The Gentlemen of Wolgyesu Tailor Shop Review

Title: The Gentlemen of Wolgyesu Tailor Shop

AKA: Laurel Tree Tailors / Bay Tree Tailors

Genre: Family, Comedy, Drama

Episodes: 54

Broadcast period: 2016-Aug to 2017-Feb

Cast: Lee Dong Gun, Jo Yoon Hee, Cha In Pyo, Choi Won Young, Hyun Woo, Shin Goo, Kim Young Ae and Oh Hyun Kyung.

This drama follows four men, who get affiliated with a small tailor shop called “Wolgyesu Tailor Shop”.

Lee Man Sool (Shin Goo) is the second-generation owner of the Wolgyesu Tailor Shop. After being unable to get anyone to take over the shop, he decides to leave his family, leaving them with a letter. His son Lee Dong Jin (Lee Dong Gun) is wealthy manager in a clothing company owned by his wife’s diseased father. Due to internal conflict he is outed of the company and returns home. Here he meets Na Yeon Sil (Jo Yoon Hee), a seamstress that was supposed to get married, but her fiancé was arrested on the wedding day.

Due to the vacancy of a tailor in the shop, Bae Sam Do (Cha In Pyo) a former pupil of Man Sool, finally manages to persuade his aggressive wife Bok Sun Nyeo (Ra Mi Ran) to close down their chicken shop, to start living in the Lee household. At the same time Lee Dong Sook (Oh Hyun Kyung), the daughter of Man Sool and sister of Dong Jin, persuades their mother to let her first crush and forgotten singer Sung Tae Young (Choi Won Young) live in the house, only to create even more havoc. Kang Tae Yang (Hyun Woo) is the youngest of four, who is the childhood friend of Yeon Sil. After getting dumped by his longtime girlfriend for a rich CEO, Tae Yang decides to join the company - which happens to be the company Dong Jin was fired from.

Soon enough the four create an alliance and together they fix the issues surrounding their family and new home…

I remember reading about this drama long before it came out, and I was more than excited to watch it because of two of the leads, Cha In Pyo and Lee Dong Gun. Besides the fact that they are great actors, I have never seen them act together in a movie or drama - which made it even more exciting. Unfortunately, I felt quite confused in the beginning, because of the huge number of plots entwined in the main plot - making me forget not only names, but also the relationships between the characters, both kinship and other. This made me forget about the two leads, as I tried to wrap my head around it, and when I finally figured it out, they all kind of became less ‘famous actors’, and more their characters. The story and screenplay were great, even though I felt the acting could’ve been a bit better, I was satisfied with the overall.

So, all in all, it is a good family drama that made me laugh, and happy.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 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

Wang Family Review

Title: Wang Family

AKA: The Wang Family / Wang’s Family / Family of King / Royal Family / King’s Family

Genre: Family, Romance, Comedy, Melodrama

Episodes: 50

Broadcast period: 2013-Aug to 2014-Feb

Cast: Jang Yong, Kim Hae Sook, Oh Hyun Kyung, Jo Sung Ha, Lee Tae Ran, Oh Man Suk, Lee Yoon Ji and Han Joo Wan.

This story follows a family with four generations.

The Wang family is a typical Korean family with a head, vice-president of a school Wang Bong (Jang Yong) and his money appreciative wife Lee Ang Geum (Kim Hae Sook). Together they had 4 daughters and one son: Wang Soo Bak (Oh Hyun Kyung) the oldest and mother favorite, who got married wealthy to a business man Go Min Joong (Jo Sung Ha), and doesn’t know any form of house holding. Wang Ho Bak (Lee Tae Ran) the second oldest who had a shot-gun wedding due to her pregnancy with jobless Heo Se Dal (Oh Man Suk), and worked as a slave for many years so that her family could get an apartment. Even though she is the hardworking one in the family, her mother seems to dislike especially her. Wang Gwang Bak (Lee Yoon Ji) is the second youngest who gave up her teaching job so she could follow her dream as a writer, but meets mechanical engineer Choi Sang Nam (Han Joo Wan) and sparks fly.

The story follows the three sisters as they are confronted with subjects as love, marriage, divorce, infidelity, poverty and status…

I started this because I like the actor Oh Man Suk, and I ended up finishing because of Lee Yoon Ji. It is one of those drama where we get a lot of problems because of the family and they all get involved in every issue. Honestly I don’t dislike this theme, but I kind of get annoyed along the way. Though it first happened around episode 35 in this drama, I kind of got bored along the way.

The family and the characters are vibrant and they are both likeable and frustrating at the same time, which sometimes makes you want to either kill them or hug them.

I liked it, and I got myself a new favorite actress which is nice.

So to sum up: a good daily drama with interesting characters.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts