Pretty Man

Pretty Man

6/10

Pretty Man

Genre:                                         Episodes: 16                          Year: 2014

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Dokgo Ma Te has always been able to get by in life due to his stunning good looks. Even into adulthood he has continued to live by using his looks to charm rich older women into dating him and spending their money on him. After a shocking discovery, Ma Te meets Hong Yoo Ra- a woman who says she can coach Ma Te to reach the top. Through all of this, Ma Te is helped by his childhood friend, Kim Bo Tong. Bo Tong has always loved Ma Te, while Ma Te has little more than disdain for the girl.

Cast:

Jang Geun Suk (Dokgo Ma Te)

IU (Kim Bo Tong)

Lee Jang Woo (David Choi)

Han Chae Young (Hong Yoo Ra)

General Thoughts:

I came for IU. I stayed for Lee Jang Woo. And there’s some stuff that happens in the middle there that isn’t bad. Frankly speaking, the characters were a little lacking, and the plot was pretty weak (I don’t think there’s any way you can spin a chaebol story these days that hasn’t been heard before).

Basically just every company plot-line ever

 There’s nothing in the drama that’s outright irritating, so it manages to happily remain mediocre for its entire run. The casting is definitely what prevented the story from becoming total poop- Jang Geun Suk can be weirdly endearing as a stroppy, arrogant butt as he has a great way of expressing the underlying fears and insecurities of his characters.

Great actors acting average characters

 It didn’t stop Ma Te from being a self-absorbed gold-digger, but it did earn him a bit of sympathy. Similarly, IU was able to save Bo Tong from being an annoying, obsessive imbecile. While Bo Tong certainly appeared that way at times (more in the begging stages of the series), as time went on she just seemed stubborn and cute. As for Lee Jang Woo, his character was pretty fabulous already, so he didn’t have to try so hard to save David Choi from becoming a complete train-wreck, but he also seemed to put in just as much effort as the other two actors, making David Choi endearing, sweet and completely loveable overall. However, even though the actors did a fairly good job at saving their characters from disaster- there’s not much they could do about the plot. Because honestly. Who really cares about selling some bloody socks? Not me, that’s for sure. So you’d think, ‘oh okay. If the plot’s not doing much the romance must really be kicking off, right?’. Right. Between Bo Tong and David Choi. Not Bo Tong and our leading man Ma Te- who only really gets the tingly love-feelings in the last two or three episodes. Lame. Super lame. 

Look at all the cute going on with that guy who's not the main male lead

The writers did a real good job of convincing me that David Choi was in with a shot at winning our heroine’s heart- which on the one hand is great as it keeps the ending from being the most predictable thing ever. But on the other hand, it sucks a lot of the joy out of making the final pairing Bo Tong and Ma Te. 

Look at all these girls who are not the main female lead

Because by that time- I really liked David Choi. I wanted David Choi to be happy. I’d just watched 13 hours of David Choi and Bo Tong getting along marvellously, and I totally believe that Bo Tong would have been madly in love with David Choi had she not had her weird obsession with Ma Te- which more often than not came across as adoration for his pretty face rather than actual love. So yeah, to go along with our rather disappointing plot we have a rather disappointing romance. As for Ma Te’s romance, all 10 (was it really though?) of them, they were pretty shocking. The first two, maybe three, women actually had some sort of useful information that actually helped Ma Te learn and develop as both a businessman and a character- but the rest of the women just seemed like they were thrown in there to satisfy the concept of the drama. Because ‘conquer the hearts of ten women’ sounds way more fun than ‘conquer the hearts of two, maybe three women’. And it also kinda made Ma Te look like a mega-playboy. Which I know was kind of the point, but having a tangible, believable romance with Bo Tong was also kinda the point- and that plot-line got hurt by all of Ma Te’s playboy-ness. Because while Ma Te was off wooing all these other women, Bo Tong and David Choi were having a grand old time getting to know and care for one another. 

Are you sure you don't want to make David the main romance? Are you really, really sure?

What Was Great:

Casting:

Really it was all that saved this drama. The cast were brilliant. Because the characters were actually really, really boring. But IU, Jang Geun Suk and Lee Jang Woo were able to give them such life and made them at least a little bit compelling.

I'm fairly sure beyond episode 3 her character is pretty f*cking redundant

We’ll just ignore Han Chae Young as Hong Yoo Ra because she had less than nothing to work with and her character made less than no sense. She was just kind of there to deliver the ‘woo many women’ idea, and that was pretty much it. But everyone else was fab.

