Kat's K-Dramas: Oh My Ghostess

Oh My Ghostess

오 나의 귀신님

AKA Oh My Ghost

Genre: Romance, comedy, fantasy, thriller

Episodes: 16

Aired: 2015-Jul-03 - 2015-Aug-22

Network: TVN

Starring: Park Bo-Young, Cho Jung-Seok, Lim Ju-Hwan, Kim Seul-Gi

Watch it on: Dramafever, Viki

Synopsis:

Na Bong-Sun (Park Bo-Young) works as an assistant chef. Because of her timid personality and low self-esteem, she doesn't have any friends. Since she was a child, she has been able to ghosts because of her shaman grandmother. One day, she becomes possessed by seductress ghost Shin Soon-Ae.
Kang Sun-Woo (Cho Jung-Seok) is a star chef. Na Bong-Sun has a secret crush on him. He is good looking and confident as a chef. Even though he is popular with women, he has yet to get over his ex-girlfriend. He begins to notice Na Bong-Sun after her sudden change.

Main Character(s): There were really two main characters (sometimes sharing the same body!)
Na Bong-Sun and Shin Soon-Ae. So, here's the down low on these girl(s). Na Bong-Sun is a timid girl who wants to be a chef. She's always had the ability to see ghosts, so she's very jumpy and introverted because of it. She kind of comes off as a bit of a cry-baby at first, but I think she deserves forgiveness because she is haunted like 24/7 by ghosts. She also has a secret crush on Kang Sun-Woo (who everyone calls "Chef").

Shin Soon-Ae is a ghost (played by Kim Seul-Gi when she's in ghost form). She died almost three years ago and she needs to move on before she becomes an evil spirit. She believes the reason she's stuck is because she died a virgin. If she can only seduce a man (by using the bodies of unassuming women) then she can pass to the afterlife. She finds Na Bong-Sun, who's frequency exactly matches Shin Soon-Ae. That means that Soon-Ae gets stuck in Bong-Sun. And hilarity ensues!

I love love love Park Bo-Young. She plays both the timid Bong-Sun and the saucy Soon-Ae perfectly. They are two very distinct characters and she's just the best at being both. She also is adorable and all of her other roles are just as wonderful. I cannot say how much I love her.

OMG, she's just so adorable and hilarious

Love Interest: Kang Sun-Woo AKA "Chef." He's a bit of a jerk. He's cocky and self-centered. He's a famous and celebrated chef and very popular with the ladies. However, he might be that way because he got his heart super broken before. He isn't the nicest to Bong-Sun/Soon-Ae at first because they get in the way. However, this story is just as much about his development as well.

This GIF cracks me up. Bo-Young, Jung-Seok, and Seul-Gi are awesome together.

Allies and Enemies:

Seobinggo - The hilarious Shaman woman who can see Soon-Ae and tries to get her to give up her grudge and move on.

Lee So-Hyeong - Sun-Woo's first love.

Kang Eun-Hee - Sun-Woo's sister and Choi Sung-Jae's wife.

Choi Sung-Jae, Sun-Woo's brother-in-law, a cop, and Soon-Ae's first love! What a small world! He hangs around the restaurant to see Sun-Woo and his wife, Kang Eun-Hee.

Shin Myeong-Ho - Soon-Ae's father, he owns a small restaurant that Soon-Ae used to be the cook for. He drinks too much ever since his daughter died and Soon-Ae, as Bong-Sun, befriends him.

Heo Min-Soo - Hilarious Assistant Chef who kisses up to Sun-Woo and abuses his authority with the other chefs.

Jo Dong-Cheol, Seo Joon, Choi Ji-Woong - the other chefs who make up the whole gang at the restaurant. (Also, I have a crush on Kwak Si-Yang as Seo Joon. I love that Min-Soo gets mad at him for being so hot, hehe)

Random Thoughts:
This show rocks! It was tight plot and pacing the whole way through. Some stories start out great and then get sloppy in the end, but Oh My Ghostess kept the awesome going the whole way. I wonder if it's because the writer's knew the entire plot and never diverged, or if it's because the actors were so great with good chemistry. Probably a mix of both.

Each character got a good and solid backstory and character arc. The chef starts out cocky and selfish and he learns to care when he learns to love (awww, a reformed jerk, I have a soft spot for them, I can't help it). The main girl starts out timid because she grew up able to see ghosts. So, while I usually feel really lukewarm about timid heroines, I thought Bong-Sun had a valid reason for it. And I loved seeing that she developed as a character because of her relationship with the ghost and her ability (she also developed because of her relationship with the chef, but that wasn't the only reason. So I applaud the writers). The ghost's personal story was great. I did not think they were going to give her such a complex and developed story, but it is a huge part of what drove the main conflict/plot. I really liked Kim Seul-Gi in Flower Boy Next Door. She was so quirky and weird in that. And I thought she brought a lot of that great energy to her role as the wayward ghost Shin Soon-Ae.

The love story was actually really well developed and sweet. Who would have thought that a love story that started out as a ghost trying to score with the main guy by using the main girl's body would turn into something so sweet. But it did (trust me).

OMG, look at this chemistry! <3

Love the side characters. The assistant chefs were great comedic energy, and I love how they struggled with the hierarchy of the restaurant (both because of age, title, and romantic entanglements). I feel like Min Seo had his own mini-character arc. I started out really annoyed by him, but I kind of found him adorably flawed by the end.

Didn't love Chef's younger sister, Kang Eun-Hee, but she was a character who played her part well. I think that the mother was a fascinating side character. And I loved her relationship with the shaman. The fact that she treated the shaman like her boyfriend was hilarious, constantly texting her and asking her to go out for food and drinks. The shaman herself was a great character too. She was a good mini-adversary for the ghost, but she wasn't a bad guy. She was just someone who wanted something the ghost didn't (at first).

Overall, I loved this drama. It won my Best Drama of 2015 Award in my end-of-the-year post. And I think it really is a great watch for people whether they're fans of Korean Dramas or not.

Oh My Ghostess Jjang!

Kat's K-Dramas: A Girl Who Sees Smells

A Girl Who Sees Smells

냄새를 보는 소녀
AKA Sensory Couple

Genre: Romance, comedy, fantasy, thriller

Episodes: 16

Aired: 2015-Apr-01 - 2015-May-21

Network: SBS

Starring: Park Yoo Chun, Shin Se Kyung, Nam Goong Min, Yoon Jin Seo

Watch it on: Dramafever, Viki

Synopsis:

Three years ago, Choi Moo Gak lost his younger sister in the "Bar Code" murder case. Since then he has become cold and insensible. Meanwhile, Oh Cho Rim miraculously survived the same incident. Since then she has lost her memory, but also gained the ability to see smells.

Also, the show is based on a popular webtoon that was in Korea (webtoons are web comics in Korea that are published on the internet only...kind of like Mangas/Manhwas in artistic style)

Main Character: Oh Cho Rim/Choi Eun Seol can see smells. It's not like synesthesia as we  know it. She can see them without smelling them. She can see them from afar, and she can see them through glass and other obstructions. This happened to her when she was a teenager around 17 or 18 and got into a car accident after witnessing her parents' kidnapping. She also lost her memory of everything that happened to her before the car accident (including witnessing her parent's kidnapping). She is adopted (and kind of hidden) by a police officer who gives her the new name of Oh Cho Rim. She wants to be able to make people laugh, so she joins a comedy troupe in the hopes of becoming a comedian.

She has sweet daydreams, like the one where she's in one of my all-time favorite Korean variety shows Running Man (It's a show that has the top stars in Korea as guests, and is all about being fun and funny. So she daydreams that she goes on the show as one of the top funny ladies in Korea. I had epic fangirl moments when I saw her on screen with Kang Gary, Yoo Jae Suk, Lee Kwangsoo and the gang).

Love Interest: Choi Moo Gak.

I kind of have a crush on Park Yoo Chun after seeing him as Choi Moo Gak in this show. He's funny, serious, brooding, and adorable all in one! He kind of reminds me of a more grown and goofy Choi Minho (from Shinee) in looks.

Choi Moo Gak had a younger sister named Choi Eun Seol whom he loved. She is not the same Eun Seol who became Cho Rim, but her fate was intertwined with Cho Rim's the night of the car accident. Choi Moo Gak's little sister was on a bus that got into a small accident. She was sent to a hospital to get treated for a banged up head. And she was murdered in that hospital. The man who murdered her was none other than the man who kidnapped Cho Rim's parents and who was trying to kill Cho Rim (who at that time was called Choi Eun Seol). Moo Gak then becomes a cop to try to catch the man who murdered his sister. Also, he has lost all sense of smell, taste, and pain. (None of this is spoilery because it all happens in the first episode).

Are you following me? Yes? No? Well it gets EVEN MORE COMPLICATED.

Allies and Enemies: Oh Cho Rim's father (it turns out) has a personal stake in catching the man who kidnapped and murdered Cho Rim's original parents. Dun dun dun!

Lieutenant Yeom Mi comes to Seoul to catch an elusive murderer deemed "The Barcode Killer" because he carves a barcode in the wrist of all of his victims, including the "fisherman couple" who are none other than Cho Rim's parents.

Then there are the three homicide cops who are kind of the comic relief and happen to be Choi Moo Gak's colleagues after he becomes a cop to catch his sister's murderer.

And another source of comic relief is a troupe of comediennes.

Setting: Present day Seoul. (Flash backs to Jeju Island about three years ago).

Random Thoughts: Oh how I enjoy shows that have only half a foot standing in reality. That's exactly what "The Girl Who Sees Smells" is, and it's super entertaining because of it. This is one of those shows where you need to suspend disbelief. To be fair, a lot of K-dramas are like that. But for this one you might need to go a step further.

First of all, the synesthesia that Oh Cho Rim has that causes her to see smells is not scientifically or medically accurate. However, they don't ever really call it that, so perhaps it is in the "magic" realm of television afflictions and just looks like synesthesia. Either way, as soon as you get over that inaccuracy, the show definitely becomes a much more fun and enjoyable ride (so for anyone planning to watch the show, I would suggest letting that go early on, it's not worth nitpicking at). The great thing is that this show is a very good character show, the individual characters and relationships are one of the best parts.

There is obviously the contrast of Cho Rim who has an extra sense and Moo Gak who has lost all of his senses. At first he is kind of introduced as a dogged, one-track-mind guy who just wants to get into the homicide division so he can catch his sister's killer. He doesn't need friends, love, or anything but justice. Cho Rim is the opposite, she is the ultimate carer. She cares about her father, she cares about the other comediennes in the troupe, and she cares about making people laugh.

So when their words collide they don't exactly see eye-to-eye. However, because of certain circumstances they need help from each other.

The best part of the show is the relationship between Moo Gak and Cho Rim (and also the relationship between Moo Gak/Cho Rim and the homicide cops). They are just so cute and sweet together.  I really loved their chemistry and the comedy they created. Also, there was always the knowing that their hidden pasts were going to come back and bite them in the butt (and so I was very concerned for them as a couple).

The show does a good job of creating interesting interactions between the characters. And I did genuinely enjoy the characters, which is probably what made it easy for me to stick with such a ridiculous show. I will say that the plot was kind of flat at times. You would think there would be more twists and turns in a murder mystery that involved mistaken identity and lost memories. However, things are revealed very quickly in the series and the path doesn't divert very much from it.

POTENTIAL LIGHT SPOILERS BELOW

POTENTIAL LIGHT SPOILERS BELOW

There were also a few facts that were left dangling. One that involved Oh Cho Rim's adopted father. It actually super bothered me, because it was introduced in such a dramatic way, but then never resoled. So I was kind of annoyed that they introduced it in the first place anyway. Also, Oh Cho Rim's adoptive father's motives for adopting her are never 100% clear. They start to give us potential answers to that question and then never follow-through.

The show had a very drawn out ending, which is not surprising for a thriller Korean Drama. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't love it. I think that this might have been due to my personal preference though. I am a fan of epilogues in K-Dramas, but I also don't like random (extra) twists and turns. To be fair, the extra twists in this show made sense. That's why I was okay with it.

All in all, a very entertaining show with a cool twists and play on the normal dramas we see. 

Kat's K-Dramas: Healer

So I'm going to try to review some of the dramas that I really liked watching. It'll be similar to my book reviews (so an overview of the whole series instead of an episode by episode recap).

Healer

힐러

Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Romance

Episodes: 20

Aired: 2014-Dec-08 to 2015-Feb-10

Network: KBS2

Starring: Ji Chang Wook, Park Min Young, Yoo Ji Tae

Watch it on: Dramafever, Viki

Synopsis:

A mysterious messenger, an online newspaper reporter who only concerns her own interests, a popular reporter who agonizes over the truth and reality.

When these three people meet, a passionate romance starts and the truths from the past and present reveal themselves to the world. This drama features young people and how they grow into real reporters.

This drama explores the world of underground business as well as journalism. It talks about how sometimes there are underground, powerful political groups that manipulate journalism for their own needs. It shows how different groups of journalists either conform or fight against these political powers.

Main Character: Chae Young Shin/Oh Ji An (Park Min Young) - She was abandoned/lost as a little girl, so she has a lot of issues about this. But now she wants to be a reporter like her idol Kim Moon Ho (a brutally honest investigative reporter who is a celebrity due to his great reporting skills). She is strong and honest and adorable, so I really like her as a main character.

Love Interest/Second Main Character: Seo Jung Hoo / Park Bong Soo / Healer (Ji Chang Wook) - So, I truly believe that Jung Hoo is the second main character and not just the love interest. Not only because he is the Healer (the whole name of the show). But because he has a past that intricately ties him into the greater mystery and he has a lot at stake in this show.

Secondary Love Interest: At first I thought that this show was going to try to make Kim Moon Ho (Yoo Ji Tae) the secondary love interest, which I would have hated since he is more of a protective older brother to Chae Young Shin. However, they don't do that in this drama (thank goodness!).

Setting: Current day Korea (with some flashbacks to the past).

Random Thoughts: Perfect balance of drama, comedy, action, and romance. I loved Healer for it's ability to find the perfect mix of these elements. It's what made the show both exciting and emotional for me. Also, it doesn't hurt that there were secret connections between a lot of the main characters that were revealed along the way. I love when a drama gives past connections (I don't care how hokey this might sound, just trust me that it's done way better in K-Dramas then in a lot of American dramas).

Chae Young Shin is a great lead female. She is not too whiney or weak. She is also not too rough and unlikable like some female leads can be (although, sometimes this works for a character, see I Can Hear Your Voice). Young Shin is the perfect blend of a strong female that still has some flaws and issues to work through. She also has a great family and support system around her, so it's easy to see why she's become such an upstanding and lovable girl.

On the flip-side Seo Jung Hoo did not have a loving family. He had a master trainer who taught him how to fight after his mother abandoned him. Oddly, his relationship with his mother is kind of good. He still goes to see her and shows her a lot of affection. This confused me for a bit but in flashbacks they explain it away (a little too quickly for my liking, but at least they explained it).

This is also a drama that seems to address a lot of the "cliches" that occur, kind of in a tongue-in-cheek way. A lot of dramas do this to try to dissuade the audience from thinking it's too corny. I've seen it done better in some other dramas, but I've also seen it done way worse. So I give the writers of Healer credit for trying and for pulling it off fairly well.

All-in-all, I waited each week for new episodes and the drama kept my interest during it's whole run. I really enjoyed the actors and the story of this drama, and I think it's a fun show to watch (especially if you're new to the whole Korean-Drama game. It's not overly steeped in Korean Culture, so it's easy to get into).

Recommendations: If you liked the mysterious past/master fighter aspects of Healer, then try City Hunter. If you liked the journalism in Healer, then try Pinocchio.

SPOILERS AHEAD. DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ SOME SPOILERS

I like the connections and how they became more complex as the drama went on. The fact that the past with the "parent characters" keeps permeating into the present is important to the drama. It seems like there are a lot of small reveals that show how interconnected the three main characters truly are. At first, I thought the Healer was just a jaded guy who lived a mysterious life. He is a man who doesn't like connections, but the fact that he gets embroiled in a mystery that deeply connects him to other people made me really happy. I do think it's a little coincidental that he gets randomly involved in the mystery, but I don't hate that one coincidental meeting that gets the ball rolling. When you think about it a lot of stories happen because of a coincidental meeting of two people fated to meet. 

Though there are some coincidences that I thought were a little too blatant. The fact that Jo Min Ja (Ajjuma) used to work on the police force with detective that now hunts Healer is a little far fetched. The fact that Chae Young Shin idolized Kim Moon Ho, who happens to be the man who has been looking for her for years and also happens to be her Oppa in a  past life (a little too coincidental).

I like that Seo Jung Hoo comes from a very similar background to Chae Young Shin and was also abandoned like Chae Young Shin, but he has taken a very different path. It makes it so fun to see how these characters interact and how they discover their history and react to it differently.

I also really enjoyed the romance. I like the scenes where Seo Jung Hoo is following Chae Young Shin as Healer and she calls him (thinking he is Park Bong Soo) and they talk about deep feelings while he is watching her longingly. I know this seems a little stalker/creepy, but I like to think it's easily explained away by the fact that he's just doing his job (since he was hired by Moon Ho to watch over Chae Young Shin).

Unfortunately, this series was one that had an anti-climactic ending. One of those endings where I thought, "is that it?" I know that sometimes a resolution is not as high-action as you'd like, but this show is an action/thriller, so I would have expected a little bit more. To be fair, there was some intrigue and secret plans that they carried off in the end. And it was nice that our main leads got a happy ending. I just wish that there was...more...