Tag: Seo Ye Ji

Review: It’s Okay to Not Be Okay

Posted January 5, 2021 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: It’s Okay to Not Be OkayIt's Okay to Not Be Okay
Starring: Kim Soo Hyun, Seo Ye Ji
Year Released: 2020
Number of Episodes: 16
Recommended By: Nobody
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Format: Online Stream
Source: Netflix
Buy It: Amazon
five-stars

A story about a man employed in a psychiatric ward and a woman with an antisocial personality disorder, who is a popular writer of children's books. The drama tells the story of Moon Kang Tae, a community health worker at a psychiatric ward who doesn't have time for love and Go Moon Young, a successful children's book author who suffers from an antisocial personality disorder and has never known love. After meeting one another, the two slowly begin to heal each other's emotional wounds.

This drama was the first one that I watched while it was releasing episodes each week. I was so used to binge-watching all of the k-dramas that I watched so having to wait a week between episodes took some getting used to (I was so spoiled) but oh my holy shit (in Jungkook’s voice), this show was so stinkin’ good. Like, one of my top shows of 2020 good.

This show was a lot darker than I’m used to but I was here for every single thing that went down. In the beginning, I was super confused about just what was going on and why we were supposed to root for a freaking crazy lady but once I was all caught up and not confused anymore, I was all the way in. I was Team Moon Young all the way. I ugly cried through every single episode from like the third episode on.

This story follows Ko Moon Young, Moon Gang Tae, and Moon Sang Tae as they finally deal with old wounds and work to overcome a dark past. Gang Tae has grown up taking care of his autistic older brother Sang Tae. After their mother died when Gang Tae was twelve years old, he and Sang Tae have lived on their own. They’ve moved from place to place, trying to stay out of the system and stay together. For so long, it’s been just the two of them but when they come across a girl from their past, Ko Moon Young, she worms her way into their lives and starts wrecking Gang Tae’s carefully crafted life. He works and then he goes home and takes care of his older brother. He doesn’t have any time for anything more but Moon Young is making him want things he hasn’t let himself think about or want ever. He’s all filled up with responsibility and he’s been holding all of those day-to-day burdens for him and his brother for so long, he is not willing to add another person to his life to care about. Staying away from Moon Young proves to be difficult because for the first time ever, he wants a life just for himself.

The romance between Gang Tae and Moon Young was such a hard one to get through because just when they were finding happiness, something would happen that would yank Gang Tae back to reality and every single time that it happened, it was so much harder for him to readjust. He went from feeling nothing and living his life for everyone else to feeling strongly for a girl that is part of the dark past that he is running from. Gang Tae was the very reason that I ugly cried my way through this show. Every time he was yanked back to reality, my heart broke for him. Every time he smiled, something bad happened and because of that, he stopped smiling. So with Moon Young coming into his life and showing him what he could never have, makes him mad. He’s mad at her for making him feel, he’s mad at his Mom for dying, he’s mad at Sang Tae for not being able to take care of himself and he’s mad at himself for feeling the way that he feels where Sang Tae is concerned.

There was a lot going on and I thought that every single part of this story was handled well. The character development between each character was well written and the romance between Gang Tae and Moon Young was handled so well and don’t even get me started on the relationship that blossomed between Sang Tae and Moon Young. They were at the top of my favorite parts of this show. With how dark this show was, there was still a surprising amount of humor throughout. At least for me. I cackled just as loud as I ugly cried. Each episode felt like a season finale where I was blown away time and time again. This show was extremely well written in my opinion and the cast did such a fantastic job of bringing their characters to life. I enjoyed every aspect of this show and can’t recommend it enough. This show was damn good and I highly recommend it. Just…chef’s kiss.

Final Grade

5 out of 5

five-stars

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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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The Weekly Recap (148)

Posted July 27, 2020 by Rowena in Features | 4 Comments

This week has been one heck of a week. Exactly one week from finding out that my cousin’s husband died from COVID-19 and that my cousin herself was recovering from COVID-19, we found out that my best friend’s uncle died from COVID-19 too. That’s three cases that are near and dear to me. This shit is real, no matter how much the naysayers say it isn’t. It’s really frustrating to me to see all of these Facebook posts about COVID-19 being a hoax and we shouldn’t be forced to wear masks out in public because when the hell did all of these guys become doctors and nurses? Where did they get their medical degree from? Wear a damn mask or stay your ass home. Pick one.

My nephew Chase turned 18 on Saturday and poor thing, nobody was here to celebrate his becoming an adult with him. Just all of us old folks. So his birthday green wall were with his family but none of his buddies in his family were here. They’re all in Colorado and Utah. He’s trying real hard to get himself to Utah but unfortunately for him, it looks like he won’t be going up until we all leave for our family vacation in two weeks. Still, happiest of birthdays to Chase. He’s one of the good ones and he finished his Eagle Scout project so he’s officially an Eagle Scout. All of the blankets were finished and delivered and his Scout book is complete so he can move to Utah for school with the knowledge that he wrapped everything up here in California.

That’s about it on the personal front so let’s get into what I’ve gotten into this week…

What I’m Currently Watching

It’s Okay to Not Be Okay
Abyss

I was a bit busier this weekend than I normally am, so I still haven’t watched this weeks episodes of It’s Okay to Not Be Okay though I will be taking care of that today. I’m probably watching it when this post goes live and after last week’s episodes, I’m super anxious to get them watched. This show is so stinkin’ good.

I will also be starting Abyss today too. My girl Strong Woman Do Bong Soon is in this show and I’m low key interested because I’ve been seeing such great reviews of this show so I’m going to start it after I finish this week’s eps of It’s Okay to Be Okay. Wish me luck.

What I Watched

Suits | 4.5 out of 5
Be With You | 4.25 out of 5
W | 4.5 out of 5
Touch Your Heart | 3.5 out of 5

My favorite watch of the week goes to Suits. Even though I watched the American Suits from beginning to end and the Korean Suits was a remake of it, I still really enjoyed the slight differences that the Korean Suits made. I liked the American Harvey and Donna but Korean Mike Ross was the bomb. He absolutely made this show so much better than I was expecting. His Rachel was pretty awesome too. What surprised me with Korean Suits was how much more invested I was in the everyday business of the show. The romances were pretty much background noise to everything else going on but the main romance that we got was super sweet and though it ended on a hopeful note, I still appreciated having it included in the show. Korean Mike and Rachel were a great couple!

My least favorite watch of the week is one that I enjoyed but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the others that I watched. It was a bit on the cheesy side and the female lead was super extra and ditzy and I rolled my eyes so many different times throughout the entire season. That show is Touch Your Heart. I watched this show because I really enjoyed both of the main leads secondary romance in Goblin so I was happy to see them in their own show, front and center. Like I said, this was good just not as good as the others.

Eye Candy Friday

Kim Shin
Goblin

What I Reviewed

Parasite | 4.25 out of 5
Crash Landing on You | 4.5 out of 5

What I Posted

The Weekly Recap (147)
K Drama Check
Eye Candy Friday: Kim Shin

What Made Me Laugh

There you have it, my week in review. How was your week?

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The Weekly Recap (147)

Posted July 20, 2020 by Rowena in Features | 6 Comments

The Weekly Recap is a weekly feature on the blog where I recap my week in books, in movies, and in TV Shows. If you’re ever curious about what I’ve been up to, these are the posts for you.

It’s been a pretty quiet week for me since Brenna’s been in Colorado for the summer and I don’t have anyone annoying me at every turn. It’s been nice. LOL. I also had some time to catch up with my siblings on Friday with my sister from Vegas in town. We received some bad news about my cousin’s husband, who died from covid-19 this week so that was a bummer. It’s amazing to me that people are pissed about having to wear masks in public here in California. SMH.

Anyway, I didn’t do much but watch Korean Dramas this week but it was still a good week.

What I’m Currently Reading
The Weekly Recap (147)Shine
by Jessica Jung
Published by Simon & Schuster, Simon Pulse on September 29, 2020
Genres: Young Adult
Point of View:First Person
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Add It: Goodreads
Reading Challenges:2020 Goodreads Challenge, 2020 New to Me Challenge

Crazy Rich Asians meets Gossip Girl by way of Jenny Han in this knock-out debut about a Korean American teen who is thrust into the competitive, technicolor world of K-pop, from Jessica Jung, K-pop legend and former lead singer of one of the most influential K-pop girl groups of all time, Girls Generation.
What would you give for a chance to live your dreams?

For seventeen-year-old Korean American Rachel Kim, the answer is almost everything. Six years ago, she was recruited by DB Entertainment—one of Seoul’s largest K-pop labels, known for churning out some of the world’s most popular stars. The rules are simple: Train 24/7. Be perfect. Don’t date. Easy right?

Not so much. As the dark scandals of an industry bent on controlling and commodifying beautiful girls begin to bubble up, Rachel wonders if she’s strong enough to be a winner, or if she’ll end up crushed… Especially when she begins to develop feelings for K-pop star and DB golden boy Jason Lee. It’s not just that he’s charming, sexy, and ridiculously talented. He’s also the first person who really understands how badly she wants her star to rise.

Get ready as Jessica Jung, K-pop legend and former lead singer of Korea’s most famous girl group, Girls Generation, takes us inside the luxe, hyper-color world of K-pop, where the stakes are high, but for one girl, the cost of success—and love—might be even higher. It’s time for the world to see: this is what it takes to SHINE.

I didn’t get any reading done this week. A couple of pages at most but I’m liking what I’m reading so far in Shine by Jessica Jung. Those K Pop stars are no joke and their schedules and training are intense. I’m really interested in seeing where this story takes us. I just need to make time to read.

What I Got

Shine by Jessica Jung
Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao

What I’m Currently Watching

It’s Okay to Not be Okay (2020)
Suits (2018)

This week’s episodes of It’s Okay to Not Be Okay were emotionally packed and I ugly cried through both of them. I am really, really loving this show and both Seo Ye Ji and Kim Soo Hyun did such an amazing job engaging my emotions with their acting skills that I am so here for the both of them. I cannot wait to see where the rest of the season takes us but if the first part of the season is any indication, it’s going to be a crazy ride that I am fully on board with.

I started the Korean version of Suits last night and I am super duper excited about it. I adored the American version of this show and the Korean version stars my #3 boo thang, Park Hyun Sik. I completely adored him in Strong Woman, Do Bong Soon and Juror 8 so when I saw that he was on the Korean version of Suits, I knew that I had to find the show and watch it wherever I could. I’m so glad that it’s on Netflix. I’m on episode 5 and so far, I’m really enjoying it. It’s very familiar to the American version but with its own Korean charm and I love me some Park Hyun Sik so I’m all in.

What I Watched

It’s Okay to Not be Okay (2020)
Cheese in the Trap (2016) | 2.5 out of 5
My First First Love (2019) | 4.25 out of 5
My First First Love 2 (2019) | 4.5 out of 5

This week was a good week in K Dramas for me….with the exception of Cheese in the Trap. That show started off so well for me and then it went downhill and kept right on going downhill until it ended and I was like WTF? Wasn’t a big fan of that of that one.

I did really enjoy My First First Love and My First First Love 2. I need to watch more shows and movies with Ji Soo in it. He’s such a delight.

Eye Candy Friday

Park Saeroyi
Itaewon Class (2020)

What I Reviewed

Movie Review: Train to Busan | 4 out of 5
Korean Drama Review: Itaewon Class | 5 out of 5

What I Posted

The Weekly Recap (146)
5 Things I Did During Quarantine
Eye Candy Friday: Park Saeroyi

What Made Me Laugh

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