Tag Archives: Kim Young-kwang

Robin N 12:45 pm on July 31, 2017
Tags: D-Day, God's Quiz, , , Kim Young-kwang, Quiz of God, Ryu Duk-hwan, Yoon Joo-hee   

Sidetrack Dramas: D-Day and God’s Quiz

Whilst I was stalling on Suspicious Partner and Fight My Way (and I blame Secret Forest because my head was so filled with that one that I wanted only to watch shows I didn’t really care about while I was awaiting the next installment of the fabulous Shi-mok show), I dallied with 2 dramas available on Netflix: D-Day and God’s Quiz.

D-Day is a slightly hokey medical/disaster drama with Kim Young-kwang (that broad-shouldered strapping lad from Lookout) and Jung So-min (currently in Father is Strange). The premise is simple: He’s the rebellious genius ER doc who is also gifted at emergency surgery and is trying to keep his vegetative-state mother alive and piss off the hospital establishment and she’s the 3rd-year ortho resident up from a Busan hospital who’s not pushed herself to be a better doctor and together they hold together the patients at a specialized hospital with hardly any doctors working there that only grudgingly has ER services but focuses on high profile cancer & robotics surgery cases after a huge earthquake devastates major chunks of Seoul. Ha Suk-jin contributes as a former best bud of his and is the prickly surgeon who’s sold his soul to the company store (greedy hospital chief) and is the usual cold jackass (until he has his usual epiphany). Can you tell that it’s chock-a-block with stereotypes? It was moderately enjoyable, a time-waster, and when the predictableness of it all got to me I started hitting the FF button. Not horrible, he’s easy on the eyes (though I desperately wanted to Cut His Hair!), but TC you will roll your eyes right out of their sockets if you watch any of the medical stuff, so take a pass unless you need a laugh!

God’s Quiz, which I think is on Netflix as Quiz of God, is summarized on Dramawiki as follows: “Han Jin Woo, Korea’s top medical examiner, leads a team of experts in conducting a medical crime investigation after strange events and mysterious deaths occur in a hospital. He first clashes with but is later aided by Kang Kyung Hee, an attractive female detective who possesses excellent skill in martial arts and a strong sense of justice.” IOWs, the brash guy is brought into a top forensic unit because he’s got genius-level diagnostic skills, something that will keep him from using those skills when operating on live patients, and a juvenile personality and he’ll clash with and later grow fond of the female detective who seems to pull every case in Seoul and has a short-ish fuse and good legs for kicking bad guys. She’ll come to see he’s not as bratty as she thought he was and comes to respect his intelligence and care for him in return. Again, formulaic, some “interesting” forensic cases and autopsies (hah!), and not a bad timewaster as far as timewasters go. This is a 4-season drama that ran on cable. I wasn’t going to get invested in all 4 seasons so I finished season 1 and then skipped to the final episode of season 4! I’m thinking it was the right decision. BTW, Yoon Joo-hee, who plays the female detective, was a helpful nurse and 2nd female lead in D-Day. Ryu Duk-hwan, the doctor, is a charming shrimp of a guy who mostly does movies; not a looker, but personable.

 

 

#d-day, #gods-quiz, #ha-suk-jin, #jung-so-min, #kim-young-kwang, #quiz-of-god, #ryu-duk-hwan, #yoon-joo-hee

Robin N 1:39 am on July 14, 2017
Tags: Key, , Kim Tae-hoon, Kim Young-kwang, Lee Si-young, Lookout, Shin Dong-wook   

Lookout – Initial and final impressions

Viki was acting up the other day so I was having trouble watching Fight My Way (and yes, it bugged me no end to be interrupted in my Park Seo-jun Swoon), so I picked up something on my bookmarked list that had just finished airing – Lookout. A few days later and I find that I’ve finished it already! That’s what happens with this new formatting of 2-a-day 30-minute episodes; you finish one and think, “Well, I’ve got time for another if it’s only 30 minutes…” And then 5 episodes later you’re wondering how that happened.

Lee Si-young (previously in My Beautiful Bride) is the female detective who, after the traumatic death of her young daughter (sorry, that’s not so much a spoiler as a set-up plot device) is set on vengeance. And it just so happens that a cheeky prosecutor played by Kim Young-kwang (last in The Man Living In Our House) is there to fold her into his own little vengeance schemes. Key, from SHINee (and also Drinking Solo) and Kim Seul-gi (who’s in everything) are the others who work on the tasks assigned to them by their ‘boss’. Oh, and Shin Dong-work, who has been unable to work much lately due to a painful medical condition was sufficiently in remission to take a small role too as the prosecutor’s stepbrother.

I must say that I hate the setup for the show because the death of a child should never be a plot device, IMO, but it was something that would make it plausible that she’d do things that would normally be out of character because she is in total despair. Her mission is always there, but once the story gets underway it’s not always picking at the emotional scab. There’s (mostly) keen plotting and one quick cliffhanger after another, so it zips by. There are a few characters you want to smack for being TSTL, but on the whole, it’s an appealing cast and brisk story. Lee Si-young is sufficiently badass for her role too, and Kim Young-kwang is smooth and rough at that same time. It’s not a romance, though, so if that’s what you’re in the mood for, this isn’t the ticket, but if you want something a little different, I’d say give it a shot.

#key, #kim-seul-gi, #kim-tae-hoon, #kim-young-kwang, #lee-si-young, #lookout, #shin-dong-wook