Kdrama Review: Snowdrop

Drama: Snowdrop (on Disney+)

Genre: Historical (1987)

Starring: Jung Haein, Jisoo, Yoo InNa, 

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

This is another drama I went into knowing absolutely nothing and I left totally blown away.

It takes place at a women's college dorm in 1987. Our girl and guy randomly meet at a group blind date event that one of the girl roommates set up. A few days later, our guy is being chased and ends up shot. He climbs the wall and hides in the dorm... in our girl's bedroom. They don't know what's really going on, but they (the girls) end up hiding him, taking care of him and helping him to escape.  

Turns out he's a spy from North Korea.

And he ends up BACK at the dorm with a couple of his fellow spies, and they take them all (the whole building full of girls) hostage. And it just gets more and and MORE intense from there! Oh my word!

In the meantime, our girl and guy are falling in love. He the captor, and she the hostage. 

We get the stories of all the awful politicians involved in the craziness.. .the ones who are supposed to help figure out this situation, but are actually part of the problem. Most of the problem. We see story form the perspective of the agency that deals with spies and other political criminals. 

Soon it's apparent that it's very very hard to determine who are the good guys and who are the bad. Every single episode ends on a massive cliff hanger. It's so much of an edge of your seat drama, and much finger nail biting involved. I seriously held my breath through most of the episodes. And sometimes you think everything is figured out, and BAM more twists and turns. What a ride!

It's very intense, very violent and very tragic. 

And also, very good. Amazing acting, storytelling, music, characters. All of it. 

From one extreme....

....to the other. 

Interesting side note: I know that when this came out, the people in Korea weren't happy and protested it. I think because it's based loosely on some very controversial events. I'm still not sure what was "true" and what wasn't. But lots of people weren't happy. 

It's very interesting too that Disney is jumping on the kdrama bandwagon. However, most of their dramas aren't available for us to watch here in the states. I have no idea what's going on with that, but hopefully they will learn a lesson and fix that eventually.. But this one is an exception.

But anyway, yeah. I loved it. 

Here's a trailer:

And the beautiful song:

And for those who like making the connections between all these players in the Korean entertainment industry. Jisoo, the girl who stars in this one, is a member of the VERY popular kpop girl group Blackpink:

Jisoo second from the right

And Sung SiKyung who sings the above song, was just featured on a bside of PSY's album that just came out. (I have no idea what's happening in this clip but you can see them singing it along with whatever crazy sense of humor this Korean show has going on. LOL!)

Kdrama Review: Splash Splash Love

Drama: Splash Splash Love

Genre: historical romantic comedy

Starring: Yoon Doo Joon, Kim Seul Gi

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

This one really isn't a true drama.. it's just two one hour episodes, so more like a movie, but I have been in the mood for short fun fast things lately, and have heard about this one forever it seems so I finally watched it!

And cute stuff this one!

It's about a girl who is kind of hating her life. She's a senior in high school and about to take that awful hard test they all have to take. And she just wants to disappear. So she jumps in a puddle and BAM finds herself back in time in Joseon Korea! WAH! 

And there she meets and falls in love with none other than the king himself! And this king happens to be the king that invented Hangul! So that all plays a part of the story. And it's kind of awesome. A cute little mix of a true history story along with a crazy silly fantasy and love story. It's very fun. You should watch it if you want to give this kdrama thing a try but you don't really want to commit to much. LOL!

The boy star is an idol actor though, so beware. (Idol actors tend to suck people down other rabbit holes they often weren't prepared for, like me six years ago....) He's Doojoon from a group called Highlight. They are awesome. Our girl star is in a ton of things too so if you love her, you can find her everywhere!

So yeah, this was a perfect one for something fun and fast and cute to watch. Totally enjoyable!

Here's a "trailer" (actually a scene) that will give you a feel for things:

And a song with lots of scenes:

Kdrama Mini Reviews: September - December

I figured since I did a quick mini-review wrap up of the books I read through the end of 2021, I'd do the same for the kdramas. Let's get caught up and start "fresh" in 2022! (Already behind, but whatever...)

