Angry Mom Review

Title: Angry Mom
Genre: Family, Drama, Human, School
Episodes: 16
Broadcast period: Mar-2015 to May-2015
Cast: Kim Hee Sun, Ji Hyun Woo, Kim Yoo Jung, Im Hyung Joon, Go Soo Hee, Kim Ji Young, Jun Gook Hwan, Kang Moon Young

Jo Gang Ja (Kim Hee Sun) is a young mother with a daughter in high school. She lives with her husband and mother in law and works all day in a restaurant. Her relationship with her daughter is not really smooth since the daughter; Oh Ah Ran (Kim Yoo Jung) shuts her mom out. Life goes on until Kang Ja finds out that her daughter is going through a hell of physical and emotional bullying at school. The daughter denies being bullied and refuses to say anything to her mom for some valid reasons from her perspective. Kang Ja loses her cool and tries all ways to solve the issue. She meets Ah Ran’s homeroom teacher, reports to the police and even tries to bring a suit. When she realises her efforts are all fruitless; she resorts to the last measure she could think of; enrolling in her daughter’s school. Once she’s in as Bang Wol, she takes ending violence in school and finding the perpetrators in her daughter’s case on as a life mission.

Recently I have been craving school dramas, I don’t know why or maybe it’s because of the upcoming exams, but it had led me to this recently completed drama Angry Mom. Wow, this is not an ordinary school drama, it takes up issues and problems that many people decide to look at with a blind eye. It addresses real issues in the Korean school system and in my opinion school in general. I find the main lead to have a well-rounded character that keeps me interested as she struggles to protect her daughter but also isn’t so strong against the corruption that surrounds them. It hits the feels spot to watch her struggle with the realities that most mothers in the real world most likely face daily without the determination our protagonist has. The other characters are also fun to watch and fall in love with as you find them crawling into your heart slowly as their stories get fleshed out, for example the delinquent that our Angry Mom first set out to deal with – Go Bok Dong. I definitely recommend this drama to anyone looking for a school life drama with a bit of meaning and plot mixed into it.
The reason I didn't give it a full heart is because the drama surrounds alot about politics rather than the school life behind the walls. Still interesting, but not what i'd look for in this drama.

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½ / 4½ out of 5 hearts

Faith Review

Title: Faith (shinui)

AKA: The Great Doctor

Genre: Historical, romance, time travel, fantasy

Episodes: 24

Broadcast period: 2012-Aug-13 to 2012-Oct-30

Cast: Lee Min Ho, Kim Hee Sun, Yoo Oh Sung, Lee Phillip, Kim Soo Yun, Sung Hoon, Shin Eun Jung, Jo In Pyo, Choi Suk Jin, Hwang Woo Yun, Ryu Duk Hwan, Park Se Young, Lee Byung Joon, Kim Mi Kyung, Kwon Min, Park Yoon Jae aso..

The Queen’s life is in danger, she was hurt while people were after the King. The Woo Dal Chi general Choi Young (Lee Min Ho) has been ordered to go through the Heaven’s Door and get the famous doctor Hwata, who once before came to their world to heal. And so does Choi Young, he goes through the door and arrives, but not to heaven, but rather the future. Here he somehow finds his way around and spots a woman, a doctor. Yoo Eun Soo (Kim Hee Sun) is a doctor, but a doctor who retired from being a general surgeon and instead took on plastic surgery. Eun Soo is literally dragged by Choi Young, back in time, where she has to use her medical skills to save the Queen. But what happens when it is ordered for Eun Soo to stay, and will Choi Young be able to keep his “Woo Dal Chi” promise of returning her?

I am quite unsatisfied by my own review. I often am but this I seriously should do better. I have a really tough time conveying to you the story, the plot, without telling you everything. It’s actually much much better than I thought it would be. I was struggling so much with the two first episodes actually. It just seemed sooo.. ridiculous. I was asking “seriously…?” all the way through. The reason? Well, they have “superpowers” of some sort, and it was already enough with the time travel, I was thinking it should stop there. But I really wanted to give it a chance, since it’s lee min ho, of course. Plus somehow Lee Min Ho’s acting seemed a bit stiff at first, maybe because of the character. So as I was complaining to Bunji how ridiculous it was and I thought it would seriously be good (because of tumblr) she told me these magical words “Ano san, trust Lee Min Ho, he wouldn’t choose a crappy drama right? And think about Secret Garden, did the portion/body switch make it a bad drama?” , or something like that. So I thought “That’s right!” and I’m really glad I gave it a shot because I am actually really satisfied by this drama. It actually worked out really well. And I really liked the romance too. And it also managed to keep me curious and hoping aaaalll the time, till the last scene in the last episode I was hoping so much and right when you think it’s over, what a crappy ending, it gets that last twist and boom. Nice ending. And the nice thing too is that it somehow in my opinion wasn’t even too much. It was “ttak” perfect. Kim Hee Sun was really cute too. Btw, this drama is also about the making of a king, and all the mess in the palace. Which I actually reeeally hate but it’s in most historical dramas, but I liked it here. 

