Voice

Voice

6/10

Voice

Genre:                                  Episodes: 16                           Year: 2017

Mystery

Thriller

Synopsis:

Moo Jin Hyuk is a detective who has cracked many major cases, but after the brutal murder of his wife, his life starts to fall apart. The suspect for his wife’s murder is released after an emergency-call worker, Kang Kwon Joo, claims she has supersensitive hearing, and that the suspect’s voice wasn’t the one she heard during Jin Hyuk’s wife’s emergency call. Three years later, Kwon Joo creates a Golden Time Team in the police force, and works with Jin Hyuk to rescue victims in the crime’s ‘golden time’ period, and also search for the true murderer from three years ago.

Cast:

Jang Hyuk (Moo Jin Hyuk)

Lee Ha Na (Kang Kwon Joo)

Kim Jae Wook (Mo Tae Goo)

Baek Sung Hyun (Shim Dae Shik)

Lee Hae Young (Jang Kyung Hak)

Yesung (Oh Hyun Ho)

Son Eun Seo (Park Eun Seo)

Lee Do Kyung (Mo Ki Beom)

General Thoughts:

2017 better start stepping up it’s game because so far there hasn’t been a single drama that I’ve really liked from start to finish. Sigh. ‘Voice’ was okay as far K-Dramas go, but I will admit that I didn’t really have a lot of affection for any of the characters. They were set up nicely, but never actually developed beyond their character profiles which was a shame.

Who even are you?

The side characters didn’t really come into play and weren’t relevant to the plot at all. Hyun Ho and Eun Soo barely got any screen time at all, and despite being set up as a cute couple-in-the-making, the show didn’t spend any time focusing on the way their relationship developed. Or the way any relationships developed. I wasn’t totally sold on the acting either.

He always seemed a touch drunk

This was the first drama I’ve seen with Jang Hyuk, and I’m sad to say that his style of acting just isn’t my favourite. While I wouldn’t say he’s a bad actor, I didn’t find him super convincing, and he never made Jin Hyuk a likeable character for me- it felt like he was staying securely in his little character profile box. I was more impressed by Lee Ha Na in this than I was by her in ‘High School King of Savvy’, but in saying that I don’t think the role here was particularly difficult. She did a great job in pretending she could hear things others couldn’t, but apart from the one scene of her listening to her father get murdered (which she did act excellently), Kwon Joo was a fairly static, robotic character. The side characters barely even get enough screen time to display their acting skills at all. I was keen to see how Yesung would go, but sadly we didn’t get to see much of him do anything. On a positive note, Kim Jae Wook’s acting was just superb. The mystery-thriller aspects of the drama were really cool, and it had a bit of an ‘NCIS’ or ‘Law & Order’ vibe about it, which are both shows I’ve really enjoyed. The individual cases always felt interesting and different, even if one or two did feel a bit like filler.

I like Jin Hyuk best when he's saving people and not arguing

By focusing so heavily on these cases, I sort of started to forget that I didn’t really care about any of the characters because in those scenes they were heroes off to rescue abused victims- and that itself is enough to make you cheer for their success. The show wasn’t afraid to go to some darker places, particularly with the main villain, so that added a large amount of tension into the series too.

Such suspense, much wow

The characters always felt as if they were in some kind of danger, and I honestly believed that one of the leads might actually get killed off at some point- and that’s a rare edge for a drama to have because it’s usually so obvious that all the main characters will make it out safe and happy. The show was shot beautifully, and really capitalised on lighting and camera angles to heighten its suspense. The soundtrack was also really solid and did an excellent job at complementing the scenes, whether they were sad, creepy, or suspenseful. My only production gripe is that there were times when the camera wasn’t still. And that doesn’t make me feel more anxious for our characters at all. It just makes me want to tell the camera director to sober the f*ck up. But apart from that, the editing and production was swell. The story was a bit of a weird one, in that I still felt the excitement and the suspense, but there was just something about the series that kept me at a distance. I never felt fully involved in the characters’ lives like a giant invisible stalker the way I usually do- it felt very much like the only parts of their lives we saw were the aspects that involved the murderer. And while that’s interesting and all, I kind of wanted there to be more to the characters (and by extension the plot) than that.