Hometown Cha Cha Cha ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

Likely my favorite drama of the year. So cute and fun and sweet. Starring the adorable Kim Seonho whose character in this one is practically perfect. He plays a dude who is beloved in this small seaside village. When our girl comes from the big city to set up a dentist office, she ruffles the feathers of many and he helps smooth things over. He is intrigued by her, but seems be holding back. This a great small town feel good drama. It reminds me a lot of Gilmore Girls... the town feel anyway... and the fun banter.  Click here for the trailer. (This one is on Netflix.)

Squid Game ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ 

Of course we had to get on the bandwagon and see what everyone was talking about. Strange that the "regular" world was freaking out over a KDRAMA! Is this real life??? But I am sad this is the one that caught the world's attention. It's a rough one my friends. VERY rough. But very intriguing and so much to discuss and think about. The ending had me angry, because of course, they left it hanging and there will be a season two. (Not the norm for kdramas.) 

It's about a group of people who are so desperate in their real lives for money that they agree to play a set of kid games to win millions of  dollars (aka. billions of won.) It's a battle to the death and it's very ruthless and gut wrenching. 

The only actor people I knew in this from before was the cop dude (love him!) and the lady who plays the main character's mom (she's in EVERYTHING, no joke) and of course Gong Yoo, the one that plays the slapping game in the beginning to entice our guy to play the games. He might be the most famous Korean actor out there at the moment. But it's been fun to see these other actors get noticed from this show. The old guy just won a big time award. 

Curious if any of you non-kdrama people watched this one. Let me know what you thought! 

Link to the trailer here. This one is on Netlfix.

Nevertheless, ❤ ❤

Lots of people were talking about this one and I was curious. Plus I felt drawn by the actor Kang Song. But this is NOT a feel good drama! So much  manipulation and miscommunication and just... shallowness of all characters. Kang Song's character seems sweet up front but is really just a player and he made me crazy. Our girl doesn't seem to have a clue and just is... stupid. LOL. It was like watching a train wreck, this one. And there's a sweet sweet second lead who is so perfect, but OF COURSE the second lead NEVER GETS THE GIRL! Here's the trailer and it is also on Netflix.

Lovers of the Red Sky ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

Oh my word, what a beautiful drama this one was! It's a historical fantasy where our dude has been cursed and sometimes turns into the terrible god of death. He is blind (both the dude and the god) and wants his eyes back (from our girl.) When he is not possessed by the monster, he is a lovely sweet, quiet shy astronomer working at the palace. And our girl has come to live there as the resident artist. When they meet up again, they realize they are childhood sweethearts. But he is confused because back then it was HER that was blind, and not him. 

And thus begins a beautiful love story, with the backdrop of this curse and the fact that she is the solution to breaking it, even if it will be her death to do so. 

So good guys. SO GOOD! Beautiful all the way around. Music. Story. Acting. Cinematography. Everything. Here's a trailer for this one. It's on Viki.

Dali and Cocky Prince ❤ ❤ ❤

I watched this one simply to see Kim Minjae in a fun romcom. The last one he was in his character was so sober and aloof. But this one... totally the opposite and I LOVE LOVED LOVED seeing him in this kind of role. So funny. He's a lowborn dude who has made his way in the world by sheer grit, while she has inherited it all through her families art gallery. When the art gallery goes bankrupt, she ends up owing him money. And he is very snotty (cocky, yes?) about it, but then, he realizes there is much more to her and to the story than he ever imagined. And here's the trailer for this one. It's on Viki.

Wild Idol ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

While not considered a kdrama, I'm listing it here anyway because I watched it on my kdrama streaming thing and because it was on Korean TV so... it works for me. 

This was an idol reality survival show where 45 guys competed to be in a kpop band. They quickly narrowed it down to 16 guys and then we proceeded to fall in love with all them as we watched them compete in several missions. Some physical, some musical, some visual... all while "out in the wild."  They were all amazing and so talented. The final episode was live on a stage and it was awesome to see how well they all cleaned up. They were narrowed down to 7 guys who now make up a band called T.A.N who will be debuting soon. So excited for them. Most of them had been in other groups that were struggling, and so they are desperate for their big break. Seriously though, if you love music competition shows, try this one for something really fun and different. I can't find a trailer, but here's the music video all 45 did before they started to be eliminated. This one is on Viki.

Happiness ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

My draw to this one was again, the actor, Park Hyungsik, who has just come back from his military service. Love him in everything he's done so far, so I figured this one would be no exception. He plays a cop who ends up in a marriage of convenience with his long time friend... they had to get married in order to qualify for the housing she wanted so bad. In the meantime, a virus has broken out and this virus causes people to go crazy and bite other people. Yes... zombies.  Once they get settled in their new apartment... the virus breaks out there and they are put on a lockdown. So the story is basically them dealing with this and dealing with the crazy people who live in the building. It's fantastic. Not a lot of romance in this one, though they do have moments...but it's more a character driven, people study. With a side of zombies. Really good. Here's the trailer. It's on Viki.

Lots of great shows this past year! My addiction continues! Can't wait to see what this next year brings! I am so behind and trying catch up on them all, plus keep up with the new ones. It's pretty impossible, but fun to try!

While we are on the subject of kdramas, maybe you'd be interested in the compilation I did of all my favorite OSTs (songs from kdramas) from the year. You might recognize some of these ones being featured! (But some of the ones featured I haven't even seen yet!! AH!)

Kdrama Review: 100 Days My Prince

Drama: 100 Days My Prince

Genre: Historical

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

This is a little older drama (only a few years though) that I've heard so much about and have had on my list forever to watch and just now finally got to it. So glad I did! It's so good!

This one is about our crown prince... he's kind of mean-ish and ornery and not so very pleasant... but mostly because he is sick of trying to stay alive and keeping his spot to inherit the throne. He really really hates his wife who he refuses to be with and she is um... oops.. pregnant not by him of course, but she needs to make him think he is. Ha. 

So one day, he is on his way somewhere and is attacked and left for dead. Only he's not dead, but discovered by a local village dude who rescues and saves him. When he wakes up, he can't remember who he is, but still has some of his princely mannerisms. Which is  hilarious now that he is living with this dude and his family as a poor villager. 

And then he falls in love with his daughter. Oops again! And as time goes by, he gets more and more comfortable as a poor villager and quite takes to this life style. In fact, he is actually posing as her fiancé/husband since the prince (yes it was HIM) declared everyone had to get married. Anyway, he starts to come out of his soberness and starts opening up and smiling more. It's awesome. 

But then the palace people find him and he starts to get his memories back and now has to go back and be the prince again. After a nice sweet 100 days of "freedom."

However, he's still in love with the girl. So... what to do? Yeah. Big problem. And the girl, who has been separated from her brother since a rebellion event years ago, finds her brother and learns that the brother is working for the bad palace people. Another big problem. And he is also... well.... never mind... SPOILER!

Anyway. It's just fantastic as these historical dramas tend to be. I love them. 

Our crown prince is played by D.O. from EXO and he is the main reason everyone should watch this drama. His acting is spot on. He's fantastic! (How many times do you think I can say fantastic and SO GOOD in one review? A lot apparently.) Our girl is great too and a favorite from another drama I loved called Shopping King Louis. 

This trailer makes it looks pretty silly and funny, which it is, but there are plenty of serious and dramatic moments too for sure:

And a beautiful song sung by Chen aka. another member of EXO. 

And if you happen to be interested when I fell in love with D.O...it was when I discovered this song... a song he sung for a completely different drama years ago... the power of this song though.... WAH!

Book Review: A Captain for Caroline Gray by Julie Wright

Book: A Captain for Caroline Gray by Julie Wright

Genre: Historical romance

Rating:  ★ ★ ★

This a fun story about our girl Caroline, who is just too smart and witty for the guys of her time. Whenever she says her opinion about things, and she has a lot, all the suitors get scared and back off. So when her cousin (who owns the house she lives in) gets married, she basically gets kicked out and has to figure out her prospects. Turns out a neighbor decides Caroline would be PERFECT for her son... who happens to work and live in India. So an arrangement is made whereby Caroline heads off to India to meet this guy, with the deal that she will give him a chance, and get to know him...but she doesn't have to agree to a marriage unless all things work out. 

