Top Korean Dramas of 2014: Third Review

This drama marks Goo Hye Sun's return to TV dramas as Yoon Soo Wan. This time she is paired with Lee Sang Yoon (acting as Park Dong Joo). In the earlier episodes, Kim Haneul appears as the younger version of Dong Joo while Nam Ji Hyun's plays the younger version of Soo Wan. Seungri of Big Bang also makes his first appearance in a drama here. In their adult years, the love triangle is completed with the appearance of Kim Ji Suk as Soo Wan's boyfriend, who also happens to be a doctor working at the same hospital as Dong Joo.

Among Korean drama fans, this is also widely known as My Girl 2 as it brings My Girl's drama leads together once again, the Lee Dong Wook and Lee Da Hae couple. The supporting cast also includes Im Seul Ong, who had an impressive turn as a prince in Mandate of Heaven, which also starred Lee Dong Wook! Although the drama doesn't start of with a bang, the drama does become more interesting as the characters get to know each other better.

Big Man is another revenge drama from South Korea,but so far it is less intense compared to Full Sun. In the lead role we have Kang Ji Hwan acting at Kim Ji Hyuk, who in an intricate plot is identified as "Kang" Ji Hyuk instead in order to save a rich man's son, Kang Dong Suk, played by Daniel Choi. Here, Daniel Choi takes on a very different role compared to his usual Mr Nice Guy roles. In fact, I found it easy to hate his character. After a great performance in I Hear Your Voice, Lee Da Hee takes on the role of So Mi Ra, who ends up as the love interest of both "brothers".

After a long absence from Korean dramas, Kim Myung Min is back in top form as an excellent but devious lawyer, Kim Suk Joo. Due to an accident, he suffers from amnesia and starts to become a different lawyer, one with a heart and for whom justice matters. In a series of coincidences, he also becomes close to intern lawyer, Lee Ji Yoon, played by Park Min Young.

TvN has had a great Flower Boy series, consisting of Flower Boy Ramen Shop, Flower Boy Next Door, Shut Up: Flower Boy Band and Dating Agency Cyrano.This drama starts of in the same vein, with 4 good-looking detectives. However, due to an incident, 3 of them rapidly grow old and turn into grandpas, with only Jung Woo (acted by Kim Hee Chul of Super Junior) remaining at the same age. Expect lots of laughter as the once young detectives have to get used to their physically older bodies and change their mindset when weaving through Korea's social norms of seniority.

This drama is based on real murders which happened at Hwaseong between 1986 to 1991 so do avoid watching if you are afraid of errie scenes. Here, Yoon Sang Hyun takes on a darker role compared to his usual light-hearted roles. He acts as Ha Mu Yeom, a police detective whose father was wrongly suspected as a serial killer. His nemesis is fellow senior police office, Yang Chul Gon (played by Sung Dong Il) who is known as Scary Tiger. Lee Joon of MBLAQ also appears in this drama as a former offender, Tae Oh, who is extremely scary due to his unstable mental health.

Besides the dramas mentioned above, during this drama season you can watch the Witch's Romance (starring Uhm Jung Hwa and Park Seo Joon) too. This is a remake of popular Taiwanese drama,My Queen, which was infamous for its older woman, younger man (or in Korea, the noona-dongseng) romance. I loved the original Taiwanese drama so I decided to give this a try. The first episode is a mess but don't give up on this drama yet as it gets better from episode 2 onwards.We get to see the tough lady at her weakest moments and how she starts to accept the opportunity to give love another chance. The best part about this show is also the amazing chemistry between the two leads. It makes you root for them despite the obstacles.