Whisper Review

Title: Whisper

Genre: Legal, Chaebol, Melodrama

Episodes: 17

Broadcast period: 2017-Mar t 2017-May

Cast: Lee Bo Young, Lee Sang Yoon, Kwon Yeol, Park Se Young and Kim Kap Soo.

After covering a case with one of South Koreas biggest law firms Taebak, Detective Shin Young Joos (Lee Bo Young) father gets caught up in a murder trial. He is accused of killing one of his friends, and due to the overwhelming evidence against him, he is sure to get convicted. Refusing to believe her father could do so and confident that he is set up, Young Joo decides to investigate the case herself, and decides to meet up with the judge of the trial, as she is afraid Taebak might cover the whole thing. Lee Dong Joon (Lee Sang Yoon) is the judge on the case, and as fate has it, he is known to be honest and fair in his judging.

The two meet, and Young Joo finally sees hope, deciding to trust her most important evidence to Dong Joon. But soon enough Taebak begins to bother and threaten Dong Joon, and is unable to judge fairly. This infuriates Young Joo, and she decides to take revenge on Dong Joo and Taebak with all means possible…

So apparently this drama was hyped because of the lead couple - they acted in another drama together, and it was very popular. Considering the supposed chemistry, it wasn’t that great. As a whole the story is weak and so is the overall backdrop, even though the idea is good, but with such a weak story I wasn’t really satisfied. I think I was expecting much more than this offered, but once I got over that it was okay to watch. I still felt that those “oh yeah!” moments were either forced or just simply blown out of proportion. If you think about how ‘easy’ the last few episodes were, with the evidence piling up against the antagonist, the beginning seemed a bit dull. Luckily the chemistry was good, and it was interesting to watch, so it didn’t feel like a complete waste.

All in all an okay drama to watch, but has a bit too much seriousness for a casual watch.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

The K2 Review

Title: The K2

Genre: Melodrama, Political, Action

Episodes: 16

Broadcast Period: Sep-2016 to Nov-2016

Cast: Ji Chang Wook, Song Yoon Ah, Im Yoon Ah, Jo Sung Ha, Jun Bae Soo, Kim Kap Soo, Lee Soon Won, Uhm Hye Ran, 

Kim Je Ha (Ji Chang Wook) is a former mercenary soldier for the PMC Blackstone. While in Iraq, he gets framed for the murder of his lover, a civilian. As a result, he runs away and becomes a fugitive. He returns to South Korea and by chance, gets offered to work as a bodyguard by Choi Yoo Jin (Song Yoon Ah), the owner of JSS Security Company and wife of the presidential candidate, Jang Se Joon (Jo Sung Ha). He accepts the job in exchange for resources that he needs in order to get his revenge on another presidential candidate, Park Kwan Soo (Kim Kap Soo), who previously ordered the killing of his lover. In the meantime, Kim Je Ha gets assigned to guard Go Anna (Im Yoon Ah), the hidden daughter of Jang Se Joon, whose life is always threatened because of Choi Yoo Jin, her stepmother. 

Yes, ladies and gentleman, Ji Chang Wook is back, with nothing less than quality acting with a sprinkle load of hotness. I’ll guide you through why you should watch this. First of all if you have watched Healer (another Ji Chang Wook Gem) you’ll know that his action scenes are professional, and apparently he stepped up his game in this drama, so expect some moves :b. Secondly: do I really need to say more? Yes, as you can read I am too biased on the actor to actually write a helpful review. At first I really didn’t want Ji Chang Wook, to team up with an idol-turned-actress, it’s not that’s she’s bad but she’s not good either. However, the villain in this story, Choi Yoo Jin, portrayed by Song Yoon Ah, really took the audience by storm. Her acting was crazy, at one time I literally got chilled put by her. She was really impressive, she even took the spotlight from JCW when in the same scene (yes, that’s how crazy good she was). The storyline was okay, it became a little dull at times, and the romance was a little too much at times, but the suspense and political game kept it up. To conclude: JCW Fighting ♥

☆☆☆☆☆ / 5 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts

The Great King Sejong Review

Title: The Great King Sejong

AKA: King Sejong The Great

Genre: Period, Family

Episodes: 86

Broadcast period: 2008-Jan to 2008-Nov

Cast: Kim Sang Kyung, Lee Yoon Ji, Kim Kap Soo, Lee Chun Hee, Lee Won Jong, Cho Sung Ha, Lee Hyun Woo and Park Sang Min.

This story revolves around the entire life of the 4th king of Joseon, one of the two with the title ‘great’, King Sejong.

As the third son of the third king of Joseon, Prince Choon Nyung (Lee Hyun Woo) has been raised not to be too involved in politics, but due to his natural curiosity and good heart, Prince Choon Nyung believes to find that the books on Confucius are the ones that are correct: that the citizens of Joseon are pure and righteous. His teacher on the other hand decides to give the prince a lesson and tells him to walk down to the city, instead of keeping his nose in the books. Accepting the challenge Prince Choon Nyung walks down the city and for the first time ever realizes how, not only poor, but grotesque all the people of Joseon are. And with the Ming dynasty in the city, the rebels are trying to destroy the treaty that the king made. In utter shock the prince returns home and tells his father about the situation in the empire, only to have the king use that knowledge and punish the citizens – as they are ‘complaining’ against the king. Once again Prince Choon Nyung decides for his own and rings the bell of complaint, this furies the king and he decides to punish Prince Choon Nyung by executing one of his closes friends.

This makes Prince Choon Nyung retreat completely from politics, but due to kind heart and jealous family, he is pulled into a whirlwind of betrayal and lies…

Out of all the Korean period dramas this one makes most sense – might be because I knew the history behind it – but it still was good in the sense that made a person like me (one that is not so much period drama fan) like it. The story of the great King Sejong is one of the most curious ones, as I never really understood their love for him, and I know that they do exaggerate in period dramas, but I sort of understand this one and it fits the history part of the king’s life. I mean I am kind of history biased, but they really are almost at point – though with a bit of creativity in the spots that have a kind of unclear story.

As far as acting, besides being a Lee Yoon Ji fan I haven't really seen works of any of the actors (of course Lee Chun Hee but that’s it), so it was kind of being thrown into a drama with "unknown" actors and a lot of “back-actors”: the actors that have supporting characters in almost every drama. The drama was okay acted, but not really that amazing though. And kind of weird yet beautiful love stories.. I guess that is those day time period drama, a lot of episodes with kind of mediocre acting, though that didn’t make it less good, just made it kind of regular.

So sum it up: an interesting drama with an honest approach to the actual historical events, but on the other hand mediocre acting.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ 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