true beauty

finally i decided to watch true beauty first instead of mr. queen. mainly because i was curious of cha eun woo. i know that he already starred in other korean dramas, but somehow i don't like the main actress in other dramas, so this is his first drama that i watched. plus, i like moon ga young as well, so i have high hope for this drama.

title: true beauty

cast: moon ga young, cha eun woo, hwang in youp, park yoo na

genre: romantic comedy

lim ju kyung (moon ga young) is a bright young high schooler, but she is unlucky in her appearance. out of all her siblings, she is the ugliest. her dad is quite good looking but her mom isn't. she is often being bullied at school because of her appearance, but she endured it all. but she reached her limit when she was being bullied by her schoolmates because she was rejected by a man she liked. she was on top of a building when she was "saved" by lee su ho (cha eun woo). su ho thought ju kyung was about to have a suicide so he prevented her, but he was seemed angry for some reason. ju kyung's glasses was knocked out and broken so she couldn't see su ho's face clearly, thus she didn't know the face of her savior. she thought they wouldn't meet again. but guess what.. ju kyung's dad got scammed so they lost their apartment and had to move back to their old house, which made ju kyung had to transfer school.

determined not to be bullied again because of her appearance, ju kyung learned how to put on makeup by binge-watching a famous youtuber, selena. she managed to succeed in her new school. all of her friends think that she's naturally pretty, but she knows that she's ugly underneath all that makeup. in her new school, there are two famous boys, one is lee suho, whom ju kyung has met before but she didn't know it yet, and the other one is han seo jun (hwang in yeop). they were best friends before, but due to some unrevealed reason (yet), they became apart and even almost like enemy. outside school, ju kyung has met su ho in her comic rental place without makeup comfortably, thinking that su ho wouldn't find out that she is the "pretty" ju kyung from school. but su ho did. so when ju kyung found out that su ho knew about her true face, she became a running errand girl for su ho, in order to prevent su ho from telling the truth about her appearance at school. while su ho, apparently has started to have feelings for her, thought that this way could make her closer to him, but he was wrong. unfortunately, seo jun caught up that su ho had feelings for ju kyung and made ju kyung his target too. however, seo jun also started to fall in love with ju kyung as well. outside school, ju kyung's mom and seo jun's mom were friends and they lived nearby, that makes things more complicated.

ju kyung unknowingly helped seo jun's little sister, goo won, when she was being bullied for being ugly by her peers in the choir and put on makeup for her when she was about to performed. watching goo won's performance, ju kyung's little brother, ju young has crush on her. while ju kyung's older sister, has crush on ju kyung's homeroom teacher. ju kyung herself, managed to make friends with kang soo jin (park yoo na) and choi soo ah (kang min ah). kang soo jin is second in school, she lost to su ho and got beaten by her dad because of it. soo jin's family were close to su ho's family as well, but her father didn't like that su ho's dad became rich because of his entertainment company, and not like himself, a respectable doctor. while soo ah is a cheerful and cute girl, who has on and off relationship with yoo tae hoon (lee il jun).

at school's camp, things got complicated as su ho wanted to confess to ju kyung. while seo jun knew about it and tried to make su ho jealous. while soo jin started to realize her feelings for su ho and couldn't believe that su ho had a crush on someone else. she also managed to find out about ju kyung's secret but decided to keep ju kyung's secret at first. su ho and ju kyung became closer and even though it was complicated, su ho managed to confess his feelings to ju kyung, and seo jun for the first time let ju kyung to be with su ho and chose not to confess his feeling. su ho and ju kyung became a couple but upon ju kyung's request, they kept it a secret and it annoyed su ho, since they couldn't do things couples do freely. 

then a mayhem happened at su ho's dad company. hee kyung (ju kyung's older sister) found out that the company plagiarized a song composed by leo (it was su ho's secret name) and used it without permit hence confronted su ho's dad about it and told him the truth behind the suicide incident of jung se yeon (kang chan hee). the manager in su ho's dad company decided to let out the bullying rumour around se yeon to cover the scandal of su ho's dad. su ho who came running, heard that and couldn't believe that his dad had involved in the incident. seo jun who came last, confronted su ho without knowing that su ho has been shocked enough to learn the truth and came running toward the busy street, chased by seo jun, and later both got into car accident.

ju kyung came running to the hospital upon hearing su ho's accident, without makeup, without thinking, crying her heart to a man under the blanket, but she was wrong. it wasn't su ho but seo jun. didn't want seo jun to find out about her secret, she covered her face and su ho who came seconds later told seo jun that ju kyung was his cousin. later both of them got back together in the hospital (yep, they were broke up for awhile because su ho wanted their relationship to be out in the open but ju kyung wasn't ready yet). ju kyung also confessed about their relationship to soo jin who seemed okay with it at first, but later we found out that soo jin still wanted to win over su ho. soo jin later found out that ju kyung was bullied by se mi in her old school, conspiring with se mi and uploaded ju kyung's old photo and videos in the school's website, along with her new picture hugging su ho. 

the entire school found out both ju kyung's secret, her old ugly face and her relationship with su ho. shocked by the incident, she ran out, leaving su ho devastated looking for her. while seo jun tracked soo jin and confronted her as the one that uploaded the photos, and even the webmaster and threatened her to take down the photos and video. while ju young (ju kyung's little brother) stepped up and punched his friends who made jokes about ju kyung's ugly face. he might teased his sister at home, but at school, he became her secret defender. even her homeroom teacher, broke up with hee kyung for a bit, because he thought ju kyung was shocked after finding out his relationship with hee kyung. but later he found out that wasn't the case and asked ju kyung's mom to school and told her everything about the bullying.

sad after learning the truth, ju kyung's mom tried to bring ju kyung to a plastic surgeon but backed out after hearing that ju kyung needed to re-do her entire face. however, ju kyung finally came in peace with her old self. she braced herself and went to school the next day bare face. luckily, her classmates were supportive of her choice. soo ah who seemed angry at first, turned out she was furious because ju kyung told her secret to soo jin and not her, thinking that soo ah might leave her because of her ugly face. soo ah also confronted soo jin and told her to apologize to ju kyung. yay to no bullying!

anyway.. soo jin's plan backlashes at her as in the next few days, there was news about soo jin betrayed ju kyung in the school website, leaving soo jin feeling ashamed. seo jun and su ho got back together and seo jun initially asked su ho's permission to admit his feeling to ju kyung in order for him to move on, but his plan didn't work. su ho's dad got back to the US but then got brain hemorrhage so su ho had to fly to the US immediately, leaving ju kyung behind. at first they decided to do LDR, but as su ho's dad condition worsen suddenly and the doctor couldn't predict whether he's going to recover or not, su ho decided to break up with ju kyung as he thought it would be unfair for ju kyung to wait for him.

two years later, without any update from su ho, ju kyung graduated, got an internship in selena beauty shop, while ju young became closer to go woon. seo jun trained back in su ho's dad company under hee kyung's wing and was about to make his debut. when ju kyung was drunk, he accidentally confess his feeling to ju kyung and asked for 5 dates. but after 1 date, su ho came back. he met ju kyung accidentally in namsan. oh yeah, ju kyung found out that su ho was the crybaby boy back in the comic store when they were just little and she finally remembered him. su ho tried to get back with ju kyung but ju kyung denied her feeling at first. but when seo jun told her that su ho was going to go back to the US, ju kyung couldn't deny her feeling and ran to su ho's house. i guess you can guess the rest of the story.

what i like:

- i guess the moral story is how you should accept yourself. you might be born ugly but you might have a bright personality. in this story, you can see how it's not about ju kyung accepting herself, but also her friends accepting as how she is. like su ho who doesn't mind about her appearance. he loves her just as is.

- this story brings up about bullying in school again. i guess considering how bullying became trends nowadays, they have to make several dramas talking about bullying in order to stop kids from thinking it's cool. but i guess it won't matter if the school doesn't do anything about it. in my time, bullying were considered natural stuff to toughen you up, and most teachers have the similar opinion about it. so unless the school teachers and staffs have more updated opinion about it, then bullying will still happen at school.

- this is another story of family love, like how ju kyung's dad teamed up with her because she's the ugly duck. and how her mother finally understood why ju kyung wanted to learn makeup after hearing about her bullying story. also how her older sister and younger brother protect her with their own ways, despite them sometimes annoy each other at home. we also see family conflict and story in seo jun's family and su ho's. as well as soo jin. 

- talking about soo jin, we see again how they bring up the story of pressure from the upper class family for kids to have good grades, to become doctor or lawyer or other prestigious job. similar to sky castle, but in smaller portion.

- all the actresses and actors are good. even the supporting ones. and i have to agree, cha eun woo is a webtoon's adaptation specialist. looking at him you'll agree that he looks like he walks out of the webtoon.

- i don't know i should like it or not. i don't read the webtoon so i don't know how much the scenario is different from the original webtoon. but i do know that in the webtoon, during su ho's absence, ju kyung chose seo jun. while in the drama, ju kyung kept waiting for su ho and at the end, they got back together. as someone who can't deny eun woo's charm, obviously i am #teamsuho. but it must be disappointing for seo jun's fans if you read the webtoon. 

what i don't like:

- though i like how they bring up about being able to accept yourself, i can't say i agree that they use "ugly face" as the condition that you have to accept. like the standard is beauty and being ugly is wrong. and how this drama is full of sponsored items, makeup for example. i do get that makeup can enhance your feature, but in this drama, makeup is a way to cover your flaws. and wearing makeup during high school? in my school days, no one wore makeup even in high school.

- and let's not forget about the two years gap when su ho was MIA. i have my own suspicion about the long gap. one, as high schooler, they won't be able to make happy ending as high schooler still have years ahead in their life. their love story might end. but as an adult, their happy ending is closer. plus they get to make the steamy scene as they're pictured as adult. but as high schooler, sleeping over is outrageous, even though nowadays even asian can accept that most high schoolers are not virgin anymore. second, as high schooler, they probably couldn't accept alcohol beverages as sponsor. but if they were pictured as adult, you can see drinking scenes thus soju appeared in the scene. most of the drama we could only see hee kyung and ju kyung's parents drinking. but they were just supporting ones. so i bet the sponsorship would want the mains to do the drinking scene. that's why probably they jumped into adult life so they can have drinking scenes. but again.. these are my suspicion. 

- if they want to make his father to undergo brain surgery, at least shave his head! or make him suffer from another disease. i bet you've watched enough medical drama to understand that you have to shave the hair for brain surgery!

rating: 9/10

binge worthy: yes.

recommended for: the fans of the webtoon or interested in the webtoon but haven't read it yet, fans of eun woo, moon ga yeong and hwang in youp, don't mind high school love story which is usually a bit cheesy.

radio romance

i was finished watching love alarm and obviously netflix would recommend me another kim so hyun's drama, so i decided to watch radio romance. i was interested when i saw the synopsis, but i was forcing myself to finish it. call me weird, but somehow i'm getting irritated by the list of my "continue to watch" in netflix. those dramas or film were boring, so i lost interest watching them. but this one, though it's not my favorite, but i managed to finish it just so it would be gone from the list. 

title: radio romance

cast: yoon doo joon, kim so hyun, yoon park, yura

genre: romantic

ji soo ho (yoon doo joon) is a top actor from a well known family. his dad is a veteran actor, and her mom is the CEO of their entertainment company. though they look like a happy and enviable family, the truth is it's all just an act. his father involved in a scandal with younger actress while his mom was not his birth mom, and she has been putting up with her husband's scandal for way too long. and soo ho himself, got depressed and couldn't sleep without sleeping pills. 

while song geu rim (kim so hyun) is an assistant writer in a radio, but it was her dream to become a writer. unfortunately, she has been a running errand girls rather than achieving her dream as a writer. moreover, her previous DJ has been MIA and then ran away, leaving her team disbanded and suspended for awhile. but then PD lee kang (yoon park) showed up. he was a legendary PD in the radio company. his program was always a hit before he took a leave and went to india. he then was chosen to save the radio company and gathered another team. he put together geu rim and go hoon jung (jo byung gyu) under his wing. his first idea was casting a top actor as their DJ, and soo ho was his pick.

geu rim then tried her best to cast soo ho. seeing her persistent effort, he decided to give it a try. but apparently that's not his reason to give in. back in his childhood days, apparently soo ho had met geu rim in a hospital. back when geu rim mother has just an eye surgery that left her blind, geu rim was learning how to live with a blind person, so she took a class there and had her eyes blindfolded. at that time, she met soo ho with blindfold on so she almost never saw his face. apparently soo ho was falling in love with geu rim back in the days and he was annoyed that she forgot about him when she met him again. 

problem rose when soo ho's mom tried to control soo ho's life, while soo ho for once wanted to do the radio thing for himself. long story short, soo ho managed to succeed as radio DJ, while geu rim managed to be a competent writer under lee kang's guidance. their love triangle story also began there. soo ho tried to swoon geu rim while pd kang apparently also had feeling for her. however, geu rim managed to remember soo ho as her first love thus accepting soo ho's feeling for her. 

however, their relationship had to face several blocks. from soo ho's legal mom disapproval to their relationship being out in public. and also soo ho's past. there was another boy in both soo ho and geu rim's past. soo ho was hospitalized because he took too many sleeping pills, even as a boy. he then met a boy who had terminal disease and made friend with him. that boy had crush on geu rim first, and he told soo ho that he was going to confess his feeling when he won the singing contest. soo ho was their mailman at first, but then soo ho began to develop feelings for her as well and he even kissed her first, but that boy saw soo ho kissing geu rim. then soo hoo, who was feeling guilty, didn't want to meet the boy and the boy came rushing across the street and got hit instead. he was died and soo ho was feeling guilty up until he met geu rim again.

geu rim then found out that her first love was indeed soo ho, but the other one was the one that sent her letters. soo ho who still kept the letter, gave it to geu rim, and then found out that the boy had found out that soo ho had feeling for geu rim and he decided to give up. his next letters were apparently for soo ho. feeling relieved from his guilt, he finally could move on with his relationship with geu rim. soo ho life also got upside down because his father scandal was out in public, he decided not to cover up for his parents anymore and admitted that their perfect family life was all a lie. but at the end, his dad was the one that's not up for family thing, while soo ho kept in touch with his legal mom, who was changed at the end. on the side, we also see how soo ho's managed got a love story as well.

what i like:

- well, at least they fill in the gap for all the questions in the drama. 

- at least his manager got better love story and more exciting/lively that soo ho's. and could we let his manager teach him a thing or two about how to handle a girl? 

what i don't like:

- gee... i can't believe someone could actually frown almost all episodes of the drama. if you watched, you'd see that i'm talking about soo ho. up until he was in the clear with his parents and his childhood guilt, soo ho was always frown and cold. until probably couple last episodes, we then start to see him smile. 

- the story is boring. pretty flat. with all the problems from his childhood, his parents and this love triangle, all of them don't help with the pretty boring storyline. 

- i know that kim soo hyun is a child actress and she is a veteran, but still. ain't she not in her adult year when she filmed this drama? then why filmed her as an adult, with all the drinking scenes and stuff? 

rating: 6/10

binge worthy: no

recommended for: those who don't have anything to watch, fans of kim so hyun and maybe yoon do joon. 

love alarm

this might not be my best decision to watch this series, but i was curious about song kang. especially since sweet home is trending right now. i don't like horror series, so i won't watch sweet home, so i guess love alarm would be a good option for now. i know that kim so hyun is a veteran actress considering her age, but somehow i'm not interested in watching her dramas, so i guess this is the first time. anyway, i thought it would be done in 8 episodes, but i'm not doing my research completely. turns out there would be a season 2. so let's talk about season 1 for now.

title: love alarm

cast: song kang, kim so hyun, jung ga ram, go min si

genre: romantic melodrama, teen/youth drama

kim jo jo (kim so hyun) is a hardworking girl who apparently has a dark past. both her parents were dead due to tragic incident in the past, leaving her to pay her parents' debt to her aunty. she has several part time jobs to pay the debt, her "grandma" hospital bill, as well as her personal needs. anything else isn't important for her. at first we knew that she was in a relationship with il sik (shin seung ho), a judo player. jo jo also has to endure park gul mi (go min si)'s torture, since she is her cousin who lives under the same roof as her.

while hwang sun oh (song kang) is a famous teen model who grew up in a rich family, but apparently his family isn't that enviable. his dad is a congressman and all he cared about is the family status in front of public eyes. while his mom is a former actress who only cares about her fame. luckily, in his dysfunctional family, he found a best friend, lee hye yeong (jung ga ram). hye yeong is the son of sun oh's family helper who both live under the same roof as sun oh. 

sun oh was attracted to kim jo jo from the first sight, and he was curious about her as she seemed to be unaffected by his handsomeness as well as his popularity. then enter love alarm. an application that would notify you whenever someone has romantic feeling for you within 10 meter radius from you. problems start to arise because of this application. gul mi was hoping that sun oh would ring her love alarm, but turned out it was cheong duk gu (lee jae eung) who rang hers and it disgusted her that she turned him down flat right away, hurting duk gu's feeling. gul mi didn't know that duk gu was the secret developer of love alarm (until the end, they hasn't revealed duk gu as the developer yet).

while sun oh, who in the first place, was only interested in kim jo jo because he saw that hye yeong had feeling for jo jo, finally intrigued by her as well. he openly told hye yeong about his feeling for jo jo and both decided that the decision is up to jo jo. while il sik was excited about his love alarm ring, thinking that it was jo jo, while the truth was it was kim jung go (z.hera) who rang his. jo jo then broke up with il sik after il sik found out about jo jo kissing sun oh. while il sik later found out about jung go's feeling but told her to get rid of her feeling.

sun oh pressed jo jo to download the app to find out whether or not jo jo likes him back. and jo jo did. both their love alarm rang confirming that they both had feelings for each other, leaving hye yeong heartbroken but he decided to respect jo jo's choice and backed up. their relationship brought problem as gul mi tried her best to separate them, spreading rumors and stuff. while on the school trip to jeju, there was a fire accident that led jo jo back to her past, remembering her parents death which was apparently from suicide. jo jo was almost died with her parents as well, but she managed to escape and went to "grandma"'s house (i guess grandma was just a neighbour but loved her as her own grandchildren). her classmates surprised finding jo jo's traumatic response and the rumor led jo jo to run away with sun oh. while on their way back, they got into accident.

fast forward four years later, we find that jo jo broke up with sun oh, telling him that she didn't love him anymore because she was afraid that their relationship could hurt her and sun oh as well. she downloaded the shield given by duk gu and once she downloaded it, she could cover her feeling and her crush's love alarm won't ring anymore. sun oh shocked when he saw that jo jo didn't ring his love alarm anymore and went back to the US, but later came back to korea with a new girlfriend whom he didn't love. while hye yeong was about to go to an internship when he encountered jo jo again. he decided not to back down and confessed his feeling to jo jo, leaving jo jo confused. 

sun oh couldn't believe that jo jo didn't love him anymore, pushing jo jo to reject hye yeoung as well. sun oh was afraid that jo jo would later dump hye yeong as jo jo did to him. while jo jo couldn't say anything because part of her still loved sun oh, but part of her started to feel comfortable with hye yeong. sun oh asked proof from love alarm, but jo jo couldn't tell that her love alarm won't ring anyone because of the shield. the series ended at the launch of love 2.0. sun oh and his girlfriend was invited to the launch, while jo jo got mysterious invitation. she came to ask the developer to get rid of the shield to find out her own feeling. while hye yeong came rushing to catch jo jo. at the end, sun oh's girlfriend got a kick in the gut because she saw that sun oh did ring someone else's love alarm, jo jo's. and jo jo still got two hearts, one from sun oh, one from hye yeong. who will she choose? sun oh or hye yeong?

what i like:

- the new idea that using an application could help you confess your feeling quicker. though it might get ugly as well. in the drama we saw that some boys got confused as their rang other boys' alarm. they became disgusted in themselves as they never thought that they liked the same sex.

- well written plot. in the beginning we see sweet love story between two teenagers, but then as they grew up, it got complicated. i can't wait how they plot the second season, as the big question is already there from the first season.

- at first i thought the aunt would be like the park so dam's stepmother in "cinderella and the four knights". but i was wrong. when she found out that gul mi stole jo jo's money, she agreed to jo jo's term and scolded gul mi for using money that wasn't hers. i guess there's still justice in jo jo's life.

- all the actors and actresses were good, even the supporting ones. i like jo jo teacher in particular. he was care about jo jo and pretty intuitive too. and the outfit were okay i guess. humble and simple clothing for those who in need for money, but flashy outfit for sun oh and his family.

what i don't like:

- another story about love triangle and dysfunctional family. at least this time hye yeong was pretty brave, for stepping down at first. and the dysfunctional family is not the main center of the story. but it might changed in the second season.

- why they have to make it so short? but i have to say the writer is quite genius for putting a solid story in 8 episodes.

rating: 8/10

binge worthy: might be

recommended for: those who like teen love story, love song kang and kim so hyun, and don't mind getting curious about the ending.

my secret romance

i need to stop skipping dramas.. after i watched the secret life of my secretary in 3 days, i watched this drama in 2 days. skipping unimportant scenes and just focusing on the main actor and actress. gee.. i need to stop. anyway, somehow i want to watch romcom again since it makes me laugh, so i hope this one too.

title: my secret romance

cast: sung hoon, song ji eun, kim jae young, jeong da sol

genre: romantic comedy, a bit melodrama

cha jin wook (sung hoon) is a chaebol from daebok company. he was having too much fun, playing around with girls and partying, but he never got serious with one girl. his father found out about it and sent him to the resort that they owned to work there as a bellboy. while lee yu mi (song ji eun) is an energetic hard-working girl who loves food but failed to be a cook. she became a nutritionist instead. her mother was getting married for the second time in the same resort, so yu mi had no option but to ride on a bus to go to the resort. while jin wook was forced to take the bus and met yu mi for the first time.

in the resort, jin wook kept playing around, doing nothing. at the same time, yu mi was embarrassed since her mother selfishly put her old pictures from an adult movie that she starred in, embarrassing both yu mi and her new husband. but yumi suffered the most since she has been getting the same treatment since high school. she then ran away from the venue, and accidentally ran over jin wook who was bringing the wedding cake. both were smitten for the first time. but their meeting didn't end there. the manager told jin wook to apologize to yu mi, but being a jackass, he sent wine to yu mi room instead of apologizing. unfortunately, while she was going to go in the bathtub, she slipped and spilled the wine on her. jin wook mistakenly thought that she was injured so he rushed her over and even called for ambulance. imagine how surprised they both when yu mi woke up feeling ticklish when the paramedic tested her reflex.

feeling embarrassed, yu mi walked around the resort while jin wook managed to steal his car key back and made a quick stop at his mother's place, leaving flowers in front of her porch. back on his way, he found yu mi sitting at the bus stop so he stopped and offered to accompany her. they both drank and one thing lead to another. they both spent the night together in jin wook's car. but in the morning, yu mi realized what they have done and ran away before jin wook woke up. she left her breast pad in his car while she brought jin wook's coat with her.

after that night, both of them couldn't forget each other, but yu mi thought they wouldn't meet again. three years later, jin wook had become a hardworking son, working his ass off in the company so he could forget yu mi. imagine his surprise when he saw yu mi walking in the same building. he found out that she was the new nutritionist and made a plan to pay her back for leaving him naked in the car the following morning. yu mi then found out that jin wook was the chaebol and worried that he might have wrong impression of her, so she pretended to forget it all. while jin wook was determined to make her remember. he asked her to make him three meals a day, sometimes even more in addition to her usual workload. he also asked her to date him 10 times. both still have feelings for each other, so after so many dates and stuff, both jin wook and yu mi couldn't deny their feeling.

however, there's a misunderstanding when jin wook saw yu mi with dong gu. dong gu was her mother's son with her new husband. but since dong gu is 3 years old, he thought dong gu was his since it was 3 years ago that they slept together. jin wook's father also misunderstood as well and thought jin wook had a wedlock son, but later it was cleared up that dong gu wasn't yumi's. and what a drama would be without other people that like them as well? entered anchor joo hye ri (jung da sol) who has crush on jin wook since high school, but jin wook didn't like her. his father also approved of hye ri but jin wook insisted that hye ri wasn't the one for him. using her position as anchor, she let out her love story a bit, making it public that she had one-sided love for a chaebol.

there's also jung hyun tae (kim jae young). yu mi's friend as well as a writer and cafe owner. he rented the first floor while yu mi lived in the second floor. he had crush on yu mi but never told her. when yu mi got shaken by hye ri and tried to leave jin wook, jin wook held off as he was afraid that yumi would run from him, but yu mi resigned from her post and moved to a rural college. at that time, yu mi's mom made it even worse. she appeared in a talk show talking about her past and even told the public that her daughter was dating a chaebol and that he and his dad mistaken about dong goo. the truth about yu mi's mom was an adult movie star stirred up again. this time it hit her even harder. jin wook, who found out from his assistant, instantly went out to find her. this time it took while before he found her.

accidentally, yu mi met jin wook's mom and got the recipe of abalone porridge, which was jin wook's favorite. later jin wook's mom told him that he should run after the girl that he loves. jin wook finally managed to find yu mi, spent the night again with her only to find yu mi left her once again. for yu mi, jin wook was a dream and it's time for her to wake up. while jin wook was desperate, yu mi's mom appeared again on talk show and this time she told everyone (probably directed to yu mi) that they should follow their heart. her past career being an adult movie star shouldn't affected anyone love's story. at that time, hyun tae lent yu mi his motorcycle so yu mi could go to jin wook's office. jin wook was racing back to his office but his car broke, so he ran. in the office, they both admitted that they still love each other, and hugged each other. they didn't care that everyone could see them now. 

at the end we saw that yu mi's mom remarried again with her second husband and she kept playing her old photos as adult movie star. yu mi and jin wook were back together and still in progress to get jin wook's dad approval.

what i like:

- simple story about life, i guess. the fact that yu mi's mom is an adult movie star has been haunted yu mi forever. but at the end her mom told her that she shouldn't let it affected her, and just follow her heart.

- how they make a mistake like a one night stand could be working. thought it's almost impossible, i think the message here is that you can correct your mistake.

what i don't like:

- cheesy typical love story. like how hye ri did everything she could even bashing yu mi so she could win jin wook. and how jin wook used cheesy tricks so he could kiss yu mi. like the accident in the pool. he managed to rent the whole pool but forgot to tell the lifeguard to be off duty? 

- another chaebol - ordinary girl love story. and the problem with the parent that only want their kids to marry another wealthy kid or famous kid and not just ordinary people.

- how they lean hard on sung hoon's masculinity. and that cheesy back fall? how many times must jin wook catch falling yu mi? ain't that back fall soooo outdated? at this time, i can tell that some dramas sell their actor actress kissing a lot too much, and this drama is one of them.

rating: 7/10

binge worthy: so-so

recommended for: those who like sung hoon and ji eun, don't mind cheesy love story. 

the secret life of my secretary

i don't know why but i was curious about this drama. and this is probably the fastest drama that i finished. maybe i finished this in 3 days or so. even though i've seen the clips and the recaps, i still watch the drama until the end. am i weird? hahaha.. 

title: the secret life of my secretary

case: kim young kwang, jin ki joo, kim jae kyung, koo ja sung

genre: romantic comedy

do min ik (kim young kwang) is a media director of T&T mobile, while jung gal hee (jin ki joo) is his secretary. he has a past that makes him can't trust any secretary for more than a year. while gal hee determined to get her contract renewed. she was disappointed when she found out that she was not getting her contract renewed. but sudden incident caused min ik to experience side effect from his previous aneurysm clip surgery. he suddenly couldn't see any face aside from gal hee's. but there's a trick. she has to wear her usual red cardigan for him to see her face. 

since his position in the company might be in danger because of his condition, he persuaded gal hee to work back as his secretary and to help him to recognize faces. unfortunately, his mother tried to matchmake him and veronica park (kim jae kyung), president of cinepark, who came from even richer family than his. if they are getting married, veronica's shares could help min ik to become CEO, replacing his uncle. however, min ik's uncle intercepted the matchmaking plan, telling veronica to come to another matchmaking meeting, only this time with ki dae joo (koo ja sung), min ik's best friend as well as another director in T&T mobile. and funnily, veronica was intrigued by dae joo right from the start, so when she found out that she was in the wrong meeting, she told gal hee to take care of min ik.

gal hee then rushes to min ik, without realizing that she didn't wear her usual cardigan. she then realized he couldn't see her face and thought that she was veronica park. being former secretary of veronica, gal hee could impersonate veronica perfectly. unfortunately, she was good at acting since min ik started to fall in love with "veronica". gal hee tried to end things quickly, but she was caught by veronica later. veronica was forced by her mom to marry min ik within a month, meanwhile she was still trying to win dae joo. so she forced gal hee to keep impersonating her while she went on a date with dae joo.

