. even the current chief prosecutor. he was forced to resign as he was tied to hanjo again. 

yeo jin was promoted to the intelligence bureau and not transferred back to her former station, other police officers were mean to her before her future boss appeared and it was kim won hae (appeared in bong soon, signal and while you were sleeping as well) and he treated her well, so other police officers probably will follow suit. but that's not the case with si mok. though once again he managed to reveal the corruption in both department, he got transferred again to remote areas. oh well.. another open ending is giving us hope that there's a possibility of third season.

what i like:

- again, solid acting skills from all the casts. this time there were more well known casts in the series. 

- all clothing and makeup were suitable to the story. no flashy outfit or makeups as this is pretty serious drama. 

- twist and turn that keep you guessing, which one is right, which one is wrong, and how it would end.

cons:     

- why si mok had to suffer again? why not let him win a little? oh well...

- in this series, i started to feel that hanjo's involvement is a bit forced. but it's necessary if you see it until the end. 

- this time there's questions about the whole story. especially the segok case. the investigation of the suicide officer got interrupted with dong jae's kidnapping case. i still think it's weird that the captain said that he didn't know about the other's involvement in continuing the bribe while he was the one that suggested it in the first place. 

rating: 9/10

binge worthy: yes

recommended for: those who watched the first season and love it. anyone that likes crime murder mystery or police story and doesn't mind watching a drama without any romantic scene. 

stranger

before watching signal, i started my korean crime drama series by watching strange. i saw my junior from medical school days getting excited about the upcoming stranger 2 in netflix. obviously i got interested as she had a good taste in movies. and turned out she was right. it was good. i had to wait until the second season is finished before continue watching the second season. although i never saw any of the casts before, aside from yoo jae myung, turned out they were good.

title: stranger

cast: cho seung woo, bae doona, lee joon hyuk, shin hye sun, yoo jae myung

genre: crime drama mystery, police story, politic-related drama

hwang si mok (cho seung woo) is a young, righteous prosecutor that had a medical history of hypersensitivity that lead him to undergo a corrective surgery while he was still a young kid. unfortunately, the surgery had a side effect. he lost his sense of empathy and lack of social skill. growing up, he managed to hide his condition while doing good in his job. working as prosecutor makes him prone to bribe but he managed to dodge all the bribes. but one time, he got introduced to a man by seo dong jae (lee joon hyuk) and later that man was found dead in his home by si mok because he had an appointment with that man.

because of that homicide case, he met with han yeo jin (bae doona), a police officer who was pissed at him at first, but amazed by his investigative skill, thus the two got closer even though the public prosecutor department and the police department was a bit tense at that time. when the police department found a clue about the culprit, suddenly the case went so smooth, that si mok became suspicious. his superior (yoo jae myung) also told him to close the case which got him even more curious. unfortunately, they had no other evidence, so they just investigated it quietly. 

then suddenly si mok's superior got promoted to chief prosecutor. many people commented that it was thanks to his father in law who was a well known businessman. but he made a stir after a news about a possible corruption in public prosecutor department broke out. he decided to form a special unit to bring anyone that's proven to be corrupt, whether it's the police or the prosecutor. and here si mok met with yeo jin again, together with eun soo (a young prosecutor that got backlash after people found out that the culprit that the police caught in the first homicide case was falsely accused and killed himself later) and yoon se won (another prosecutor that was seemed neutral at first).

together they made a stir both in the police department and public prosecutor department. they didn't know who's to believe because everyone seemed to be angry at them. the chief prosecutor then resigned from his position only to get another promotion at the blue house. seo dong jae then followed his mentor to the blue house because he made a trade with si mok to become an ear in the blue house as he knew that si mok was suspected their superior to be corrupt as well. their investigation somehow got related to the first homicide, so they were back investigating the same case again, only this time, following evidence of corruption. 

as the story goes on, we also find out that eun soo's father was a prime minister that was accused of corruption but his father denied that and even the bribe money that was found in their house as evidence later disappeared. later all the evidence pointed to former chief prosecutor's father in law as the man behind it all. but he was so powerful and so many people were backing him so si mok's team even got disbanded at first. shockingly, they found out the killer from the first homicide accidentally, and it was someone close to their teams! talking about surprise. another surprise was eun soo then got killed and it gave si mok a bit evidence to chase former chief prosecutor's father in law, then with another sudden turn, the chief prosecutor was the one behind all the crumbs that was left for si mok to find. unfortunately, he knew that he was involved in the same corruption case as his father in law, and he decided to take his own life rather than spending time in jail. sadly, though si mok finally caught the real killer and even made light all the corruption in the police department and public prosecutor department, he was considered as someone that betrayed their own, so he was transferred to a small public prosecutor department outside seoul. 

what i like:

- all casts were good, even the supporting ones. no wonder since mostly i've seen them in other drama.

- clothing and makeup were matched with the job. no flashy outfit and makeup for the police officers and prosecutors. both yeo jin and eun soo didn't seem to wear a lot of makeup, which is good since they were busy at their work.

- no plot hole. everything is explained well in the drama. the reason behind chief prosecutor got si mok to investigate the corruption case, to the culprit behind the first homicide.

cons:

- i was curious, which one does si mok like? eun soo or yeo jin? he seemed close and comfortable with yeo jin, especially after she found out about his condition. but he was pretty shocked after eun soo's death and even beat himself for not protecting eun soo. sometimes i hate that si mok couldn't express his emotion and the actor did good in portraying emotion-less si mok.

- since this drama also tells story about corruption, it's sad to see how even in other countries there's corruption in police department as well as justice department. and that the right one got demoted at the end even though he's the one that's right. somehow i wish si mok got promotion instead of being transferred. oh well.. but it leads to another season, so i'm not complaining much.

rating: 9/10

binge worthy: yes

recommended for: action thriller seeker, murder mystery lover, don't mind a drama that doesn't have pretty face casts. 

it's okay not to be okay

even before this drama was finished, people were crazy about this. no wonder because this is the first full drama that kim soo hyun would be playing after leaving military service. he did a cameo in "crash landing on you", but people want more of him, so that's why this drama was soooo hype. i obviously waited until it was almost two episodes left before started watching it, because i'm not good at waiting. and i'm glad i waited. it was worth to watch it marathon. 

title: it's okay not to be okay

cast: kim soo hyun (moon gang tae), seo ye ji (go moon young), oh jung se (moon sang tae), and many more

genre: melodrama, psychological drama

go moon young (seo ye ji) is a famous children's book writer but she has antisocial disorder that she has kept secret for years, that's why she can't express any emotion or feel any emotion. then there's moon gang tae (kim soo hyun). a psychiatric ward nurse that is super competent in his job but he has to move almost yearly because of his autistic brother. he has to care for his brother and all his patients with love and care, while he, himself, didn't get enough love from his childhood. moon sang tae (oh jung se) is gang tae's older brother that has highly functional autistic syndrome. he loves art and was fans of moon young, but he had nightmares about butterfly that had connection with their mothers' death. apparently, sang tae was the only witness of their mother's murder. coincidentally, moon young met gang tae, and since she saw him, she was interested in him and didn't want to let him go. that's why she followed him back to their hometown (apparently, they were both had the same hometown) even though she had bad memories about their hometown.

moon young apparently also has an antisocial disorder mother, so she never received any love from her mother. her father even tried to kill her mother. she was still young girl, so she thought her mother was died, but apparently her mother was disappeared and managed to stay alive and then changed her face and came back into her life and even threaten moon young, gang tae and sang tae. her father also tried to kill her since he was afraid that moon young would grow up to be like her mother, that's why she abandoned him in psychiatric hospital where gang tae moved into.

gang tae always tries to look tough, but deep inside he was craving for love. growing up, their mother always put sang tae first due to his condition and always demanded gang tae to keep his brother safe. due to sang tae's nightmare, they had to move everytime sang tae had the same nightmares. funnily, he has this one friend that keep moving with them and loyally help gang tae to take care of sang tae. after meeting moon young, he decided to open up more and later, she managed to change him almost completely.

