Thirty but Seventeen

Normally, I try to write these posts immediately after completing the drama, but I finished Thirty but Seventeen a couple of days ago now, and have only just got around to actually putting together a post.

Normally, when choosing what series to watch next, I base my decision on ratings - the higher the rating, the more likely I am to watch it. This plan doesn’t necessarily always work out, but for the most part, it’s stood me in good stead. At the moment, I’m at the 9.6 sort of mark. However, I ignored  this method, and jumped into a 9.4 because I had seen Thirty but Seventeen advertised and really liked the look of it. Party because of the main lead being the guy from Degree of Love, but mostly because the premise intrigued me.

There is a huge accident that leaves a girl, Seo Ri, in a long term coma and a boy, Woo Jin, blaming himself because he thinks he killed her. 13 years later, she wakes up and as luck would have it, the man now living in her old house is Woo Jin, and he reluctantly agrees to let her live there while she tries to find her family, but doesn’t realise who she is. Obviously they grow close and fall in love and live happily ever after etc etc etc.

The Rui Effect was strong with this one. The second male lead was the main guy’s nephew, and a 17 year old athlete. Chan. He and Seo Ri clicked instantly, she felt comfortable with him and he was always just a little ray of sunshine in a very confusing world for the girl who is essentially a 17 year old stuck in a 30 year old’s body. They were so well suited in so many ways, and let’s be honest, Woo Jin was a bit of a dick at the beginning, leaving an already lonely person feeling even more abandoned, so I think she really needed Chan at that time. I get that a 17 year old hooking up with a 30 year old would have been oh so wrong, but still, mentally and emotionally, it was hard not to support him in his one sided love.

It was funny, in a very not obvious sort of way. Just little throw away lines here and there. Like one of Chan’s friends randomly having a bubble bath in their house when Chan wasn’t even there. I felt sorry for the SA guy on Chan’s team who was always left out when the other three (main cast) were so close, but it did amuse me when they called themselves out on it at the end. I much preferred the main guy in Degree of Love rather than in this - I didn’t sense much chemistry and he seemed kind of awkward, and I honestly can’t tell if that was a character choice or not. Seo Ri was really good at portraying a teenager, but I struggled to ever think of her as an adult to be honest. Chan was lovely. The supporting cast were good, but I’m surprised they didn’t make more of Seo Ri’s childhood friend turned doctor - he seemed a little forgotten about and then just randomly chucked in here and there. I get that they didn’t really need him with Chan providing that corner of the love triangle, but still. It was sad in places, and I definitely had a few tears in my eyes at one point, but for the most part while it was really predictable, and kind of slow, it was actually just a nice, fun story.

TLDR
Chan was the sweetest.
Watch it if you want ... or don’t ... I don’t feel that strongly about it to care.
I like Chan.

Six Flying Dragons

I finally did it. I finally finished watching Six Flying Dragons, which I have been watching since April. That’s 5 months. I’m actually a little shocked by that.

You know what, I did really enjoy this series. It was really well done. It made me smile, it made me cry and it had the extraordinary ability to make me simultaneously horrified and sympathetic to the main character doing some truly horrendous things. The acting was great, the characters were interesting and the production value was amazing. Mostly, it was just fascinating to learn about such an influential period in korean history.

That being said, I have never had a series send me to sleep so quickly. I would start watching an episode wide awake, and less than 10 mins later, I would be asleep. That’s not to say I found it boring, far from, but it was heavy going and just too much to cope with at bed time. Whenever I watched it during the day, I could easily power through multiple episodes, but during the week, when I only watch drama right before I go to sleep, it would take me all week to finish one episode.

I think that pretty much sums up everything I want to say. I could write a more in-depth review but I don’t know that I see much point. It kind of feels weird not including the plot, but there were 50 episodes, each at an hour long, and a lot happened in every single episode - I’d be here all day. I’ve heard it’s a prequel to Tree with Deep Roots, so maybe I’ll watch that at some point, but at the moment, I’m more interested in What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim ... I mean, it’s Park Seo Joon, can you blame me??

Tl;dr
I’m glad I watched it
I recommend others watching it
I probably wouldn’t watch it again

Chief Kim

I haven’t written a review post in a L O N G time. How do I even start? Maybe I should go back and read some of my old reviews for inspiration.

Ok, so it’s been 5 years since my last review post. 5 years. That’s crazy. 

It’s seems that I had a little formula going. First I’d explain the plot, then I’d say what I thought, and then I’d say what I was going to watch next. For the Japanese dramas I used to find links between the actors and what else I’d seen them in, which actually I might reinstate, although I don’t know how much fun it’d be without the Gokusen factor. 

I realise that I’m procrastinating. 

Chief Kim is about Chief Kim...

Excellent start there. Let’s try that again.

Kim Sung-Ryeong is a dodgy accountant for dodgy people in somewhere that isn’t Seoul. His life ambition is to move to Denmark, and takes on dodgy jobs to eek out as much money from the monsters and criminals as he can. He is consistently arrested for fraud, but is so skilled at covering his tracks that he is always released with lack of evidence. One day, his secretary tells him about a job opening as chief of the accounting department at TQ group where they promise not to discriminate in regards to education and experience. Kim goes for the job with the plan of embezzling a huge sum of money to get him to Denmark, and newly appointed director Seo, an ex prosecutor, convinces the chairman to hire him to act as their puppet in various fraudulent activities. However, Chief Kim isn’t as easily controlled as that, and soon comes to realise the corruption within the management of the company. He grows closer to his colleagues and develops a conscience, eventually taking on Director Seo and the Chairman to protect the rights of his colleagues. 

I’m not going to lie, it look me a fair amount if time to get through this series. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but it didn’t grab me too much for the most part, although the last 4 or 5 episodes I could have watched one after the other. I found Namgoong Min’s Chief Kim to be a little too over the top, and Nam Sang Mi as Deputy Yoon a little bleh. I did have a soft spot for Director Seo though, even though he was the villain, but that was probably because I have a soft spot for 2pm’s Junho. I did find the absolute lack of romance really refreshing, especially when you thought they were going to go there, but then they didn’t. A particular favourite example was when Deputy Yoon complained of the cold, and Chief Kim looked like he was about to take off his jacket, but instead said that she should have worn something warmer like he did. Having said that, I would have totally approved of Deputy Yoon and Director Seo getting it on at the end. 

Namgoong Min was the lead in Beautiful Kong Shim, and I must say I preferred him in that, although the characters were actually quite similar. Obviously I already knew Junho from 2pm, but he was also the lead in the last drama I watched, Just Between Lovers, along with Kim Kang Hyun’s Clerk Lee. To be honest, I loved their friendship so much in Just Between Lovers that I was kind of disappointed with their lack of contact in this. I also recognised Accounting Director Choo as the investigator from   While You Were Sleeping, and the Chairman’s son was also someone suspicious in Suspicious Partner.

Would I recommend it? Sure, why not. It’s good fun.
Would I watch it again? Probably not. I really enjoyed seeing where this drama ended up, but I don’t know that I’d be overly bothered about goimg through it all again.

Next up is a tricky one. Technically it should probably be something like Replay 1988 or The Good Doctor, older dramas that have high ratings*, but I find myself tempted by Jang Geun Suk’s Switch, currently still airing, or rewatching Dots.
To be honest, Dots will probably win, because I want to see Onew. Seeing Song Joong Ki doesn’t hurt either.


* I’m trying to go by rating on Viki, which is hard when they don’t actually list the series in order. I’m on the 9.6’s now, except for Six Flying Dragons and Jewel in the Palace as they’re both 50 episodes long. There is also Bad Guys, which hasn’t appealed, but maybe I should give it a chance.

Ok that’s my first review in 5 years done. I don’t have a photo because blogger has made that difficult, but if you really want one you can just google ‘Chief Kim Junho’ and that should see you right.