Psychopath Diary

 Psychopath Diary

6/10

Psychopath Diary

Genre:                                     Episodes: 16                         Year: 2020

Thriller

Comedy

Synopsis:

Yook Dong Shik is a timid man who is looked down on by those around him. One day he witnesses a murder and picks up a diary belonging to the killer. As he flees the scene he is involved in an accident that causes him to lose his memories. Due to the diary, Dong Shik mistakingly believes that he is the killer. He draws closer to Shim Bo Kyung, a police officer who is investigating a string of suicides that she believes are actually the work of a serial killer.

Cast:

Yoon Shi Yoon (Yook Dong Shik)

Jung In Sun (Shim Bo Kyung)

Park Sung Hoon (Seo In Woo)

Choi Sung Won (Heo Tak Soo)

Kim Myung Soo (Shim Seok Goo)

Heo Sung Tae (Jang Chil Sung)

General Thoughts:

A lot of the time when reviewing K-Dramas I tend to find myself saying ‘I thought I would like this more than I did’. With this drama however, I’ve actually ended up thinking the opposite. Yes, it’s one of those rare times where I actually enjoyed a drama more than I thought I would.

I won't lie- I thought this show would be nothing but ridiculous

I went in with my expectations pretty low, and kinda just watched this show as a way to pass time while the dramas I was actually interested in watching were released (joke’s on me- I stretched my watching of this over many months and now I am once again way behind on shows). I thought it would be silly and fun for an episode or two before becoming a bit boring. But it didn’t! The first episode was great, but after that the momentum slowed a bit, and I’ll admit I found myself thinking ‘yep, here we go’,

Chill Sung made this show so fun

but then the storyline started to pick up again and I found myself being happily drawn in again. It’s not like I finished an episode and instantly switched the next one on because I was so curious to see what happened next- but I didn’t get bored in the episodes, and the episodes themselves were fun and didn’t feel long. There was an unpredictability to the show that made it quite enjoyable- you could never be sure where it was going to take you. I was surprised that we found out who the killer was so early on, but it actually worked very well in the show’s favour to do so. Seeing Dong Shik flounder around thinking he was a serial killer was funny, but putting that next to the REAL killer, In Woo, made it a lot funnier. The parallel between the two characters was a great source of humour, and the show drew on that further when In Woo thought he had found another person like him- he was so serious about it, but we the audience were very clued in on the situation and what an absolute muppet Dong Shik really was, that seeing In Woo believe he was a killer was really funny. Yoon Shi Yoon matched the character of Dong Shik extremely well- this type of character is tailor made for the over-the-top comedy that Yoon Shi Yoon so often delivers.

This is Yoon Shi Yoon's brand of comedy

If I’m being honest, I did find Yoon Shi Yoon’s acting to be a bit too much a lot of the time, but it did suit the character well. It’s kind of an old-school type of comedy that can take a bit of time getting used to, but once the drama set the stage as being one of extra, somewhat slapstick humour, it was easy enough to accept and just go along with it. It paired well with Jung In Sun’s more straight-faced, earnest character, and the show had a relatively breezy vibe over all. Even with the actual serial killer.

They made a fun pair

I don’t think Jung In Sun is the best actress ever, but she did well here and delivered an honest and endearing character. Bo Kyung’s hunches and dedication to her job made her an easy character to cheer for- particularly when everyone else in the police force was so weirdly determined to not catch the real killer. I mean seriously, did anyone think her mentor detective was a good guy? He just screeaaamed shady from the moment he stepped on screen. Our bad guy, In Woo, was played by Park Sung Hoon, who isn’t exactly a new face in dramaland, but I am fairly sure that he’s been relegated to pretty small roles previously- like a named friend of the hero or office colleague kind of thing. Well, he was so fabulous as our psychopathic killer. I won’t pretend that there was a lot of backstory behind In Woo’s character (chaebol son takes out frustrations by killing people, you know the drill), but he gave a lot of energy to the character. His smiles had such a way off coming of creepy, even in non-creepy settings. His chemistry with Yoon Shi Yoon was really fun and the two made for a really solid comedic duo, even if Park Sung Hoon played a serious character the whole time. The rest of the characters were all pretty stock-standard, but there were a couple of great side characters. Heo Sung Tae was absolutely brilliant as the gangster-turned-good, and his adoration of Dong Shik was both hilarious and adorable.

Long live this unexpected and hilarious bromance

Watching Dong Shik actually come to rely on Chil Sung was sweet and super entertaining- watching the two hapless fools bumble their way through a dangerous serial murder investigation just felt so fresh and had a load of comedy to draw from. Another scene stealer was Kim Myung Soo who played Bo Kyung’s disabled father. At first he was a sweet and endearing character that was used to showcase Bo Kyung’s love for her family and dedication to her job, and honestly that’s kind of how I expected him to stay- a sad backstory for our heroine.

Don't hurt Dad

 But then the show did something quite special- it expanded Kim Myung Soo’s role into being an aspect of Bo Kyung’s life that In Woo could take advantage of and exploit. The drama was so light-hearted that I was completely taken aback and got chills when In Woo threatened Bo Kyung’s father knowing full well that he was unable to speak out for help, and watching him keep the poor man helpless and under his influence through the hospital and drugs gave In Woo a massive fear factor that he hadn’t really had before. Kim Myung Soo played every scene perfectly- he was so sweet and defenceless that it really ignited a feeling of anger and desperation when he switched to the heavier scenes. For the plot itself, there was nothing really revolutionary going on, but it was more the interactions between the characters that was the draw of the drama anyway. The show wasn’t predictable, but it wasn’t exactly groundbreaking either- there were no major twists and it was easy enough to follow along even if you got distracted for a minute or two along the way.

What Was Great:

Lasting the Distance:

A problem I find a lot of K-Dramas have is that there just isn’t enough plot to spread out between the episodes. Plot-lines rise and fall and there tends to be a bit of a lull at some point in most shows. I was surprised to find with ‘Psychopath Diary’ that as the show went on it started to feel more engaging not less. The comedy found its footing and became a bit less slapstick based, and I just became plain interested to see how In Woo would get caught and how far along Dong Shik would get dragged.

Pre-psycho Dong Shik was painfully wimpy

I didn’t think the show would have Dong Shik kill someone while he thought he was the murderer, but I was never positive that it wouldn’t happen either. It was a good path to have Dong Shik decide that killing people was now boring, as it gave him an excuse to not go around killing people while also extending the period of time that it made sense for him to believe himself the murderer. Usually the hooks that draw you into a show, the special little somethings, become undone before the halfway point, so I was fully expecting Dong Shik to catch on that he wasn’t really the killer pretty quickly. I was impressed that the show kept Dong Shik in killer mindset for most of its run and crafted the story around that without defaulting back to a regular old ‘who dunnit’ when in actual fact we already know who dunnit.

I mean, I know which one I'd pick as being the psychopath on hairstyle alone

The show brought in enough little side stories as we made our way to the conclusion that the plot never felt dragged out, and the momentum was built nicely. With each side quest Dong Shik and Bo Kyung went on, they got a little closer to the killer. It was just plain fun to watch these two characters bumble their way into catching the most notorious killer of their time, and there was enough entertainment in each episode that it managed to fill all 16 of them without stretching the plot thin.

What Wasn’t:

Low Stakes:

Generally the downside of silly, fun shows is that there isn’t a lot of substance to them. It isn’t to say that this drama was insubstantial, but there’s only so much you can relate to dorky, slightly cartoonish characters that stumble through life. 

It's always the rich boy. Always.

There’s a level of tension you expect out of more light-hearted shows, and it almost a guarantee that no major characters are going to die or be greatly endangered. We all knew In Woo would get caught and Dong Shik would realise he wasn’t the murderer and that it would all work out in the end. And even if some characters did get hurt or die, there was very low personal investment in the characters, so while it would have been a surprise, it wouldn’t have been too heartbreaking. Also due to the fact that Dong Shik thought he was the killer, the show couldn’t then have In Woo going around killing more people- because then Dong Shik would know that he wasn’t the killer- because people would still be dying even though he was doing no murdering. So while In Woo was set up well as a scary and remorseless killer, he actually spent most of the show not killing people and just laughing about how Dong Shik thought he was a cold-blooded psychopath. 

Recommend?

If you want a silly comedy to not take too seriously then sure. If you’re after a more serious mystery or romance I’d advise you to look elsewhere.

The show gets props for an interesting twist on your classic murdering chaebol story

The Best Hit

The Best Hit

4/10

The Best Hit

Genre:                                                  Episodes: 16                                         Year: 2017

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

In 1993, Yoo Hyun Jae, a popular member of a successful boy group travels forward in time to 2017. In the modern time, Hyun Jae learns that he mysteriously disappeared in 1994.

Cast:

Yoon Shi Yoon (Yoo Hyun Jae)

Lee Se Young (Choi Woo Seung)

Kim Min Jae (Lee Ji Hoon)

Cha Tae Hyun (Lee Gwang Jae)

Yoon Son Ha (Hong Bo Hee)

Dong Hyun Bae (MC Drill)

Lee Deok Hwa (Lee Soon Tae)

Hong Kyun Min (Paark Young Jae)

Chae Eun Woo (MJ)

Bona (Do Hye Ri)

General Thoughts:

I put off writing this review the way I put off finishing this drama- and for the same reason. This drama is so, so, so, so, so insanely boring. How can you have two comedic goldmines in Yoon Shi Yoon and Cha Tae Hyun and not have an outlandishly hilarious show?

