Kim So Yeon

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

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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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Review: Falling For Innocence

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

While never terribly strong on the logic front, nor on managing its corporate machinations, Falling For Innocence manages to be a warm, engaging and uplifting watch.

Despite being quite fantastical in its premise as well as its execution, the narrative stays grounded via the emotional resonance and heft imparted by its committed cast.

Amid the many solid performances delivered by the cast, Jung Kyung Ho stands out as THE shining star of this drama world. His fabulous, faceted performance resonates with so much heart that it actually helps to overcome Show’s flawed logic. That’s skillz.

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Sunshine The Second!

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Guess what, everyone! The blog got a second Sunshine nomination!

Thanks to Indigo of Between Wor(L)ds for the love! And man, you DO ask some very tough questions!

I’m so pleased with myself now, coz after the blog’s first Sunshine Award, I’d told Lady G that I’d be getting her to play in future blog award type thingies.

Seeing Indigo’s tough questions, I’m mighty impressed with Past Me’s foresight. Coz I’m gonna need all the help I can get! Ha.

You’ll know what I mean when you see Indigo’s questions!

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Review: I Need Romance 3

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

I Need Romance 3 is like the milder, sweeter, slightly ditzy younger cousin of the older, more worldly-wise I Need Romance dramas.

While INR3 may look like its cousins on the surface – glossy & modern, complete with real kisses & sexytimes – at its heart, it holds dear many classic dramaland rom-com values about Romance and True Love.

Oh, and the ditziness? It’s coz logic isn’t this drama’s strength, and there’s a fair chunk of stuff in INR3 that doesn’t actually make sense.

If you loved I Need Romance &/or I Need Romance 2012, you’d probably be disappointed in this one. Conversely, if you didn’t like the first two installments, then this one just might sit better than you’d think.

Oh, and there’s Sung Joon. Mmmm.

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Review: Two Weeks

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

A stage swiftly set with strong stakes; a capable cast; deft execution. Two Weeks has all three and is one tense rollercoaster ride from start to finish.

Two Weeks has quite a few narrative pieces to juggle, what with life-and-death literally hanging in the balance, emotional baggage the size of a small country along for the ride, and a poignant, heartwrenching-heartwarming father-daughter relationship blossoming at its core through it all.

Admirably, the show manages to deliver it all in a way that feels satisfying, well-paced and coherent through the very end.

The entire cast is pretty excellent, but the stand-out is Lee Jun Ki, who truly is mesmerizing as our resident fugitive daddy on the run, finally faced with a reason to live that is bigger than himself: his little girl.

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Review: All About Eve

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

One of the early hits that helped to launch the Hallyu wave, All About Eve is the kind of drama that’s so old that it actually feels new.

A fairly light, ultimately warm melo that doesn’t have too many of the classic kdrama tropes coz, well, they hadn’t been established yet, at the time.

There isn’t a jerky male lead, nor a damsel-in-distress female lead; in fact, for a good long stretch, I couldn’t even figure out the dynamics of the love square. That sure kept me on my toes. So refreshing, and mildly cracky in the best way too.

Plus, I totally see the Jang Dong Gun appeal now. Finally. Thank you.

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Best Kickass Imaginary Dream Dramas, Ever!

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Do you have a Dream Drama?

Y’know, like in your head, you have the Perfect scenario, the Perfect male lead, the Perfect female lead, the Perfect second leads, and the Most Perfect story arcs, Ever? The kind of idea that makes you go, “OMGGGG I WOULD WATCH THAT DRAMA!!!!”???

Where if you could have it your way, this drama would be filmed and produced, stat, and immediately given a time slot on a Korean network, so that the entire dramaverse would be able to inhale the awesome, in unison?

Well, I and the ladies on this blog certainly have a few of those, and not only am I gonna share those awesome scenarios with you today, we wanna hear about your Perfect Dream Drama too!

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What Makes Drama Crack Stay Fresh / Turn Stale?

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DC1So today Stephanie posted on her blog Crazy for Kdrama a post titled Second-hand Crack. In it, she describes her experience re-watching Smile Dong Hae, and finding that it just wasn’t as cracktastic the second time around.

That really resonated with me, coz as some of you may know, I’ve been marathoning Beautiful Days for review, and that review’s been taking a while to actually get written.

The reason is pretty much the same as Stephanie’s experience with Smile Dong Hae. I’d loved Beautiful Days on my first watch, and had devoured it pretty quickly.

Fast forward several years, and now that I’m watching it for the second time, I still find it pretty engaging, but it’s just not as cracktastic as I had first found it.

Which begs the question: What exactly makes drama crack stay fresh / turn stale?

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