Summer Strike

So, I was very excited to watch Summer Strike as it has Im Si-Wan (or is it Yim Si-Wan? Seems to be listed both ways) who I liked so much in Run On (even though I was meh on the underwhelming ending of the show) that I actually followed him on Instagram. In this one he plays An Dae-Beom. Huh. Just noticed it said he was born in 1988 on the AsianWiki page, which makes him 34-35. He's older than I thought he was, though that just makes me like him more. There's a sort of gentle quirkiness about him that I really enjoy watching. I've only seen him in the two things now and he's got that vibe in both, though it looks like he's also played in a historical drama as a king, so who knows, maybe he's only that way in these two. 

But let me start over, as I'm digressing already. This is mostly the story of Lee Yeo-Reum (played by Seol Hyun). She's 28 (and is so in real life; Im Si-Wan is also supposed to be that age but seriously, either one of them could play anywhere from 20 to 35) and has been basically treading water through life and letting people (including her boyfriend) walk all over her. When the aforementioned boyfriend unceremoniously dumps her after 6 years together, her mother dies, and she finally walks out of her job (where the skeevy boss had been trying to alternately sleep with her or belittle her), she packs up a single bag and sells the rest of her things. Then she leaves Seoul and winds up in the small beachside town of Angok. She falls in love with the library, which is where Dae-Beom works and she meets him.

She has to make her money last as she doesn't plan on working for the next year, so she looks around for a place to stay that's cheap. She winds up renting an old billiards place that has been empty for 20 years. It's also the place where an 8 year old Dae-Beom had discovered his murdered older sister and then, after his father was arrested for her murder (partly on his testimony that he saw his dad leaving just before), his mother's dead body after she committed suicide. So, baggage, yo. He's understandably a bit wary and finds it hard to communicate with people but winds up bonding with Yeo-Reum fairly quickly, perhaps seeing in her a bit of a kindred spirit.

This is, honestly, a show about broken people healing themselves. Though, from the original description and the posters and someone's review calling it a "healing show." I had honestly thought there would be a LOT LESS MURDER and heartache.

There's the normal angst -- Dae-Beom's best friend (who is a girl) has acted like an older sister to him all these years but now that Yeo-Reum is in the picture, she's suddenly wanting more. Meanwhile, a guy in town has liked her for years and yadda yadda yadda. 

And some bullying / poverty type drama where the initially juvenile delinquent teenager Kim Bom turns out to be living a life of quiet tragedy -- alcoholic father that actually winds up stabbing her while in a drunken rage, causing a huge hospital bill, not to mention the bullying at school. The bright spot in her life that she has a hard time accepting is Heo Jae-Hoon, a rich kid recently returned from the States and basically living on his own as his parents are still over there. He has some bullying issues too, but Bom can't see the things they have in common because she spends so much time concentrating on their differences -- and pushing him away and/or not confiding in him, though he's, well, totally a cinnamon bun to her. 

I found the bit where they're all trying to talk Bom into NOT turning her father in for stabbing her and call it an accident instead hard to watch. I understand that the grandmother would not want to see her son go to jail BUT FFS he stabbed your granddaughter and had generally been an AWFUL dad, stealing money and all kinds of things. And then, he appears to have a breakthrough and goes into rehab...but then, by the end, he's back to his old tricks. Which, I have to hand it to the show here...usually if someone has a redemption arc, no matter how unlikely, they stick to it. It was actually more realistic that he failed again. But still a depressing turn.

Anyway, I really enjoyed all the bits about how these broken puzzle piece people fit together and became a whole tapestry (wow, way to mix a metaphor there). For a show that I'd thought was going to be more like Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, it was instead very raw and emotional, but with moments of sweetness. 

I'm not going to go into all the murder-y bits or who dies or all the over the top drama parts. It was reasonably well done and somewhat unexpected as far as the resolution, BUT it wasn't what I was watching for. 

Was also slightly disappointed in the romance aspect -- though, yes, I get that the show didn't wind up being about that...call it false advertising -- they literally only get as far as...holding hands (surprised pikachu face)...in the very last couple of minutes of the show. I'd hoped for a little more, maybe because they were both nearing 30 and it is okay if life is "sufficient" and slow but...still...

