my ajumma notes

The show that brought me into the new year – mini time travel (by only two characters and going back just a year), spiced up with lots of greed, lots on family life, lots of love and a few murderous plots! Do-guk and Yi-joo Sung Hoon reprises his role as man with childhood trauma causing him sleep problems.  Here, it is Yi-joo (Jung Yoo-min) who has the eating problem, and he pours his heart into feeding her.  The larder he stocks for her… complete with dark chocolate Loacker!   Do-guk’s devotion in some ways mitigates how weirdly their relationship develops.  We don’t know till rather late why he loves her so much nor do we know why she loves him back in the end.   Nevertheless, they make a cute couple, look fantastic together, and show much resilience and determination as a pair.  Yoo-min (sometimes looking like Park Eun-bin !) acts much more strongly and her character development provides more room to showcase her skills. ...

Somewhat unusual, with the comedy and the side plot more interesting than the romance, which was, sadly, bland and predictable. Hilarious Seok Ji-won ( Joo Ji-hoon ) Lee Ki-ha (Kim Hyun-mok) Ji-hoon and Hyun-mok are funnier than Rowoon and Hyun-mok in The Matchmakers ; without this pair, I probably would have dropped the show. Moderately funny Grandpa Yoon (Kim Kap-soo), with his smirking and some amusing lines Mildly funny Dad Seok Gyeon-tae (Lee Byung-joon) Teacher Byun (Yoon Seo-hyun) VP Kang (Baek Hyun-joo) Disappointing The love stories Seok Ji-won and Yoon Ji-won I don’t know why Seok JW likes her.  Student Yoon JW isn’t a nice person – smug, vain and self-centred.  She’s mostly just putting down Seok JW or swinging her hair around and looking pretty.  Teacher Yoon JW is boring, and again, I don’t know why Seok JW likes her again/still.  It felt like he was carrying over his teenage affections into adult life.  When she asks why he...

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 ...

I’ve been off medical drama in any language and form since watching wonderful Bong Dal-hee but I knew Uhm Jung-hwa would make a show worth watching.  What I didn’t know was Kim Byung-chul (playing husband Seo In-ho) would make it doubly entertaining.  I also didn’t know that Jung-hwa survived thyroid cancer.  Wonderful to see her back at work and I hope she’s ok! Of course, we have the juxtaposition of life and death, courage and fear, desperation and hope, and Dr Cha smilingly evokes an overriding sense of positivity, even through her tears.  She is such an inspiring character – always looking forward, looking out for others and looking fantastic!  Jung-hwa more than ably played her role. Did I hate In-ho and his mum (played by Park Joon-geum) at the start.  So reliant on Jeong-suk and yet, so horrid and unreasonable.  I hated him for trying to control everyone’s lives, bossing his wife around and having that brainl...

True beauty is: Friends you can count on   The girls are the typical friends-are-forever lot and I like how fellow bully victim Hye-min (Oh Yoo-jin) eventually becomes part of the group. The guys are my  scene stealers  for the show.  Seo-joon’s non-gangster gang is hilarious, along with Tae-hoon (Lee Il-joon) and the guy in specs.  Their best parts were the hospital room scene and them chasing the ‘ugly ghost’ at the school camp.  Brilliant juxtaposition of the guys finding the white sheet at the bottom of the slope with Soo-ho (Cha Eun-woo) confessing to Ju-kyung (Moon Ga-young).  Loved how the Soo-ho/Seo-joon (Hwang In-yeop) ‘fight’ looked like a weird romp in the fields from the guys’ perspective.  so funny to have Seo-joon faint at the sight of 'ugly ghost' where else in the world can we find a school campsite with a romantic boat setting? Special mention for Tae-hoon, who was instrumental in Soo-ho taking his first step, ...