Marriage Contract Review

Title: Marriage Contract
Genre: Melodrama
Episodes: 16
Broadcast Period: Mar-2016 to Apr-2016
Cast: Lee Seo Jin, Uee, Kim Yong Geon, Park Jung Soo, Lee Hwi Hyang, Kim Young Pil, Kim Yoo Ri, Kim Kwang Kyu

Kang Hye Soo (Uee) is a single mother who struggles to raise her daughter while paying off her late husband's debts. Han Ji Hoon (Lee Seo Jin) is the son of a chaebol who seeks a contract marriage in order to save his mother, who needs a liver transplant. When Kang Hye Soo is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, she agrees to marry Han Ji Hoon and donate part of her liver to his mother, in exchange for enough money to provide for her daughter until she reaches adulthood.

This drama is one of those typical Korean predictable melodramas there is out there. However there is still a hint of something new, it was well written and executed. It didn’t get boring or dull, but rather after every episode it keeps you hunger for the next one. So yes, a very enjoyable and interesting drama. Uee’s acting has definitely improved throughout the drama; she really managed to get that motherly feeling from her, despite her young age. What is a review without mentioning the chemistry between the leads? Here I have to put my hands up and surrender. When I started it I had NO idea what I was expecting from Uee and Lee Seo Jin, mainly because I kept thinking of the big age-gap. After finishing the drama I must say they proved everyone wrong. They had one of the really good screenplay together, enjoyed watching them interact with each other and especially with that little girl! The reason why I’m not giving it full ratings, is because it had too many characters that was ignored or just needless.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

High Society Review

Title: High Society

AKA: The Privileged

Genre: Romance, Family

Episode: 16

Broadcast Period: Jun-2015 to Jul-2015

Cast: UEE, Sung Joon, Im Ji Yun, Park Hyung Shik, Yoon Joo Sang, Go Doo Shim, Lee Sang Woo, Yoon Ji Hye

Jang Yoon Ha (UEE) is the youngest daughter of a chaebol family, but she longs to find a man who will love her and not her wealth. So she goes to work at a food market and pretends that she comes from a poor background. Meanwhile, Yoon Ha’s manager is Choi Joon Ki (Sung Joon), a man who is determined to succeed to leave his destitute upbringing behind him. He even begins to think that marrying a well-connected woman will finally give him the lifestyle he desperately seeks. In her job, Yoon Ha makes fast friends with her co-worker, Lee Ji Yi (Im Ji Yun), and also meets Yoo Chang Soo (Park Hyung shik), the heir to the mall conglomerate where the food market is located. Chang Soo is very accustomed to his well-to-do lifestyle and enjoys having women fawn all over him because of his wealth. That’s why he is intrigued by Yoon Ha’s complete lack of interest in him.

I had waited so long for this drama to complete so I can watch it at one go, so believe me when I say that before I started I already had this feeling of loving it. Don’t know why, maybe because it had what I’ve been looking for in a drama. Rich and powerful chaebols, and finally this time the main handsome guy is the poor one (he is not that poor, but this time it was the girls family that opposed). I think it was my big anticipation for it that made the drama good, not the actual drama. The story was exciting and entertaining at the beginning, but somehow it fell in a loop, where the same problem occurred again and again. It kinda gets tiresome in the end, I just wanted to skip till the end, but Sung Joon didn’t let me :b He really did become this ambiguous man who wanted power and respect for his family, the character it is. I really liked him in the beginning because, you really couldn’t figure out if he was the good guy or the bad guy who turns good. He keeps making you change your mind on him all the time, I liked that. Uee has definitely made progress as an actress, and as a person who have watched all her projects/dramas, I can tell she really overcame the “Idol-turned-actress” title and became a real actress. Both couples had chemistry and a good vibe, but as I started with, the same problems kept occurring so it really didn’t make any progress towards the end. To conclude, I liked it, but not my favorite. 

    

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Ho Goo's Love Review

Title: Ho Goo’s Love
AKA: Fools Love
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Episodes: 16
Broadcast period: Feb-2015 to Mar-2015
Cast: UEE, Choi Woo Shik, Im Seul Ong, Lee Soo Kyung, Choi Duk Moon, Jung Won Joong, Park Soon Chun, Choi Jae Hwan, Lee Shi Un, Oh Young Shil

Kang Ho Goo (Choi Woo Shik) has never had a proper girlfriend, with girls constantly taking advantage of his sweet, naive nature by enjoying all the benefits of dating then friend zone-ing him. His relationship-savvy twin sister Kang Ho Kyung (Lee Soo Kyung) mocks him and his best friends Kim Tae Hee (Choi Jae Hwan) and Shin Chung Jae (Lee Shi Un) for being sorely lacking in any dating skills. Do Do Hee (UEE) is an athlete on the Korean national swimming squad, and won the silver medal at the recent Asian Games. Driven and competitive, she's frustrated at never getting first place and is known for cursing a lot. The timid, bullied Ho Goo had a crush on Do Hee in their teens, when her beauty and sports cred made her the most popular girl in high school. She's the only reason he goes to their high school reunion, and when they meet again, he's surprised to learn that she remembers him. Ho Goo grabs the chance to spend time with the girl of his dreams, not knowing that Do Hee has a secret, that she's pregnant possibly by her ex-boyfriend Byun Kang-chul (Im Seul Ong), their class president and now a successful lawyer.

Ooh, I’m so happy I watched this, I was so close to just drop it in the beginning because I heard some negative stuff about it. Nope, not true, it’s a wonderful drama, that make you smile all the time. The comedy, romance, friendship everything about it had a really nice and fresh aura over it. Why it was so good? Mainly because of the originality in the drama, it had many elements we normally don’t see in a kdrama such as decent treatment of some risqué themes. It also frequently surprised me by taking a whole other direction with the plot than I expected, and can I just make a shoutout to the awesome parental characters that behave in such a refreshingly awesome ways. Ho Goo… The writer took a character that could have been just a fool and just a sicky sweet guy and made him so real and warm that it truly is a feat of genius. I think what is most amazing about Ho Goo and the way he is written and acted is that he makes everyone else in the world look like the fool that they think he is. It’s like he has got it right and we are all wrong. Do Hee which is UEE's character was okay, I had her all wrong in the beginning but towards the end I fell in love with her, she is pretty awesome.
The cutest baby award has to go to Geum Dong in this drama!

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½ / 4½ out of 5 hearts

Ojakgyo Family Review

Title: Ojakyo Family
AKA: Ojakyo Brothers / Ojakkyo Brothers / Brothers of the Ojakgyo / Golden Pond
Genre: family, romance
Episodes: 58
Broadcast period:  2011-Aug-06 to 2012-Feb-19
Cast: Uee, Joo Won, Ryu Soo Young, Choi Jung Yoon, Kim Yong Rim, Baek Il Sub, Kim Ja Ok, Jung Woong In, Yun Woo Jin, Park Hee Gun, Lee Young Ha, Jo mi Ryung, Kim Yong Gun, Park Joon Geum, Song Sun Mi, Jun Mi Sun, Yoo Joo Hee, Jung Suk Won, Kim Hae In . . .

Baek Ja Eun (Uee) a university girl, daugther of a rich business man, has pretty much anything you could ask for, except for a mother. Her mother passed away at a young age and her father has been married several times. Ja Eun really wishes for a nice mother-daughter relationship, but it doesn't go that well as all the women who got married to her father, married him out of money rather than love. Ja Eun's world is turned upside down when her father disappears in an accident on the ocean. She is then left with her stepmother and a whole bunch of dept since her father's business fails. The stepmother runs away while Ja Eun has nowhere to go. By accident she then finds a letter, in which she finds out that her father has a farm, which he lent to his friend Hwang Chang Shik (Baek Il Sub). Chang Sik has been living at the farm with his wife, mother and four sons Tae Shik (Jung Woong In), Tae Bum (Ryu Soo Young), Tae Hee (Joo Won) and Tae Pil (Yun Woo Jin) for 10 years and have no plans of moving out suddenly.

This drama is quite ejoyable, though it did take a while to finish, it wasn't boring, and we follow several love stories. I don't really think I have anything to complain about, nice family romance drama. It's one of those relaxed dramas, not too much heartbreak and too much drama but just right for the length. Reminds me of the drama smile, you which had the same feeling. It's a good drama to have on the side when you need a break from other dramas. The acting was alright, it was not extrodinary or amazing, but just alright. But somehow I can not rate it as a favorite, it didn't feel like a favorite, but it was not bad either. so..

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3.5 out of 5 hearts

Jeon Woo Chi Review

Title: Jeon Woo Chi

AKA: Woo Chi

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Period, Romance

Episodes: 24

Broadcast period: 2012-Nov to 2013-Feb

Cast: Cha Tae Hyun, Uee, Lee Hee Joon, Baek Jin Hee, Kim Gab Soo and Sung Dong Il

Lee Chi (Cha Tae Hyun) is a reporter in mid-Joseon, and lives life freely and without care, seems carefree and lazy. But underneath his presence, he hides a secret: he can use magic. He is Jeon Woo Chi, student of Hong Gil Dong, who is looking for his master’s killer Ma Sook (Kim Gab Soo) and his friend who betrayed him Kang Rim (Lee Hee Joon) who took away his love and fiancé Hong Moo Yeon (Uee) by poisoning her with magic - basically hypnotizing her. When a man is supposedly killed by a tiger, Lee Chi checks it out and finds traces of Kang Rims trade mark magic. Lee Chi loses the trace shortly after, but when a young girl Lee Hyun Ryung (Baek Jin Hee) steals a bag with some form of seeds from a smuggling ship and her father takes a bite, falling in a form of hallucination/coma, Lee Chi cures him. Soon after a slave, Bong Soo (Song Dong Il) whom lost money to Lee Chi while gambling, is accused for murder, Lee Chi goes to save his own butt, but finds out that the same poison he cured, was used on Bong Soo to make him confess, Lee Chi realizes that Kang Rim is somewhat involved, and follows him…

When I started watching this drama I was surprised how different it was, than the usual Korean drama. It was light, interesting and unique, but after the first half, it turned 180 degrees and it was as if the first part never really happened. And the Wuxia/flying/superpowers idea is a good for a change, makes you curious, or me at last. That aside, I had mixed feelings about the lead couple, not because I preferred a supporting-lead couple, it was just very different. Though the couples around were brilliant: I have a thing for queen-king love stories, and those innocent love stories :) Acting wise, mainly good, just occasionally odd, not bad, just odd, which was supposedly part of the drama. Lastly I would like to comment about the length: I don’t mind 24 episodes have done way more, but it is as if they really did everything to make it extra-long, adding extra stuff. But it’s not draggy like those other dramas, and not as stuffy (depends on how you see it and what interests you).

All in all recommendable for the playful soul. 

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts