The Lover Review

Title: The Lover

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Episodes: 12

Broadcast Period: Apr-2015 to Jun-2015

Cast: Oh Jung Se, Ryu Hyun Kyung, Jung Joon Young, Choi Yeo Jin, Takuya Terada, Lee Jae Joon, Kang Kyun Sung

A story that depicts four different couples living together in one apartment complex.

Room 609: Both in their thirties, Oh Do Si (Oh Jung Se) is a voice actor and Ryu Doo Ri (Ryu Hyun Kyung) is a blogger. They simply chose to live together instead of getting married, and have been sharing an apartment for two years. 

Room 610: Jung Young Joon (Jung Joon Young) and Choi Ji Nyeo (Choi Yeo Jin) are a couple that's twelve years apart in age. Ji Nyeo has the personality of a penny-pinching ahjumma and basically supports her younger boyfriend in the hope that he will someday realize his dream, while Young Joon is an unemployed musician who carries around a guitar he doesn't know how to play. 

Room 709: Lee Joon Jae (Lee Jae Joon) is a loner who prefers to stay at home, but is forced to find a roommate for financial reasons. He doesn't even want to exchange unnecessary small talk so he advertises for a foreigner who can't speak Korean very well. Enter Takuya, a Japanese guy on his travels. Takuya thinks Joon Jae is wasting his youth, and begins to draw him out into the world.

Hmm, I can’t decide if this were a failure or success for me. One thing I know for sure, that it was so real-to-life, meaning I found it to be so realistic, and I’m sure people that are cohabitating with someone, could relate to a lot of stuff in it. However, it just didn’t work for me. There were many hilarious things in it, but after finishing one episode, it was so hard to click the next episode. Imagine that for 12 episodes, I’m so exhausted now, although I never found myself bored with it. Oh god why does it have to be so complicated to explain, you guys get me right :b ? There can be dramas that you just can’t figure out why it didn’t click for you. Anyway there were no main story, just the fact it’s about the people living in that apartment complex. It consists of many short story, which I found to be relaxing, not complicated or anything. The actors were good too, and there were many rookies, but also some seniors, so a watchable mix. I do recommend it since, it’s something new in Kdrama-land, so why not? :B

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Salamander Guru and the Gang Review

Title: Salamander Guru and the Gang

AKA: Salamander Guru and the Shadow Operation Team / Salamander Guru

Genre: Sitcom 

Episodes: 10

Broadcast period: 2012-Jan to 2012-Mar

Cast: Oh Dal Soo, Im Won Hee, Choi Min Ho, Ryu Hyun Kyung, Lee Byung Joon, Kim Gyu Sun and a crazy amount of cameos from A LOT of celebs. 

This short sitcom is about two petty thieves, Seon Dal (Oh Dal Soo) and Won Sam (Im Won Hee) known as the “Mapo Lupang” burglars with the trademark of not stealing anything and leaving a toilet full with poop. After managing to run away from their latest ‘crime’, to a house owned by a Guru/Priest (Lee Byung Joon ) known to do precise fortune telling’s. They break in the Gurus house and by accident shock the Guru so he chokes on his food. Thinking he has died, and pressed by the next clients they dress up as the fortune teller.

At the same time police woman Kyung Ja (Ryu Hyun Kyung) who has a bad day - and stomach ache, is called for work at the “Mapo Lupang” case, so she runs in and uses the bathroom in the burgled house, thus getting cut of the case for flushing down the criminals poop and DNA.

The news about the “Mapo Lupang” thieves spreads and reaches Min Hyuk (Choi Min Ho), a genius hacker, who immediately finds their location and starts to stake them out. The two thieves bring the Guru in the basement and take his place, to make money, by just talking about the obvious to every client arriving.

After begging for a sometime Kyung Ja gets back on the case, and is determined to find the thieves and ends up on Salamander Gurus door step. At the same time Min Hyuk confronts the two and asks for the whereabouts of the real Guru - he has his personal reasons for finding the real one. They refuse, but when he observes a client they strike him a deal: if he helps them, they’ll tell him the location of the real Guru.

Kyung Ja enters and talks about Mapo Lupang - the fake Guru tries to confuse her with fake info. When another crime happens fitting the Mapo Lupang M.O. with the pooping, except this time a murder has occurred. The three decide to solve this mystery, but are suspected by Kyung Ja who finds a coin matching to the Gurus, which the fake Guru mistakenly dropped at the crime scene…

Honestly? After the first episode I really wanted to cast away this drama, mainly because it made no sense, and damn bad acting! But after the first one, and numerous laughing occurrences, it grows on you. This trio really is fun, and they actually gradually become better at acting, at least Min Ho is (I wanted to cry seeing him at the beginning man!) There isn’t that much else than ridiculous comedy, and loads of cameos by idols, celebs and comedians. The storyline gets you interested, because you really want to know what the hell is going on in that place, but it’s not worth it if you aren’t into random humor, or a fan of Min Ho.

To sum up, not really worth your time, if you don’t have anything to do, but on the other hand a good break from melodramas and yeah, only 10 episodes.

☆☆ / 2 out of 5 stars

♥♥½ / 2½ out 5 hearts