Author Archives: ockoala

Record of Youth Ends with 8.740% in Episode 16 and Confirms Point of Entire Drama was Mocumentary Military Send off for Park Bo Gum

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There were nice snippets in Record of Youth but everything else was so anemic and rudimentary I felt like throwing a temper tantrum just to elicit some emotion around me as I watched. The drama finished this Tuesday with series high 8.740% AGB nationwide ratings, quite remarkable for a thoroughly dull drama and buoyed from beginning to end by the … Continue reading →

Posters, Stills, and Trailer for Sci-fi Action K-movie Seo Bok with Gong Yoo and Park Bo Gum

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K-actor Park Bo Gum may be in the military but he’s all over television the last two months and soon will be on the big screen as well. The sci-fi action big budget movie Seo Bok has started promotions for a December 2 release so just a month away. Gong Yoo is carrying the promos with his costar in the … Continue reading →

Filming Halted on Set of K-drama Hello It’s Me with Choi Kang Hee and Kim Young Kwang After Positive COVID Test

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There are already less than half the K-dramas that used to air from a decade ago during the heyday of Hallyu shows and now we have to account for understandable filming delays and halts. Looks like COVID-19 isn’t under control yet in South Korea as another production has to pause this week. K-drama Hello It’s Me starring Choi Kang Hee … Continue reading →

Episode 15 of Record of Youth Plays the Tired Tropes of Understanding Love and Truth Comes Out Vindication

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I finally get what’s fundamentally missing from the central OTP romance in Record of Youth. Aside from the lack of onscreen chemistry between leads Park Bo Gum and Park So Dam, each are better with other characters in the drama actually, it’s that their youthful romance is devoid of any heady passion. They look like they’ve never even had a … Continue reading →

First Look at L in KBS Sageuk Drama Secret Royal Inspector with Kwon Nara, Lee Yi Kyung, and Lee Tae Hwan

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The role of the historical Secret Royal Inspector has always been rich with fictional fodder for dramas and movies whether in Korea, China, or even Japan. It’s the fail safe for citizens to know there is someone who can stop governmental misconduct and corruption, and ideal to believe in so to speak. The upcoming KBS sageuk drama casts L (Kim … Continue reading →

Choi Jin Hyuk to Cameo in Sageuk Queen Cheorin Starring Kim Jung Hyun and Shin Hye Sun

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Add another positive talent to the already thrilling lineup for 2021 fantasy/time-travel sageuk Queen Cheorin, I can handle it lol. Clearly based on the cult hit C-drama Go Princess Go, the sageuk stars Shin Hye Sun as the titular Queen who has the soul of a modern day man transported back to the Josen era. Think gender-swapped Bu Bu Jing … Continue reading →

The Start-Up Competition Gets Underway in Episode 4 as Do San and Dal Mi Sweetly Keep Getting Each Other

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The second week of Start-Up is over and if this is a drama incubator then I would definitely invest. I didn’t realize Sandbox was an accelerator rather than an incubator but it’s still a nice place for aspiring tech business dreamers to give their pie in the sky a shot. Episode 4 proves that Do San stands on his own … Continue reading →

tvN Mon-Tues Drama Record of Youth Heads into Finale Week Succeeding the Most with Impressive Guest Stars and Veteran Casting Coups

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This Mon-Tues wraps up Record of Youth and during the drama airing male lead Park Bo Gum has reportedly finished his basic training already en route to enlisting in the Navy. He hard carried this drama but there was still too much dull chemistry with the weaker costars around him, but the brief shining moments to help liven the mood … Continue reading →

SBS Drama Alice Shuffles Off This Mortal Coil as Episode 16 Ends with Zero Narrative Logic or Emotional Resonance

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Yeah, I freaking hate SBS drama Alice and definitely regret spending 16 episodes with it. The upside is learning to love male lead Joo Won, re-energizing my love for Kwak Si Yang, and meeting fresh face Lee Da In as a rising actress I was to see more of. Kim Hee Sun was passable but ended up saddled with annoying … Continue reading →

Start-Up Episode 3 Sprints into Perfect Action in Emotional Beats and Character Development, With Much Humor and Hilarity

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Episode 3 of Start-Up continues the pitch perfect narrative and strong directorial debut of the first two episodes last weekend, proving this drama knows how to tell a story and that it knows where its going. I love it even more for writing four strong leads, all different in personality and interacting in really meaningful ways. I thought I would … Continue reading →

First Coolly Emotional Poster and Teaser of Namgong Min in tvN Thriller Drama Awaken

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It’s like a jolt of awesome when I saw the first promos for upcoming tvN Mon-Tues drama Awaken (Korean title Night and Day). It’s like the production knows its top asset is male lead Namgong Min and is putting all the heavy lifting on him. The poster is pretty standard for a thriller, dark tonal visuals but Namgong Min’s eyes … Continue reading →

Sageuk Moon Rising Over the River Confirms Cast of Kim So Hyun, Ji Soo, Lee Ji Hoon, and Choi Yu Hwa with Guest Appearance by Kang Ha Neul

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This is going to be a large scale sageuk so it’s reassuring to have the main cast confirmed this year. The drama Moon Rising Over the River has settled on it’s main cast and one high profile special appearance. Ji Soo and Kim So Hyun will play the leads Princess Pyeonggang and the fool Ondal, with Lee Ji Hoon and … Continue reading →

SBS Drama Alice Jumps a Billion Sharks in Episode 15 and Inadvertently Turns Itself into a Comedy of Pointlessness

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I won’t regret watching SBS Fri-Sat drama Alice despite its horrific levels of insanity and shark jumping in the last few episodes but goodness is this going down in flames. This Friday’s episode 15 just had me laughing and making WTF faces the entire time even though tons of people died that I should care about. And I do, I … Continue reading →