Not every weekend family drama is a makjang crazy fest, even if it feels like lately that is all there is. Even the fantastic Scandal: That Very Shocking and Immoral Incident is both makjang and crazy, but it’s executed superbly with fantastic acting and rock solid emotional build up that the far-fetched plot lines coalesce into something substantively gripping. But most other weekend makjang dramas sink under the weight of its own overwrought set up, with the soon-to-conclude I Summon You, Gold doing an about face that is an bitch-slap to the viewers who have watched the drama for the journey of Hyun Soo and Mong Hee only to have the entire love triangle shift axis in the last month and Hyun Soo and his shrew of a wife will seemingly happily reconcile soon. It’s almost like the drama expects people to be fine with it since both Yoona and Mong Hee are played by leading lady Han Ji Hye, but sadly that’s not how storytelling works. That absurd thinking sucks, and the drama sucks even more. Thankfully it’s follow up drama Give Love Away (Will You Love and Give It Away) is looking more and more like the perfect antidote to the poison that was ISYG. The synopsis is sweetly hopeful – this is a drama about a newly blended adult family unit learning to understand each other and truly becoming a family. Nowhere in there do I see the words greed, inheritance, revenge, baby-stealing, long-lost twins, guy loving two sisters, rich man with scheming mistresses, well you get the picture.

For once a weekend drama is built around something positive as opposed to a dump truck full of negative elements that require all the characters to claw their way out of the muck through screaming, scheming, and slapping. I could use a break from all that and GLA looks adorable and fun. Starring Hong Soo Hyun and Lee Sang Yeob, they are a potential OTP that also find themselves “family” when his dad Park Geun Hyung marries her mom Cha Hwa Yeon in their twilight years. Thrown into the mix are a pair of siblings played by Seo Ji Suk and his younger sister Sin Da Eun who form a love quadrangle with the main leads. The entire cast has tons of solid weekend regulars such as Han Go Eun, Yoo Ho Jung, Kim Seung Soo, Jo Yeon Woo, and Nam Bo Ra. GLA is helmed by the PD who did Queen of Reversals and Good Job, Good Job and written by the screenwriter of City of Glass and Definitely Neighbors. Check out all the latest stills including the fantastic first poster of the elder married couple where Park Geun Hyung offers a bouquet to the shy Cha Hwa Yeon. I swear I grin like I loon every time that poster flashes through my brain. Not to mention the first stills of Seo Ji Suk just came out and good lord is that man’s lopsided grin deadly dangerous to a girl’s heart. Fingers-crossed this will be fun and not blood-pressure inducing. Continue reading →