Happy Birthday Choi Jin Hyuk and Lee Hoo!

Happy Birthday to Choi Jin Hyuk (1985) who recently completed Pride and Prejudice, and Lee Hoo (1989), formerly known as Moon Jun Young, of ZE:A

Review:// Pride and Prejudice

MBC's 21 episode legal romantic drama, Pride and Prejudice, is about a young prosecution team working to reveal a conspiracy that can crush them. It's really two stories intertwined, which are unraveled step-by-step in a suspenseful way, while love struggles to bloom.

Lead by Chief Moon (Choi Min Soo), the team's purpose is to investigate civilian concerns, but soon branches out to bigger cases despite opposition from their superiors. At first it seems that Chief Moon is simply being ambitious and desiring more prestige for the team, but as he guides the prosecutors toward connected cases, it becomes clear that he has another agenda.

Each prosecutor is paired with an investigator who they end up doing a lot of field work with, so they aren't always stuck in conferences or the interrogation rooms. They really seem more like detectives who don't rely much on the police. Work is also balanced with home life, as our main and second leading man and leading lady all board at the same house.

Han Yul Moo (Baek Jin Hee) is a new intern prosecutor whose motivation is revenge stemming from a family tragedy. She does an excellent job portraying confusion, conflict and resolve as she lets her pure heart lead her. She also has a complicated relationship with her depressed mother played by Kim Na Woon, who is dealing with their tragedy in a decidedly more self-destructive way. Baek Jin Hee won the Excellence Actress for Special Project award at the MBC Drama Awards.

Goo Dong Chi (Choi Jin Hyuk) is the prosecutor in charge of training Yul Moo, and they share a past that is more complicated than even they realize. He's charming, intelligent and excellent in a fight. Choi Jin Hyuk gives us an authoritative character tempered by a warm heart and sense of humor. At the MBC Drama Awards he won the Excellence Actor for Special Project award.

Goo Dong Chi as the older man who knows what he wants, and Han Yul Moo as the younger uncertain woman with strong convictions, do have a sweet chemistry. Their personal obstacles are overcome in a believable way, and their matching moral fortitude and bravery builds a strong bond.

Kang Soo (Lee Tae Hwan) is Goo Dong Chi's investigator and our endearing second leading man. He's rather shy, but courageous and protective. Orphaned at a young age, he doesn't remember the traumatic events of his past which happen to be relevant to the conspiracy his team is working to uncover.

Despite their rivalry in love, Dong Chi is still Kang Soo's idol and they share a touching bromance, made all the more adorable when a cute puppy is in the picture. 

Chief Moon is volatile and mysterious. He knows the players and political shenanigans that go on among the officials above him. While it's apparent that he's supporting his team, it also seems that he's holding them back. It's hard to know whether he's trustworthy from one episode to the next. He shares a past with Jung Chang Gi (Son Chang Min) the neighborhood ahjussi who Kang Soo is close with. 

Choi Min Soo gave a powerful performance as Chief Moon, winning him the Golden Acting Award at the 2014 MBC Drama Awards. He refused the award, indirectly referencing the Sewol ferry incident in a speech delivered by Baek Jin Hee that was suspiciously edited out of the program and included these thoughts:

"This is the least I can do for society's conscience and hope lost in the deep, cold sea during the times of a failing law, lack of common sense, and loss of any morsel of truth."

The other prosecutor on the team is the often cowardly Lee Jang Won (Choi Woo Shik). He's paired with investigator Yoo Kwang Mi (Jung Hye Sung) who is incidentally the daughter of Chief Moon's investigator, Yoo Dae Gi (Jang Hang Sun), which makes for some delightfully awkward scenes at the office.

The pair and their playful romance serves as comic relief, but they also do good work as Kwang Mi inspires Jang Won to do better.

While the drama is often serious and tense, it's tempered not only by comic relief, but cuteness too. The grandmother who adopted Kang Soo and runs the boarding house, takes on a new charge which stirs up the past for Kang Soo, and also gives us a chance to preview our handsome leads as daddies.

Pride and Prejudice is full of likeable complex characters in a tension packed story of intrigue. Impressively the pacing doesn't falter in the middle like it does in so many other dramas. Where it stumbles is at the end. The drama got a one episode extension which it did need as the time to resolve everything was getting short. Instead of utilizing that time wisely, episode 20 was filled with unnecessary flashbacks. 