this double veronica thing became confusing to min ik, as he fell in love with "veronica" and gal hee at the same time. he confessed to dae joo about having feeling to "veronica" as well, making dae joo furious of veronica. unfortunately, before veronica told gal hee the reason why she had to keep impersonate her, they both got into accident. min ik rushed to the hospital and torned, but decided to meet gal hee and confessed his feeling. gal hee was super happy but at the same time feeling guilty. the guilt was unbearable so she asked veronica to end things. veronica then decided to put and end to it. both confessed, veronica to her mother, gal hee to min ik. but before gal hee had the chance to confess, min ik found out that gal hee was veronica. he was feeling betrayed and fired gal hee.

veronica then told dae joo the whole dupe things and dae joo finally understood why veronica said she had a triangle love story with min ik without having meeting him. they both then went on several dates and then had to face veronica's mom since she was opposed the idea of veronica dating a nobody. meanwhile, gal hee found out that her sister's not away to america to study. instead, her sister met veronica in a casting and then veronica helped her sister joined a theater. later gal hee saw her sister's potential and let her keep joining the theater.

min ik then told his doctor the whole story, and the doctor scolded him for being a fool. he was complained that his brain must not working well since he fell in love with two girls. but now he found out that they were the same person. why should it keep bothering him? ain't him supposed to relieved that his brain didn't put a trick on him? in the company, there was another problem. lee eul wang, his father's former secretary, was apparently make an illegal group. she took the bribe that the company received as well as other funds and things that were not supposed to be received by the company, sold it, then used the money to pay compensation for contract workers in need. her first support went to dae joo, whose mother died while trying to rescue min ik's father fish. trying to save the other workers, she told CEO shim about min ik's condition, which then led to another stockholder meeting as he was not supposed to be a candidate if he had a health problem.

min ik got help from gal hee a day before the meeting and gal hee begged him to let her become his secretary again for one day. but min ik saw how important gal hee to him and then he confessed his feeling once again, tried to start a clean slate with her. unfortunately, at the company, the situation was getting worse. eul wang and all other workers started a hungry strike as a protest to the company. gal hee who was secured her position feeling sorry for other workers, so she joined the hunger strike as well, making min ik devastated seeing her suffer. he then made a plan to defeat his uncle. at the end, we saw that min ik didn't manage to become a CEO and let dae joo became a CEO instead. veronica and dae joo still hasn't got her mother's approval. and min ik condition was not getting better, but his relationship with gal hee still kept going. 

what i like:

- lightweight romance story, a lot of laugh in this drama. perfect for gloomy days. 

- no super evil person that would make you angry watching the drama. i believe dramas should make you happy, feeling better.

- how they pictured the main actress is not super pretty or sexy but still the main actor fell for her. though there are times when she duped veronica and became pretty, but at the end, they kept her curly and nerdy with glasses and all.

- veronica park. i believe she's the light in this drama. how can anyone forgot that she kept remember to say "nice to meet you, my name is veronica park" with her hand gestures every time she started to speak? and how funny her and dae joo? 

what i don't like:

- typical boss-secretary love story. though the situation is real, you might get close to somebody that's very close to you, but still... 

- another work abuse story. the reason eul wang started to embezzle dirty money is because of work abuse started by min ik's father then continued by his uncle. and i think min ik doesn't do anything to change that except he put dae joo as CEO as substitute to calm things over.

- another prosopagnosia story. it seems like it's easy to get this disease, while in real life, it might not as often to get that diagnosis. 

- dae joo might not as innocent as he wanted to be. he didn't do anything when veronica unbuttoned his shirt. twice.

- how at the end there's no solution to min ik's prosopagnosia, while in the other drama, the main actor was completely cured at the end. not completely a happy ending

rating: 9/10

binge worthy: yes

recommended for: someone who love simple romcom story, don't mind another boss secretary love fling as another prosopagnosia diagnosis get in between.

partners for justice 2

this is the season 2 from partners for justice. if you haven't watched the first season, you can skip it because the cases is not totally related. but if you want to have clear story about the series, you should watch it. i have to say the first season is calmer than the second one. the second season is more evil.

title: partners for justice 2

cast: jeong yu mi, jung jae young, oh man seok, no min woo, lee do guk

genre: police crime story

the previous series ended with a big question, whether or not the bones are belonged to oh man sang? apparently, in the beginning we found out that they found DNA of oh man sang from the bones, but baek beom (jung jae young) was not convinced. he kept pounding the bones, looking for possible explanation why he could extracted DNA of oh man sang from the bones. we also learned that detective cha and stella was not joining the second season. stella was leaving to US while detective cha was transferred to busan. also kang hyun was leaving prosecution department and became a lawyer instead. he was feeling sorry for attacking baek beom due to personal reason. he was replaced by do ji han (oh man seok). his nickname was doberman, as he would not stop until he could get the bottom of the case. 

they stumbled upon a drug ring case. baek beom insisted to do the autopsy in the port, where the bodies were found. but apparently, the gangster was there, waiting to get back their items. so baek beom and team were forced to do autopsy and all additional testing in the port under gun force. but soo yeon (susanna noh), managed to sneak a SOS message and the SWAT team managed to save them while baek beom found out the culprit within the gangster member during the short time.

however, baek beom came across something interesting in the body. he found the same hole marking in the body of the drug ring victim as the one he found in oh man seok's bones. he then suspected something. at that time, the name of doctor K surfaced for awhile as the gangster's cleaner but he wasn't caught in the scene. then there's another inheritance case. both husband and wife died back to back because of traffic accident. the husband was rich but the wife's family was poor. both family didn't want to back down. in this case, baek beom was head to head again with dr. ma (song young kyu). at the end, baek beom managed to find out that the husband killed his wife but then got killed in an accident as well. here, we also saw gal dae chul (lee do guk), chief prosecutor that replaced mr. no (ahn suk hwan), whom turned out not retired but promoted to higher position. mr. gal apparently was more sneaky and corrupt than mr. no. he was siding with the rich for his own benefit.

meanwhile, soo yeon's daughter was involved in small accident at school then brought to the same ER as the wife from previous case. she then met dr. jang chul (noh min woo) again. jang chul managed to find the real culprit from soo yeon's daughter accident case as well as telling soo yeon that her daughter was being abused at school. soo yeon then managed to catch the abuser. soo yeon's daughter then tried to matchmaking her mom with jang chul as he was a handsome, competent doctor and still single. then there's a schizophrenia murder case, where mr. gal tried to make himself shine in front of the media but failed terribly. further he made another mistake when he didn't want the team to barge in while cheon mi ho (park hee jin) who was undercover to meet the suspect's sister came in contact with the suspect. do ji han then barked at him and took over command and managed to catch the suspect just in time, finding mi ho trembling with fear for her life at the scene. 

mr. gal also made mistake for calling the next case as a spree killer case, while in fact, the real case was only the first one, the murder case in a motel while the rest were just distractions. here, the team found another trace of dr. K and oh man sang as well. baek beom then found the reason why he found oh man sang's DNA from the bones. the police department as well as the prosecutor office then tried to find oh man sang but he managed to hide. then suddenly soo yeon's daughter got kidnapped. at the end, we saw that jang chul managed to save soo yeon's daughter, but we saw that he had a personality disorder, and his alter ego emerged while he was trying to save soo yeon. so instead of bringing soo yeon to safety, he brought her to his home. luckily, soo yeon's daughter seemed to forget about the alter ego, but she remembered the room where she was held for a while. 

do ji han then had to face his best friend's death which seemed accidental, but he was sure that it was murder since his friend was investigating sung jin's corp (oh man sang's father corporation). mr yoo (hong seon joon), oh man sang's lawyer, then met with mr. gal and mr. no, trying to keep the team away from that case. they arranged another case to make sure that both police department and the prosecutor office had enough on their plate so they didn't have the chance to investigate that accidental death. but they was wrong. do ji han determined to find out the reason why his best friend died. even though he got suspended, he kept going. he found out about dr. K in the process and kept pursuing all leads he found.

while baek beom and eun sol (jeong yu mi) had to work to cover do ji han's absence to reveal the rape case. they was sure that mr. yoo and his client were tricky and tried to make the victim guilty. fortunately, they managed to find the evidence thanks to sally (kang seung hyun)'s hardwork, who replaced stella. she was also a korean american, so mixed language here as well. they found that the accident death was not an accident and it was murder, as well as the drugs used in the rape case which haven't found yet before. that leaves mr. gal furious as his plans fell through. at the end, we found out that dr. K was indeed jang chul. he experienced child abuse growing up, and his mother forced him to become a doctor like his father. but then his mother died in a suicide. his mother's suicide was the case that made jang chul met mr. gal, which then used jang chul here and there as his minion, threatening jang chul that he was the only one that knew his father's whereabout. 

at the end, jang chul was assumed death, while do ji han managed to came back alive after jumping into the river with jang chul. he was fired unfortunately, leaving eun sol desperate but determined to kick mr. gal out of the office as we all found out that he was evil one. more evil than mr.no. the team was trying to catch the drug ring from the rape case, but caught oh man sang instead. surprise, surprise! but then there's another surprise at the end, which gives us hope that there would be a season 3.

what i like:

- more intricate story as well as another antagonist, which is more interesting as jang chul/dr. K was pictured here as someone who has personality disorder. and there's a possibility that there's another personality in him.

- again, all actors and actress were good, aside from several guest stars.

what i don't like:

- crime scene processing is not the main focus in the second season. though there's still thorough scene of autopsy, but the crime scene processing is not as intense as the first season.

- gee.. can we stop using corruption as the background of everything evil? however, i have to applaud mr. gal for being annoying jerk, that wanted me to kick him. he was more evil than mr. no. 

- why do they have to portray sally so similar to stella? why keep using korean/american in their cast and forced them to speak mix language? anyway, it's a bit amusing how they put the love triangle on baek beom while in the first season, they put the love triangle on detective cha- stella - and jung sung joo (baek beom's fatty assistant).

rating: 9/10

binge worthy: yes

recommended for someone who like crime scene/police story, don't mind more horrifying scenes than the first season, and a bit political/corruption background inserted as well. and DID too.