And so... she heads off to India... which will take THREE MONTHS by boat. (It really struck me this time about how travel used to be... can you imagine a three month journey to another country? And we think a 13 hour plane ride is nearly unbearable! Yeah, you really gotta commit that THAT vacation!)

Well, and so on the boat, life gets interesting. She takes to the sea like a pro and loves the activity there and walks around sketching everything. 

And then there's the captain of this boat. He's intriguing to say the least! But when she opens her mouth to say her thoughts... will he be turned off and run away? And how can she be attracted to him when she has a dude waiting for her in India? Hmmmm???

Then we get the POV of the captain. And how he is baffled at this girl and torn about what he should do about it if anything. 

Okay, so I really enjoyed the story, and the setting. Most of it on the boat, and some in Mumbai. And Caroline is a great heroine. But the captain... I don't know.. I didn't really warm up to him. He seemed a bit gruff and even mean at times. I wanted to like him so much more than I did! Ah, I hate it when that happens! I also wanted a more sparky romance... more intense. 

But that's really my only complaint about this one! Lots of fun side characters and some crazy goings on occur. It was a very interesting time in history for sure. 

Anyway, you should totally check it out and let me know what you think of our captain!

Also, thank you to Shadow Mountain for continuing to send me Proper Romances to read, even though I am so behind in my reviewing! 

Here's more info about the author:

JULIE WRIGHT was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. She’s lived in LA, Boston, and the literal middle of nowhere (don’t ask). She wrote her first book when she was fifteen. Since then, she’s written twenty-five novels and coauthored three. Julie is a two-time winner of the Whitney Award for best romance with her books Cross My Heart and Lies Jane Austen Told Me and is a Crown Heart recipient. Her book Death Thieves was a Whitney finalist. She has one husband, three kids, one grandbaby, one dog, and a varying amount of houseplants (depending on attrition). She loves writing, reading, traveling, hiking, snorkeling, playing with her family on the beach, and watching her husband make dinner.

Kdrama Review: Kingdom (Seasons 1 and 2)

Drama: Kingdom (Seasons 1 and 2) (Netflix)
Genre: Historical horror fantasy thriller
Starring: Ju Ji Hoon, Jeon Seok Ho, Bae Doo Na
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤


People have been raving about this for like a year. The first season (6 episodes) came out last year, and then recently 6 more episodes in a Season 2. (Netflix is having a great time messing with the kdrama system and breaking things into "seasons" which is really annoying.) I didn't have much desire to watch this one despite the huge amount of buzz it was getting. But when the stay at home thing started, I thought it would be a fun one to check out.

We started it out as a family watch, but that didn't last long. It was not a good one for the anxiety of a quarantine after all. So I put it on hold and then have finished it on my own.

So this one is a zombie show... set in the historical time period of the Josen Dynasty in Korea. So they are running around killing zombies in their beautiful long silk robes. So crazy. (Well, the peasants are a little more practically dressed, but still.)

The king is sick and died, but his evil subordinates have found out about a plant that can revive a person from the dead. So they use this on him. But there's a drawback... it turns them into a zombie! So now they are keeping this a secret from the people, just telling everyone he is sick. Alive, but sick. And meanwhile they have him tied up so he won't kill them all, and they feed him damsels.

Well, the infection gets loose and pretty soon we have a full on plague, with many many people turning. Our heroic prince goes out and about to try and find a solution to this problem and ends up mixed up in the whole gruesome fight. With the help of a few other heroic others, they try to save people and try to kill all the zombies. It's pretty impossible.

Meanwhile, we are getting word of even more corruption at the palace thanks to the wicked evil queen. Sheesh, she is a trip.

Anyway. I was frustrated with the first half because it was mostly all action and fighting and slashing and killing and blood, and not so much about character development. That improved in the second half and I was finally feeling invested in our characters and genuinely worried about them. Things got very crazy that second half and the whole mess ended up BACK at the palace.

Well, and so I compared this one a lot to The Walking Dead in my head. It was just as violent and gruesome as that show, maybe even more so. But these zombies RUN... they the fast kind! It's very hard to get away from a RUNNING zombie! Anyway, so much blood and guts in this show! So much! It's exhausting!

