kdrama!2023

A Good Day to be a Dog: an underrated rom-com of 2023

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MBC’s rom-com “A Good Day to be a Dog” tells the story of Han Hae Na (Park Gyu Young) – a young teacher whose family carries a curse through the centuries. If she kisses someone the curse activates and turns her into a dog from midnight until 6 am. In order to break the curse, she must kiss the same person in her dog form within 100 days. Otherwise, she stays in her dog form forever.

Sounds complicated but it’s just a set-up for a light and funny rom-com where our Hae Na must find a way to kiss her colleague, a math teacher, from the school where she’s working – Jin Seo Won (Cha Eun Woo). The one who was scared of dogs due to his trauma from being a victim of bullying in his school days. It would be easier if they already liked each other but she kissed him by mistake! Omo, what to do?

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Evillive: ep1-2 opinion

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The new ENA’s drama “Evillive” tells the story of a humble lawyer Han Dong Soo (Shin Ha Kyun). He visits prisoners that don’t have any lawyers and represents them. They often laugh at him for it because he takes the “scraps”: cases no one wants to bother with. His wife works in the supermarket, and he takes care of his niece and pays hospital bills for his mother who has Alzheimer’s. His half-brother doesn’t have much in life as well: he works in a store where he sells second-hand computers or tries to fix them. He comes up with cases for his brother for a little percentage.

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A Good Day to Be a Dog: ep1-2 opinion

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“A Good Day to Be a Dog” is MBC’s new Wednesday drama and tells a story about school teacher Han Hae Na (Park Gyu Young) who suffers from a curse that her family has been having since the Joseon era. If she kisses a guy then for the 100 days she will turn into a dog at midnight and return to her human form only at 6 am. The curse could be broken if the same person kisses her in her dog form again, proving that their feelings are real. But she has only 100 days for this; if she fails, she will have to continue living as a dog.

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My dearest: Part 1

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Look out for your hearts because this Korean drama will break them and let the pieces ache as crazy. “My Dearest” is MBC’s 2 part drama set in Joseon’s dynasty during the Qing invasion (Jan. 3, 1637 to Feb. 24, 1637). For 10 episodes of part 1, we will see horrendous times of invasion and its results, all that with the main lead trying and failing to be together. Hearts were broken, women and men died, and tons of tears were fallen but this masterpiece drama is worth every single tear. All that with the complicated love story between a noble Lady Gil Chae and a scoundrel-like man Jang Hyun playing out.

The drama is loosely based on the American book (and very popular old Hollywood movie) “Gone with the Wind”. While some plot points were borrowed, Koreans made the drama and characters original enough to stand out on their own. I read the book once and watched the movie a lot but it was a long time ago. However, in this review, I will refer to it to point out similarities and changes.

Read the rest only if you watched already or don’t mind spoilers.

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See you in my 19th life: opinion on ep3-4

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The story of Ban Ji Eum continues as she’s getting closer to her beloved Mun Seo Ha. She meets and bonds with her sister from a previous life and even gets a glimpse of her mother, learning how terribly hard all her lives were regarding family. Understandably, she refuses to meet her past families because she was hurt the very first time she was reborn. How cruel it is to be rejected by her own mother (that little girl with a mom from ep2 was actually her and her mom, not she as a mom with her child like I mistakenly thought) and how a little boy had to cope with it at very early ages of Korea with no help.

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See you in my 19th life: opinion on ep1-2

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The new TVN series on Netflix tells the story of Ban Ji Eum, a girl who remembers all her previous 18 lives, and Mun Seo Ha, a guy she met in her previous life and wants to protect. The story has a unique perspective of someone experiencing the continuation of their story while for other characters this story is a new one. Ji Eum already knows Seo Ha and his story, she doesn’t need this dive-in as if their story just started. However, for Seo Ha it’s all new and he needs time to know her better. When people start their communication on this different level it gives a very interesting dynamic. Quite fast Seo Ha remembered a 9yo girl who helped him and proposed at the first meeting, so I think it won’t be long before he realizes she’s the reincarnation of Jun Won.

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The glory: a story of Blooming and Wilting

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The Netflix original kdrama “The Glory” tells a typical revenge story. The female lead, Moon Dong Eun, was severely assaulted and bullied in high school. Her scars will burn and itch her whole life, she will never forget what happened to her. For 18 years she worked hard and planned to come back in the life of her bullies to get her revenge.

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Decoy: the story of one fraud out of millions

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The kdrama “Decoy” tells a story about a Ponzi scheme fraud. In my mother language (and maybe in others, I’m not sure) it’s called a financial pyramid. The fraud is simple, you invest money and get profit because more people are investing. All pyramid’s like that always collapse, it never happens any other way. So if anyone tells you they know how to gain a lot of money easily – run.

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Call it love: the perfect angst

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New episodes of Disney+ melodrama “Call it love” continues to deliver the well-written melancholic plot. By watching this show I get the right amount of angst. The one where the heart is ache, how sad you feel for the characters. That almost break, or the feeling when the brink of the edge is near but the characters balance on it and only time will tell if will they save themselves or fall. Both Woo Joo (Lee Sung Kyung) and Dong Jin (Kim Young Kwang) are currently in that almost fall from the cliff state and maybe if they decide to sincerely hold each other, they will be able to survive.

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Call it love: the calm appearance of the storm inside

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“Call it love” is a new Disney+ kdrama that tells the story of Sim Woo-Joo (Lee Sung Kyung), a woman who wants to take revenge on the son of a mistress who, alongside Woo Joo’s father, destroyed her family. And Han Dong Jin (Kim Young Kwang), the said son of the mistress, who also a victim of his mother’s scheming.

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