Another Miss Oh

Another Oh Hae young

Romanization -  Ddo Ohhaeyoung
Aka -  Oh Hae Young Again,  Another Miss Oh,  Misunderstood
Genre -  Romance, Melodrama
Writer -  Park Hae young
Network -  tvN
Episodes -  18
Released - 2016,  May - June
Cinderella Plot -  No

CAST

PLOT

Oh Hae young is dumped by Han Tae jin on the day before their wedding. She becomes despondent and reckless in an attempt to move forward when she knows she can't.

Park Do kyung is a popular sound engineer. A year ago, he was supposed to marry Oh Hae young (Jeon Hye bin), but she did not appear at their wedding. He became desperate and sets out to destroy the man he assumes took his place.

REVIEW

The five stars isn't a mistake on my part even if this 18-episode melodrama did have its awkward, confusing, and down-right implausible moments.

It is the story that deserves the accolades, along with the acting on the part of a well-rounded and in-sync cast, and especially the soundtrack that actually fit not just the story but the mood as well.

This was one of those rare charmers that could be labeled a sleeper (if it wasn't for Eric Moon starring) that took me by surprise as it started to unfold and kept me engaged throughout.

Yes, even when things started to go astray with the private lives of a few of the aside characters, and each time the director felt the need to rehash bits and pieces along the way.

Brilliant writing and a brilliant plot made this work for me, and I do hope for a lot of others as well, because at least one someone involved in the making of this drama deserves a bit of recognition here.

I could easily and sometimes embarrassingly identify with Oh Hae young #2, but it was still a refreshing delight to see a 'real' character portrayed for a welcome change instead of Little Miss Perfect, Poor Miss Picked On, and Wow, Ain't She Something.

Oh Hae young #1 was Miss Perfect but with a unique quality to her and only slightly flawed.

I want the giggle doll!

Oh Hae young #2 spoke to me in a way very few on-screen characters ever have because she was not just honest but also true to her inner and outer selves beginning to end.

She's different and she knows it, flawed and okay with it, and overly anxious to please as much as she hopes to be pleased.

A definite INFP-T personality type (just like me).

When the story opens, she's an adult working for a Food Distributor and preparing to get married to her handsome fiancé, Han Tae jin (Lee Jae yoon) when he breaks it off and disappears.


Hae young #2 is devastated and falls into a terrible downward spiral of misery for a time before eventually shrugging it off by pretending it's okay, she's okay, everything's okay so leave me the F alone kind of existence.

Then Eric's Park Do kyung enters the picture, and he's had visions of Hae young #2 in his head for awhile now, so when he watches her pass him by on the street, he becomes determined to get to know her better.

(This isn't a spoiler)

Turns out he's to blame for Hae young's misery since he was engaged to Oh Hae young (#1) when she left him at the altar, and when his best friend, Lee Jin sang (Kim Ji suk) points out Hae young #2's fiancé in a club, both men assume he is the reason why Hae young #1 broke up with Do kyung.

So, Do kyung decides to ruin Han Tae jin and it works, so Tae jin has no choice but to break it off with Hae young #2.

Then, and for the length of this melodrama, we watch as the interesting plot unfolds, and if you think this is another stereotypical and predictable story, you'll be surprised.

The levity scenes and aside stories could be partially labeled as such, but for the most part, the main story proved to be fresh, intricately woven, and far less foreseeable than expected.

Eric's character proved difficult to warm up to or like, which is a good thing, because that is precisely who he was meant to portray as Do kyung -- the aloof, unfeeling, inhibited man who doesn't even smile when it is called for or display any emotion even while in love.

Which is also why I can't quite say whether Do kyung and Hae young were good together or possessed on-screen chemistry because in character, they both had to struggle so hard just to warm up to the idea of a relationship that it sort of detracted from that chemical romance aspect.

Yes, they looked good side-by-side, I'll give them that, and yes, the kissing scenes were amazing, but as for their deserving to be together and wanting to root for them . . . it's hard to say.

Do kyung's father makes an appearance about mid-way through, and it was great to see Lee Pil mo acting the part.

Lee Pil mo

Gosh, do I love him.  


The premise behind Do kyung's character is that he is able to foresee his own death, and while discussing the issue with a psychiatrist, Do kyung starts to learn as much about himself as he does about life in general.

Even knowing he's going to die, Do kyung struggles to change himself in order to become happy with the only woman who really matters -- Hae young #2.

For a majority of the first half, I couldn't wrap my head around the suggested need to sympathize with Do kyung after what he'd done to destroy the lives of two perfect strangers, and it never occurred to me that Tae jin, at any point in the eighteen episodes, owed anyone an apology -- except to Hae young, of course.

Tae jin continues to apologize, though, and I continued to feel sorry for him and hope that something good would happen to him and not just to Hae young.

Perhaps the writer wanted me to accept the notion that men are made to suffer far worse and for far longer than a woman?

Poppycock and horse feathers.

Poor, sweet, and totally innocent Tae jin! (ㅠㅠ)

Lastly, we have Hae young's parents to thank for a lot of the marvelous, sublime, and over-the-top funny or self-indulgent scenes.

Whenever I see Kim Mi kyung in the line-up, I know I'm in for a treat (with the bitter exception of The Heirs).

Kim Mi kyung

STILL

There was enough TYPICAL going on with this story to let me know it was, indeed, a K-Drama, but I blame the director and not the writer.

1.  U-Turns are standard fare in any K-Drama, right?

So, when the You Forgot Your Wallet scene occurs, the U-Turn should have occurred but ...

2.  Family is ultra-important and super-high on everyone's list/mind, right?

So, Tae jin has absolutely no one on his side? No one when he's overnight destroyed and business ruined within days?

Hae young doesn't hear anything through the grapevine?

His buddies haven't got a clue?

Not even an omanee to cry and carry on like it's the end of the world?

3.  Everyone in Korea drinks to excess, right?

They drink, and drink, and drink to shit-faced oblivion sometimes, and then they drink some more -- which is okay!

To hell with your health, your liver, pancreas, & kidneys, your brain cells, or even your dignity!

Right?

And yet . . .

cigarette blur

a lit cigarette is blurred because that's a BAD thing.

4.  Skinship most-often occurs outside, right?

Producers of these dramas like to bludgeon us foreigners over the head with the idea that EVERYONE in Korea is excessive in modesty and fiercely guard their personal space.

Which makes zero sense to a foreign mind if EVERY so-called intimate scene (kissing, hand-holding, arm-in-arm strolling, etc.) actually occurs out in the open, in broad daylight, or in a narrow alleyway somewhere in and around Seoul.

Which actually says Koreans are not quite as excessive in modesty or personal space as they'd like us to believe.

However, in Another Miss Oh, the two aside characters are INSIDE when they decide to give kissing a chance (and, mind you, she is 45 and he is 35) when the very next scene offers us this little bit of WTF?

Wait. Wait. is right!

You guys were just inside the house, and now you're outside?

You left the house.

To kiss?

WHY??

5.  Cars and Wind and Hair; not a good combination. Right?

Yet, in every K-Drama, while driving along a country road, a city street, or a major highway, it is inevitable that the woman (always riding shotgun) will roll down the window.

And, in every single instance where this scene occurs, the woman's hair remains perfectly still, her eyes remain wide open (because no one wears sunglasses outdoors in Korea), and she is able to carry on a conversation using her inside voice.

Never has to shout above the howling wind while scrambling to gather her silken locks in both fists, while squinting in order to see with a modicum of ease.

Must be nice.


6.  Speaking of cars, there's always one available when you need it, and even if you hadn't used it in a previous scene, right?

Continuity error or directors gaff, I can't be sure, but this happens at least twice in Another Miss Oh, where the character starts out on foot and ends up behind the wheel with zero indication of the vehicle's having been somewhere within hopping in and taking off distance.

So, why were you walking in the first place?

THE SOUNDTRACK

The OST stunned me.

The same song wasn't replayed again and again, but the same tunes did repeat throughout the eighteen episodes for a nice change of pace.

It didn't matter, though, because I really, REALLY enjoyed them all and got teary eyed listening to the last one (below).

It'd be nice to learn that the artists receive awards for their effort because MAN, was this an impressive line-up!







The one that made me cry even when the scene wasn't sad -- just a really lovely tune

SCREEN SHOTS

Eric Moon

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Healer #Review

Title: 힐러 / Hilleo  
Genre: Romance, comedy, thriller, action  
Episodes: 20  
Broadcast network: KBS2  
Broadcast period: Dec, 2014 to Feb, 2015

 

 


Finished watching this afternoon, and like a terrific book you can't wait to finish in order to find out how it all works out, I felt the same way about Healer.  

Bad thing about that is, like a good book, when you do get to the end, you're sad to know it's over even if you were looking forward to the end!  

Man, was this good.  

The plot 

. . . I'll quote the KBS source first . . .
 

A mysterious messenger of the 22nd century, an online newspaper reporter who only concerns her own interests, a popular reporter who agonizes over the truth and reality. When these three people meet, a passionate romance starts and the truths from the past and present reveal themselves to the world. This drama features young people and how they grow into real reporters.

. . . and then say (like per usual) it doesn't make much sense and didn't help me to understand the story's premise.  

I don't know if Healer was a mysterious messenger from the 22nd century -- in fact, I don't recall anyone slipping through time to deliver anything throughout the 20 episodes.

What it did do was to keep going back in time, 1992 to be precise, and show us glimpses of why that story is relevant to the plot in the present.

Healer did deal with three separate types of news reporter, and they did uncover an awful secret from the PAST (not the future) that still needed explaining and exposure.

That much is true.

The girl, however, was hardly self-absorbed.

More clueless and suffering an identity crisis at the start of this show.

She had big dreams of a promising career in reporting, but there was something holding her back.

We discover what that something is later in the show.

Healer (Ji Chang Wook as Seo Jung Hoo / Bong seo) is a mystery right out of the gate and someone who remained elusive, sexy, and self-assured throughout . . . even when he eventually transformed into bookish Bong seo, the mild-mannered office gopher at the newly created Some Day News.

Both depictions of Healer and Bong seo made me love Chang wook.

Funny thing is, I couldn't get past the first episode of Bachelor's Vegetable Stand, in which he stars.

You can bet I'll be watching it next, though!

Long story short: these three reporters are connected by a thin thread from the past.

The eldest (Yoo Ji Tae as Kim Moon Ho) knows enough about what's going on to want to put an end to the madness, but there is something that prevents him from revealing everything all at once.

He hires Seo Jung Hoo to obtain a DNA sample of the female wanna-be reporter, Park Min Young as Chae Young Shin.

Jung hoo traps Young shin inside a public bathroom, clips her fingernail, and disappears, leaving Young shin to hyperventilate in his startling wake.

Once Moon ho knows she is who he always assumed she was, the real fun begins.

He hires Jung hoo to guard Young shin, protect her from harm, and be her friend.

So, naturally, a romance begins to bloom for the two of them.

Jung hoo is reluctant for obvious reasons and she is eager to find out more about the mysterious Healer while becoming good friends with his alter ego, Bong seo.

They had great onscreen chemistry.

GREAT onscreen chemistry.

I liked her start to finish, her acting is superb, and the two combined made for an enticing bit of sexual tension, comedic silliness, and then that heart palpitating moment when the truth is revealed (more times than just one, too).

Loved, loved, LOVED the OST!

I know the main tune (Eternal Love) by heart now :D

Although I kept thinking it was Peter Gabriel who was doing the singing.
 
Jung hoo is a bad-ass with some serious fight skills courtesy of one of the hippest, older Korean men (Oh Kwang Rok as Ki Young Jae) I've seen onscreen thus far.   Dude was pretty awesome, and he giggled his way through every one of his scenes while teaching Jung hoo those impressive skills.   Another bonus came courtesy of my all-time favorite female actress, Kim Mi Kyung as Jo Min Ja.   She plays a retired detective and works anonymously with Jung hoo to help undo injustices Min ja is capable of detecting through the use of some extremely advanced hacking devices and her own know-how.   Actually, everyone involved in this thriller of sorts did a great job. The goofy guy in the Some Day office always at his laptop, and his timid boss.   The young girl who lives in the streets, break-dances, and uses her gang mentality to help Min ja aid Jong hoo -- she was a scene-stealer.   I also kept wanting to believe that she is Kim Mi kyung's real-life daughter, too. Might just be me, but they look alike and even act/sound alike.   Healer was a wonderful 20-episodes that I was thrilled to bits to be able to watch as it rolled, and for which I'm sad now that it's over.   Encore!

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A Man's Story / The Slingshot

남자이야기 / Namja I Yaki

2009 20-episode KBS drama that was loaded with great actors from the top all the way down to bit-parters.

It's been awhile since I last watched, so I re-watched for this post but didn't have to go clean through all 20 episodes in order to remember what it was about, what went down, and how it ended, or how great this story and the portrayal of each character turned out to be start to finish.

As a matter of fact, since I started up the blog again, this story remained at the back of my mind the whole time. I still think about certain scenes on occasion, too.

It might be Park Yong ha's spirit channeling. Who knows.

While I was still in college, instead of watching the latest shows a week at a time, or as they were uploaded for us foreign viewers, I decided it would be better to delve a bit deeper into the resumes of some of my favorite actors. In this case, I wanted to see more of Lee Philip after watching A Secret Garden.

For likely obvious reasons, this drama was a winner for me because it had ZERO to do with love using the stale Cinderella plot.

Yong ha's Kim Shin was the younger brother of a profitable dumpling factory, Ahn Nae sang as Kim Wook, and he was a slacker for an undisclosed reason after having graduated high school, college, and his stint in the army.

A reporter visits the factory and returns to the studio to broadcast an unfavorable review that leads to the demise of the factory and the death of Kim Shin's brother.

Kim Shin enters the broadcast station with a crossbow and bursts in on the newscast, demanding that the anchor read his grievances on the air.

The PD shuts down the broadcast, though, and poor, upset Kim Shin ends up behind bars.

This is where he meets our quirky, autistic cell mate, Park Ki woong as Ahn Kyung tae.

Kyung tae is a genius, and he can't communicate unless he's plugged in.

While serving his time, Kim Shin gets to know a gang boss and his minions - which becomes an eventual help to him in the outside world after his release.

His girlfriend is another of those rare Korean beauties who deserves the title beauty. She exudes sex in an Aphrodite way without having to try. At the beginning, when she is frumpy while working at the factory and discouraged having to hunt down her slacker lover in game rooms after hours, and later when she ends up at the top of the success ladder, Park Si yeon as Seo Kyung ah was and is naturally sexy, beautiful, and alluring.

Kim Shin keeps trying to get her to leave him at the start of this drama, but he does it in as haphazard a way as he lived. It didn't work, either, because Kyung ah loved him as frustrating and annoying as it had to have been for her.

While Kim Shin is incarcerated, she decides to take him up on his earlier offer to sell herself to the highest bidder, and she ends up at this ritzy ~club~ that caters to the wealthiest men.

Enter Kim Kang woo as Chae Do woo, the arch nemesis in this thriller of sorts.

Do woo grew up in the lap of luxury, but his parents and their weird lifestyles had a profound effect on this kid's psyche.

His mother was bedridden while his father got drunk and brought home women.

One day young Do woo visits his mother in her room, and she is having an episode.

The boy does something that wasn't entirely inexplicable as much as it was inexcusable.

His father called him names that were best directed at himself, but it was a necessary catalyst in order for this story to grow up and blossom into the action-packed thriller that it turned out to be.

He also has a younger sister with a medical condition similar to the one their mother had, but Do woo takes good care of her - well - he does or seems to be doing that until a bit later in the show, when things become apparent in a twisted, creepy sort of way.

He also meets and falls instantly for Kyung ah, though I was never, quite sure if she was still on Kim Shin's side and doing what she was doing as a help or because she had decided to give up on the loafer to catch a bigger, more lucrative fish.

The ending shed light on that topic, but I don't want to post any spoilers.

The ending also led us to believe there would be a sequel, but sadly our handsome and extremely talented Park Yong ha is gone now. Sadder to say, I can think of a few candidates to replace him if a sequel actually does take shape, but it would have been complete and worthwhile had Yong ha stuck around just a little while longer.

Personally, I am more inclined to believe that some of these 'purported' suicides are actually the result of a lethal mix of narcotics and alcohol. Innocently mixed due to stress, lack of sleep, or a bit, too much of one over the other.

A few whiskey's before bed followed by a sleeping pill or three, or the doctor prescribed dosage that is a bit too much at the time.

Do woo's younger sister, Han Yeo woon as Chae Eun soo, has a special hiding place inside the mansion where she goes to listen in on private conversations between her wealthy father and his staff.

She keeps a diary of these conversations, and then she goes out and tries to help whomever it was that her father's company just harmed.

This is how she meets and befriends Kim Shin.

After Kim Shin is released from prison, he and Kyung tae stay at this totally cool bar and work to execute their scheme to get back at the bad guys.

Lee Moon shik as Park Moon ho, the bar owner, is an ex con himself, so he knows even more people who can help Kim Shin with his plans.

In the meantime, though, the outskirts neighborhood where his sister in law and her two, young daughters are forced to have to live is slated for demolition by the same powerhouse that Kim Shin is trying to destroy.

Which means Kim Shin is building an army of supporters while the bad guys are getting away with 'murder' (literally and figuratively).

They kick up enough dust to thwart and discourage Kim Shin and his followers, but it is never enough from a Korean perspective to stop them from continuing with their plans to make wrongs right.

Kim Shin goes from being useless and drifting through life to taking up a worthy cause, helping other people, and learning how to outsmart his enemies.

His biggest enemy is Do woo and Do woo's father, Jang Hang sun as President Chae.

Didn't I tell you that every, freakin' star in this drama is absolutely and completely awesome?

I loved them all, and Jang Hang sun is one of my FAVORITE hal-abeoji's.

Kim Shin's older brother is currently starring in The Golden Rainbow, though I don't know how much more of that agonizing drama I can take, but whatever.

Kang woo's deranged Do woo was brilliantly played, and the simple fact that Park Si yeon's Kyung ah left me guessing right up to the end proves how clever she is at her craft.

Even the dapper, overly casual regardless of the situation Lee Philip's character managed to steal every scene he showed up in.

But then we can't forget the dogged detective on the case of the murdered mayor, either.

Kim Mi kyung as Detective Kim will always be one of my favorite actresses of all time.
She's brilliant, too, and classy, and believable, and the type of person I'd give just about anything to have as a friend because without having ever met her, I can just imagine how much of her real self is portrayed through each of her characters.

I mean, even as the deaf-mute mother in Heirs, her familiar, sarcastic wit still managed to make its way to the startled ears of the rich woman she served as a maid.

She's cool for rising so high in the stardom category without needing a plastic face, tons of make-up/photoshop, and a hooker wardrobe to get noticed.

She is the epitome of what every KPop chick right now will be dying to be in about twenty years.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I absolutely LOVED how she handled Philip Lee's Do Jae myung, too. She had him bending over to pick up things for her, ride shotgun in her beat up car, and making lewd comments out loud and in public to embarrass as well as shock him.

See, teen and young adult chicks will NEVER get the true worth of the male form until they reach Madame Kim's age. She's not stupid in the least, and after going through all the ditzy, wasted time of her youth, she's no-nonsense about things like sex and what really matters in a relationship.

I love her!

Jae myung is the son of the man who assists Do woo's father, and at a young age, he sent his son to live in America.

He returns as a mysterious character, and we don't learn his true reason for being back in Korea for quite some time, but he runs into Kim Shin, the two hit it off, and while staying at the cool bar, they begin working together on this scheme.

Do woo's sister gets involved with them as well, and then Do woo finds out, making him snap (even though he really, already has - for quite some time now - had a screw or three loose).

If I say anymore, it would be likely that I end up dropping a hint or spoiler, and I don't want to do that.

Suffice it to say this was well worth the twenty episodes, there weren't TOO many draggy bits, and as I mentioned earlier, the ending hinted at there being the possibility of a sequel.

If you haven't seen this one yet, I highly recommend that you do.

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