But if you are into that kind of thing and enjoy a massive production (I can't even imagine what goes into making something of this scale) then you'll enjoy this one! So many people have loved it, but for me it was just okay. Not one of my favorite dramas by far.

However, the freaking second season also ends in a cliffhanger, so now when more episodes are released, I will have to watch! I need to know what happens next of course!

Here is the trailer for the first season:




Let me know if you watch it! I'd love to know what you think! This one is sort of more "main stream Netflix" so maybe you might be more inclined to check it out? Especially if you are a zombie fan.

Book Review: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

Book: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Genre: Historical scifi/fantasy
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

I knew absolutely nothing about this book going in. It was voted as our book club book this month and I hadn't heard anything about it at all. I actually thought it was a YA comedy of sorts! LOL!

I couldn't have been more wrong!

It reminded me a lot of Life After Life by Kate Atkinson if you are familiar with that one. Our main character, Harry, is born, lives a life and dies, only to be born again exactly as he was before. In this book, he takes us on a detailed journey of his different lives, not in any order, so that's a bit confusing, but we are to understand the process and struggle he goes through.

The circumstances of his lives are all different depending on how Harry approaches things... or the different scenarios he finds himself in. After awhile he gets good at manipulating things for his benefit, but he still doesn't feel it necessary to change history at all. In fact this is what gets him in a trouble the most.

He is born in 1920 (I think... or 1919?) so he lives through many historical events. If his life is "normal" he always gets sick and dies an old  man in the 80s or 90s. One time he was a little more healthy and lasted into the 2000s.

He uses his lives to learn all sorts of things, and experiences nearly every career, travels everywhere, learns all the languages and etc. In one life he finally meets up with others like him and they have a sort of club. The club learns that someone down the line is trying to change history to the point that the world is destroyed.

So now Harry has the mission to stop this from happening, and it's not easy.

It's all actually quite fascinating and crazy and confusing and messes with your brain in a crazy time travelling sort of way. And makes you think what you would do if you had endless lives. And could actually remember everything from all the previously lives.

The book is quite violent in parts (so much torture! WHY???) and there's murder and mayhem and war and some pretty awful people. Harry is sometimes awful himself and sometimes nice, depending on the life he's chosen that time around.

This whole book is like his memoir reflecting on all he's done and if he's made a difference at all. It's quite stream of conscious in parts but I found that if I didn't stress about connecting the dots, they all connected eventually on their own.

In the end, I really enjoyed it a lot! What a crazy ride!

Kdrama Review: Tale of Nokdu

Drama: Tale of Nokdu

Genre: Historical romance
Starring: Jang Dong Yoon, Kim So Hyun, Kang Tae Oh
Rating:  ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤


A fabulous historical drama about a kid who is trying to take revenge for a group of assassins that came and attacked his family's peaceful island village. He learns they are all women, living in a compound only for women (for widows). When he tries to go in, he is run out. Only women allowed. So he ends up dressing up like a widowed young woman, and infiltrates their compound.

And ends up working with them, bonding with them, and falling in love with one of them.

And he also ends up finding out who he REALLY is and then things get very very complicated.

He is adorable. And our girl is adorable. And even our villain is adorable. I freaking fell in love with the villain, dang it.

Our girl learns fairly quickly that he's a guy, and so she manages to keep his secret by posing as a mother daughter team, and also it helps to allow them to fall in love without stress... well. With stress, but you know. Less stress.

It's a beautiful drama with beautiful people, and beautiful scenery and beautiful music and a story, while maybe not so beautiful, is in the end... beautiful.

I loved it.

He makes quite the cute girl, our Jang Dong Yoon. But I preferred him as a guy for sure. :)

But this sympathetic yet ruthless villain really messed with me. Way to go Kang Tae Oh!

Some funny trailer clips:

 


And some more dramatic moments of the drama with the song that I absolutely loved from the soundtrack. So so good.

Movie Review: Downton Abbey

Movie: Downton Abbey

Genre: period drama
Starring: um... everyone...Maggie Smith mostly
Rating: Two thumbs up of course!


