my ajumma notes

How interesting can a show about potatoes be and how is post-military discharge Kang Tae-oh?   The potato research part sure wasn’t very interesting but it was passable as the backdrop.   The story was more about some very childish people doing very childish things but thankfully, there were a few meaningful threads running through it.     Kim Mi-kyung (Lee Sun-bin) is extremely childish, for example, in making life difficult for So Baek-ho ( Kang Tae-oh ) when he takes charge of the lab, for abetting the childish village chief and elders in their attempts to do the same (was that supposed to be funny?) and when expecting Baek-ho to do all kinds of silly tricks to win back her affection.  You’d think she would grow up over time but she doesn’t.  She is topped only by best friend Ong-joo (Kim Ga-eun), childish right to the core.  30-somethings who cannot behave their age.   Hee-jin ( Jung Sin-hye ) is more annoying than chi...

Agency (2003)   Lee Bo-young is a wonderful actress, and that worked against this show for me.  She was so intense, portraying Go A-in grappling with her personal difficulties and so naturally fighting office politics with her own manipulative shrewdness and scheming.  That was more angst and politicking than I wanted to endure.   lovely queen swats away the company snakes It all got far worse when Han-na ( Son Na-eun ) and the rest of her Kang family appeared.  The grandfather is ridiculously biased and full of himself, the father is so unsure of himself, and the brother is a pathetic victim of the silly practice of pitting the children against each other.  Han-na is thinly delivered, annoying, childish and strangely styled.  What was up with all those huge bows in her hair?! no match at all for the queen Special mention to Han Joon-woo (dead fiance in Be Melodramatic ), playing Park Young-woo, young man with brains and abili...

A charming set of cute couple stories plays out 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 do...

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 pretty, and the two 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, who was forgettable in Run On but gets a much more interesting role here) are suitably funny and silly.   Mean mother Han (played by Oh Min-ae) is as mean as she was intended to...