Why are you so unfunny, show?

It’s not like the show didn’t have anything to work with- we started with interesting characters, a intriguing time-travel plot and a fairly talented cast. But it just…wasn’t what I expected it to be. I wonder if this show was funnier to its Korean audience, because a couple of times I did feel like the show was being funny but I just totally didn’t get it.

The kiss gag was fun, but it did make me nervous that there'd be a romance

I also fail to see how this was a ‘variety-drama hybrid’ (which is what is was marketed as), as really it was exactly the same as a regular drama. I was looking forward to a sort of mockumentary style similar to ‘Producers’ (which I found hilarious), but instead it had nothing in it that made it stand out from other comedy dramas. To be fair, at first the humour was pretty good, and I found myself enjoying the show, but as the storyline progressed (and the fun at Hyun Jae flailing around in the future faded) the show’s humour seemed to fall away. The antagonistic relationship between Hyun Jae and Gwang Jae was annoying rather than funny- I would have much preferred a long-lost bromance dynamic similar to ‘Tunnel’, and the love triangle between the father and son just kind of creeped me out. There were some fun moments to be mined from the situation while Hyun Jae didn’t know that Ji Hoon was his son or that his son was also crushing on Woo Seung, but as soon as he found out the whole situation just weirded me out.

This is the most uncomfortable love triangle I've ever been subjected to

Ji Hoon himself was just far too serious to be funny, and I thought Gwang Jae was a touch to whiny and butt-hurt and wasn’t funny either. And Bo Hee was just kinda super useless. Grandad and Mal Sook were always pretty fun, and I tended to always enjoy their snippets on screen- like when Grandad tried to buy off the young boy in exchange for not playing with Mal Sook anymore. I also found MC Drill pretty fun.

He also made Ji Hoon fun which is an added bonus

Though I do wish his character had some serious scenes or moments of character development, at least he could be relied upon to be consistently funny. At first I though Dong Hyun Bae was going a little over the top with his character’s representation, but as the show and his character found their groove, he acted quite well. I also appreciated that he didn’t shy away from being labelled as Tayang’s older brother- the scene of him bursting into ‘Eyes, Nose, Lips’ was just hilarious. Dong Hyun Bae actually reminds me a bit of Kang Ki Young (who is fabulous), and I hope he continues acting and expanding his range. Kim Min Jae as the other half of the duo I usually like, but he’s starting to fall into the trap of playing the same sorts of characters. His role here was really quite similar to the prickly guy with a soft spot for his girl that he played in ‘Because It’s the First Time’ and was even a bit similar to the entitled young King he played in ‘Goblin’. I know that he’s a good actor, but I wish he’d be a bit braver in the projects he chooses and step outside his comfort zone a bit.

You can do better than this Min Jae-ah

Yoon Shi Yoon was of course fabulous, but I did find his character pretty annoying. Yoon Shi Yoon’s natural charm only just managed to make Hyun Jae a likeable character. And I thought the leading lady Lee Se Young was just bad.

Not really a fan of these characters. Super not a fan of their love-line

Similarly to Hyun Jae, her character was super annoying, and Lee Se Young just didn’t have the charm or charisma to make up for that. Woo Seung was grouchy and often unapproachable, and was petty and selfish to boot. The character was simply boring and poorly written- with her having nothing more to do than simply be around as something for Hyun Jae and Ji Hoon to disagree over and fight about. Actually that pretty much wraps up the story as a whole. I kept waiting for the big reason that Hyun Jae time travelled to the future (was it to find the money? Discover who killed him? Spend time with his son?), but it turns out that…um…yeah there’s really no reason. He just sort of comes to the future, mucks around a bit, and then steals his son’s crush. Yeah man, what the hell? The fact that the whole story just came down to an immature romance really sucked. For most of the show’s run, Ji Hoon and Gwang Jae didn’t even want Hyun Jae around, and in the end, his trip to the future didn’t change anything.

