The Marriage Plot Review

Title: The Marriage Plot
AKA: Marriage Scheme
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Episodes: 16
Broadcast Period: Apr-2012 to May-2012
Cast: Kang Hye Jung, Lee Kyu Han, Cha Hwa-Yeon, Lee Young Eun, Lee Min Woo, Kim Se Jung, Park Min Ji, Seo Jae Kyung, Kim Won Joon

So Doo-Ryun (Cha Hwa-Yeon) has four daughters. Since her husband passed away she runs a kimchi making company; Chinjung Kimchi, and has raised her four daughters by herself. The first daughter Sun-Hee (Lee Young-Eun) is sweet and respectable. Her second daughter Gun-Hee (Kang Hye-Jung) is selfish and competitive, and have no affection for the family. Her third daughter Min-Jung (Kim Se-Jung) likes buying expensive items and playing around. Her fourth daughter Min-Ji (Park Min-Ji) has been prepping to enter college the past four years, but she isn't interested in studying. Gun-Hee works at a food company Sangcharim, where she works hard at the company, but doesn't get along with her boss Gang-Jae (Lee Gyu-Han), who is the son of the company owner. Gang-Jae and Gun-Hee work on a project to launch a Kimchi business, but due to Gun-Hee's mistake, the company fails to get investments and results in Gang-Jae's father becomes so upset at their failure, he orders his son to go to Alaska. Gun-Hee sends in her resignation to Gang-Jae, but this only makes Gang-Jae learn by chance that Gun-Hee is the daughter of the kimchi making company Chinjung. Meanwhile, So Doo-Ryun regrets that she did not raise her daughters so well and hopes to change their ways, so she make up a brilliant plan to change their lives.

I never felt so conflicted about a drama; it was good AND really bad. First thing I noticed and kept bugging me the entire time was the bad acting by Kang Hye Jung, I expected more from her. Nevertheless, thank god Lee Kyu Han was the male lead, he really outshined Kang Hye Jung, and made the drama watchable. Lee Kyu-han really sold the show from a whole range of emotions from crazy happy to crazy in love to crazy depressed. Or maybe he’s just crazy. In fact, he outshined everyone else, except for the mother. But hey, she is a senior actress with a lot of achievements, so nothing to say there, and her character here was very loveable and realistic. I do feel cheated by this drama because we never got any hijinks to live in a boardinghouse. No forced living situations or hilarious face-offs apart from an early challenge between the men vs. women. It would have benefited the drama to call it something else than Marriage Plot because there was simply no plotting to be had.

☆☆½ / 2½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

My Secret Hotel Review

Title: My Secret Hotel
Genre: Romantic, Mystery, Comedy
Episode: 16
Broadcast period: 2014-Aug to 2014-Oct
Cast: Yoo In Na, Nam Goong Min, Jin Yi Han, Choi Jung Woo, Uhm Soo Jong, Kim Bo Mi, Choi Tae Hwan, Lee Young Eun, Go Yoon Ho,

Nam Sang Hyo (Yoo In Na) and Goo Hae Young (Jin Yi Han) were married in less than 3 months and got divorced, they meet again 7 years later. Nam Sang Hyo works at The Secret Hotel as a wedding planner, where she by mistake starts a rumor that if a couple marry at that hotel they will divorce after 3 months. To kill the rumor she have to plan the perfect wedding, the only problem was that the groom happened to be her ex-husband, and a dead body falls down from the ceiling in the middle of the wedding. Things got complicated when everyone get sucked into a murder case at The Secret Hotel, so how will Nam Sang Hyo save the hotel?


Ok so, since I am extremely emotionally distressed right now, after watching this drama, I will try my best to give an honest opinion of this show. This was a pretty typical romantic comedy with a little murder mystery thrown in. It was cute and had seasoned actors in the lead roles, and apparently it was written by a famous screenwriter in Korea just before she died, therefor it was expected to be a success. But in the end, it just didn’t do it for me (and the rest of Korea I guess, since the ratings were really bad), there were too many twists and holes in the drama, and you think something new will be revealed episode after episode, but nope, it will slowly drain you for energy. There was a lot of time where I just wanted to give up, because it felt like it was stuck, but the chemistry between Nam Sang Hyo and Goo Hae Young was so cute I had to finish it (have you heard his voice before; CHARISMA). Ok, to sum up what I’m trying to say is that if you have a boatload of good stuff on your “To watch” list, you can let this one on hold for a while.

☆☆ / 2 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Obstetrics & Gynocology Doctors Review

Title: Obstetrics & Gynocology Doctors
AKA: OB/GYN Doctors
Genre: Medical, romance, family
Episodes: 16
Broadcast period: 2010-Feb to 2010-Mar
Cast: Jang Seo Hee, Go Joo Won, Suh Ji Suk, Lee Young Eun, Song Joong Ki, Ahn Sun Young

This drama is about the doctors that work in the Obstetrics and Gynecology department: children, fertility, birth etc..
Seo Hye Young (Jang Seo Hee) is a talent and determined OB/GYN doctor. Her life changes when she finds out she’s pregnant with her, married, professor. Cool and calm as she is, she tells him that she’s pregnant, ending with her decing to have an abortion.
First day at her new workplace she meets up with an old friend, Wang Jae Suk (Suh Ji Suk), who is also a fertility doctor, and known to be a player. By the staff she is seen as a hard and almost obsessive workaholic, except from Lee Sang Shik (Go Joon Won), whom she by accident meets in an elevator, and gets busted about her pregnancy. Later she finds out that he is the chief of pediatrics in the same hospital. The busybody that Sang Shik is, he constantly worries and helps Hye Young, which she isn’t used to.

Honestly when I read the summary of this drama I really didn’t want to watch it. Totally stereotypical drama, I thought, and in some way(s) it really was, but for some reason it’s totally easy to watch, I think it’s because of the ‘doctor focus’. There wasn’t too much love story, even though it was there most of the time, meaning not that typical can’t-live-without-you story. It’s very mature, and very adult like.
The cast was very good, very casual, and almost natural. And yes, I have to admit I watched it because of Song Joong Ki, and he was worth every second of my time :)
All in all, if you want a serious drama this is it, oh yeah, and be prepared with loads of tissues, if not your cloths might become wet!

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts