Tag: Kim Young Dae

Review: The Forbidden Marriage

Posted March 7, 2023 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

The Forbidden Marriage

Starring: Kim Young Dae, Park Ju Hyun, Kim Woo Seok, Yang Dong Geun, Park Sun Young, Choi Deok Moon
Year Released: 2022
Number of Episodes: Drama, Historical, Comedy, Mystery, Romance
Country: South Korea
Director: Jung Hoon, Park Sang Woo
Screenwriter: Cheon Ji Hye
Where to Watch: Viki, Prime Video

Lee Heon is the king of Joseon. 7 years ago, when he was a crown prince, his beloved wife died. To this day, he has not been able to get over her death. For the past 7 years, the royal family and government members have tried to get King Lee Heon remarried without success. The nation has also implemented a geumhonryung edict, which is a ban on all single women marrying during this time when the king has not married. People are furious over the marriage ban. One day, King Lee Heon hears of a woman named Ye So Rang, who claims the spirit of the king’s late wife exists within the royal palace.

Meanwhile, Ye So Rang is a swindler and claims to interpret marital harmony signs. She is arrested and jailed where Officer Lee Shin Won works. To get out of her predicament, she pretends to be possessed by a spirit in front of Lee Shin Won. During her ruse, she mentions that the spirit of King Lee Heon’s late wife exists within the royal palace. She is then brought in front of the king and he asks her if she can really see his late wife’s spirit. To survive, Ye So Rang acts like her body is possessed by the king’s late wife. Ye So Rang’s lies get bigger and more audacious.

I love me some Kim Young Dae so after watching Shooting Star, I patiently waited for him to come out with something else and this was it. I’m finding that I’m watching more and more shows for the actors that star in them and not the plot or anything like that. I promise I’m not shallow, haha. I do love me some Park Ju Hyun as well so this was a pairing that I didn’t know that I needed. And in a rom-com? Yes, please!

The Story

Kim Young Dae plays a King who has not gotten over his dead wife. He’s still grieving her death and put a law into effect that bans marriage so for the last seven years, everyone has not been able to get married. What everyone doesn’t know is that the King is being haunted by his dead wife. He never gets any peace because his dead wife is always around. So when he meets Ye So Rang and she claims that his late wife is in the palace, he keeps her around so that he can talk to his wife through her and their whirlwind romance takes off. Ye So Rang is battling her own things and is in hiding because she’s never been safe. She’s become a con artist in order to survive and seeing her battle day in and day out made me love her more and more with each episode.

As much as I enjoyed the main romance, the story itself moved slow at times and there were a few episodes where it was so slow that it was very easy for me to be distracted with everything and anything under the sun while the episodes played. That was a bit of a bummer but overall, I did like it.

The Cast

There weren’t too many faces that I didn’t recognize from this drama so it felt like catching up with friends and I enjoyed everyone’s addition to the cast. My favorites of the bunch outside of the two main leads were the second lead, Lee Shin Won, (though I never rooted for him to get the girl, sorry!), and the two palace workers, Se Jang and Won Nyeo, who were trying to steer the King into falling in love so that the marriage ban can be lifted. They were a lot of fun and entertained me with their charm.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this drama was an enjoyable one that made me laugh, made me get teary-eyed, and entertained me. Though there were slow parts of the show, I still enjoyed it. I liked the romance between the King and and So Rang, I liked the second lead, I loved all of the people we meet from So Rang’s life but from the King’s life as well (except for all of those fuckers that were trying to do him dirty) and a giant fuck you to the woman and her daughter that was trying to do So Rang dirty too. I’m glad that when all was said and done, my girl got her happy ending and was able to return to the person she’s always been and was able to step into the light without hiding anymore. I was glad that the King was able to finally move on from his first love and find love again with my girl. There’s enough here for viewers to enjoy and I thought the visuals (not just the actors but the setting as well) were beautiful and I am glad that I watched it.

Final Rating

3.5 out of 5

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Tags: 12 Episodes, 2022 Dramas, 3.5 Reviews, Cheon Ji Hye, Choi Deok Moon, Comedy, Historical, Jung Hoon, Kim Woo Seok, Kim Young Dae, Korean Dramas, MBC, Mystery, Park Ju Hyun, Park Sang Woo, Park Sun Young, Prime Video, Romance, The Forbidden Marriage, Viki, Yang Dong Geun

The Yearly Recap: 2022

Posted January 4, 2023 by Rowena in Features | 0 Comments

If you know me then you know that I’m a huge nerd. I track the shit out of everything that I do so that I can keep track of what I’m spending my time on. When I was reading a hundred books a year, I tracked what I was reading, what genres I was reading the most and least of, and now that I’m really into watching k-dramas, as you can guess, I tracked my k-drama watching.

I’m on year three of my k-drama adventures and I’m still a nerd so I’m still tracking the shit of my k-drama watching. I’m tracking a lot of things, to be honest. What kind of dramas I’m watching, which tropes, which actors & actresses I’m enjoying, and all sorts of other things as well. I thought that 2022 was a quality year in dramas and there weren’t a whole lot of dramas that I absolutely hated. I’m counting that as a win.

Quick Stats of the Year

Dramas Watched: 64 | Dramas Completed: 47 | Dramas Dropped: 14 | Episodes Watched: 808
Favorite Drama: Alchemy of Souls | Least Favorite Drama: Love is for Suckers

The Breakdown

By Month

January: 6
February: 0
March: 1
April: 4
May: 4
June: 6
July: 9
August: 6
September: 4
October: 4
November: 12
December: 6

This year, I went with the format of drama watching that I used last year. I watched more new shows instead of binge-watching older ones and I really enjoy watching shows that way. I find that I watch more shows with this format so I think that I’m going to stick with it. November was my best month in k-drama watching with February being the worst month in k-drama watching. I should say that those numbers are for dramas that I completed and I was still watching a bunch of dramas in February, I just didn’t complete any so that one is a little tricky.

By Genre

Comedy: 2
Coming of Age: 1
Family: 2
Fantasy: 5
Horror: 1
Legal: 1
Melodrama: 10
Romance: 25
Suspense: 15

2022 was the year that I jumped in and fell down the Suspense k-drama rabbit hole and I’m here for more of these kinds of shows. I’m still pretty solidly stuck in the romance genre and being the kind of person that I am, that is probably never going to change. I’m all about romance!

By Source

Disney Plus: 1
HiTV: 9
Hulu: 3
Netflix: 24
Prime Video: 1
Viki: 25

I didn’t know that Hulu and Prime Video had newly released k-dramas but I know now and I will definitely be watching more of their offerings in the new year. I’m low key excited about that. It’s not surprising to me that I watched most of my dramas on Netflix and Viki. That’s probably not going to change either. They both offer most of everything that I want and need to watch so I will probably continue watching most of my stuff on those platforms. Hopefully this year I’ll give more of the other platforms a shot.

Favorites and Least Favorites of the Year

What did your year in dramas look like? Were there any dramas that you’d recommend? Share in the comments!

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Tags: Ahn Soo Ho, Alchemy of Souls, Extraordinary You, Jang Uk, Jin Mu, Jin Seong Jun, Kim Ji Hyun, Kim Young Dae, Korean Dramas, Lee Jae Wook, Lee Je Hoon, Lee Jun Ho, Love is for Suckers, Mudeok, Na Hee Do, Park Jae Sang, Park Ju Hyun, Park Seo Joon, Seol In Ah, The Yearly Recap, Tomorrow, Weak Hero Class 1, Welcome to Wedding Hell, Woo Do Hwan, Woo Young Woo, Year in Review, Yoon Park

Review: Shooting Stars

Posted November 15, 2022 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Shooting Stars

Starring: Lee Sung Kyung, Kim Young Dae, Yoon Jong Hoon, Kim Yoon Hye, Park So Jin, Lee Jung Shin
Year Released: 2022
Number of Episodes: 16
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Director: Lee Soo Hyun
Screenwriter: Choi Young Woo, Choi Yeon Seo

A behind-the-scenes look at the entertainment industry’s PR teams, managers, and reporters as they scramble to clean up the messes created by their stars.

Oh Han Byul leads an entertainment agency’s PR team. One of her top clients is the star Gong Tae Sung, who can do no wrong. They were in high school and college together, where he became her sworn enemy. They bicker constantly but soon develop feelings for one another.

It’s been a while since I’ve watched Lee Sung Kyung in anything and I don’t remember ever seeing Kim Young Dae in anything so when this came across my radar while browsing Viki, I pressed play on episode 1. I’m glad that I did because this was a delightfully tropey romance that I enjoyed a lot. We got to take a peek into the hustle and bustle of the Korean entertainment business both in front and behind the camera.

I may have not known who Kim Young Dae was before this drama but I know who he is now and I will definitely be supporting his dramas from now on. Lee Sung Kyung is still my girl and I adored her in this one too.

The Story

So this drama follows two characters who have known each other for the longest time. They went to college together and basically, they’re each others “the one that got away”. When the drama starts, they can’t stand each other but they work together and it is Oh Han Byul’s job as a PR assistant to make sure that Gong Tae Sung’s public image doesn’t suffer and while he’s the apple of everyone’s eyes, he’s the bane of Han Byul’s existence. It is evident from the jump that these two have history and I was super intrigued about what the history was. They’re shared hatred of each other started somewhere and seeing the story unfold was great entertainment.

There are other side stories that were interesting as well. Tae Sung’s stalker story, the secondary romance, and I enjoyed all of them. This is one of the few romances where I was much more wrapped up in the main romance than I was in anything else so as a romance lover, that made me happy. I will say that while this was an enjoyable romance, one thing that stood out to me (and not in a good way) was the way that they portrayed Sung Tae as some African hero because he helped get them some water. In this big year of 2022? I wasn’t a fan of that. Also, the big reveal of the people that had big hate boners for Tae Sung was a bit of a let down because I didn’t get what drove them since I didn’t understand how they put all of that shit at his door. I thought their reasonings were silly.

Main Male Lead

When we first meet our main male lead, Gong Tae Sung, he comes off as bratty and arrogant but he didn’t fool me. I knew that he wasn’t as bad as he made himself out to be. He’s also fine as hell so that didn’t hurt. He’s a celebrity that is used to being loved so when his PR accidently embarrasses him, he’s got a bone to pick with her. And he picks that bone every single chance he gets. Tae Sung’s character development was hard to get through at times because there were plenty of times in the beginning where I wanted to kick him in the dick but that was mostly because I wasn’t buying his bratty arrogant role so as soon as he drops that and becomes just a regular regular guy, I enjoyed his character much more. So much so that when the show finally comes to an end, I adored him.

Main Female Lead

Han Byul was probably my favorite part of the show. She was hard working and caring and I loved seeing her pick herself up time after time again and try harder. She was great at dusting herself off and getting shit done. No matter what she was going through, what she was feeling, she showed up and she worked her little ass off. No matter what Tae Sung did, how he made her feel, she stood her ground and just kept going. My heart went out to her numerous times over the course of the show and every single episode, no matter how silly I thought she acted or how childish she was, I rooted for her. I liked her. And that didn’t change in the end. In the end, I was so hot damn happy that she finally got her shot at happiness that I cheered out loud. Loved this girl.

The Cast

There’s a whole bunch of side stories, side romances included and I enjoyed them all. There were some stories that I enjoyed more than others but I didn’t feel like any of them weren’t needed. They were like little side treats for us to enjoy while we waited for more Han Byul and Tae Sung. I enjoyed the two actors romance, Han Byul’s friends romances, and I also enjoyed getting to know all of the characters. Tae Sung’s manager and assistant were great. Han Byul’s friends and her coworkers were awesome. I even enjoyed Moon Ga Young’s guest star role. It was great to see her in something else, even if it was a really small part.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was a drama that dealt with heavy issues of being in the public spotlight and even though there were plenty of heavy issues, the drama itself isn’t dark and bogged down by those things. I thought both Lee Sung Kyung and Kim Young Dae did a great job bringing their characters to life. I was delightfully surprised at how much I ended up liking this one after giving it a shot. It wasn’t hard to get into the story and everyone did a great job of making you want to continue the series so if you’re looking for something cute, fun, and doesn’t take itself too seriously, go ahead and give this a shot.