What Was Great:

Villain:

Kim Jae Wook was the shining beacon of hope for this series. Which is ironic considering he was the psychotic murderer. Surprisingly, of all the characters Tae Goo seemed to have the most depth. He was just endlessly fascinating. I wanted to know how he became a murderer, why he murdered people, how he chose his victims, and of course I wanted to see him eventually brought to justice.

He was weirdly alluring in a totally terrifying way

I think on paper he was your average rich chaebol with an unbalanced mind and murderous tendencies, but Kim Jae Wook made him much more than that. He was oddly alluring and just dripping with charisma, so you’d almost fall for him until he’d do something crazy like bathe in someone’s blood. While he felt psychotic, he also came across as more than just your average ‘psycho’ who has nothing but a mental illness to excuse their behaviour. As well as Kim Jae Wook’s performance, I did like the story-progression of Tae Goo as a character and how they explored his psychotic nature.

'Killer' cheekbones (hur hur)

Every new behaviour of Tae Goo’s added an extra layer of creepy (killing people, literal blood baths, keeping victims' hair, sending their hair to his next victim), and it was fascinating the more his history was unravelled. Rather than just having Tae Goo be a regular crazy chaebol with a father who covered up his murders, I liked that this drama took the stance that it was because his father covered up his murders that he became even more psychotic. It added a nice twist to a story that we’ve heard several times, and even seemed to make Tae Goo that much more of a villain. Because he didn’t even need to become a villain, it was just his father’s pride and greed (and general disregard for other people) that gave Tae Goo the foundation he needed to become the worst murderer of the decade. On a side note, I’m not that thrilled with how Tae Goo’s demise played out. It was all going well right up to when he got arrested and Jin Hyuk didn’t kill him the way he was expecting, but his death afterwards was just weird. It was hard to tell if it was an imaginary sequence from Tae Goo’s broken mind (as it was shot in black and white) or some weird sort of set up for a season 2 (with the doctor being the new murderer).

What madness is this?

Overall, I much preferred the ending being one of psychological torture for Tae Goo rather than Tae Goo himself getting murdered. It was much more interesting and satisfying to think of this mass murder being in constant torment for not being able to kill people anymore rather than just being dead himself. Oh well, he was still a fab villain.

What Wasn’t:

Censorship:

I knooooow that this is technically the station’s fault but it still bugged me. Like why on earth would you air a mystery-thriller if you were going to sensor half of it anyway? I’m not against a bit of gore in my dramas so I really enjoyed the dark vibe of ‘Voice’, but nothing makes a killer seem less creepy than blurring out his atrocities.

Olive? Eye? Thanks to censorship we might never know

I’ve seen censorship in other dramas, like a blurred knife or blurred blood, and just had a giggle and moved on, but here it severely impacted the enjoyment of the show. There were times I couldn’t quite understand what our characters were talking about because I couldn’t see it myself, most notably being Tae Goo spooning out one of his victim's eyes and leaving them like olives in a martini for detectives to find. It took me a little while to piece together what it was because behind all that blurring, all I could really see was a glass. I assumed it was an eye only because the police mentioned ‘body parts’ and you can’t exactly put a foot on a toothpick and chuck it in a glass. It’s not exactly thrilling to have everything the killer does in the series blurred out. It just seemed so very stupid. If you don’t want to watch gore then maybe don’t watch a drama about a dude who bludgeons people to death with a metal ball. Just sayin’. 

No Character Development:

By far the biggest weakness of the story was how little development any of the characters got. If you compare your knowledge of the characters in the first episode to the last, not a lot changes. And that’s not a good thing.

I so wanted to watch you get together. Why didn't you?

Jin Hyuk is an impulsive, angry jerk at the start and he’s an angry, impulsive jerk at the end. Kwon Joo is desperate to catch her father's killer at the start and that’s all we see her do all series long. Outside of wanting to catch Tae Goo, I really had no idea of who these characters were as people. Even their thoughts on their loved one’s deaths were pretty one-dimensional.

I think this is the most perfect nose I have ever seen

Tae Goo killed them so they want to catch him. The drama never explores our characters’ feelings of guilt or loneliness much. There were a few scenes slipped in now and then, but not enough to shape them as characters. Dae Shik got a nice bit of development at the end there (which is just as well or it would have been such a waste of Baek Sung Hyun), but again, it wasn’t quite enough to make me care about the relationships between the characters. Sure, I’d prefer if Dae Shik and Jin Hyuk remained friends, but I’m not really fussed either way. By not giving the characters any development, they always felt very one-dimensional. They felt like characters rather than people, and while we know that that’s what they are, it does stop you from connecting to the characters on an emotional level- because they don’t feel real. In the final episode when Dae Shik was in danger I did get a bit distracted wondering if they were going to alter Baek Sung Hyun’s perfect nose after so many kettle-bell shots to the face, which kind of demonstrates the level of engagement I had with the characters. It’s a bummer really, because the drama would have been so much more compelling if the characters had some depth and got me attached.

Recommend?

I’d recommend purely for Kim Jae Wook’s performance, which was amazing. While the thriller aspects were pretty cool, I don’t think ‘Voice’ is in a class of its own. I wouldn’t rush out to tell you to watch it, but I wouldn’t rush out to tell you not to either.

One of the craziest crazies in K-Dramaland

Doctors

Doctors

6/10

Doctors

Genre:                               Episodes: 20                            Year: 2016

Romance

Synopsis:

Yoo Hye Jung is a troublemaking student due to bad experiences in her childhood. After her father abandons her, she moves in with her grandmother and begins to attend school again. She meets Hong Ji Hong, a doctor turned teacher, who helps Hye Jung try and turn her life around. Thirteen years later, the two meet again as doctors in the same hospital.

Cast:

Park Shin Hye (Yoo Hye Jung)

Kim Rae Won (Hong Ji Hong)

Lee Sung Kyung (Jin Seo Woo)

Yoon Gyun Sang (Jung Yoon Do)

Eom Hyo Seop (Jin Myung Hoon)

Jang Hyun Sung (Kim Tae Ho)

Kim Gang Hyun (Kang Kyung Joon)

Baek Sung Hyun (Pi Young Kook)

Kim Min Suk (Choi Kang Woo)

General Thoughts:

Despite the stars in the cast, the promising set-up, and the wide-spread popularity of the series- it’s a rather underwhelming drama. Nothing happens in the plot, and apart from our heroine and the second female lead no characters are given development.

Well done on making it to the end everyone

My favourite part of the series would definitely have to be the beginning stages set in school, where Hye Jung first starts contemplating the idea to stop living recklessly. It’s an enjoyable period of time with enough conflict in the way of people’s pre constructed perceptions of Hye Jung, and the results when she contradicts those perceptions.

So fun

Despite many viewers having misgivings about the teacher X student relationship, I actually didn’t mind it (and honestly, neither does anyone else when it’s the man that’s younger: Big, Flower Boy Ramyun Shop, Hello My Teacher). While it was clear that the two were very close, I found it to be more of a friendship rather than a romantic relationship. Already that teacher-student dynamic has been weakened by them first not meeting in school and being unaware of each others’ status, and secondly by Ji Hong renting a room in Hye Jung’s grandmother’s house. The two only really seemed aware that their relationship could even be considered turning romantic after Seo Woo already started spreading the rumour that they were dating. I think it was that event that sparked the realisation in Ji Hong that he might like Hye Jung as more than a student, and at that point she was expelled and was no longer his student. The school relationship didn’t phase me to much as neither of them acted on it. They just joked around, rode bikes and ate ice-cream. I was actually more annoyed at their relationship once Hye Jung was an adult and they met again in the hospital.

Less fun

While Ji Hong was actually her teacher in school, he never seemed to come off too arrogant and made moves to try and understand Hye Jung and her emotions. However once we were in the hospital and Ji Hong was Hye Jung’s mentor, I found that Ji Hong became much more ‘teachery’ than he had been in the past. He seemed to constantly think he knew better than Hye Jung- both in the medical field and in regards to her own life.

Apparently Ji Hong knows best. All the time.

While he is older and does have more life experience than Hye Jung, the show primarily focuses on Hye Jung and her constant development over the series. As Ji Hong’s character never really changes over the course of the series, and we’re given no real insight into his past experiences and what made him the person he is, it was hard to just blindly accept that he was sooooo much wiser than Hye Jung in every aspect of life. I actually found the relationship dynamic between the two much more stable and equal in their high school days- because in the past Ji Hong was trying to understand Hye Jung for who she was rather than telling her what was best for her. And while the romance between the two should have been insanely adorable- personally I thought it fell a bit flat. I usually love simple, easy, realistic relationships, but for some reason Hye Jung X Ji Hong (or is is Park Shin Hye X Kim Rae Won?) just didn’t work for me. The fact that the two of them started dating so early on in the piece and were so focused on each other meant that there was less than no room for Yoon Do to squeeze in there- which is a shame because he was such a wonderful character.

100% adorable

Although it was cute to see him content with loving Hye Jung from the sidelines, flirting with her and protecting her when he could, I do think it might have been nice if Hye Jung had considered him even a teeny tiny bit. The solid relationship between our main leads meant that Yoon Do’s screen time-was rapidly reduced, as he contributed nothing to the plot besides his feelings for Hye Jung. And I must say, Yoon Gyun Sang did an excellent job at portraying the cool, honest, straightforward, yet mildly dorky doctor. I know I fell in love with him even if Hye Jung didn’t. One relationship that really hit the right note for me was the frenemy relationship between Hye Jung and Seo Woo.

100% correct way to carry out a redemption arc

At first, Seo Woo just seems like a giant b*tch who’s always had everything given to her, and can’t stand it when Hye Jung does something better than her. But as we start seeing more of her family life, the restrictions and expectations placed on her, and the environment she grew up in, it becomes much more understandable why she became the way she was.

Where was the rest of this story?

While her past actions aren’t excusable, she can be forgiven for them because she knows what she’s done wrong herself and does try to apologise for it towards the end. She is also the first one to make steps towards mending the friendship between herself and Hye Jung. As the drama progresses and we see how tightly wound Seo Woo is because of her family and their expectations of her, it becomes so enjoyable to watch her learn to relax bit by bit. While Hye Jung can be considered as playing a part in Seo Woo’s decision to live her life for herself and not her family, it’s definitely Young Kook who helps her the most. Throughout the whole series he has been a calm, steady presence for Seo Woo, so it was rewarding to see Seo Woo realise and accept this, and have Young Kook become a place where she could relax completely, rest, and just be herself. My only gripe is that I wanted to see more of this relationship than we actually saw. The hospital support cast were all brilliant, albeit completely underdeveloped. They were a delightful bunch of characters, but were really only there because you cant have Seo Woo, Ji Hong and Hye Jung be the only doctors in the hospital. And as for the plot…was there a plot? Hye Jung and Ji Hong get into their relationship very quickly, so there’s no back-and-forth story there. The search to discover what happened to Grandma in her operation slows to a crawl, is forgotten in the middle, and then has a very weak resolution in the end, and there’s absolutely no continuing plot-line in the hospital.

Hey Jung farewelling the plot before it gets hit by a car

We have little two or three episode patients who come in with small stories before disappearing again, which does keep the drama entertaining, but the lack of a single continuing plot means that the series lacks the momentum and addictive quality that a drama really needs.

What Was Great:

PSH:

This was without a doubt the Park Shin Hye Show. I must admit that until this point I’ve found her to be an insanely overhyped actress- but she really came into her own in ‘Doctors’. She delivered a strong, passionate heroine that was likeable despite her bold personality and ‘f*ck you’ attitude.

Everything else was great- but CRY LIKE YOU MEAN IT

It was wonderful to see Park Shin Hye break away from her typical Candy roles and attempt (successfully) to give us a feisty, endearing heroine. The drama was all about Hye Jung, so there was a lot of pressure on Park Shin Hye to deliver. Her character dominated the screen-time and had to express emotions that not many of Park Shin Hye’s characters have delved into previously. This is the first drama that’s made think that Park Shin Hye can actually act and is more than just a pretty face. She always held on to Hye Jung’s distinctive ‘don’t-mess-with-me’ personality, even in her softer, more vulnerable moments. However, I do still think that she needs to let go of the idea that you have to cry prettily- nothing says anguish like snot and tears and goo. While Kim Rae Won is an older, more experienced actor, Park Shin Hye didn’t appear inexperienced next to him, nor was she overshadowed by his acting. The rather sloppy construction of Kim Rae Won’s character actually left me feeling as though Park Shin Hye did most of the heavy lifting in this drama.