To sum it up, I enjoyed watching Summer Strike. It does give you ALL THE FEELS...just not the feels I was expecting. I don't think I'd watch it again as there was a lot more sad in it than I will usually re-watch. Life is hard enough. The cast was excellent and did a great job, including the ones that start off quite horrible and then, as you get to know them, you slowly see why/how and there is actual measurable change. I do hate it in a show when characters wind up in the exact same place they started. Though, maybe that's why I would have appreciated a bit more progress in the romance department when it's so obvious that they heal something in each other.

Also definitely enjoyed Im Si-Wan in this too. You feel like you could have a nice chat with him over coffee and come away feeling better. I always like the actors that feel slightly awkward and a bit off kilter.

Edit: Ha! Just realised he's also in the same band as Park Hyung-Sik! I suppose I'll have to check out their music now. And apparently he can also play spooky bad guys, as he's in the new film Emergency Declaration which has a heckuva cast.

Business Proposal

So, okay, Business Proposal had been on my list since it released and I saw a lot of good reviews of it...but I resisted starting it. I think it was not being in the mood for a contract relationship and/or chaebol rich dude stuff. But, it was on my phone already downloaded when I was taking the train, so I started it. And I'm really glad I did! I'm 3 episodes in now.

Let me also just say that I've had a shock as I just looked it up on AsianWiki to get all the actors names. I knew I'd seen them all in other things, but for some reason, I was thinking the male lead was a different actor. But it's Ahn Hyo-Seop! I think I always think of him as Yoo Chan in Still 17, soft and sweet and young, but here he's a chaebol businessman with a big ego. If I'd realised it was him, I probably would have started it earlier. And the main female lead I really liked when I saw her in the Uncanny Counter and I've been wanting to watch Today's Webtoon.

Anyway, let's start over. Shin Ha-Ri is the daughter of a family who owns a chicken restaurant and she works hard at a large food corporation, trying to pay off her family's debts. She's single, but has had a crush on a chef friend of hers for seven years. Her best friend is Jin Young-Seo played by Seol In-A (who I'd seen in Mr. Queen and Strong Woman Do-Bong Soon). Not sure how they met, as Young-Seo is from a very rich family too -- one that wants to marry her off and sets her up on blind dates. 

When one of these blind dates is set up, Young-Seo asks Ha-Ri to take her place, something that she has done previously. Basically, she tanks the date or acts insane. Ha-Ri doesn't want to do it, but she really needs some cash, so she agrees in the end. But when she gets to the date, all done up like a Euro-trashy flighty airhead with lots of makeup and a long wig with blonde streaks, she realises the date is the CEO of the company she works for. Desperate to get it all over with, she is sure she's accomplished her task after she acts like a floozy who's had a boob job and only cares about dating. 

But...Kang Tae-Moo has blind dating problems of his own. His grandfather, the Chairman, is making him go on blind dates to get him married. So, while he finds Ha-Ri as Young-Seo odd, she is, at least, apparently honest. He decides to marry her. It helps that, on a series of other blind dates over the course of a day (including one in Japan!), every other girl says basically the same thing like they all work from one playbook. 

But then he and his assistant (Cha Sung-Hoon, played by Kim Min-Kyu, and the other half of the secondary couple with Young-Seo) soon figure out that Young-Seo fooled them. Mad, he even asks to meet with Ha-Ri to get an apology. All dressed up again, she does so, but gives a fake name hoping that she won't get fired from her actual job. Things happen and Tae-Moo asks her to pay him back (under contract) by pretending to be his longtime girlfriend for his grandfather. 

I've no idea what his longterm plan with this would be -- they pretend to date and then she fake dies? Or they have a big breakup? No idea. Because grandpa isn't going to relent.

Anyway, Ha-Ri as Shin Guem-Hui (the name she gave, which is also the name of the downtrodden heroine in a Kdrama that the Chairman and everyone else likes to watch), meets Grandpa. At first he doesn't like her on sight (trashy), which, hey, maybe that was Tae-Moo's goal? But then her personality comes through and it ends on a high note. He also accidentally sees the concert tickets that her crush had given her for her birthday and thinks that she was going to take Tae-Moo, so he hurries them over there and waits until they go inside.

Min-Woo, the friend, had even given a special message, which the melo singer reads out -- about how his friend of 7 years has always been there for him, even through breakups, and he hopes she brought a boyfriend with her to the concert. Cue tears, of course. 

There are other ways that Tae-Moo is seeing the "real" Ha-Ri (including at work, with her normal hair and make up), but I'm not going to rehash every scene. I don't actually think the charade will hold up much longer, but that's just as well. There's only 12 episodes in this one and that means things will need to move fast. 

I'm really enjoying it. It's got a good balance of humour and a tinge of drama. Loving all the actors. It's a fun show. Will update later, either after some more episodes or at the end.

Edit: Okay! I finished this, er, a bit ago now. I was slightly disappointed in the ending as they did the whole unnecessary random separation for a year thing and didn't even really handle the whole "grandfather comes around and approves after all" which would have been SO easy to do, even in a montage. So it felt a bit lazy. Especially as all the dire warnings about things that would happen to either of them if they kept dating just...disappeared? No one tried to get him removed as CEO. She kept her job. It was all just empty threats.

Actually liked how the secondary couple wrapped up a bit more (she turned her back on her dad after he tried to buy off Sung-hoon and Sung-hoon supports her as she creates her own business); in general, they actually have a healthier and more mature relationship (though she's a bit prone to drama). BUT overall, yes, I very much enjoyed this one. And it was nice to see Ahn Hyo-Seop in something again. 

A Whisker Away

I watched A Whisker Away while on the train. Also known as "Wanting to Cry, I Pretend to Be a Cat," it's an anime film that has a very Studio Ghibli feel to it. 

Miyo is an outwardly extremely cheerful girl with a crush on her classmate Hinode, though her seriously effusive interactions with him make the quiet Hinode uncomfortable. But the truth is more complicated. Inside, Miyo is unhappy and confused, torn between her mother and her stepmother and feeling like she has to wear a mask in front of both of them. And studious Hinode wants nothing more than to continue the family's pottery business -- he doesn't want to be a lawyer or a doctor or whatever it is his mom wants. He comforts himself with the love of Taro, a small white cat.

But the cat is actually Miyo, who has a cat mask from a trickster Mask Seller. No one, of course, knows that it is her, though Hinode is often confused when she says something that he's not sure why/how she would know. 

Things come to a head when she tries to confess her feelings to Hinode and two bullies humiliate her and Hinode tries to save face by saying he hates her. Distraught, she dashes away, and her human face falls off to become a mask that the Mask Seller says he will give to a cat who wants to be human and she will soon become just a cat.

Everyone thinks at first that she has run away and Hinode (who doesn't hate her, but has, reasonably enough, been very confused by her) and Miyo's best friend search for her. Then Miyo reappears -- but it isn't Miyo. It's the stepmother's cat with the face of Miyo, as she wants to live longer to be with her human owner. The cat, not used to being human, does some strange things that Miyo would never do, which confuses her friends.

Meanwhile, Miyo follows the Mask Seller into a secret cat world to try and get her face back. Ultimately, the cat who has Miyo's face realises that her human is desperate to have cat-her back (and that being human isn't quite what she expected) and she confesses to Hinode what happened and that Taro is Miyo. She takes Hinode to the cat world, where she gets him a mask so he can see what's there and he becomes half-cat (probably because he had no desire to be a cat, so it only half works?). With the help of some disgruntled former humans that the Mask Seller had cheated out of their human lifespans, the group rescues Miyo / she rescues them and they return to the human world. 

It's all very sweet and charming, though I suppose I should admit I have a quibble that it takes a lot of outside (adult) intervention for Miyo and Hinode to succeed, so in some ways, their character journeys feel a bit flat. It's not a huge disappointment, though. They were brave -- perhaps bravest when they confessed their feelings to each other. Or, in the wrap up montage at the end where Miyo is working to reconcile/understand her family and Hinode tells his mother he wants to be a potter like his grandad. 

The cat world in particular is enchanting and very interesting and visually stunning. The whole film is well done. I definitely did enjoy it, though I also think I probably wouldn't watch it again. Part of that might be that Miyo, especially in the beginning of the film, was SO over the top that you're, like, GIRL what are you doing? You seem like a crazy person. That settles down or becomes more understandable after a bit, but the first ten to twenty minutes of it she was so unrelentingly WTF that you're taken aback. At any rate, a good film and I would recommend it to people.

