the_doggie _days

Did Anyone Else Notice The Similarities Between Alchemy of Souls & Harry Potter!? First off, this show should be on every Kdrama fan’s watchlist. While I mostly watch Rom-Coms to wind down from a stressful work day, I sometimes dabble in Fantasy and Slice of Life kdramas too. AOS took me completely by surprise - the cast, storyline, CGI & OST are spot on! On episode 18 of this amazing fantasy journey called Alchemy of Souls & I can’t help but compare the similarities between Harry Potter & AOS. Think of Songrim as Hogwarts, both have 4 Houses, with elite kids attending it. The ones with special skills in AOS are what wizards are in HP. The ones without any special gifts are what muggles are in HP. And then there’s the stone - Ice Stone in AOS vs. the Sorcerer’s Stone in HP. I’m so excited to know that season 2 will be out in December. Can’t wait!!

I watched the series in between new episodes of Extraordinary Attorney Woo (currently airing), starring the same female lead Park Eun- Bin. I don’t have enough adjectives in my vocabulary to express just how magnificent of an actress Park Eun-Bin is! Just like she nailed the Autistic character in Extraordinary Attorney Woo, she aced in this show as a gender-bender character. Suffice it to say I will be checking out her other shows & will continue to follow her career in years to come. Highly recommend King’s Affection for the storyline, acting by all -leads & the supporting cast, cinematography & the OST. <SPOILER> My only feedback for King’s Affection is the lack of clarity on how she survived from poisoning in the last episode.

K-drama fan or not, this drama is not to be missed! I don’t have enough adjectives in my vocabulary to express just how magnificent of an actress Park Eun-Bin is! In between new episodes of Extraordinary Attorney Woo, I also finished watching her 2021 show - King’s Affection. Just like she nailed the Autistic character in Extraordinary Attorney Woo, she aced playing the gender-bender character (as the Crown Prince) in King’s Affection. Highly recommend it for the storyline, acting by all -leads & the supporting cast, cinematography & the OST. Suffice it to say I will be checking out Eun-Bin’s other shows & will continue to follow her career in years to come.

**I don’t review every show & certainly not rate many with 5 stars*** While I generally prefer Rom-Com genre to unwind from a tiring work day, someone on a Rediff thread had recommended this drama. I started watching it mainly for Jung Hae In (great actor!), plus I liked Soo Bin in “I am not a Robot” . Wow!! This show definitely left it’s mark. It’s a slow burn, with the story depicting loss, grieving & finding love. The first 2-3 episodes were hard to finish but then I was hooked to the storyline & acting of the leads as well as the supporting cast! The OST is excellent; it enhances the scenes / moments in the show. I highly recommend watching this show.

It’s one of the most fascinating ‘character development‘ romance-dramas I have watched. I get that people who love good boy MLs will be somewhat disappointed with the ML’s character in this show but in real life not much is black & white anyways - Park Hae Jin (PHJ) brilliantly portrayed the cold but vulnerable & somewhat psychopathic nature of Yoo Jung! He’s not your typical idea of a romance & that’s OK. Kim Go-eun (KGE) also nailed her role at the FL. I’d be sure to check out their other dramas soon. Judging by the reviews & old articles, it seems like the drama started deviating from the Webtoon adaptation around episode 9/ 10. By episode 15 & 16, there was not much character development for Jung (ML) when his complex character was supposed to be the central focus of this show. There’s also a controversy that his role was reduced significantly in the last 2 episodes, only to be replaced by the second lead who got more screen time..it’s true that a lot of time was wasted on Song Kang Joon (SKJ) playing his dang piano..why!? Rumor has it that he had a major sponsor backing the show, thus a lot of scenes already shot with PHJ never made it in the last two episodes. I literally forwarded some of SKJ’s scenes playing the piano because I wanted more of the ML & FL scenes as their characters were much more fascinating. I never really warmed up to SKJ’s In-Ho character - if you look closely his actions were selfish, destructive, ungrateful, rude, plus he never did anything about his crazy (bipolar) sister’s attitude. He was too busy victim blaming Jung for his accident throughout the show..while never realizing that his own behavior towards Jung was worse. At least Jung only acted against people who hurt him or the woman he loved. I would also mention that the rest of the supporting cast, especially Lee Sung Kyung (lead in Weightlifting Fairy & Shooting Stars) & Nam Joo Hyuk (does he ever disappoint tho!?) are commendable. Now the ending..reading the online reviews, this show got a lot of negative reviews for the ending which I sort of understand. We’re so tuned into seeing the ML & FL have a happy ever after in most romances that it’s hard to decipher a romance show not ending with an obvious ending. To those who think CITT didn’t have a happy ending, I suggest you watch the last 15 mins of the finale again. It’s up to the audience to interpret the end, however that glimmer of hope in the last scene left an open ended conclusion. Though it would have been nice to see whether/how the ML eventually turned a new leaf & him facing off the FL. Ps: the OST (soundtrack) of CITT is Awesome! !

What a JOYRIDE this show has been! KS & AHS should be in more shows together!! Imagine watching Business Proposal the same time as watching “What’s wrong with Secretary Kim?”…both shows have a similar feel - narcissistic boss turned lovey-dovey boyfriend, office romance with laugh out loud scenes. Even the lead actors - Park Seo Joon & Ahn Hyo-Seop look somewhat similar with their looks & style. However Kim Sejeong wins as the lead actress. She has this refreshing, bubbly personality that’s very endearing. The second lead couple is adorable too. This is one show I see myself rewatching again and again (like Crash Landing On You).