Tunnel Review

Title: Tunnel

Genre: Crime, Thriller, Detective, Time Travel

Episodes: 16

Broadcast period: 2017-Mar to 2017-May

Cast: Choi Jin Hyuk, Yoon Hyun Min, Lee Yoo Young, Jo Hee Bong and Kim Min Sang.

In 1986 Park Gwang Ho (Choi Jin Hyuk), working as an experienced detective, is faced with a serial of killings. Back in the days the term ‘serial killer’ isn’t a popular used word, but Gwang Ho is one of few that notices a pattern. One evening while almost catching the serial killer, he is runs through a tunnel and is hit on the head. While regaining feet he walks back to his station, but is met with an empty station and an unfamiliar face, Kim Sun Jae (Yoon Hyun Min) at his desk. In the confusion he handcuffs Sun Jae, but soon notices that there is something wrong. He slowly realizes, with the help of his junior now team leader, that he isn’t in his own time. He has traveled 30 years into the future, and is unable to get back.

While trying to figure out how any of it is possible and how to get back, he notices that the serial killer from 30 years ago still is at large. But as older case files have been burned in a fire in the past, he is the only one remembering the case. So, he decides that in order to get back, he must solve the case. Unfortunately, there seems to be something else going on, when a person with the same name as Gwang Ho is supposed to show up at the very station, but has disappeared…

Sorry for the lacking summary, it’s hard not to spoil much of this great drama.

I really enjoyed watching this drama, even though for the first time ever I disliked both supporting actors. Their characters were unlikeable! I mean for the first 4 episodes I wasn’t interested in their screen time, but as time went by I guess they grew on me. Choi Jin Hyuk was great all the way through – I could totally see him as a man from 1986, by language and how he carried himself. The Yeon Suk and Gwang Ho coupling was so cute, made me not care about any other couples. Story and screenplay is great as well.

Unfortunately, I guessed 85% of the drama before the end of, so I was just expecting things to happen by the end of it. But that doesn’t mean everyone will feel that way! So, I would recommend this drama to anyone.

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Kamji’s Verdict

What a marathon! I Personally have a liking to all OCN’s crime/mstery themed dramas. Therefor of course Tunnel was a drama I looked very much forward to. It didn’t disappoint me. The acting was on point, the storyline and the cinematography between the 80’ and present day was really believable. The storyline throughout the drama was very predictable, but I gotta admit the particular cases and crimes throughout was not, at least for me. I liked the suspense a lot, and definitely the teamwork at that police department. Also I agree with Bunji, that Choi Jin Hyuk, was the perfect one for that role. Everything about him screamed the 80’. So to conclude I would say yet again, good job to OCN.  

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Naked Fireman Review

Title: Naked Fireman
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Mystery
Episodes: 4
Broadcast period: 2017-Jan to 2017-Jan
Cast: Lee Joon Hyuk, Jung In Sun, Jo Hee Bong, Park Hoon and Seo Jung Yeon.

Kang Chul Soo (Lee Joon Hyuk) is a firefighter known for his short temper and “don’t-care”-attitude towards the responsibilities of his job. But due to need of money he continues his job. His life takes a drastic turn when his mentor and hero Jang Gwang Ho (Lee Won Jong) collapses in front of him. Gwang Jong is soon forced to retire as he is diagnosed with an illness. Since they aren’t financially wealthy, the surgery that could possibly save his life, is out of reach. Knowing this fact Chul Soo tries to find a way to earn a lot of money, fast. Oh Sung Jin (Park Hoon), Chul Soos childhood friend, tells him about a job where he can earn 10.000$ in one week as a model, but he there is a catch: he has to go nude!
Han Jin Ah (Jung In Sun) is a wealthy heiress living as an artist. As a little girl, she lost both parents in a robbery where the house got burned down. She survived but has anxiety and is unable to remember the faithful night, except for a scar on the lower back of the assailant. So, she decides to hire men to model at the right age, so she can find the man she remembers, and bring justice to what he has done. But little does she know, the two have met before, and as it seems they were both affected by the same incident…

Considering this is a four-episode long drama, they managed to fill it up with a decent storyline. While watching, I had a point where I was glad it didn’t have more episodes, as I felt it would have been a draggy melodrama. But they managed to fill it up, so that there weren’t any unnecessary scenes, or dialogues. Almost felt like a movie, though not close to the standard. The cast was okay, though at times they left me unimpressed most of the time. The characters felt dry and dull, even though they had nice background stories. The only great acting is from Lee Won Jong, but his screen time is 15 min tops.
All this doesn’t ruin the overall suspense or storyline of the drama, so to sum up: a okay drama with an interesting plot.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Kamji’s Verdict
This was like the best four episodes squeezed out of 16 episode drama. It kept a good pace and wasn't draggy at all. Of course it would have been nice to see some more in depth character development and side plots, but I think this was sufficient. I'm already looking for more dramas by Lee Joon Hyuk, I remember him as the good prosecutor in City Hunter and how sad it was that he didn't have more dramas. Jung In Sun was a very suprising actress, the first scene I thought to myself how bad and stiff she was, but as soon as I was thinking that, she suddenly changed in my eyes, and I started to look for her more throughout the drama! By the end I was mesmerized by her, I sincerely hope that this project would be a stepping stone for her, so she could shine more in future projects. All in all, I loved it, and with no spoiler, I would like to say that my heart wasn’t strong enough for that plot twist in the end.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Sensory Couple Review

Title: Sensory Couple
AKA: The Girl Who Sees Smells
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Comedy, thriller
Episode: 16
Broadcast Period: Apr-2015 to May-2015
Cast: Park Yoo Chun, Shin Se Kyung, Nam Goong Min, Yoon Jin Seo, Jung In Ki, Park Jin Joo, Oh Cho Hee, Jung Chan Woo, Lee Won Jong, Choi Tae Joon, Jo Hee Bong,

Choi Eun Seol (Shin Se Kyung) arrives home to find her parents murdered. When the murderer is distracted, she escapes but is hit by a car. Eun Seol's parents are later found with a barcode carved into their skin, the work of the "Barcode" serial killer. On that same night, Choi Mu Gak (Park Yoo-chun) is at the hospital visiting his younger sister, also named Choi Eun Seol (Kim So Hyun), who's being treated for mild injuries after a bus accident. When he returns to her bed, he finds her dead with her throat slit. Six months later, Eun Seol comes out of her coma. She has no memories at all of her life before waking up at the hospital, and her left eye has turned green with no scientific explanation. She has also gained the unique ability to "see" smells as visible colors and shapes. On the other hand, Mu Gak had been so traumatized by his sister's death he'd lost the sense of smell and taste, and is unable to feel pain. Unlike his previous warm personality, Mu Gak is now stoic, emotionless, and speaks in a monotone way. How will fate bring these two senseless people together?

I’m sorry about the weird plot description, but it was really hard to describe the drama without spoiling anything. Moreover, I felt like I had to justify the title of the drama somehow. When I first heard about it, I thought it was a strange title, I never imagined that it was literally about seeing smells. I was really looking forward to how they would manage to visualize smells and odor. It wasn’t how I imagined it (I don’t know what I expected haha), but somehow they did a good job with it, can’t complain. The biggest issue about the drama is in the plot; the pacing. In the first half of the drama, the pacing is fast. Things happen every episode and the plot moves quickly. Then around the halfway point, the writing loses steam. I think it’s a shame. The story had a lot of potential, so I don’t know how they managed to push it over a cliff. Don’t get me wrong, I just feel disappointed with the latter half of the drama since it had such a good start. One thing though that made me uncomfortable, was the image of ‘the national police force’. Did they have to make them so stupid and incompetent, that they actually needed a girl who sees smells to solve crimes?
The actors were all okay, although I have to point out I’m not a fan of Shin Se Kyung, and her performance didn’t really impress me. Nam Goong Min was the best though!

