Kim Hae Sook

Review: My Royal Nemesis

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A show with a fun concept that largely manages to deliver on its promises – quite a rarity in Dramaland these days, yes?

Im Ji Yeon sparkles in this and I absolutely love her, but I have to admit that it’s Heo Nam Jun who truly surprises, by infusing his character with layers and fun quirks – and the best swallowed leaked smiles that I’ve seen in quite a while. 😍

Our OTP is sparky and great together, and combined with Show’s blithe first half, make for a watch experience that feels both fun and satisfying.

Show’s final stretch does let up on the fun hijinks in favor of dealing with bad people and bad fates, but I do see this as par for the course, since these are built into the narrative from the beginning.

Stops short of being amazing because of some missteps, but I’d still say this is very, very solid.

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Review: The WONDERfools

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Show might look like simple quirky fun on the surface, but under the hood, there’s a great deal of confidence, creativity and deftness that I find truly impressive.

To make things even better, our characters are all very well-cast, in my opinion. Each actor feels well-suited to their role, and they even play off well against one another. That’s no small deal, particularly in an ensemble cast.

I found myself growing extremely fond of these absurd characters, even as I stayed entertained and engaged, all the way to the very end.

Altogether absolutely delightful, and I would heartily recommend. ❤️

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Flash Review: Our Season [Korea][Movie]

| kfangurl

The moment I watched this movie’s trailer (which I’ve embedded below, at the end of this quick review), I knew that I would love this movie, and I also knew that it would make me cry.

I believed that those tears would be worthwhile, and now that I’ve come out the other side, I am happy to report that I was right. I did cry, and it did feel worthwhile. 🥲🥲

Definitely recommend. ❤️

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Review: Mr. Plankton

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

This little show kind of defies easy definition; it’s everything it says it is – but it’s also more than the sum of its parts.

It’s a dark comedy; it’s a story of personal journey; a story of relationships; a story of hope; a story of regrets; a story of contentment.

It’s a wild ride of a rollercoaster for both the heart and mind, managing to balance all the chaos with a deep sense of pathos, and it’s surprisingly, profoundly affecting.

Highly, deeply, absolutely recommend.

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Review: Under The Queen’s Umbrella

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Based on its synopsis alone – that this story is about a Queen who does everything she can, to protect her sons – Show could have been boring and dry, revolving around court politics.

In execution, though, Show is vibrant, engaging and absolutely compelling, and the secret to that, I think, is because our story is just so personal.

I love that this is more about a Mama Bear protecting her babies with all her heart, rather than about bearded men standing around and talking and talking about politics. THAT I can get on board with, and get on board, I did.

Our cast is solid, with some excellent stand-outs, but the one who stands out the most, for me, is Kim Hye Soo as our titular Queen. She’s commanding, yet vulnerable and full of heart, at the same time, I couldn’t help but love her, and by extension, her babies too.

Satisfying to the very last drop.

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Review: Hospital Playlist 2

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Show isn’t perfect by any means, but what it does right, it does so well, that I can’t help wanting to serve my heart up to Show on a plate.

It’s true that Show gets rather indulgent of itself from time to time, and it’s also true that some of the handling feels almost patronizing, in spots.

However, our characters continue to be lovable and wonderful, and Show continues to do an excellent job of teasing out their growth and relationships in a way that feels organic; it just has a way of grabbing my heart.

An absolutely worthy follow up to Season 1.

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Review: Start-Up

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Designed to be light, easy and feel-good, Show tends to lean more simplistic than I would like, particularly in the areas of business and technology and how that all works. The characters took a while to grow on me, but I did eventually grow fond of almost all of them.

At the same time, there are definitely some stand-outs that endeared themselves to me early, like Kim Hae Sook as Gran.

Ultimately, Show manages to be uplifting and aspirational (if you can overcome the over-simplification of everything), and ends up being a reasonably pleasant coming-of-age – or rather, coming-into-your-own – kinda story.

PS: Most viewers have strong feelings about this story’s love triangle, but I didn’t.

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Dear kfangurl: Who are your favorite supporting actors – and will they ever get to play lead??

| kfangurl

Beez writes:

Dear Kfangurl, Are supporting actors too funny to ever cast as leads?

I keep waiting for my favorites – Park Jin Joo, Kim Seul Gi and my all time favorite, Kim Sung Oh to be part of an OTP or at least a single lead in their own dramas. I’ve seen all of them give snippets of really moving scenes so their acting talent is not in question. What gives?

And phl1rxd writes:

I would love to see an article on your favorite supporting actors|actresses.

There are so many that pop up in our drama world all the time, and while they are not the leads, their work is great none-the-less.

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Review: Hospital Playlist

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Warm, wholesome goodness dressed in hospital garb, Hospital Playlist is the medical themed drama that even the medical drama-averse can easily love.

Hospital Playlist checks a lot of boxes, for me. The writing and directing is assured; the cast is outstanding individually and together.

The overall feel is balanced, with enough attention given to the cases of the day without losing focus on our key characters; the music is heartfelt and breezy, made even more special when performed by the cast.

The slice-of-life approach might feel meandering and slow to some, but in exchange, you really feel like a fly on these characters’ walls, in their professional and personal capacities.

The long episodes might feel intimidating at first, but once you grow to love the characters, the length of the episodes become more of a boon than a bane.

I legit didn’t want this one to end; highly recommend.

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Dropped: Mother Of Mine [My Prettiest Daughter In The World]

| kfangurl

Every so often, a family drama comes along that feels worthy of the 50+ episode investment.

To be honest, for a solid 20+ hours, I sincerely thought that Mother Of Mine was one of those. For a while, I found myself slurping up an episode or three, or four, each day, to the point where I was legit afraid to run out of new episodes. That’s quite something, isn’t it?

Unfortunately for me, at around the episode 53 mark (this show does half-hour episodes instead of hour-long ones), Show started feeling less fun and less charming to watch. Also unfortunately for me, this really doesn’t seem to be a self-correcting trend.

68 episodes in, I’m finally deciding to call it quits with this one.

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