☆☆☆☆ / 4 stars out of 5

♥♥♥♥  / 4 hearts out of 5

Bunji's Verdict

I’ve already wended my frustration of this drama to Jenji, but here we go. This drama is period drama with a capital P. Like I used all my energy to really understand this drama, and you somehow do, but damn it’s so political, and if you are like me, disliking period dramas, this one is going to fry your brain. I like history and I love that this drama is somewhat true to the real historical part, but this is just I don’t know, period to the bone. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good, but just, well not my cup of tea completely. I have to admit, this is Lee Min Ho’s best acting - very close to Personal Taste - but yet I guess cold attitude and the old formal Korean suits him more. I didn’t like Kim Tae Hee, not because of her character or even because of her being opposite Min Ho, it was more her acting - totally reminds you of the mid 20s kind of drama - not the best kind. The couple didn’t really have any chemistry honestly, I preferred to second couple, the one that didn’t even have a kiss scene, the King and the Queen, looked forward to every minute of their romance. And I loved the King; just the way the character was portrayed was amazing. The drama is interesting and action packed, so it isn’t lacking. All in all, it’s and okay drama, actually recommendable.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Smile Again Review

Title: Smile Again
AKA: Smile, Honey
Genre: Romance, Sports
Episodes: 16
Broadcast period: 2006-May to 2006-Jul
Cast: Lee Dong Gun, Kim Hee Sun, Lee Jin Wook and Yoon Se Ah.

Ban Ha Jin (Lee Dong Gul) lost his parents when he was a little boy, and managed to live his life alone all that while. Despite having a sad life, Ha Jin is intelligent and is good at school, and has a dog nose, meaning he has an insane sense of smell. He has dreams of going to college, but does not have the money.
Oh Dan Hee (Kim Hee Sun) is not that good a student, but she is brilliant when it comes to baseball. His first meeting with Ha Jin is during a baseball game, where by coincidence her idol Yoon Jae Myung (Lee Jin Wook), a baseball talent and son of a millionaire, ‘saves’ her, but the real saviour is Ha Jin. Dan Hee’s worst ‘enemy’, ever since childhood wants to bring Dan Hee down, so he tells Ha Jin that is he’s going to pay the college money for him, if he helps making a fool of Dan Hee. Being a good liar and as smart as Ha Jin is, seducing Dan Hee isn’t a problem for him, but he happens to fall for her as well.
On the night, where the “big embarrassment” is to happen, Ha Jin has second thoughts, but as his childhood friend Choi Yoo Kang (Yoon Se Ah) is being beaten by her abusing father, Ha Jin comes in the middle, and Yoo Kang ends up hitting her father in the head. Back in school. as Ha Jin enters, Dan Hee has been humiliated, so she runs out crying and heartbroken. Ha Jin runs after her, but is stopped by Yoo Kang, who tells him that they killed her father. The two of them run away, so nobody knows about it.
Four years later, the all-time baseball star Yoon Jae Myung is hurt and goes to Switzerland, to get away from people who tell him to leave baseball, where Yoo Kang happens to study, and Ha Jin visits her. Ha Jin notices that Jae Myung is on the verge of mental breakdown, so he decides to take advantage of him and befriends him.
At the same time, Dan Hee comes to Switzerland to support her friend and find out that her baseball hero is devastated, so she tries to help him. She then happens to meet Ha Jin again after four years, whom she swore never to talk to again. Ha Jin on the other hand knows that Dan Hee is his one and only true love.

Waaah, I finished it. At the beginning I had a hard time getting through the first episodes, but it’s one of those drama which you have to watch in one go. What surprised me was that I actually ended up liking it. I seriously couldn’t wait to know what would happen, and I felt several times that the story was picking up pretty neatly, which is unusual for a Korean drama. If you watch one, you’ll notice they have one mayor problem and then creating small right next to it, which ends up making you feel drained all the way through. Yes, it does have the ‘drainy’ feeling to it, but with class. It’s more of 5 big problems needing fixed, making it easy to follow, and not getting annoyed.
It has all ‘korean-drama’ elements, except for the lead actor being amazingly bad, like really bad, even made me chill a couple of times. But of course it’s about how the lead actress makes the bad boy good, typical. Anyhows, I’ve become a fan - Lee Dong Gul’s – the lead actor, and honestly I'm gonna watch some of his dramas now.. Hihi..

☆☆☆½/ 3½ out of 5 stars

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts