Mask Korean drama review

 

Drama name: Mask 

Country: South Korea

Year: May- July 2015

This drama was aired on my local TV channel during the lockdown earlier this year. They were showing Terrius before that, and I was happily enjoying the rerun until it ended. It was replaced by this drama but the subs on the first episode were all messed up! I watched it trying to figure out what was happening and gave up the next day by not watching episode 2. Lucky I came back to watch episode 3 and the subs were alright after that. Due to the slow pace of the drama (and also the network seem to repeat the half of the episode on the next day... it was really annoying!) I continued the rest of the show online. 

So,what's this drama about?

Byun Ji-Sook comes from a working class family who runs a small restaurant. She works as a salesgirl in a department store selling handbags. However, her life is like hell because she is constantly being chased by loan sharks due to the loan which her father took. 

One day she had a shock of her life when she saw a rich woman named Seo Eun Ha who looks exactly like her while she was working at the department store. She helped the Eun Ha pick up a wedding ring. Unbeknown to her, her life was about to be transformed by meeting her. 

Ji-Sook was approached by a strange man who offered her money to take on the identity of Seo Eun Ha but she refused at first. Unfortunately, she was caught by the loan sharks who wanted to get rid of her because she had witnessed an accidental murder of another man by them. With her last desperate attempt to live, she called the strange man and accepted his offer. 

The rest of the story goes on with how Ji-Sook takes on the identity of Seo Eun Ha, which requires her to marry a rich guy named Choi Min Woo. She struggles to keep her identity a secret and also battling internal forces from within the rich family. 

Overall thoughts

It is quite a nice drama to watch. The episodes keep you hooked on for more. However I must say the female lead was annoying to some point because of her weak character. But luckily she transformed almost past midway and finally redeemed herself somewhat. 

Best parts of the drama

The interior of Min Woo's bedroom and Eun Ha's house... 

The main house and even the cafe is also nice... 

The relationship between Ji-Sook and Min Woo... From an arranged contractual marriage to one of real love and trust.... 

I must say the villain guy is really handsome and scary at the same time! Haha... hard to believe he is the nice guy in 2 days 1 night! 

The second lead female, she is so pretty and evil too.... 

Not much of yummy food for the foodies but still looks delicious... 

Special mention

The villain's right hand man... I don't even know his name in the show! The silent loyal bodyguard who does all the dirty job for his boss. No explanation on why he is so loyal even to the very end... 

Conclusion

There was some separation time between the main couple when Min Woo found out the truth about Ji-Sook's identity. However they managed to overcome it and the final showdown was the press conference where they exposed the villain to the media... 

The most heartbreaking scene between the villain and his wife, Mi-Yeon... and the real reason for all his evil doings is for revenge... 

Lots of onions for that scene.... Mi-Yeon commits suicide while allowing her hubby to escape. He realised that she killed herself and turned himself in. Some closure scenes where Ji-Sook went to jail and the villain feeling remorse and realised that he does love Mi-Yeon in the end... There is a hint that he will be joining her soon, meaning he will kill himself I guess... :(( 

Happy ending for the main couple! After Ji-Sook was released from prison, she rejoins her family and Min Woo. One of the rare kdramas that show the couple get married and have a child together... 

I did enjoy the drama despite it being draggy at some point... I watched it at first because it is the same Coffee Prince girl, it's weird seeing her with long hair here but she really blossomed into a pretty lady. Didn't like the male lead at first, but fell in love with him later hahaha!! 

Only drawback is that there was no explanation on how Ji-Sook and Eun ha could look exactly the same. I thought there might just be a short by-story when they showed Ji-Sook's family tree planting part... perhaps Eun Ha could have been her identical older sister. Just a shame the writer didn't try to connect that part for just a bit. 

Alright, that's all for now. Thanks for stopping by! I will leave you with Ji-Sook and Min Woo walking down a lovely road together... 

*Image credits Dramabeans, Google image search and own screenshots*

Good Casting review

 

Drama name: Good Casting
Country: South Korea
Year: April- June 2020

Heard about this drama through the K-drama community, was excited for its release as I thought it would be a female version of Terrius. Luckily it was aired on my local cable TV channel so I was able to watch it every week as it was being aired. 

So, what's this drama about?

Baek Chan-Mi is a NIS agent and she was in charge of an operation to catch the mastermind behind a syndicate which was leaking valuable information to China. Chan-Mi is a crazy mad hat person and she goes all out in every situation without care for her team members. This resulted in the death of a member in her team and the target that they were after escaped. 

Chan-Mi was then demoted as team leader and she spent two years as an unwanted NIS agent doing obscure missions. She was deeply affected by the death of the team member and she was obsessed in finding the killer which goes by the name, "Michael." 

Chan-Mi's ex boyfriend who is also a NIS agent recruited her for a new mission that requires her to go undercover in a tech company. However, she is straddled with two other female agents that will be her new team members. 

The story goes on with the trio infiltrating the company to get information and finally catching the elusive "Michael." 

Overall thoughts

As I mentioned earlier, I thought this would be another spy drama like Terrius. Turns out that this is a Korean version of Charlie's Angels! Haha! It was an entertaining drama with lots of comedy, action and romance as well. However, you will need to leave your logical brain behind for most of the parts and just enjoy the show as it is... 

Best parts of the drama

Baek Chan-Mi herself... I found myself falling in love with her crazy character from Episode 1 itself. When she beat the crap out of the other prison inmates... Everyone was afraid of her, thinking she is some psycho mental person... XD 

The Wash and Clean van... haha, it's so cute and it was their mobile operations truck...  Seriously who wouldn't suspect a cleaning van parked outside a building all day... XD

Celebrity Kang's house and cars are really nice... Haha, he was screaming when his personal assistant decided to call it quits and drew on all of his cars... 

I also liked the comic style narration while they were explaining each operation... 

Some yummy looking food too... 

There were some cute plushies featured in this drama as well... the huge duck was really hilarious... 

Notable scenes

The bodyguard moment with Celebrity Kang and Im Ye-Eun... haha that was really funny and sweet! 

Another funny scene was at the laboratory of the bad guy... He thought it was a ghost in the air-con vent.. XD 

Conclusion

After countless operations and close shaves... Chan-Mi finally closes in onto Michael... It was a flurry of action and comedic scenes.... to a sad scene where the loyal right hand man dies... Man, why did he have to die? 

They managed to capture Michael which turns out to be the lab guy. But the syndicate lives on as he was killed while he tried to escape from the hospital. Don't worry guys, there is a happy ending for all the ladies! Celebrity Kang and Ye-Eun becomes a pair, Hwang Mi-Soon and her family becomes better... and the main leads Chan-Mi ends up with Yoon Seok-Ho... I really liked their relationship it was so sweet. 

The drama ends with an open ending, with another mission to accomplish... 

A light hearted drama with lots of comedy, action, romance and some espionage all mashed together... :D Sang-Yeob is good looking as ever... I did enjoy watching this show but not enough for a repeat or second season. The chemistry between the three ladies was really good. I loved all of them... I'll leave you here with the sassy trio. Hope everyone is doing well. I still have a lot of drama reviews but I'm just too tired to compile. Haha... take care everyone.