while sang tae is a highly functional autistic that has good sense of art. somehow he likes moon young's book a lot and adores her. but when he found out that moon young loves gang tae and vice versa, he didn't want them to get together at first because he was afraid that gang tae would leave him alone. especially when he remembered that back in their childhood day, gang tae has once tried to leave him almost drown in a frozen lake, but later gang tae helped him and even left gang tae while gang tae tried to save himself after managing to help sang tae out of the frozen lake. this was when young gang tae met young moon young. moon young helped gang tae out of the lake, and somehow young gang tae had a crush on young moon young. but scary moon young's mom managed to scare gang tae off. but that's not the only reason. later they'd find out that moon young's mom had a part in gang tae's mom murder.

if you're into psychiatry or psychology, this is a good film to watch as in earlier episodes you will see the story of the patients in the hospital. they would suffer all kinds of psychiatry disease because of a reason. like the bipolar man, he was considered dumb in his family, thus he never felt love and that leads to his condition. and also a depression mom that saw her daughter got killed in accident in front of her eyes. and also how an abusive mom can make a little girl to have a split personality disorder. this is really a good drama to watch so we can get more insight about psychiatry or psychology condition and how to avoid it. especially in terms of child abuse. it seems normal for a mom to scold her child. but we never think that it could cause problem to the kids mentally. 

what i like:

- super acting skill from all the casts. even moon young's manager was the hospital director in "doctor romantic 2" and i would have no idea if i didn't see an information about him in some ig account that i stumbled into. and oh jung se. i was just finishing watching "when the camellia blooms", so i was shocked watching him changing style so quickly. witty and afraid of his wife in camellia, and brilliantly acting autistic in this drama.

- all the cast clothing/style was put together with great consideration. like gang tae always wear ordinary clothes like t shirt and jeans because he was always put in number 2 after sang tae, so growing up he tend to put others first and didn't think much about clothing. and he was tight in money because they keep moving, so no nice clothes. while sang tae was autistic so he wore striped shirt a lot. autistic people love repeated pattern, that's why stripes shirt. while moon young is famous in young age. she was egoistic and she had the money, so they dressed her super stylish and extravaganza. 

- i don't think there's any plot hole. everything is answered. though there would be questions about how moon young's mom managed to get away after being thrown away into the lake and still being alive. then how could she find the money to get plastic surgery and then get her nursing degree? 

- this drama offers something new. though basically this is a love story, but with those psychiatric stories, this drama clearly offers something new, something that people don't usually talk about. however, it's a bit troublesome that moon young's book is considered children book since her stories were quite dark.

cons:

- some scary horror scenes. gee... i always watch drama late at nights, so i hate to see jumpy scary scent at night. 

rating: 9/10

binge worthy: yes

recommended for: all the cast's fans, especially KSH. people who doesn't like typical love story and want something new. don't mind scary scenes, or troubling scenes related to mental disorder. don't mind watching how small seo ye ji's waist is and how gorgeous they styled her in the drama.  

signal

i was just finishing stranger and then obviously netflix would give me more criminal mystery/police story in my recommendation list, so i watched signal next. and let me tell you, if you're not into romantic comedy, then you should try watching this and stranger first. 

title: signal

cast: lee ji hoon (park hae young), kim hye soo (cha soo hyeon), choi jin woong (lee jae han) and many more

genre: criminal mystery/ police story

a criminal profiler (park hae young) was a cynical police officer who lived in 2015. though he was a police officer, being a witness to a kidnapping case that turned into murder case then cold case and his own brother was wrongly accused by the cop, made him think that most cops were corrupt. the kidnapping case that he witnessed was about to reach its limitation date when he found an abandoned walkie talkie that was suddenly turned on and he could talk to another police officer on the other side. later he found out that he was talking to a detective from 15 years ago, lee jae han (choi jin woong). with some clues provided from the past, he was able to solve the kidnapping case and caught the kidnapper just before the limitation date of other crimes that was connected with the kidnapping case. 

because of this success, the police department decided to form a cold case team, led by detective cha soo hyeon (kim hye soo). secretly, she's been searching for her mentor/love crush, detective lee jae han. she didn't know about the walkie talkie at first, but after working together and there were some incident which couldn't be explained without telling the story about the walkie talkie, she found out about it. 

