10 of the Worst K-dramas I've Watched
What are your picks and are they are bad as "Five Fingers"?
“XO, Kitty” isn’t a K-drama, but rather a cringey American show that tried to capitalize on the popularity of Korean shows. It was horrible, as noted in my review. So far, that’s my lowest-rated Korean-centric show. But I’ve also watched plenty of Korean shows that are lacking in various ways.
Here are 10 actual K-dramas that I probably should have dropped. The anchor links will take you to each review. They’re rated on a scale of ☆ to ☆☆☆☆.
° Big (빅) ☆½
° Come and Hug Me (이리와 안아줘) ☆☆
° Five Fingers (다섯손가락) ☆☆
° Inspector Koo (구경이) ☆☆
° The Interest of Love (사랑의 이해) ☆☆
° Let’s Eat (식샤를 합시다) ☆☆
° One More Time (헤어진 다음날) ☆½
° Rugal (루갈) ☆☆
° 7 First Kisses (첫키스만 일곱번째) ☆½
° Tunnel (터널) ☆☆
“Big”
☆½
Seo Yoon-jae/Kang Kyung-joon (played by Gong Yoo)
Gil Da-ran (played by Lee Min-jung)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
I had such high hopes for “Big.” Even though the producers stressed that it had nothing to do with the Tom Hanks film of the same name, I had hoped that it would share some of that film’s whimsical charm.
Nope. Not even Gong Yoo (“Coffee Prince,” “Goblin“) could save this convoluted stinker. If this had been edited down to a 4-hour mini series, it could have been good. Maybe even really good. But at 16 hours of going over the same plot, I found myself looking for laundry to fold or some work to finish.
Let’s cut to the chase: the plot revolves around a high school student and a doctor who switch bodies after an accident. Yoon-jae, the 30something doctor is in a vegetative state in the body of 17-year-old Kyung-joon. Meanwhile, the teenager is alive and well, but he is trapped in the buff body belonging to Gong Yoo, er, I mean Yoon-jae.
Caught between these two is Gil Da-ran, a wet dishrag of a woman, who (despite her beauty) has absolutely no confidence in herself. When she realizes that Yoon-jae really isn’t Yoon-jae and that it may take a while for the two to switch bodies again, she plays along with the charade.
As you probably guessed, things get complicated when Da-ran begins to fall in love with Kyung-joon. Which was a little creepy, because even though the boy turned of legal age during their chaste romance, he was still her student.
There were also some ridiculously outdated conceits that enraged me. When Da-ran — as a grown woman — did something to disgrace her family, her mother beat her. When her father thought that she was having an affair, he had the police arrest her, while her mother threatened to shave her head. And this was all played for laughs.
And not for nothing, but after dragging us through this mess for 16 hours, the writers could’ve delivered a happily ever after ending. But the finale was unsatisfactory, which I’ll write more about in the spoilers below.
Airdates: The 16-part series ran from June 4 to July 24, 2012 on KBS2.
Spoiler Alert / Adoption element: Yoon-jae’s parents used IVF to get pregnant. They had two embryos — fraternal twins — but used just one. When Yoon-jae was about 11, he developed a serious illness that required the umbilical cord of a blood relation. His parents used a surrogate to carry the other embryo. Kang Hee-soo agreed to carry their baby, because she was in love with Yoon-jae’s father and wanted to help him. His wife didn’t want to raise Kyung-joon — even though he shared the same DNA as Yoon-jae — so Hee-soo raised him. Knowing that the stigma of being an unwed mother could destroy their lives in Korea, she moved to the United States, where she became a successful restaurateur. After a pair of hooligans inexplicably shot and killed her, Kyung-joon returned to Korea under the guardianship of his maternal uncle.
Yoon-jae’s mother was presented as a cold, calculating woman who would stop at nothing to protect her son. I’m not even sure that her husband ever had an affair with Hee-soo. The writers were vague, and I got the feeling that he wasn’t allowed to marry Hee-soo, because her family was beneath his social class. But his wife knew that he always loved Hee-soo and was disturbingly jealous of her. So she rejected her own child.
But, near the end of the series, Yoon-jae’s mother is all about making one big happy family with both her sons. And I did not buy it for a second. I really, really dislike it when writers try to manipulate viewers into liking unlikable characters. Yes, maybe she had a change of heart. But any woman who views a baby as merely a means to harvest his organs doesn’t deserve the right to be called a mother.
In the finale, a year has passed since Yoon-jae and Kyung-joon returned to their respective bodies. During that time, Da-ran has stayed away from both of them. One day, Kyung-joon finds her and they live happily ever after, I guess.
The unsatisfying part? The voice belongs to Yoon-jae. The body appears to belong to Yoon-jae. But they never show the man’s face. So was it really Yoon-jae and she was delusional? Was it Kyung-joon, who had grown up to look like his brother?
And if it really was Kyung-joon, what became of Yoon-jae?
We’ll never know.
“Tunnel”
☆☆
Park Gwang-ho (played by Choi Jin-hyuk)
Kim Seon-jae (played by Yoon Hyun-min)
Shin Jae-yi (played by Lee Yoo-young)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
I watched “Tunnel” because I had loved “Signal” so much. I had hoped the time-traveling elements and the serial murder cases would provide for compelling storylines. “Tunnel” had its moments. But overall, it was a pale imitator that was more often lacking than not.
Gwang-ho is a police detective, who is thisclose to catching a serial killer, who specifically targets young women wearing skirts and stockings. As he’s about to apprehend the killer in a dark tunnel, zap — he’s back to the future, having gone from 1986 to 2016.
Like many of the characters in this series, Gwang-ho is a bit of an idiot. Instead of quietly sneaking up to nab the various culprits, he constantly yells out his plans to catch the 새끼/saekki (or son of a bitch), giving the aforementioned 새끼 plenty of time to escape. When his superior gives him a gun, he scoffs and gives it back, saying he doesn’t need it for his job.
Oh. Yes. You. Do!
The entire series is full of d’oh moments, with the police announcing what they’re going to do to the un-handcuffed serial killer, who then manages to escape. This leads to almost farcical chases in which supposedly young and fit police officers can’t even outrun and apprehend a criminal in his 50s. Maybe if they stopped screaming “새끼!” so much, they would’ve had more energy.
At one point, the killer orders Gwang-ho to meet him alone — threatening to kill two people who were very special to him if he brings help. The addled cop listens to him, when there were so many options, such as warning the targets to tell them they were in danger. Or calling his colleagues to protect the potential victims. A profiler does the same thing. Without any self defense training or any police backup, she takes it upon herself to use herself as bait to catch the serial killer. This smart and accomplished woman had literally no plan on what to do if attacked. And it’s no spoiler to say: She was attacked!
The series picks up steam in the final episodes when Gwang-ho travels back in time to be reunited with his wife. When he inexplicably returns back to the future, the series becomes another hot mess of a jumbled storyline.
Airdates: OCN aired 16 episodes — each about 65-minutes long — from March 25 to May 21, 2017.
Spoiler Alert: Gwang-ho’s wife, Yeon-sook, had given him a whistle. She said if he was ever in trouble, he should blow on it and she would come save him. It was a symbolic gesture more than anything else. When she thinks he has died, Yeon-sook gives the whistle to their daughter, Yeon-ho, and tells her the same thing.
I know it was supposed to be a sweet promise, but why would an adult make that promise to a child? There is no way Yeon-sook could’ve been within hearing distance of that whistle while the child was away at school or even a few blocks away from their home. One of the most touching moments in the series was when her daughter, Yeon-ho, became orphaned and was adopted by a family in England. At the airport, she kept blowing on her whistle, crying, waiting for her mother to rescue her.
The aloof criminal psychologist, Jae-yi, turns out to be Gwang-ho’s daughter. I’m not clear on why her name was changed. I honestly can’t remember if her adoptive family were Koreans living in the U.K. But I seem to remember them being white. Why would they change the child’s name from one Korean name to another?
Seon-jae is the grownup son of one of the victims from 1986. After he learned of how his mother died, he vowed that he would catch the killer. That’s the primary reason he became a police office. It appears he and Jae-yi were destined to become a couple. The last few scenes were adorable. Gwang-ho has returned to the past to his beloved wife and baby daughter. A young visitor comes over to see the baby and play. It’s toddler Seon-jae.
The serial killer was one of the more interesting characters. He was the police department’s esteemed medical examiner. He was all kinds of crazy, having been abused as a child and having unresolved issues of having a mother who was a prostitute … who wore shorts skirts and stockings.
“Inspector Koo”
☆☆
Koo Kyung-yi (played Lee Young-ae)
Song Yi-kyung (played by Kim Hye-jun)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
“Inspector Koo” is a former police officer, whose life went on a downward spiral after the death of her schoolteacher husband. Distraught and unable to move on with her life, she becomes a recluse in her pigsty apartment. She eats and drinks as she games online with players half her age. And if she bathes, it’s not frequent enough.
The series starts off strong, with a whip-smart teenage serial killer manipulating her victims, teachers and the police. She is as much a sociopath as a psychopath, which is explained away with a vague backstory about the childhood trauma she suffered from after witnessing what happened to her parents. (The viewers aren’t sure what occurred — just that they are no longer alive.) But where the K-drama starts to wane is about mid-way through the series, when I grew tired of the repetitive antics between the inspector (played by the delightful Lee Young-ae) and the now grown serial killer, Yi-Kyung, who goes by the name K.
There is an interesting subplot that I was fully vested in. It involved K’s righthand man, Geon-wook (Lee Hong-nae, the most evil demon in “The Uncanny Counter“), who works as a security guard. When he begins a relationship with a male colleague, his life seems like it could change for the better. Their romance isn’t sensationalized. If anything, theirs is the purest relationship within the series.
Airdates: Twelve episodes (about 70 minutes each) aired from October 30 to December 12, 2021 on JTBC.
Spoiler Alert: One of the secrets throughout the series revolves around Kyung-yi’s favorite gaming partner, Santa (Baek Sung-chul) — who she hires as her driver and assistant. Though he presents himself as being unable to talk, we hear him speak just fine at times when he’s alone. He and K went to the same high school. When a classmate drowned, rumors spread that she was with Kyung-yi’s husband at the time. In reality, Santa was in a secret relationship with the girl. Unable to deal with the rumors, her husband died by suicide. Kyung-yi didn’t fully believe her husband when he said the rumors circulating had no truth to them. When he died, she questioned whether her lack of support drove him to it.
“One More Time”
☆½
Yoo Tan (played by L / Kim Myung-soo)
Moon Da-In (played by Yoo So-he)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
I wanted to like this series, but I couldn’t find many redeeming qualities. The male protagonist was smoking hot, but awful to his girlfriend. The girlfriend was drop-dead gorgeous, but too much of a doormat.
“One More Time” was Kim Myung-soo’s first lead role. Best known to K-Pop fans as L from the group Infinite, he certainly had the look of a singer-songwriter-guitarist down pat. With a better script and direction, he could’ve really done something with this part. But as it was, Tan was an unsympathetic character who was old enough to be responsible, but too immature to give up his rock ‘n roll lifestyle to pay off his considerable debts.
Yoo So-he played Da-in, his girlfriend of seven years (as well as his band’s keyboardist). A talented songwriter, she wants to share her music with Tan, but he is uninterested in hearing it. Yes, I get that he’s frustrated and angry that his group isn’t the success he thinks it should be. But treating his girlfriend as a nuisance isn’t going to solve any of his problems.
Despite his mood swings, she cleans his apartment, lays out medicine for him to take and makes homemade food to fill his fridge. He appreciates none of this and discards all her banchan. (Idiot.)
It’s not a spoiler to say that they break up early in the series, because the entire conceit is built around the day after their breakup. Speaking of which, it was one of the more cruel breakups, with Tan telling Da-In that he pretty much hates everything about her — even sleeping with her.
What happens next is basically “Groundhog’s Day” with a tragic twist. Every morning he wakes up is October 4, and he spends each day trying to rectify the mess he has made in his life.
There’s also a Grim Reaper who appears in the shape of an elementary school age girl. She’s actually at least 200 years old. Inexplicably, she still refers to Da-In as unni (older female). It didn’t make any sense. She wasn’t trying to pass herself off as human to people, who might question why a child was talking impolitely about a woman in her mid-20s.
For a better series that gives Kim a chance to really show off his acting range — and showcases empowered female characters — check out the superior K-Drama “Ms. Hammurabi.”
Airdates: The series debuted on KBS2 on October 26, 2016. There were a total of eight half-hour episodes.
Spoiler Alert: Remember how I told you that every day after their breakup is October 4? Every evening, Da-in dies, putting Tan in an endless cycle of despair, trying to figure out how to keep her alive.
Halfway through the series, viewers learn that Da-in had a brain tumor. She was expected to die as a teenager, but she outlived her parents, who tragically died in an accident while she was still in high school. After meeting Tan, she made a pact with the Grim Reaper that as long as she and Tan are in love, she will remain alive. During the early stages of their relationship, he showers her with attention and her tumor stops growing. This explains why she put up with some of his dismissive behavior. She loved him and perhaps thought that if she put up with his surliness, he would continue to love her back, too.
7 First Kisses
☆½
Min Soo-jin (played by Lee Cho-hee)
Goddess (played by Choi Ji-woo)
Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
What in the Wattpad fiction is this goofy series?!
I have to LOL because “7 First Kisses” is the K-Drama equivalent of an advertorial. What’s an advertorial, you ask? It’s a newspaper or magazine ad that’s written to look like an objective news piece, but it was paid for by the client. There is always a small notation in the article, stating that it was sponsored or is an advertisement. But the point is to trick the reader into believing that the article is a researched piece of journalism.
This short series was created to promote Lotte Duty Free Shops and is meant to trick the viewer into thinking it’s a real K-Drama. And if the writers had put a little effort into coming up with a decent script, it could’ve been a really cute little series, because on the surface, it’s a normal K-Drama, with an innocent heroine being wooed by a dashing young man (OK, seven dashing young men) and has subplots that include kimchi slapping, switched babies at birth and even a tepid riff on “Healer.”
