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The Matchmakers (2023)

A charming set of cute couple stories set against the backdrop of palace intrigue, also exploring attitudes towards marriage, matchmaking, destiny and love.  With that scheming-rivalry-ambition thread, a different title might have been more reflective of the plot.  Nevertheless, the matchmakers and friends were highly entertaining, and I’m glad the point was made more than once that while it’s great to find the ‘perfect match’, one doesn’t necessarily have to be with THE one.  Matchmakers The writer(s) did Rowoon a huge favour by making Jung-woo funny, bright yet pitiful, in a way that was suitable for his abilities.  Also, his height and imposing stature are the best foil for this sheltered ‘talent’ (knows everything, thinks of everything, could pick up swimming and fighting just by reading up on them!) who is prone to lovesickness!  This interesting character is further enhanced by him appearing in pink a lot of the time, riding a donkey(!...
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Tastefully Yours (2025)

It’s not easy to like a show where the acting and script are not always in top form, but I liked it! Beom-woo is a rather predictable character but Kang Ha-neul does a wonderful job being funny, silly, emotional, fed up, and so on.  Never expected he'd fit comfortably in a comic role! On the other hand, Yeon-joo, played by Go Min-si, unfortunately is the weak link, mostly flat and boring in character development and delivery.  A saving grace is that she is so pretty, and she and Beom-woo are a photogenic couple.  The secondary characters and cast easily outplayed her.  Kim Shin-rok is especially impressive as Myung-sook, who, like Beom-woo, comes across with her full range of emotions and expressions.  Choon-seung (played by Yoo Soo-bin) and Yoo-jin (played by Bae Yoo-ram) are suitably funny and silly.   Mean mother Han (played by Oh Min-ae) is as mean as she was intended to be, and brother Sun-woo (played by Bae Na-ra) goes through at ...
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A Good Day To Be a Dog (2023)

Cute dogs!  Cute Hae-na!  Cute Hae-na’s family!  Cute couple!  Cha Eunwoo’s cute face! All the dogs deserve praise and of course the two main ones should be singled out for more doggy treats!  However, there was too much use of CGI and the dogs looked too fake in those moments. Park Gyu-young (Han Hae-na) is delightful in this and so is Cocoa, as well as Hae-na’s voiceovers when she is in dog form.  I think there is a template used for actresses people don’t like – it says that so-and-so will never be a good actress, she has only one facial expression the whole time and has no chemistry with the male lead.  I saw a couple of such comments about Gyu-young for this show, but I’ve seen almost exactly the same points made about Shin Se-kyung , Moon Ga-young , Nam Ji-hyun ,  Park Eun-bin  and Jo Bo-ah .  Gyu-young is not at the level of these other ladies but she's doing fine! Eunwoo (Seo-won) is the o...
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The Readers’ Room

“The book has a life of its own outside my control.” I had ask – How?  Why?  I wish there was at least a little spin on this.   It was interesting how Marie’s book  Sugar Flowers  becomes the centre of intrigue – a missing author and a near-miss when the book misses out on winning the Prix Goncourt award, a seeming playbook for murder that draws police to the publishing house.  I’m all for intrigue and that’s why I hoped for something more intriguing than it being nothing more than a coincidence that the men die in the same way as the characters of the book.  Sophie and the rest of the police characters weren’t needed, then?  (So why was she given such a major share of the plot, if she was merely part of the red herring?)  The revelation that Marie was the writer was also a bit of a let-down for me.   Violaine Lepage is interesting as the heroine of the story – such a tragic, colourful, strong personality....
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Im Siwan's Korea travel recommendations -- dished out in Singapore!!

Omo, I had no idea he was coming here!   photo from TikTok Im Siwan graced our shores last weekend and I missed it all, of course.  I would have liked to see him as well as his travel and food photos.  Must take note of his suggestions when/if I travel to Korea. He must have delighted and charmed everyone there, but why wasn't the interview done in English ? His interview here:
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Dear My Room – found!

After waiting for a long time to watch the show, I discovered that someone has very kindly uploaded episodes of Dear My Room on YouTube!  Yay!  I don’t know why there are only four episodes, though…   I read that the show is closely tied to its CJ parent, hence the heavy focus on house DIY and related materials, not to mention the tutorial epilogues at the end of episodes.  It feels more like a DIY than interior design show as Eun-joo’s (Ryu Hye-young) house improvement efforts feature way more than Min-seok’s (Kim Jae-young) design work.  Most of the time, we see him coming over to help her or look at what she’s done rather than working on one of his projects.  I’d have liked to see his interior work!   Nevertheless, it is a fun and cosy show, and of course I like the leads.  Min-seok is too straightforward and predictable a character for Jae-young.  I don’t think this was very difficult for him ...
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