lee jae han himself was a quiet but hard working detective that was good at his work, but he stumbled upon some corrupt police officers and somehow it led to his disappearance. back when hae young just solved the kidnapping case, he heard gunshot sound from the other side, and in 1989, lee jae han was vanished. up until 2015. when the walkie talkie came alive second time, park hae young was talking to lee jae han from several years before, and he had no idea about hae young. together, they solved serial murder case that was inspired by true story, the hwaseong serial murders.

both of them worked back and forth through time. sometimes it worked, but sometimes they messed the timeline so they had to undo the future by making a different move in the past. but the main mystery was why jae han was targeted and then accused for being corrupt cop. both soo hyeon and hae young tried to solve hae young's brother case because they found jae han's note that it was his last case before he disappeared. they found out that jae han found a corrupt team inside the police department, involving his own team captain and an assemblyman from the past. the assemblyman is still alive in 2015, so both hae young and soo hyeon had to work against the assemblyman's men secretly. however, the ending is not conclusive, so many hopes that they will making the second season of this drama.

what i like:

- this is a good solid story. though it involves two different times, there's no hole in the storyline. the concept of changing the past also changing the future is seen in this drama. so there's no confusion why the future is changing and keep moving in the story.

- all the actors and actresses were good. solid performance from all the casts. though you'd see repeating faces like some fellow police officers who i've seen several times in other dramas. they also did a good job in styling the characters. no flashy outfits for the police officers and detectives, even the makeup is minimal (you'd notice the difference between this drama and bong soon. in bong soon, you'd see that min hyuk is definitely wearing base makeup, even ji soo). even when they're telling story from the past, they were carefully use landline phone and flashlights, and all clothing were from the past style. like what my mom used to wear back in the day. 

what i don't like: 

- an open ending. though it might be a good thing as it might open the possibility of continuing this drama into second season.

- typical "powerful people always win" type of story. but mixing it with time-travelling walkie talkie that connects two different times are good. it gives another vibe to the drama, but still not overly ridiculous. 

rating: 10/10

binge worthy: yes

recommended for: someone who likes criminal mystery story with a bit mix of fantasy/different time zone mode. doesn't mind a drama that didn't have beautiful actor/actress as its main casts. 

hospital playlist

as a doctor myself, i might be bias toward medical drama. somehow, whenever there's a new medical drama, i tend to watch it, though there are some western medical drama that i don't watch, but i think for korean drama, i watch most of them, especially if they're available on netflix. and the newest one is hospital playlist. i've seen some trailers and people who watch them while still ongoing, talked about it and praised it, so obviously i'm curious. but i'm not patience enough to watch it ongoing, so i waited until it was two episodes left, but i still had to wait for those two because apparently, this one is binge worthy. one factor why this drama is so highly raved by people even before it was aired was it came from the same director as the famous reply series as well as prison playbook. all dramas directed by this director were good that people keep recommending them. so let's see about this one.

 

 

title: hospital playlist

cast: jo jung suk, yoo yeon seok, jung kyung ho, jeon mi do, kim dae myung

genre: medical drama, life series? (i don't know how to classify this style of drama, hahaha)

this is a drama about 5 doctors that have been in friendship for more than 10 years since their medical school years. though at first they worked at separate hospitals, they came together and worked in the same hospital thanks to ahn jung won (yoo yeon seok). for the first two episodes, i was confused because of there are five main casts to be remember. and there were additional players. while for usual drama, the mains are only two or three and then several additional players. so if you are not used to watching a drama with lots of players, then you might get confused. but bear with it, it's worth it.

it started with ahn jung won. a pediatric surgeon who always wants to be a catholic priest. and in the first episode, the director of the hospital was sick and then passed away. at first they made it like there would be a fight for the crown, but apparently, we were wrong. they found out that jung won is the last son of the late director and both his brothers are priests, and both his sisters are nuns. so his mom does whatever she can to prevent him being a priest too. after his father's death, he found out that the VIP room costs a lot, so he decided to round up his friends to work as the VIP doctors. but, not all of them were agree. but he managed it anyway, and voila.. they worked together now and would practice in a band together. oh, he was the drummer and also sang. he kept a little secret from his friends that he was the daddy long legs in the daddy long legs program that helped people who didn't have enough money to pay for their treatment cost.  

