Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
“Train to Busan” does a great job at depicting how people deal with death during unthinkable times. When your loved one is infected and your only option is to perish (as human beings) with them or kill them so that you (and others) can survive, what would you do?
“Parasite” has already made history for South Korea as the country’s first film to win a Best Picture Academy Award. There are some moments I can’t wrap my head around though, and one of them was the inclusion of Illinois State into the dialogue.
A couple months after the series finale aired, I still find myself missing the characters in the superb K-Drama, “Crash Landing on You.”
“Let’s Eat” offers some of the best mouth-watering food scenes I’ve ever seen in any series. But is there more?
“Itaewon Class” is one of those rare K-Dramas where I disliked both female leads for different reasons. But it just goes to show that a good series doesn’t need a loveline to hold the viewer’s interest.
Jung Hae-In’s adventures in New York are delightful to watch. Here’s hoping he does another season. I know his international fans would love to travel with him vicariously to explore South Korea next.
Like many of the characters in this series, Gwang-ho is a bit of an idiot. Instead of quietly sneaking up to nab the various culprits, he constantly yells out his plans to catch the 새끼/saekki (or son of a bitch), giving the aforementioned 새끼 plenty of time to escape.
The overall message of “Extraordinary You” is that we are all extraordinary in our own way. At first, Dan-Oh simply wanted to be the star of the series. But she grew to realize that what she really wanted was to have ownership of her life, rather than following others’ expectations of who she should be.
“When the Camellia Blooms” starts off with so many things happening at once that it’s initially difficult to focus on all the different story arcs: a serial killer, small-town pettiness, marital issues and the possibility of romance. But as the series progressed, each consecutive episode found its focus and finished with a sweet and satisfying finale that felt true to the characters. There is death and sadness dotted throughout the series. But at its core, “Camellia” is a story of love — not just between a man and a woman, but between parents and their children.
“Signal” makes you ponder the consequences of altering life. Is it fate for a person to die at a certain time, no matter how horrific that death might be? And knowing that saving someone’s life in the past could create catastrophic results in the future, would you still take that chance?