But without those men, this series would be unwatchable. The plot is nonexistent, other than to wait for the next male superstar to appear. Lee Joon-gi, Park Hae-jin, Ji Chang-wook, Kim Jong-in (aka Kai), Ok Taecyeon, Lee Jong-suk and Lee Min-ho appear in succession to woo a woe-be-gone Soo-jin, who is lamenting the fact that she is 25 and has never been kissed.
Soo-jin helps a mysterious woman, who turns out to be a Goddess. Ms. Goddess wants to reward her kindness by granting a wish. Guess what that wish is? That’s right: Soo-jin wants to get herself a boyfriend.
No! Wish for all your debts to be paid off or for a big-ass house in Gangnam that’s yours free-and-clear (including property tax being already covered). You can have your first kiss in your nice house!
Lee Joon-gi is the first to show up. At this point, Soo-jin has no idea what’s going on, but when he insists that she get in his car and GO TO HIS HOUSE … she agrees.
No. Girllllll! He could be a good-looking serial killer — check out “Flower of Evil”!! — who uses his Joon-gi-ness to ensnare unsuspecting women!
Anyhow, this goes on for each man, each more charming than the next.
Fact: I had no idea this series even existed. It popped up on YouTube when I was looking around for something to watch while I ate my late-night snack. (It was tteok-bokki and japchae, for those who have to know.) And even though I thought it was ridiculous, I stayed up and watched all the episodes because … Lee Joon-gi, Park Hae-jin, Ji Chang-wook, Kim Jong-in (aka Kai), Ok Taecyeon, Lee Jong-suk and Lee Min-ho.
Airdates: Eight mini episodes (9- to 12-minutes long) aired from December 5, 2016 to January 5, 2017 on Naver TV Cast.
Spoiler Alert:
Plot twist: There is none!
“The Interest of Love”
☆☆
Ha Sang-soo (played by Yoo Yeon-seok)
Ahn Soo-young (played by Moon Ga-young)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
답답해. That’s the first feeling that comes to mind when I think of the K-drama “The Interest of Love.” The entire series is about a group of broken people who can’t articulate how they feel and are in a constant state of unhappiness because of this.
I think that in some ways, the success of 2022’s “My Liberation Notes” — which offered a beautifully-executed slice of life without any fairy-tale ending — encouraged shows like this. The difference is that the former had a purpose, while this one meanders along at a frustrating pace. If I were to break it down into one sentence, “The Interest of Love” is about people who want to be in love, but are too frightened about the possibility of it not lasting to give it a shot.
Honestly, the most honest character was an adulterer who got married to a rich woman, like he was supposed to, but ended up going back to his socially-inferior (according to his parents, and himself) girlfriend, who then ditched him. Of course this isn’t the best scenario for anyone’s love life, but he gave it a shot.
Sang-soo is a handsome, well mannered banker who grew up in Gangnam with his single mother. Unlike his rich classmates, he and his mother struggled to survive. But, he was smart and got into a good university. He works alongside Soo-young, who trained him, but will never advance comparably. Why? Because she doesn’t have a college degree. She will always have the lower-paying teller job. She will always do the work that other people will get credit for. In reality, the fact that she is so good at her job without having had the benefit of a university education is something that should be commended, rather than looked down upon. She’s more qualified than anyone there.
She is beautiful, but dead inside. And I know that Moon Ga-young was directed to act this way. However, staring at her expressionless face for over 16 hours grew tiresome fast. Besides her beauty, I didn’t understand why anyone was attracted to her, much less Sang-Soo, who apparently liked her from the first time he met her.
He likes her, she likes him, they agree to go on a date, and then another. But he ends up having to work late and breaks his phone on his way to meet her. For some reason, he has a moment of pause while crossing the street to the restaurant where she’s waiting for him. She sees this and just leaves. That moment of hesitation on his part sends her into some kind of weirdo emotional spiral and then she pretends she has a boyfriend to get him to stop chasing her, even though she likes him a lot.
The boyfriend, Jong-hyun (Jung Ga-ram), is a part-time security guard at the bank who has a crush on Soo-young, and eventually moves in with her — not out of love (on her part), but financial desperation (on his).
Honestly, everything about this series was 답답해 because things could’ve been straightened out by telling the truth and/or making an effort to better their lives.
For instance, Soo-young knew that her options were limited because she only had a high school degree. So why didn’t she go to night school after work to get her university degree? Since she had moved away from her parents and didn’t help support them, she only had herself to take care of. Yes, working and going to school would’ve been difficult. But she didn’t even try. She just accepted that her fate in life was to be less than.
As for Sang-soo, why pine away for this woman who is constantly running away from him? And why agree to get involved with Mi-kyung (Keum Sae-rok), a former college classmate he has no interest in? Instead of making himself clear, he finally gives in to her, because it’s easier than having a spine and saying, “Knock it off. I don’t want to date you.”
