my ajumma notes

Background:   ‘Vladivostok’ (shot in Latvia) Ladies:            Shin Se-kyung,  Jung Yoo-jin   These details were enough to bring me to the show. ‘Vladivostok’ wins – everything is so dark and dismal.  Unfortunately, the female characters weren’t sufficiently well-crafted.  It is true that Se-kyung has screen aura and is a visual glow in any scene where she appears (I think it might have been the director who said something along these lines) but Chae Seon-hwa should have been written with more layers.   Yoo-jin could also have been used better.  Her Agent Im had very limited scope too.   Zo In-sung is alright as Zo. Park Jeong-min was the one with depth of character and Park Geon reached those depths!  Se-kyung won best supporting actress for this, so I don’t know why he didn’t win best supporting actor.  Park Hae-jun (Hwang Chi-Seong) ...

Finally watched it, after thinking about watching it for more than a decade.   This was so much fun!    There was so much fighting, shooting and killing but one puts up with all that since it is, after all, a ‘secret service’ story.    There was way too much of the f word, though, and that was extremely tough to put up with.    Oh, my poor ears… do Brits really talk like that all the time??   S tiff upper lip and all? Colin Firth (Galahad/Harry Hart) was the reason why I wanted to watch this and he lives up to every expectation.    Charming, understatedly amusing, skilled agent – he was great but I would have preferred him to enunciate a bit more deliberately so that we can hear/understand what he’s saying without having to process the words too much. Taron Egerton (new Galahad/Eggsy) enunciates very clearly!   Such a  likeable character and I love how his talent and abilities are unravelled over time.    Also lo...

Unusual combi of three leads, with one of them the villain!  You’d need a closely connected script and well-written characters for this to work well. Main reasons to watch:  Seo Kang-joon as Jung Hae-seong and Kim Shin-rok as Seo Myung-joo   Seo Kang-joon does well as the Stephen Chow undercover high school student, son of lost father, NIS agent and half of the couple, covering the whole range of being funny, cute, intelligent and emotional. Kim Shin-rok is superbly creepy and unhinged.   Who else was entertaining Domestic Team 4: amusing as a group Boss Ahn (Jeon Bae-su) is predictable but has some punchy lines.  Senior lady Mi-jung (Yoon Ga-yi) and junior Young-hoon (Jo Bok-rae) deadpan well.  That Young-hoon is 26 years old makes me laugh every time he appears.  I liked how Hae-seong’s being an outstanding agent doesn’t overshadow the others too much and they all have their strengths.   The students: such an interest...

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...