You Only Have One Life to Live, So Be Happy

This Kdrama resonated with me in a significant way. I grew up in a single-parent family visiting my dad in the summers. He would always say to me, "What I want most for you is to be happy in life. If you ever find you are unhappy, figure out why and change it." This story embodied this same wisdom from my father.

I know there were many who found fault with this Kdrama. I'm not going to disagree with any as I respect people's right to their individual opinions. That said....here is my opinion. One of the best dramas in 2023.

First, it has a great storyline. You don't have to give in to parental and societal pressures, you can forge your own path. Gu Won and Cheon Sa Rang were individuals first who knew what they wanted in life, what was important, and made decisions that represented these values. They were authentic to themselves first then came together as a couple. A representation of a healthy relationship.

Second, employees help make companies great so they should be appreciated and rewarded as such. Instead of looking as people in a hierarchal-type of existence, see people in terms of their contribution towards the end goal and reward them for hard work. My favorite scene was when the employees of the smaller King hotel were seeing the space that would become the employee lounge. Also, Sa Rang's work on her own vision and dream of a hotel. I'm so glad the writers and producers gave a space in this story to the dream of a visionary woman.

Lastly, the acting was superb. Whether comedy, drama, vicious drama, action, or heartwarming scenes between friends, family, and lovers, the acting was superb. My favorite Korean actor is Lee JunHo. As always, the commitment he gives to the profession, whether its music, acting, modeling, or just being himself, is of the highest value, is exemplary, and worthy of respect. I also add Im Yoon Ah to this category as I was blown away by her performance. Their interaction was sublime and perfect. I also want to give respect to Kim Sun Young (she was so delightfully vicious, well done!!), Kim Dong Ha (such angst at such a young age), Go Won Hee and Kim Ga Eun (BFF's forever!!), Ah Se Ha (this story would not be a story without his comedic contribution), Kim Jae Won (the perfect boyfriend), Kim Young Ok (I have seen her in so many dramas and she is superb!!!), and lastly Son Byung Ho (he gave the perfect performance for someone who has lots of regrets). The acting in this drama was top-notch.

There have been many good dramas this year...one could almost dub 2023 as the year of great Kdramas. So far, King the Land is my favorite and what I consider the best drama of 2023. Congratulations to the writers, producers, actors, and production staff for this drama. Well done!!! I hope you were rewarded in a King the Land fashion because you deserve it!!!

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Sequel Needed

Outstanding mafia drama! Korea just created its own version of Al Pacino's Godfather with Vincenzo. Yes, you heard me right. I think Song Joong-ki has the right balance of good and evil in his Vincenzo character to create a mafia trilogy. What I enjoy about Korean productions is the overall story value and how it ebbs and flows. I look at the big picture. This had it all. Good vs. evil, with good prevailing, but just enough bad to take the sugary edge off, suspense, comedy, romance, characters you hated, characters you wanted to have a beer with, and those you want to see more of in future dramas. I don't live in Korea so I didn't succumb to the hype of this drama, so I didn't have any expectations going into it other than it was on a list of recommended dramas. I was blown away. I thought this was a superb production. As a foreigner, I kept pausing the drama and googling Seoul locations for filming different scenes. I know so much more about Seoul now than before, and have come away from these explorations with a respect for this great city. The actors were versatile and multi-dimensional, and I've added several to my list of favorite Korean actors. I hope there will be a sequel.

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A Delicious Series Back for Season 2

Just finished this delightful and delicious series. I'm not sure where Jinny's Kitchen will be off to next as even in the ends of earth they were very popular and had to turn customers away. The food was the main star, but second to that were the group of delightful characters preparing and serving these amazing Korean dishes. Now if we could only have a cookbook of all the Jinny's Kitchen recipes, life would be perfect. Well done to the actors and production crew of this fun series!!

First posted after starting the series---I've only watched the first episode so I will post again after other episodes. The setting is Rakjavik, Iceland. Such a beautiful setting to be filming this series in!! All the regulars are back except Kim Taehyung as he is presently serving in the military. Replacing him as the intern is Go Min Si. I am not familiar with her, but so far she has been very entertaining and a great addition to the cast. They promoted Choi Woo Shik to Assistant Manager and he is doing more of the cooking. The entire cast is so good, and their interactions together are hilarious. The restaurant is amazing, very beautiful and they have a nice kitchen to cook in and to film. Of course the real star is the Korean food, and they are holding nothing back. I was in Seoul a month ago and tried Gomtang for the first time. It was delicious!! This is the main star of the menu and the specialty of Lee Seo Jin. They do not cut any corners, and make everything as if this were a 5-star restaurant. I'm so looking forward to the series, and only regret I cannot taste the food.

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A really good soul-swapping storyline

I tuned in because of Kim Jung Hyun. I saw him in Crash Landing on You and thought his acting was superb. Plus, this drama received some high marks. There is a twist to the soul-swapping storyline in that Shin Hue Sun's character has both souls in one body fighting over who will dominate. She does an amazing job of acting masculine within a feminine body and during a submissive female cultural period of time. I think her acting dominated the storyline, and I was especially charmed by the "texting" she started with the King Cheoljong. Kim Jung Hyun's acting was again superb. He has range in his acting skills and will be a dominate leading man in many, many types of dramas, of which many I will tune into. Another character that held me through the drama was Cha Chung Hwa. I have seen her in several dramas, and she never fails to entertain. She is also an excellent and versatile character actress and commits herself to every part. The story ebbed and flowed, with some parts slower than others, but still carried the viewer forward to the finale. It was exciting, heartbreaking, romantic, intriguing, funny, and typical all in the right places. The only improvement I would recommend is in the music score. I think musical compositions can add so much to a storyline, but for some reason the producers did not feel that was necessary here, but I felt it was lacking. Other than that, I applaud the screenwriters, producers, directors, the main and supporting actors, and the rest of the cast for a really entertaining production....thank you!

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Gripping!!

Full of twists and turns....you think you've got the story figured out, you think it's predictable, then bam!....something unexpected changes with the storyline. This one kept me glued to the screen. Amazing writing, amazing cast, and well produced. You think you're watching a storyline about getting revenge, but it's so much deeper and more meaningful, only you won't realize it until you watch it to the very end. One of the best laid out and thought out plot lines I've seen in quite awhile. The kind of drama that has South Korean entertainment taking over the world. I highly recommend this series. Congrats to all the cast and crew on this one!!

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Whooo's a Good Dawgyy? You Are That's Who!!

If you are in the mood for a fantasy/generational curse/reincarnation drama with some really cutie pawtootie (paw--get it?) dogs as part of the cast, then this is your drama.

Basically, a Josean royal who is a devotee of the Mountain God for most of her life (supporting female lead), marries someone else who is killed as a traitor so the officials come after her. She is saved by her faithful servant girl (female lead) and lover (male lead--who is also a palace guard??? or someone high ranking) who run into the mountains and is protected by the Mountain God (supporting male lead). The mountain god has fallen in love with his long time devotee. The servant girl's lover is caught, imprisoned, and set to be beheaded. The servant girl is carrying their child and in a moment of weakness reveals to the officials where her mistress is hiding in order to save her lover. Back to the mountain we go where a pursuit and fight ensue. The mistress, her servant girl, and the lover/palace guard are cornered on the side of a cliff. The mistress chooses this moment to end her life using the sword of the palace guard and falls over the side of the cliff. The mountain god sees only the bloody sword and his love falling to her death and mistakenly blames the servant girl and her lover. In a rage, he curses their unborn baby with a canine twist which is passed along to future generations.

As the drama starts, it is present day. The descendent of the servant girl is now a high school teacher, living a low-key life as her family suffers from this curse. Whenever they kiss someone, they turn into a dog by night, person by day. They have 100 days to have the person they kissed kiss them back as a dog in order to stay a human. Otherwise they stay a dog permanently. The reincarnation of the guard is a handsome, but cold and dorky math teacher at the same school. She accidentally kisses him while drunk, and the curse springs into action. Now she has 100 days to get him to kiss her as a dog. The twist is, he is afraid of dogs. The high jinks she goes through to finagle this kiss out of him is quite funny, and my favorite part of the drama. In the process the two fall in love again, the curse is lifted and for a while all seems well. Here is where the second twist comes in.

The mountain god is also a teacher at the high school, and he has been the one to bring the two together, watch the curse play out, and watch them suffer. After the curse is lifted, he plots to make them suffer more. The reincarnation of the mistress is one of the students who has shamanistic abilities. She is drawn to the mountain god/teacher, and begins a quest to figure out what happened in the past to make the mountain god want these two to suffer. This is where the historical back story plays out and in the end the mountain god realizes his love's death was not the fault of these two.

The story was cute, mysterious, dramatic, and hilarious all rolled into one. The end was a bit anticlimactic but still cute. I know most watch for the male lead played by Cha Eun Woo. He was superbly beautiful in every scene, and did a nice acting job of being scared of the cutest small dogs in the world. The rest of the cast played there parts well too. This is a nice fantasy drama. Don't go into it with any high expectations. Just some silliness and fun, and you'll enjoy the ride. I guess I could say it was bark-ah-licious..........too much?

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The Story Has A Deeper Meaning

It's really about finding oneself, understanding oneself, and loving oneself in order to be able to accept, love, and commit to another person. It's also realizing that relationships are not perfect. Long-term relationships can be off and on, up and down, go through valleys and be sky high. For relationships to stand the test of time, one has to accept each other in good times and bad, and be willing to go through the valleys together to try and come out on the other side still together. In other words, relationships are work.

The series is the story of two people trying to not only figure themselves out, but also figure out their relationship, and how they can navigate life and stay together. They both make a lot of mistakes, but it is in the persistence, and that they keep trying again that they learn how to keep the relationship moving forward.

The secondary storylines were good as well. Especially the relationship between Young Hee and Hyun Jae. From very different backgrounds, this caused a lot of insecurity in Young Hee. She tried to cut him loose as she felt bringing darkness into his life was unfair. But, dang, he just stuck with her time and time again.

The main plot and sub plots play out over and over again. To a certain extent, it makes the drama boring. However, the same scenarios happening over and over again are needed to show the journey of discovery these young people are on. However, some of the characters behavior was exaggerated in typical Kdrama fashion. The males are so besotted with the females, they just fall all over themselves to please the girlfriends. While it would be nice if this were realistic, most of this can just be chalked up to the typical fictional Kdrama male. It definitely sells the story, but guys like this don't exist in real life.

It ends well with all the couples happy and together. The soundtrack was good. The scenery was good. Overall, it was a good series.

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Typical but Not Typical Rom Com

It was the typical girl meets boy, they can't stand each other in the beginning, boy has some sort of issues to work through, they are thrown together through an "arrangement," and end up falling in love.

It was not typical in the female lead's character. Strong, independent, a fighter, she doesn't just take on the role society has deemed she should have. Her character is what kept me going through the series. I loved Kim Ok Bin's Mi Ran!!! Feisty, stubborn, physically talented, a brain, witty, always there for the underdog. I loved this character. She wasn't unsure, lacking confidence, overly needy, or any of the other stereotypical female roles that you usually find in rom coms.

Also good in the series, the supporting characters, although I think their storylines could have been expanded. It was a really good, funny, feel-good, all-around enjoyable rom com, and I would highly recommend it. The actors all did well in their parts.

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Youthful Angst Meets Adult Wisdom

This was a coming of age story with all the happiness, sorrows, ups, downs, and amazing experiences one has with a group of friends that just go through it all together. I like that they diversified the group of friends. Friend groups that are all alike, their families are carbon copies of each other are so boring and cliche'. This group was well mixed. The top athlete/superstar yet whose family is poor and sacrificing everything for her, the fatherless child whose single-parent is so busy providing for their home she is neglecting her daughter (I could relate to this one), the son thrust into poverty by the mistakes of his father yet taking responsibility to care for his brother and mother, the smartest kid in the school and bored to tears by everything, and the kid who fails academically because the school fails to offer him and his skill set anything other than studying for the next test. These kids came together and experienced first love, bullying, pressures from school, parents, life, disappointments, failures, successes, forgiveness, fun, fear, and heartache. They took the viewer along with them every step. I laughed, I got bored, I cheered, I got angry, I cried. The storyline moved me along with the lives of these 5 people just like surfing a wave onto the sand.

I read a lot of reviews that were angry and disappointed at the ending. I wasn't. This is the type of story where you get hooked into the characters and want more. I think the ending was purposeful to provide a second series. Anyway, I hope so. There were some unanswered questions, and information about these 5 characters that could lead easily to another series to fill in the gaps. The writers know how to provide a rich storyline and very developed characters. I do believe they could provide us with another amazing story of Na Hee Do, Baek Yi Jin, Go Yu Rim, Moon Ji Woong, and Ji Seung Wan five or ten years later that would be very satisfying to those of us who loved this story. I hope we will see more.

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A Chip Off the Old Kdrama Romance Block

This drama fits the mold, which must be successful because there sure are a lot of them. "Scarred in youth" boy meets "going through hell" girl and it's hate at first sight. But then they are thrown into an adventure together, which magically causes them to fall in love, psychologically heals the boy's scars of the past, and gives the girl a new lease on life. While the typical-ness of this drama made it mediocre, several of the actors kept me moving through the storyline. I come for the storyline plus the acting, but minus a really good storyline, its usually the actors that keep me watching, and this one did not disappoint. I thought some of the music in it was really good as well. It's a good drama to just turn off your brain and be entertained for awhile. But keep the expectations low.

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A Tale of the Most Adorable Blended Family

Blended families have history, have tragedy, have baggage. That doesn't mean they can't come together and be the most wonderful family to each other. This is the tale of people who have gone through loss, heartache, even unfairness and injustice, but came together to love and nurture each other.

I just finished episode 6, and I'm glued to this amazing story, and bemoaning that I have to wait until next week for the next two episodes to drop. The cast is incredible!! Especially the actors playing the 3 main roles as pseudo siblings to each other. I hope it remains as heartwarming as it is now, and doesn't fall into Kdrama cliches, exaggerated plots, and overacting in order to make it to the magical 16th episode.

If you're looking for a really good series to watch, try this. I highly recommend it. I'll post more of this review as the series moves forward.

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A Romance with a Watch that has a Leading Role

If living your life and falling in love resulted in the loss of life for the one you love but you could go back in time, would you do this to change the life of the lost loved one? Most would say yes. The series is about this scenario. Kim Hye Yoon's Im Sol tries over and over to save her love from death, but always fails. A nondescript watch is the time machine. The series details and narrates her attempts to save his life time and time again but always fails until she changes the narrative to where they never meet. All this in order to save his life. It's the tale of a GREAT love between two people.

I read some reviews before I started the series, and they were not flattering. While I can understand the weaknesses these reviews highlighted, my take is different. This series is a modern day Romeo and Juliet without the family anguish. Two people with such a great love for each other it withstood the test of time, space, death, and time travel.

The weaknesses that I saw were in the editing and somewhat in the writing. There is a lot of detail built into the time travel that can easily confuse the viewer. Im Sol goes back in time 3 times. Sometimes I wasn't sure if I was in the future or past. It didn't help that random scenes were thrown in periodically. In one regard I can understand as it helped to establish the strong connection between the two main characters and it also relieved the sadness and anguish (through comic relief and supporting character subplots) this storyline would inflict on the viewer. After all how much sadness can a viewer take before switching off? Some of the chaotic-ness of the storyline helps to bring the viewer along in the story. At least it did this for me as I never wanted to stop viewing.

If you're going to watch this, see it for what it is. A great love story of two people trying desperately to be together but fate just keeps interfering, yet they keep trying. I have to say kudos to the two main actors, Byeon Woo Seok and Kim Hye Yoon for their tremendous leading roles....nice!! This series had an amazing supporting cast as well. Song Geon Hee (smooth-like- butter, this actor is amazing!! I'm looking forward to future dramas with him), Jung Young Joo, Seo Hey Won, Kim Won Hye (three of my favorites from previous dramas, they did not disappoint), Baek In Hyun and Song Ji Ho added so much to the story and their loyalty to the main leads, and Heo Hyung Kyo was so so very evil. Well done to this amazing cast!!

I hope you give this series a chance. It does wander around a bit, and that is frustrating for the viewer. However, what it boils down to is the story of a great, GREAT love between two people. And who doesn't love a story like this?

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The First Rule of Fight Club is You Don't Talk About Fight Club

Not really my favorite type of Kdrama. But if you want to see Park Seo Joon get the s#@t beat out of him every other scene, then this is the drama for you. Same for Han So Hee. It was an action-packed fantasy thriller where the main star were the highly choreographed and graphic fight scenes. I rated this fairly high because I can appreciate the production value and the enormous amount of stunt work that had to go in to all the fight scenes. The acting was superb, The story line, both part 1 and 2 were well written, and the ending (the extra ending past the credits) was sublime. I was not expecting that at all! I also enjoyed seeing Kim Kang Min, a contestant on Physical 100, playing a guest role in it.

The only thing for me that I didn't like was all the fighting which came with lots of blood, and all the crunching and breaking sounds (kudos to the sound engineer). It was just too much. However, I realize it would not be the same without. it. It was a good Kdrama, just not my cup of tea. Out of the two parts, I enjoyed part one better. I enjoyed the historical sets and costumes. There also seemed to be more story than fighting. But, again, this is an action fantasy thriller, and it definitely lived up to that.

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Fun Reality Show Will Make You Hungry for More

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I tuned into this show, but it has turned out to be very enjoyable. These Korean celebrities are legitimately running a Korean restaurant in a tourist destination in Mexico. They are working hard making delicious food to serve their customers with little downtime while the restaurant is open. It didn't take long for tourists and locals to discover this great food and the restaurant stays packed. They even have a local, loyal dog who has adopted the restaurant as a place to hang. You will be craving Korean dishes once you watch this!! Most of these dishes I've eaten, and I can tell you they are delicious. Korean food is no joke...the best food!! I kept thinking that at some point customers would recognize that they are being cooked for and served by celebrities. Although this didn't happen as often as I thought it would, some did recognize V, Park Seo Joon, and Lee Seo Jin. A young customer even left a note on the receipt that said, "I love you Kim Tae Hyung." That was really precious! I didn't think Park Seo Joon could make me a bigger fan of his, but he is absolutely amazing in the kitchen as a chef!!! So versatile, and one of the calmest personalities ever! He is truly amazing! They all are, and I'm impressed at the English and Spanish they speak to the customers. I think the only disappointment in this production will be that Jinny's Kitchen will close one day. I truly believe with the popularity of Korean entertainment and culture today, there should be a Jinny's Kitchen open in every major city around the world with my city being the first. I know they would be enormously successful, and people could sit, enjoy food, drink, and good friends. Really these celebrities and/or production company should seriously think about this. It's a great business idea. If you haven't already tuned into this, give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

Edit: Just finished the series, and it is delightful. Well worth watching!! The interaction of the cast members with each other is entertaining, but what really makes this good is Bacalar, Mexico, the customers, the food, and. how the cast interacts with all of these. I hope Jinny's Kitchen becomes a real business and establishes restaurants around the world. I hope this cast gets together again in another location for some more delightful fun and food, and it is filmed so we can go along on the ride.

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