My favorite Soo-young moment was when she stood up to their boss, who sexually harasses her and uses her beauty to curry favors from clients during after-work drinks. He wants her there to be the pretty young thing who pours drinks for everyone. In other words, he’s using her as a hostess. When he gives her money after each outing under the guise of giving her cab fare, she knows exactly what’s going on. He’s giving her money to keep her quiet.
I was really disappointed in Mi-kyung’s character change. She started out as a smart and well-liked go-getter who got obsessed with getting Sang-soo for her boyfriend, even though she knew her chaebol parents would balk at her dating a man raised by a single mother. Her mom, though, strikes up a friendship with Sang-soo’s mother — not realizing at the time that their children are in a relationship. When her mom finds out that Mi-kyung has been promoted over Soo-young, she points out that Mi-kyung benefited from the latter’s hard work. (I was really glad the mom noticed this). Mi-kyung just shrugs it off, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
Mi-kyung can’t help but notice the sexual tension between Sang-soo and Soo-young and her jealousy escalates. So what does she do? She insists on throwing a surprise birthday party for Soo-young. Under the pretense of asking for a favor, she asks Soo-young to go to the craft studio where they had woven rugs together. Soo-young comments to the proprietor how well their rugs had turned out and says she plans on displaying hers on the wall as a work of art. When she gives Mi-kyung hers, the rich girl thanks her and throws it on the floor for people to wipe their feet. When Soo-young excuses herself to use the restroom, she sees that her friend purchased an expensive work of art that they had both admired. For Mi-kyung, displaying this in the bathroom was suitable. For Soo-young, the painting would’ve been displayed in a place of honor.
As I mentioned earlier, the series is full of vignettes where Soo-young promises to meet Sang-soo and ghosts him. Halfway through Episode 10 — after she has already skipped their planned meal together — he finds her at a bus stop. He asks if she’d like to take a walk with him. (바람을 피우다?) The words are gentle, but I wonder if the wordplay was intentional. Barrum/바람 means wind in Korean, but 바람쟁이 refers to a cheater.
Airdates: Sixteen hour-long episodes aired on JTBC from December 21, 2022 to February 9, 2023. (The finale clocked in at about 90 minutes.) I watched this series on Netflix.
Spoiler Alert: Soo-young had a younger brother, who died trying to help his mother out with deliveries after their father left them for another woman. (NOTE: I’m not certain of this. I think that’s what happened, but I don’t want to go back and rewatch any of this to confirm.) Near the end of the series, one of the brother’s friends tells Soo-young that he feels bad having told her brother that his mother was having an affair.
Say. What?!
Soo-young had seen her father outside another woman’s house and had assumed that was his mistress. In reality, the woman was suing his wife for sleeping with her husband and ruining their marriage. Soo-young’s father went to beg the woman to please reconsider her actions. That’s what Soo-young witnessed. But in order to protect his wife, the dad never revealed the truth to his children. And his shameless wife let him accept the blame for her own immoral actions.
At one point in the series, I’m guessing Soo-young wants to be rid of all the men who are in love with her. She and a work colleague concoct a fake one-night stand. I was thinking… Why? This is the business world in South Korea. His reputation won’t be tarnished. He comes from a wealthy family and, most importantly, he’s a man. Meanwhile, she will be viewed as the office slut and be gossiped about regardless of which branch she transfers to. Again… 답답해!
In the series finale, Sang-soo and Soo-young meet again. He finally asks her why she never called him as she had promised. And she counters with her dead eyes, “Why didn’t you come find me?”
Bitch, please! He spent the entire series waiting for you. You changed your phone number. You moved without telling him where you were going. Get some therapy and reflect on your actions.
And I hope that all of these characters choose to remain single. Or, if they do pursue relationships, it’s healthier options with people who want the same things they do: Each other.
Five Fingers
☆☆
Yoo Ji-ho (played by Ju Ji-hoon)
Yoo In-ha (played by Ji Chang-wook)
Hong Da-mi (played by Jin Se-yeon)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
“Five Fingers” is what I categorize as a “Melrose Place” series, where an evil character treats people like garbage, but viewers are expected to root for them, because they occasionally show signs of humanity.
No. Just no!
To be completely transparent, the only reason I watched “Five Fingers” is because I loved Ji Chang-wook’s other dramas, “Healer” and “Suspicious Partner.”
And damn, do I ever feel betrayed. To be fair, “Five Fingers” was released years before those other two dramas.
The word that best describes my feeling after watching the 30th (!!) episode/finale is 답답해, which translates into a feeling of intense frustration. In ranks right up (or down) there with “Loving You A Thousand Times” in terms of 답답해ness.
Chae Young-rang is a devoted wife and daughter in law, but her pride and joy is her son, In-ha. When Ji-ho — her husband’s son from a previous relationship — joins the family, she has no choice but to take care of him. But her resentment of her husband’s infidelity manifests in her horrible treatment of the child, who believes that his stepmother truly cherishes him.