then there's lee ik joon (jo jung suk). he's a general surgeon/ gastrointestinal surgeon. he was in a long distance marriage with a cute little son, but in the first two episodes, we found out that he became a single dad to his son. you would see the antiques of ik joon for being funny and lovable while still being brilliant in his work. not to mention his skill in music for being lead singer and guitarist on their band. later you'd found out that ik joon helped the only resident in the general surgery to get close to jung won. as the story went on, we found out that ik joon had a little sister that jun wan fallen in love with,  and ik joon himself had a long crush with song hwa, but he managed to keep it quiet until now. unfortunately, though ik joon finally confessed his feeling to song hwa, we didn't get to see her reply in season 1. hopefully ik joon's love story will unfold in season 2.

kim jun wan (jung kyung ho) is a cardiothoracic surgeon. he might seems cold at first, and a bit cruel, but later you'd find out that he was really care about his patients. he might not go high and low like jung won did, but he cared about them. he went to his patients' daughter wedding party and he was super anxious when his one of his patient finally got a transplant donor that he was worried he had fever that would cancel the surgery. he was also hard on his resident, but later we found out that he took care of his resident as well. at first he seemed to have bad luck on the romance department, partly because he had a bad taste in girlfriend. but later we found out that jun wan fell in love with ik joon's little sister and it was hilarious seeing him hide their relationship from ik woon. unfortunately, they were in long distance relationship at the end of first season, and things looked worrisome between them so, i do hope they have a good story in the second season. probably finally admitting their relationship to ik joon for a start? oh and by the way, he played guitar and sing a little too. i guess having an idol star girlfriend could come in handy..

then there's chae song hwa (jeon mi do), the only woman in the main cast. she is a neurosurgeon and a pretty good one. all of her colleagues pictured her as the perfect person, if there's one. she was punctual, great on her job, she was kind to her residents too. she had this thing about camping. it was quite funny seeing how she didn't buy a new shoes and keep using the same one for years even though it was a bit torn out, but she bought new camping stuffs though she never managed to go camping the whole weekend. however, she had big appetite and it was funny to see her compete with jun wan over food. and ik jun had her say a spell so she didn't get crazy over food. the only flaw about her was she couldn't sing, but they had to put her as lead singer on their band so she would sign to be one of the VIP's doctors. she also played the bass in the band. sounds so cool, right? unfortunately, as like any other love story, problem will arise from having only one girl in the group. we knew that ik joon was secretly liked her, but apparently, back in their college days, seok hyung was the one that confess his love for her the first time. even their friends didn't know about it until the current hospital director asked them on the first episode at jung wan's father's funeral. which shocked everyone, of course. oh well, i do hope things would go well between ik joon and song hwa though, as seok hyung has already decided to give up his feeling toward song hwa.

last one is yang seok hyung (kim dae myung). he's the only one that doesn't work in the surgery department. he is an obstetrician/gynaecologist. he was pictured as the odd one. he was very quiet, kept to himself, and he avoided the crowd. though at first people thought that jung won was rich because his dad was the former hospital director, but later we knew that he gave his almost all his money away in his daddy long legs program. so, their friends were shock when they found out that seok hyung was rich too. his dad was a CEO in some company, and he had a mistress, that's why his mom fell sick and after seok hyung was divorced, he lived together with his mom. he was a divorcee too, but he was already been divorced since first episode, but we didn't know why. but don't worry, at the end, he would probably had his love life get more explored in the second season because at the last episode, his ex-wife suddenly called him out of the blue, while he also just found out that his resident had a crush on him, but he told her to find someone else. but apparently the girl won't listen. anyway, as doctor, his patient also found him odd, but there's one scene that i like. when his patient found out that her baby has died in her womb and cried uncontrollably, seok hyung patiently waited for his patient to let out her emotion, and respected her time. he just waited, and somehow i think it consoles his patient though he didn't say anything. and all the other patients outside, though they were informed that the waiting time would be longer, they didn't complain (well, one of them did, but his wife told him to shut up), because they knew what kind of grief she was into. this is really beautiful, because here, the line in the OG department was crazy. almost every OG doctors have long lines of patients. and to make other people wait like that was an impossible thing to do, that's why people always see doctors as money making machine, and not someone that has compassion and empathy. doctors were rushed to see patient after patient and not given enough time to care more for their patient. by the way, seok hyung played the keyboard and sometimes sang too.

