The K2 Review

Title: The K2

Genre: Melodrama, Political, Action

Episodes: 16

Broadcast Period: Sep-2016 to Nov-2016

Cast: Ji Chang Wook, Song Yoon Ah, Im Yoon Ah, Jo Sung Ha, Jun Bae Soo, Kim Kap Soo, Lee Soon Won, Uhm Hye Ran, 

Kim Je Ha (Ji Chang Wook) is a former mercenary soldier for the PMC Blackstone. While in Iraq, he gets framed for the murder of his lover, a civilian. As a result, he runs away and becomes a fugitive. He returns to South Korea and by chance, gets offered to work as a bodyguard by Choi Yoo Jin (Song Yoon Ah), the owner of JSS Security Company and wife of the presidential candidate, Jang Se Joon (Jo Sung Ha). He accepts the job in exchange for resources that he needs in order to get his revenge on another presidential candidate, Park Kwan Soo (Kim Kap Soo), who previously ordered the killing of his lover. In the meantime, Kim Je Ha gets assigned to guard Go Anna (Im Yoon Ah), the hidden daughter of Jang Se Joon, whose life is always threatened because of Choi Yoo Jin, her stepmother. 

Yes, ladies and gentleman, Ji Chang Wook is back, with nothing less than quality acting with a sprinkle load of hotness. I’ll guide you through why you should watch this. First of all if you have watched Healer (another Ji Chang Wook Gem) you’ll know that his action scenes are professional, and apparently he stepped up his game in this drama, so expect some moves :b. Secondly: do I really need to say more? Yes, as you can read I am too biased on the actor to actually write a helpful review. At first I really didn’t want Ji Chang Wook, to team up with an idol-turned-actress, it’s not that’s she’s bad but she’s not good either. However, the villain in this story, Choi Yoo Jin, portrayed by Song Yoon Ah, really took the audience by storm. Her acting was crazy, at one time I literally got chilled put by her. She was really impressive, she even took the spotlight from JCW when in the same scene (yes, that’s how crazy good she was). The storyline was okay, it became a little dull at times, and the romance was a little too much at times, but the suspense and political game kept it up. To conclude: JCW Fighting ♥

☆☆☆☆☆ / 5 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts

Healer Review

Title: Healer
AKA: Hilleo
Genre: Romance, Comedy, thriller, action
Episodes: 20
Broadcast Period: Dec-2014 to Feb-2014
Cast: Ji Chang Wook, Park Min Young, Yoo Ji Tae, Kim Mi Kyung, Oh Kwang Rok, Ji Il Joo, Park Sang Myun, Park Won Sung

Chae Young Shin (Park Min Young) is a bright and cheerful girl  whose only dream is to be a real reporter, that’s what she shows her surroundings. She carries a heavy pain, which has left her traumatized. One day she runs into a weird man who attacks her, stole her bag and cut her fingernails.
That man is a night courier that goes by the code name Healer (Ji Chang Wook), which job is to do what people can’t do, the only thing he don’t do is hurt or kill people. His safety depends on the fact that no one knows who he is. He receives a job one day to find a certain person; little did he know that person would change his life forever. The one that hired him to do the job, was none other than the famous reporter at a major broadcasting company, Kim Mon Ho (Yoo Ji Tae). Together all three of them gets tangled into a mystery from the past, that will either break them or heal them.

I know if I write this review right after finishing the drama my opinion would be too biased (Ehm Ehm, I’m a big fan of Ji Chang Wook), but even after a few days I can’t seem to cool down, so here it goes; BEST DRAMA EVAAAAR! No, but serious, it was an amazing action romance which covered a mystery that connects two generations. I’m satisfied with it and the great cast! And the plot! The first episodes might leave you confused and with a feeling that you have overlooked an important clue, but fear not, they did it intentionally, because the more you watch pieces of the story slide into place and reveals an intriguing and very well thought off plot. I read an interview with the writer behind the story and she claims to have written this plot with only Ji Chang Wook on her mind as the main, how can I ever thank ýou!  He delivered a great performance that gave us a character that not only makes you want him to save you from the wicked people with his uber cool fighting, but you also want to hug and squeeze him. He got that talent to play a vulnerable and tormented incredibly well, making you feel his pain and loss as deeply as if it’s your own. I was actually satisfied with Park Min Young, I like her quirky character, she is not like a typical female lead (although she have a hard time acting out those crying scenes). Something I read about the drama really struck me, it’s that each character feels like their own drama, own story to tell. Healer managed to really present every character as complicated as real people, not an easy job to squeeze all that to a 20 episode drama, but they did it! As intriguing and interesting the main characters were, the characters from the past managed to be on the same level (Loved them!). The crown or the finish touch on the drama were definitely the OST, that background melody that comes every time Healer were fighting really sets the mood. Sigh… I can’t conclude this. I’m not over the fact it ended yet. Definitely a drama I’m going to watch again.

