At a time when a wife’s fate lives and dies with her husband, things can get tricky for widows as they’re left between the cracks of her and her dead husband’s family. In neo-Confucian Joseon, widows were expected to maintain their chastity after their husband’s death, but Knight Flower portrays a widow that pretends to […]
With over-the-top soundtracks, and an enemies to lovers plot, Sweet Trap seemed like it would be cliché. It totally is, but it’s unabashedly so, learning into these moments like a comforting, well-worn coat, that actually supports its main goal as a celebration of traditional Chinese cooking. The stakes are familiar, but the melodrama is slightly […]
In their ninth drama collaboration, director Park Chan-hong and writer Kim Ji-woo partner again to deliver a murder mystery in Miraculous Brothers. The first few episodes juggle multiple plotlines between the novelist, the amnesiac boy he crashes into, and the serial murders, and at first, it seems unclear what links all of them. However, as […]
Meeting a cute boy at the corner store, sneaking snacks into camp, leaving gifts at your crush’s desk… These are things that got lost for high schoolers who had to take online classes during the pandemic. Because of this, When I Fly Towards You is a timely blast from the past as schools get back […]
After the critically panned Naraka 19 (2007), The 19th Floor of Hell novel seemed to be an unadaptable story, since the tech and production design needed to portray the 1991 story was years ahead of its time. After more than 30 years, Mango TV and director Cai Cong are able to turn the novel into […]
A mysterious rotting smell and hard thuds heard from above start the series off on an eerie note. Moon Joo-ran (Kim Tae-hee) is a seemingly perfect housewife, but under the guise of her well-kept home are a secretive husband and a son who possibly resents her (currently unknown) condition. Meanwhile, Chu Sang-eun (Lim Ji-yeon) is […]
In the era of behind-the-athlete documentaries, the timing of a series like My Lovely Boxer is perfect. The series follows a young boxing prodigy, Lee Kwon-Sook (Kim So-Hye), who suddenly disappears at the height of her career to escape the toxicity of her home life and avoid becoming commodified as a boxer. In its first […]
Usually, telepathy is just portrayed as a cool superpower. In Eye Love You, it’s useful for Motomiya to secure her CEO position, but it also means an imbalance in every interaction she has with other people… At least, until she meets Korean student Yoon Tae-oh. This, of course, becomes the basis for their relationship, which, […]
Wedding Impossible has all the hallmarks of your classic romantic Korean drama. Good-looking and likable leads who go on an enemies-to-lovers journey? Check. One is poor and the other is an heir to a big conglomerate? Oh, check. Funny friends, relatable hardships, fairy tale coincidences? Check, check, check. It’s standard to a tee, which is […]
While live-action manga adaptations are known to have a bad rap, Netflix’s Trillion Game is quite entertaining. Striving to earn a million, maybe even a trillion dollars, is something that many people aspire to do, but the way Haru and the team do it is so unexpected. Ren Maguro keeps a great balance between Haru’s […]
With the premise, Amidst a Snowstorm of Love seemed to be a sports-related romance, albeit taking place in a snowy location. It’s a familiar story, with a discouraged athlete finding inspiration for their craft again through romance, and it’s a story that works. But in the first few episodes, Amidst a Snowstorm of Love feels […]
When a romance drama is centered around the translation industry, it’s expected that Our Interpreter would involve communication issues. As Lin Xi meets her ex Xiao Yicheng, eight years after their breakup, there’s an interesting push and pull between technology and human labor, analytics versus artistic interpretation, as well as speed over quality, and this […]
Body swapping is an intriguing concept because it’s such a concrete, immediate way for two characters to intrinsically understand one another. Usually, this swap occurs between relatives, lovers, and friends, but Branding in Seongsu takes this swap between a boss and her intern, as they clash over the ethics of marketing a big name cosmetic […]
While Western viewers are more acquainted with gay representation in Western media, Asia also has its fair share of gay portrayals in the Asian BL and Japanese yaoi genres. While mistakenly viewed by some as explicit, there are some BL titles that are more on the sweet side, and I Cannot Reach You is one […]
Youth of May is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a straightforward spring-set coming-of-age drama where young adults chase after their dreams, if they have any, and try to figure out what they want otherwise. Like plenty of other K-dramas, this usually involves a romance. But in between the ordinary romance, life strikes. […]
Escape from Mogadishu follows diplomats from the North and South Korean embassies as they put aside their differences and work together to escape from an outbreak of civil war in Mogadishu, Somalia. Director Ryoo Seung-wan provides thrilling, high-budget action, especially intense car chases and suspenseful escape scenes that pump you with adrenaline and leave you […]
If you’re familiar with the classic supernatural romance Ghost (1990), Why Didn’t I Tell You A Million Times? will remind you of it. It doesn’t have the comedic banter of Whoopi Goldberg, but it does have a back-and-forth dynamic between the ghost and the detective that sees him. It doesn’t have the leading lady’s potential […]
I Told Sunset About You isn’t the most original series out there. The school setting, the tense rivalry, and the years spent apart are familiar tropes, even for heterosexual coming-of-age dramas, though the added dimension of Teh’s Chinese Thai background is new. That being said, it doesn’t hold up the series alone. I Told Sunset […]
x1While the enemy of my enemy is my friend, the two leads in The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil are more like an uneasy alliance of rivals competing to hunt down a serial killer. This isn’t a new concept. Filmmakers all over the world are fond of putting together two opposite characters and making them […]
Robin Hood might be a centuries old folk hero, but his reincarnations seem to pop up in real life, including the true story behind Dying to Survive. Alternatively translated as I’m Not A Medicine God, the modern day Chinese iteration is initially less concerned over the common good and more concerned with money. It makes […]
A Korean police comedy built on a premise so dumb it’s brilliant: a group of bumbling cops who are so bad at their job that they accidentally start an amazing fried chicken restaurant while undercover. All of the suspense and excitement that should be going into their actual mission is spent on this new job […]
Beasts Clawing at Straws is so fun to watch. Most crime thriller fans would find the MacGuffin money, the dubious characters, and the nonlinear timeline familiar, but the way Kim Yong-hoon depicts the 2011 Japanese novel is pretty stylish and engaging. It takes a while to set up, though. As the film steadily introduces new […]