King Gwanggaeto the Great Review

Title: King Gwanggaeto the Great

AKA: Gwanggaeto, The Great Conqueror

Genre: Historical

Episodes: 92

Broadcast period: 2011-Jun to 2012-Apr

Cast: Lee Tae Gon, Kim Seung Soo, Im Ho, Park Jung Chul, Oh Ji Eun and Lee In Hye.

This story is about King Gwanggaeto, who conquered much land, and made his kingdom Gogouryo spread and occupied most of the peninsula, making it the biggest kingdom, of the Three Kingdoms of Korea.

Go Damdeok (Lee Tae Gon) is the second son of the royal family, but this has not strained the relationship with his brother, Crown prince Dammang (Jung Tae Woo), however Damdeok has the same qualities, if not better. Though the royal household is loving and caring, the politics of the court act otherwise. Since Damdeok has been in battles, and on the front line for many victories, the court start seeing Damdeok as a possible threat, especially the prime minister Gae Yeon Su (Choi Dong Joon). Unsatisfied with the royal house, Gae Yeon Su has been working behind the curtains, to remove the king from his post, and make himself that title, but Damdeok, compared to the others, defies both strategies and advances made by Yeon Su. Though not completely aware of Yeon Su’s intentions, Damdeok doesn’t trust him, and soon enough Yeon Su plans an assassination on Damdeoks life. This attempt forces Damdeok into hiding, and soon enough he experiences the real Gogoryeo; away from the royal lifestyle, and military life…

So, this is another historical day drama, which spans over 92 episodes. It caught my attention due to the lead character, which is a very famous hero of Korean history. And though I expected it to be a bit draggy, the last 15-10 episodes were fillers of you ask me. I guess it was quite popular, and they decided to drag it on, which is very annoying when you’ve been watching a decent story for the past 60 episodes. I’ve now watched my fair share, so I can say with certainty that this drama has the most action I’ve seen in a day drama, for a very long time. I mean I was stuck to my screen for the first 20 episodes, and it just got better while it went on. Of course, as the usual historical dramas, the female leads were left out a bit - the love stories were halfhearted, sort of - and they didn’t show much progress, or at least I felt the typical ‘vibe’. That said, the drama is good, and has good side characters. I was pleasantly surprised by their depth, and this is more than just the ‘right hand man’. This goes for almost all the supporting cast!

To sum up: a good historical drama with a good plot, decent actions scenes, and great character storylines.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Ghost-seeing Detective Cheo Yong Review

Title: Ghost Seeing Detective Cheo Yong

AKA: Ghost Seeing Detective / Cheo Yong

Genre: Police, Fantasy, Mystery, Crime

Episodes: 10

Broadcast period: 2014-Feb to 2014-Apr

Cast: Oh Ji Ho, Oh Ji Eun and Jun Hyo Sung.

Yoon Cheo Yong (Oh Ji Ho) was born with the ability to see ghosts from when he was a little boy. When he grew up he decided to use that ability and become a police officer. Even though he became an ace of the station he made a mess out of the entire place, leaving all the paper work to his colleges and not really cooperating with them. While running after a murder suspect also a possessed person, his partner finds him there, but ends up being killed on duty due to Cheo Yongs mistake. This makes Cheo Yong leave the Special Crimes Team, and become a patrol officer.

8 years later he is involved in a case where Ha Sun Woo (Oh Ji Eun) a former victim who became a police officer, is searching for the murderer. In that station a high school ghost Han Na Young (Jun Hyo Sung) is residing and she is keen on keeping Cheo Yong there so she can become the officer she wants to be. But somehow Cheo Yong, Sun Woo and Na Young are connected in the past, and for some reason Na Young is only able to possess Sun Woo. Do they have a history?

When I read about the drama and watched the trailer I wasn’t really expecting this type of drama. Yes I knew there would be ghosts, and a police officer that is able to see them, but it kind of is weird having it being a dramatic story. It is interesting and I am pretty sure you have to make it dramatic to make it on TV, but having it as 10 episodes and focusing on a murderer, which by the way is not human, is a bit uninteresting. Some might disagree, but I was much more interested in his ability as a ghost whisperer than him being a cop. The two do go well like we saw in Who Are You, but WAY is kind of focused on the main love story, which this one is not even interested in. And fair enough no love stories, but then at least make me more interesting in their interaction - kind of has a boring feel.

BUT, the side stories are great, and you really enjoy them, or at least I do. And they touch the important stoires, not just the typical ones. So that is what made me go through all 10 episodes.

All in all interesting; maybe more for others than me.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ 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