Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
“Signal” makes you ponder the consequences of altering life. Is it fate for a person to die at a certain time, no matter how horrific that death might be? And knowing that saving someone’s life in the past could create catastrophic results in the future, would you still take that chance?
One of the minor complaints that international fans have is they don’t like waiting to see their favorite Korean shows. Seeing overseas content in real-time can be a rarity for any regular series, regardless of what country it originates. But KOCOWA has a new feature to unveil and it should make international K-pop fans very happy: K-pop LIVE. Viewers can watch three of South Korea’s most popular music shows (“Music Bank K-Chart,” “Show! Music Core” and “SBS Inkigayo”) at the exact same time as their Korean counterparts in Korea!
Web series have always been popular with K-Drama fans. The short formats are attractive to viewers who want something fun to watch without investing a lot of time. Have you checked out “Here Comes Robo KDI-109!” and “Yellow” yet?
You can always watch plenty of K-Dramas for free on KOCOWA, but one of the perks of a subscription is getting to watch your shows straight through without annoying ads. KOCOWA also offers premium content that’s uploaded quicker and more accurately than on other legal streaming services.
The finale of “Bring the Soul” coincides with the end of the European leg of BTS’ 2018 “Love Yourself” world tour. Each member is given his moment in the spotlight, but this episode was almost a coming-of-age tribute to Jungkook (who had just turned 21 on tour).
When Yoo Ji-Tae was doing press interviews to promote”Healer,” he said he was confident about signing onto the project when he heard that Park Min-Young was the female lead. Why? Because Park is one of those actresses who has the magic touch when it comes to picking projects that will become hits. He wasn’t wrong. That got us wondering: Who else has the golden touch when it comes to K-Dramas?
The saving grace of “Come and Hug Me” is that it drives home the point that bloodlines don’t define who you are or who you will become — and that just because you passed your DNA onto a child, that doesn’t make you a good parent.
Ever since Ji Chang-Wook’s discharge from South Korea’s mandatory military duty on April 27, 2019, fans have been biting their fingernails waiting for his comeback. They won’t have to wait much longer, because the popular actor’s latest series, “Melting Me Softly,” will premiere on South Korean television on September 28.
“Someone said seeing BTS was like seeing a unicorn,” RM says in this fifth episode of “Bring the Soul.” “When you think about it, no matter what’s happening behind the stage, just showing our faces is a remarkable experience for some people.” In other words, the group is well aware that there are fans all over the world who will never get the chance to attend a BTS concert. They know that the ones who did manage to snare a ticket often had to go through a Hunger Games-like ordeal to purchase it. For that reason, the group strives to be perfect, to give each show 110% and to perform through their injuries when possible, even when they’re advised not to.
“My Ahjussi” is a satisfying K-Drama focusing on Dong-Hoon, a mid-level engineer who lives a mundane life. He works hard, hangs out with his brothers every evening and goes home to a house where his wife is rarely there. And if she is, she holes away in her home office and ignores him. It can’t be a coincidence that the set designer chose an apartment complex that looks more like a prison than a home for their residence.
Do you ever watch a K-Drama (or any series, for that matter) where the character is supposed to be a high school student and the actor playing the part looks at least a decade older? (I’m looking at you, “Beverly Hills, 90210”!) Due to labor laws in which underage actors can’t work hours as long as adults, it’s understandable why showrunners would want older artists working on their set. But it’s also an interesting twist when younger actors and actresses play characters who are more mature.
There have been countless think pieces on who will be the next BTS or how someone could create the next BTS. This is an irrational concept, because what they essentially are saying is, “How do we conjure up another group that gets this much press and makes this much money?” If money was all BTS was after, they could retire now and be set for life. But what drives them is the relationship they have with each other and their knowledge of the influence they have on others, which can be channeled into a greater good.
“Search: WWW” is the only K-Drama I can think of where women had the kind of lead roles that ordinarily would’ve gone to men. The female characters not only were the rainmakers where they worked, they were the decision makers who the men followed.
More so than any episode from last year’s “Burn the Stage” (or the first episode of this series), viewers can see how lonely life on the road can be. The seven-man group may smile on stage and charm their interviewers with witty quips and soundbites. But touring can wear them down, even when they know they are in a privileged position that many are envious of.
In the first episode of BTS’ latest docuseries “Bring the Soul,” the group’s leader RM discusses how they fit into their role as superstars. “There are things I can change and things I can’t,” he says. “But I’m doing well now the way that I am.”
“One More Time” was Kim Myung-Soo’s first lead role. Best known to K-Pop fans as L from the group Infinite, he certainly had the look of a singer-songwriter-guitarist down pat. With a better script and direction, he could’ve really done something with this part. But as it was, Tan was an unsympathetic character who was old enough to be responsible, but too immature to give up his rock ‘n roll lifestyle to pay off his considerable debts.
It’s always fun to see Korean groups like BTS, Blackpink and Day6 being interviewed on American talk shows. But it’s also eye-opening to see international acts having fun on South Korean programs, whether it’s Tom Cruise appearing on “Running Man” or NBA star Stephen Curry on “Infinite Challenge.” But one of the most charming segments I’ve seen in a long time is 5 Seconds of Summer’s guest appearance on “YO~! WELCOME TO KOREA!”
In Korean culture, Chuseok is a major holiday that’s equivalent to Thanksgiving. And SBS gave viewers a gift by airing the “BTS Variety Chronicles” — a collection of hand-picked segments from the group’s various variety show appearances on the network. That inspired us to curate our own best of picks, but we’re not going to limit it to just SBS shows or funny moments. Here are some of our favorite BTS appearances. What’s yours?
As a young woman passes by two men, an app on her phone goes off. “There is one person who loves you,” it says. The app is called JoAlarm (좋알람), which alerts users if there is someone within 10 meters who loves them. If you’re thinking that JoAlarm sounds nonsensical, you’re right — in English, it doesn’t make sense. But in Korean, it literally means an alarm to measure if someone likes your. (Remember that Jay Park song, “Joah”/”좋아”? 좋아 means good or to like. Now it makes perfect sense, right?)
Hotel del Luna is a gorgeous five-star hotel that only accepts dead souls, before they move onto heaven or hell. Yeo plays a Harvard-educated hotelier who is forced to work at the eponymous establishment, due to an agreement his father had made years ago. His boss is the otherworldly Mal-Wol, who has run Hotel del Luna for the past 1,300 years. She is neither dead or alive, but can’t peacefully enter the afterlife until she has settled her personal business on earth. Though the pair’s relationship starts off contentiously, they slowly fall in love and feel they are tied together by a force that can’t be explained.