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars
♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Bunji's Verdict

Okay first of all the title of the drama is so ridiculous “The Girl Who Sees Smells”, which by the way I get, but it kind of doesn’t revolve around her only. Yes I get the entire serial killer story, which by the way has probably the world’s creepiest and handsomest serial murderer ever, but I don’t get why it’s her name at the title. Or yeah, not her name, but it is not a drama about a girl seeing smells, it’s about a girl who sees smells, a boy without emotion/senses and a serial killer barcoding his victims, and a whole lot of mix and match between everyone. But yeah, you get the point.  Also the story could have been more interesting if they all were normal, but I guess she has to see smells in order to be interesting.

Anyway, I don’t like her (Shin Se Kyung) never did, and this drama actually made her seem decent, but I still don’t like her. Yoo Chun was great, I still am a fan of his - I mean a lot of his dramas are still circling my mind this day today. Okay, no more complaining.

The drama is good and a must watch for crime fans, also if you like any of the actors you won’t be disappointed while watching.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Joseon X Files Review

Title: Joseon X Files

AKA: Secret Book / Secret Investigation

Genre: Mystery

Episodes: 12

Broadcast period: 2010-Aug to 2010-Oct

Cast: Kim Ji Hoon, Lim Jung Eun, Jo Hee Bong and Kim Kap Soo.

Kim Hyung Do (Kim Ji Hoon) is a Joseonean inspector, who finds out that his mentor has been accused of treason. While trying to uncover the truth he is told to let the incident go, as it is the order from the higher ups. Unwilling to let his mentor die he decides to do it in secret, and is stunned by the things he discovers: a witness saying that a flying object with flickering lights passed through the sky, and an entire town vanishing. Due to the belief that only the king is allowed in the heavens, the newly build society doesn’t allow that kind of statement.

Still unable to believe it, he is surprised as he one day bumps into Ji Seung (Kim Kap Soo) and Heo Yoon Yi (Lim Jung Eun), who both are urging to stop investigating, but due to his persistent personality Hyung Do uncovers the mystery and is dragged into the society of ‘the secret records’…

Okay so I watched 12 episodes of something I have no idea what was about. I remember watching the X files (American series) and yeah it was weird, but what on earth are they thinking about making an alien show in the Joseon time? Like the only thing these people do is meet aliens/paranormal and write it down? What’s so interesting about that… you want to know? Absolutely nothing. I really felt like each episodes ended like suddenly and never really got connected to the next episodes – and if it did, the entire episode would be even weirder. The only good part – and which kept me watching – was the several guest appearances: they were really interesting, though I didn’t get anything.

I don’t recommend it, but I won’t tell you not to watch it – as it may just be me who is unable to understand it.

☆ / 1 out of 5 stars

♥½ / 1½ out of 5 hearts

The Virus Review

Title: The Virus

Genre:  Mystery, Thriller

Episodes: 10

Broadcast period: 2013-Mar to 2013-May

Cast: Uhm Ki Joon, Lee So Jung, Lee Ki Woo, Ahn Suk Hwan, Hyun Woo and Jo Hee Bong.

When a fire breaks out at a Medical Center, and the survivor from Center dies due to illness, the people involved in the saving suddenly become infected with the same disease. In matter of three days about 34 people die and the CDC (Contagious Disease Crisis) Team are put to the task to figure out the source. When they realize that every person infected will die in short as 2-3 days’ time, the team asks to announce it as an epidemic, but due to the low death rate, and the fact that only the people who have been near the Medical Center, the higher-ups leave decide to keep it hidden. Frustrated by this Squad Leader of the CDC Lee Myung Hyun (Uhm Ki Joon) who lost his daughter due to an unknown disease tries his best finding the reason.

Trying to trace the illness they notice that a young man happens to be connected to the spread of it and seems to be immune of it. Now they have to find him and how to cure the disease, before the number of sick becomes too large…

The drama caught my interests after I entered the “Yeongasi” hype, but it didn’t really manage to reach that level. I felt that it tried too hard to become like IRIS or dramas like that, but could have become great if it didn’t try to do so. Casting wise, pretty brilliant, recognized some of them, but I didn’t feel like this drama had much acting focus, except for the lead actor.

I really spent almost 2 weeks watching this 10 episode drama, not because its bad, just not that intriguing I guess. Action/conspiracy/police/outbreak drama lovers, will absolutely adore this. I just wasn’t into it.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts