Ho Goo's Love Review

Title: Ho Goo’s Love
AKA: Fools Love
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Episodes: 16
Broadcast period: Feb-2015 to Mar-2015
Cast: UEE, Choi Woo Shik, Im Seul Ong, Lee Soo Kyung, Choi Duk Moon, Jung Won Joong, Park Soon Chun, Choi Jae Hwan, Lee Shi Un, Oh Young Shil

Kang Ho Goo (Choi Woo Shik) has never had a proper girlfriend, with girls constantly taking advantage of his sweet, naive nature by enjoying all the benefits of dating then friend zone-ing him. His relationship-savvy twin sister Kang Ho Kyung (Lee Soo Kyung) mocks him and his best friends Kim Tae Hee (Choi Jae Hwan) and Shin Chung Jae (Lee Shi Un) for being sorely lacking in any dating skills. Do Do Hee (UEE) is an athlete on the Korean national swimming squad, and won the silver medal at the recent Asian Games. Driven and competitive, she's frustrated at never getting first place and is known for cursing a lot. The timid, bullied Ho Goo had a crush on Do Hee in their teens, when her beauty and sports cred made her the most popular girl in high school. She's the only reason he goes to their high school reunion, and when they meet again, he's surprised to learn that she remembers him. Ho Goo grabs the chance to spend time with the girl of his dreams, not knowing that Do Hee has a secret, that she's pregnant possibly by her ex-boyfriend Byun Kang-chul (Im Seul Ong), their class president and now a successful lawyer.

Ooh, I’m so happy I watched this, I was so close to just drop it in the beginning because I heard some negative stuff about it. Nope, not true, it’s a wonderful drama, that make you smile all the time. The comedy, romance, friendship everything about it had a really nice and fresh aura over it. Why it was so good? Mainly because of the originality in the drama, it had many elements we normally don’t see in a kdrama such as decent treatment of some risqué themes. It also frequently surprised me by taking a whole other direction with the plot than I expected, and can I just make a shoutout to the awesome parental characters that behave in such a refreshingly awesome ways. Ho Goo… The writer took a character that could have been just a fool and just a sicky sweet guy and made him so real and warm that it truly is a feat of genius. I think what is most amazing about Ho Goo and the way he is written and acted is that he makes everyone else in the world look like the fool that they think he is. It’s like he has got it right and we are all wrong. Do Hee which is UEE's character was okay, I had her all wrong in the beginning but towards the end I fell in love with her, she is pretty awesome.
The cutest baby award has to go to Geum Dong in this drama!

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½ / 4½ out of 5 hearts

Pride & Prejudice Review

Title: Pride and Prejudice
AKA: Lawless World
Genre: Drama, Human, Legal, Romance
Episodes: 21
Broadcast period: Oct-2014 to Jan-2015
Cast: Baek Jin Hee, Choi Jin Hyuk, Choi Min Soo, Son Chang Min, Lee Tae Hwan, Choi Woo Shik, Jang Hang Sun

Young prosecutors form a legal team. They are passionate and obsessive about solving cases and fight injustice, even If they have to go against the higher authorities. They all have different personalities and come from different backgrounds, they are forced to learn how to cooperate and adjust with each other. Han Yul Moo (Baek Jin Hee) comes from a poor family, she thrives to become a prosecutor to solve the case about her murdered brother that led her family to desperation, after meeting the handsome prosecutor Goo Dong Chi (Choi Jin Hyuk) she finds new clues that leads him being a suspect. Now she has to work together with him to prove that he is the one that killed her brother. Goo Dong Chi is an intelligent and righteous prosecutor, and does what he can to help the weak and poor people, how would he react when he finds out that one of his colleagues is trying to gather evidence against a crime he has been involved in 15 years ago?

Where do I start with this one… I fell in love with it in the beginning. I think this has been a great year for Choi Jin Hyuk. The intertwined stories of 3 very different prosecutors and a detective keep you on your toes as they unravel the secrets of each other’s pasts. The passionate performances from the powerhouses like Choi Min Soo and Son Chang Min… whew talk about some great drama actors!
 Even though this show falls into the legal category it doesn’t feel overly legal-ish, and probably most people who like typical Korean romantic dramas would have a good time watching it. Overall I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice far more than I expected, so I would definitely recommend it.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½out of 5 hearts

Special Affairs Team TEN 2 Review

Title: Special Affairs Team TEN 2

AKA: TEN 2/ Special Crimes Force TEN 2

Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Episodes: 12

Broadcast period: 2013-Apr to 2013-Jun

Cast: Joo Sang Wook, Jo An, Kim Sang Ho and Choi Woo Shik.

The second season continues with the search for the Tape Bound Killer, and the search for their Team Leader Yeo Ji Hoon (Joo Sang Wook) who disappeared when the killer had re-appeared. The team now disbanded due to the warrant search of Ji Hoon, secretly decide to find the team leader who has been accused of being the Tape Bound Killer. When they find the evidence left by Ji Hoon they all realize that all of it points at him being the killer - even when re-investigating the case. Confident in his innocence they continue to search desperately, but no matter what they do every piece they find points directly at him. And when they find out that Ji Hoon had been in the victim’s house few hours before her death, they become more and more suspicious…

I can’t say it’s bad, but I wasn’t exactly what I expected. I know this drama being amazing to begin with, having to compete with that and making it more; I have to say they didn’t really manage. It is very much like season one with the sad stories and all, but they really try to make the killer either so sad or pathetic that you immediately know who the killer is. Though the pace and the strong acting is the same, the overall just seems like a repeat. The only thing that saves this drama is the beginning, and the ending.

But I do recommend for those who have watched season one, just because of the last two episodes.. Much worth all the episodes..

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Special Affairs Team TEN Review

Title: Special Affairs Team TEN

AKA: TEN / Special Crimes Force TEN

Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Episodes: 9

Broadcast period: 2011-Nov to 2012-Jan

Cast: Joo Sang Wook, Jo An, Kim Sang Ho and Choi Woo Shik.

Baek Do Shik (Kim Sang Ho), better known as “Baek Dok Sa” (White Venomous Snake) for his clean cut cases, is a man with sharp eyes and a great instinct for finding evidence and clues. As he is called on a case to investigate a suicide, he immediately notices that it isn’t the case, and finds out that he is a big gambler. That habit leads him to a near casino, where he finds out the victim has a sister, no one knows about.

Nam Ye Ri (Jo An) is Phycology graduate from Seoul University, and works in the Crime Victim Support Center. Though she has a great sense of noticing when people are lying or hiding something, she tries hard to pretend she doesn’t know most. When a known police officer tells her boss to make Ye Ri find a missing person, even though she isn’t qualified she takes it, and her traces take her to a house which seems as an empty house.

When a hostess is found dead in her apartment, taped up and with fingers cut, the Korean Police Force is called into a meeting due to the suspicion that the murder is the famous Tape Bound Killing which happened years ago. The person introducing the case is Yeo Ji Hoon (Joo Sang Wook), known by “A monster hunting monsters”, who once before had encountered these killings. He is informed that he will be the Team Leader of the new unit called Special Investigation Team, a group with aces with the goal to find the serial killer.

Joining him is young blooded Park Min Ho (Choi Woo Shik), and by a twist of fate both Ye Ri and Do Shik appears at the crime scene as their cases are somehow strangely connected…

 Okay so out of all the crime dramas out there this one most defiantly is the best ever made, and is so believable it gave me chills. And damn it’s both creepy and scary. When you have spent a lot of time seeing fake blood and badly made wounds, this one is groundbreaking, mainly because is so greatly made. Also the stories are so sad oh my God, like many of them are so upsetting. And realistic.

I have only seen Joo Sang Wook and Kim Sang Ho before, and I have to admit I really like them for those roles. Somehow the cast seem to fit every character well, even though I had my doubts along the line.

So do I recommend it? Well I don’t hate it, but I am not sure if everyone would like it, since it’s not that pretty classical Korean romanticized drama style, but a more honest realistic story. That means, you decide.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts