Kdrama binge~
Been a while since I did any review posts, might as well compile it. Considering I've been watching, binge watching lots of em lately.
Hello Monster
To date, I've watched a lot more KBS dramas compared to other channels, but then again it's due to me having KBS World at home so that's a plus. But then, that in a way increased the likelihood of me watching any Kdrama, really. Cos half the times I fell in love with the show at first sight. And watching on TV was nicer than on PC monitors...
Well, this show was one of those. Saw the initial promo of it, so that also helped. But yeah, watching the first two episodes kinda seals the deal to me, plus KBS World did a double airing of the series episode for the first week of the show so that the gap ended up being one week later than the KBS 2 airing. That was damn cool. Cos usually you get the official KBSW subs like 2 weeks later or smth, but nowadays for this particular prime time slot you get the eps sooner.
And tbh, I fell in love with this show so much. Not just because the crime/detective genre was one of my fav genre, but because the story was brilliantly written. And the casting of Seo Inguk and Jang Nara, as well as the rest of the casts were perfect! The first two eps might be a bit slow at first, but onwards the plot ran steady and the action and mystery really flowed well. I love the chemistry btw the main leads, you could barely realize that they had a big age gap irl. And Choi Wonyoung being cast as the main villain was perfect. I hadn't watched 3 Days before, but this performance of his as a psycho killer really made me want to watch that drama next.
Love the many cases and how that intertwines with the characters' lives etc. And while some may disagree with the ending, I love it so much. Because having it end in a cliffhanger with still many things left unresolved could allow for future sequels; and even if it didn't, allow for people to imagine the many possibilities on how the rest of the story could proceed. That was why I love open-ended stories like this. That aside, I love how the show makes you think about many things. Like, does the end result justify the means? Or... why people should not harm others. Or about the morality on things. Because stuff like that allows you to reach out to the viewers and make them think about what's right and wrong. Which is nice.
Pinocchio
I just happened to finish marathoning this right after Hello Monster, because yea... sorta feel a hole after the series end. Plus, I happened to see a glimpse of the series and I liked it right away. That was saying something, because initially during its run... I had no interest in the show. Then again, back then I was following Healer... which was yet another reporter series. Tho this one focused more on reporter scenes compared to Healer.
And I guess it was also partially because of Park Shin-hye. Because so far, I haven't really watched any of the shows that she's in that peaked my interest. I mean... I watched The Heirs before. I totally hate the loveline there. Not sure due to the writing or her acting, but I totally don't buy the setting in The Heirs. Plus, there's that obvious lack of chemistry between her and Lee Minho. But for this show, I totally changed my mind about her acting abilities. Like finally, I would agree on PSH's receiving the Excellence Award and Best Couple award for what she did on the show cos YES SHE DESERVED THIS. Much more than for Heirs really, cos I swear the only reason Heirs won any awards in the last SBS award event was due to LMH's fans. Like yo.. you should give the right show the proper credit if they're good or bad, but don't support it blindly.
And thankfully in Pinocchio, I find PSH's acting to be much more natural and I love her being paired with Lee Jongsuk. Their chemistry were so great and I love how the emotions in the show really grabs you as a viewer. Like you get to see how a reporter works and the many trials one faced, and the lines that exist that could either turn you into a great reporter or a tabloid one. Amd I love how the familial theme just blends in between and adds a bit more to the turmoil faced by the main leads. And this show was the first one that make me acknowledge that PSH was really a great actress because of all the hiccups that she hd to do that really felt natural. Like you could totally believe that this Pinocchio syndrome really exist. Cos it's not really easy to hiccup so much and made it not look fake.
This show was really great, and I highly recommend people watching this if you don't already.
Kill Me, Heal Me
This was yet another gem of a show that I really recommend. Even more than that massive trainwreck mess that is Hyde, Jekyll and me. Had to mention that since it sorta inevitable. Both deals with dissociative identity disorder or MPD, but Kill Me Heal Me handled it better imo. And I'm not saying this because KMHM had mor personalities compared to HJM, but the personality change in KMHM was much convincing than the other. Like I'm not saying that HJM did it wrong or cannot happen, but for a disorder caused by an extreme childhood trauma.... this series does it better. Because the personality change due to certain emotional stress is possible, since depends on people... sometimes you can just black out after receiving a huge stress.
Because yes, I do experience the ringing inside my ears thing myself. And yes, it most often relates to massive headaches inside my head. And while I don't really do personality change like in the show, some stressful situation do lead to me acting differently than I usually would.
