my ajumma notes

A clever combination of characters and actors, well-constructed juxtaposition of comedy and serious court cases, strong leads Nam Ji-hyun (Bong-hee) and Ji Chang-wook (Ji-wook), and a compelling main villain (Dong Ha playing Hyun-soo) make this very entertaining. Ji-wook’s law firm team is hilarious trying to work together.  It is so funny how Mr Bang refers to Eun-hyuk (Choi Tae-joon) and Ji-wook’s adoptive father Mr Byun (Lee Deok-hwa) as his children!  Throwing Bong-hee in the mix makes the group even funnier and the little boy Jae-hong (Kim Ye-jun) sitting in their meetings is the icing on the cake. Realising that Hyun-soo is a serial murderer makes him creepier and creepier as the episodes go by.  Dong Ha does an excellent job in this role.  I don’t think I felt much sympathy for him, which some people did, but you could understand how he turned out this way. when the murderer is a mild, friendly kind of guy when the murderer in him comes to ...

With a carefully crafted, controlled and amusing plot, Sandra Chua clearly avoids too much ‘telling’, and the story unfolds fluently through the action and the characters.  For example, the whole matriarchal feel of the Peranakan family is portrayed without using the word ‘matriarchal’.  Even primary school children are taught to ‘show rather than tell’ in their writing but unfortunately, there is lots of ‘telling’ in Singapore literature (based on what I’ve read).  Sandra Chua should therefore be congratulated for not falling into this very annoying practice. Instead, she gives us Charlie Neo, an endearing, nuanced and unusual heroine, and her interesting mix of family and friends.  All-important in a Peranakan family, there are the female elders, who have interestingly developed characters and backgrounds.  This could easily turn into a melodrama of complicated family affairs with secrets dating from colonial days  a la ...

Peter Mayle doesn’t disappoint!  Crime and gastronomy work very well together!  I suppose if I knew wines, that would make the combination shine even brighter but unfortunately, that part is lost on me.  I did enjoy all the subterfuge around the wine cellars, though.   It is not easy being original, exciting, criminal and funny in one story, and it is not surprising that Mayle delivers his plot twists and humour smoothly, without trying too hard.  I like the idea of dealing with a crime with a crime!  The characters are well fleshed out – seedy, suspicious, smart, slinky and so much more.  Romance and the food/wine/vista scenes stay in the backdrop while the plot takes  centre stage , with an unexpected-yet-you-could-have-seen-it-coming kind of ending.  I’m looking forward to the other Capers .   Over the years, I’ve read Mayle’s  Provence   and other books and it was only recently that I disc...

From one Se-kyung show to another.  This was ‘recommended’ by Netflix, and I thought – why not see how she does in a modern setting.  It’s not as challenging a role and she does an excellent job as Mi-joo, while the story portrays some off-the-beaten-track kind of people and their unusual/unexpected relationships, with the friendship and family themes running in the background (or should I say these are ‘overarching’; both, maybe?).      Im Siwan (yet another K-pop idol) does well too, though I don’t think the show brought out his best.  He is fine as Seon-gyeom but definitely capable of more, as he shows in his few scenes as the baddie in Mi-joo’s imagined movie.   He has all these amazing jackets: and there is this ridiculous leopard outfit also 😆 Kang Tae-oh is natural and amusing as Yeong-hwa but as for Choi Soo-young (Girl’s Generation girl), shall I just say she is not the actress to cast for a brash, mixed-up, odd perso...

The word “Historian” made this the inevitable next drama for me.  It is not as high-profile a  sageuk  as Yeonmo but I find its plot more substantial, and more logically controlled and linked.  I read that this is not the historically accurate time frame for females being appointed to the court for such jobs, but who cares; the focus on the female historians is a fantastic idea (so is having a mystery teenage prince who writes trashy romance novels!).   The interplay of humour + palace intrigue and rivalry, modern versus traditional, male versus female, loyalty versus betrayal is engaging.  Characters and their background are also well developed.  The mini Catholic sub-plot was a surprise and I was glad to see the struggles and work of the Church in its early days there sympathetically presented.  Plenty of stunning colours, composites and  hanbok  here too, of course! Shin Se-kyung does an excellent job as...