what i like:

- this drama truly pictures life of doctors. from their busy time, juggling between work, family and hobby. and also how works can get in the way in their relationship. and how exhausting it is to be a resident. there's a scene where song hwa's resident got lost track of time until he didn't know that it was morning already since he was always inside the hospital building and didn't see the sun at all. it was real. i was like that too back when i was a young doctor. we only remembered our night duty day and off day. and though all the main casts were good doctors, we can't deny that there are doctors who work for money like jun wan's colleague, or for publicity like song hwa's colleague. so this drama really pictured doctors' life.

- no antagonist. this is a life drama. whatever problems arise, it's natural to happen in day to day life, and not because it is in a drama. like seok hyung's resident when her partner was suddenly disappear, she was exhausted because she had to be in night duty almost every night. she was exhausted of course, but when her partner reappeared, she had mix feeling, between angry or relieve. and it's natural, and it does happen in real life.

- how all the main cast have almost enough screen time even though there are five of them, so we know them all proportionally.

- one drama with two outcome. not only the drama, but we also got a music band too. if you go to youtube, you could find them playing all their songs (only the ones that was played by the band, mido and falasol) live.

what i don't like:

- well, i don't have any problem with this drama, but probably some people might get bored because the drama has a bit slower storyline. but i don't mind. i enjoy the drama as it reminiscence of my old days.

rating: 10/10

binge worthy: yes

recommended for: people who likes medical drama, who doesn't mind slower storyline. this has a mix of a bit romance, but just a little bit. some laugh too thanks to jun wan and ik joon. if you decided to watch this drama, tell me which one do you root for, which one is your favorite. i bet many people adore ik joon, but he's a bit too flashy for me. somehow i'm rooting for jung wan. i'm hoping his relationship goes okay. and i want to see more of seok hyung too. 

strong girl do bong soon

i never think that i'd like fantasy combined with romantic drama storyline, but this one changes my opinion. this drama has replaced "what's wrong with secretary kim" in my favorite romantic comedy korean drama list. and i have watched it twice. even i successfully dragged my husband to watch this together and he enjoyed this one too. i watched this on netflix out of nowhere, i even forgot how i came across this drama. i think because i watched several korean drama romantic comedy on my netflix that it gave me this suggestion. i never watch any park bo young's drama before this drama, so this is the first drama that i watch for three of them.

title: strong woman do bong soon

cast: park bo young (do bong soon), park hyung sik (ahn min hyuk), ji soo (im gook doo)

genre: romantic comedy/ fantasy

this is a drama about a super strong girl, do bong soon. she inherited a weird female trait from her family. every woman in her family has super strong power. they have to do good with the strength, or it will taken away from them. her mother did bad with her strength, so the power is taken away from her. so she told bong soon to just keep it a secret as she is worried about her safety. so all her life she had tried her best to cover her power, but she's been using it secretly, including for saving young ahn min hyuk's life (but both of them didn't know each other back then).

then there's ahn min hyuk. a CEO of gaming company. he had a blackmailer that haunted him, but he suspected it was one of his three brother in order to prevent him from inheriting their father's company. he remembered about a girl in a pink hoodie that saved his life when the bus he was riding on, almost involved in an accident had the girl not help them. but he didn't know that the girl was bong soon at first. accidentally, he met bong soon again while she was using her power to help others.

due to that incident, both min hyuk and bong soon had to give testimony in the police station. there, they met bong soon's long love crush since high school days, gook doo. though gook doo had a girlfriend already, he kept scolding bong soon out of habit that kept bong soon confused about whether or not he like her. after that incident, min hyuk decided to hire bong soon to be his bodyguard and their love story began.

