Tag: Hwarang The Poet Warrior Youth

The Wednesday Five: Dramas That Didn’t Live Up to the Hype

Posted March 8, 2023 by Rowena in Features | 3 Comments

I’m a list person. I have a list for every single thing in my life from a to-do list, a list of books that I want to read, a running shopping list, and in the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing different k-entertainment lists that I’ve been keeping track of. You’ll be seeing my top 5 lists of stuff like my current celebrity crushes, my favorite k-drama female protagonists, my favorite k-drama male protagonists, my to-be-watched k-dramas, and you know, stuff like that.

This week’s Wednesday Five will feature the dramas that I was so excited for and didn’t live up to the hype. And by hype, I mean, the hype that I was giving it in my head.

1. Playful Kiss

Where to Watch: Viki, Prime Video
Starring: Kim Hyun Joong, Jung So Min, Lee Tae Sung

I was looking forward to watching this one because my niece recommended it. It was one of the first dramas she watched and loved so I thought it was going to be good. This show was not for me. At all. Everyone drove me crazy and I wanted to spank the main leads for too much of the show so this was a big disappointment to me.

2. Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth

Where to Watch: Viki
Starring: Park Seo Joon, Go Ah Ra, Park Hyung Shik

This drama was my introduction to BTS. I tried watching this show because Park Seo Joon starred in it but I could not get into the show but I loved Han Sung. I loved him so much that I googled him, found out he was in a boy band and listened to ONE SONG and fell down the rabbit hole. I wish I had loved this show as much as I ended up loving BTS.

3. Something in the Rain

Where to Watch: Netflix
Starring: Son Ye Jin, Jung Hae In, Jang So Yeon

When I saw this while browsing Netflix for something to watch, I was super excited because I enjoyed both Son Ye Jin in Crash Landing on You and I loved Jung Hae In in everything that I’d seen him in but this drama just didn’t work for me. It drove me up the wall and whatever I thought I was excited to see was never delivered and that bummed me out a lot because I wanted to fight Son Ye Jin in this drama so many different times.

4. Love is for Suckers

Where to Watch: Viki, Prime Video
Starring: Lee Da Hee, Choi Shi Won, Jo Soo Hyang

I thought I was going to get a nice rom-com with this one that was reminiscent of Revolutionary Love but whatever I thought this was gonna be, it wasn’t. I couldn’t stand the female lead so much that it started to ruin the rest of the show for me so yeah, this one didn’t hit for me at all.

5. Strangers Again

Where to Watch: Viki
Starring: Kang So Ra, Jang Seung Jo, Jo Eun Ji

Of the shows that released last month, this was at the top of my most excited for new dramas and then I started it and realized that it just wasn’t for me. I wasn’t a fan of anything so I quit it and have moved on. I really doubt that I’ll go back and finish it. All the hype I had for it died once the show started. Oh well, they can’t always be winners.

Are there any dramas that you were looking forward to and they just didn’t live up to the hype you had for it?

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DNF Round Up: Big, Tempted, & Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth

Posted September 16, 2020 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

The DNF Round Up is a round-up of the books, movies, and k dramas that I did not finish in the last little while. Sometimes it’ll be a list of all books, all movies, or all k dramas and sometimes it’ll be a mix of the three but if I didn’t finish it, it’ll be featured here. I need the reminder because I be forgetting a whole lot of shit and I’ll start dramas or books that I quit without even knowing. This is my effort in fixing that.

Male Lead: Gong Yoo
Female Lead: Lee Min Jung
Secondary Lead: Shin Won Ho
Also Starring: Bae Suzy, Baek Sung Hyun, Jang Hee Jin, Shin Ji Soo
Year Released: 2012
Number of Episodes: 16
Number of Episodes Watched: 11
Genre: Contemporary, Fantasy, Romance
Country: Korea
Where I Watched It: Viki
Recommended By: Gong Yoo
Who I Watched It For: Gong Yoo

18-year-old Kang Gyung-Joon’s spirit suddenly finds itself in the body of 30-year-old Seo Yoon Jae. Seo-Yon-Jae is a successful doctor and engaged to high school teacher Gil Da-Ran. Gil Da-Ran just so happens to be the teacher of 18-year old Kang Gyung-Joon. More problems ensue when 30-year-old Seo Yoon Jae falls in love with another woman.

I should have read a blurb about what this drama was about. I only started watching it because it stars Gong Yoo (because, *swoon*) but ugh, I hate student/teacher romances and this one plays with that trope. I didn’t enjoy it, at all. So our main character is Gil Da Ran and she’s a teacher. She’s engaged to a doctor that has gone cold on her. She’s trying not to think about what that means but he keeps blowing her off so one day, while she’s out for a ride with one of her students (yeah, seriously), she gets a call from her fiance, who wants to meet with her so bad that he’ll come to wherever she is. She tells him where she is and he makes his way to her. While she waits for her fiance, the student leaves and the student and the fiance get into a car accident together and their souls swap. Haha, it sounds ridiculous but I was hooked by this part. So, one of them dies but their souls are still trapped in the other body. So the fiance’ is in a coma in the student’s body and the student is alive and well in the fiance’s body and Gil Da Ran helps the student navigate his life as a 30-year-old doctor even though he’s a 17-year-old high school student. I forget what exact age he is but he’s around that age.

Once they started developing feelings for each other (the student and the teacher), and Gong Yoo’s adult character started turning into a complete douche, I tapped out of this one. I’m not on board this teacher and student love crap and I wasn’t on board with Gong Yoo’s fine ass being a dickface. Haha, yeah that’s why I’m not going to finish this one. Nope, not me.

Will I Go Back and Finish It?

Nope

Male Lead: Woo Do Hwan
Female Lead: Moon Ga Young
Secondary Lead: Joy
Also Starring: Kim Min Jae, Jeon Mi Seon, Han Sunhwa, Joeng Ha Dam, Yeon Woo
Year Released: 2018
Number of Episodes: 32
Number of Episodes Watched: 1
Genre: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Country: Korea
Where I Watched It: Viki
Recommended By: Woo Do Hwan
Who I Watched It For: Woo Do Hwan

Kwon Shi-Hyun bets his life on a dangerous game to seduce Eun Tae-Hee. His target is 20-years-old and believes people that are swayed by love are pathetic. After Eun Tae-Hee meets Kwon Shi-Hyun, her view on love changes.

I started this show because of Woo Do Hwan. I had just finished Save Me and adored him in that show so I wanted to keep the Woo Do Hwan party going. Unfortunately, the immature shenanigans that he gets into with his high school friends pissed me off pretty early on so I stopped watching it. I just wasn’t in the mood for teenagers being little shits and ruining people’s lives though I know that Woo Do Hwan’s character grows into a decent chap in the end. That’s why I stopped this one but I’m really interested in seeing Do Hwan in a main lead role so I’ll definitely be back for this one…I’m sure of it.

Will I Go Back and Finish It?

Maybe

Male Lead: Park Seo Jun
Female Lead: Go Ra
Secondary Lead: Park Hyung Sik
Also Starring: Kim Taehyung, Choi Min Ho, Do Ji Han,Choi Yoon Woo, Seo Ye Ji

Year Released: 2016
Number of Episodes: 20
Number of Episodes Watched: 2
Genre: Historical, Romance
Country: Korea
Where I Watched It: Viki
Recommended By: Park Seo Jun
Who I Watched It For: Park Seo Jun

An elite group of young men called Hwarang discover their passions, love and friendship in the turmoil of the Silla Kingdom.

Can you believe that I DNF’d a Park Seo Jun drama? Yeah, I can’t believe it either. But, I did. I wasn’t in the mood for a historical drama and the first couple of episodes of this one were low key boring. All Seo Jun’s character did in the episodes that I watched were yell and fight. When I watched this though, I didn’t know Park Hyung Sik so I didn’t even appreciate him in this. AND V from BTS is in this show too and I didn’t even meet him yet so I know that I’ll be going back to finish this one, I just don’t know when. There’s a great cast for this show so how could I not go back and finish?

Will I Go Back and Finish It?

Probably

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