After her wealthy husband is killed in a horrific house fire, Young-rang takes over the family business. The stage is set up for the stepbrothers to compete against each other to become their father’s heir. Young-rang does everything possible — much of it illegal and immoral — to give her biological son the advantage. Only after Ji-ho learns how he is being used by his mother and stepbrother — and only after he stops being a doormat — does the momentum of this series pick up.
It doesn’t help that the brothers are both in love with the same young woman, Da-mi, whose deaf father perished in the same house fire. He had tried to save the family, but ended up being blamed as an arsonist and murderer.
There are so many spoilers that I can’t write about too much without disclosing major plot points. But here are a few observations:
• When people who don’t trust each other live together in one house, they need to lock their bedroom doors, so that it’s not as easy for important documents to be stolen willy nilly.
• Instead of flaunting signed contracts to frenemies, they need to make notarized copies if they want to flash these around. Keep the originals locked away in a safety deposit box at a bank rather, than say, a jewelry box that everyone has access to.
• People shouldn’t have important discussions with the doors open, where someone always seems to be standing in the hallway eavesdropping.
• Everyone has a cell phone these days. Use it to record incriminating evidence, rather than expecting people to take you at your word.
• Just because an evil person ends up having a disability, that doesn’t make all their unforgivable sins OK.
The ending was meant to be sweet and a reconciliation, I guess. But it was so improbable that all I’m left with is feeling an overwhelming sense of 답답해.
Tragedy: Jo Min-ki — the actor who portrayed the family patriarch, Yoo Man-se — died by suicide on March 9, 2018. An assistant professor at Cheongju University, he had been accused by students of sexual abuse. Prosecutors were set to question him about the accusations.
Airdates: Thirty hour-long episodes aired on SBS from August 18 to November 25, 2012.
Spoiler Alert: Young-rang absolutely hates Ji-ho and does everything possible to make his life miserable. This includes setting him up to be a criminal, taking away his inheritance, disowning him and — most cruelly of all — telling him that she never once loved him.
Color her surprised when it turns out that Ji-ho is her biological son!
Prior to marrying Man-se, she had an affair with Kim Jung-wook, a poor student who wasn’t viewed as a suitable match for her. Without telling him of her pregnancy, she gave birth to Ji-ho. Worried that an out-of-wedlock baby would be a liability, her stepmother arranges for Ji-ho to be sent to an orphanage and told Young-rang that the baby died at birth.
Man-se, who knew about the affair, has the infant raised by an elderly woman in a remote village. He later brings the child into his family, forcing his wife to care for a child she believes to be his. What a sadist he was, to use an innocent boy this way.
During an argument, Young-rang pushes her husband and he falls down and hits his head. He’s not dead yet, but she senses a way to get out of her unhappy marriage. Around the same time, one of their maids accidentally sets the house on fire. Young-rang locks her husband in his study and saves In-ha.
But. (There’s always a but, right?) It turns out that Ji-ho was wearing In-ha’s pajamas. She saved the child she hated, while her son was protected from death by Da-mi’s father (who had come to the rescue at the bequest of Young-rang’s mother-in-law). Da-mi’s father was hit by a chandelier and died.
Only after learning that Ji-ho shares her bloodline does she show signs of love and affection for him. And he falls for it.
I hated that.
Her being his biological mother doesn’t erase the fact that she is a cold-hearted sociopath. Same with In-ha.
She ends up going blind, after using her body to shield Ji-ho during a kidnapping. She insists on living in the remote island where Ji-ho grew up. She dies in the finale. After Ji-ho returns from Germany (where he went to study for three years), In-ha tells him that they need to have a long talk. Apparently Ji-ho doesn’t know his mother died yet.
How is that even probable that he didn’t know this? She was a well-known person in Korea and her death would’ve been all over the news and on social media.
“Let’s Eat”
☆☆
Lee Soo-kyung (played by Lee Soo-kyung)
Goo Dae-young (played by Yoon Doo-joon)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
I’m giving “Let’s Eat” a slightly higher rating than “7 First Kisses” (which was probably the worst Korean-related series I’ve ever watched.) Why? The plot in “Let’s Eat” is negligible and the way women are treated is just sexist and sad. But the food in this series just looks so mouth-wateringly good. While the cast isn’t given much to do, when they are directed to eat, they make everything look so delicious, especially lead actress Lee Soo-kyung (playing a character of the same name). She eats with such gusto that it almost hurt to watch … because I wanted to eat whatever she was having, too.
Soo-kyung is a divorced woman, who lives in an apartment complex where one of her neighbors is an insurance salesman, who sleeps all day in his pigsty of an apartment. She’s also flanked by a cute college student, whose father is in prison for embezzling and whose mother ran away to the U.S. to escape the scandal.