☆☆☆☆☆ / 5 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts

Empress Ki Review

Title: Empress Ki
AKA: Qi Empress
Genre: Romance, historical, action, melodrama
Episode: 51
Broadcast period: 2013-Oct-28 to 2014-Apr-29
Cast: Ha Ji Won, Joo Jin Mo, Ji Chang Wook, Baek Jin Hee, JinYi Han, Kim Young Ho

Goryeo, the former korea, was politacillay and economically governed by the Yuan. A big and powerful kingdom, which was ruled by an emperor. For over decades the Yuan have been kidnapping girls from Goryeo to be concubines in their palaces, in one of these quests Ki Seung-Nyang (Ha Ji Won), a goryeo girl, was captured alongside her mother. While the goryeo king tried to save her, her mother was killed by the yuan soldiers, leaving her with hatred towards them.  Years later she started to work for the Goreo King, and so they gave her a mission to protect Yuans Crown Prince. Despite her hatred towards Yuan, her loyalty for Goryeo was stronger, so she carried out the mission with all she got, protecting him was not easy.
Unfortunately the Yuan deceived her and brought her back to their palace as a concubine, she started out as a palace maid, and worked her way through until she married the Emperor (The crown prince she once protected) to become an Empress, this is a story about her loves and political ambitions as she is torn between the two nations.

At first I really didn’t wanna watch this drama, because of the number of episodes. I ususally do watch dramas with 50+ episodes, but those are family, easy-to-watch dramas. This was a historical drama, and there weren’t a good summery of it, so I really didn’t know what I was expecting. The only reason I started was.. dum dum badum tss… JI CHANG WOOK. Yup, I’m obsessed by his acting, and he was my driving force until the ending. He amused me, made me cry, at some point I even got scary of him, all this just proves his acting abilities.
Back to the drama, I think because I wasn’t expecting anything I fell easily in love with it. The story was good, and it was really realistic, the drama sucked you into its own universe and spit you out again leaving you as an emotionally wreck.
Another thing I really loved about this drama, was all the colors, I know it sounds weird, but if you’re used to the normal joseon, or mid 1900 historical dramas, you get used to boring colors (brown, grey, black), but this was packed with so many colors it literally bombed your mind, all the Yuan dresses and their decorations… woah.
All in all, you should give this drama a chance !

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½ / 4½ out of 5 hearts

Smile, Dong Hae Review

Title: Smile, Dong Hae

AKA: Smile Again

Genre: Family

Episodes: 159

Broadcast period: 2010-Oct to 2011-May

Cast: Ji Chang Wook, Do Ji Won, Alex, Oh Ji Eun, Lee Jang Woo and Park Jung Ah.

Training to become world champion in Speed skating, Carl Laker (Ji Chang Wook), or Dong Hae in Korean, gets the opportunity of a life time, becoming a representative for the American team. As the team is travelling to South Korea to join the finals, Dong Hae doesn’t have any other options but taking his mentally challenged mother Anna Laker (Do Ji Won), with him - all without his coach or team knowing. As a child of a adoptee, Dong Hae has never been in Korea before, but looks forward to see his girlfriend Yoon Sae Wa (Park Jung Ah), who had been living with him in New York, again. His plan is to propose to her, win gold and return to America. His mother on the other hand, dreams of finding Dong Hae’s father, James, whom she had met 27 years ago in America, and had been waiting for to return. This has made Dong Hae hate James more than anything and always ends up fighting with his mother about it.

