Descendants of the Sun

태양의 후예 / Taeyangui Hooye

Director -  Lee Eung bok

Writers -  Kim Eun sook, Kim Won suk

Network -   KBS2

Episodes -   16

Release -  2016, Feb - Apr

Genre -  Military Romance

Cinderella Plot -  No

Ken dolls -  not so much

CAST

SYNOPSIS

This story tells of doctors stationed in the fictional war zone of Urk (Uruk), and follows the love story that develops between a surgeon (Kang Mo yeon) and a special forces officer (Yoo Shi jin), both elite in their respective fields. The story tracks both their personal and professional struggles while exploring issues about the value of life.  ~~Dramabeans

REVIEW

Dan dan da dah!

It is O.V.E.R. people, and thus goes with it all of the hoopla, hullabaloo, and hype that now fade in a cloud of useless dust, save our various and sundry memories that may or may not live on just a bit longer.

Yeah, I liked it.

I really, really liked it -- just not as much as some people -- namely the Chinese [wink]

The hype that soon followed the release of this drama still escapes me, I'm sorry to say.

Heck, even the North Koreans hopped on this bandwagon and ran with it for the duration.

When I read articles that included things like this,

[~CNBC "Watching Korean dramas could be dangerous, and may even lead to legal troubles," the ministry warned in a Weibo post at the weekend. The department then cited some real-life cases of domestic violence, divorce and plastic surgery, all of which it related to an obsession with Korean dramas and accompanied with photos of similar incidents from various Korean television series." and from ~Wiki:  "It is part of a growing concern among Chinese officials who are wary of the growing influence of Korean pop culture on the Chinese populace since the similar success of My Love from the Star in 2014."] 

that's when I got all pissy and determined to find fault with the material being presented.

If people want to be stupid and do stupid things, that is their prerogative and none of my business, let alone the business of government or its attempt at intervention of said stupidity.

However, the hype also worked to do some good as well -- at least for the flagging KBS studios, and a certain brand of lipstick.

But, enough with the dumb stuff.

Here's why Descendants of the Sun worked to help transform not only a studio but the future of Korean drama:

Dude was smooth.

That's it!

This is what I've been talking about and begging for in a Korean drama over the past DECADE, and KBS finally delivered, albeit unwittingly, with Descendants of the Sun.

This was true romance -- even if they did do things on a South Korean level -- because the guy knew what he was doing, what he was about, what he wanted, and how to go about getting what he wanted without a lot of modern BS and politically correct nonsense holding him back.

Most of the male characters were MEN.

(well, there was that one baby-face doctor who did a lot of crying, whining, and acting like a child . . . )

Real men behaving the way men should behave.

In the truest sense of the word, and that, dear friends, is what made this such a hit

And the writing.

If you skip episodes 17 and 18 and go directly to 19, you'll get the inside scoop on the making of this epic, and what stood out most (to me, being a writer) was the simple yet IT WORKS fact that the director and the script writer insisted on staying true to the original work.

It came to my attention, and I was quite shocked, that a lot of these dramas are piecemeal because (get this) the producers allow the 'fans' to decide how the next episodes will turn out.

At least a majority of the actors had the balls to complain about such a stupid practice, and it is with great hope that Descendants of the Sun has now set the bar for all dramas to come.

It kind of pisses me off to know that I've been hoodwinked and never had a clue.

Now, I'm not privy to all of the inside scoop details on what goes down over there in Hallyu land, but over here, Military Romance Novels are still pretty popular.

I'm not crazy about them, but I've read my fair share (mostly as a favor to the author for an honest review), but Descendants of the Sun gave me the impression that the writer reads them almost as voraciously and with about as much interest as any other fan of said genre.

Which was kind of weird because I kept anticipating the lusty scenes even when I knew it wasn't EVER going to happen.

Which brings me to my reason for 4.5 and not 5 stars.

As darn close as this came to being a real ROMANCE drama, there still wasn't enough of it to satisfy me or my overall curiosity in that regard.

KISS already, and mean it when you do it.

Hug, hold hands, play footsies, and do the romantic stuff -- otherwise, let's just make this an action piece from a military perspective and send all the ladies home, shall we?

Yes, there were plenty of romantic moments, subtle as they were, which helped make this a winner in a lot of people's book including mine.

Korean women just don't make for great seductresses, bombshells, or sirens, much less exude honesty about their inner feelings or desire.

The guys do!

Song Hye ko as Kang Mo yeon was beautiful in a very typical Korean beauty way, and I liked that she was as down-to-earth as she was spunky and professional.

What she wasn't was romantic or romantically inclined.

yes, she's pretty

I've yet to see a single female actress in a Korean drama own her sexuality or behave in a romantic fashion.

Wearing a mini skirt, stilettos, and skin-tight jeans does not make a woman sexy or sexual.

Painting or manipulating ones face with the misguided notion of attracting the opposite sex is neither original nor enticing.

Male or female, you see what you like, want what you see, and you take steps to obtain it.

Owning ones self and being proud of who you are; not being afraid to convey what you feel with the sole intention of snaring your prey takes practice -- something I kind of doubt any Korean female has taken a single class in, much less graduated 101.

The cat and mouse aspect is always going to be juvenile, and despite every effort on the male lead's part, the game went slightly overboard, and that is always a bummer.

Annoying.

She thought he was dead, for crying out loud.

When it turns out he's not, human nature would dictate the innate need to RUN to the man, throw yourself at him, and vow never to ever let him go again.

Right?

When career, principles, and/or family come above and beyond everything and anything else in ones life, that's when the romantic exits and staid work-a-day enters the picture.

Either you feel something or you don't -- you are in love or you're not -- and pussyfooting around such an important life choice seems a bit off to me.

IF this is supposed to be a romantic melodrama, then sticking to the romance aspect is the logical thing to do.

Maybe someday the Korean female actress will want to or be permitted to behave in a way that more corresponds to her inner emotions than with outward appearances (more about the moment and less about what others might think) kind of acting.

Until then, we'll be forced to have to endure watching the same female character doing, thinking, and saying the same types of things minus an ounce of 'skinship' or internal emotion being acted upon.

The soundtrack wasn't unbearable, and I've still got one of the tunes floating around inside my head.

The second leads couple nearly stole the thunder, but here's where another oddity occurs:

First male lead did NOT seem capable of pulling it off and yet he managed somehow and against tremendous odds to come off as a genuine stud with some serious, deadly skills, to be one of the most thoughtful, romantic, and sexy leads EVER.

His female lead, not so much.

Second male lead had everything at his disposal: looks, bod, sex-appeal, manners, disposition, and moves yet his female counterpart was sexier than the other female lead but just as annoying, if not more.

Let's just say it took a really long time to warm up to the two female leads and then just as long to get it in my head that yes, they belong together because...

DUMB STUFF

but overall, this wasn't as big a pain in the ass to have to 'read' through as some, so there's that.

SCREEN SHOTS

I admired the cliffs, not the ship

sigh . . . a man in uniform

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Please Come Back, Mister

돌아와요 아저씨, Dolawayo Ajussi

AKA -  Come Back, Mister
Based on the novel "Tsubakiyama Kacho no Nanokakan" by Jiro Asada
Writer -  Noh Hye young
Genre -  Comedy, Romance
Network -  SBS
Episodes -  16
Release Date -  2016, Feb - Apr
Cinderella Plot -  No

Cast

Synopsis

After being worked to death, Kim Young soo (Kim In kwon) gets the chance to live a charmed life when he possesses Lee Hae joon (Rain), a hottie and all-around perfect guy. Meanwhile, Hong Nan (Oh Yeon seo) starts behaving as if she’s possessed by a man, and Shin Da hye (Lee Min jung) — a widow with new romantic appetites — turn Hae Joon’s department store upside down. ~Dramafever

Review

The convoluted synopsis would confuse even those who have watched, and for those of you who haven't -- yet -- take my word for it, you're in for a treat.

This is really about two men under entirely different sets of circumstances who end up on a train bound for the afterlife when they strike the same deal to return in order to set some things to right before they'll accept their ultimate fate.

Kim Young soo is a diminutive corporate man working his diminutive ass off for a flagging department store. He's married to a pretty woman and they have a young daughter while also being responsible for his aging father.

Han Ki tak is a single man, former gangpae, running a successful bistro when he is once again caught in a scandal with a former beauty queen/actress married to a psychopath, and the psychopath just happens to be President of the flagging department store.

These two are permitted to return to Earth for a short period of time, but they return as new identities: Young soo is now Rain and Ki tak is now Oh Yeon seo, a woman.

Their individual missions are to protect the women they love and right the wrongs done them without being able to reveal themselves to anyone.

And so the story goes . . .

This was filled with laughter, suspense, and even a few tearful instances, but overall, it was a delight to watch.

It made Rain's comeback after serving time in the military worth the wait, and knowing he's engaged to an older woman lent a bit of spice to his role.

Drawbacks 

included the sappy soundtrack overwrought with anxiety-ridden melodramatic strings that overpowered each scene.

The to-be-expected recaps and redundancy were only mildly irksome, but they are included in this sixteen-episode melodrama/comedy/romance.

All the guys were Ken dolls, including Rain.

Yes, it's fantasy, but toward the end they wiped any memory of Ki tak from everyone's mind, which makes zero sense and would imply he never existed in the first place -- which means he died and returned for nothing, making his role entirely pointless.

And, when Young soo is mowed down by a car, he's injured and bleeding, ends up in a hospital, and with hours to go before 'death' -- so -- at this point in the story, was I supposed to believe that the dead are capable of invading the body of the living?

The subs were laughable, too. Definitely one instance where a foreigner can assume what they are reading isn't entirely what is being said.

unfold

gouge

restraining

Quandaries

Yeah, Rain's still hot and still got it goin' on, but maybe because of his short do, I couldn't help noticing his lazy left eye. This seems to be a Korean actor phenomenon, so maybe it isn't as big a deal over there as it is here.

I kept worrying he'd stroke out at some point.

During the above-mentioned hospital scene -- and I bring this up because it occurs in countless other Korean dramas -- Young soo is lying on a hospital bed in what looks to be an emergency room setting. He's just been struck by a car with a closed-head injury, but he's just LYING there . . . no oxygen mask, no IV, no heart-rate or pulse monitors hooked up . . . not even a dutiful nurse or curious orderly poking and prodding the patient.

Maybe that kind of 'realistic' is a bit too expensive for the props department fund  or something.

Screen Shots

Ra Mi Ran as Ma Ya

Lee Tae Hwan as Choi Seung Jae

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I Order You

당신을 주문합니다

Title -  Dangsineul Jumunhamnida / Your Order (lit.)
Aka -  I Order for You
Slogan -  두근두근 러브 레시피/ Exciting Love Recipe
Based -  Novel series, Fla-da
Genre -  Romance
Cinderella -  No
Episodes -  16
Network -  Naver TVCast (SNS), SBS Plus
Aired -  2015, Jul 15 to 30

Cast

Jung Yun ho as Yeo Gook dae, Kim Ga eun as Park Song ah, Jang Seung jo as Kevin, Goo Jae yi as Ah Da hwa, Baek Jong won as Han Bi ryong, Cho Yoon woo as Nam Soo ri, Yoon Hong bin as Park Song joo

Plot

Yeo Gook dae (Jung Yun ho) is a talented chef who had a bad experience in a relationship in the past. He is heartbroken since his bride had left him on their wedding day. Then, he meets Park Song ah (Kim Ga eun) and they fall in love. Eventually, they deal with secrets of the past. ~ Wikipedia (w/edits)

Review

This was pretty awful start to finish.

Great story line, unique plot, and interesting aside characters could have made this a terrific watch, too.

It was the mediocre acting and the two leads not forming any semblance of chemistry that ruined it for me.

I'll give Yunho props for trying, but I can't believe Kim Ga eun has been at it since 2009.

It offered mature content, with the two leads even hopping in bed pretty early on, but it didn't help matters any because she just wasn't there and he kept trying too hard.

Her character behaved like an immature seventeen-year old throughout, and I had to wonder why he would go through any amount of grief on her behalf because she wasn't worth the effort.

All new faces here (for me, anyway) and some of the aside characters show promise.

The subs were okay, but Viki worked on them, so there were bound to be quite a few laughable translation errors.

I'm never going to get used to that sad fact of Asian drama viewing life.

The soundtrack wasn't too bad, but they played the same few songs again and again, becoming irritating after awhile.

Inconsistencies included POV that gave some of these characters the power to know what occurred or was said when they weren't there to see or hear it.

FLada has zero to do with Ah Da hwa (unless it's okay to use a last name and PART of a first?)

The mistletoe scene threw me because I thought it was Christmas time, and the city was lit up like it was Christmas time, but then the next day it is summer.

???

The title makes no sense and has nothing to do with the story (until the very last frame).

She gave him a bracelet, which she then broke when she threw another of her childish tantrums

and then in the next scene, we get this

Yeo Gook dae was left at the altar by Ah Da hwa, which means they never got married, but three years later, he tells Park Song ah he's sorry he kissed her because he's married.

Must be a Korean thing (or crappy translating?)

The inexplicable pedestrian/car conundrum occurred here, too

No matter how many times I'm shown this particular scene, I still don't believe that anyone in their right mind is stupid enough to stand like a deer in headlights and just let the oncoming vehicle mow them down.

Or that the oncoming vehicle can't apply the brakes more than 500 yards ahead of the pedestrian.

That's not how it works.

That's not how any of this works!

This 16 episodes of 25 minutes worth each didn't work, either.

Boring, repetitious, and confusing.

cool light fixture, though

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Dakara Koya

だから荒野

Inspiration -  Based on a Kirino Natsuo novel
Writer -  Taeko Asano
Genre -  Human Interest
Network -  NHK
Episodes -  8
Release -  Jan - Mar, 2015

Cast

Synopsis

scorned by her husband and two sons, housewife Morimura Tomomi leaves home in disgust On her 46th birthday and embarks on a 1,200 km journey. On the road, she encounters a series of traumatizing episodes: her husband's affair,  a truck driver who mistakes her for a prostitute housewife, and having her car stolen. Then a good-looking young man with an elderly man offers her a ride, and she arrives in Nagasaki. She meets new people and learns more of the atomic bomb incident, becoming aware of a "wilderness" within her as she begins to explore the path to rebirth. ~ Jdrama Weblog (w/edits)

Review

With just eight episodes at forty-nine minutes each, I figured this would be a decent enough way to pass some time in these cold, dreary spring days here in Michigan.

I was wrong and ended up watching the entire thing in one sitting.

This was an interesting story touching on a few topics that melded in a relatively seamless eight episodes of Human Interest mixed with History.

It is about people lost and in need of finding their way, which coincides directly with the old man who experienced Nagasaki first hand at the end of World War II.

Tomomi (Suzuki Kyoka) meets her husband and eldest son at a family restaurant one night, and after a series of abusive and thoughtless remarks from both men, Tomomi says good-bye and leaves the restaurant.

It was her forty-sixth birthday, which neither man acknowledged, becoming the final straw that sets the story in motion. Tomomi gets into the car and drives away with the intention of running and never looking back.

Her youngest son is a recluse whom she continues to worry about but decides that it might do him some good if she were to walk away and force him to stand on his own two feet.

She meets another lost woman in a rest-stop parking lot shortly after receiving a cup of coffee from a trucker, whom she'll run into again later in the story.

The other woman cons her into spending a night in a 'love' hotel (because its cheap, not for sex) and steals her shoes and the car.

Tomomi ends up having to hitchhike in the Wellington's she had given the other woman, and the trucker pulls over to offer her a ride to Nagasaki.

Shortly afterwards, he propositions her with the mistaken notion that she is a prostitute, so she exits the truck and waits in the rain at a bus stop.

When no one stops to pick her up, she walks into the rain, removes the boots, stands in a dirt-road puddle, and goes from despair to renewed spirit.

She's on the right path and knows it so intends to continue moving forward no matter how rough things get along the way.

This is when the 'handsome guy' (Takahashi Issei) shows up in a mini van with an elderly gentleman in the back seat. He offers her a ride, she accepts, and ends up in Nagasaki.

Tomomi has been in touch with an old school friend (both grew up in Nagasaki) and that woman is single, an established hair stylist with her own shop, and lonely -- wishing she had Tomomi's life and envying her for the family/husband she never had.

Once Tomomi arrives in Nagasaki, we learn more about the bombing of that city through the numerous retellings offered by the old man, whom Tomomi ends up staying with and taking care of.

All of these people are lost in some way and in need of renewal or change, and that is the gist of the story.

Good One

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I Remember You

너를 기억해 / Neoreul Gieokhae

AKA -  Hello Monster
Genre - Police, Thriller, Mystery
Episodes -  16
Network -  KBS2
Broadcast -  2015, June to Aug
Cinderella -  No

Cast

Plot

Lee Hyun (Seo In guk) is an excellent criminal profiler, but he possesses a spiteful tongue. Cha Ji an (Jang Na ra) is an elite detective. She observes Lee Hyun. They work on solving cases and develop a romantic relationship. ~ AsianWiki (w/edits)

A passionate detective with a strong track record has been investigating a mysterious former FBI profiler for a long while. They both somehow end up in the same investigation crime team which sparks their romance. ~ DramaWiki (w/edits)

Review

I watched this last year and again just recently.

There is no romance.

Well, they kiss in the final scenes,

but the rest of the time it was more like this,

However, it stars two of my favorite actors as the leads and so-called love interests.

This is a crime thriller detective mystery involving the two leads, who knew one another as children and suffered similar fates which tied them back then and now.

Two young boys witness their mother's brutal murder, and later, when their father (an early-days police profiler/psychologist) is left to take care of them, he ends up suffering the same fate as his wife, leaving the boys orphaned.

Lee Hyun (Seo In guk) and his little brother, Jung Sun ho (Park Bo gum) are separated at that point, and Lee Hyun ends up living with a female officer from the same precinct where his father used to work.

Lee Hyun grows up to be a Profiler with the FBI and returns to Korea after receiving a cryptic and unsigned message that takes him back to that fateful time in his childhood.

He's never forgotten his little brother and has every intention of searching for him now that he's returned to Seoul.

Lee hyun joins an elite task force that works homicide, along with their new team captain, Kang Eun hyeok (Lee Cheun hee) and the resident forensics specialist, Lee Joon ho (Choi Won young).

Later, we meet attorney Jung Sun ho, who instantly recognizes his older brother while Lee hyun does not (even if Lee hyun is a genius).

The drama covers a few cases while also delving a bit deeper into the past, and most of the cases involve or are indirectly related to abused children.

This was slow and methodical, so if you're not into that kind of thing, you won't enjoy this story because it was a whole lot of back & forth, rehash, and creeping their way toward the inevitable.

While also working desperately hard to solve a few other crimes that come the task force's way.

Despite the dead father's twisted notions about which of his two sons would eventually become neurotic and psychopath (even if he was a professor of psychology), I wasn't convinced that Lee Hyun could turn out to be as well-adjusted and 'normal' as they made him be.

Even if it was the writer's attempt to show us how cold and unattached he'd become, his inability to conform to social norms would be the least of his problems after everything he endured as a child,
but . . .

Lee Chun hee was there for comedic relief that tended not to work because of the dark undertone of the story line.

There were two red herrings tossed in as well, but I managed to figure out who the real culprit was almost immediately, so the writer's attempt to throw me off the scent didn't work.

Anything not involving a Cinderella plot interests me, so I gave this one high marks for that reason and because the story itself proved really interesting (despite some glaringly apparent reality errors).

The subs were okay, but very childish (Viki team) and with a lot of elementary grammar issues that made me laugh.

Also, in the middle of nearly every episode, they played this high-pitch whine sound that really started to bug me and give me a mild migraine.

The soundtrack wasn't too bad, though.

Oh, and there's this

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Mop Girl

モップガール

Format -  Renzoku
Genre -  Mystery, fantasy, comedy
Episodes -  10
Viewer Rating -  10.2
Network -  TV Asahi
Broadcast -  2007, Oct to Dec

Cast

Synopsis

Kitagawa plays the part of the slow but hardworking Momoko, a low-ranking employee at a funeral services company who carries a mop as part of her job. However, Momoko happens to possess a strange ability. Whenever she comes across the corpse of someone who has left strong feelings behind, she travels back in time to save that person from his or her fate. --Tokyograph

Review

I just wish I had ignored everything when this first aired and watched it in its entirety.

Then I realized that even if I had wanted to do that, it wasn't possible because it took YEARS for every episode to upload online in order for me to watch them all.

Plus, when this first aired, the cover, the coverage, and the synopsis drove me away.

And I don't know why, because this turned out to be a hidden gem I was more than pleased to have watched and wished afterward that it would go on for another 10 episodes.

Momoko is 21 and making every effort to live her own life in her own way and not be influenced by her Head of a Hospital father or her Doctor brother.

She wants to run a Bridal Catering Business but fails in her first attempt because among other things, Momoko is kind of dumb and tends to make a lot of mistakes.

So, a temp agency sends her to work at a Funeral Planning place.

The Mop Girl reference enters the picture because her new job entails her having to clean up the various crime scenes the local police ask this Funeral Planning business to visit.

It is Momoko's job to mop up the blood.

Asami Reina plays Momoko's best friend, and Shosuke Tanihara is her overlord at the Funeral business.

He ends up having to help Momoko every time she's sent back to right wrongs.

When she was a little girl, Momoko ran out into traffic and nearly died when a wayward motorcycle came flying toward her, but a young woman pushed Momoko to safety.

That woman was seriously injured, and when little Momoko clasps her savior's hand, the woman tells her to carry on the business of helping those who need it most.

Now that Momoko is working with the dead, that prophecy comes into play, and when Momoko touches an object owned or worn by the deceased, she is taken back in time and made to re-write the death scenario.

A lot of Japanese humor is involved, and Momoko says and does some weird stuff along with making a lot of weird faces.

I didn't watch this for the humor, though.

I stopped enjoying Japanese humor about a decade ago.

Why I watched and enjoyed this one is because I like their ability to take an otherwise redundant subject and work magic again and again.

So what if each episode showed someone dying and then Momoko brings everything back around.

Each instance was new and with a new set of characters, so it had merit.

What I'm really anxious for from Japan is to start seeing real romance, real affection for one another, and more touchy-feely kinds of action in a well-written and all-star cast line-up.

I won't hold my breath, though.

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