bong soon tried to help min hyuk but accidentally hurt him instead. so min hyuk decided to teach her to control her power. they became closer since they spent so many times together. even bong soon's mother tried to make bong soon slept over at min hyuk's house so they could spent some time together and probably had "accident" so they would end up getting married. at the same time, in bong soon's residency area, there was a kidnapper that kidnapped slim girls. bong soon's best fried became one of the attempted victim, but since bong soon helped her at the right time, the kidnapper became angry and wanted to hurt bong soon.

due to both cases, three of them got tangled together. bong soon was a witness in the kidnapping case that made gook doo worried because he was afraid that bong soon might be the next victim. but gook doo didn't know about bong soon's power. so bong soon relied on min hyuk to act as her boss and protected her so she could keep working as his bodyguard. then there was bong soon's brother that was briefly involved with gook doo's girlfriend when they met for consultation at the hospital since bong soon's brother was a orthopedic surgery resident. 

as time goes by, as min hyuk's love is getting stronger, bong soon realized that slowly she had fallen in love with min hyuk too. that's unfortunate for gook doo, since he was realizing his feeling just at the same time as min hyuk's love confession. at that time, min hyuk's blackmailer has been caught, so it was only the kidnapper case. the case escalated as the kidnapper managed to kidnapped bong soon's best friend after failing the first time. bong soon's attempt to find the kidnapper herself backfired. she managed to save her best friend but lost her power in the process. 

the kidnapper knowing bong soon's power is gone, bravely attacked bong soon in min hyuk's company. together with gook doo, they tried to catch him but failed. bong soon was locked and put inside a storage room in the rooftop while being attached to a bomb. she told min hyuk to go away when min hyuk managed to find her, but he refused. supernaturally, she got her power back and managed to save both of them. then the three of them, being forced by bong soon, of course, worked hand in hand to put a trap for the kidnapper. fast forward, they managed to capture the kidnapper, and bong soon and min hyuk were getting married, and they got twin girls as punishment from the Buddha since bong soon turned Buddha statue backward when she accompanied her mother while praying for her.

what i like:

- though i usually don't like supernatural or ridiculous story like having super power, but somehow it blends okay with the storyline. the rule about having to use the power for good and losing it for doing something bad also makes sense. but without that power story, bong soon wouldn't have a chance to get close to min hyuk, and both of them wouldn't have the chance to help gook doo, so the power is something that connects the whole story. even in their love story, the power has some connecting lines too. that bong soon realized min hyuk accepted her even though she had super power without thinking that she was weird. and she realized that she kept her power hidden from gook doo, afraid that he might think of her as weirdo.

- the whole storyline has nothing left untold. the story of their young lives, had connection with their current life. the story of the blackmailer, and the kidnapper, all put into an end. sometimes, the writer told many stories, but only close some of them. that would leave the audience curious about them. but in this story, nothing's left untold.

- all the actors and actress, even the supporting ones like bong soon's family, best friend and even those high school punks, were good in their acting skills. 

- the actors and actress styling. sometimes, they put branded things in drama as advertising, without thinking that it might look overdressed for someone that's playing as worker, for example. but in this drama, i think all clothes are appropriate. weird bright clothes for the moms in the residency area, sometimes trendy items put together in weird way, is really a old ladies' weird taste in fashion. while bong soon, since she was put last by her mother, she used old clothes, probably second handed clothes, that's why her look was old or weird or a bit vintage. she was struggled financially at first, and that portrayed in her clothing. then after she had a job, she bought new clothes, and her looks was more trendy after that. while gook doo was clothed in plain police clothes, like black leather jacket, jeans and boots. min hyuk, being a CEO in his young age, was obviously dressed as trendy as possible since he had the money and the look. so i guess they really put a lot of thought in styling them as well, not just the storyline.

- i really adore the spark between the FL and ML. even in their promoting videos, you could see hyung sik teasing bo young a lot and even expressing many times that in real life, he would definitely date her if he could. i do think they look cute together, but let's not make the same mistake like song-song couple.

the cons:

- honestly, i think ji soo's acting is way to weird and too stiff. but probably that's what the director tried to portray. but i do like when he finally realized that he had feeling for bong soon and he realized it too late. i like how he portray that in the drama.

