Secret Forest Review

Title: Secret Forest

AKA: Forest of Secrets / Stranger

Genre: Drama, Legal, Law, Mystery, Thriller

Episodes: 16

Broadcast period: 2017-Jun to 2017-Jul

Cast: Cho Seung Woo, Bae Doo Na, Yoo Jae Myung and Lee Joon Hyuk.

Hwang Shi Mok (Cho Seung Woo) is prosecutor known for his cold and logical attitude. He is never fazed by anything, and has no greed for power or money. Unbeknown to everyone else, he had a brain surgery as a kid, which changed his emotional status, unable to show emotions and has a lack of them as well. As a grownup he has learned to use this logical mind for justice, as that is one thing he values. Though this value isn't appreciated by everyone.

One day everything is set into turmoil when a "sponsor" for the wealthy and powerful is murdered in his home, and Shi Mok is the first on sight. Trying to preserve the scene, he meets Han Yeo Jin (Bae Doo Na) a police officer as bent on justice as he is, but is more open to working with prosecutors than her co-workers.

After catching the suspect, and putting him behind bars, Yeo Jin finds some evidence that might just put everything back to square one. This also shakes thing up with the higher ups, so the duo starts to do their own investigations, and they find that they are each others’ counterparts, making them perfect partners to take down the corrupt...

This drama has two of my very favorite actors in the lead, which is why even though the storyline didn't speak to me at first, the two made me start it. As the drama progressed, the drama did also, and thankfully it just became better and better. I have to say though that the drama would not be as good if there were other actors in the leads, and to be fair it is very legal/investigatory, so it can be a bit boring for those that aren't into those things. It has quite a lot of talking, and not so much action when comparing, but I personally didn't feel any loss because of it. Another thing I really enjoyed was that there wasn't any love story - at least not a forced one, which makes it much more focused on the story.

So all in all, a great story and superb acting – but it is based on the legal part, so if that is not your thing, you might not agree with the rating.

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Strong Woman Do Bong Soon Review

Title: Strong Woman Do Bong Soon

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Comedy, Thriller

Episodes: 16

Broadcast Period: Feb-2017 to April-2017

Cast: Park Bo Young, Park Hyung Shik, Ji Soo, Ahn Woo Yeon, Shim Hye Jin, Yoo Jae Myung, Jeon Seok Ho,

Do Bong-soon (Park Bo Young) was born with superhuman strength. Her strength is hereditary and passed along only to the women in her family. Her dream is to create a video game with herself as the main character. She desperately wants to become a willowy and elegant woman, which is the ideal type of her crush, In Guk Doo (Ji Soo), a police officer. Thanks to her strength, she gets the job of a bodyguard, to a rich heir Ahn Min Hyuk (Park Hyung Sik), the CEO of a gaming company, Ainsoft. Contrary to Guk Doo, Min Hyuk is an odd man who is playful, a little spoiled, and has no regard for rules, and dislikes policemen. He has recently received anonymous threats, blackmails, and has even been stalked at an occasion. One day, a series of kidnapping cases break in Dobong-dong, the district Bong Soon lives in, and she is determined to catch the culprit after her friend was targeted. Under the help and training from Min Hyuk, she manages to control her strength to use it for good causes.

A light drama with a lot of comedy. Although I started it being skeptic, it kind of grew on me. I loved the melo romance, and the funny background story. The new aspect about her being so strong actually worked out to be a really good idea. And of course Park Bo Young did a lovely job with this kind of carachter, it was a little bit similar to the one in Oh My Ghostess, but there is a fresh element. Although I looked forward to Ji Soo’s part, it didn’t appeal to me as much, he is a good actor and everything, but it was out of context. And of course Park Hyung Shik, he did a decent job, but I think what stood out the most here is how he carefully took the chemistry between the leads to another level. It felt like he did all the job. To sum it up, a very recommendable drama for this summer.

☆☆☆☆  / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥(1/2) / 3 (1/2) out of 5 hearts