If fate or destiny or whatever was gonna propel him through time you'd think there'd be a good reason for it

Nothing in the past altered, and nothing in the future really changed either except that now Ji Hoon has no chance with Woo Seung. Ji Hoon and Drill would have debuted through

An actual expression! You've come a long way since 'To Be Continued'

World Entertainment without Hyun Jae coming to the future, so all he really did was help sign MJ. Who was a significantly smaller character than I would have liked. Unlike most of the other characters, MJ did tend to be quite funny. Cha Eun Woo has improved a lot- there was actual believable emotion on his face! I would have liked MJ to be a bit more involved in the story. In fact, I would have liked ALL the characters to be a bit more involved in the story, as most of what we got was Hyun Jae and Woo Seung which was weird and boring. There were all these other smaller plot lines in the works that just weren’t developed, and left the story as a whole feeling rather one-dimensional. The drama lacked the heart and emotional core that shows about close friends and family usually have, and I blame that entirely on focusing too much on the romance. Oh and the characters just being generally sucky.

What Was Great:

Yoonie:

I really only kept watching for Yoon Shi Yoon (and the fact that I hate leaving dramas unfinished). He did a great job trying to drag this dead drama along, and a couple of times he actually got me to care about what was going on in the story.

Oppa~ let's pick better projects now, okay?

He did a pretty good job at building the romance, because Lee Se Young didn’t really help him there. He was flamboyant without being unrealistic and brought his dramatic charm to a character that otherwise could have been too haughty and arrogant. I adored Yoon Shi Yoon’s ‘90s style and he pulled it off surprisingly well. 

What Wasn’t:

Kinda Gross OTP:

I just couldn’t get into the love-line of this drama. Not at all. It’s an awkward time skip to include a romance. In fact, because of the amount of time that had passed,

Does it not weird you out at all that he's actually your best friend's father?

I really wasn’t expecting there to be a main romance at all- because it just wouldn’t make a lot of sense. It would either be Hyun Jae with Bo Hee- who was now old enough to be his mother and was raising their son with another man, or with Woo Seung who was the same age as his son and was in fact the woman his son was in love with. It’s just weird either way. Most time travel dramas that work in a romance can do so because the time between the two timelines is so great- I’m talking hundreds or thousands of years. So you don’t really picture one of the characters being significantly older than the other- you just go off their biological age, which is usually pretty similar (think ‘Queen In Hyun’s Man’). But by having such a small amount of time between the timelines (a mere 24 years) everything changes. Because there are people that the hero knows in both timelines, it seems creepy for him to get into any sort of romantic relationship. Because Woo Seung was the same age as his son, I found it super icky that Hyun Jae would even consider her in a romantic sense. I know they’re technically the same age, but it still kinda grossed me out.

Guys...it's not cute. It's just creepy.

Kinda Boring:

Because I was so disengaged from the main romance, as soon as the drama started centring its story around the love-line between Hyun Jae and Woo Seung, I just wasn’t all that interested.

Why does she get so much screen time? Just why?

Due to being so weirded out by the whole relationship, I struggled to find their interactions fun or cute, and as a result, their scenes together just became boring. And there were SO many scenes of them together.

What a stupendous waste of time

As I mentioned before, as the romance took centre stage, everything else in the drama just fell away. We didn’t really discover what happened regarding Hyun Jae’s disappearance, and when we did it sucked. What- he wanted to secretly die rather than let people know he had an illness? That’s possibly one of the stupidest things I’ve heard in K-Drama. And I’ve heard some pretty stupid things. Gwang Jae and Bo Hee’s romance was brushed over super fast and even Ji Hoon’s dreams of becoming a singer and his debut were just glossed over at the end. I tend to like my dramas to have some kind of meaning- not necessarily deep meaning, but at least have things happen for a reason. There were so many directions this drama could have taken, and in the end it opted for a sporadic series of events that revolved around an awkward romance.

Recommend?

Nah. Nothing was really done all that well- not the time travel nor the love-line.

I recommend not watching this drama

Three Colour Fantasy

Three Colour Fantasy

6/10

Three Colour Fantasy

Genre:                               Episodes: 9                          Year: 2017

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

A drama trilogy consisting of three mini-series. ‘White’- Despite being a grim reaper tasked with escorting souls to the afterlife, Byul does everything in her power to save the life of her favourite singer, Woo Joo. ‘Green’- So In Sung has failed the exam to become a police officer 8 times. He applied for a high-paying part time job and gained superhero-like powers. ‘Gold’- Nan Hee has poor self esteem because she doesn’t think she is very pretty. She comes across a magical ring that makes her pretty and uses its power to pursue her ideal man.

Cast:

Ji Woo (Byul)

Suho (Woo Joo)

Yoon Shi Yoon (So In Sung)

Jo Soo Hyang (Wang So Ra)

Kim Seul Gi (Mo Nan Hee)

Ahn Hyo Shop (Park Se Gun)

 General Thoughts:

I wasn’t quite sure how to review this as they’re all different stories and don’t link together in any way, but I decided on doing them all together as they’re technically part of the same web-series.

Who doesn't like a bit of cutesy romance every now and then?

All the stories were pretty interesting and fun, and even if you didn’t love all of it, there were still parts of each story that you’re bound to enjoy. I’m still not sure if there was some greater theme between the three shows that I just missed completely or if young love was the only connection. Either way, I enjoyed all the stories for the cute 3 hour shows that they were. While all of stories had a lot of cute, ‘Star of the Universe’ had a much more serious tone than the other two making them seem extremely jokey and bright in comparison. ‘Star of the Universe’ really did seem like the odd one out of the bunch, as ‘Vivid Romance’ had a Kim Seul Gi cameo and I think I saw Kang Ki Young somewhere in ‘Queen of the Ring’. 

Kang Ki Young and Yoon Shi Yoon? This is a bromance I can get behind.

What Was Great:

Star of the Universe:

This was by far my favourite of the three. In a short web-drama what I’m really looking for is a sweet romance with lots of cute, and that’s what Part 1 gave us.

Suho is super dreamy

While I still don’t understand how the top star fell for the average stalker, once we got into the cuteness and the romance I was entertained and happy. I wouldn’t write home about either of the leads, but they gave acceptable enough performances for a short series. I remember thinking that I wanted to keep an eye out for how Suho’s acting was going, but then I went and got all distracted by his handsomeness. Whoops. I think it was okay. The general story was just so nice. It had a touch of sadness in it in that the heroine was already dead so we knew we were on borrowed time, but the romance between the two was so super sweet. I also adored the romance between the doctor and the emergency worker. It was just a nice little show about two kids falling in love, and it even had a bit of depth to it. Awesome.

Cast:

I was so on board this drama from the moment I heard the casting news. Yoon Shi Yoon? Yes. Kim Seul Gi? Double yes. I’m still slightly bummed that two of my favs didn’t actually act together (they were in different stories), but I was excited all the same. These two are just built for comedy, though they can both also carry emotion well.

Look at how adorable and tiny she is

Kim Seul Gi made me love her all over again in her segment, as she really nailed home that she is the queen of comedy right from episode 1. Can she have a lead role in a big drama now, please? The supporting actors were all pretty solid too, and made for a very well acted show.

What Wasn’t:

Direction of Story 2:

I would have adored this story had it not been for the small fact that the two leads basically used other people who loved them to get at each other.

I just felt so bad for the rebounds

I’m not usually a fan of rekindled romances (hello, you broke up for a reason), and it was just salt in the wound that these guys were dragging two innocent people into their mess and trampling all over their emotions. It was hard to get on board with any of the cute between the leading couple as Yoon Shi Yoon’s character is actually dating another girl for the majority of the series. Both the second girl and second guy were super cute and it was sad to watch their two little hearts get broken at the expense of someone else’s happiness. It was nice that the overall message was that In Sung was fine and able to be loved without his superpowers, but I really wished that they’d come to that conclusion just between the two of them.

Message of Story 3:

This story was almost perfect. It was all going swell until about halfway through when I realised that a pretty serious case of Second Male Lead Syndrome had snuck up on me.

And suddenly I realised I'd been in love with him all along. Shame the heroine didn't feel the same.

There was plenty of comedy to be had in the main male lead thinking that cute little Kim Seul Gi looked like a supermodel, but I was really hanging out for her character to get the love she deserved.

Kim Seul Gi is fabulous and if you don't agree you can get out of my face

And in my eyes, that love came from the guy who put the ring on and saw her exactly as she was and not some hot supermodel-like girl. Sure, we did get to that stage with the main guy at the end, but the hero kept saying stuff that made me believe that he never found her truly pretty. Like ‘you’re pretty in my eyes’. And his whole confidence booster for her was ‘show people that ugly apples have value too’. Like, back off bud she’s a perfectly fine apple, thank you very much. It started to grate on my nerves the way everyone kept calling Kim Seul Gi ugly. Sure, she’s not classically beautiful but that girl is hell adorable and a far way off ugly. It doubly bothered me because this show is bound to have some young viewers, and you’re telling a bunch of young girls who are short and cute and delightful that they aren’t physically appealing. And that’s not cool.

Recommend?

Web-dramas sort of have a different scale to the 16 and up episode dramas, in that you expect less from them. I totally recommend ‘Three Colour Fantasy’ as a cute time-waster series. The stories are nice and short (about three hours each) and have a fair amount of plot in them compared to other web-series I’ve seen. They’re all fun and entertaining in their own ways, and definitely better than most web-dramas out there. 

They're all pretty cute