GUYS! I WENT TO A MOVIE!

It's been the tradition with my co-worker that we celebrate our birthdays by sluffing work and going to a movie together. We missed it last year somehow, so were determined to make it happen this year... and thankfully there was actually a movie we both wanted to see... DOWNTON ABBEY of course!

I was a little worried I would have forgotten how the series ended... but it all came back and was not a problem. I quickly remembered all the reasons I loved the series.

The basis for this movie is that the king and queen of England are coming for a visit. So the house is in a flurry to get ready, both the up and the down stairs. It's very fun to see what needs to be done. It's also a little distressful to see how what is being demanded by the monarchs. So crazy.

There are some awesome antics that end up happening that are totally delightful. Can I just say how much I love Anna and Bates. :)

Branson is still my favorite.

The whole movie I stressed trying to figure out what king and queen this would be.. and where the Princess Mary in the movie features in things. I determined afterward that they (the king and queen) are the grandparents of our current Queen Elizabeth. And that George, her dad, was their son... and the brother of the Princess Mary in the movie. Do you all agree with me?

King George V and Queen Mary

Anyway, I loved seeing it on the big screen, with the big beautiful sweeping views of the country, and the music that gave me chills. Loved it!

It was really fun to go to a movie again. I hope I can start making it more a thing again...if only there were better movies out there to see. I'm pretty underwhelmed by most of them. Let me know if you see a good one!

In case you want to see the trailer. It's a good one!

Kdrama Review: The Crowned Clown

Drama: The Crowned Clown

Genre: historical
Starring: Yeo Jin Goo, Lee Se Young, Kim Sang Kyung
Rating:  ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤


This one got a ton of buzz earlier this year and everyone was saying it was their favorite historical drama to date. So when I was going through my Yeo Jin Goo binge this summer, I knew this one had to be watched!

But I was nervous because as is usually the case with historicals, I feared it would be too tragic. But I was still ready to jump in!

From the opening scenes I know that our boy Jin Goo was going to KILL this show with his amazing acting. Yes. He totally blew me away. I can't handle how good he is!!

This one is about a really awful terrible young king (mostly he is terrible because of lots of things gone wrong in his life and he has resorted to drugs to numb all his feels) who really has no grip on reality. He thinks everyone is out to get him (and in fact there have been several assassination attempts) and so when his helper dude (secretary? I can't remember what his official title is, but he becomes a favorite very well loved character) finds a dude in the city, a jester/clown in fact, that looks JUST LIKE HIM, he drags that kid to the palace and they force him to dress up like the king and become the king, while the true king hides and waits for the danger to pass.

Well, yes, of course Jin Goo is playing both parts and the way he can go from this ruthless scary king to this fun lovable clown is amazing.


Here's the iconic scene where the switch takes place. You can see the contrast between our two Jin Goo's and see him acting with himself, which is always amazing when that happens:





Anyway, of course the clown ends up doing a TON better at being king than the king. And the helper dude (secretary?) realizes that if the kingdom is to be saved, it would be better if the clown remained as the king.

Also, the clown falls in love with the queen... who... as king it should be okay, right? But since he is NOT the king, he feels a bit...wrong... about this... and all the CONFLICT ensues. And she is all, why is the king suddenly nice? And she wonders why she suddenly actually LOVES him now, whereas before she was scared out of her mind!

And then what if people start to figure out he is really not the king? WHAT IF?

Ah, and what about the REAL king???

Oh man, the politics, the scheming and plotting. The emotions and feels. The dude who is the captain of the guard! All of it! It's intense and crazy and pretty much edge of your seat stuff all the way through.

Did I say Yeo Jin Goo was amazing??? I did? Because.... (and guys... all this at like barely 22 years old. How do people get such talent?)

The end was weird though, and frustrated the HECK out of me. I don't even know if I know what happened exactly. WHAT HAPPENED my people who have seen this??!!!

Anyway, it says at the beginning of the show that it is not based on true characters, but then I read somewhere that actually it based on something from history. So that's intriguing.

The music soundtrack for this one is AMAZING also. As is the cinematography. Everything about it is truly beautiful.


Here's a simple trailer that highlights our three main characters. It's so simple but gives me the chills anyway:





And all the cute romance bits:




For an idea of the soundtrack music, here's what the opening title music sounds like:

Kdrama Review: Chicago Typewriter

Drama: Chicago Typewriter
Genre: Historical, and other things
Starring: Yoo Ah In, Im Soo Jung, Go Kyung Pyo
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

This drama was unlike anything I've watched so far. Such a different premise than ALL THE DRAMAS! And I was totally invested.

Also, it's going to be hard to summarize.

Basically, the story follows two different time lines. One in the 30s during the Japanese occupation of Korea, and one in the present day involving a popular author and his friends. The interesting thing is that the characters are the same in both timelines since the present day people are reincarnations of the 30s people.

And the premise is that they are remembering the events that happened in their past lives and writing it down as the next novel for our author dude. He's been in a bit of a slump, but when these friends reappeared in his life, things got interesting again and together, they write the novel, ,which they are calling Chicago Typewriter, which is a kind of old fashioned gun I guess, that sounds like a typewriter when being shot off.

Our characters in the 30s

Our characters in the present day

The drama also actually features an old typewriter... from Korea, that ended up in Chicago, but was found again. And is a key part of this story.

I guess that's the basics. That wasn't so hard after all, eh? Lol, but I am leaving out one very important thing that I don't really want to give away as it feels like a big spoiler, since it's something we as viewers aren't aware of until several episodes in. Even though I'm pretty sure all the summaries out there give it away.

But yeah. I loved it. I love the time jumps, I loved the intensity of the stuff in the 30s. Our characters are freedom fighters, fighting to win back independence. And it's really quite painful to see what they went through. I loved the character development and how our main dude went from a very self centered dude, to extremely compassionate and loving. I loved the book love that is shown (again, with the book love! I do seem to be getting a lot of that lately!) and the painfulness of the writing process. That was great!

I was introduced to another "new to me" actor, and he was awesome. And another actor who I sort of knew, but got a much better feel for what he's like in this one. And he was also awesome. Yeah.

This drama is another one that features a fabulous bromance full of awesome
banter between these two! So good1

The last couple episodes I pretty much sobbed through the whole thing. Man. Emotional intensity I tell you!

And I fell totally in love with one of the theme songs and looked the singer up and realized he also sang the song from Encounter, another recent drama favorite. So I proceeded to listen to all his songs and he's also awesome.

All the good things!

I loved this one. It's a few years old and I'm glad I finally fit it in!

Here's a trailer (actually three quick trailers in one):





And here's clips to the song I love. It's called Satellite and it's by a guy that goes by MYK but he has a band of sorts called Saltnpaper. This song is in English, so maybe some of you might actually give it a listen and see what you think:




Ah. SO GOOD!!!

K drama Review: Moonlight Drawn by Clouds

Drama: Moonlight Drawn by Clouds

Genre: Historical romance
Starring: Park Bo Gum, Kim Yoo Jung, Jinyoung
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

This is a little older drama (aired in 2016) that has been on my radar to watch forever it seems! Finally! 

It's a historical one set in the Joseon Dynasty about the prince and his eunuch, and how they fall in love. Yes, his eunuch is actually a girl who has been disguising herself as a dude all her life to keep in hiding from the people who are searching for her dad (and his family). Her dad is a rebel who has tried to revolt against the dynasty.  

So somehow she ends up coming to the palace as a new eunuch. (How she got through that process is quite funny!) And ends up catching the eye of the beautiful, arrogant prince. He is a little baffled when he finds himself drawn to this little eunuch, but then he conveniently finds out she is a she and then he really runs with it! He truly doesn't care what everyone thinks.

Well, they have to be discreet still of course, but he's so cute and romantic with her!

Park Bo Gum: His smile is a killer

But it can't last of course because when he finds out who she truly is,  things come crashing down!

Of course there's a second male lead (not a love triangle but he does love her too) who happens to be the prince's childhood friend. And also belongs to the family that hopes to usurp the throne. Conflict!

Second male lead played by Jinyoung from the band B1A4.
He is adorable. His band is adorable. 

Anyway, this guy is awesome too and ends up playing quite the roll in everything. Also, there's another friend that we the audience fall in love with. So many awesome side characters as always!

The other friend who pretty much stole the show.

It's a great one for a fun, but not confusing, historical drama. Park Bo Gum is adorable. As is all the rest of them. The music is dramatic and epic, the love songs beautiful. Everything! I loved it.

Here's the trailer:




And a song with some awesome clips:

Kdrama Review: Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo

Drama: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (also called Moon Lovers)
Genre: Historical
Starring: GAH... SO MANY AWESOME NAMES!
Lee Joon-gi, Lee Ji-eun (IU), Kang Ha-neul , Hong Jong-hyun, Byun Baek-hyun , Nam Joo-hyuk , Ji Soo
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤


So this drama. Yeah. It's one I heard about when it was being aired and everyone was going crazy over it. And then they talked about the tragic-ness of it. How sad it was. How it rips your heart out! I was like, why would I want to watch that then? It sounded way too much of a downer for me. So I stayed away.

Then it come up to do as a watch along with some other kdrama fans and friends. I thought, oh, maybe this is the way I can handle this drama! To watch with others!

Well, that didn't work at all, sadly. (Watching dramas together is way too painful since we all have a different way of watching. Some binge, some pace.) And I was very very bummed. And I thought about giving up because... just because.

But then my husband, who has tolerated my drama watching for 2 1/2 years now, said... "I'll watch it with you."  I was like, wait what? He seemed totally serious so how could I pass that up?

And so I started over (I had watched 4 episodes at that point) and we watched the whole thing together, one or two episodes a night. And it was awesome, sad tragic-ness and all!!!

This one is about a girl who is hating her life in the present day, and she jumps into the water to save a drowning kid... an  eclipse happens and when she comes out of the water she is the brand new kingdom of Goryeo (present day Korea) ... about 950 AD. The premise is that she learns she has arrived during a time of who she thinks is a bad king... and she wonders if she can change history's view of him. (Well, he's a prince when she arrives, but becomes the king of course.)

Anyway... the current king is the dude who united various kingdoms into one which started present day Korea (so yes this drama is loosely based on true history... very loosely) And in the drama he has 8 sons... the PRINCES! And a daughter or two also. And two queens. One evil. One... okay.

The princes in the 10th century garbs

Of course the princes are all beautiful. And after awhile, they all pretty much fall in love with our girl. OF COURSE! But they are all very very unattainable. Or already married. Etc. etc. The struggle.

The princes today!

We get to know them all very well. Their crazy back stories. We get to understand that they all (well not all maybe) want to be king when their dad dies. And so, what will happen when he does die?  And thus let the real struggle begin.

It's an epic sweeping royal family saga that is beautiful in all the ways it interprets this story! Like everything is just... beautiful. I don't know how else to describe it! There is some cheesiness here and there. And some convenience things. But yeah.. it's an amazing production.

There is one prince that is hard to ignore right from the beginning. And he rises to the top for our girl after awhile. He is the scary, angsty, hurt, vulnerable, pained, tortured anti hero of which I love to love from all my books and movies. He is a good bad guy, or a bad good guy. Not sure which. The lines are very blurry and I love it.

Prince 4 (4th in line to the throne)  aka. Wang So

And going into this knowing that it's all tragedy and sadness, we know that nothing ends well. Right? This is not your typical happily ever after Kdrama. And that can be frustrating. Because there are so many... if onlys!

That being said, it was easier to bear than I expected. Sigh. I survived Scarlet Heart! There was one scene though, where I wasn't sure I would. Oh my gosh. Seriously hard to watch.

This is NOT the hard scene. LOL! :)

Anyway. I loved it. So glad I pushed through and just watched it!



Here is an awesome fanmade trailer:




 Clips that show the beautiful-ness of this drama set to my favorite song from it, song by three EXO boys including Baekhyun who is Prince 10 in the drama:



There are so many awesome songs from this drama I can't even begin to tell you. So I'll leave at the one. Anyway, if you are in the mood for an epic family saga set in the brand new early days of Korea... this one is it!