One Mom, Three Dads

One Mom, Three Dads

4/10

One Mom, Three Dads

Genre:                                     Episodes: 16                            Year: 2008

Comedy

Synopsis:

All Song Na Young wants is to have a baby with her loving husband, Jung Sung Min. When Sung Min discovers he is infertile, he decides he will do anything to make his wife’s dream come true. Sung Min convinces his three best friends to donate their sperm. Na Young becomes pregnant, but before the baby is born Sung Min dies in an accident. Not knowing who the biological father is, all three friends take responsibility for Na Young and her baby.

Cast:

Eugene (Song Na Young)

Jo Hyun Jae (Han Soo Hyun)

Jae Hee (Choi Kwang Hee)

Shin Sung Rok (Na Hwang Kyung Tae)

Yoon Sang Hyun (Jung Sung Min)

Joo Sang Wook (Jung Chan Young)

General Thoughts:

It could have been so much more than it was, but the drama never quite seemed to make it out of its own gimmick. Yes, there’s one lady and three dudes raising a baby and there’s going to be humour from that, but you need something a bit meatier to chunk up your story.

It never quite developed a story of its own

You can’t just coast along on your set-up and hope that there’s still some momentum left by the end. Well, I suppose you can, but it doesn’t make for a fantastic drama. The humour was pretty okay for the most part, but the show did tend to repeat itself. What with having three potential baby daddies I guess the writers thought it was a free pass to reuse the same material.

My face when the same joke played for the third time

Quite often the same joke got used for each of the three male characters. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. It did lead to a feeling that the writers didn’t have a lot to draw on, and it could lean towards boring rather than humorous. The gags themselves were pretty obvious- you could see them coming from a mile off. Occasionally it would still be funny anyway (what can I say, three dudes and a baby is a funny concept), but at other times I felt completely underwhelmed by the supposed joke. It wasn’t just the gags, but everything in the drama seemed to be in pretty broad strokes. The characters stayed firmly in their little character profiles unless the actors forcibly dragged them out and drew out some development on their own. Again this brought on the feeling that the writers were relying too heavily on the gimmick to sell the show. Yes the odd couple relationship with the guys and the baby was what brought us there, but they really should have put a bit more effort into keeping viewers there. By the end of the series, of all the boys I only really liked Kwang Hee. Kyung Tae became too immature in his crush and Soo Hyun was a d*uchebag from Episode 1 to Episode 16 with very little to redeem him. I actually quite enjoyed the suggested love-line between Na Young and Chan Young, but even his character dropped dramatically.

I'm on your ship forever Kwang Hee. The baby ship. Not the relation ship.

Sure, I kinda knew Na Young wasn’t going to go to Dubai (I’ll admit to a slight fear her departure would be rectified by the dreaded ‘Five Years Later’), but I still thought Chang Young was a wanker for ripping her and the adorable baby that everyone was in love with out of the lives of these men just cuz he was keen on the baby momma and wasn’t a fan of her living situation. Like, that’s just not a cool move. And it also killed any desire for Chan Young to get the girl.

I liked you guys better when you were dads- not suitors

I will admit that I was pretty disappointed that it came down to romance for everyone at the end. For starters, Na Young was such a poorly written character that it kind of begged one to wonder why any let alone all of these guys were in love with her. Half the series she was only there because someone needed to be the one to give birth to the kid. I do wish that only one or two of the guys had fallen for Na Young, because it felt like the last couple of episodes were just men fighting over a scrap of meat. No one really considered what Na Young wanted and just kind of assumed that she’d marry one of them. The best parts of the drama definitely centred around the love the guys had for the baby, not the mother. I do wonder about the point of bringing Chan Young into the story if he wasn’t going to be a love interest though. I thought that it would be him trying to appease these three guys in order to be with woman he loved, but in the end he just joined the confession team (to other men, not the actual woman- heaven forbid these men tell the girl anything). One of the things the show did really well was to gradually show how the men came to care for baby Ha Seon. The boys weren’t always in love with the baby, but the show really captured how she slowly grew on them and how important she was to them by the end. 

Yep- the boys were best with the baby around.

What Was Great:

Two Actors:

Jae Hee and Shin Sung Rok did really well with their characters. All the characters in the drama were pretty underdeveloped, but these two actors put in a real effort to make these characters feel like real people.

I'm so used to him as a villain.
I almost expected him to start killing people off at the halfway point

Jae Hee was just excellent, and I was rooting for him to be the baby daddy (even though I knew in my heart none of them were). Jae Hee made Kwang Hee’s transition from immature playboy to loving family man seem smooth and natural, and never seemed like he was breaking his character’s mould. Jae Hee put in a real effort to make Kwang Hee relatable, and most importantly- likeable. His emotions were perfect and I genuinely believed that he loved that baby (and that the baby loved him). He made Kwang Hee a character I really enjoyed seeing. Shin Sung Rok also did a great job at making his character feel like an actual human. The rather dim detective was played for comedic effect most of the time, but Shin Sung Rok could carry the emotional scenes well when he needed to. His character did become mildly annoying towards the end, but I still think Shin Sung Rok did an excellent job with a horrifically written, horribly underdeveloped character. 

That Baby:

The baby was cute as. She was for sure the highlight of this drama. I felt happy just looking at her, so it was understandable that these three men felt the same way. Babies can be such a variable when filming, but everyone (including the baby) did an excellent job in making her feel like an authentic part of the story. 

How can you not love her adorable squishy face?

What Wasn’t:

The Other Two Actors:

Eugene and Jo Hyun Jae just didn’t put in the same amount of effort as Shin Sung Rok and Jae Hee. Their characters felt flat and lifeless, and I didn’t really care that much what happened to them. I only cared if it directly involved the baby or the other two boys.

We get it, you're a tightass- you don't need to keep reminding us

Admittedly, the female lead was actually such an insignificant part of the story that I can’t really blame Eugene for not giving the greatest performance of her career. I’m less lenient towards Jo Hyun Jae. I mean, if you’re creating scandals to film the darn thing (he ducked out of his mandatory military service early to complete filming) you might as well make sure you do a good job. Soo Hyun was a character that felt totally fake, and he was just straight-up dislikable. Does any real person talk about money that much? It felt like Jo Hyun Jae delivered nothing more than what was written on the script, and as a result we got a cold, calculative character with no depth. There were scenes that should have made Soo Hyun feel more genuine (such as hospital scenes with his father), but the lack of warmth that Jo Hyun Jae put into the character really blocked me from connecting with Soo Hyun. The differences in acting became more and more obvious as the drama went on- I was disgruntled whenever Soo Hyun was on screen, but delighted when it was Kwang Hee. The writing didn’t really make Kwang Hee a more likeable or more developed character than Soo Hyun, but the acting did. 

The baby has more personality than either of them

Light on Content:

Nothing really happens. Which is a bit of a bummer. The story is one that really needed to be driven by relationships and situations that forced those relationships to grow and develop.

The plot fell asleep pretty early on

I couldn’t believe how awkward all the boys were with Na Young even after a year of living together. Sure, it was only 10 or so hours in real-time, but in drama-time it was 12 months, and the awkwardness really should have disappeared or at least reduced. There wasn’t a lot of character development between anyone except the baby, and there wasn’t actually a whole lot that went on plot-wise either. The things that did happen were pretty low grade and unimportant (like deciding to put Ha Seon in daycare or not) and didn’t really force the characters to interact in ways that were out of the ordinary. Most of the drama took place in the house- and that’s just not very exciting. 

Recommend?

Nah. Maybe back in the late 00s when this was made I’d consider giving it a recommendation, but even back then it was nothing outstanding. There are so many slick new dramas around that I really can’t tell you to watch ‘One Mom, Three Dads’ over one of those. 

Cute idea, shoddy execution

Liar Game

Liar Game

8/10

Liar Game 

Genre:                                   Episodes: 12                                   Year: 2014

Mystery

Thriller

Synopsis:

Nam Da Jung is a college student who is constantly working part-time jobs in order to pay off her missing father’s debts. She is cast in a reality program called ‘Liar Game’ where the contestants must manipulate and trick one another to gain prize money, with the grand prize being 10 billion won. Pressured by her debt collector and tempted by the prize money, Da Jung joins the show but performs poorly as she is a terrible liar. She enlists the help of a genius psychology professor, Ha Woo Jin, who has just been released from prison, and together the two enter the game.

Cast:

Lee Sang Yoon (Cha Woo Jin)

Kim So Eun (Nam Da Jung)

Shin Sung Rok (Kang Do Young)

Jo Jae Yun (Jo Dal Goo)

Lee El (Jaime/Oh Jung Ah)

Lee Shi Hoo (Choi Sung Joon)

General Thoughts:

This drama is 'Survivor' on steroids in the best kind of way. It packs a solid punch. Each episode is jammed with plot twists, character reveals and major developments. I’ve not seen the Japanese drama or read the manga, so I can’t compare, but wow- what a drama.

Top notch ensemble

The three main stars are incredible and completely embody their characters. I thought Shin Sung Rok had brought the creepy in ‘My Love from the Stars’, but here in ‘Liar Game’ he’s taken it to a whole other level. Lee Sang Yoon smashes it as the brilliant, damaged man who somehow becomes a hero, and Kim So Eun delivers a likeable, if not haphazardly stupid, heroine and manages to avoid coming out irritating.

Our adorable, yet intimidating hero

The plot flowed smoothly from each episode to the next, giving a gradual, intense build up to the final episodes. It holds onto most of its secrets until the very last moment in the very last episode (though some secrets are left unanswered). Every character is thoroughly thought out, given enough backstory to know how they got to where they are and why they act the way they do, but you’ll never know how they’ll act next. Somehow the writers manage to avoid dishing the whole story all at once. We are given the information we need in tiny, bite-sized pieces that not only enhance our understanding of the plot and our characters, but open a whole new world of possibilities and conspiracies. Every minute has you on the edge of your seat and leaves you with goosebumps. The soundtrack is the perfect accompaniment to the drama and has a creepy, yet elegant ‘Death Note’ kind of vibe.

What Was Great:

The Thrills:

For a drama that doesn’t have a whole lot going on visually, there’s a heap of tension jammed into every scene. The danger is always very present- even if we as viewers don’t even know who the real threat is. It’s damn near impossible to predict our hero’s next move, let alone the outcome of the whole drama. Watching the two male leads psychologically battle it out was both riveting and anxiety-inducing, particularly when our hero seemed to be on the back foot so often.

Surprisingly action-packed for an actionless drama

There’s no huge physical fights, no dramatic car chases or getaways- and yet it’s one of the most exciting dramas. What’s more threatening than having your enemy right in front of you, with no way to beat them and no knowledge of why they are your enemy in the first place? Especially when he’s a diabolical mastermind trapped by his 10- year old self’s memories? Temptation, manipulation and betrayal- though all the brainpower will probably leave you feeling like a big ol’ dummy.

The Evil:

Just a glimpse at how creepy our villain was

Oh, Shin Sung Rok. You should only do villains. All of them. Forever. Though it might be cute (and hilarious) to see you be the hero in a rom-com. Shin Sung Rok blows everyone else out of the water. He’s a complete show stealer and nails the broken, psychologically-scarred sociopath far better than any healthy man really should. There are so many scenes where he actually scared me- no joke. From his tiny facial movements to his gameshow host façade- everything was done with complete conviction. His slow spiral into madness, or at least the gradual reveal of his madness, is captivating and terrifying and embodies all things a good villain should be. His character is so meticulously mapped out and we all get a weird sense of joy and horror at watching his story unfold and his motives become clearer.

Psychotic, terrifying and....strangely appealing

Wising Up:

Yay for Da Jung not being stupid the ENTIRE time

I understand the reasoning behind Nam Da Jung being the innocent trusting character. 1- it’s just who she is, some people are like that. 2- if she wasn’t like that there would be no drama. A huge part of this drama is watching the two conflicting ideologies of our main stars. Da Jung- who wants to (and does) trust in people, and Woo Jin- ‘Never. Trust. Anyone.’ While at (many) times it was frustrating to see Da Jung fall for tricks and manipulations that were so obviously a trap, it was understandable why she did. Because her fundamental underlying belief is that people can be trusted. Which works wonders on the redemption arc for Jamie. At first she was a despicable, easily hateable character who kept deceiving and betraying our heroine. However, as Da Jung continues to trust Jamie, while Do Young continues to betray her, we see Da Jung’s continued trust start to pay off as Jamie first works with them, and eventually completely betrays Do Young. Through the first few stages of the game Da Jung blindly trusts everyone, and suffers for it. It’s only with the help from Woo Jin that she doesn’t get eliminated with a huge amount of debt to pay off. However, towards the later stages of the game, it’s fantastic to see that Da Jung is coming to realise that maybe not everyone is to be blindly trusted.

Choosing the exact wrong time to get suspicious

She is suspicious of the Director turned MC when he tries to turn her against Woo Jin, and downright doesn’t believe a word Young Do says. And yet she still manages to retain her innocent trusting nature in the way she completely believes in Woo Jin- even if there was a slight hiccup there. Yay for our heroine smartening up!

Makeshift Family:

I love little families of underdogs and outcasts in K-Dramas. It’s lovely to watch our little family begin to grow. We start with Nam Da Jung and Jo Dal Goo- her debt collector that cares for her more than any debt collector should.

Both the best, and worst, debt collector ever

They have a sweet brother-sister relationship going right from the get go, with him not caring too much that she can’t give him money, and her cooking for him whenever he demands it. We all clue in pretty early that this ajusshi is no threat to our heroine. And can we all just take a moment to appreciate that this is one of the sweetest, heart-tugging relationships in K-Drama ever? Thank you. Then Cha Woo Jin joins in with his frozen exterior, pretending he doesn’t care and he’s only in it for the game- which no one believes. Throughout the drama we see his affection for Da Jung grow enormously, aided by her similarities to his dead mother and his guilt that he played some part to her and her father becoming buried in debt. Then we pull in Sung Joon, who’s a bit wishy-washy and not the tightest member of our little family, but he’s definitely one of the cutest. By far the most interesting and satisfying addition was Jamie. Watching her character develop was simply stunning. Even though she was constructed as a betrayer at heart, it made sense that this warm family-like atmosphere that she herself said felt so weird and unfamiliar eventually won her over.

Forget Dad- these boys are infinitely better

It was a strange, heart-warming group of individuals who banded together out of desire and desperation, who eventually come to love and support one another. I think many of us would have been quite happy if loser dad never came home and our family of misfits lived together forever.

Sung Joonie Lives:

I was so mad when it looked like they were going to kill Choi Sung Joon off- but puppy lives! This was one of the only parts of the show that I could see through. Don’t believe a K-Drama death until you see a funeral. Or better yet- a body.

Moral of the story: don't lose hope until you see a corpse

What Wasn’t:

Final Showdown:

After 11 episodes of dramatic perfection and an intense build-up to the finale, I must admit, I was expecting something epic.

He wants to play a game

But while episode 12 manages to deliver heart racing dramatic tension through the use of just one hidden bullet, the answers to the questions we’ve been asking all drama long are not given to us. While it was interesting to watch what occurred between the three of them when they were children, it gave us no insight on who was behind so severely damaging Young Do. What the drama did perfectly was explain the motivations behind our villain’s actions. Keeping in tune with what he had been telling contestants throughout all the games, Young Do had less than no interest in what the actual truth of the past was. He simply firmly believed his own perception of truth- which was that Woo Jin and his mother knowingly sold him, which lead to his involvement in the Walden Two Project. It also makes sense that he wanted to be shot, to finish his involvement in the game- both the game that the three played when they were children, and the game the Walden Two creators are apparently still playing. But there are still great big gaping holes in our story. What even is Walden Two? Who’s behind Walden Two? What does Walden Two want to achieve? How was Do Young creating Liar game with Woo Jin and Da Jung his attempt to try and bring Walden Two down from within?

Basically my reaction to that last episode

When the episode ended and none of those questions had even been touched on, it was beyond frustrating. Not enough to ruin the drama, but after 11 fantastic episodes of near-perfection, it was a shame to leave with a bit of a sour taste. Look, I understand that they wanted to leave it open with the possibility of a season 2- that was obvious from the little snippet of Do Young escaping and beginning a second, underground Liar Game, but that in itself is annoying. Don’t write your story for the amount of episodes you want. Write it for the amount of episodes you have. If you get a season 2, awesome- work hard and give us new mysteries or further explore the old ones. Because now that it’s looking there won’t be a season 2 all you have is a fantastic drama that answers none of its own questions with a rather ambiguous ending.

I'm still holding out for Season 2 though

No Love:

No love was promised, and no love was given. But there were so many sparks between our two main leads. So many! It seems almost impossible that there could be that much chemistry flying between them only to end the show with a hand hold. And not even a romantic one- he’s helping her off the ground. Boo hoo we all wanted it.

Kim So Eun is 2 inches away from her best day ever

Oh wait, I lied- Dal Goo and Jamie sure looked like they were off to start their own little loveline.

Failure Father:

Just....egghhh

So Da Jung’s father has run away and left her to be harassed by debt collectors so he can ‘get a job and make money’. Sure, whatever. In every scene we see him in he’s just drinking soju and watching TV- on which his only daughter is having a terrible time getting used and potentially mentally scarred just so he can come home. Doesn’t look like trying to get a job to me. Oh, and let’s not forget that he once tried to sell her for medical expenses. Can I be the one to call ‘worst father ever’? So she didn’t actually get sold, but it was damn close. Da Jung was nearly shipped off to the same experiment that turned Do Young into such a loon. Even if that money had saved his wife (which it probably wouldn’t have), I don’t think she would’ve been best pleased knowing that you sold her only child so she could live. Dumbass.

Re-watch?

Sadly, while the ending didn’t ruin the whole drama, it did kill any desires for wanting to watch it again. While the first 11 episodes stand as incredible, thought-provoking material, I couldn’t go in again knowing that I’d get no answers at the end.

I need Season 2. I need it.

My Love from the Stars

My Love from the Stars

9.5/10

My Love from the Stars

Genre:                                   Episodes: 21                       Year: 2014

Romance

Fantasy

Mystery

Historical

Synopsis:

An alien crash lands in Korea during the Joseon period and he is unable to return to his home planet for many years. While on Earth, he meets a young girl who is bright and innocent despite her many hardships.

400 years later, the alien is living as Do Min Joon- a quiet man who views humans as inferior and does not engage with the world. However, this begins to change when he meets Cheong Song Yi- a top actress with a striking resemblance to the girl he knew 400 years ago.

Cast:

Kim Soo Hyun (Do Min Joon)

Jun Ji Hyun (Cheon Song Yi)

Yoo In Na (Yoo Se Mi)

Park Hae Jin (Lee Hwi Kyung)

Shin Sung Rok (Lee Jae Kyung)

General Thoughts:

This was the first K-Drama I ever watched, and after completing it I wondered if I had ruined K-Drama for myself as I could hardly believe that anything I ever watched in my life would be as good as this.

This drama has the perfect amount of comedy to keep it from becoming too heavy, but maintains a continuously fast-moving plot (which I have found many other K-Dramas struggle with).

‘My Love from the Stars’ really takes a little part of almost every genre: with the mystery giving it an exciting edge over most other romance dramas.

The main female lead is also not your typical defenceless, weeping K-Drama heroine who is constantly in need of a hero, but is fiery and rather arrogant- yet never becoming an unlikable character.

Our Hilarious Heroine

The cast was basically pitch perfect- right down to the small roles, and paired with solid writing and a racing plot, it deserves its mass popularity and rave reviews.

What Was Great:

Oh so, so, so many things. But here are the main ones:

Kim Soo Hyun:

Kim Soo Hyun is superb (as usual) and is the perfect fit for this role. I don’t think any other actor would have been able to bring Do Min Joon to life the way Kim Soo Hyun did. He has the magical ability to be able to remain completely stoic and expressionless, be awkward, cry, or laugh just the exact amount for the character. And being basically physically flawless doesn’t hurt either. They virtually created the perfect man. Swoon.

Physical Perfection

Strong Female Lead:

Queen of Sass

As mentioned before, it was delightful to have a strong female character, as so many K-Drama heroines are pretty- yet delicate and useless. While at times Cheon Song Yi was harsh, rude, and a bit of a b*tch, she was never an unappealing character, and you looked for reasons to like her and be on her side.

Paired together with Kim Soo Hyun, the two made an onscreen couple that was a joy to watch. They just look so ridiculously good together.

People Logic:

So many dramas I have watched since this  lack a basic understanding of how people would actually react in situations. I didn’t fully understand the wonder of this until several dramas later when I realized I would often be left thinking ‘who would actually do that?’ while watching. All characters act in completely logical ways, and you can understand their motives for doing the things they do, and this was (thankfully) consistent throughout the whole drama.

What Wasn’t:

Logic Logic:

A lot of the science began to fall away a bit towards the end of the drama, and a lot of small questions were left unanswered. While all the main points of the drama were tied up nicely, there were little holes in the science story that bothered me. They didn’t really continue on with the idea that Do Min Joon got sick from human saliva. Towards the end he was snogging Song Yi with no apparent repercussions. Also (and this could just be me being dense) do Min Joon’s powers still weaken? I’m still not really certain how that plot-point was resolved as I was left thinking that he’d never actually returned to his planet, but was hanging out in limbo in a wormhole until he could make it back to Earth. Not major holes in the story, but would have been nice to know.

The Ending:

It's not a BAD ending, but it's not really GOOD either. However, when considering how often K-Dramas completely botch the final few episodes- it comes out looking pretty clean. But I still found it a little disappointing considering how stellar the rest of the series was. There were so many ways they could have wrapped things up- and the writers ignored all of them! It literally just kind of ends. Apart from Do Min Joon, Cheon Song Yi and Lee Jae Kyung, none of the characters get properly resolved- which is beyond irritating. Who is that with Yoo Se Mi on the red carpet? Is it Lee Hwi Kyung or not?

A little bit like how I felt at the end

And even with the two main leads, apart from them already being together (which we all knew would happen anyway), we aren’t given much. So Do Min Joon is just sometimes there and sometimes not? What about the media? Everyone saw him teleport- does the world know about his alien-ness? And how do Song Yi and Min Joon address the issue of her aging and him remaining the same? Even Kim Soo Hyun admitted that he would have liked the drama to address some of these issues before the end. Oh well, still a fantastic drama.

Would I Watch Again?

Yes, absolutely. If I hadn’t wasted so much of my life on things that weren’t K-Drama and didn’t have a huge amount of series to get through, I’m sure I would’ve watched it multiple times already. As it is, once I catch up on all the dramas I have, this will probably be one of the first K-Dramas I revisit.

So much cute