Cinderella and Four Knights Review

Title: Cinderella and Four Knights

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Episodes: 16

Broadcast Period: Aug-2016 to Oct-2016

Cast: Jung Il Woo, Park So Dam, Ahn Jae Hyun, Lee Jung Shin, Choi Min, Son Na Eun, Kim Yong Gun, Kim Hye Ri,

Eun Ha Won (Park So Dam) is in the third grade of high school. She hopes to become a teacher which her late mother always wished for. Ha Won has a bright personality and a strong set of morals, but she is unhappy at home. She's unattached from her father, step-mother and step-sister and also mistreated. Ha Won works various part-time jobs to pay for her upcoming university tuition fees. She knows she needs to make more money to pay for the storage of her mother's ashes at the cemetery. Meanwhile, Kang Ji Woon (Jung Il Woo), Kang Hyun Min (Ahn Jae Hyeon) and Kang Seo Woo (Lee Jung Shin) are spoiled cousins and live together in the mansion Sky House. With their different personalities. After various accidents Eun Ha Won ends up working part-time at the sky-house. 

Sorry for the dull plot description, but I felt like if I said more or left something else out, it wouldn’t make much sense. One of the reason are the writers, (yes I blame them), because what’s up with writers forgetting the plot halfway through the drama. This was a preproduction drama, so it can’t be the ratings that changed the scripts. I won’t say what it Is, because that would spoil the drama, but I tell you it’s annoying. Now the actors, Jung Il Woo, you are soon-to-be 30-ish, why play a 20-year-old? Some actors can pull it off, you were sadly not one of them. On the other hand, he had great chemistry with Park So Dam (and she did a great job herself), so let’s call it even! The whole cast were great EXCEPT one. The whole 16 episode drama, I kept wondering why, oh god why, cast Son Na Eun. She was so bad she hit a whole new record on bad acting. Maybe that’s the award she’s after. All in all, it’s a good drama, to use as a hangover cure after watching a really good drama. 

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥ 0.5 / 2.5 out of 5 hearts

Beautiful Mind Review

Title: Beautiful Mind

AKA: Dr. Frankenstein

Genre: Medical, Thriller, Romance

Episodes: 14

Broadcast period: 2016-Jun to 2016-Aug

Cast: Jang Hyuk, Park So Dam, Yoon Hyun Min, Heo Joon Ho and Park Se Young.

This drama tells about Lee Young Oh (Jang Hyuk); a genius neurosurgeon with a brain injury to his frontal lobe, making him unable to show or feel sympathy and empathy. As a very young boy his father had intensively taught him how to read facial expressions, as he was afraid his son would be labeled a psychopath due to people with the same condition being known as either sociopaths or psychopaths. This results in Young Oh being able to hide his real nature even from his girlfriend Kim Min Jae (Park Se Young) and his fellow co-workers.

Everything changes when he's one day involved in a range of deaths at the hospital, with patients dying with no reasonable cause. This leads to policewoman Gye Jin Sung (Park So Dam) suspecting Young Oh after being involved with one of the patients right before they went to surgery. Soon after everything around him starts to crumble as the people he thought he had trusted, suddenly work against him...

Okay, so I am aware this drama isn't as famous as many other Korean medical dramas, but compared to all other medical drama I have watched, this is probably one of my favorite. You might find this one to serious and quite confusing, but I enjoyed it a lot. I am not a fan of Jang Hyuk, but I really didn't mind him here. Sometimes I would think his acting was off, but it didn't bother me at all. Maybe because of the storyline or the dialogues, but it was quite good to be fair. Park So Dam I am seeing for the first time, and I loved her. I think she made me a fan. There was something tomboyish yet very feminine about her – like a young and less experienced Gong Hyo Jin. And I am a huge GHJ fan :)

Besides that, I found the pace great, like it made me tune in every single week, and I was always excited for the next episode. But on the other hand I understand why people would dislike it – as the subject is something not everyone is fond of. Also the idiot who cut this 2 episode short should die. Seriously. There was WAY too much happening in the last 2 episodes - because it was cut.

To sum up: a great drama, but not for everyone's taste.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Because It's The First Time Review

Title: Because it’s the first time
AKA: My First Time, Friends 2015
Genre: Youth, Comedy. Romance
Episodes: 22/8
Broadcast Period: Oct-2015 to Nov-2015
Cast: Choi Min Ho, Park So Dam, Kim Min Jae, Lee Yi Kyung, Jo Hye Jung, Jung Yoo Jin

“If I am 20 years old, this is my youth, right? What kind of youth is this? What’s going to happen to my life from now on? You must have had a plan if you brought me into this world. You have nothing to say, right?”
With a freewheeling personality, Yoon Tae Oh (Choi Min Ho) is a 20-years-old freshman in college. He has been friends with Han Song Yi (Park So Dam) since they were little. Now, he begins to have feelings for the girl who has a bright and positive personality. Meanwhile, Tae Oh has a friend, Seo Ji Ahn (Kim Min Jae), who is well-behaved and exemplary. A love triangle brews between these three people.

A short webdrama, with a nice story, and adorable actors. Very easy to love all the actors/characters, because the storyline was so enjoyable. A slice of youth at it’s prime! I really had 0 expectations and really thought one episode and I would be out. But I found myself fully involved in the story, enjoying the performances, the writing, the entire look and feel of this drama. There is a good balance of light and heavy in this without going too far either way. I’m fully engaged with the story behind these young people and looked forward in these few short episodes to see how they would work through the difficulties life was throwing at them. I loved the cameos!

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts