Chief Kim Review

Title: Chief Kim

AKA: Good Manager

Genre: Drama, Comedy, Real Life

Episodes: 20

Broadcast Period: Jan-2017 to Mar-2017

Cast: Nam Goong Min, Nam Sang Mi, Lee Jun Ho, Jung Hye Sung, Kim Won Hae, Kim Kang Hyun, JO Hyun Shik,

Can corporate politics turn a bad person into a good person? Kim Sung Ryong (Nam Goong Min) is a skilled accountant who works for gangsters. He makes his way into a company called TQ Group as a middle manager in the accounting department with the intention of embezzling money from the company. As he contends with hot-shot accountant Yoon Ha Kyung (Nam Sang Mi), financial prodigy Seo Yool (Lee Jun Ho) and peppy intern Hong Ga Eun (Jung Hye Sung), Kim Sung Ryong finds himself embroiled in office politics and notices other shenanigans by those in power that threaten to bring down the company. Kim Sung Ryong slowly comes to realize that he’d rather fight against corporate corruption and fight for employees’ rights than complete the mission he originally came to do. Can he succeed at his new objective against all odds?

Nam Gong Min is so much fun to watch, I think he's done such a great job with this character. At first I thought it was a bit over the top, but now it just seems more natural, despite his outlook on life and the fact that he's a criminal he's just too funny and likable. In the beginning I wondered what kind of character he will turn out to be, I like how he's different compared to a lot of other drama leads who are usually always "righteous" and on the "right side" of the moral fence. So I really enjoyed this drama so much, that I wish it didn’t have to end. No character felt unnecessary, everyone had a role to play, and I loved how it all comes together somehow. So definitely a fresh breath to all the lovey dovey, and fantasy dramas out there, this is from a realistic point of view.

☆☆☆☆☆ / 5 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts

Beautiful Gong Shim Review

Title: Beautiful Gong Shim

AKA: Beast’s Beauty, Pretty Ugly

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Episodes: 20

Broadcast Period: May-2016 to Jul-2016

Cast: Nam Goong Min, Bang Minah, On Joo Wan, Seo Hyo Rim, Oh Hyun Kyung, Woo Hyeon, Jung Hye Sun, Kyeon Mi Ri,

Gong Shim (Bang Minah) always feels over-shadowed by her older sister Gong Mi (Seo Hyo Rim) due to the way the people around her treat the siblings. The beautiful Gong Mi, who works at a top-notch law firm, becomes the breadwinner of the family, while Gong Shim, considered to be ugly and awkward, is jobless. Gong Shim had to use all of her money to rent a room on the roof top of the rented-house her family is living in, as her previous bedroom is being used as Gong Mi's walk-in closet. Having a plan to gather money for moving to Italy to pursue her dream of becoming an artist, Gong Shim decides to rent her rooftop room. This is when she meets Ahn Dan Tae (Nam Goong Min), a lawyer who works voluntarily for those in need, despite his delinquent personality. After much misunderstanding, Dan Tae finally moves in to the rooftop room and he becomes friendly with the son of a wealthy family, Joon Soo (On Joo Wan), through helping him out. 

It started out as the most funny drama I’ve seen in a long time. Every week I would laugh so much it felt like watching a variety. One of the factors to the comedy were the wig, the first few episodes was fun but it did test my patience watching the female lead with a wig. The wig annoyed me a lot like it almost gets to my nerve every time the wig is mentioned or have to focus on Gong Shim. Sure it made the whole situation fun, It just didn’t suit her. The leads did a splendid job, especielly Minah, she really surprised me. In the beginning I wasn’t sure what to expect, and was a little hesitant. I wondered why they had her as a lead, but just after the first episode I was convinced she was the perfect fit for that character. Then there was Nam Goong Min as Ahn Dan Tae, super goof-ball that makes him stand out of all the k-dramas over the years. Their onscreen chemistry with all their sparring hair pulling and banter was nice and easy to watch, a surprisingly good couple. As I started saying, it was a really funny drama, but somehow down the road it got super serious, and lost all the elements that made it stand out. As many other k-dramas, this started out as a fast growing drama, but hit a wall in the middle, and couldn’t pick up the pace again. So yeah, very dissappointed, but at least I enjoyed the main couple till the end. 

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥/ 3 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

My Secret Hotel Review

Title: My Secret Hotel
Genre: Romantic, Mystery, Comedy
Episode: 16
Broadcast period: 2014-Aug to 2014-Oct
Cast: Yoo In Na, Nam Goong Min, Jin Yi Han, Choi Jung Woo, Uhm Soo Jong, Kim Bo Mi, Choi Tae Hwan, Lee Young Eun, Go Yoon Ho,

Nam Sang Hyo (Yoo In Na) and Goo Hae Young (Jin Yi Han) were married in less than 3 months and got divorced, they meet again 7 years later. Nam Sang Hyo works at The Secret Hotel as a wedding planner, where she by mistake starts a rumor that if a couple marry at that hotel they will divorce after 3 months. To kill the rumor she have to plan the perfect wedding, the only problem was that the groom happened to be her ex-husband, and a dead body falls down from the ceiling in the middle of the wedding. Things got complicated when everyone get sucked into a murder case at The Secret Hotel, so how will Nam Sang Hyo save the hotel?


