my ajumma notes

This was more about females being pitted against men, rather than lawyer versus lawyer, and about going beyond the bar of what is acceptable and logical.   Females versus males It was obvious that boss Kwon Na-yeon (Kim Yeo-jin), lawyer Heo (Jeon Hye-bin) and Kang Hyo-min (Jung Chae-yeon) were written to be outstanding women who operated beyond just holding their own against the men in the company.   Except for Yoon (Lee Jin-wook) and Jin-woo (Lee Hak-joo), and their two supporters, boss Kim (Hong Seo-jun) and lawyer Jung (Lee Jae-woo), every one of the other guys is a joke.  The other senior lawyers are either corrupt, lazy or plotting poorly against Yoon and Kwon.  Why is it that in a high-profile law firm, no one can come up with a proper manoeuvre?  The attempt to get that nervy paralegal to entrap Kwon is incredibly childish and all their other plans are doomed to fail at the point of conception.  No way can they compete with t...

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...

Heart-warming, tear-jerky, sometimes funny, well-acted!  There were lots of plot-lines, because there were all sorts in ‘heaven’ and in ‘hell’, so it is challenging to manage and keep everything together.     Having a strong lead couple helps!  Hae-sook (Kim Hye-ja) complains about her and Nak-joon ( Son Suk-ku ) looking like mother and son, but it never feels like they’re mother and son.  Throughout the show, you think of them as a couple.  Well done, both! Ryu Deok-hwan, playing the pastor, is impressive portraying different emotions and moods, especially when he has to come to terms with Hae-sook's identity.  However, he has major question marks.  How is he an adult here when he died as a child?  In fact, how did he become more mature and perceptive than many others? People probably found Som-yi ( Han Ji-min ) exasperating, puzzling, disturbing or even hateful.  Smart plot move to make us w...