Cherryable: February 2020

February continues so also my birthday continues (in my opinion).

Today’s 17^th topic on the 50 posts challenge (Credit: https://www.lostgenygirl.com/100-lifestyle-blog-post-ideas/ )

Music Playlist

I have always been open to and liked songs from different regions and countries regardless of understating the language that is also how I came across Korean Dramas in the first place.

Currently as with everything else, Korean Songs has also taken over a major (let’s say almost all of it) part in my life.

The list is heavily dominated with Kpop along with two songs belonging to other countries. Also as much I like recent songs (male/female idol groups, solo artist, rappers, hip hop artists) this list is a bit partial to older generation kpop songs (most of which I heard from Sugarman, Unexpected Q and Knowing Bros).

Combination of the most played songs on my playlist currently:

Song Name	Artist	Notes
I Love (Koi wa tsuzuku yo Doko Made mo OST)	DISM	Currently on loop (I am crazily fangirling on Takeru Satoh, and waiting for each episode is a torture)
Replay Ending OST	SHINee Only Side By Side With You (Cdrama)	Always on playlist
Dream Glow	BTS	Caught up late
On the Streets Drive	Sung Si Kyung Jay Park ft. Gray	In the Car (Funny I know)
Pyo Pyo Snow Flower	UV Park Hyo Shin	To keep humming
Eve’s Warning BAAM Sexy Guy	Park Mi Kyun Momoland Space A	Instant mood uplifting songs
Oh Na Na Me Like Yuh Fiance Wave	K.A.R.D Jay Park ft. Hoody MINO UV	Anytime can be played
Emergency Room Very Nice Saturday Night Hug Me	Izi Seventeen Son Dam Bi 10 cm	Great to sing along (along with the 5% lyrics I understand)

Join Me in fangirling!

(Source: https://blitzfansub.com/category/love-lasts-forever/)

Crash Landing On You

(Source: https://mydramalist.com/35729-emergency-lands-of-love)

Plot:

Tells the story of two star crossed lovers, a South Korean heiress and a North Korean elite who also happens to be an army officer. One day, while paragliding, Yoon Se Ri has an accident caused by strong winds, leading her to crash land in North Korea, where she meets Ri Jung Hyuk, a North Korean army officer, who agrees to help her return to South Korea. Over time, they fall in love, despite the divide and dispute between their respective countries.

(Source: https://mydramalist.com/35729-emergency-lands-of-love)

Mini Review:

[Minor Spoilers]

↬One of the big named and anticipated series of the year; it was full of ups and downs and fun and regrets filled experience.

↬Starting with the plot, the theme had newness and the beginning was all exciting, making me eagerly wait for every week, but also it became predictable (like similar other dramas) and repeating (how many times were they trying to get her out of NK and people kept on getting shot!)

↬Nothing much to say about the wonderful acting of the whole cast. Started watching it for Hyun Bin (one of my favorite since Secret Garden) and continued it for Hyun Bin and Son Ye Jin chemistry (Previously also I had loved their work together in The Negotiation movie). But for me, I got more attached to the secondary couple, who had a sizzling chemistry and easily rose to my favorites.

(I still can’t deal with Goo Seung Jun’s death, that should not have happened)

↬I skipped almost all scenes of the other villagers in NK or people around Se ri’s family and company, they only seemed there for extending the time of the episodes. Also the villain was neither that impressionable nor scary.

↬And the star of the show for me were the NK military team unit, the four men were the heart of the series, they kept me addicted to the series with their funny antics and touching moments until the very end. A spin off for them should be made! Best teamwork in a show, after a long time!

Over-dramatic at some points but touching and funny mostly, the show maintained its roller-coaster journey and living up to the craze.

Ending Notes:

🔺Give it a try, if you liked YWCFTS, DOTS, Goblin, LOTBS and similar shows.

🔺Do watch for Hyun Bin, if you were not a fan already you would definitely become in this one.

🔺Plenty of fangirling and swoon worthy moments.

🔺Also watch out for the cameos.

Will be waiting for next work of Kim Jung Hyun (Whose character’s death I can’t accept) and would love if he pairs up with Seo Ji Hye again.

Final Rating: 3/5 👀

My ID is Gangnam Beauty

(Source: https://mydramalist.com/29185-my-id-is-gangnam-beauty)

Plot:

This series tells the story of Kang Mi Rae, a girl once bullied for her looks. As a result, she became insecure, cautious around people and withdrawn. However, Mi Rae decides she wants a fresh start away from bullying and gets plastic surgery to transform her face. When she begins university, she meets Do Kyung Suk from their middle school days, who sees people for what they are on the inside and not the outside; he then becomes attracted to Kang Mi Rae. As Mi Rae begins to get teased once more and labeled "Gangnam Beauty", the cold, aloof but kind inside Kyung Suk becomes the one person that stands up for her and in the process, Mi Rae begins to recover her lost confidence and discovers that true beauty is not on the outside.(Source: https://mydramalist.com/29185-my-id-is-gangnam-beauty)

Mini Review:

↬Scrolling through Drama Recommendation Lists, randomly decided to pick this one up and binged watched this Gem of a Series. While airing, unaffected by the hype created by the drama (mostly because I had watched Astro in various variety shows since debut, thus Cha Eun Woo seemed too familiar to imagine him as a Rom-Com lead), but really glad I gave it a try, better late than never.

↬The story is quite apparent from the plot, what I really liked was the writer showed both positive and negative opinions, instead of trying to highlight on a certain point of view.

The show could have been any other youth/college romance stories, but the situations, remarks, and a varied range of characters in the series, made it familiar and relatable. At least once, everyone has come across situation or remarks like these.

↬The Leads Kang Mi Rae (Im Soo Hyang) and Do Kyung Suk (Cha Eun Woo) were written as characters having less experience in social situations, both for individual circumstances and not for once did they feel awkward or stiff (According to some reviews). A sudden transformation in social skills would have been more unrealistic. Their chemistry also very likable (never thought I would be fangirling over Cha Eun Woo)

↬Also I really liked Jo Woo Ri who played Hyun Soo Ah, though portrayed in a negative sense; she had the best skills and made it easy for me to hate her. And for the supporting casts, each one of them did so well, instead of drama characters they made it seem like an actual college setup.

Ending Notes:

🔺Give it a try it’s a really nice show and in case already watched, let’s keep on recommending it to others.

🔺Was already a fan of Im Soo Hyang, glad to add Cha Eun Woo to the list (Check out HandsomeTigers!)

🔺Also as the series shows, changing world view can be slow and difficult but we can always try by accepting ourselves as we are as the first step. Hwaiting to everyone!

Final Rating: 3.5/5 👀👀

Black Dog

(Source: https://mydramalist.com/34245-black-dog)

Plot:

It tells the story of a young woman who gets a short-term teaching position and does her best to fight for students’ dreams in school. The drama will take a deep look into the lives of teachers and provide commentary on society through the microcosm of a school setting. Go Ha Neul, who is newly appointed to a short-term teaching position at a private school. She dreamed of becoming a teacher because of her gratitude towards one of her own teachers who saved her life, and she will grow with the students as they face the various issues that exist in a cut-throat private school setting. Park Sung Soon, the head of the career counseling department at the school and a known workaholic. She is well-known as someone who will do whatever it takes for her students and is even willing to visit schools on her students' behalf to fight for them. She will be a mentor to Go Ha Neul. Do Yeon Woo, a Korean language teacher who is passionate about teaching and hearing that he’s good at his job makes his heart race. He is an idealist who believes talent will win over any office politics. Rather than getting involved in things like that, he likes to go his own way to grow as a person. (Source:https://mydramalist.com/34245-black-dog)

Mini Review:

↬After watching some 3-4 episodes of the show, my liking for it increased a lot for various reasons:

A tvN Show
Great cast of Ra Mi Ran and Seo Hyun Jin
And a similarity with Kdrama favorite Misaeng

But despite the high expectation, it failed short by a lot.

↬The School setting had little do with Teacher-Student relation common with much School Dramas, instead it focused on the difficulties and the politics associated with being a teacher. As have been mentioned in the Show quite a time “The School is also an Organization” the show highlighted this mostly. It would not have been a problem if this was shown as one of the tracks, but after being pointed out frequently I lost interest in the politics too.

↬The story flow may have been good, but the nothing much was happening to be remembered. Also all the information provided regarding the studying pattern or change in the pattern of South Korea’s School System, were too much detailed and for an International fan like me difficult to follow, ending up by skipping most of these scenes.

↬It’s was not a heartwarming story like Misaeng, neither created an impact like Sky Castle or a nicer school environment and student-student/student-teacher relation portrayal like School 2013. At some points it felt like watching a documentary.

↬On a positive note, portrayal of character by almost all the actors was really good also the casting was wonderful, no complain regarding that.

Ending Notes:

🔺If you are looking for a School drama, this is not one of them.

🔺You can give it a try for being a Ra Mi Ran fan.

Final Rating: 1.5/5