Korean drama

Yonder (2022)

by maandoe

Profile
Drama: Yonder (욘더)
Network: TVING
Episodes: 6
Release Date: October 14, 2022

Plot: In futuristic Korea, euthanasia has been passed into law and a mysterious company is offering people the ability to design their own death.

Main cast:
Shin Ha Kyun -Kim Jae Hyun
Han Ji Min – Cha Yi Hoo
Jung Jin Young – Dr. K
Lee Jung Eun – Seiren

Review:
Spoilers alert. The drama opened an interesting and controversial topic to discuss and debate on, which is about life after death. Or specifically, designing your own death.

From episode 1 i already knew the potential danger that may happen with the premise. By N By was exploiting people’s grief and manipulating them through religion (souls going to heaven after death) and science (creating data from memories) to follow their dead relatives. I think they should be arrested for inciting mass murder/suicide. But the story was left open in the end and didnt have proper closure.

I thought the dying people who chose Yonder were very selfish. Like the lead’s wife. She couldn’t bear that the husband will forget her when she dies. Instead of wanting their family and friends to move on, they are also encouraging them to join them in “heaven”. And a lot of them did with false hopes of happiness, which is very sad. Like the girl killing herself to be with her dad, and the father to be with his family.

I also feel bad for those who wanted to grieve, and were led on by By N By. I mean the it was created by the married scientists who were grieving for their dead daughter and wanted to create their own alternate universe by bringing everyone else into their metaverse. It’s psychotic and chilling. I was disappointed with the sudden change of Jaehyun from a non believer upto ep 4 to suddenly joining his wife in ep 5. But am glad he was able to “wake up” and let go and also have friends who were able to bring him back to life.

The visuals were gorgeous, like the drama was supposed to be a movie but got extended to 6 episodes.

I personally favor euthanasia like if I were dying, i would like to choose when I would die rather than wait until I cant handle the pain anymore. But i would rather that memories remain in my heart and not create a new life after death. I’d rather be left at peace than have my brothers mourn me forever. Like Jaehyun said, “The reason beautiful moments are precious is because that moment can never return”. And the memories were built from data that maybe real but are remade for illusions.

I did wish the drama was 1 episode longer to explain where Yonder is and what happens after and to everyone else. I’m assuming it is some form of metaverse so I’m surprised people were not able to find out where it is located (eg. Server or IP address), and raid the company.

Rating: 8.5/10

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May It Please The Court (2022)

by maandoe

Drama: May It Please The Court (변론을 시작하겠습니다)
Network: Disney+
Episodes: 12
Release Date: September 21, 2022
Language: Korean
Country: South Korea

Plot: Noh Chakhee is a fantastic lawyer at Jangsan Corp, which is currently managed by Jang Gido. After a scandal, Chakhee was suspended for a year and was assigned to be public defender where she meets Jwa Shibaek. Just then, a series of murders take place and were all similarly connected to Chakhee, Shibaek and Jangsan.

Main Cast:
Jung Ryu Won – Noh Chakhee
Lee Kyu Hyung – Jwa Shibaek
Jung Jin Young – Jang Gido

Review:
Wow! Didn’t expect the story would get very dark in the end. I loved that it kept me guessing on who is the villain (there were a lot of them). I also decided on who they were near the end but not the motive!! The twist at the end were shocking, sad, brilliant, tragic.

I loved the pair of Chakhee and Shibaek. Shibaek definitely was able to bring the best of Chakhee. He is obviously a nice guy but his mysterious half smiles was getting annoying. Can we get a season 2 of them but make it a romcom?

Super love Jung Ryu Won, esp that scene when she found out who confessed and who she was defending 😱 And i love the growth of her character. Chakhee has always been nice but was stuck being a lapdog of Jangsan because of their gratitude at raising her when her grandmother died. Even though Chairman doted on her, she was still not considered “family”. When she found out the truth about her family, her illusions were shattered and she felt betrayed and vowed to bring down the family’s honor.

Chisik and Dongpil’s storyline was the perfect revenge. But i’m curious what was so special with the place where Chisik buried Eunsoo?

I also didn’t expect the granny and Shibaek/Mr Toilet’s relationship 😭 and the twist of who Shibaek really was!

Jang Gido was perfectly acted by Jung Jinyoung. I really thought he was a nice guy but like Chakhee, I finally saw through his fake tears and acting and it was disgusting. And the Chairman!! Great job casting the actor playing the chairman! 🤯

I wish there were better uses of Yiyeom, Haran and Chakhee’s dad but overall fantastic drama.

Rating: 9/10

Narco-Saints (2022)

by maandoe

Profile
Drama: Narco-Saints / Suriname (수리남)
Network: Netflix
Episodes: 6
Release Date: September 9, 2022
Country: South Korea

Plot:
A businessman who goes to Suriname to import skate to Korea ends up helping the NIS on a mission to capture an evasive druglord.

Main Cast
Ha Jung Woo – Kang Ingu
Hwang Jung Min – Pastor Jeon Yohan
Park Hae Soo – Choi Changho
Yoo Yeon Suk – David Julio Park
Jo Woo Jin – Byun Kitae

Review
This drama feels like an extended movie. Turns out it was supposed to be a movie, but they decided to make it into a short drama. To be honest, the story is nothing new, but it was an intense 6 episodes of anticipation and thrill. There were lots of double crossing, guns, gore, and drugs. Surprisingly, no nudity except for 1 short scene. The stellar cast of Ha Jung Woo, Hwang Jung Min, Park Hae Soo, Yoo Yeon Suk and Jo Woo Jin made the story more larger than life than the usual drug movies/drama.

I love that Ingu as the ML is very smart and capable, quick thinker, calm even when lying, and plays well with the big guys, even outsmarting both drug lords and NIS. HJW made Ingu work very well, and any other actor may not have made Ingu sympathetic. I love that there’s always this doubt if he is really working with NIS or getting tempted by Yohan or if he has his own agenda. That final fight scene with the pastor was a long time coming and felt satisfied seeing him punch and strangle the pastor after ruining his life. (And HJW looked so hot holding the gun lol) Ingu has been very calm and biding his time ever since he got out of prison, so seeing Ingu finally snapped and fight — I was also thinking, that is HJW that I love!! Ingu may not be as buff as the others but he made up for it with his judo moves, smart strategies and fancy suits.

Pastor was so magnetic and powerful. And weaselly enough to not get caught over the years, but he didnt seem as smart as I expected him to be. He was easily played or maybe he trusted Ingu too much and thought they could really be partners. I loved how sick it was for Pastor to create a church, get the blind believers to follow him, feed them drugs and make them dependent on him.

Byun was bad ass and it was obvious he was going to be the secret agent. That fight with the bodyguard was fantastic. Poor David and Chen Zhen.

There’s a lot of conversations so some found the episodes boring but I loved them (or maybe I was so mesmerized with HJW every time he’s onscreen) — yes, I’m completely obsessed with HJW.

Some thoughts on the ending (spoiler alert):
I wonder what happened to the girl and the rest of the cult. I wish there was a short resolution to them. Were they also arrested? Was the girl able to go back to her family?

At first, I thought the ending would be Ingu taking over the coca farm – that would have been fun for a season 2. He is so smart, he can probably do better than Yohan, but I don’t want Ingu to fight with Changho or get arrested and die. But still, I was okay with the ending since they neatly closed the drama with Ingu finally back and reunited with his family. I laughed when Ingu told his wife, “wow you got prettier!” and the wife responded with, “why did you get uglier?” HAHAHA. Ingu learned to treasure what he has and not get too greedy. And also, don’t trust the government. Like seriously, Ingu risked his life to help NIS, but NIS didn’t pay him cash like they promised. Also, interesting thing about the baseball. Yohan really did trust him and wanted him to be his partner.

Here’s fun promotion /game from the cast in case you want to get to them more:

Rating: 8.75/10 (9 less 0.25 for the unresolved cult)

Today’s Webtoon (2022)

by maandoe

Profile:
Drama: Today’s Webtoon (오늘의 웹툰)
Network: SBS
Episodes: 16
Release Date: July 29 – September 17, 2022
Runtime: Friday & Saturday 22:00-23:10
Country: South Korea

Plot:
This drama is about a webtoon publishing team trying to find ways to increase their sales or risk getting disbanded within a year.

Main Cast
Kim Se Jeong – On Ma Eum
Daniel Choi – Seok Ji Hyung
Nam Yoon Su – Goo Jun Yeong
Park Ho San – Jang Man Cheol
Ha Do Kwon – Heo Kwan Young

Review:
“We’re all creating our own stories each day. Some days, you feel like you took a wrong turn. A few days later, you realize you’ve managed to turn it into your path. And some of us persevere and keep trotting along each day even if we falter from time to time in order to achieve our longtime dreams. Sometimes we have to make a choice at crossroads. Every day, we are creating our own stories because life is like a full-length book. Just like today’s webtoon, where a new story begins every day.”

I love the first half because the workplace issues and challenges are so relatable. I would love to have On Ma Eum in my team because she is passionate, diligent and optimistic. However, sometimes she is too emotional. Great job for the editors to see her potential even though she didn’t have experience. I think her love her webtoons was a good skill to have that set her apart from the others. To be honest, if I were to choose between Jun Yeong and Ma Eum for the intern/contractual role, I would have chosen Ma Eum.

On the other hand, Gu Jun Yeong was a terrible character for most of the story. He was super moody and always felt like he was above Ma Eum and everyone else in the team. Like who the hell are you to act that way? You’re a new hire, who has no working experience or even no knowledge webtoons, but you think the work is beneath you. Instead of learning from the team and sharing his skill that made his the best hire, he just sulked all day. And the worse is he was even helping the enemy ruin his own team!! WTH!! I can’t believe the writers tried to pair him and Ma Eum together. No way, Ma Eum deserves a guy so much better than Jun Yeong! I prefer Ji Hyung over Jun Yeong as Ma Eum’s potential boyfriend. Maybe even Sin Dae Lyug (once he gets better). He did redeem himself in the end and grew more mature so that’s okay.

I love both editors, they were great mentors and support to the team. In that episode when Ji Hyung was choosing whether to leave or stay, I thought, if I were in his position, I most likely would have made the same decision because I want to stay and complete the year before I move. I also like to know I left the team in good hands or else I wouldn’t feel good about moving on. And also, PD Kwon and his story. I agree too that we don’t always have to work long hours — as long as you get things done, then the company shouldn’t hold it against you if you went home on time. I wish the girl editor also had her own story.

However, I also felt that the editors gave the 2 rookies too much free hand in handling their artists. That’s why in the second half of the show, they, Ma Eum kept making mistakes one after the other. Although it’s good to let the rookies handle the issues and learn from them, Ma Eum shouldn’t have kept significant problems to herself, but instead escalated them to her bosses. When reputation or lives are stake, the editors should step up and take over.

I love the different webtoon artists – loyal Gangnam and his crazy girlfriend, the senior and very respected Mr Baek who continues to learn and upgrade his skills despite his age, and Oh Yoon who wanted to try something new. Special mention to dimpled Donghee and his story in episode 7. It was brave of him to try to achieve his dream of being a webtoon artist, but he is even braver for facing the truth and letting go. I wish Pomme had a better storyline other than the stalker which was unnecessary – I was hoping Pomme and Jun Yeong would get together. There was also Go Seul Ah and her dream of becoming a webtoon artist at her own time.

Finally, a chunk of the story was spent on Sin Dae Lyug and I thought it was too long that it got boring. It was so obvious that he needed help/therapy so I was frustrated that Ma Eum didn’t do anything much to help him. He dislikes touching, yet Ma Eum continued to do it, or even let others do it (she could have warned people or intercepted their touches). She also never tried to ask him if he was okay or if he needed help. Instead, she mostly cared about whether he can submit his episode on time. The editors also didn’t advice or do something too. I also didn’t like how it was just so easy to resolve his issue with just an apology from his mom. It didn’t justify chaining him and traumatizing him forever and coming back because she’s sick.

Last, Director Heo should have been fired earlier. I honestly don’t know what his gripe with Man Chul. Is it just because his deal with Youngtoon didn’t push through before? If yes then it was such a shallow reason for trying to harm the entire team. I also don’t know how he gets to do whatever he wants and bypass the MD by making a deal all on his own. I know this is a drama so it’s very unrealistic to even be so disrespectful of you own boss.

Rating: 8/10