Top Korean Dramas of 2014: First Review

When I first heard the drama title, my first thoughts were Lee Hyori's hit song of the same title. Unfortunately this drama is not as spunky as the hit song and the pacing is a little too slow for me. Although the drama is set around 1997 which is almost 20 years ago, the choice of this setting shouldn't impact the pacing as I utterly fell in love with both Reply 1994 and Reply 1997 which were set during the same period! Anyway, in the end I watched only 2 episodes so I am unable to give a full review on this drama.

This drama marks Hallyu star, Kim Hyun Joong's return to dramaland (his previous drama was Mischievous Kiss way back in 2010). This time he takes on the role of Jung Tae, a natural born fighter, who through a series of setbacks ends up joining a smuggling group. The drama is set in the 1930s when Korea was still under Japanese occupation. This makes for an interesting love story as he is linked to Gaya, a leader in Il Gook Hwae, a Japanese triad (yakuza). Rounding up the love plot is Ok Ryeon who is faithful to Jung Tae and Kim Soo Ok (played by Kim Jae Wook) who likes Ok Ryeon. One minor peeve though, I wished there were less fighting scenes!

If I had to describe One Warm Word in one sentence, it would be "Watch this drama to learn why you should never have an affair!" This drama has a very interesting and different plot as it focuses on two different couples who are going through a difficult time due to Couple 1's husband (Ji Jin Hee) having an affair with the woman in Couple 2 (Han Hye Jin). Is it possible to forget the past and move forward in order to protect the family? Watch this drama and follow the two couples as they use different methods to deal with the hurt and pain. It is not a pleasant watch but a pretty interesting one! On a separate note, another interesting pair is the Park Seo Joon-Han Groo couple.

Following on the success of I Need Romance 1 & 2, the third part of this series continues to focus on women in their 30s. This time we have Kim So Yeon in the lead as Shin Joo Yeon who works at a home shopping network. She is enemies with popular stylist Oh Se Ryung due to a previous incident where Se Ryung stole her first love. Many years later, Kang Tae Yoon, a director at the home shopping network comes between them. At the same time, Joo Wan (played by Sung Joon) returns to Seoul to reconcile with Joo Yeon after leaving for the United States as a kid. What makes this show so amazing is the chemistry between Kim So Yeon and both Sung Joon and Tae Yoon! The writing is also great as each episode teaches us something new about Shin Joo Yeon, who has kept her feelings hidden for so long, that even she herself is unaware of her true feelings!

Initially, I wasn't interested in watching this drama. But I caught parts of it while travelling in Korea and it looked hilarious, hence I picked it up once I came back from my trip! Indeed, this is the first drama starring Yoona (of Girls' Generation) which i like. Here, she plays a playful character who is forced to enter into a contract marriage with Kwon Yul (played by Lee Bum Soo) in order to prevent a scandal. As with other similar dramas, they start to develop feelings for one another. She also becomes an important person to his children as they start to warm up to her. Yoon Shi Yoon who has taken on a starring role in a string of successful dramas appears here in a second lead capacity as Kwon Yul's chief of staff, with a mysterious background. He adds on to the drama's plot by falling in love with Yoona's character, Nam Da Jeong. Unfortunately, Ryu Jin who acts as Park Jun Ki (Kwon Yul's brother-in-law and main nemesis) is wasted in his role as his character is not well fleshed out and turns into a typical villain.

This drama is a must watch for many reasons. The story moves quickly with interesting flashback scenes which allows us to learn more about Do Min Joon (acted by Kim Soo Hyun) aka the alien who came from the star. After being active mostly in movies, Jeon Ji Hyun re-enters TV-land with a bang as she makes Cheon Song Yi the huge celebrity star who is inwardly unsure about herself come to life. It is such a riot to watch the two leads together as they have great chemistry. Oh..by the way, don't stop watching till you have finished watching every episode's epilogue. They are hilarious!