Stove League review

 

Drama name: Hot Stove League

Country: South Korea

Year: Dec 2019- Feb 2020

Stumbled across this drama after Kkhondae Intern re-run ended. They aired it on the same slot and it captured my interest instantly as I saw it was Chief Kim! :D (Nam Goong Min) Couldn't wait for the episodes to be aired so I watched the rest of it online. 

So, what's this drama about?

Dreams baseball team was not doing well at all. It was at the bottom of the league and the parent owner wants to get rid of the team altogether to cut their losses. However, the CEO of Dreams decided to hire a new general manager to try to turn the team around. 

In comes Baek Seung-Soo, a very capable individual that manages to turn any failing business to a success. Mr Baek has no experience or knowledge of baseball but he was still hired for his outstanding portfolio. CEO Kwon makes a deal with Mr Baek to turn the team around and then disband. 

The rest of the show goes on with how Mr Baek reshuffles the team, from the players right up to the operations level. He faces lots of opposition along the way while trying to save the Dreams team. 

Overall thoughts

This is my first time watching a sports k-drama and it was really good! Not a typical k-drama as you would expect, no romance just a solid story with lots of good actors. Even if you don't know much about baseball you would be able to follow the story. 

Best parts of the drama

Definitely the Dreams team chemistry. It was a mess at first but eventually they all came together and became a real dream team! 

The Dreams stadium is pretty impressive too... 

The highlight of the drama for me was the meeting of Dreams and the Vikings for a practice match before the season started... 

Some of the struggles while trying to get the team reshuffled... 

Mr Baek facing opposition from CEO Kwon himself... Seriously I don't get this guy, I mean like you hired him to fix the team but then he goes and try to destroy the team along the way... smh! 

For you hungry mukjang fans there are some yummy food in this show as well. If you know the name of the dish below please let me know! 

Special mention

I love the friendship between the Vikings general manager and Mr Baek. Haha, Mr Baek seems to be using him all the time but actually he does care for the Vikings as well. 

Conclusion

The parent company of Dreams decided to get rid of it entirely. It was some nail biting moments where Mr Baek tried to get another company to buy Dreams. He finally managed to break a deal with a young IT company securing the jobs of all the operations team. However, the CEO said that his shareholders did not want Mr Baek in the management at all. Nobody knew about this deal until the last minute. 

It is a bit of a bittersweet ending... Dreams went on to do very well in the season and became the comeback kid. From last place to the top of the table. The final match was between Dreams and the Sabres. I was very disappointed that they did not show the final game, but I am guessing that because of the Covid-19 situation that was starting to explode during the time of filming. Or that they didn't have enough budget as they spent it on filming in Hawaii earlier. XD 

The drama ends with a radio broadcast that the Dreams won the championship and Mr Baek heading to another new job. 

I enjoyed watching this drama. Although midway I must say the struggles was a bit tiring and boring to some point. Nam Goong Min nailed this character so well, he seem to have the best comeback lines to slap his critics each time. XD Loved that so much... As I am writing this review, I saw in the comments that there will be a season 2. Not sure if it will be as good as season 1... 

That's all for now. Will leave you with this cute pairing... no romance but just a hint that they might end up together... ;D 

Chief Kim Good Manager review

Drama name: Chief Kim/ Good Manager
Country: South Korea
Year: Jan- Mar 2017

I stumbled across the making of this drama on the KBS channel. I thought it looked okay so I searched for "Good Manager" on the online drama websites but found none. Later on, my brother recommended this show (Yes, my bro watches kdrama too because his wife does :P) I searched further and found out that the show is called Chief Kim. Aigoo!

So, what's this drama about?

Kim Seong Ryong is an accountant working for a mobster boss in city of Gunsan. He's like the town's hero because he is so good at balancing the books without ever being caught. ;D Yes, he helps businesses to evade tax, earn more money and pockets money for himself while on the job! 

Chief Kim's goal is to save enough money to emigrate to Denmark. However, the mobster's right hand man started to make trouble by saying that Chief Kim was more powerful than the mob boss himself. This made the mobster boss not happy and he decided to get rid of Chief Kim.

Meanwhile, Chief Kim senses that something is not right anymore and opportunity came knocking when a big corporate conglomerate in Seoul named TQ Group was hiring a new business operations chief. Chief Kim secretly applies for the job without the mobster boss's knowledge.

The time came to get rid of Chief Kim. Chief Kim was smart enough to save the books for evidence against the mobster boss. The mobster boss captures Chief Kim's assistant in exchange for the books. There was a showdown but Chief Kim survives the incident and gains approval from the mobster boss to leave Gunsan to work at TQ Group. 

The rest of the story goes on at TQ Group where Chief Kim thinks he could pocket money big time but in the end finds himself right in the middle of a huge company crisis with a cover-up for attempted murder, money syphoning and power struggle. 

Overall thoughts?

It's an entertaining drama. A lot of humour amidst the seriousness of corporate greed and struggles of ordinary working people. The cast chemistry is very electric and you'll find yourself endearing to each character individually. There are a lot of references to k-pop songs and other k-dramas too!

Best parts of the drama?

The ending for each episode is done in a manga style! You'll be looking forward to each one!

Like I've mentioned earlier, you'll be laughing a lot with the references to k-pop songs and k-dramas. I absolutely love the mobster gang singing to BTS's Fireeee! Too funny!

Chief Kim and Seo Yul's bromance... From enemies to friends... I love how Chief Kim teases Seo Yul!

And who can forget this scene from Goblin!! Chief Kim and Seo Yul's bodyguard coming to rescue!

Sang Tae and Gwang Sook's romance... You are my destiny song!! Too sweet and funny!

Notable scenes:

Food fight scene between the two departments, Accounting and Business Operations. I did look up the meaning of Pirarucu! 

Director Seo's encounter with the cleaning ahjumma... She's the same cleaning lady in Shopping King Louis too!

Morpheus and Neo.... Chief Kim's bodyguards for the day after he was nearly killed...

Special mention for the lawyers from Go and Goo! The guy is too cool with the dramatic entrance all the time!

Fashion

Chief Kim and Director Seo Yul has some nice suits in this show but the one which stole it all was Park Myung Seok, the chairman's son. He really has some snazzy outfits! And he rocked in all of them!

Conclusion

Chief Kim went to TQ Group with the intention to embezzle enough money to leave for Denmark but he ended up saving the whole company from the greedy Chairman Park Hyun Do. In the process Chief Kim had turned from a semi-bad guy to a good guy. Director Seo Yul, a power crazy ex-prosecutor also became good in the end by joining forces with Chief Kim to take down Chairman Park.

It's a happy ending, Chief Kim gets an offer from the mobster in Gunsan to help run another night club nearby Seoul. So he's back to old self again!

I really enjoyed this drama, first time the second lead actually gets the female. :D Not much of romance in this drama which is a good breather! And having worked in a finance department before I can understand and relate to most of the background story. Although I must note that certain parts are a bit unbelievable, for example usually in real life when someone like Chief Kim tries to whistle blow he would be terminated without a trace. But of course this is k-drama, so there isn't any real violence involved.

I do hope they don't make a part two or something. I would prefer to leave it there with Chief Kim being the accidental hero enjoying his carefree life!