Song Joong Ki

Review: Reborn Rich

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

For a good portion of its run, I found Reborn Rich to be an utterly engaging, absorbing rollercoaster of a ride.

With fun twists and turns that I mostly didn’t expect, and some excellent performances by our cast (Lee Sung Min is STELLAR in this! 🤩🤩), I found myself lapping this up with relish, each and every week.

Your mileage may vary, but I personally didn’t enjoy the last 2 episodes as much as I did the first 14 that had gone before, even though I understood the narrative positives, for taking the direction that Show chooses.

Overall, I still found this to be a solid watch, and I’d say that Show is still a worthwhile spend of your drama hours.

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Review: Little Women

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

There are a number of ways to approach this show: as a modern adaptation of the novel by Louisa May Alcott; as a mystery-thriller; as a dark commentary on socio-economic inequality.

However, I find it most effective to approach this one as a stylish makjang, because I feel that that’s the lens that gives me the most enjoyment, of this show.

Show is darkly atmospheric and consistently intriguing and twisty – and it’s all pretty engaging and satisfying, when viewed with a makjang lens.

Our cast is strong across the board, with our primary cast putting in great performances, but I have to confess to being most fascinated by the deliveries of Uhm Ki Joon and Uhm Ji Won, and to being most dazzled by Wi Ha Joon’s very handsome face. 🤩😁

Overall, adjustment of expectations is a must – and very worthwhile.

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Stories from the community: MC’s story!

| kfangurl

Surprise, everyone!!

This month, we’re going to be treated to another series of guest posts, by mystery writers from the Patreon community. Woot! (Thank you so much, you guys. I love that you all are so up for this! ❤️)

This guest series is MC‘s brainchild, and is, essentially, a sharing of stories from the community, 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!

We will be enjoying a total of 9 guest posts over the next few weeks (yay!!); I really hope you all enjoy.

I’m especially grateful to MC for thinking of this, and volunteering to write this post, because she’s got so much on her personal plate, with her job, and her baby too. Thank you so much, MC, for making time for this, for us!! LOVE YA. 😘😘

KFG ❤️

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Dear kfangurl: Can you talk about single season vs. multi-season dramas?

| kfangurl

Entropyenator writes:

Hi KFangurl,

Absolutely LOVE your blog and best of luck in your journey to keep writing!

Two questions for you I hope you can help with, though they are sort of related:

1) Why is it so rare for kdramas to get more than 1 season?

2) What qualifies a kdrama to get a second season?

To explain a bit, I just finished Vincenzo (so amazing, SJK, JYB and the rest of the cast were brilliant, even if the logic got…stretched in some bits) but SJK’s interview right after the finale seems to indicate it won’t get a second season despite very very good ratings.

This seems to be the norm for kdramas–save very rare exceptions like Hospital Playlist and Age of Youth/Hello My Twenties. So what gives? Is it a different industry/culture thing? I do admit that I am based in the US, where, as long as a show doesn’t completely flop, getting at least 2-3 seasons is incredibly common.

Looking forward to your answer!

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Review: Vincenzo

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Show is a lot of things, and attempts a lot of things (some with more success than others), but one thing I can say for certain, is that Show is bold, and dares to try new things.

When the things that Show try don’t go so well, Show can come across as rather uneven, but when Show is at its best, it is a wild, absurd and completely absorbing ride of the best kind.

Our story world and our characters lean dark, yet this is all served up with strong lashings of screwball comedy. It sounds weird, but when Show makes it work, it’s glorious.

Our cast is very solid, but hands down, the one who shines the brightest, is Song Joong Ki, as our titular antihero. So much matter-of-fact, cool badassery, served up with a side of comedy; I just couldn’t look away.

Sometimes Show got uncomfortably dark for my taste, but Show gets brownie points, for unabashedly daring to be its own thing, for better or for worse.

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Review: Prison Playbook [Wise Prison Life]

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A show that takes the dark topic of prison and crime, and infuses it all with warmth and hope, Prison Playbook is the unlikely contender for your heart that will likely make you laugh, cry, wring your heart dry, and then fill it right up again.

Writer-nim weaves a story that makes primary and secondary character pop, while every actor in our ensemble cast breathes actual life into the characters, and PD-nim’s signature touch comes alive in both the palpable sense of community and the corny jokes.

As a shining bonus, the bromance at the center of our story feels emotionally deep despite its often gruff surface.

Poignant and homey, despite its grim premise.

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Review: Descendants of the Sun

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Even though Descendants of the Sun is not very well-written and far from subtle, there are things to enjoy in this show, if you’re willing to close your eyes to its shortcomings.

Things like appealing lead characters (most of them, anyway), character relationships, the romance and the bromance. And not forgetting Song Joong Ki in his most schmexy drama outing to date (ahem).

Flawed, but not without its charms.

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Flash Review: A Werewolf Boy [Movie]

| kfangurl

I think I may have trust issues with the English that comes out of Korea.

I mean, seriously, it’s right there in the title, but all this time that I knew this movie existed, I somehow had it in my head that this was a movie about a wolf boy, and not a werewolf boy.

For the record, I can now confirm that this movie is, indeed, about a werewolf boy, and, happily for me, it is far from being a scary movie (unlike most movies about werewolves).

Also for the record, Song Joong Ki is absolutely wonderful and amazing in this (although, when is he ever not, right?).

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Pure Pretty: Song Joong Ki

| kfangurl

In the last little while, something rather interesting happened.

Basically, in all the various ways that you guys could get in touch with me, y’all were reaching out, and asking for the Exact Same Thing.

Over Facebook, Instagram, and even over email, I received a number of hopeful, enthusiastic, rather ardent requests for Song Joong Ki to get some lovin’ on this site. Talk about being adorably united, you guys. 😉

Being the compassionate and helpful fangirl that I am (heh), I promptly dived into some appropriately.. intent (and rather glorious) research. My own growing fascination with Song Joong Ki didn’t hurt, of course.

And now, by popular request, I hereby present to you the loving Pure Pretty spotlight on Song Joong Ki. I hope you guys find it worth the wait. 🙂

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Flash Review: Nice Guy [The Innocent Man]

| kfangurl

Although I really do enjoy the occasional well-done melodrama, somehow, revenge melodramas remain steadfastly in the category of “not quite my kinda thing.”

To date, I haven’t yet seen a revenge melo that I unequivocally loved. I guess I mostly find them just a little too intense, and extreme and, well, kinda crazy, as a general rule.

Without all the positive buzz around Nice Guy as a drama, and without the added push of LUFFING Song Joong Ki in Sungkyunkwan Scandal (so, so adorable!) and then being a sad puppy that he’d gone away to the military, I probably wouldn’t have touched this drama with a ten-foot pole.

Despite being the revenge melo outsider that I am, though, I managed to enjoy this one.. quite well.

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