Korean Drama : Duel

 

Year Released 

2017

Genre 

Science fiction

No. of Episodes

16 - running time of 60 minutes per episode

Starring

Jung Jae-young, Yang Se-jong, Kim Jung-eun, Seo Eun-soo

Storyline

Detective Jang Deuk-cheon (Jung Jae-young) entangles with two men who look exactly the same, Lee Sung-joon and Lee Sung-hoon (Yang Se-jong). The two are involved in the kidnapping of Deuk-cheon's daughter Jang Soo-yeon (Lee Na-yoon).

Reporter Ryu Mi-rae (Seo Eun-soo) gets to know Sung-joon while trying to find out about her mother, Ryu Jeong-sook's (Kim Bo-jung) life as a nurse before her death.

My View

I'm extremely surprised that a Science fiction drama sits so well with me this time. Usually, they just get rated one or two stars. Not even Ji Chang-wook's Melting Me Softly makes me change my mind. 

Love Duel's plot twist and how things being uncovered, glad that I watched it till the end. But one thing that bothered me was how did Sung-joon recover from his illness. Lol a mystery right there.

Rating

4/5 Stars

 

Korean Drama : Detectives in Trouble

Year Released

2011

Genre 

Crime

No. of Episodes

16 - running time of 70 minutes per episode

Starring

Song Il-gook, Lee Jong-hyuk, Song Ji-hyo, Park Sun-young

Storyline

Jung Il-do (Lee Jong-hyuk) heads the team in Gangnam Police Homicide Division. Among its members are Detective Park Se-hyuk (Song Il-gook), Nam Tae-shil (Sung Ji-ru) and Shin Dong-suk (Kim Joon). Se-hyuk has been trying to find out the reason for Il-do who shot a criminal five years ago as this incident inadvertently killed Se-hyuk's daughter.

My View

Reason why I watched this drama was due to the fact the crimes featured were based on true stories. But I feel like I'm watching those old HK TVB series. 

The only plus point is that dramas in those olden days (ten years ago probably) do show the victims' bodies covered in blood etc. Nowadays, they are being masked out unless we are watching from Netflix.

Rating

2/5 Stars

Korean Drama : Reset

Year Released

2014

Genre

Mystery

No. of Episodes

10 - running time of 60 minutes per episode

Starring

Chun Jung-myung, Kim So-hyun

Storyline

Prosecutor Cha Woo-jin (Chun Jung-myung) has been trying to unlock his forgotten memories about a girl Seung-hee (Kim So-hyun) who was murdered fifteen years ago. Fast forward to present day, Woo-jin's memory is being triggered when he meets Jo Eun-bi who resembles exactly like Seung-hee. To make matters worse, Woo-jin vaguely recalls himself shooting Eun-bi's father, Jo Bong-hak (Jang Hyuk-jin).

My View

Story was pretty good at the start but towards the ending was kind of repetitive. I was totally not paying attention during some of the scenes. 

Rating

3/5 Stars

Korean Drama : Tell Me What You Saw

Year Released

2020

Genre

Crime, Thriller

No. of Episodes

16 - running time of 60 minutes per episode

Starring

Jang Hyuk, Choi Soo-young, Jin Seo-yun, Eum Moon-suk

Storyline

Criminal profiler detective Oh Hyun-jae (Jang Hyuk) lost her fiance to 'Peppermint Candy' serial killer five years ago. The police announced the serial killer's death in an explosion but recent murder cases proved otherwise. All victims had a peppermint candy left behind in the crime scenes.

Cha Soo-young (Choi Soo-young) is being recruited into RIU to assist them with cases relating to Peppermint Candy due to her ability to remember what she sees. Together with team leader Hwang Hwa-young (Jin Seo-yun) and the rest of RIU, they worked with Oh Hyun-jae to track down the real murderer.

My View

My second Jang Hyuk's drama, the first one was Voice. I guess he is pretty suitable in doing crime dramas. Plotline flows through well and I don't feel draggy as much though everyone seems to be linked to peppermint candy serial killer. 

Rating

4/5 Stars

Korean Drama : Ruler - Master of the Mask

Year Released

2017

Genre

Historical period

No. of Episodes

40 - running time of 30 minutes per episode

Starring

Yoo Seung-ho, Kim So-hyun, L, Heo Joon-ho, Yoon So-hee, Park Chul-min

Storyline

Leader of Pyunsoo Group, Dae Mok (Heo Joon-ho) has been controlling Joseon King and his subjects by making them drink poppy wine. Without the antidote to be taken every fortnight, they would eventually be poisoned to death.

Crown Prince Lee Sun (Yoo Seung-ho) was also being poisoned when he was a baby buy managed to heal miraculously and since been immune to any poison. Due to this incident, King Yeong Jo (Kim Myung-soo) makes Lee Sun wears a mask to hide him from Dae Mok. 

When Lee Sun is being forced to join Pyunsoo Group, he escapes and another commoner (L) by the same name is put to the throne. The fake King is being controlled by drinking poppy wine as well. Once Lee Sun is out of the palace, he becomes Chief Peddler who collects all information in Joseon under his organisation.

Together with Woo Bo (Park Chul-min), Lee Chung-woon (Shin Hyun-soo), Park Moo-ha (Bae Yoo-ram) and gang, Lee Sun manages to topple Pyunsoo Group, destroy their evil acts and regain his throne.

My View

Overall, quite a nice drama but watching Yoo Seung-ho, L and Kim So-hyun feels like looking at a bunch of young children. They are pretty young anyway back in 2017.

Rating

3/5 Stars

Korean Drama : Sell Your Haunted House

Year Released

2021

Genre

Fantasy, Horror

No. of Episodes

16 - running time of 70 minutes per episode

Starring

Jang Na-ra, Jung Yong-hwa, Kang Mal-geum, Ahn Kil-kang, Baek Eun-hye, Kang Hong-suk

Storyline

Daebak Realty deals with haunted houses/buildings where exorcist Hong Ji-ah (Jang Na-ra) sends away unrested souls with the help of a psychic. Once these souls had been sent, Daebak Realty earns a comission from the sale of houses/buildings.

Ji-ah has been trying to find a way to send her mother Hong Ji-min's (Baek Eun-hye) soul away since her death twenty years ago. She finally meets a strong psychic Oh In-beom (Jung Yong-hwa) and they work together in many exorcising cases.

Ji-ah loses her power after sealing off Do Hak-sung's (Ahn Kil-kang) spirit. She eventually realises a way to help her mother find peace without having to be exorcised.

My View

I love those mini cases Daebak Realty works on and mostly are quite touching. The ghosts here are kind of acceptable in SYHH unlike those in dramas written by Hong Sisters. I would just die on the spot when watching those like A Korean Odyssey and Hotel del Luna. Too damn scary!!

Rating

4/5 Stars

Korean Drama : Hellbound

 

Year Released

2021

Genre

Dark fantasy

No. of Episodes

6 - running time of 50 minutes per episode

Starring

Yoo Ah-in, Kim Hyun-joo, Yang Ik-jun, Park Jung-min, Won Jin-ah

Storyline

Jung Jin-soo (Yoo Ah-in), the founder of New Truth religious group, received a prophecy twenty years ago about his own death. He has been travelling around the world in search for similar cases. For those who had the same prophecies, they were burnt to death by three gigantic beasts which seemed to appear from another dimension. The beasts vanished once their tasks are completed.

Jin-soo makes use of these bizarre situations and spreads the words that only those who had sinned would received message from God on their death. Another group named Arrowhead targets those sinners and their families by beating everyone up. Lawyer Min Hye-jin (Kim Hyun-joo) happens to be involved in a 'demonstration' of a victim on live broadcast. She is being attacked by the Arrowheads as she doesn't truly believe all these absurd acts are of God's will.

Fast forward years later where Hye-jin heads an organisation named Sodo which helps victims by making up with excuses such as being chased by loan sharks before they 'disappear'. When suddenly a baby is being prophesied, New Truth struggles to cover their lies while Sodo tries to save the baby.

My View

Okay, the drama ends with a cliffhanger which I hope it really has a part two as I'm very interested to know what's next. This dark fantasy is kind of sick as it portrays the reality in human society. 

I nearly died when I saw the baby being prophesied and thought that the scripwritter must be a psychopath. Was cursing all the way!!

Rating

5/5 Stars

Korean Drama : Confession

Year Released

2019

Genre

Legal drama

No. of Episodes

16 - running time of 60 minutes per episode

Starring

Lee Jun-ho, Yoo Jae-myung, Nam Ki-ae, Shin Hyun-bin

Storyline

Choi Do-hyun (Lee Jun-ho) becomes a lawyer in order to help his father, Choi Pil-soo (Choi Kwang-il), who was being framed as a murderer. Detective Ki Chun-ho (Yoo Jae-myung) inadvertently caught Choi Pil-soo and put him in prison without proper investigation. He realises his mistake after he gets to know Do-hyun from one of the crimes he worked on.

Together with reporter Ha Yoo-ri (Shin Hyun-bin) and Madam Jin (Nam Ki-ae), the four unravel the actual truth that leads to conspiracy of the real power who can moves Cheong Wa Dae (Blue House).

My View

The plot flows smoothly throughout every episode with not much draggy scenes. The way how secrets are being uncovered work perfectly.

I was literally laughing out loud when the villians were being charged and appeared in court (in their prison uniform).

Rating

4/5 Stars

Korean Drama : Save Me 2

Year Released

2019

Genre

Thriller

No. of Episodes

16 - running time of 60 minutes per episode

Starring

Uhm Tae-goo, Chun Ho-jin, Kim Young-min, Jo Jae-yoon

Storyline

Scam artist Choi Kyung-seok (Chun Ho-jin) disguises himself as Professor Choi from Hankook University in Seoul. He befriends Jung Byung-ryul (Sung Hyuk) from Wolchoori village and later introduces himself as Elder Choi.

Elder Choi helps the villagers in getting maximum compensation from government for their soon-to-be submerged village to make way for a new dam. In return, he gets permission to set up a church in Wolchoori.

Elder Choi directs multiple 'miracles' to the villagers and also turns pastor Sung Cheol-woo (Kim Young-min) into believing that he has healing hands and is son of the God. Once most of the villagers decide to join as church followers, Elder Choi shows them about the religious community, Garden of Eden.

Only Kim Min-cheol (Uhm Tae-goo) is not buying all of these 'sweet talks' and had already seen Choi Kyung-seok's true colours long ago.

My View

As compared to Save Me part one, part two is way better. I certainly did not expect the well played scams and think I would probably be fooled as well. 

For those who feel offended about why a certain religion has to be marked as a cult, don't be. All religions have good teaching and the only reason why they look bad is due to the wrongdoing of evil people.

Rating

5/5 Stars

 

Korean Drama : Save Me

Year Released

2017

Genre

Thriller

No. of Episodes

16 - running time of 60 minutes per episode

Starring

Ok Taec-yeon, Woo Do-hwan, Seo Yea-ji, Jo Sung-ha, Park Ji-young, Jo Jae-yoon

Stoyline

The plot revolves around Guseonwon, a church in Muji town where Spiritual Father Baek Jung-ki (Jo Sung-ha) spreads his beliefs to his followers. He has support from Apostle Jo (Jo Jae-yoon) and Apostle Kang (Park Ji-young).

Unknown to his believers, Spiritual Father is actually a former criminal charged for fraud. He has also been involved in sexual assaults with young girls, mostly are the children of his followers. Baek claims that in order for everyone to enter paradise, he needs to marries a Spriritual Mother.

Im Sang-mi (Seo Yea-ji) is the latest victim of Guseonwon and together with her friends Seok Dong-chul (Woo Do-hwan) & Han Sang-hwan (Ok Taec-yeon), they track down and uncover the truths behind this evil cult.

My View

Save Me is not too bad at first then after a while it starts to get a litte draggy. But the story goes back right on track after that but I think this thriller is not impactful enough. Good artistes there but the story is soso.

Rating

3/5 Stars