A foodie who loves nothing more than to try new dishes, Soo-kyung also has a phobia about eating along in public. She gives a so-so blind date a second chance, because he invites her to a seafood restaurant she had been eager to try out.
SPOILER ALERT ABOUT THE MAN: Because he bought her dinner, he feels obligated to have sex with her and attempts to rape her. It’s stunning that this is played off as a little thing, when it should’ve been a bigger part of the plot that ended up with her chopping up his body and serving it to her dog. Wait, did I say that out loud? Sorry? I meant it should’ve ended up at the police department. But let’s be honest. It would’ve been a case of he said/she said and nothing would’ve happened to him.
Anyhow… So when her neighbors suggest they create their own dining club of sorts, she couldn’t be happier.
Though she’s probably in her early 30s, she is labeled with the old maid tag and she buys into the theory that she doesn’t deserve much in life, because, why should she deserve any happiness? Maybe this is one reason why food provides such comfort for her. When she is eating, she can enjoy a few moments of true happiness without anyone trying to bring her down. Especially her weirdo boss, an attorney who treats her like dirt, but also likes her, but still treats her like dirt. (Ew to all of this.)
There are two subplots that had potential, but fell flat. I’ll discuss more of that in the Spoilers below. In a nutshell: The only thing that encouraged me to watch all 16 episodes was the drool-worthy food. There are two more seasons of this, but I have no interest in watching those.
Airdates: This 16-part series aired from November 28, 2013 to March 13, 2014 on tvN.
Spoiler Alert: So, the lawyer has had a crush on Soo-Young since their college years. A nerd back then, he mustered up the courage to give her a gift. When he saw the hairpin he gave her in her friend’s hair, he vowed revenge. Psycho, much? Everyone expects her to reciprocate his crush because (1) he’s handsome (2) he’s an attorney and (3) he’s loved her for years. No one seems to care that she has no romantic interest in him.
One of the subplots involves a man who goes around assaulting woman. The showrunners were trying to get viewers to think it was Dae-young (the insurance salesman). But the side views of the attacker’s face clearly showed it wasn’t him.
Then there was another subplot that showed promise that involved a package deliveryman (played by Feeldog of Big Star). He came across like a cute, country bumpkin, but hinted at a malicious side. There are shots of him hiding under the college girl’s bed (she had befriended him), lurking about in her apartment, opening her mail… You get the picture. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. He lures her to a building that her father had designed and that his father had worked on. But when his father went bankrupt (after her father’s embezzlement), his dad jumped off the building and killed himself. He wanted to exact revenge for his father.
I’m not even sure how this happened, but instead of being scared to death of him, the college girl forgives him. She contacts her dad and tells him he is not to accept the parole that was offered to him and…he listens to her. (No way would that ever happen!) She takes her lunch bunch with her to a restaurant, which is owned by the deliveryman’s mother and where the young man now works. They all sit down to enjoy a meal together and are besties.
Girrrrrrlllll…he was in your house without your permission and was thisclose to pushing you off a building. This is not how nice men behave. You. Can. Do. Better!
Anyhow, watch for the food porn (which is soooooooo good) and not the plot.
The. End.
“Come and Hug Me”
☆☆
Chae Do-jin (played by Jang Ki-yong)
Han Jae-yi (played by Jin Ki-joo)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
“Come and Hug Me” has a strong premise centering around the dysfunctional relationship between a serial killer and his family. But running at 16-hours long, the series became redundant fast and lost my interest about a third of the way through. The story would’ve been better served as a two-hour movie (or cut at least in half and presented as a mini series).
Do-jin is the younger son of serial killer Yoon Hee-jae (played by Heo Joon-ho). As a teenager, he saved the life of his girlfriend, Jae-yi, from being murdered by his father. Oh, his dad also killed her parents.
Do-jin also is responsible for sending his father off to life in prison, but his father still talks about him with pride. Hee-jae has no love for his elder son, who craves his father’s attention enough to commit crimes (hoping that’ll win his dad’s approval). Their stepmother Chae Ok-hee (played with compassion by Seo Jeong-yeon) is more of a parent to them than their own flesh and blood. But after she witnesses her husband disposing of the bloody clothes of one of his victims, she runs away with her daughter (from a previous marriage).
The saving grace of this K-Drama is that it drives home the point that bloodlines don’t define who you are or who you will become — and that just because you passed your DNA onto a child, that doesn’t make you a good parent.
Hee-jae is a psychopath who wants to produce an heir to carry on his stream of kills. He tosses aside his elder son, who he views as weak. The boy can beat up kids, but he’s not blood thirsty enough to murder anyone. But Hee-jae believes that Do-jin is capable of following in his footsteps.
The white knight element of this series was beyond irritating. Both Jae-yi’s brother and Do-jin flapped their lips about what they would do to keep her safe. They said they would protect her. How? Both work full-time and cannot be with her 24/7. She’s a famous, rich actress who could’ve hired bodyguards to be with her around the clock. And no one thought of doing so. She kept saying she was fine.