Hospital Placing:

In regards to the plot, the story really could have been set anywhere- a bakery, a restaurant, the entertainment industry. Despite ‘Doctors’ sounding much more engaging than ‘Bakers’, ‘Chefs’, or ‘Actors’, the other upside of the setting was it meant that we had an abundance of delightful side character always present in the series.

All the cute hospital babies

The residents at the hospital were just plain delightful and were always fun to watch. Not to mention that Kim Min Suk was cast as the youngest of these doctors. And I love Kim Min Suk. His career is gaining momentum after a small supporting role in ‘Descendants of the Sun’ earlier in the year, and he got a much more active role here in ‘Doctors’. Of the hospital minions, Kim Min Suk’s character of Kang Woo was definitely the most enjoyable. He also got a story arc of his own (unlike the other hospital boys)- and boy was it a killer.

Slayer of hearts

His story was engaging, entertaining and emotional, and Kim Min Suk smashed it. I wish that all the residents had gotten a little more story and development than they did (the drama is 20 episodes, it’s not like they didn’t have the time).

Cameo Cafe:

Way more engaging than our actual male lead

Boy were there a lot of excellent cameos in this series. If the character on your screen isn’t a main or support character, you can bet it’s an awesome cameo performance- Ji Soo, Lee Ki Woo, Namgung Min to name a few. Having such talent playing the drama’s extras definitely added a huge amount of quality to the series. All the cameos were engaging no matter how long or short they were. Namgung Min was particularly excellent as the debt-ridden single father of two young son’s with brain cancer (whose wife also died of cancer). I’m pretty sure we got more development and emotion out of Namgung Min is his three-episode appearance than we did out of Hong Ji Hong all drama long.

What Wasn’t:

Zero Plot:

I honestly don’t know how on earth this drama managed to recruit the star power that it got because it has virtually no plot- and I have no idea how you would float that to actors of this level. But they succeeded- they got their awesome cast with a script that had NO POINT. There’s the relationship development between our two main leads, but that gets sorted out petty early on. Every character is brutally honest (which is a nice change), but it also means that there’s not much tension between the characters because everyone knows what everyone is thinking.

Once again, no one cares about the corporate plot-line

The hospital director plot was boring, predictable and no one really cared. Grandma’s death plot was barely there for the most part only coming back in at the end- and even that has zero tension. Hye Jung doesn’t want to punish Seo Woo’s father- she only wants an apology. Talk about low stakes.

Boring Male Lead:

Hong Ji Hong is SO VERY VERY BORING. He’s just so inescapably bland. I think this is the first K-Drama I’ve ever watched where our leading lady has more development and characterisation than our leading man.

HOW ARE YOU SO UNENTERTAINING?!

Ji Hong is just characterised as a typical nice guy who’s always loved one girl. He doesn’t get jealous. He doesn’t get in fights. He’s a mature, responsible doctor with a steady income. So yes, while he is every girl’s dream man- he’s just not entertaining to watch. Not only that, but over the whole 20 episodes we learn basically nothing about his character. 1- his parents died in a car accident. 2- The Chairman of the hospital adopted him. 3- he was a doctor, then a teacher, now a doctor again. 4- he loves Hye Jung. He’s not a complex character and he doesn’t have a lot of depth. Even the small amount of depth he could  have had he lost because it was story that wasn’t explored. Why did he quit being a doctor? Why did he become a doctor again? Of all the girls in the world, why was he drawn to a young damaged high schooler who shoved a middle-finger up at the world? All unexplored ground resulting in one boring character.

Re-watch?

Goodness no. While it wasn’t a drama that was offensively bad, it was definitely bland. I don’t know how it managed to get out 20 episodes, but I don't think I'll be watching them again.

Not awful, not amazing

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