I can’t say 2013 has been a great year for me on the personal front, and that sentiment extends to the drama offerings I’ve sampled this year. On the upside is a general feeling of acceptance and I don’t mean that in a depressed and resigned way. I rather came away from the year happy with the ups and relieved … Continue reading →
Two much talked about Mon-Tues K-dramas ended today and I’m not going to say “I told you so” to those who stuck around for the entire journey, but even in my jaded and zero expectation left imagination I could not possibly have come up with more inane and unsatisfying endings than what these two delivered as a one-two punch. Spoilers … Continue reading →
I really went back-and-forth all of last week trying to decide what to do with Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love. Continuing watching and recapping? Just watching and no recapping? Or stopping altogether. Normally when a drama tonally and narrative collapses so thoroughly and takes with it everything great I loved, the easy decision is to bid farewell. Save some … Continue reading →
A drama can’t succeed on account of just being good, it needs to be nurtured properly and that is where a good marketing strategy comes in. Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love was rather haphazardly marketed from the get go and since it premiered its been playing catch up by hook or crook. The story has dramatically changed since the … Continue reading →
Just when I thought Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love was hopelessly lost forever in a sea of makjang, stupid posturing, and painfully childish plotting, somehow this drama found a glimmer of its former thoughtfulness and glory in episode 14. It didn’t resurrect it completely, but the moments of sensibility here and there felt like a refreshing drink of water … Continue reading →
Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love has gone cray cray and doesn’t look to be returning to sanity anytime soon. But you know what? Episode 13 (and to some extent bits of episode 12) contained genuine allusions to the former awesomeness of this drama. A scene here, a dialogue there, a throwaway look in passing – all of that is … Continue reading →
Look who’s here! If SBS shows scenes with Jae Hee‘s Hyun Chi Soo in the just released preview for episode 13 of Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love and he still doesn’t show up when the actual episode airs, I might just boycott this drama on principle alone. It’s wrong to the actor and wrong to the viewers to herald … Continue reading →
I’ve been thinking about Bu Bu Jing Xin often these past few days, the sequel is filming right now and the producers of the currently airing Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love referenced their drama as a Korean version of BBJX before it aired. I actually thought the first 8 episodes was a worthy successor to BBJX, with a heady … Continue reading →
The powers that be over at SBS are really the sole culprit I blame for the sudden and precipitous decline in narrative and visual quality for Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love. The cast is still delivering swimmingly (aside from the over-acting since day one Dowager Queen Kim but I treat her as a deranged piranha and leave it at … Continue reading →
With episode 12 of Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love, the rumblings of the last few episodes are finally complete in its transformation. This drama has jumped the shark, people! It is now no longer a fusion sageuk romance with thoughtful political intrigue and subtle power plays. It’s now a full blown daily makjang drama wearing pretty hanboks and produced … Continue reading →
I’m feeling a teensy bit of disjointedness for Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love. It mostly comes from the feeling that the delicate details, heady aura, and thoughtful political battle of wits is being pushed aside for more heavy-handed doses of everything. Now that Ok Jung and Lee Soon are romancing out in the open, suddenly everyone around them ratchets … Continue reading →
I’m rather ambivalent about how quickly and how heated the romance between Ok Jung and Lee Soon went from longing to rolling in the sack in episode 10 of Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love. Yes, they are both adults and at least this drama is honest that sexual chemistry and desire plays a big part in people falling in … Continue reading →
I’m enjoying Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love more as a drama than for its story. It’s just a re-imaging of the love triangle between King Sukjong Lee Soon, Jang Heebin Ok Jung, and Queen In Hyun, plus their respective baggage of royal power v. Noron v. Soron factions. It’s exciting to see how this drama delivers the dueling wits … Continue reading →