Tag: Life

Review: Would You Like a Cup of Coffee?

Posted February 21, 2023 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Would You Like a Cup of Coffee?

Starring: Ong Seong Wu, Park Ho San, Seo Young Hee, Kim Ye Eun, Choo Ye Jin, Kim Wang Geun
Year Released: 2021
Number of Episodes: Drama, Life
Country: South Korea
Where to Watch: Netflix

Park Seok is the owner of the successful Café 2Dae coffee shop, a small but much-loved establishment with a group of loyal customers. He works alone in the coffee shop, and has not taken on any staff, even though his solo efforts are starting to take their toll on him. One day, a young man named Kang Go Bi comes to the coffee shop and samples Park Seok’s coffee. He immediately develops an earnest passion for coffee and convinces Park Seok to take him on as a part-time worker at the coffee shop. But Kang Go Bi soon proves that he really wants the older man to become his mentor and to learn how to become a proficient barista in his own right. The duo eventually forms a close bond and learns no end of life lessons from one another – while also helping bring a little warmth into the lives of their many and various customers.

This was the first drama that Therese and I watched after Alchemy of Souls 2: Light and Shadow finished. We didn’t want our next show to be bogged down with so many intense storylines and characters and this one seemed to fit the bill so off we went…

The Story

So this story follows our main character, Kang Go Bi. He goes to a coffee shop run by a lone wolf named Park Seok and decides that he wants to learn all there is to learn about coffee and prepare it. He approaches Park Seok to try to get him to take him on as a part-time worker at his coffee shop but Seok isn’t that interested. Determined to make this happen, Go Bi keeps showing up and helping Seok until Seok gives in. The show itself is about these two and the community of regulars that come through the coffee shop day in and day out.

This isn’t a drama that has a lot of bells and whistles. It’s character-driven and while I enjoyed the slow pacing of the show since it worked for the kind of drama that this was, I can’t say that I was completely enamored with anything or anyone, after all, was said and done. It was fine to watch after coming off a thread of intense dramas but it wasn’t exactly memorable.

The Cast

Aside from Park Ho San, Lee Kyu Hyung, and Kim Mi Kyung (who played Mi Na’s Mom), I didn’t recognize a lot of the other actors and actresses. I’ve only seen Go Bi in one other movie but that’s about it so everyone was pretty new to me. The characters that stood out for me in this one outside of Kang Go Bi and Park Seok were the baker and Park Seok’s girlfriend. Jung Ga Won (the baker) was super cute and I liked her enough that I looked her up to see if she was in anything else that I’ve seen or am interested in seeing and she was in a handful of dramas that I’ve seen and even loved but I have no clue who she played in those other dramas so I’m definitely going to be paying attention to her from now on. Kim Joo Hee was cute and I loved seeing her with Park Seok. I did enjoy how loyal the customers of Cafe 2Dae were and I liked seeing Go Bi fumble his way to that ending.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this drama was on the slower side but it worked for the kind of drama this was. This served as a palate cleanser for me and while I appreciated that, this isn’t a drama that I’d watch again. It was fine and all of the coffee tidbits were interesting but that’s really all that I remember. Still, I’m glad that I was introduced to the new characters, and will definitely be checking out the actors and actresses in their other stuff.

Final Rating


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3 out of 5

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Review: Summer Srike

Posted February 14, 2023 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Summer Strike

Starring: Yim Si Wan, Kim Seol Hyun, Shin Eun Soo, a.mond, Park Ye Young, Kwak Min Gyoo
Year Released: 2022
Number of Episodes: 12
Genre: Drama, Life, Melodrama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Director: Lee Yoon Jung
Screenwriter: Lee Yoon Jung
Where to Watch: Viki

Lee Yeo Reum is a young woman whose career and life are going very well: She has just been awarded permanent contract status at work, and she has a boyfriend she likes very much. But work is starting to get stressful, and then she is hit with a double whammy of misfortune. Her mother dies in a tragic accident just moments after she is dumped by her boyfriend. Feeling utterly dejected and burned out, she decides to quit her job, head to the seaside, and do absolutely nothing for a while – at least until she can recharge her batteries and recover mentally.

She moves to a small seaside village named Angok. And it is here that she meets An Dae Beom, a stuttering librarian who also has his share of skeletons in the closet. Many years ago, he was a math prodigy with a bright academic future ahead of him. But circumstances have forced him away from the big city and the scholastic life. What will happen when these two lost souls meet – and will a spell of “doing nothing” in this small town really cure their ills?

I enjoyed Yim Si Wan and Kim Seol Hyun in other stuff that I’ve watched this in and with how much I enjoyed Our Blues, I thought this had a similar vibe so I was interested in watching it. The first couple of episodes set up the rest of the drama and I’m not going lie, it was slow and I almost didn’t think that I would continue on after the third episode but I’m glad that I stuck with it, even if it didn’t end up being a favorite of mine.

The Story

This story follows our main female lead, Lee Yeo Reum. When we first meet Yeo Reum, she’s working an office job that she hates and dating a guy that doesn’t seem all that interested in her and no matter what she does, she can’t seem to get out of the funk that she’s in. Her boss at work is an asshole, her boyfriend dumps her, and when unexpected grief strikes, Yeo Reum is out. She moves herself to a small town and decides that she’s not going to force herself to rush into finding another job. She’s taking time off do whatever she wants to do. She’s going on a summer strike. When she starts to build a life for herself, make new friends, and everything, she starts to wonder if she should stick around…

Male Lead

I don’t remember watching an introverted male lead in a drama that is as introverted as Dae Beom. I’m usually interested in the more confident male leads but I thought that Yim Si Wan did a really great job of bringing Dae Bom to life. The show was a little on the slow side but even with that, I was invested in what was going on. I was invested in Dae Bom, in his life, in his past, in what really happened with his sister and family, in just about everything and a large part of that was because Yim Si Wan.

He was a great part of the community and a huge draw for me as far as making me come back for more. I adored him.

Female Lead

Our leading lady is the center of the show as the story, and everything else revolves around her. So it was a bit of a let down that I was much more invested in everyone around her then I was in her. I thought she did well as a friend to Kim Bom. I thought she was great with Sung Min, Jae Hoon, and Sung Min’s kid and I didn’t think she deserved the shit she got from Ji Young but overall, her character wasn’t my favorite at all. I would have actually preferred for Kim Bom to be the main lead. I thought her story was much more interesting.

The Cast

I was really invested in the side stories going on here. From trying to figure out what really happened at the pool room, to grieving with Kim Bom and her brother, to everything that went down with Dae Beom and the professor, I was here for all of that. It just took me a long to get invested in those things. The beginning was a lot slower than I would have liked but once Yeo Reum gets to Angok and people start showing up in her life, things picked up but while I enjoyed getting to know everyone else, I can’t say the same for Yeo Reum. I don’t recall seeing any of the other characters in any other drama aside from the kid from Hospital Playlist and the two main leads but I did take notice of the two teens from the show, Bom and Jae Hoon. I did really like the both of them.

Dae Beom’s noona got on my hot damn nerves. She was snobby for no reason and her attitude toward Yeo Reum bothered me but so did her attitude toward Sung Min. The way that she kept trying to warn Yeo Reum away from Dae Beom made me want to pull her hair but when she kept getting turned down, I was like, well, that’s what your ass gets. But aside from her, Sung Min’s Dad, and the professor, I liked everyone else.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this drama was a little on the slow side and while it took me some time to warm up to everything, I did eventually warm up. I thought the romance between Dae Beom and Yeo Reum was cute but I liked the romance between Kim Bom and Jae Hoon more. I cried, I laughed, I happy sighed, and I got hella angry but even with all that, this isn’t a drama that will stay with me and that was a bummer. Still, it was a solid drama.

Final Rating

via GIPHY

3.5 out of 5

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Review: Gaus Electronics

Posted December 20, 2022 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Gaus Electronics

Starring: Kwak Dong Yeon, Go Sung Hee, Bae Hyun Sung, Kang Min Ah, Baek Hyun Jin, Heo Jung Do
Year Released: 2022
Number of Episodes: Drama, Business, Comedy, Life, Romance
Country: South Korea
Director: Park Joon Soo
Where I Watched It: Viki
Who I Watched It For: Kwak Dong Yeon

Stress is no stranger to the members of Marketing Team 3 of the home appliance department at the Gaus Electronics HQ. The firm is a busy, multinational company, but this is a team that most workers dream of getting out of – and where chaos is no stranger!

Some 10 employees make up the team. These include Lee Sang Sik, a man with a positive personality who often misjudges his coworkers’ moods, causing trouble as a result! There is also Cha Na Rae, the hot-tempered assistant manager! Also among their number is Baek Ma Tan, the heir of the owners of Gaus Electronics’ fiercest rival – Power Group. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and has never known hardship. But he shocked his entire family when he decided to join Gaus as a junior employee! His polar opposite is Geon Gang Mi, who comes from more modest origins and has always tried to pull herself up by her bootstraps – pushing herself to succeed at every step (although she does have a tendency to change when she drinks alcohol!).

While they seem to have very little in common at first, they slowly begin to form a bond, with possible sparks of romance in the air! Will any of the marketing team succeed in escaping? Or will they eventually find a way to quell the workplace chaos?

I’ve become a fan of Kwak Dong Yeon so when I saw that he was coming out with a new comedy, I was interested in starting it and I’m so glad that I did. I wasn’t expecting The Office when I started this one but I’m not mad at all that this was the kind of drama that I got. I’ve watched a few comedy office dramas before but I didn’t enjoy them as much as I enjoyed this one so I was a little scared that I wouldn’t like this one as well but that was not the case. I completely adored this show.

The Story

This drama follows a marketing team for a corporate office. They’re not the most popular marketing team but for me, they were a unique bunch that had me tuning in every single week, ready, with a smile on my face. They are the goofiest bunch that had me laughing out loud many different times but they were also a hard-working bunch as well. They tackled each project they were handled with determination and they handled rejection and anything that came their way with a grace that wasn’t at all graceful but fun all the same.

Main Male Lead

Our main male lead, Lee Sang Shik is one of the goofiest of the marketing team 3 bunch. When we first meet him, he’s clumsy, he’s goofy, but he’s also passionate about doing a good job. I loved that he was at the bottom of the totem pole at the office but where he and his lady love was concerned, he was the top dawg. He didn’t see her as a woman until long after it was obvious that she saw him as a man. Seeing him live his life and try his best in all parts of his life made this show just that much more entertaining for me and I really liked seeing him in a main role since I don’t think I’ve seen him in one yet.

Sang Shik is such a fantastic character. He thinks he’s so much cooler than he actually is and the shit that he got himself into, the stuff that he believed about himself just had me cracking up every week. He was a highlight of the year for me, for sure.

Main Female Lead

I’ve enjoyed seeing this actress in a few dramas so I was looking forward to seeing her again. While this character wasn’t my favorite of hers, I still enjoyed getting to know her and seeing her get her man that she pretended to hate every single week. I liked that her love for Sang Shik wasn’t perfect. My girl kept getting injured every time she was with or around Sang Shik so I understood why she was the way that she was with him and I liked it even more that she was annoyed that she liked him.

She was such a confident woman at work but seeing her struggle with her personal life made me love her character all the more. She was a lot of fun and I enjoyed her a lot.

The Cast

I absolutely adored this cast. From the main characters to the supporting characters, they were all fantastic. The boss had me cracking up in every single episode and the banter and the chemistry was so much fun. I can’t explain how much I enjoyed all of the characters, I just did. Every single character was different and unique and brought a different flavor to a colorful drama that was a big highlight of my week. My favorite storyline had to be the rich son of the competing company, going undercover to learn how the less fortunate live. Seeing him fall in love with his coworker that kept turning him down was another bright spot for me.

They hit all of their jokes, and delivered their characters to us on a gold platter and I ate it up every week. I also liked the guy that was there every week but nobody paid any attention to.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was such a delightful show and I can’t recommend it enough. If you’re in the mood for something light, funny, and just a whole lot of fun, check this one out. There’s much to enjoy and a whole to recommend. The cast, the commercials for the projects that team three worked on during the show, the romances, and just the commeraderie between everyone on the team. I laughed a lot, I happy sighed a lot, and I enjoyed this one a lot. It was a nice break from the gloom and doom of all the other shows that I was watching at the same time that I was watching this one. Loved it.

Final Rating

via GIPHY

4.5 out of 5

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Review: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Posted December 8, 2022 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Starring: Park Eun Bin, Kang Tae Oh, Kang Ki Young, Jeon Bae Soo, Baek Ji Won, Jin Kyung
Year Released: 2022
Number of Episodes: Drama, Law, Life, Romance
Country: South Korea
Director: Yoo In Shik
Screenwriter: Moon Ji Woon
Where I Watched It: Netflix
Who I Watched It For: Kang Tae Oh

Diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, 27-year-old Woo Young Woo graduated at the top of her class from the prestigious Seoul National University for both college and law school due to her high IQ of 164, impressive memory, and creative thought process. Working as a lawyer, she finds herself struggling when it comes to social interactions.

This drama came across my radar while browsing through Netflix right before the first episode dropped.

I’ve watched Park Eun Bin and Kang Tae Oh in other dramas so seeing that they were starring in a drama together piqued my interest and I immediately added it to My List. I’m glad that I did because this show was a delight from beginning to end. Each episode showcased an interesting case that we saw our team of lawyers tackle and seeing the cases come together from start to finish made each week a fun viewing experience.

Was everything perfect? Of course not. But there was enough good in the show as a whole that I’m super glad that I watched it.

The Story

The story follows our favorite lawyer on the autistic spectrum, Woo Young Woo, as she starts her career in law at one of the leading law firms in Korea. With each passing episode, we get to know Young Woo as a person, as a daughter, as a friend, and lastly, as a lawyer. She’s new to her job but she’s smart and she’s straightforward and she’s on a team that isn’t perfect but seeing them tackle each case together (and sometimes against each other) made this show charming as hell.

I loved that we tackled a lot of things with Young Woo as well. We see her struggle and we see her fall in love and through all of it, we see how strong she’s always been and how strong she grows.

Main Male Lead

Lee Jun Ho was one of my favorite parts of this show. He was such a great male lead for Young Woo. There were moments when he disappointed me but his earnest love for Young Woo and the way that he loved her just the way that she was made me love him all the more. I thought he was great with Young Woo and great for Young Woo. He learned things about her, about the way that she sees things so that he can understand her and I loved that.

I loved that with every new thing he learns about Young Woo, his feelings for her grew. No matter what anyone said about them, what obstacle was thrown in their path, he was steadfast in his feelings. When he stands up for himself to Young Woo toward the end, my heart soared because while I understood why Young Woo did what she did, I still wanted them to trust in their love for each other to see things through together. Alls well that ends well though and Lee Jun Ho was such a delightful and loving character and I adored him to pieces. I loved Jun Ho so much that he’s at the very top of my favorite drama boyfriends of the year. Kang Tae Oh did such a great job of bringing his character to life.

Main Female Lead

Woo Young Woo was the very best part of this show. She was the heart and soul and seeing her struggle and then soar on her own made me so happy. There were many parts of the show that frustrated me, and it was mostly with the way that people treated Young Woo. They treated her like shit and a lot of it went over Young Woo’s head and that frustrated me even more. I connected with a lot of stuff that Young Woo went through and cheered her on from beginning to end. She had a unique way of seeing things and I loved that she wasted no time or energy on things that she didn’t think were worthy of her time. She stayed true to herself as often as she could and learned from her mistakes and seeing the way that her mistakes affected her made her all the more charming.

Park Eun Bin is such a great actress and I thought she did a great job with Young Woo’s character. It couldn’t have been easy and seeing in the behind the scenes, interviews, and everything else that she’s done to promote the show, it was nice to see how seriously she took her job. I’m also glad for her stance on a second season. I would have loved for this show to continue on and on forever, in all honesty, I don’t think it’s needed.

The Cast

My favorite secondary character was Young Woo’s boss. Myung Seok was the bomb. I loved that he wasn’t above doing better when he realizes that he messed up. He was the kind of leader that took care of his team and dealt with whatever problems arose as a team. He learned a lot from his team and his team learned a lot from him. I also really loved Young Woo’s best friend and her Dad. I loved the way that they loved Young Woo. Like Jun Ho, they loved her as she was and helped her navigate life when she didn’t understand anything and I just loved the relationships Woo Young had with all of them.

The character that I wanted to drop kick into Tuesday was freaking Min Woo’s punk ass and I didn’t even care for his little redemption arc in the end. He can still suck toes. The cast of characters all made this show such a delight. Lots and lots of great folks in this one.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was a great show with a lot of heart, a lot of charm, and a whole lot of goodness that I fell right into this show head first. It’s hard not to root for Young Woo, her team, and just the show in general. While it wasn’t without it’s problematic stuff, like that whole thing with home dude that kidnapped those kids to show them a good time? That was weird and I don’t care what his motives were, how pure his heart was, if he had done that with my kid. There isn’t an excuse in the world that make me forgive anyone for taking my kid without my permission any fucking where. You want me to ease up on my child, then you fucking come and talk to me cause the shit that he did? Not cool. Not cool at all.

Aside from that case, I can’t remember if there were any other cases where I was mad but the ones that I do remember, they were interesting. Like the wedding case where her dress fell? Talk about embarrassing but I really liked that how that case ended and there were others that I was interested in and I really loved the way that each case came together, how Young Woo’s brain worked them all out and I really loved seeing her grow in confidence both professionally and personally. She was the very best part of this show and I enjoyed this show all the more because she was at the lead. Highly recommend this one.

Final Rating

4.5 out of 5

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Review: Our Blues

Posted October 27, 2022 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Our Blues

Starring: Lee Byung Hun, Shin Min Ah, Cha Seung Won, Lee Jung Eun, Uhm Jung Hwa, Han Ji Min, Kim Woo Bin, Kim Hye Ja, Go Doo Shim
Year Released: 2022
Number of Episodes: 20
Genre: Life, Drama, Melodrama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Where I Watched It: Netflix
Recommended By: Park Jimin
Who I Watched It For: Park Jimin

“Our Blues” takes on an omnibus-style drama, which tells the story of diverse characters that are somewhat interconnected, in one way or the other.

Lee Dong Suk, a guy born on the beautiful island of Jeju, sells goods from the mainland in his truck for a living. He meets Min Sun Ah, a girl with a mysterious past, who has come to Jeju to escape that life.

Park Jung Joon, a ship captain, falls in love with Lee Young Ok, a diver with a bright and bubbly personality.

Jung Eun Hee, a fish shop owner, reunites with her past lover Choi Han Soo. They cross paths in Jeju Island when he returns back, after realizing that city life is not for him.

I went into this drama because of Park Jimin. Jimin was singing one of the songs on the OST so to support my fellow Bulletproof Boyscout, I put this drama on my to watch list. I won’t lie. This show started off really slow. The first couple of stories dragged for me and I wasn’t sure that I’d continue because I had to hype myself up to watch the new episodes in the beginning but boy am I glad that I kept with it. With each passing week, I cried a little more and then when Jimin’s song with Ha Sung Woon finally makes its debut? I cried EVEN MORE. The song matched the couple’s story so well that I came to love the song even more as well.

There’s a lot of characters to follow in this show but I loved each and every story, every character, and just the entire town. Lee Young Ok’s character was hard to root for. She was so mysterious, so frustratingly hard to get to know that it turned me off but as her story starts to come to light more and more, I hated her less and less. While I didn’t completely understand the reasons she did the things that she did to and for her sister, in the end, I was glad that she found a home and I was glad that she could stop running from her life.

Each character in this show had a story to tell and we saw them all. Big stories, little stories, stories told through other stories, the way that the writers meshed them all together was pretty great. I can’t tell you which story was my favorite because it’s a tie between the pregnancy story and the granddaughter coming to stay with the grandmother. I cried the most in those two stories but each story was pretty great in their own right. All of the actors did a fantastic job of bringing their characters to life and I loved that each character shined in their own way and added to the village that I came to know and love in the end.

There’s a lot to love with this drama. Lots of great acting, a fantastic OST, and a lot of pretty eye candy to look at as well. The pacing is on the slower side but I thought it worked well with the kind of drama that this was. Everything comes at you but the overall feel of the drama is slow, steady, and oh so good. I really enjoyed this one and I think y’all will too.

Final Rating

4.5 out of 5

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