Ok so, since I am extremely emotionally distressed right now, after watching this drama, I will try my best to give an honest opinion of this show. This was a pretty typical romantic comedy with a little murder mystery thrown in. It was cute and had seasoned actors in the lead roles, and apparently it was written by a famous screenwriter in Korea just before she died, therefor it was expected to be a success. But in the end, it just didn’t do it for me (and the rest of Korea I guess, since the ratings were really bad), there were too many twists and holes in the drama, and you think something new will be revealed episode after episode, but nope, it will slowly drain you for energy. There was a lot of time where I just wanted to give up, because it felt like it was stuck, but the chemistry between Nam Sang Hyo and Goo Hae Young was so cute I had to finish it (have you heard his voice before; CHARISMA). Ok, to sum up what I’m trying to say is that if you have a boatload of good stuff on your “To watch” list, you can let this one on hold for a while.

☆☆ / 2 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Can You Hear My Heart Review

Title: Can You Hear My Heart
AKA: Do You Hear My Heart / Listen To My Heart
Genre: Romance, drama
Episodes: 30
Broadcast period: 2011-Apr to 2011-Jul
Cast: Kim Jae Won, Hwang Jung Eum and Nam Goong Min.

Cha Dong Joo (Kim Jae Won) is the grandson of the chairman of Wookyung corp. After his father dies, his mother re-marries to Choi Jung Chul, and because Dong Joo isn’t in age yet, Jung Chul becomes the chairman. One day, Dong Joo runs away from his parents and meets a girl (Hwang Jung Eum) whose name he doesn’t know, he finds out that her mother is deaf, so she was never able to give her a name. The two become friends, and he promises to teach her piano.
At the girls house her mother is marring a mentally retarded, but nice man, who is the father of Bong Ma Ru (Nam Goong Min). Ma Ru doesn’t like the way his family is living, poor and full of defected people, basically embarrassed, and when he meets Dong Joo’s mother, he dreams of having a mother like that.
When by accident Dong Joo witnesses his grandfather being murdered by his step-dad, he falls off a latter, and losing his hearing in the fall. At the same time the girl loses her mother in a fire, which Wookyung is responsible for, and Ma Ru runs to Dong Joo’s mother for help. But Dong Joo’s mother had earlier that day found out that Ma Ru is the real son of Choi Jung Chul, and decides to take Ma Ru in as her own son. A year later, Dong Joo still unable to hear, becomes close to Ma Ru now Jang Jun Ha, but his mother refuses to have him labled as handicapped, so she decides to make him fake that he can hear. That’s how the revenge against Choi Jung Chul begins…
16 years pass, and the girl has become Bong Woo Ri, she lives with her step-father and grandmother, and lives most days looking for Ma Ru. On the other side, Dong Joo comes back from America with his ‘brother’ Jun Ha, and surprises his father with an amazing piano performance. Nobody knows about his handicap, no one except Jun Ha and his mother, the revenge plan seems perfect, until Woo Ri happens to see Dong Joo, thinking it’s Ma Ru…

Omo, long review, sorry :P
This drama is the typical ‘right-owner-back-to-right-place’, lol, with the fight in order to get the business back, and etc. Only with the difference, that the lead is deaf, which sort f spices the drama if you ask me. The fact that he keeps it hidden and that he is able to read lips too. Okay, yeah it’s a drama, but it’s pretty neat, with the entire 16 years in hiding in order to make my step-dad pay. All in all, defiantly worth a watch, and if you’re not into the entire ‘chaebol’ thing, just watch it because of the brothers, they are so good together, real fun. The entire feud is DAEBAK, and the love story makes it even better. I do recommend it, but it’s not that action pacted, so don’t expect the world :)

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Jenji's verdict
This was one of the best dramas in a very long time! I really recommend it seriously! And dont give up after watching first episode, it's really not what you expect. I watched first episode and just didnt feel like it, months later I decide to give it a shot again and wow! only one regret, not giving it a chance first time I checked it out. The whole thing about being deaf and all, it just twists the typical drama so much so its like something new, doesnt have that annoying typical feeling. The lead actor, so lovely! everything about him! And the brother relationship is one of the big pluses in this drama, those scenes were just on replay every single time lol. I really loved it. The whole story is great too, and all the actors too. I really loved that it wasnt too much of fighting over one girl. It wasnt all too much, very bearable. I absolutely recommend it. Very enjoyable and easy to watch with a lot happening but it still doesnt feel all too complicated.


☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts