Kim Hae Sook

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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Flash Review: Father Is Strange

| kfangurl

You know a show’s gotta be Quite Something, if it’s luring me out of the writing-hiatus-cum-drama-rut I’ve found myself ensconced in for the last couple of months.

I literally just finished watching the last episode of Father Is Strange today, and liked it enough to start poking around to craft a review right away.

Considering that 1, Father Is Strange is a 52-episode family drama, and 2, I’ve been feeling pretty uninspired on both the writing and drama fronts, this is a Big Testament to how likable I’ve found this show and its characters.

Even if you’re not usually into family dramas, I really do think you might like this one.

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Review: Marriage Not Dating [Marriage Without Dating]

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Wacky fun with a lot of heart.

Marriage Not Dating’s strength is really in its execution and its primary cast’s committed performances.

Han Groo and Yeon Woo Jin both turn in heartfelt performances while being fully committed to The Funny, and the result is cracktastic, laugh-out-loud hilarity with an inner core of true emotion.

Props to Show for maintaining its breezy pace consistently from start to finish, and ultimately giving us an ending that felt true to our characters while delivering the all-important feelz.

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Review: I Hear Your Voice

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A noona romance that reminds me all over again why I love kdrama.

There are a good number of reasons to love this drama: a good story, robust themes, a brisk pace that’s well-kept for the most part, engaging characters that are well-written and well-acted, heartwarming relationships all-around (well, almost all-around), a very enjoyable OST, and a fantasy, superpower bent that gives rise to related hijinks, many of the romantic variety. Yes, Omo!

My top reason for loving this show, though, can be summed in this character still right here. Everything about this boy-man, from how he’s written to how he’s portrayed, floats my boat. Melt, melt and melt.

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Review: Life Is Beautiful

| kfangurl

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

A lovely family drama that is completely refreshing and that has a wonderful harmonious, comforting tone throughout its 63 episodes.

There is no trace of melodrama in this one. People don’t hate each other; no one is plotting revenge on anyone; there is no web of birth secrets; there is no long-suffering Candy character and no chaebol prince.

The beats are relatively small, and yet I never felt like they were insignificant.

As a bonus, this drama is set in gorgeous, glorious Jeju Island.

Criminally underrated, this gem is a completely enjoyable watch from start to finish.

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