Adventures in Asia

There are a select few Korean TV shows that I consider in my All Time Favorites, those dramas which warmed my soul with realistic romance, pulled at my feels with heart-wrenching sacrifice, kept me from sleep with unpredictable plotlines – those dramas that I feel confident recommending to my non-drama-watching friends, knowing it’s only matter of time before they also become addicted. Among such glorious kdramas, I listed Lee Min Ho’s “ CityHunter ,” the only non-cop-show I’d seen that combined action and romance. But then I watched “Healer,” wrecking my rankings and superseding my beloved “City Hunter” in a flurry of kick-butt action, compelling back story, passionate kisses, and good-guy criminals. I love this drama. Not sure why this image has "skip" on it, but skipping this drama is not something you want to do. “Healer” depicts two worlds. One, the life of a night courier, code name Healer, the best in his field at delivering top secret documents, esc...

My glorious return to romantic comedy kdrama was rather anticlimactic with the oh-so-predictable “ Flower Boy Ramyun Shop ,” so for my next drama I watched cop show / romance “Who Are You” (2013). Plus, one of the leads is 2PM’s Taecyeon, whom I hadn’t seen since his singing and dancing days in “Dream High.” Good to see you again, T! “Who are you?” Police officer Yang Si Ohn wakes up after a six-year coma with no memories of the day she fell unconscious. Assigned to the Lost and Found Unit, she starts working with T, er, Cha Gun Woo. Since waking up, she as the ability to see ghosts, conveniently of people who’ve been murdered, which results in her solving closed cases. But the ultimate mystery still looms: What happened that day six years ago? Who is the handsome spirit with sad eyes who occasionally appears? This drama is a brilliant combination of mystery, suspense, action and romance, with a side of ghostly heebie-jeebies. The plot was downright delightful (especially ...

I enjoyed Lee Seung Gi’s performance in “You’re All Surrounded” so much I looked into another of his dramas, “King 2 Hearts,” and when I learned the lead actress was Ha Ji Won (Gil Ra Im from one of my all-time favorites, “Secret Garden”) I was sold. And the cast did not disappoint. “King 2 Hearts” is set in a world where the nation of South Korea has a constitutional monarchy form of government. From the get go, the stage is set for conflict when North Korea and South Korea attempt to join a global military competition as one team. To complicate things further, the King tricks his little brother, the slacking and arrogant Crown Prince, into joining up as a Southern representative. The team leader for the South side is the head of Royal Security, Eun Shi Kyung. The team leader for the North side is beautiful Special Forces officer Kim Hang Ah. Naturally, a romance buds between the snotty Prince and the kick-butt Northerner. The villain of the show is Kim Bon...

After a relaxing vacation States-side, I’m back to Asia, back to teaching, and back to watching kdrama! And my first drama since being back was sure to be historic. My curiosity about the so-called Prince of Asia had peaked, especially after reading about his charms online and constantly running into cardboard cutouts of him in Caffé Bene. He starred in my first kdrama, “You’re Beautiful,” and I felt it was time to see him again. Thus I started Jang Keun Suk’s latest, “Bel Ami” (or “Pretty Man”). This drama was, in fact, historical for me, but for a quite different reason. It can be marked down as the first kdrama of my watching career that… I QUIT. I can only put up with so many hours of every woman on screen ogling over and clinging to an arrogant, gold-digging pretty boy. I can put up with even less pathetic female lead, who has a degree but no job, no self-esteem, who pools her miniscule earnings to buy things for said pretty boy who’s never so much a...