Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
The burgeoning romance in “Twenty-Five Twenty-One” is based on a strong friendship. But some viewers have pointed out that the story would’ve been more effective if the female lead character hadn’t been underage when they met.
“Melancholia” is a nuanced series that depicts how a math teacher (Im Soo-jung) encourages her morose student (Lee Do-hyun) to live up to the potential he had as a child genius.
There are still 18 days left until the end of the 2021 — and Gong Yoo’s “The Silent Sea” doesn’t even makes its premiere until December 24. But I don’t know that there will be a better K-drama this year than “Happiness.”
“You Are My Spring” stresses the importance of mental health care and normalizing treatment for everyone, rather than as something that’s just for the clinically insane. And … There’s also a serial killer element.
“Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha” is one of those slow-moving K-dramas that makes viewers wish they had the same kind of relationship as the characters do — not just with love interests, but with their friends.
“Hospital Playlist” is a good series, where the core friendship is warm and engaging. The five doctors have the kind of relationship with each other that makes me envious … even though I don’t particularly feel a need for that many close friends in my real life. (haha)
The series parable seems to be that if you have hate in your heart, you are susceptible to being influenced to hurt others, just because you can. “Bring It On, Ghost” started off as an uneven series. But once you get past the first couple episodes, it becomes a must-see K-drama that’s filled with action and a lot of heart.
“Mine” is a women-centric K-drama in which the worst actions have been created by men. Their immorality serves as a cause and effect for a chaebol family’s misery.
The first half of “Oh My Ghost” is what I refer to as a laundry series. I was so disinterested in the plot that it took me months to finish, and most of it was while I was sorting and folding laundry. But all that changed in the second half when the series veered from the repetitive plot of a horny ghost wanting to bed a handsome chef, and turned into a thrilling murder mystery.
For septuagenarian Shim Deok-Chul, his unfulfilled dream is ballet. As a child, he had wanted to take lessons, but his father stopped him. There was the lack of money. But there was (and still is) also the prejudice against men who participated in the artform. For many close-minded people who fear the unknown, dancing isn’t a masculine hobby to take up.