Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul Ho Review

Title: Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul Ho

AKA: My Lawyer Mr. Jo / Neighborhoor Lawyer Mr. Jo

Genre: Law, Legal, Family

Episodes: 20

Broadcast period: 2016-Mar to 2016-May

Cast: Park Shin Yang, Kang So Ra, Ryu Soo Young, Park Sol Mi, Kang Shin Il and Kim Dong Joon.

Jo Deul Ho (Park Shin Yang) lives as a beggar ever since he was betrayed by his chief. He lost his wife, home and position as a well-known prosecutor at the high court. He has no ambition left nor any wish for revenge, as his only reason to stay alive is so he can see his daughter get married when the time comes.

Everything changes when he runs into Lee Eun Jo (Kang So Ra) who is chasing a pickpocket. When finally catching the pickpocket he is surprised to find out that the pickpocket is his fellow orphan Kang Il Goo (Choi Jaw Hwan) from the same orphanage. At first Il Goo refuses to see Deul Ho, but soon warms up to him, only to pass away shortly after. Il Goo’s death leaves Deul Ho enraged and he decides to get to the bottom of the murder, which leads him back to schemes and corruption he had faced before, and had lost. This time he is determined to have justice prevail…

This drama I watched as it aired due to the quite interesting screen play and intriguing story. Though I found 20 episodes to be pretty long I have to say that the overall drama is really good. I remember Park Shin Yang from SIGN and I loved him there, so this I had to watch. I was quite annoyed at Kang So Ra’s character, I found her to be over acting. I haven’t really watched much of her dramas, but this is not something I would pin her as a good actress for. Generally, the female cast was just so typical and fairly dull, except for Hwang Suk Jung – the one that acted as Mr. Jo’s assistant – she was quite fun.

The drama is pretty typical as a Korean law/romance drama goes, but other than that I liked following all the legal stuff. I wasn’t really interested in the coupling or other things like that. So I enjoyed it.

To sum up, a typical Korean drama with a little bit of 2010s.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Misaeng Review

Title: Misaeng
AKA: Incomplete Life, Not Yet Alive
Genre: Drama
Episodes: 20
Broadcast Period: Oct-2014 to Dec-2014
Cast: Im Si Wan, Kang So Ra, Kang Ha Neul, Byun Yo Han, Yoon Jong Hoon, Yeo Eui Joo, Lee Sung Min, Shin Eung Jung

Jang Geu Rae (Im Siwan) is a lonely, quiet young man. He’s been working parttime jobs to support his mum. When his dad passed away, he had to stop achieving his dream of becoming the best Baduk player, now he is 26 and has no meaning in life. Somehow, he gets a job as an intern at a company One International, there he faces new struggles which he has never imagined. He starts a week after the other interns, and that’s why they all jumped to conclusions that he got the job via connections, therefor he is stamped by everyone as a loser. Even the manager treats him badly, now he has to start from scratch for his mums sake to stay at the company. Ahn Young Yi (Kang So Ra) is an intelligent young women, she speaks multiple languages and is an eagle when it comes to her job. Unfortunately there is a lot of discrimination around her. This drama will show the hardships and different difficulties there is in an office at a company.

I really wasn’t planning on watching this drama, but somehow here I am. This drama really had a serious real-life problem to deal with, so who am I to judge this drama. I can only say that it wasn’t horrific, but I one way or another got scared of it. I don’t know how to interpertate it in a good way, but if that’s how real work environment in South Korea is, I don’t wanna work there. Everytime  the characters went through hardships I kept thinking “now he is commiting suicide”, even though they’re not, but in my head that was the only conclusion to that misery. That was my first impression in the first few episodes, it got better towards the end. For the drama, it does a wonderful job of bringing everything full circle, and sucking you in so that you forget all about that circle until they smack you in the face with it again. There were no villains or angels, just regular people hurting and healing each other in different ways, for different reasons. I also enjoyed the fact that every episode, regardless of how sad it was included some humour. That touch was very true-to-life for me; people laugh and act ridiculous in almost any situation, no matter how miserable. As I was filling out the ratings, I thought I was being a tad ridiculous, but my heart and soul wouldn’t let me put anything lower.

☆☆☆☆☆ / 5 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts

Doctor Stranger Review

Title: Doctor Stranger

AKA: Doctor Foreigner / Dr. Stranger

Genre: Medical, Melodrama, Romance, Action, Thriller

Episodes: 20

Broadcast period: 2014-May to 2014-Jul

Cast: Lee Jong Suk, Jin Se Yun, Park Hae Jin and Kang So Ra.

When the war between the North and the South in 1994 was at it eruption, Park Hoon and his father, a brilliant cardiologist, are sent out to the North in order to save the North Korean president. After successfully preventing the war, both Hoon and his father are betrayed by the South and are made North Koreans. Years later Hoon (Lee Jong Suk) is a med student about to get married to his girlfriend Song Jae Hee (Jin Se Yun), but his life is turned upside down when she is imprisoned for treachery. Things run out of hand and Hoon loses not only Jae Hee but also his father.

Later he defects to South Korea, but is unable to stay in business due to his background. Though he saves a patient at Myung Woo Hospital and is offered a job, the moment it is found out that he is from the North he is discriminated by the thoracic unit, led by Han Jae Joon (Park Hae Jin) and Oh Soo Hyun (Kang So Ra), and unwanted even if his skills are marvelous. After hearing rumors that Jae Hee is alive he decides to scramble money in order to get her back from the north. But after seeing someone who looks exactly like Jae Hee at Myung Woo Hospital he is determined to stay there, even with the everyone against him…

Hmm… First of all: Oh my God!! Second of all: What the hell!? And lastly: No why?! That pretty summed up my entire reaction pool. Or rather those were words on repeat. I don’t even know where to start. Like this is a train wreck of emotions, and they really shake you up and spit you out. Okay, weird way of putting it, but North vs. South dramas really drain me out, and adding life and death, and lovestories in it makes it more drainy. Also they HAD to add a revenge story, and a story about bastard children (sorry for my use of words). Like mixing all that gives you a good story, but emotionally destroyed audience. Or at least my emotions were so ridiculous I had to take breaks from watching this.

Actingwise, as Jenji told me, Jong Suk is at his best. The rest are good too, but he delivers what we want, and that is him and cuteness. Lol.

Okay, in order to calm down and to give you my verdict, I say that the drama is a good watch, but be prepared for crying and headaches.

☆☆☆☆/ 4 out of 5 stars

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Sunny Movie Review

Title: Sunny
Genre: Friendship
Origin: Korea
Release date: May 04, 2011
Cast: Yoo Ho Jeong, Kang So Ra, Sim Eun-kyeong, Jin Hee-kyeong and many others..

Im Na Mi (Yoo Ho Jeong) is a housewife with not much to live for except being a wife and mother. Her housebound is a busy man and her daughter doesn’t care about her, so when they leave home, she has nothing else to do besides house work. One day she goes to visit her sick mother in the hospital, she passes by a room where a patient screams and throws stuff at the nurses and doctors. She glances at the name, and is shocked to recognize it, but doesn’t really think much of it. The next day, she visits her mother again, only to be drawn to the room again, where she is greeted by her old friend Ha Choon Hwa (Jin Hee Kyung) who is dying of cancer. Choon Hwa asks her to gather their old group, Sunny, so that she can see them one last time before she dies.
This search brings Na Mi down memory lane, when she is reminded of the time when she came from Jeolla Do, as a country bumpkin, to Seoul. She is reminded of the dreams and hopes Sunny had, and also what has happened to her friends of 25 years ago…

This is a real chick flick, Korean style yeah, but still chick flick. Lol, don’t get me wrong, it’s a good movie. Very moving, funny, sweet, and not to mention relatable. But one thing I was sure of when watching this, I sooooooooo do not want to be a house wife, well not like her anyway. Like the dullest life ever, not just dull, but that isn’t a life. I love how this drama moves from past to present and how the characters haven’t changed over the years. Though, if you ask me, everything just passed by quickly. Maybe because it’s a movie, but like it was fast pased, made me want to watch it more.. Also some of the things were done halfheartedly, like her crush, the quite one of the group leaving, and the split up.
Anyways, recommendable!

☆☆☆☆/ 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½/ 4½ out of 5 hearts

Jenji's verdict
At first I found the movie weird, like what is this movie about?.. lol,. I've considered watching it a few times before but thought it looked boring and old. But it was fun, like really girl friend movie hahah, it was fun watching middle aged almost, if not, boring women and then seeing them when they were young and watch them recall the memories and trying to find themselves again as they used to be once. It was a really funny movie but turned out to be sad T_T but still really good. A great friendship movie and i was really shocked by the ending,. Enjoyable and recommendable! DEF.!

☆☆☆☆/ 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½/ 4½ out of 5 hearts