And I find the characters' (the doctors, psychiatrists, normal layman people) reactions throughout the series regarding the disorder and such much more believable. And the setting revolving the chaebol life as well as the rivalries flowed better with the main plot. Cos compared to this, HJM's plot seemed all over the place and disconnected. Cos yes, after watching the series, I tried watching HJM before making any opinions. Ended up can't really be engaged with the plot because the circus thing, DID and the chaebol plot didn't make sense. In contrast, I like KMHM better.
Plus Jisung played the 7 personalities very well as well as his child actor counterpart. You just can't help falling in love with the characters. And while you might ended up being biased to one of the aggressive personality, to me... the romance line wasn't that much important but it does complement the 'Heal Me' part of the story. Since for the illness of the mind, you can't exactly treat it like any other physical illness. And I have to say that this series can be such an emotional experience.
Tbh, I don't get people who don't feel anything about this show. Since if they do, I have to assume that they don't really watch the show properly. Cos there's no way that you'd watch this show without emphasizing with at least one of the characters here. Totally recommending this show with regards to DID characters.
Healer
I can't not mention this show since it's also amongst the list of shows I watch since the latter 2014 till now. It had action, and a bit of stuff about reporters, as well as some conspiracies. But like I said earlier, there wasn't much focus on the world of reporters compared to Pinocchio, but this show still have bits where the characters need to reveal the truth through news channels. Well, if you want to compare to Pinocchio, Healer was more to the indie/internet news scene while Pinocchio deals with the bigger, terrestrial news agencies.
That aside, the main character was a night courier that expertise on doing any kinds of jobs normal people cannot do. And while it's not the main focus, the main character was also slightly autistic, which probably contributes to his introversion as well as reluctance to associate with other normal people. In that sense, it was nice to see how the main character started to change as he interacted with other people more as well as as trying to clear his name as well as his father's name due to a crime they haven't committed.
For people that love action scenes, Healer had plenty of it... as well as some pretty lover-dovey cute moments. The show also had some pretty good line-up as well as steady plot. It's a good series, that's for sure. But then yea... Ji Changwook. XD
-----------------------
That aside, it was interesting to note that all these series grabbed my attention the moment I got my eyes on them. Like I just have to watch the show for a moment to know that the series gonna be good. Like half of these shows just happened to cross my path for a moment, but immediately I know that the series would be a great show. Not sure if I was just lucky, but I did kinda have a knack on telling if a show was good or not. Like if the first episode don't get to me, most likely I won't like the show. Which is kinda the case with Hyde Jekyll & Me for me.
This entry was originally posted on Kaleidoscope World.
Hello Monster
To date, I've watched a lot more KBS dramas compared to other channels, but then again it's due to me having KBS World at home so that's a plus. But then, that in a way increased the likelihood of me watching any Kdrama, really. Cos half the times I fell in love with the show at first sight. And watching on TV was nicer than on PC monitors...
Well, this show was one of those. Saw the initial promo of it, so that also helped. But yeah, watching the first two episodes kinda seals the deal to me, plus KBS World did a double airing of the series episode for the first week of the show so that the gap ended up being one week later than the KBS 2 airing. That was damn cool. Cos usually you get the official KBSW subs like 2 weeks later or smth, but nowadays for this particular prime time slot you get the eps sooner.
And tbh, I fell in love with this show so much. Not just because the crime/detective genre was one of my fav genre, but because the story was brilliantly written. And the casting of Seo Inguk and Jang Nara, as well as the rest of the casts were perfect! The first two eps might be a bit slow at first, but onwards the plot ran steady and the action and mystery really flowed well. I love the chemistry btw the main leads, you could barely realize that they had a big age gap irl. And Choi Wonyoung being cast as the main villain was perfect. I hadn't watched 3 Days before, but this performance of his as a psycho killer really made me want to watch that drama next.
Love the many cases and how that intertwines with the characters' lives etc. And while some may disagree with the ending, I love it so much. Because having it end in a cliffhanger with still many things left unresolved could allow for future sequels; and even if it didn't, allow for people to imagine the many possibilities on how the rest of the story could proceed. That was why I love open-ended stories like this. That aside, I love how the show makes you think about many things. Like, does the end result justify the means? Or... why people should not harm others. Or about the morality on things. Because stuff like that allows you to reach out to the viewers and make them think about what's right and wrong. Which is nice.
Pinocchio
I just happened to finish marathoning this right after Hello Monster, because yea... sorta feel a hole after the series end. Plus, I happened to see a glimpse of the series and I liked it right away. That was saying something, because initially during its run... I had no interest in the show. Then again, back then I was following Healer... which was yet another reporter series. Tho this one focused more on reporter scenes compared to Healer.