Arriving in Korea, where Sae Wa was supposed to pick up Anna, but due to her work she sends Lee Bong Yi (Oh Ji Eun), her childhood friend. Bong Yi’s family has had a rough time: her fiancée decided to leave her 7 days before the wedding, Bong Yi’s brother Lee Tae Hoon (Alex) keeps failing his exams, and the family keeps getting into more and more dept because of the failure of their Kimchi factory, which they blame the known journalist, now director, Kim Jun. Scraping money, Bong Yi agrees to fetch Anna, only to be seen by Dong Hae, who thinks she is kidnapping his mother. After clearing the misunderstandings, they meet again under worse circumstances: when Sae Wa is approached by Kim Do Jin (Lee Jang Woo), a Chaebol, she sees and opportunity to rise in society, and decides to dump Dong Hae, but Dong Hae won’t give up that easy…

Wow, this was by far the longest and draggiest drama ever, but yet I sort of enjoyed it. It is very typical with the hidden birth, the chaebol fight, and the horrible treatment of the lead actor and his family and friends. Thought this is the first time, for me that is, is that everything is sooooo accidental, like everyone had a back story with one another. And lot of the time is spent with talking about NOT finding out something or “did father find out?!” etc.. I love that it did twist in the end, where I actually and genuinely felt bad for the supporting actress, and sort of hoped the best for both her and the supporting actor.

This is a good drama if you are a fan of Ji Chang Wook, or any other actor, since they do a good job, but you better love him or them, because 159 episodes is a lot of episodes. I almost cried when I finished…

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Bachelor Vegetable Store Review

Title:Bachelor Vegetable Store
Genre: Melodrama, comedy, romance
Episodes: 24
Broadcast period: 2011-Dec-21 to 2012-Mar-08
Cast: Ji Chang Wook, Wang Ji hye, Kim Young Kwang, Park Soo Jin, Hwang Shin Hye, Lee Se Young, Park Won Sook, Jang Hang Sun, Kim Do Yun, Jun Nok Min, Lee Gwang Soo, Ji Hyuk, Sung Ha, Shin Won Ho, Sa Mi Ja, Jang Jae Ho

A drama based on a true story of a young boy, Han Tae Yang, who dreams of becoming the happiest vegetable seller. As a young boy he loses his mother and his father runs away, leaving him and his sister with their old, sick grandmother. Han Tae Yang is best friends with Jin Jin Shim, a girl, also orphan. While they are young something happens and Jin Jin Shim disappears.
Years later Han Tae Yang is still waiting for Jin Jin Shim, and is struggling to support his sister and himself. But soon things changes and he starts working at the market where he meets Mok Ga On, a name he knew before. Will he ever fulfill his dream? Will he ever meet Jin Shim again? Well he starts with 4 other friends and fights his way up!

The reason I watched this drama? Ji Chang Wook. I loved Warrior Baek Dong Soo so I had to watch another of his dramas. Honestly I was disappointed. It wasnt the greatest acting, I love his character but this was just getting a bit too much, maybe because the drama has so many sad scenes I got tired of seeing his sad expression lol. Anyway Im starting to like the actress Wang Ji Hye, I didnt like her before tehee,, and yeah it is the story of rich vs poor again but not the same way, its about a psychic mother who want revenge and she is seriously sick. The whole drama revolves around her being crazy and doing all sorts of things to get rid of Tae Yang. But still it wasnt bad at all. Actually its a really good drama. Made me want to fight for something (still dont know what,, should I become a farmer? lol). Well it is a true story after all, of a man starting from nothing, the bottom, and fighting his way up while going against some big stupid rich people, and help from other rich people lol. And I soooo loved the fathers character, he is like the perfect father, but who does he have to have such a uughr wife! And also how the 5 of them, Tae Yang and his friends work together was really nice watching.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Bunji's Verdict

(Blank). That was my reaction. This was one heavy drama, and on top of that long… like really long. It has great actors and the screenplay seemed pretty okay, but damn the main love story was clean bull shit. Pardon my language, but I really sucked, and left me cheering for the couple NOT to end up together (eventhough I wanted to two supporting actors - Dan Bi and Seol Woo - to end up together), I really thought that it was completely unnecessary and would have been amazing if they had just made a story about a guy and his friends trying to start a business. I really have no idea why they would add such a lousy story as a main. I mean a lot of the side stories were great - especially compared to the main. This was one of THE hardest to finish, but I had to since it’s Lee Gwang Soo :D Though I have to give credit to the rest of the drama: every back story was great, every obstacle was intuiting, and every solution was decent.

That said, I wouldn’t even bother unless you want melodrama, with a tummy ache.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Warrior Baek Dong Soo Review

Title: Warrior Baek Dong Soo
AKA:Musa Baek Dong Soo / Honorable Baek Dong Soo
Genre: Period
Episodes: 29
Broadcast period: 2011-Jul-04 to 2011-Oct-10
Cast:Ji Chang Wook, Yeo Jin Goo, Yoo Seung Ho,
Park Gun Tae, Yoon So Yi, Lee In, Shin Hyun Bin, Nam Ji Hyun, Choi Min Soo, Jun Kwang Ryul, Park Joon Gyu, Lee Jin Ah, Oh Man Suk, Yoon Ji Min, Park Chul Min, Jun Gook Hwan, Geum Dan Bi, Lee Won and many more!

Warrior Baek Dong Soo , a real-life legend in Joseon Dynasty during King Jeongjo's reign. Around the King many traitors do whatever they can to get to power and wealth.
A little baby boy is born, Baek Dong Soo, the son of a great man who risked his life for the Crown Prince. Baek Dong Soo lost both his parents and was raised by his father's friends, all men dedicating their lives to protecting the Kingdom. Baek Dong Soo grows to an young man and we follow him as he is experiencing a lot of different things and learning martial arts along with his very good friends Yeo Un and Cho Rip so that they can serve the King. Yeo Un is also the son of one of Dong Soo's father's friends and they develop a close friendship however Yeo Un is having a really hard time as the Sky Lord, an assassin, uses him by making him believe that his fate is to be an assassin. Friendship, brotherhood and loyalty is what this drama is all about.

Writing a review is not an easy thing because we follow Baek Dong Soo through 25 years or so.. But that is what makes you so immersed in the drama, you follow the characters for so long and get a really good understanding of everything that happens. I really really liked this drama, when I started it I didnt think I would finish it that fast (29 episodes is not an easy thing for me !) but it went really fast and I have never cried this bad while watching a drama! Its not because it was like one of those really sad melodramas but because of the friendships and how those people were willing to give their everything and didnt think twice to sacrifice themselves for a greater cause. What was a bit new for me in drama was that we follow the same people for 25 years or so, it worked really well for this drama and if it was another story I dont think it would work out, but here it did and it only made it better. If you like historical dramas and dramas about friends and loyalty I definitely recommend this drama 100 % , I was crying so badly through the last few episodes but I am not gonna say more because Ill end up spoiling everything. BUT, i was gonna give 5 stars as well but im gonna give 4.5 just because the technical-director or whatever he is called could do a better job. The fighting scenes are good for a korean drama, really, but still, it could be better!

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts

Bunji's verdict

Hmm… It took me over 2 years to finish this drama, and it is the only drama I have left from that time – which I started and hadn’t finished. It was quite a long way to get by, and I am proud of my accomplishment.

That said, I am more than disappointed. Well, not so disappointed that I would say I hated it, but more that I really can’t find much in this drama which would make me recommend it, anytime, anywhere or at all. I’ll just say the good thing first: the two dudes and the girl (and her life/story): Great acting and good interpretations of the characters. Besides that I really felt I spent 29 hours of pure jawing and wrong storytelling. Just saying: don’t ruin history by making something as ridiculous as a group of assassins. Eish, I don’t understand why Oh Man Suk would agree on such a badly written storyline – at least try to keep the facts straight. And I don’t get why these assassins were as political as well. Also there was a lot of sitting around and thinking a lot – I wonder if the really did that then.

As said before, a lot of ‘meditating’ and a lot of talking – I am usually a fan of talking, but this was just a way to keep the story going I guess, but it felt very repetitive.

The love story was just plainly put bad, though they tried to fix that with a bromance – and it works, for the first 12 episodes; because they don’t really have much screen time together later on. The lead actress (the one who loves Dong Soo but is one sided) has a great backstory and I enjoyed her character the most, but when they make a dumb ending it kind of just disappears in the horizon.

I am sad to say I believe I was way too late to watch this, as it isn’t a classic, it’s a momentary drama which only works while hyped (meaning not everyone – like me – will enjoy it). But yeah not all bad.

Okay summing up: an action period drama with (very bad and few) links to the historic part of Crown Prince Sado’s death – and the legend (who by the way lived around the time of King Jeongjo not Sado) Baek Dong Soo. But if you are a fan of those boys you might like it more than I do. (I like them, but they will never affect my rating)

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥½/ 2½ out of 5 hearts