Kim Sun Young

Review: Our Unwritten Seoul

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

Sensitively written, tenderly directed, and wonderfully delivered by a talented cast, Our Unwritten Seoul really is a gem of a drama, in my opinion.

It’s a story of healing, growth, and the journey towards self-acceptance and self-love, and it’s capably woven, made up of threads from characters both main and supporting, to make up a nuanced and diverse narrative fabric that I found as heartfelt as I found it engaging.

Our entire cast is extremely solid, but Park Bo Young absolutely stands out, playing dual roles of our twins.

As a bonus, the OST is breezy yet poignant, and pitch perfect, in amplifying the watch experience.

Absolutely, enthusiastically recommend. 🥲

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Review: The Trauma Code: Heroes On Call

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

This show is glossy, snappy and zippy, with a touch of irreverence, and overall very slurpable and fun to watch; narrative arcs don’t take very long to resolve, and they are effectively engaging, such that I’d happily finish an episode, and feel ready for another.

Beyond the slurp factor, I think what lifts Show to the next level, is that it demonstrates a great deal of heart.

From our core team, to some of the patient arcs, that heartfelt quality manages to peek through the gloss and irreverence, making this story world and these characters linger with me, beyond the ending credits.

Very good; would recommend. 🥲

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Review: A Virtuous Business

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

Show has its cheeky side, but honestly, that cheeky side doesn’t show up all that much, once we get into the meat of our story.

Rather than a story about a business involving lingerie and adult accessories, this is a story about our core characters’ personal journeys, and their relationships with one another.

I do think that Show is a little uneven in terms of how engaging it manages to be, but it is heartwarming in general, and does deliver on some very heartfelt moments which I genuinely enjoyed.

A reasonably solid and enjoyable watch, on balance.

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Review: King The Land

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

On the upside, Show is very pretty to look at, has a great-looking OTP that shares excellent chemistry, and it isn’t shy about serving up lots of OTP squee moments.

On top of that, Show’s got a very enjoyable OST scoring it all, so that it all feels like a worry-free, very pretty escape from Real Life.

On the downside, Show is so low-angst that the narrative tension it serves up is very low-stakes and therefore not very gripping. While this is in keeping with Show wanting to be a happy place, unfortunately, this also means that for some viewers, this could become pretty boring, pretty fast. 😅

Ultimately, your mileage will vary, depending on just how much of an appetite you have, for light, cotton-candy, pretty fluff.

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Review: Crash Course In Romance

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

When Show is at its best, it’s warm, funny and cozy-slurpy in the best way. Mature leads with fantastic acting chops and great chemistry? A shiny-pretty rom-com world? Easy-breezy music to score it all? Check, check and check.

On the downside, Show attempts to fit in a side of murder, AND a keen spotlight on the potential hazards of a highly competitive academic system, and after a while, Show’s focus gets muddied with these extras.

The downsides aren’t enough to be a deal-breaker for me personally, but I do think that your mileage may vary.

Overall, I found this warm, fuzzy and worthwhile, despite Show’s narrative detours into less warm, less fuzzy things.

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Flash Review: The Silent Sea

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I’d heard such mixed reactions to this one, that I became curious enough about what my own reaction would be, to check it out for myself.

Now that I’ve emerged on the other side, I can safely say that I do think your mileage may vary, with this one.

Some folks will like it a lot, while others will find it rather ‘meh.’

Personally, I find myself somewhere in the middle – but tending towards the side of ‘meh,’ unfortunately.

Still, I hope that this quick review will help you figure out whether you’re likely to love this one, or whether you’d be better off spending those drama hours elsewhere.

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Stories from the community: Ella’s story!

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If you didn’t already know, we’ve got a special series to kick off the new year! Guests posts, by patrons on Patreon, sharing their personal drama stories, mostly around the topic of “How did you get into dramas?” and “What does your first drama mean to you?” – with flexibility to go off on personal tangents, of course. 😁 Feel free to share your stories too, in the comments!

This guest series is MC‘s brainchild (thanks MC! ❤️). You can check out the earlier posts in this series as follows: MC, Sean, Shahz, JJ, Martina, Beth & Uyen. After today’s post, there will be two more guest posts by mystery guest writers, whose identities will be revealed when their various posts go live. Woot! 🥳

Today’s post is brought to you by Ella, whom you may have seen around the blog, and on Patreon as well. I just love how effusive Ella is, in her drama love, and I’m so glad she’s taken this bold step, of introducing herself properly to us, through this guest post!

I hope you guys enjoy!

~ KFG ❤️

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

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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

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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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Review: At Eighteen [A Moment At Eighteen]

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

Thoughtful, understated, and yet so full of accurate teenage feels, At Eighteen is the youth drama that we didn’t know we needed, but which we absolutely deserve.

You don’t even need to generally be into youth dramas to enjoy this one, methinks, because this is arguably the most “grown up” youth drama I’ve seen yet.

There’s no hyperbolic cutesy here; growing pains and teenage euphoria are portrayed in such an organic way that it makes me feel like these writers remember exactly what it’s like to be a teenager growing up, and with amazing attention to detail, to boot.

Show manages to create a world that feels real and raw, while still retaining enough pretty and polish to give it that drama lift. The entire cast does an excellent job, but extra kudos goes to our young actors, for making their characters come to life in such an organic-feeling manner.

As a bonus, the music in this is by turn breezy-heartfelt, tinkly-ethereal and gently poignant; all astutely applied just so, to give the watch experience that extra dimension of immersion.

Quite excellent, all-around.

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