Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
“Taxi Driver” is a thrilling series in the vein of “The Equalizer,” “Profiler” and “The Pretender.” Rainbow Taxi Service driver by day and justice seeker by (mostly) night, Do-Gi and his team are funded by a philanthropist whose parents were murdered decades ago. The goal is to rehabilitate them, but what it all boils down to is revenge.
For septuagenarian Shim Deok-Chul, his unfulfilled dream is ballet. As a child, he had wanted to take lessons, but his father stopped him. There was the lack of money. But there was (and still is) also the prejudice against men who participated in the artform. For many close-minded people who fear the unknown, dancing isn’t a masculine hobby to take up.
The showrunners behind “Vincenzo” took their time in letting the highly engaging story unfold in a believable way. Well, as believable a story as you can have about a Korean-born child who ends up becoming a consigliere for a top mafia don in Italy. This series is one of Song Joong-Ki’s strongest K-dramas.
“Love Alarm” was one of the first Netflix series that split a K-Drama into two seasons. They need to stop doing that. This second season is a disappointing mess.
The action sequences in “Vagabond” are thrilling and the plot is fast-paced and engaging. But the ending seems rushed, incomplete and utterly unsatisfying.
This second season of “Penthouse” is full of subterfuge, a revelation about who one of the students’ real father is and lots and lots of comeuppance. Oh, and there’s the murder of another teenage student, too.
“Tomorrow, With You” has so many wonderful elements — especially the adorable chemistry between the two leads. But the frustrating part was watching just about everyone in the series keep integral secrets from each other in an attempt to change — and protect — their future.
The New York Times interviewed me for their piece about product placement (like Subway!) in K-Dramas.
“Sweet Home” has some incredible highs. But unlike “Kingdom” or “Uncanny Counter,” where action supplements the storyline, “Sweet Home” has too much mediocre filler to make it a truly great K-drama.
Most of the characters in “Lovestruck in the City” would’ve benefited with some therapy to work things through and move on from unhealthy relationships that should’ve been severed early on.