- typical love story between the rich CEO and his assistant/ bodyguard. between a rich guy and a poor girl.

rating: 9/10

binge worthy: yes

recommended for: someone who loves romantic comedy, fans of bo young and park hyung sik (both looks really pretty and handsome in this drama), and doesn't mind silly fantasy storyline. loves good laugh. though there were some scary scenes, but it's not horribly scary.

eccentric chef moon

this pandemic forces us to stay at home mostly, thus netflixing or binge-watching drama or serial is a new habit that i adopt to survive this pandemic (read: boredom). my favorite western serial drama is being put on hold or even finished (criminal minds.. i don't think i'd find other drama like this). oh well.. then comes korean drama. i've watched korean drama before, but not consistently since i usually find free streaming to watch it. but thanks to netflix, my korean drama supply is abundant. i'll try to review every one of them that i've watched soon. but first, let's talk about chef moon.

nope, i don't watch this on netflix. i have to find it from free streaming online to watch this. and the only reason i watch this is eric mun since he's the male lead (ML). i knew that female lead (FL) from waikiki and i don't quite like her, but i'm curious about eric's comeback drama so i managed to finish the drama just now.

title: eccentric chef moon

cast: eric mun (chef moon), ko won hee (yo yoo jin/bella), ko do yeon (kim seol-a), ahn nae sang (im chul yong) and many more

genre: romantic/melodrama

this story revolves around three people, chef moon the eccentric chef, bella the no-face designer and a little girl seol-a. three of them get tangled and end up living together in a small village. and they find out that their life problem come from one source, the greediness of a businessman. together with the villagers, they push forward in life and finally win against the enemy.

honestly, the storyline is a common one. a story about a greedy businessman that would try anything just to get what he wants even though it means killing someone else. obviously it would cost someone else. chef moon's parents for example. seol-a is a little girl that suddenly comes into his life because she claims that chef moon is his father. at first he resented her, but lately, after finding out why seol-a claims he was her father, he accepted her. 

and there is bella aka yo yoo jin. a designer that has a trauma from her childhood so she can't see camera flashes so even though she's a worldwide-known designer, she keeps hiding her face so no one ever sees her face except for her mentor, whom lately she finds out that her mentor has something to do with her mother's death. when she was about to take care of her mother's graves property, she got into an accident and lost her memory and somehow she ended up in chef moon's house.

obviously, living together creates sparks between them, but the evil man is not stopping at all. he keeps trying to crush both of them to dust. together with the villagers, they try to stop the businessman but they fail several times before at last they can win. typical "good will overcome the bad" storyline, isn't it?

what i like: 

- most of the actors and actresses are good, even the supporting ones. i like seol-a too. though i don't quite like yoo jin, somehow sometimes i think she's lack of emotion. and i don't know why they called it eccentric chef while the one that's more eccentric is bella, the FL. 

- how at the end, the mentor helps the daughter of the businessman to keep back to her feet even though at first she was the cause of bella's accident and even becomes the fake bella. and how chef moon doesn't hold bella back. when she finds back her memory and after everything is over, he tells her to do whatever she wants, finds her own dream and leaves it up to her if she ever decides to come back home. this is not a typical love storyline, while other drama would make the ML to the FL and not waiting at all.

- the togetherness of the villagers. somehow it makes this drama more heartwarming.

what i don't like:

- how the antagonist is still a super evil person that has various way to crush other people. how they portray the rich has a way to win though it's only at first. 

- i wish they pick someone else as the FL since i think the sparks is not there between the FL and ML. and surprisingly, the age gap is super wide too! 15 years! the FL is even younger than eric's wife in real life. 

- eric's hairstyle. why do they have to choose that hairstyle? it makes him look old. 

rating: 7/10

binge worthy: no

recommended for: someone who likes eric mun, who doesn't mind slow-progressing drama, no intriguing storyline and common story (bad guy vs the good guy and finally the ML win the FL's heart).