Girrrrllll. When the only thing you do when you’re about to get murdered is crawl up into a ball, you are not capable of protecting yourself. This in no way is victim blaming. She isn’t at fault for any of the attacks. But she should take some ownership in taking steps to keeping herself alive.
Both leads were physically attractive, but they had little to no chemistry with each other. Jin Ki-joo is undeniably beautiful, but wasn’t in her element in this role. Jang Ki-yong had a little more depth to his part, but he had better, fleshed out characters to portray in “My Ajusshi” and “Search: WWW.”
The best parts of this series were the what if scenarios, when the characters imagined what could’ve been if Hee-jae had not been in their lives. It was bittersweet.
Airdates: MBC aired 32 episodes — each ranging from 25 to 35 minutes long — from May 16 to July 19, 2018.
Spoiler Alert: There are too many loose ends in this series, but here are a couple that stick out. Do-jin has a colleague who hates him because of his lineage. The superior passes along information about Do-jin to journalists, in the hopes of hurting his career. But at the end of the series, the colleague has a change of heart and decides that he’ll leave Do-jin alone, because even though he’s the son of a serial killer, Do-jin is a stand-up guy. He suffers no repercussions for his duplicity. What? He’s a guy who turned on his own colleague, but OK.
Early on in Jae-yi’s career, she works with a more-established (but only slightly-older) actress, who treats her like dirt. It turns out the actress had worked with Jae-yi’s mother and respected her greatly. Yet she sabotages Jae-yi’s interview opportunities and shows no signs of being a nice person. Then at an awards ceremony, after Jae-yi wins best newcomer, she congratulates her and says her mother would’ve been proud and begins to periodically reach out. What? She knew Jae-yi’s mom had been murdered, but offered no support when Jae-yi was a struggling newbie. She only extended an olive brand after Jae-yi became successful. Hmmm.
“Rugal”
☆☆
Kang Gi-beom (played by Choi Jin-hyuk)
Hwang Deuk-gu (played by Park Sung-woong)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
“Rugal” has a promising concept but, more often than not, it fails to deliver. On the plus side, there is no second lead syndrome nonsense, so that’s something.
On his first wedding anniversary, detective Gi-beom comes home to find his wife has been murdered. He is attacked and almost dies, before Rugal — a covert operation embedded in the National Intelligence Service (NIS) — rescues him. They implant bionic eyes in him and train him to weed out criminals who can’t be taken down by official legal means.
Their primary nemesis is Deuk-gu, played by the scene stealing Park Sung-woong (“The Smile Has Left Your Eyes,” “The Worst of Evil”) . He is cool and calm as he kills his detractors. He appears to be the man behind the brutal stabbing of Gi-beom and his wife. Actually, he is likely the man controlling most of the chaos in Seoul. In one-on-one fighting, he seems to be indestructible.
The Rugal team had multiple chances to kill Deuk-gu, which would’ve made not only their lives easier but, more importantly, saved multiple innocent lives. Each time they let him go, I was wondering whhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!
As with Choi Jin-hyuk’s previous police procedural, “Tunnel,” there are some convoluted plot issues that drag down this series. Choi is handsome and charismatic, but he can only do so much with so-so dialogue.
There are a few nice plot twists about good guys who really aren’t. And some of the fight scenes are excitingly choreographed. But that’s about it. For me, this was a good series to have on in the background, but not something that truly held my interest throughout.
Airdates: Sixteen hour-long episodes aired on OCN from March 28 to May 17, 2020.
Spoiler Alert: Gi-beom’s wife was stabbed, but not killed. When she is eventually rescued by her husband, she is fearful that Deuk-gu (who had made her work in pornography) will reveal her secret and that the revelation of her life after she was stabbed will destroy Gi-beom and his future. So, she throws herself into oncoming traffic, is hit by a car and dies. But … there was no funeral, which made me wonder if she hadn’t actually survived. I kept waiting for her to show up with bionic parts, but no such luck.
Deuk-gu is no ordinary man. He was Rugal’s first attempt as creating a bionic super creature, which is why he is such an indestructible fighter.
It turns out that Rugal’s seemingly kindly leader, Geon-cheol — played by Kim Min-sang, who had also co-starred with Choi in “Tunnel” — was actually manipulative with people’s lives and the cause of much of Gi-beom’s misery. Geon-cheol meets his death. Deserved.
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Thank you! Thank you for daring to post negative reviews about K-dramas. I've tried to post a few on other sites where they've been deleted (and, believe me, I tried to be fair). Censorship seems to be rampant when it comes to bad Asian dramas/movies, of which there are many.
You had me at BIG, totally! But guilty pleasure was Let's Eat! Really loved the food displays.