The Player

Title: The Player

AKA: Hustle

Genre: Action, Crime, Revenge

Episodes: 14

Broadcast period: 2018-Sep to 2018-Nov

Cast: Song Seung Hun, Krystal Jung, Lee Si Un, Tae Won Suk and Kim Won Hae

Kang Ha Ri (Song Seung Hun) is a talented swindler/conman, with a very high success rate. Together with

Im Byung Min (Lee Si Un), a genius, but socially awkward, hacker, and Do Jin Woong (Tae Won Suk), a former fighter, they steal from the rich criminals and share the money with each other. They befriend Cha Ah Ryung (Krystal Jung) a car thief and exceptional driver, to join them in their thievery. This is noticed by Prosecutor Jang In Kyu (Kim Won Ha), who was supposed to catch them, but after dealing with corruption and lackluster chain of command, he decides to make a deal with the group: help him catch the corrupt and wealthy, and they can keep the money.

Though they join hands, Ha Ri has a different agenda: he wants to uncover a cover-up, that ended up with the death of someone close to him. And to do that he is willing to even sacrifice his past life and newly created relationships…

Truthfully, I might have had too high expectations on this one. The thought of a “robin hood”-esque group kicking butt, made me very intrigued, and usually I would love these plots. But this one was rather boring. I love OCN, but this was simply a miss - not because the plot is bad, or the acting is bad, but I just was not excited for (almost) anything in it. The revenge plot was cliché, the side stories were too common, and the ending typical. To top it off, it has con jobs in it, which is my least favorite theme. Though I fell for the group of 5 people and I watched mainly because of that, I have to say it really didn’t leave a good impression on me.

So, to sum up: not my cup of tea. Though I think people who like swindler plots would enjoy this very much.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Chief Kim Review

Title: Chief Kim

AKA: Good Manager

Genre: Drama, Comedy, Real Life

Episodes: 20

Broadcast Period: Jan-2017 to Mar-2017

Cast: Nam Goong Min, Nam Sang Mi, Lee Jun Ho, Jung Hye Sung, Kim Won Hae, Kim Kang Hyun, JO Hyun Shik,

Can corporate politics turn a bad person into a good person? Kim Sung Ryong (Nam Goong Min) is a skilled accountant who works for gangsters. He makes his way into a company called TQ Group as a middle manager in the accounting department with the intention of embezzling money from the company. As he contends with hot-shot accountant Yoon Ha Kyung (Nam Sang Mi), financial prodigy Seo Yool (Lee Jun Ho) and peppy intern Hong Ga Eun (Jung Hye Sung), Kim Sung Ryong finds himself embroiled in office politics and notices other shenanigans by those in power that threaten to bring down the company. Kim Sung Ryong slowly comes to realize that he’d rather fight against corporate corruption and fight for employees’ rights than complete the mission he originally came to do. Can he succeed at his new objective against all odds?

Nam Gong Min is so much fun to watch, I think he's done such a great job with this character. At first I thought it was a bit over the top, but now it just seems more natural, despite his outlook on life and the fact that he's a criminal he's just too funny and likable. In the beginning I wondered what kind of character he will turn out to be, I like how he's different compared to a lot of other drama leads who are usually always "righteous" and on the "right side" of the moral fence. So I really enjoyed this drama so much, that I wish it didn’t have to end. No character felt unnecessary, everyone had a role to play, and I loved how it all comes together somehow. So definitely a fresh breath to all the lovey dovey, and fantasy dramas out there, this is from a realistic point of view.

☆☆☆☆☆ / 5 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts

Drinking Solo Review

Title: Drinking Solo

AKA: Let's Drink

Genre: Drama, Romance, Comedy

Episodes: 16

Broadcast Period: Sep-2016 to Oct-2016

Cast: Ha Suk Jin, Park Ha Sun, Hwang Woo Seul Hye, Min Jin Woong, Kim Won Hae, Gong Myung, Key, Kim Dong Young, Jung Chae Yun,

Background of the drama is set around a private institute for people preparing for their civil service examinations in Noryangjin, Seoul, South Korea. Story depicts people drinking alcohol alone for different reasons and the romance between Jung Suk (Ha Seok Jin) and Shin Ib (Park Ha Sun). Jung Suk is an arrogant, but popular instructor and Shin Ib is a rookie instructor. She struggles to survive in the private institute world.

The best thing that happened in this drama is the chemistry between the trio students, that are attending the institute. The way they act really makes me want to be in their circle. Also, oh boy, the way I related to their problems. Being a student is hard these days :'D The main leads problem was the lack of chemistry. This drama had a slow start, but it gets better towards the end. Though, there are some parts i had to skip because it was kind of boring and irrelevant to me. In the beginning the title did concern me, was it only about drinking? or did it have more to it. Well, half of the drama is just repeatings, even if you skip it you won’t miss much. Overall this drama is a good one if you don't focus on the leads love story and the alcohol, but the trio: Lonelyboy, Dumb and dumber. 

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥.5 / 2.5 out of 5 hearts

Signal Review

Title: Signal
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Romance
Episodes: 16
Broadcast Period: Jan-2016 to Mar-2016
Cast: Lee Je Hoon, Kim Hye Soon, Cho Jin Woong, Jang Hyun Sung, Jung Hae Kyun, Kim Won Hae, Lee Yoo Joon, Jung Han Bi

Park Hae Young (Lee Je Hoon) works as a criminal profiler and is also a police lieutenant. Even though he is a cop, he doesn't trust cops due to his own past experience. Hae Young meets a reporter at a cafe to reveal bombshells about a celebrity scandal. Meanwhile, veteran detective Soo Hyun (Kim Hye Soon) is at the cafe staking out the meeting, unaware that Hae Young is a cop, she arrests him for stalking celebrities. While leaving the police station (the same police station he went to as a kid), Hae Young hears someone talking to him. He looks around to find a walkie-talkie. The man who is talking to Hae Young is Detective Lee Jae Han (Cho Jin Woong). The detective though is from the year 2000 and he is investigating the disappearance of Hae Young's elementary school classmate. Hae Young and Detective Jae Han begin to communicate via the walkie-talkie to solve past cold cases.

I don’t think I have much to say about this drama besides that it’s amazingly good. The story was never boring, never died down, never got tiring but was only getting more and more thrilling as the episodes went by. It’s beyond obvious to say that I absolutely loved Park Hae Young. He was courageous, brave and right and didn’t feel like that typical k-drama male lead who is so passionate on everything, that turns to be tiring and frustrating. Cha Soo Hyun was also an amazing character. I gotta say I loved the 3 main characters almost equally. She was very strong and well-mannered for a female lead, although sometimes she did feel kind of awkward. They did a great job with the editing and pacing and it’s really powerful. A lot of the time with murder shows you don’t get affected by them, but I can see this one sticking to me for a while for some reason. As good as this drama is though, it couldn’t escape the messy ending that most past-changing-themes has. I just couldn’t follow it in the end, it’s hard to explain without spoiling anything, but for me it left me with many unanswered questions. But who knows, maybe season 2 will answer them :b
To sum it up, I highly recommend it to anyone who’s interested in some suspense and up for the thrill ride.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½ / 4½ out of 5 hearts

Bunjis Verdict

As far as a great drama goes this one is defiantly up there. It is intriguing and fun, and even relatable. But to be fair I felt that the drama became too confusing and long at the end. I was also very annoyed at the sudden character change in the female lead, which I couldn’t comprehend at all. Which is unfortunate because I loved the fact that there finally was a decent and strong female lead. But somehow, they managed to make her girly and weak. You might disagree, but if you’re making her tough at the beginning don’t go changing her character that fast. It just seems un-cohesive. I loved that there were two male leads, and that they showed to different versions of detectives: smoking-era and smartphone era (how I differentiate them).

As the story goes, it doesn’t add up, but stays honest to the idea, which is a plus. If you don’t care about time-travelling logic, you wouldn’t mind this one. I can’t say I wouldn’t recommend this as it is very entertaining, but as far as a season 2, I felt that the drama ended as it started – very confusing. So a good ending honestly.

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

The Pirates Movie Review

Title: The Pirates
Genre: Action, Period,
Origin: Korea
Release Date: 6 August 2014
Cast:  Kim Nam Gil, Son Ye Jin, Yu Hae Jin, Sulli, Lee Kyoung Young, Kim Tae Woo, Park Chul Min, Kim Won Hae,

On the eve of the founding of the Joseon Dynasty, a whale swallows the Emperor's Seal of State being brought to Joseon by envoys from China. With a big reward on whoever brings back the royal seal, mountain bandits led by Jang Sa-jung go (Kim Nam Gil) out to sea to hunt down the whale. However, he soon clashes with Yeo-wol (Son Y Jin), a female captain of pirates, soon after an unexpected adventure unfolds.


Hmm, I don’t really know what to think about this one, it wasn’t exciting or anything, but then again, it didn’t bother me. I guess I just sat there 2 hours straight and just watched without thinking. You know those movies where you really don’t mind anything, lol, that was a crappy explanation. BUT the scenes involving that humongous whale are done with jaw-dropping skill, as we see Yeo-wol communing with the gigantic beast underwater. The whale manages to give the most moving performance in the film, sadly enough it wasn’t the actors. I can’t believe they won awards for this presentation, I mean.. I saw better performances than this, Kim Nam Gil was the best of them all, but he wasn’t even nominated. One more unfair decision to add to the list for 2014. Let the ratings speak for themselves.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥½ / 2½ out of 5 hearts