The courtroom scenes in the final episode bring us to an anticlimactic conclusion without any satisfying confrontation. There is a profound and touching sacrifice made that isn't acknowledged when we jump ahead three years. In fact there is no resolution for any of the characters, only a short extraneous scene involving the lead couple. Instead of using up so much time in flashbacks, a longer scene that gathered everyone together again at the end would have made for a much more gratifying finale.

In spite of the glaring flaws at the finish, Pride and Prejudice is worth watching. It will keep you guessing, trying to connect the dots, while commiserating with all of the lovable characters. Besides that, the concept that through teamwork and sacrifice, individuals can challenge corrupt powerful institutions to affect change is an important one to keep alive in society. In light of that, I have to applaud Choi Min Soo in his refusal of his award. Even though his message was censored on the television broadcast, the word still got out in the media and will hopefully provide some perspective for the masses. Read more about it here.

First Impressions:// Fated to Love You (Korean)

The Korean remake of Fated to Love You has certainly retained the spirit of the original. The one glaring difference fans of the Taiwanese version will notice is the change in the male lead's personality. While Ethan Ruan played a more serious iceberg, Jang Hyuk is flamboyant and dramatic. It's quite a twist, but it works, and helps to give this remake its own voice.

The story is about a man who keeps getting propositioned by male couples. Okay, not really, but there were a few scenes in the second episode that got my imagination going.

Lee Gun (Jang Hyuk) is an eccentric chaebol heir with great abs, which he so graciously displays repeatedly.  He's exaggerated, diva-ish, and you never know what he's going to do next. Having only seen Jang Hyuk in dramatic roles lately, I was delighted to see him perform such comedic antics. He's definitely upped his game from his past comedies.

Seeing that our leading man is getting older without securing an heir, the family puts considerable pressure on him and his grandmother, Chairwoman Wang (Park Won Sook), to get him married as soon as possible.

Kim Mi Young (Jang Na Ra) is the "Post-it Girl" played similarly by Chen Qiao En in the Taiwanese version. Too nice for her own good, she gets taken advantage of at the office where people pass work onto her via post-it notes.

Lee Gun and Mi Young's first meeting turns into something hilarious, with Lee Gun alternating between failing to be a gentleman, and going into chaebol mode. Mi Young is meek, but with an inner strength that briefly surfaces. This start to their relationship is a nice anticipatory appetizer.

Now if you've seen the Taiwanese version or read the synopsis of either, it's not spoilerish to say that these two end up having an accidental one night stand. Though much of the leading lady's forays into Imagination Land from the Taiwanese series are cut out, we still get the benefit of silly symbolism and animation in the Korean drama. Cheesy? Yes, but it fits right into place.

Though Lee Gun is an over the top type of guy, Jang Hyuk also brings subtley and tenderness to the role. Jang Na Ra is beautifully adorable as usual, and the two of them have a great rapport and undeniable chemistry.

 

It doesn't hurt that they've already established themselves as an endearing couple in the 2002 rom/com, Successful Story of a Bright Girl. Since then, they've both enjoyed much success in their busy careers. Seeing them come back together as more refined and complex actors is amazing.

Choi Jin Hyuk is Daniel, and if the script sticks to the original where he's concerned, Daniel will be our sweet and caring Second Leading Man. We don't get to see very much of him in the first two episodes, but he seems like a pleasant scoundrel so far. Wang Ji Won is Kang Se Ra, Lee Gun's ballerina girlfriend who has been avoiding marriage due to her career.

And then we have the men who are trying to stop Lee Gun from closing their soap factory and putting everyone out of work. Jung Eun Pyo and Im Hyung Joon make a perfect comedic duo as President Park and Mr. Choi (who also happens to be Mi Young's brother in law).

 

It took two episodes to tell the story that the Taiwanese version told in one. Being that there are 24 90-minute episodes in the Taiwanese series compared to 20 one hour installments in the Korean drama, I'm guessing that a lot of extraneous storyline and dragging action from the original will be pared away to create a more concise and satisfying story.

First Impressions:// Flower Grandpa Investigation Team

tvN's 12 episode comedy, Flower Grandpa Investigation Team, is light-hearted and a little cheesy... okay, a lot cheesy, but it's the good kind of cheese. Yummy and cute.

The team of detectives come across a particular scene in their investigation. Old men being held prisoner in a tank, yet their posted laboratory charts identify much younger men. They jump in to free the captives, only to suffer the same fate - instantly aging about 50 years. Well, three of them did. It's a mystery as to why Park Jung Woo was not affected.

Lee Joon Hyuk (Choi Jin Hyuk/Lee Soon Jae) is the cool headed ace Chief Inspector with a photographic memory and high IQ.

Han Won Bin (Park Min Woo/Byun Hee Bong) is the Chief Inspector renown for his intuition and charm with women. His weakness is that his obsession with cleanliness can ruin an investigation.

Jun Kang Suk (Park Doo Shik/Jang Kwang) is an Olympic boxing gold medalist. He's in the top 1% of Korea's policemen in terms of endurance and speed. His flaw is that he's easily deceived.

The token female on the team is Jung Eun ji (Lee Cho Hee). She has the best sense of smell in Korea's police force, including the dogs. The problem is that she has an unreasonable love of eating and will munch on evidence without realizing what she's doing.

Park Jung Woo (Kim Hee Chul) is the chief's son, and also a top investigator. He attended the Police Academy with Lee Joon Hyuk and they took turns being in the top spot. He's personable and a bit lazy, though, while Joon Hyuk is cold and motivated.

The team convinces their superiors to let them continue to work, while trying to find a cure for their sudden aging. Since two of the grandpas are actually younger than Jung Woo, the use of honorifics or lack thereof seems odd to onlookers and co-workers alike.

The elders are a perfect match for their younger counterparts. They adjust to their new bodies, but continue to express their young personalities and the results are quite entertaining. Although it does prompt the audience to wonder how it would feel to be in that predicament.

Joon Hyuk has the additional problem of not being able to stay at his apartment due to his fiance, the affluent Han Yoo Ra (Park Eun Ji). As a result, he spends more time with his dysfunctional family and may end up having a closer bond with them in the end.

In the meantime, the team is reassigned to take the cases that no one else wants. It seems the series will be episodic in that sense, while an ongoing search for answers will ultimately culminate in a happy ending.

Jung Woo is supportive of the grandpas and they all work well together, even as Won Bin and Kang Suk stumble after losing their greatest attributes. Eun Ji is foolish, but talented, and a good counterpart to Joon Hyuk's seriousness. Her crush on him has not diminished with his transformation, and you have to wonder if anything will come of it.

Flower Grandpa Investigative Team's cuteness is accentuated with special effects. We see Lee Soon Jae, Byun Hee Bong and Jang Kwang so often in supporting roles that it's nice to see them frolicking about as the leads. Kim Hee Chul's acting has improved dramatically since I saw him in Bad Family, and Lee Cho Hee rounds out the team nicely.

If all goes well, we'll be seeing these youngsters again in the last episode.

This series is the perfect lighthearted escape, and a good alternative for those who may be getting bogged down or burnt out on melodramas. It's a nice cheesy treat for summer!

Review:// Emergency Couple

What started out as an excruciating War of the Roses type of torture, turned into the highlight of my week. Emergency Couple delivered on so many levels that it was easy to forgive the shortcuts it took. After getting through the set up of the first episode, this drama's charm grew as it went along, creating an unexpectedly sweet atmosphere.

"In Buddhism, it's said that a husband and wife meet each other after 7000 'gup' of fate. 'Gup' means the time it takes for a single rain drop of every thousand years to pierce through a rock as big as a house. So marriage is something of a miracle."

We start off with a pair of medical students, Oh Jin Hee (Song Ji Hyo) and Oh Chang Min (Choi Jin Hyuk), getting married without friends and family present, as theirs is a marriage that has not met with approval. Specifically, Chang Min's family is so against it that they cut him off, derailing his future as a doctor. This misfortune, added to the couple's immaturity, leads to destructive and just plain mean behavior culminating in divorce.

Six years later to their dismay, the two reunite as interns in the same emergency room. Jin Hee is the underdog as the initial impression she makes is quite poor, and everyone focuses on her age, whereas Chang Min is regarded as a golden boy.

As expected, the relationship of divorcees is a complex one, especially when they readdress their true feelings from a more mature perspective.  Ordinarily I would be against a recoupling because it's impossible to recapture magic when enough hurt has extinguished it. But Choi Jin Hyuk's portrayal of Chang Min was just so touching, it gave me hope, when realistically there would be none.

Speaking of Choi Jin Hyuk, I absolutely loved him in this comical role. He was really able to let loose and get crazy in way I've never seen him do before. Whether he was being subtle or over the top, he won me over as he got all the proper emotions across.

There were many sexy and touching headshots to make any fangirl happy, but the eye candy scenes definitely had me sit up and take notice. Were it not for the weightlifting shot, I would not have realized just how buff Choi Jin Hyuk's arms are. And although the shower scene was too short, it's in there, and that's all that matters. Fangirls rejoice!

Song Ji Hyo was perfect for the contradictory character of Oh Jin Hee. Strong yet vulnerable, silly yet competent, Jin Hee found herself in a variety of humiliating circumstances, yet she managed to prevail in spite of it all.

The cast of side characters was quite complimentary to the plot, and though their own storylines were not well developed, they did serve to further demonstrate the main couple's growth through their issues. There was even a Second Leading Lady, who didn't get as entangled as I would have liked, but she made a meaningful contribution to the story.

The stigma of divorce is also addressed in a compassionate light, which is something I've been seeing more of in recent years. Hopefully this is a reflection of a changing attitude in South Korea toward divorcees. It seems that women especially become persecuted, not just socially, but professionally when it comes to this issue, so I'm glad it's being given consideration through the entertainment industry.

Second Leading Man, Gook Chun Soo (Lee Pil Mo), played a humorous straight man, and by "straight" I mean the serious one in a comic duo. He got surprised and shaken by the happy accidents that occurred with Jin Hee, and developed albeit in baby steps, though them.

Writer Choi Yoon Jung played it just a bit too safe with this couple. I think if she had taken things a little further, it would have upped the tension and made the drama more impactful. Though it would have also increased the suffering of everyone involved, including the viewer, so perhaps it all worked out for the best.

I have to take a minute to acknowledge the mothers and Baby Gook (Kwon Joon Young) because they were so entertaining. I'm not sure if it was a just an adorable coincidence every time the fluffy-haired Gook stared wide-eyed at whomever was speaking, but he was hilarious and enhanced every scene he was in.

Jo Yang Ja (Lee Mi Young) and Yoon Sung Sook (Park Joon Geum), Jin Hee and Chang Min's mothers were heartfelt, protective and aggressive, and had a wonderful chemistry with everyone they interacted with. And I swear neither of them has aged in years!

The Monday Couple was reunited with Kang Gary's delightful cameo in episode six. There were many great cameos as well including DickPunks and Narsha. For those not familiar with Running Man, Kang Gary and Song Ji Hyo have been cast members on the variety show since 2010.

Emergency Couple was beautifully shot, including artsy lighting, focus and location shots that pulled the audience into the story on another level rather than distracting from the plot. Though the medical situations seemed to be superficially covered, the action was followed well. There was shifting focus at times lending itself to the realism of an emergency room documentary, but the bright lighting gave it a dreamy, pleasing aesthetic.

Both playful and tender, the soundtrack played an effective role in portraying the emotions of the series with artists such as Im Jung Hee, Park Shi Hwan, Joo Ah, 3rd Coast, and yes, Choi Jin Hyuk.

"Right and wrong answers co-exist in every decision. Wise people make a choice and make it the right answer. Foolish people regret the decision and make it the wrong decision. There is no right answer in life. There is only the process to make it the right answer."

I laughed out loud throughout the drama as fresh humor was expertly portrayed in ways that I wasn't expecting. Through it all, the characters developed, gained wisdom, and moved towards a satisfying resolution. Thinking back on it, I can't recommend Emergency Couple enough; it's just that good. And be sure to watch the bloopers at the end of episode 21!

First Impressions:// Emergency Couple

When Batzy-chan first gave me the heads up about Emergency Couple, I wondered who she was watching it for, the sexy charismatic Choi Jin Hyuk, or Running Man's fabulous female, Song Ji Hyo. (Batzy-chan is a Running Man fanatic!) Whichever the case may be, we were both quite excited for this show to get underway.

The plot seems straightforward; two medical school students marry, divorce, and find their lives intertwined once again. In some ways, the first episode was just what I was expecting, and in other ways, not what I was expecting at all.

We start off with some beautiful romantic imagery as our couple runs through the streets to get married. Their pursuers were, of course, sent by the rich disapproving family to stop them, but love prevailed! Even though Song Ji Hyo's wig looks terrible, I don't care; she's cute, her groom is cute, and they're just so cute together!  But then...