“7 First Kisses” (첫키스만 일곱번째)
I had no idea this series even existed. It popped up on YouTube when I was looking around for something to watch while I ate my late-night snack. (It was tteok-bokki and japchae, for those who have to know.)
Tag: Lee Jong-Suk
“School 2013” (학교 2013)
I watched this series, because I was curious to see how well Lee Jong-Suk acted early on in his career. Answer: He was very good, even in a so-so K-Drama. “School 2013” tackles many serious topics — bullying, suicide, overbearing parents — but if you want to watch a superior film about Korean high school students, opt for “Once Upon a Time in High School.”
“While You Were Sleeping” (당신이 잠든 사이에)
One of the things that I really love about Korean dramas is that many of them center around protagonists who knew each other as children — and reunite as adults. And such is the case with “While You Were Sleeping,” which follows a group of young adults who inexplicably see each other in their dreams.
“I Hear Your Voice” (너의 목소리가 들려)
I finished watching “I Hear Your Voice” around the same time that I started “Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food.” Both deal with older women/younger men plots, where the woman is about eight years older than her partner. The problem I had with “I Hear Your Voice,” though, is that the boy is a high school senior when the relationship begins. And while Soo-Ha certainly is more mature than Hye-Sung in many ways, he is still a teenager.
“W” (더블유)
When “W” begins, we meet Chul, who is a 17-year-old wunderkind who wins a gold medal in the Air Pistol Shooting competition at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Not long afterwards, he is framed for murdering his parents and two younger siblings.
“Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo” (역도요정 김복주)
If I were to rate this series, I would give it a 👎 for the first half. But the second half … wow. It was worth sitting through eight hours of meh to get to the satisfying ending. Bok-Joo is the top female wrestler at her school. In order to give the other women on her team a chance of medaling, her coach asks her to go up a weight class. The 5-foot-9 athlete weights roughly 127 pounds and must go up by about 10 pounds. Bear in mind that by U.S. standards, she would be considered thin. But much is made of the fact that she’s a big, overweight girl.