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Shows I could not finish – dropped the Lees again!

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 ability but serving Han-na as an assistant/chaperone, Jung Woon-sun, playing hard working Bae Won-hee from the rival team, and Baek So-hee, playing A-in’s conflicted spy-secretary.

 

Finally, although I’m not sure if this was the intention in the English naming, there is the agency of the women, fronted by A-in and Eun-jeong, played by Jeon Hye-jin (and boy, was I peeved by her spoilt son; since her husband and mother-in-law were accepting of her being a career woman, surely at least one of, and preferably all of, the three of them could have explained to him the value of work and the dignity of working women?).


most loyal work team!
 

One for the women but not one completed drama for me.

 

I realised from some behind the scenes and cast talk clips that Bo-young is cheery, chirpy and chatty.  I wonder if anyone thinks of casting her in a rom-com…

 

JTBC, 16 episodes

 

Tale of the nine-tailed (2020)

 

Too much evil, and the evil was evil simply because it was evil.  


I'm using their cute photos to lighten the mood a little.


 


Outstanding acting by Kim Bum (Lee Rang), and Hwang Hee (gumiho-vet-superb friend Shin-joo) and Kim Jong-ji (Siberian fox Yoo-ri) were very impressive.  Jo Bo-ah (Nam Ji-ah) – especially in her evil shades and in her snarky exchanges with Kim Bum – and Lee Dong-wook (Lee Yeon) – though a bit too morose here – were their reliable selves.  Lee Tae-ri wasn’t all that creepy as the Imoogi but the Imoogi was, and I thought the boy who played his young self was creepier.  Eom Hyo-seop did well as the Imoogi helper or whatever he was supposed to be. 



Definitely, the acting of the good side trounced that of the evil side, but the overall feel by the time I neared the last couple of episodes was terrible, so I gave up on Lee Dong-wook once again.

 

tvN, 16 episodes

 

Mr Plankton

Ridiculous plot, nothing funny happening in episode 1


most ridiculous scene

have to give him space here -- he really loved her and you know from the start he's going to lose

Base Story, 10 episodes

 

Melo Movie

Weird plot, weirdly portrayed lead couple, nothing funny happening in episode 1



Studio N, 10 episodes

 

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