You can read the reviews for A-B HERE.
As always: Here's our grading key:
No
Meh
Decent
Pretty Good
Good
Awesome
City Hunter
Origin/Genre: Kdrama/Action/Thriller
Progress: Finished
Rating: Awesome
30 Second Synopsis: A young boy grows up in the Golden Triangle learning to be a trained killer, unaware that his Father is grooming him to exact revenge back home in Korea. Meanwhile a feisty young agent earns a spot on the coveted presidential guard, hoping to honor her parents with her new job.
Verdict: Lee Min Ho (again!) and Park Min Young - as the awesome spunky NaNa. Bonus for great manipulative villains and Kwang Soo (Giraffe of Running Man) as the awkward Blue House Technician. The standard by which all my subsequent Kdrama action viewing is measured. The show is a great balance of driving action, spiraling tension and good-natured cheesy humor and romance. The OST alone was a must have.
Watch it on: Dramafever, Hulu, Viki
Would I/Do I Own It?: YES. I gave away a copy and bought another one. It was that awesome that I needed to share.
Standalone Review?: Of course this one has it's own review page full of Squeeing.
Coffee Prince
Progress: Finished
Rating: Pretty Good
30 Second Synopsis: Go Eun Chan really, really needs a job. And she's found one, at a artisan cafe, which is just right for her except to one small fact - they only hire "flower boys" stylish, hot guys that bring in the heiresses and big-spender girls in droves. So Eun Chan decides there's only one thing to do: dress as a guy and make enough money to get by until she can find something better. Meanwhile the shop's unwilling manager/owner, Choi Han Kyul would rather be pining after his first love that ditched him for study abroad instead of doing anything remotely responsible. But now he has to deal with a crew of miscreants and this new kid he can't quite figure out.
Verdict: Girl in disguise as boy may seem like an odd premise but it's pretty common though in both anime and kdrama with the whole - I have to dress like a boy to keep this job - and has some serious questions about how we perceive relationships with people - but it does have a really sweet love story in the end. Also, actually realistic kissing scenes! Shocking!
Watch it on: Dramafever, Hulu, Viki
Would I/Do I Own It?: Sure, I might
Standalone Review?: Not at the Moment
Descendants of the Sun
Progress: Finished
Rating: Awesome
30 Second Synopsis: Doctors are sent on a volunteer mission to a fictional Balkan country where they team up with the local Korean Special Forces on an UN mission to treat locals, deal with unsavory types and survive natural disasters. Also EPIC romance and almost as epic Bromance and Squad goals.
Verdict: Look, everyone's talking about how awesome this show is for good reason. It's SO well written. I LOVE Healer and City Hunter and I can't imagine how much more awesome they would be if they had been written continuously without interference from producers and viewer ratings. This show was worth every won spent on filming in Greece and shooting the entire thing before airing. Song Hye Kyo is fantastic as a conflicted doctor, who is not overly emotional or annoying - but just as smart, sassy, and yet human as any intelligent woman would be. And every bit of acting chops and comic timing - not to mention continual maturity and maybe a thing or two he picked up in military service is more than evident in Song Joong Ki's performance. It doesn't hurt that he transitions from so dang adorable to badass warrior so naturally. The secondary and well... several other relationships are well developed and excellently acted with chemistry. And that's the thing- while there's a weak performance here or there (mostly by guest characters floating in and out), the cast and writing is solid. If you can get over the insane hype, do yourself a favor and WATCH THIS NOW!
Watch it on: Dramafever, Hulu, Viki
Would I/Do I Own It?: YES. WHEN IS COMING OUT ON DVD WITH GOOD ENGLISH SUBTITLES!??!? HURRY UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
Standalone Review?: When I feel I can do it proper justice, you better believe it!
Dream High
Origin/Genre: Kdrama/Musical/School Drama
Progress: Finished
Rating: Good
30 Second Synopsis: It's a high school drama about a kpop feeder school... so watch it for the performances, the adorable secondary couple, and the benevolent loan shark..
Verdict: It's basically a JYP (Major Recording Label in S. Korea run by Park Jin Young - yes his company is the romanized initials of his name) vehicle with 2pm's Taecyeon and Wooyoung starring, along with Miss A's Suzy, 2pm's Chansung and Nichkhun doing cameos and various other artists as well. JYP plays the teacher's washed up best friend who was a hit in the '80s and still dreams of stardom or stardom through his students... so basically he plays himself.
Watch it on: Dramafever, Hulu, Viki
Would I/Do I Own It?: Yup
Standalone Review?: Eventually?
Progress: Finished
Rating: Good
30 Second Synopsis: It's a high school drama about a kpop feeder school... so watch it for the performances, the adorable secondary couple, and the benevolent loan shark..
Verdict: It's basically a JYP (Major Recording Label in S. Korea run by Park Jin Young - yes his company is the romanized initials of his name) vehicle with 2pm's Taecyeon and Wooyoung starring, along with Miss A's Suzy, 2pm's Chansung and Nichkhun doing cameos and various other artists as well. JYP plays the teacher's washed up best friend who was a hit in the '80s and still dreams of stardom or stardom through his students... so basically he plays himself.
Watch it on: Dramafever, Hulu, Viki
Would I/Do I Own It?: Yup
Standalone Review?: Eventually?
Dream High 2
Origin/Genre: Kdrama/Musical/School Drama (Sequel)
Progress: Finished
Rating: Pretty Good
30 Second Synopsis: Years after the kpop stars have left their high school for stardom and bigger dreams a new crop of kids ends up at the school. Only this time, instead of fighting for their dreams they fight to save the school - oh, but yeah, they still fight for their dreams, and each other. It's a musical drama after all.
Verdict: I watched the first episode - it seemed fun - but mostly I wanted to see the old characters from the first series and where they are now... which is NOT what the show's all about. One of my students (who LOVES Got7 and therefore watched the show for them) HATED the show. To be fair, she's a tough kdrama critic and a music ed. major so she has high standards.
Update:
I didn't honestly mind how silly it was or how bad the acting got occasionally, mostly cause I'm a sucker for musicals where everyone wins through the power of song and friendship. I passed several enjoyable hours watching it.
Watch it on: Dramafever, Hulu
Would I/Do I Own It?: I'm not 100% sure it would be at the top of my list of series to own, unless it was free?
Standalone Review?: Meh...
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