Puppies, Basketball, Reincarnation & Demons: What More Could You Possibly Want?

Reviews of "My Heart Puppy," "Rebound," "See You In My 19th Life" and "The Uncanny Counter (Season 2)"

I don’t know if anyone noticed, but there was a four-week lapse in my posts (between August and September). Why? Because I was preparing for my trip to South Korea, then I was in Korea and after I returned, I was recovering from the trip. (Would anyone like to hear more about my trip? If so, I could write up a short(ish) post in the near future with some photos and all…)

Anyhow…I do not bounce back from long-haul trips like I used to. As a teenager, I remember my parents telling me to go to school, get a good job, save wisely and then travel while I was still young enough to enjoy it. At the time, I didn’t understand how traveling wouldn’t be an enjoyable venture. But at my age now, I completely get it. I’ve been home a couple weeks already, but I am still tired.

I was jealous of how easily the others in my row slept on the plane ride(s), but I’m one of those people who doesn’t get a lot of rest on flights. But all was not lost. I busied myself during those 14 hours to Incheon watching a lot of Korean movies (and the first five episodes of the U.S. series “The Good Fight). I didn’t find anything as memorable as “Miss Granny” and, in fact, dropped a number of films (including "Limit," "Switch" and "The Point Men") that didn’t hold my interest. But I did find a couple worth writing about.

This post is rather long, because it includes reviews of two films and two K-dramas. If you’d prefer to skip to a particular review and bypass the others, you may do so by clicking on the specific title(s) below, which will take you directly to the section you’re interested in:

Rebound ☆☆☆

See You In My 19th Life ☆☆☆

Uncanny Counter (Season 2) ☆☆½

My Heart Puppy ☆☆

Caveat: I can’t add the links until after this post is live on the app. So those of you who read my posts via the emailed newsletter won’t have access to the individual links. Mea culpa…

A reminder about my reviews: The ratings are based on a ☆☆☆☆ system and reflect my own personal tastes. If I’ve made a flagrant error, please leave a comment and I will correct it (and tag you). If you just don’t agree with my opinions, then we’ll both have to live with that.

REBOUND ☆☆☆

Kang Yang-hyun (played by Ahn Jae-hong)
Cheon Ki-beom (played by Lee Shin-young)
Bae Gyoo-hyeok (played by Jeong Jin-woon)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

“Rebound” is based on the true story of Busan’s Jungang High School basketball team. Long past its glory years, the team isn’t a priority for the school’s administration. They hire a young and inexperienced basketball coach, Yang-hyun (Ahn Jae-hong), who during his own Jungang school days was a champion athlete.

Though the gym is run-down and he is given almost no budget, he cobbles together a scrappy team of players who will eventually beat the odds to reach an elite level. Will they win the 2012 championship against teams that are more seasoned? The ending may surprise you and I won’t it by telling you what happens. But what I can say is that this film is both sentimental and rousing, in the same way that “Racket Boys” was. And it’s full of strong performances by the actors, who have some basketball experience.

Since this is a fictionalized version of real events, the timeline has been condensed. What took about three years to achieve in real life occurs within one school year. Though anyone who has seen underdog stories about teenagers will be able to guess some of the story arcs, there are some nice plot twists to keep viewers on our toes.

One of the things I really appreciated about this film is that while winning is the goal for any athletics team, the process is also important. This was stressed throughout “Rebound.” Teaching sportsmanship and how to show support for team members who you don’t even necessarily like — all of this helps teenagers grow. The reality is that most student athletes will never reach the elite pro level, and that’s OK. But a good coach can help his players navigate life better, regardless of what they end up doing when they’re older.

Written by Kim Eun-hee (of “Kingdom” fame) and directed by her husband Jang Hang-jun, “Rebound” isn’t a revelation. But it is a lot of fun and a film well worth watching. In the final moments, the filmmakers show archival footage of the real-life Jungang High School basketball team. And, truth be told, it made me a little verklempt.

Film release: This 122-minute movie released on April 5, 2023 in South Korea. I watched this on my recent flight to South Korea on Korean Air. [ETA: I rewatched this with my family in 2024 on Viki.]

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MY HEART PUPPY ☆☆

Min-soo (played by Yoo Yeon-seok)
Jin-guk (played by Cha Tae-hyun)
Seong-gyeong (played by Jung In-sun)

I’m going to be honest. I dozed off several times watching this movie. So I watched it again (fully awake) to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

I hadn’t.

There are two people who Min-soo loves more than anything else. One is his sweet girlfriend, who he wants to propose to. The second isn’t actually a person, but is just as important to Min-soo: Rooney, his gorgeous golden retriever who he rushes home to see after work every evening.

When he is ready to propose to Seong-gyeong, he learns that she is severely allergic to dogs. She had never told him about her allergies and had dealt with it by taking allergy meds without telling Min-soo. She hadn’t wanted him to feel bad.

I don’t know, but this is the kind of information that couples should share with each other earlier on. Because having a medical condition isn’t a flaw. It’s just something that has to be dealt with.

Anyhow, realizing that it wasn’t fair to her, he makes the decision to rehome Rooney for her sake.

Before anyone jumps to the conclusion that Seong-gyeong is to blame for all of this, let me just reiterate that Min-soo made this decision all on his own. In his mind, his cousin Jin-guk could care for his dog and he could go visit Rooney whenever he wanted to.

Because of his own circumstances, Jin-guk is unable to become Rooney’s caretaker. So he and Min-soo go on a journey to find the best home for the dog.

Anyone who has had to give a pet away for whatever reason knows how excruciating it can be, both for the human and for the dog. And there was a good part of me that thought that when this couple eventually married and had their first big fight, he would bring up how he gave up his dog for her… even though she never asked him to.

Helmed by filmmaker Jason Kim (aka Kim Ju-hwan) — who brought us the superb film “Midnight Runners” and the K-drama “Bloodhounds” — this isn’t a particularly good movie. But it is pleasant, thanks to the attractive leads (inclusive of the super cute golden retriever).

There is a strange subplot that doesn’t work. When the cousins meet up with a social media influencer who takes in unwanted pets, they find that the disabled young woman is very wealthy with a huge house and acres of land. But she has a cold personality and Min-soo can’t imagine Rooney having a nice life there.

In the end, Min-soo finds a solution to this problem. (Please read the SPOILER ALERT below for more.) Is there a happily ever after? I think you can correctly guess the answer.

Film release: This film released on October 31, 2022 in South Korea. I watched this on my recent flight to South Korea on Korean Air.

🚨 SPOILER ALERT: After his mother died, she left her house on the outskirts of Seoul to Min-soo. It has a yard. Min-soo had an aversion to moving back to the house because it reminded him of how sick his mother had been. But he is ready to fix up the house, build a comfortable dog house for Rooney outside and build a family there with Seong-gyeong. When he asks her if that would work for her, she agrees.

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SEE YOU IN MY 19th LIFE ☆☆☆

Ban Ji-eum (played by Shin Hye-sun)
Moon Seo-ha (played by Ahn Bo-hyun)

“See You in My 19th Life” delves into reincarnation. And as it does so, it drives home the point that even if you are assured of living more than one life, what’s important is that you live your best life, rather than muddling through and wasting time.

As Ji-eum, Shin Hye-sun adds all the right nuances to the role, which could’ve gone into makjang territory handled by a less skilled actress. Though we will guess early on that she and Seo-ha — who she grew up with when she was in a different state of reincarnation — will forge a future together, there are enough twists and turns to keep viewers guessing. Will Seo-ha (Ahn Bo-hyun) realize that Ji-eum is the reincarnated soul of his childhood first love Ju-won, who died in a tragic automobile accident?

Seo-ha has survivor’s guilt, but hangs onto her last words before she died: that she’ll come back in her 19th life to find him. The two had previously discussed reincarnation, so the boy is somewhat consoled that her promise may come true some day.

Flash forward to the present day. Thanks to all her previous lives tackling all kinds of jobs, Ji-eum is a master of many tasks. She tracks down Seo-ha, who is now a hotshot at his father’s company, and boldly flirts with him.

We know going in that the thurst of this K-drama is based on the pair’s past, present and future. But what I really loved about this series was the attention given to the peripheral characters. For instance, Ji-eum’s aunt is really her niece. In a previous life, Ji-eum had been a male circus star who died early of tuberculosis, leaving behind young Ae-kyung. When Ji-eum reunites with Ae-kyung (Cha Chung-hwa) — who now presents as a middle-aged woman much older than her — she is overcome with gratitude that the little girl grew up well without any adult guidance. Throughout the series, Ae-kyung refers to Ji-eum as 삼촌/samchon, which means uncle in Korean.

One of the things I was curious about, though, was why certain reincarnated selves dominated over others. For instance, samchon clearly was a big part of Ii-eum’s 19th life.

And, finally (well, finally before the Spoiler Alert below anyhow), I didn’t think that Ju-won and Seo-ha’s childhood relationship was strong enough for Ji-eum to be so vested in it that she would search for him in her various reincarnations. (For Seo-ha, sure, Ju-won was a pivotal part of his life.)

Airdates: Twelve 70-minute episodes aired from June 17 to July 23, 2023 on tvN. I watched this K-drama on Netflix.

Spoiler Alert: In the 8th episode, Seo-ha has managed to track down documents about the accident that killed Ju-won. He learns that it wasn’t just an accident, but a hired hit. And the driver hired to cause the accident was Ji-eum’s father! The deal was that he cause a minor accident, nothing more. But he was given a car that had been rigged with malfunctioning brakes. Instead of squirreling this documentation away, Seo-ha burns them. Nooooooooooooo! I get that he was trying to protect Ji-eum from learning what her father had done. But again, nooooooooooooooooooo.

There was one other person who had died in that accident: Seo-ha’s driver, who was the father of his best friend Do-yoon (Ahn Dong-goo), who now works as his secretary. Do-yoon had always placated his grief by saying that his father died on the job. But once he realizes that the hit was actually orchestrated by Seo-ha's uncle (Lee Hae-young) — who was jealous of Seo-ha’s father and wanted was trying to kill him, not the children — he has to process a multitude of complicated emotions.

And I will say, this reveal came as a surprise to me. I had been guessing that it was Seo-ha’s stoic father or evil stepmother who had orchestrated the hit-and-run accident.

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THE UNCANNY COUNTER (Season 2) ☆☆½

So Mun (played by Jo Byung-gyu)
Ga Mun-tak (played by Yoo Jun-sang)
Do Ha-na (played by Kim Se-jeong)
Cho Mae-ok (played by Yeon Hye-ran)
Na Jeok-bong (played by Yoo In-su)

This second season of “The Uncanny Counter” is good enough. But it is also a reminder that K-dramas are traditionally made to finish after one season. With the influx of Western streaming sites that have figured out how lucrative Korean shows can be, there have been more shows going into their second (or even third seasons). And while I was one of the viewers who had hoped for a second season of this series, I acknowledge that it may have been best to just leave things as they were.

It’s not that this is a bad season. But it is lacking compared to the previous one in terms of story arcs and the introduction of new characters. In the first season, our protagonist Mun and his relationship with his two nerdy high school friends drove some of the most compelling storylines. But here, our heroic Counters battle a trio of bad guys, move from their beloved noodle shop hideaway into an IKEA-looking warehouse, and try to save the soul of their kindly friend whose need for vengeance has turned him evil. There’s a lot of chaos and subplots within story arcs and it gets to the point where after a while, I didn’t feel vested in what happened.

You don’t have to have watched the first season to understand what’s going on, but it would be helpful to understand how the Counters came to be. They are human beings who laid in a comatose state for various reasons. They were given the option of remaining in a coma or letting good souls (Yung) occupy their bodies. The Yung don’t overtake the Counter’s personality, but they have a symbiotic relationship with their human counterpart. If one gets hurt or is on the verge of dying, so does the other.

The Counters can’t just resume their previous lives, though. Their new lease on life comes with a caveat: they have to work as Counters and fight demons. Once they agree, their hair turns curly and they learn to work with the powers they now possess.

This second season starts off with a demon who thinks nothing of hijacking a school bus filled with kindergarteners. Later, the Counters will be joined by a newbie whose unusual skill is being able to sniff out demons. The trait does come in handy. However, I wish Jeok-bong’s fighting skills had gone from zero to 100 — rather than stagnating at, well, zero.

Rather than the truly chilling uber villain that the Counters battled in the first season, the season is saddled with a trio of sadistic hellbound beings who are annoying AF. There were so many opportunities for the Counters to work together and demolish these demons, but they let them escape in order to save someone who had gotten hurt. I get it, their job is to save humanity. However, each time the demons escaped and/or killed a human being and sucked up their soul, they became stronger and more difficult to defeat. This resulted in more mayhem and more people dying.

This kind of repetition made the 12-episode series seem much longer than its actual running time.

For me, the best arc revolved around Ha-na and a former high school classmate, who had always liked her. When she was lying comatose in the hospital, he always came to visit her. Their fledgling romance as adults is sweet and tender … which means that savvy viewers will know that something tragic is around the corner.

Meta moment: In a nice bit of casting, Yoo In-su joins his “Alchemy of Souls” co-star Yoo Jun-sang. Some viewers — including my family — disliked Yoo’s sniveling and sniffling character. But I found him hilarious. But as I mentioned earlier, I had hoped his fighting skills would improve so that he would be able to save, rather than be saved more often than not.

Airdates: Twelve hour-long episodes aired on tvN from July 29 through September 3, 2023. The series is based on Jang Yi’s 2018 webtoon “Kyeongirowoon Somoon.” (I watched this on Netflix.)

Spoiler Alert: When Ha-na’s beau is hurt, Mae-ok heals him. But in order to relieve him of the trauma he went through, Ha-na erases his memories of her so that he won’t try to contact her again … and possibly get killed by the demons who want to harm her. But that also means that he will lose all his memories of their high school years, as well as the time they’ve spent together recently. There is hope though. Seeing her walk past his studio where he gives piano lessons, he invites her to take a class.

In the final episode, So-mun has been sent to help train other Counters in Europe. There, he meets Jade, the daughter of his Yung counterpart Wi-gen. Moon Sook (the actress who plays Wi-gen) is 69. While it’s possible that they could be mother and daughter, the age discrepancy between the two characters just didn’t jive. I also didn’t understand how Wi-gen’s daughter — played by Russian model Angelina Danilova — is white, while her mother is Korean. Giving the character the name Jade (ewwww) doesn’t make her appear more Asian. Maybe her father was white. If the series had presented other characters whose parents were different ethnicities and/or race than their children, it wouldn’t have been so jarring. Of course, Jade could be adopted. And I know that it sounds like I’m nitpicking, but this aspect is just off to me — even in a fictional series where Counters battle demons and their hair turns curly when they gain super powers.

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THIS & THAT:

• I interviewed idol/actor Jinkwon while I was in South Korea. Only one of us was sweating. It wasn’t him. (Chicago Tribune)
• You may see highlights of my trip to Korea on my Instagram Stories.
• Yes, I’ve finished watching Moving and plan on reviewing it. I liked it and thought it was an innovative take on superheroes, Korean-style.

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