And I guess it was also partially because of Park Shin-hye. Because so far, I haven't really watched any of the shows that she's in that peaked my interest. I mean... I watched The Heirs before. I totally hate the loveline there. Not sure due to the writing or her acting, but I totally don't buy the setting in The Heirs. Plus, there's that obvious lack of chemistry between her and Lee Minho. But for this show, I totally changed my mind about her acting abilities. Like finally, I would agree on PSH's receiving the Excellence Award and Best Couple award for what she did on the show cos YES SHE DESERVED THIS. Much more than for Heirs really, cos I swear the only reason Heirs won any awards in the last SBS award event was due to LMH's fans. Like yo.. you should give the right show the proper credit if they're good or bad, but don't support it blindly.
And thankfully in Pinocchio, I find PSH's acting to be much more natural and I love her being paired with Lee Jongsuk. Their chemistry were so great and I love how the emotions in the show really grabs you as a viewer. Like you get to see how a reporter works and the many trials one faced, and the lines that exist that could either turn you into a great reporter or a tabloid one. Amd I love how the familial theme just blends in between and adds a bit more to the turmoil faced by the main leads. And this show was the first one that make me acknowledge that PSH was really a great actress because of all the hiccups that she hd to do that really felt natural. Like you could totally believe that this Pinocchio syndrome really exist. Cos it's not really easy to hiccup so much and made it not look fake.
This show was really great, and I highly recommend people watching this if you don't already.
Kill Me, Heal Me
This was yet another gem of a show that I really recommend. Even more than that massive trainwreck mess that is Hyde, Jekyll and me. Had to mention that since it sorta inevitable. Both deals with dissociative identity disorder or MPD, but Kill Me Heal Me handled it better imo. And I'm not saying this because KMHM had mor personalities compared to HJM, but the personality change in KMHM was much convincing than the other. Like I'm not saying that HJM did it wrong or cannot happen, but for a disorder caused by an extreme childhood trauma.... this series does it better. Because the personality change due to certain emotional stress is possible, since depends on people... sometimes you can just black out after receiving a huge stress.
Because yes, I do experience the ringing inside my ears thing myself. And yes, it most often relates to massive headaches inside my head. And while I don't really do personality change like in the show, some stressful situation do lead to me acting differently than I usually would.
And I find the characters' (the doctors, psychiatrists, normal layman people) reactions throughout the series regarding the disorder and such much more believable. And the setting revolving the chaebol life as well as the rivalries flowed better with the main plot. Cos compared to this, HJM's plot seemed all over the place and disconnected. Cos yes, after watching the series, I tried watching HJM before making any opinions. Ended up can't really be engaged with the plot because the circus thing, DID and the chaebol plot didn't make sense. In contrast, I like KMHM better.
Plus Jisung played the 7 personalities very well as well as his child actor counterpart. You just can't help falling in love with the characters. And while you might ended up being biased to one of the aggressive personality, to me... the romance line wasn't that much important but it does complement the 'Heal Me' part of the story. Since for the illness of the mind, you can't exactly treat it like any other physical illness. And I have to say that this series can be such an emotional experience.
Tbh, I don't get people who don't feel anything about this show. Since if they do, I have to assume that they don't really watch the show properly. Cos there's no way that you'd watch this show without emphasizing with at least one of the characters here. Totally recommending this show with regards to DID characters.
Healer
I can't not mention this show since it's also amongst the list of shows I watch since the latter 2014 till now. It had action, and a bit of stuff about reporters, as well as some conspiracies. But like I said earlier, there wasn't much focus on the world of reporters compared to Pinocchio, but this show still have bits where the characters need to reveal the truth through news channels. Well, if you want to compare to Pinocchio, Healer was more to the indie/internet news scene while Pinocchio deals with the bigger, terrestrial news agencies.
That aside, the main character was a night courier that expertise on doing any kinds of jobs normal people cannot do. And while it's not the main focus, the main character was also slightly autistic, which probably contributes to his introversion as well as reluctance to associate with other normal people. In that sense, it was nice to see how the main character started to change as he interacted with other people more as well as as trying to clear his name as well as his father's name due to a crime they haven't committed.
For people that love action scenes, Healer had plenty of it... as well as some pretty lover-dovey cute moments. The show also had some pretty good line-up as well as steady plot. It's a good series, that's for sure. But then yea... Ji Changwook. XD
-----------------------
That aside, it was interesting to note that all these series grabbed my attention the moment I got my eyes on them. Like I just have to watch the show for a moment to know that the series gonna be good. Like half of these shows just happened to cross my path for a moment, but immediately I know that the series would be a great show. Not sure if I was just lucky, but I did kinda have a knack on telling if a show was good or not. Like if the first episode don't get to me, most likely I won't like the show. Which is kinda the case with Hyde Jekyll & Me for me.
This entry was originally posted on Kaleidoscope World.