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Drama Review: Cruel City (2013)
Grade: ACategoryCrime thrillerWhat it’s aboutFate forces a young woman into undercover police work, leading her to spy on Seoul’s up-and-coming drug kingpin—a suit-wearing uber-gangster known only as...
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Nonessential words Korean drama has taught me
If life were more like television, I would speak perfect Korean by now. Characters are always coming to Earth and/or America and picking up English from a couple of episodes of Wheel of Fortune or...
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Drama Review: Love Rain (2012)
Grade: BCategoryRomantic melodramasWhat it’s aboutIn the 1970s, a young couple is torn apart by fate. Forty years later, their children meet and fall in love, only to find their relationship...
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A Guide for Kdrama Characters in America
Congratulations on your decision to visit the United States of America! Whether you’re here to work, attend school, or just loaf around while exiled from Korea, we think you’ll find our country to be...
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Size matters
When I first discovered the existence of Korean dramas, the most surprising thing about them was probably their length. I had always assumed that there was only one way to make a TV show: build a...
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Casting Call: Kim Tan
Here’s my dirty confession of the week: I’m quite enjoying Heirs. Now that the drama has wrapped up its (literally as well as figuratively) rocky opening sequence in California and returned to Seoul,...
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Drama Review: Master’s Sun (2013)
Grade: A-CategorySupernatural rom-comWhat it’s aboutAfter she begins seeing ghosts, Tae Gong Shil’s promising future self-destructs. She can’t hold down a job, have regular friendships, or even get a...
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Boyfriend Bot: Kdrama Edition
The Song Joong Ki *Has Korean drama ruined you for real men?Traditional relationships are such a hassle. First you have to find someone you like, which is no easy task. Whether you try Internet dating,...
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Another open letter to Kim Eun Sook, screenwriter of Heirs
Dear Kim Eun Sook,Now that Heirs has hit the halfway mark, I wanted to follow up about our recent correspondence.When I last wrote to you, I wasn’t convinced that you and I would make it this far—I...
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Drama Review: Smile, You (2007)
Grade: B-CategoryRomantic comedy, home dramaWhat it’s aboutAfter her wedding is derailed by the revelation of her dad’s bankruptcy, Seo Jung In is forced to move in with the penny-pinching family of...
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For the birds: The quietly feminist leanings of Korean dramas
Ojakgyo Brothers’ Baek Ja Eun and her ajumma.“I don’t know why feminists like you watch Korean drama.”Although they’ve since deleted it, an anonymous commenter left this note on one of my posts about...
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Drama Review: Flowers for My Life (2007)
Grade: A-CategoryBlack romantic comedy with hints of melodramaWhat it’s aboutHaving grown up in a funeral home, Ha Na is immune to the range of human emotion. Money is the only thing she really loves,...
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The Woe-TP blues: Eun Sang and Young Do
As a denizen of the Internet, you’re probably familiar with the initialism OTP, which is usually translated as “one true pairing.” People use it when referring to the fandom couple they most...
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Showtime: Korean movies
In spite of my obsession with Kdrama, I’ve never been very interested in Korean movies. For me, the most satisfying storytelling is done on a grand scale. I’d rather read a fat novel than a collection...
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Drama Review: Bridal Mask (2012)
Grade: B-CategoryAction-flavored fusion sageukWhat it’s aboutThe struggles and triumphs of a masked vigilante who stands up for the Korean people during Japan’s occupation of Korea in early twentieth...
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What next?
I’m a big fan of order and routine. I sometimes think this is why I like Korean drama so much—once you master the key elements, everything about them is as straightforward as the basic geometry proofs...
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Drama Review: Heirs (2013)
Grade: B-CategoryLight melodrama of the high school persuasion What it’s aboutThanks to her mother’s position as a live-in maid, hardworking Cha Eun Sang is exposed to a world of privilege she never...
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Some Tiny Notes
Although I usually don’t post reviews on Tuesdays, the Heirs series review below is the best I can do this week. My blissfully long winter break starts Friday, though, so I’ll have lots of time for...
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My (carbon copy) Love from Another Star
I sometimes think originality is overrated. It’s a pretty standard assumption that the first is always the best, and that everything following afterward is a pale imitation. We think originators are...
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Boxing Day Marathon: White Christmas
Although most Korean dramas are bite-sized compared to American television shows, they still tend to be too long for a true marathon—at more than 16 episodes, it’s actually a punishing experience to...
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