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| My Sassy Girl Image: https://www.viki.com/tv/35705c-my-sassy-girl |
In this episode of an old man yelling at the clouds, I’m going to
highlight a number of excellent Korean TV shows, or if you're hip enough, “K-dramas.” I must admit that despite my interest in China and
Asia, I have paid no attention to Korea. It seemed like a minor
player in the area, sort of a minor offshoot of China and Chinese
history. And as a result, I didn’t pay much attention to its TV shows many of which are offered by Netflix. I did sample one comedy, whose
name I can’t recall, but it seemed rather silly, and quickly forgot
it. Later, I tried three episodes of the historical drama Mr
Sunshine, but found it a bit more violent than I cared for. All
that changed when, with nothing else to watch, I tried the Korean
historical drama, Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung.
I think I watched three episodes before I decided to invite my wife
to watch with me. (I audition these shows before suggesting that she
might like them as well.) In any event, it was a winner.
Ah,
don’t let the silly translation of the show titles put you off. The
shows are nowhere near as silly as their English titles might
suggest.
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| Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung Image: https://www.tvtime.com/en/show/364834/recommendations |
Rookie
Historian Goo Hae-ryung (16 episodes Netflix)
The
story is set in the 18th
century Korea. It, like those Chinese historical dramas, is centered
around the court of the Chosen Dynasty, who
employed court
historians that recorded everything
that went on in the court.
These historians were historically independent of the King’s
authority and allowed to record what was
said and what they
observed, impartially. In the story it is decided to add a number of
female historians to the
department, in part, to try
to discover who is
behind a perceived threat to the king. Our heroine, Goo Hae-ryung,
escaping from an arranged marriage, and wanting to be something more
than a wife of an official, applies and is accepted as one of these
female apprentice historians.
As
with all the shows that I like, Rookie Historian Goo Hau-ryung is a
mixture of comedy, romance, plus mystery, intrigue, danger and drama
all deftly woven together in one story. And
like almost all of the shows, it is carried along by an appealing
female lead. The male
romantic lead is a cloistered prince who moonlights as a writer or
romance novels. The
story unfolds, sometimes with a
lighthearted episode, and
sometimes with a
dark episode full of
danger and/or
tears as the main characters
come ever closer to the central
mystery of what happened a decade before to bring to power the
current kings slowly comes to light.
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| Rookie Historian Image: https://www.soompi.com/article/1333638wpp/astros-cha-eun-woo-and-shin-se-kyung-impress-on-1st-day-of-filming-for-rookie-historian-goo-hae-ryung |
The
actors, female and male, in this, and indeed, in all the Korean shows
I’ll talk about are wonderful. The writing is clever, funny, and
dramatic in turn – and so must be the translators as well. Compared
to their Chinese counterparts, the settings are much less elaborate,
and the courts less impressive, but I think the stories are tighter,
and more focused.
On
interesting feature of this and the following show, is that marriage
is not the end all, be all of the heroine. In both, they pursue their
own futures, independently of their true love.
I’d
rate Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung 4 ½ stars.
Next
up is another historical drama set roughly in the same time period as
Rookie Historian. The
name is still silly, the men
still wear those silly looking hats and
it still concerns intrigues
of
the court.
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| My Sassy Girl Image: https://www.soompi.com/article/992093wpp/first-impressions-sassy-girl-drama-finally |
My
Sassy Girl (16 episodes Netflix)
The
heroine of this story is a princess, whose mother was supposedly
killed in thwarted
palace coup ten years before the beginning of the story. She is free
spirited and
bold, often
escaping the confines of the palace. Worse
for drink, she is saved from falling from a bridge by the
male lead, a scholar just returned from China, and
things get more complicated after that. Later, he
is appointed the teacher for the princess’s little brother, and
together, with much bickering
in the beginning, they
set out to unravel the mystery of her mother’s supposed death, and
its implications in the court. Like
Rookie Historian, there are lighthearted, largely comical episodes
along with dark, dangerous, and dramatic episodes. Both my wife and
I looked forward each evening to watching the next episode. (We limit
ourselves to one a night.) Another
winner.
Another
4 ½ star show.
I
can highly recommend both of these shows, though
it
probably takes watching the
first two episodes to get
fully involved with the characters and the story line, but once in, I
think that you’ll enjoy the
ride.
Next
we turn to shows set in modern Korea.
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| Romance is a Bonus Book Image: https://medium.com/@togoandoreoo/reasons-why-romance-is-a-bonus-book-is-a-big-bonus-everyone-2089c80b0a78 |
Romance
is a Bonus Book (16 episodes, Netflix)
The
story is largely set in a small Korean publishing house, and if you
like books, it is interesting just on that account alone – how
books to be published are decided upon, printed, sold and, if
necessary, disposed of in Korea. The story concerns a woman who took
time off from work in an advertising to raise her daughter. Now
divorced, she tries to get
back into the business, but
finds that no one wants a 30
something year old woman who is 10 years out of the business. To
make ends meet, she secretly
works as the housekeeper of an old friend, and when she finds herself
homeless, stays in his attic as well, until discovered. Unable to get
a job in her field, she applies for an internship at this friend’s
publishing firm, without listing her university degree, and gets the
low level job…
And well, once more we have a romantic comedy, with a dollop of
mystery. It is a very character focused show, with a likable ensemble
cast, and without any great soap opera/melodramatic endings, like a
number of other shows like this seem to think you need.
I
liked it a lot. 4 ½ stars, yet again.
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| Something in the Rain Image: https://heychingu.com/157/something-in-the-rain-2018 |
Something
in the Rain
This
proved to be a darker romantic drama than I expected.
It has its comedy elements,
and its romance, but it has a lot more drama and heartbreak than I
usually prefer. What it does have going
for its female romantic lead, Son Ye-jin. Son Ye-jin is simply a
wonderfully expressive
actor. Here she plays a 35 year old coffee company supervisor who
falls in love with her brother’s best friend, who is some 10 years
younger. This romance is bitterly opposed by her mother, and most of
the family, for reasons that are not quite clear to this viewer, (It
might be a cultural thing that I’m missing.) and
much drama and heartbreak ensues – along with drama at her
office concerning pressing sexual harassment charges. Overall, not
exactly my
cup of tea, but certainly not bad. We watched the entire series.
On
this one, I’d only give it 3 stars – but just because I like my
entertainment more lighthearted.
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| Cinderella and the Four Knights Image: https://www.soompi.com/article/1371147wpp/4-reasons-cinderella-and-four-knights-is-the-ultimate-guilty-pleasure |
Cinderella
and the Four Knights (16
episodes Netflix)
The
premise of this show is that a very rich man has three grandsons from
three different and deceased
sons living in a modern
mansion together, who don’t get along. Two of them are more or less
jerks, one is nice, but none of them he considers suitable heirs to
his wealth, as they are. One of them, on a bet, hires our heroine to
play the role of his fiancee for the 5th
wedding of his grandfather. The wealthy grandfather is impressed by
the actions of our heroine and hires her to live in the mansion and
make his grandsons better people. She accepts, needing the money to
go on to college, and set out to complete the missions he assigns
her. The first having all three cousins eat a meal together…
Like
most of the other shows I’ve reviewed in this series, it is an
enjoyable comedy/romance/soap opera. My biggest ding against this
one is that it ends with a
very melodramatic
ending, that I didn’t think necessary. I
like slice of life stories, and don’t need a dramatic ending. But I
am likely in the minority on this issue.
Because
I dislike melodramatic endings, I’m knocking half as star off: 3 ½
stars
Well,
I see this rant has
gone on longer than I had expected, and I still have one Korean
show to go. It, however, is a
show that I’m going to gush over, being
perhaps the
best show I’ve ever seen.
I’m already watching it for
a second time. So I think
I’ll save that for its very
own post, coming soon.
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| Romance is a Bonus Book Image: https://aminoapps.com/c/k-drama/page/blog/romance-is-a-bonus-book-episode-8-preview/qkGs_Ru5B7be2E76omm20rRZEvpQpk7 |
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