JUST LIKE MY HEART

Bo Tong and David:

It was cute, it was adorable, it was all kinds of things that the main pairing should have been. Bo Tong and David started as strangers and grew to understand and like (but not that way) each other, and always looked out for each other. It seemed at several points as if the writers might do something different from the usual K-Drama script and have the leading lady fall for the second male lead. But what a ridiculous notion that would be. A rom-com obviously can’t deviate from the norm- we were all fools for thinking it might. Regardless, scenes of Bo Tong and David were wonderfully enjoyable to watch, even if we knew this wasn’t the writers’ end-game.

What Wasn’t:

Unbelievable Final Love:

I didn’t buy our final couple’s love. I just didn’t. I know many people did, and I know I’m supposed to- because Bo Tong is our leading lady and Ma Te is our leading man. But I didn’t. There wasn’t nearly enough development between the two characters to make a believable love story. 

Not buyin' it.

The writers seemed to be going for the approach where Ma Te doesn’t realise what he has until he’s in danger of losing it (David making moves on Bo Tong). But rather than seeing Bo Tong as a wonderful girl full of personality and charm, it seemed that all Ma Te saw in Bo Tong was how she was always there supporting him. Which in itself isn’t a bad reason to like someone- but when your hero is a massively self-centred narcissist, you kind of need a little bit more. It didn’t feel like Ma Te really liked Bo Tong for Bo Tong, but rather that he liked her for all the things she’d ever done (and would ever do) for him. Which is pretty darn weak when you have David Choi who just adores every aspect of this girl from her odd fashion choices to her quirky ideas. 

Enter Man No. 2. Suddenly Man No. 1 gives a sh*t.

The jealousy between the two men also didn’t quite fall right. While I know it’s being spun as if Ma Te realises his feelings of attraction once he notices those feelings in someone else, what it actually felt like was a small child getting stroppy when another kid plays with his toy. 

One cute ice-date does not a believable romance make

Even if he was happily playing with ten other toys while ignoring that particular toy. As for Bo Tong, I wasn’t feeling the love from her either. While it was made clear from the start that she was crazy for Ma Te, it never felt like love. She liked Ma Te for his looks in the same way that Ma Te liked all those other women for their money, connections or knowledge. You never got the feeling that Bo Tong really knew Ma Te as a person and cared for him because of that. As a result, her single-mindedness towards Ma Te came off as more of an obsession rather than love. Most of the time she acted like a crazed fan rather than a girl in love. 

Unbelievable Come-Around:

Long story short. Chaebol Mum spends all drama long being our villain and hating everyone because she’s the best and has the most power and the most money. She tells Ma Te he sucks and should never have been born. Ma Te gets sad. Chaebol Mum gets sad. Chaebol Mum stops being a d*ck to everyone and gives up all her power and control in the company. Hands up who’s buying that story. No one? Yeah, that’s what I thought. 

Once again- not buyin' it.

Visually Boring:

Looking beyond the oh-so-pretty faces of our cast, the drama isn’t exactly visually stimulating. The only setting we had that wasn’t a house or an office tended to be when the drama was making absolutely sure we knew that ‘Droptop’ was a sponsor. 

DROPTOP DROPTOP DROPTOP

SHOT OF CAFE. SHOT OF COFFEE. SHOT OF THE WORD DROPTOP. MORE SHOTS OF COFFEE. Beyond the cafe, it was mostly just shots of our characters’ faces while they talked. Not the most visually riveting thing ever.

Re-watch?

No. The plot was pretty boring, and while the characters were sweet they never really did anything. The romance is also pretty darn lacking.

Not bad, but also not good

Rooftop Prince

Rooftop Prince

6.5/10

Rooftop Prince

Genre:                           Episodes: 20                          Year: 2012

Historical

Romance

Comedy

Fantasy

Synopsis:

After the death and assumed murder of his wife, Crown Prince Lee Gak and his three companions are transported 300 years into the future while searching for the culprit. In the year 2012, the men arrive at a woman named Park Ha’s rooftop apartment. Crown Prince finds a woman that looks exactly like his deceased wife and realises they must only be able to return to Joseon once they have solved the Crown Princess’ murder.

Cast:

Park Yoo Chun (Lee Gak/Yong Tae Yong)

Han Ji Min (Park Ha/Boo Young)

Lee Tae Sung (Yong Tae Moo)

Jung Yoo Mi (Hone Se Na/Hwa Yong)

Lee Min Ho (Song Man Bo)

Choi Woo Shik (Do Chi San)

Jung Suk Won (Woo Yong Sool)

General Thoughts:

Generally a likeable drama, but some major flaws defiantly dragged it down. The series starts splendidly with a Joseon era whodunit murder mystery, followed by hilarious comedy that was a result of four Joseon men skipping 300 years into the future. 

Squad goals

The fish-out-of-water comedy was executed brilliantly and acted out perfectly by our four actors. Here, the over-exaggerated reactions and silly facial expressions fit in well. Because it’s a bunch of guys encountering futuristic ideas that they could never have dreamed of. However, when our heroine starts getting in on the over-the-top performance thing…it doesn’t work so well. 

That's pretty much how I felt about her too, Yoochun

Or at all. I just plain couldn’t stand Han Ji Min in this drama, and neither could those I watched the drama with. Han Ji Min did little to compensate for her less than exciting character (who was generally either being irritatingly stroppy or  bursting into tears), and left me caring very little for either our heroine or the main love pairing. Though I will admit that she is a pretty great crier. Going in knowing that it’s a time-skippy drama, you know it’s unlikely that these exact people will end up together anyway (there’s definitely going to be a reincarnation cop-out at the end), so you’re kind of primed to not get super invested in the main love-line- even if it is kind of the whole point of the drama. Granted, part of this disengagement is my own fault for so readily preparing myself for the end disappointment (that may or may not come), but our leading actress did nothing in the way of earning my attention or getting me to cheer for her romance. I was pretty unfazed whatever way it turned out.

I suppose I could care less

 It probably didn’t help that we had such a strong actress as our second female lead. Jung Yoo Mi slayed it as our evil step (or is it) sister. She gave enough to her role that it was easy to dislike her character, but was able to express enough hesitation and guilt that her character’s half-redemption arc at the end didn’t come as a completely unbelievable surprise. 

There's someone for everyone

Similarly, Lee Tae Sung gave an excellent performance as our primary villain. He showed the slow descent from accident-prone almost-murderer into calmly thought-through would-be-murderer (Tae Moo wasn’t that great at actually knocking anyone off) perfectly. Both Jung Yoo Mi and Lee Tae Sung gave strong villain performances and were able to make their characters understandable and comprehensible. And then there’s our main male lead Yoochun. Yoochun is built for comedy, so it’s no surprise that he did well in scenes that required a dash of ridiculousness. He also did a great job in the more emotional scenes in the Joseon era. While the character of the Crown Prince was quite prickly and a bit of an ass, Yoochun was able to present Lee Gak in a way that his softer, more loving side was always evident. The three boys backing up Yoochun all did excellent jobs in the comedic scenes- which is just as well as they didn’t really get any other kind of scene. 

All kinds of hilarity

The plot was a little bit of a disaster, but managed to pick itself up for a fantastic, zooming race to the finish line. All aspects of the Joseon story were deeply engaging- so it was a shame that we barely spent two episodes in this setting. The jump to the future was very amusing, but after several episodes that capitalised on that comedy, the plot started to lose steam. Because chaebol. And company. And inheritance. And who gives a damn. Although our villains were entertaining to watch for the most part, the company plot-line was kinda really boring. We’ve seen it all before, and the addition of a Joseon Prince impersonating a chaebol son wasn’t quite spicy enough to heat up the bland situation. 

Another inheritance fight? Bo-ring.

Birth secrets were abundant (if not fairly predictable), and there were lots of scenes focusing heavily on company-related matters. Yawn. Once we entered the drama’s end-game the story reinvigorated and gave us a wonderfully satisfying story about how our main baddies basically bring about their own downfall. During the dramatic demise of our villainous pair, I think our main characters were prancing about trying to decide whether to love each other or not. And our three back-up boys were nowhere to be found. 

Please put these glorious muppets back in the drama

The soundtrack was a sweet mix of Joseon instrumental and modern music and fit the vibe of the drama perfectly. While most scenes flowed smoothly there were defiantly a few choppy scene transitions that hinted at a rushed production.

What Was Great:

Murder Mystery:

The idea that initially grabs attention is the question of who murdered the Crown Princess. It’s a great mystery that could have several possible answers. It gives our hero a great reason to skip to the future (even if he doesn’t grasp that reason right away).

Dun dun duuuuunnn

Lee Gak needs to find out who murdered his Princess, and in order to do that he needs to find out that his Princess is actually a giant toss-bucket. And he would never have found that out without his little time-travelling adventure. Hints are slowly doled out throughout the series, and the ending in Joseon comes as a very satisfying conclusion. While many viewers (myself included) picked up early on that it was Sister-in-Law and not Princess that died, the who and the why were still great big question marks throughout the whole drama. The final revelation was a great answer to our biggest question, and added to the concept of Lee Gak and Park Ha’s thwarted fate and their destiny together that had gotten terribly twisted. 

Prince’s Love Swap:

Drama’s always go in with a risk when they start the series with one main lead being madly in love with someone who isn’t their end-game romance. And in this case, Lee Gak really loved his wife. A lot. So much so that he’s willing to brave the frightening world of 2012 Korea to find out who is responsible for her death. The audience is made privy to Se Na’s true nature pretty early on, but it comes as a slow reveal to our beloved Prince. Thankfully, the writers don’t waste much time on Lee Gak’s discovery and he catches on pretty quick once she starts to slip up.

One of the few cutesy, romantic scenes we were given

Late night discussions and drinks with Park Ha had already been going on at this point, and our Prince had already developed a close friendship with our heroine by the time he finds out what a lying nutbag his Princess really is. So at this point, it’s no stretch of the imagination that Lee Gak would end up falling for Park Ha. Both the writers and Yoochun handled the transition beautifully, and it never felt ridiculous that the Prince made the switch from Se Na to Park Ha so quickly.

Interesting Villains:

Se Na and Tae Moo were probably the most interesting and developed of all the characters. Being villains they are given a much wider range of emotions than our hero and heroine (who obviously cannot go past feelings of love, happiness, sadness, and maybe mild jealousy).

Kinda an evil b*tch- but also kinda addictive to watch

It’s fascinating to watch these two people sink further into the lies they’ve created and struggle to maintain their positions. What is most interesting about our villains is that they aren’t inherently bad people. Se Na has always showed signs of reluctance and confusion, but always made the wrong choice when it came down to it. As for Tae Moo, it was more about how one accident lead to the next, and his misguided view on how to fix his situation that lead him down the road of villainy. He’s much darker than Se Na, in that by the end he was ready to flat-out murder his cousin, but always held on to a shred of humanity through his deep and unending love of Se Na. The story was defiantly about how these two individuals got far too greedy and eventually orchestrated their own downfall- which was super satisfying to watch. The only downside of having such engaging villains, is that our main leads seemed a bit bleak and boring in comparison. And as the story revolved a lot around what Se Na and Tae Moo were doing, it dramatically reduced screen time for Lee Gak and Park Ha. Which isn’t great.

What Wasn’t:

Lack of Leads’ Chemistry:

I just wasn’t feeling it between Lee Gak and Park Ha. The plot lay all the groundwork for the love-line, but when it came to actual execution it fell short. Logically the two together makes sense- but it just wasn’t what I was seeing on my screen.

Adequate depiction of how much fire were was between our leads

Han Ji Min presented Park Ha as a rather bolshy, abrasive girl, so scenes of Park Ha trying to be cute felt kind of awkward. All in all, there just wasn’t that addictive spark between the main leads that you get in a really good romance.

Sort of the End:

The actual end to the drama was pretty perfect when you consider how many ways this drama could have gone wrong. And there were so many ways it could have gone wrong. But the drama happily managed to avoid most of them.

Was not a fan of this, but oh well

While personally I found the wedding was a little awkward and somewhat uncomfortable, I know a lot of viewers actually enjoyed the emotional punch it was giving to the main love-line. As it wasn’t a huge point in the plot, and we did need some way to say farewell to Lee Gak before he goes back to Joseon, the wedding can be given a pass. It’s literally the last 3-5 seconds that put a damper on the ending for me.

Totally called it, but still totally worth it

Our Prince has gone back to Joseon and solved the murder mystery (which was awesome), Park Ha is slowly getting on with her life in the absence of Lee Gak, and then she coincidentally meets the real Tae Yong who acts exactly as he did when they met in episode 1. Which is awesome and adorable. Then the two meet up like they weren’t able to in the past. Which is also awesome and adorable. And lastly, they do a fade to Park Ha standing there with Tae Yong in Joseon dress. Yeah, what? Has our Prince somehow time skipped back? Unlikely. Does Tae Yong somehow remember his past life? Doubtful. It’s just the writers making a connection to the whole same-soul bullsh*t. While lots of people enjoyed the connection, to me it just felt like Park Ha was looking for a ghost of Lee Gak in Tae Yong. Because while they may technically be the same soul or whatever- they’re also completely different people. So yeah, by all means make the connection to Lee Gak- but just know that you’ve now killed my imaginings of Park Ha and the real Tae Yong ever being in an honest, loving relationship.

3 seconds too long

It’s always hard when the couple you’ve spent all series watching be together aren’t the couple in the end- you’re hardly ever going to satisfy all your viewers in this situation.

Re-watch?

Most likely not. Cute couple moments were few and far between, and I also now know whodunnit.

At least the boys were always all kinds of fabulous

Love Cells

Love Cells

3.5/10

Love Cells

Genre:                                     Episodes: 15                         Year: 2014

Romance

Comedy

Fantasy

Synopsis:

Unemployed and unlucky in love, Ma Dae Choong has been single for many years, harbouring a crush on top star Seo Rin. In order to save it’s own life, one of Ma Dae Choong’s love cells manifests in the form of a girl, determined to help Dae Choong realise his romance with Seo Rin.

Cast:

Park Sun Ho (Ma Dae Choong)

Kim Yoo Jung (Nebi)

Nam Ji Hyun (Seo Rin)

Baek Sung Hyun (Chun Ji Woon)

General Thoughts:

The short episodes did this drama no favours. It took too long (percentage wise not time wise) to sort out character set up and get the plot in motion. At least a third of the drama was devoted to character and plot introductions. 

Our riveting hero

The idea itself was totally random, but with enough explanation could make some sense- but again, the series just didn’t have enough time to give the plot enough buildup. A love cell gets eaten by a cat and then the cat turns into a girl whose goal is to get the main male lead a girlfriend. It’s all a tad on the strange side. 

Soooo...is she human or no?

Once the series settles down a bit and falls into stride (and gets a wee bit less random) it actually becomes quite enjoyable. As unbelievable as the circumstances are, it starts edging towards sweet and satisfying. Ma Dae Choong is never a riveting character and definitely lacks that intoxicating quality that most male leads need, but becomes cute enough in his endeavours to woo the famous star- who herself is quite enjoyable as a character. Nebi the cat/girl/love-cell is just confusing. While her goal is initially clear, no one has any idea what she actually is. Does she have individual feelings as a human or does she only exist as a part of Dae Choong with the same goals and desires as the man himself? Nobody knows. It felt a little like the writers just didn’t have a plan and kinda just let things happen. Which doesn’t make for the most consistent drama.

What Was Great:

Wooing Seo Rin:

The whole portion of the drama that revolved around Nebi and Dae Choong working together to win Seo Rin’s heart was definitely the most entertaining. There were set circumstances and events that our hero and his cat sidekick had to manipulate and work around to achieve their goal. 

Nothing new- but sweetly entertaining

Sure, it was super predictable- but it made sense. As a viewer, I knew what my characters wanted and could see how they were making efforts to turn those wants into reality. It just made sense. While not insanely exciting or enthralling, it was entertaining enough. Even if there wasn’t a heap of it, and even though it wasn’t exactly a huge problem, there was some sort of conflict for our characters to overcome- unlike in the beginning and later stages of the drama.

What Wasn’t:

That is the question of the hour

Randomness:

The whole drama just held a slight air of ridiculousness. While some of the randomness in the series could come of cute, much of it just seemed stupid. Like Seo Rin being so allergic to squid that she faints at a single touch. Or that she’s then held hostage by a crazy manager- who uses squid to terrorise her. Like, am I supposed to feel fear for Seo Rin right now? It’s a squid on a stick…c’mon.

Breaks the Dramaverse Rules:

The writers set up some rather confused, illogical rules for their created world right at the start of the series. While these rules might not make the most logical sense- they’re still there. And as long as a drama sticks to it’s own rules from start to finish I don’t have a problem. ‘Love Cells’ does not stick to it’s own rules from start to finish. Some new rules are introduced half way (like Nebi giving up half her remaining life span to buy magic items for Dae Choong), and in the last episode dramaverse laws are just blatantly ignored. The whole point of the series is that if Dae Choong doesn’t get a girlfriend his love cells will die and he will never be able to love again. Yet he doesn’t date Seo Rin, and nothing really ever happens with Nebi. 

Just...what?

Then Nebi dies (oh hey Woo Bin- love cell hunter? Okay, sure whatevs- nothing else in this series makes any bloody sense). So Dae Choong’s love cell is dead. So by all means he shouldn’t be able to love again. But heyo- he still can as shown by his immediate interest in that girl that looks like Nebi in the last moments of the series. I mean come on. It’s not even Nebi. But apparently we’re all supposed to ignore that Nebi is dead now.

Again...what?

Re-watch?

Goodness no. The series had moments of cuteness but was overall just very confused. I didn’t even know who the main pairing was supposed to be. WHO AM I MEANT TO BE CHEERING FOR?!

I have no idea why anything happened in this drama