Crash Course in Romance

Okay! I am SO behind. I've been very busy working on my latest project. Anyway, I actually finished this one a bit ago and I really loved it. Though, I gotta say, I found it pretty predictable every step of the way. But charming!

So, summary time. Nam Haeng-Seon (Jeon Do-Yeon---same age as me!) is the female lead. Back in school, she was a national athlete in handball. But then tragedy strikes as her older sister drops off her very young daughter with their mother with nothing but a suitcase and no way to contact her. When the mother Jung Yeong-Sun played by the ever-the-mother actress Kim Mi-Kyung (is it even a Kdrama if Mi-Kyung isn't a mom in the show?) goes after the daughter, she gets in an accident and dies. That leaves Nam Haeng-Seon to raise the little girl and her brother, who is autistic, but verbal. The brother, Nam Jae-Woo, is played by Oh Eui-Sik, who I always enjoy. And the daughter ("modern day"), Nam Hae-E, is played by Roh Yoon-Seo. 

At first calling Haeng-Seon "aunt", the young Hae-E soon asks if she can call her "mom" and a family is born. Fast forward to years later and Haeng-Seon is running a side dish restaurant and cooking with her mom's recipes (her mother had owned a restaurant). Haeng-Seon's good friend from her handball days, Kim Yeong-Joo, is played by Lee Bong-Ryun, an actress I always admire for her goofy/strange/oddball sidekick/best friend characters. 

Now, let's talk about the male lead: Choi Chi-Yeol played by Jung Kyoung-Ho. In present day, he is a star maths teacher who works at one of those cram schools. He's rich and successful but so stressed that he literally can't keep food down and barely sleeps. But when he was a young, poor student (with a father who died), he used to eat at Haeng-Seon's mother's restaurant, where she kept him fed and provided moral support. (Oh, look, a past connection...but at least they weren't childhood friends) His assistant is Ji Dong-Hui played by Shin Jae-Ha. 

To make this very long summary shorter, their lives become intertwined as Haeng-Seon tries to get Hae-E into the cram school, Chi-Yeol discovers he can eat her food, and the neighbourhood mums get all nosy and up in everyone's business. Oh, should have mentioned that they all think Haeng-Seon has an absentee husband in another country because the friend had spread that around to protect her from gossip (as being a single mother is apparently so EVIL in South Korea). 

But...I haven't at all talked about the whole OTHER crazy sideplot. See, this is one of those shows that has two totally divergent plots shoved together. On the one hand, you have all the family / neighbourhood / gossip / slice of life stuff. Then they throw in past trauma and a serial killer.

Yeah, you read that right. It was obvious immediately who the killer/psycho had to be, though they tried to mislead you into thinking it was Hae-E's friend/wanna be boyfriend's recluse brother. But there was only one person it COULD be that would have attacked all of the people that were attacked. I'm not going to go all into this bit of the plot because, honestly, I could have done without it. It's there for the tension and the DRAMA but I think the show would have been actually better without it. And they also just dropped bits that made it seem silly. Like, the first girl that was attacked...she goes down and...is never mentioned again. Another victim, who hated Chi-Yeol...why in the world was he so obsessed? How did this random psycho kid just drop off the face of the earth and reinvent himself without any help from anyone?

Anyway. Like I said at the beginning, there were tons of things that were predictable. Like, you knew from episode one that at some point, Hae-E's real mom would come back. But I'm not going to go into all of that either. 

Let me instead just say what I liked! I liked that the main leads were older. I liked the family dynamic and relationships. I really enjoyed Chi-Yeol. Haeng-Seon's character could be somewhat annoying sometimes, but she was believable. I liked the character arcs. Liked all the supporting characters. You definitely root for all of them (well, other than the serial killer dude). It is a show that, if you think on it too hard, you could get annoyed. BUT if you just let it go, it was supremely enjoyable and one of my favs so far this year. 

Am I glad I watched it? Yes! Would I watch it again? Hmmm, not entirely sure I'd do a re-watch, but maybe. Would I recommend it? Yes, definitely.

PS I also left off talking much about the mom group but I wanted to kill them all and burn them with fire (which was the point), so I'll leave it at that.