FRIDAY NIGHT DRAMA: My Princess

I don’t know how this week has been for you but for me, it’s been an absolute nightmare. In an effort to salvage what little sanity I have left, I decided to go back in time and pull up a drama whose very name invokes all manner of warm-fuzzies for me, in the hopes that those warm and pleasant memories would be strong enough to drive all of the crappiness of this past week away. While I can’t say this desperate attempt to forget my life for a moment has been totally successful, the memories I have of sitting down to watch my very first K-Drama, and the feelings that inevitably followed, were enough to bring about a few moments peace which is why I’m now suggesting you make the time to marathon My Princess this weekend.

princess

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HALLYU ZOMBIE DRAMA REVIEW: Emergency Couple Episodes 1-2 (4/4)

Zombie: So it seems we’re all in agreement that the first episode of Emergency Couple wasn’t nearly as awesome as maybe we were all hoping it would be. Maybe it’s because we’re all married that we don’t find a hugely gianormous fight between our OTP all that funny; especially when said fight brings about the end of a marriage.

if looks could kill

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HALLYU ZOMBIE DRAMA REVIEW: Emergency Couple Episodes 1-2 (3/4)

Emergency Couple

Welcome to the Emergency Couple review with Zombie Mamma, Tanya, and Karen. My name is Karen and for the next ten weeks, my partners and I will be sharing our thoughts on the newest episodes of Emergency Couple. Our thoughts will be simultaneously and exclusively posted on each of our blogs: Zombie MammaHallyu Know?, and Wehaiyo! You can find our latest updates on either of these blogs. All three of us are Dramafever Drama club reviewers for the Dramafever website, but decided that we would review this drama independently.

Oh Chang Min Oh Jin Hee at the wedding

What I am anticipating in the Emergency Couple drama is the chemistry between actor Choi Jin Hyuk, who plays Oh Chang Min and Song Ji Hyo, who plays Oh Jin Hee. When I first heard of the story line for Emergency Couple, it sounded very similar to the story line of the 2011 SBS drama, Paradise Ranch. The two main characters of Paradise Ranch are played by Shim Chang Min, who is most famous for being one half of the TVXQ band and actress Lee Yeon Hee. Their characters married young against their parents wishes, but divorced soon after. Years later, they meet again and fall back in love by the end of the drama. Paradise Ranch was the first full drama I watched on the Dramafever website, but the story line left me so disappointmented and worse, I felt that there wasn’t enough chemistry between Chang Min and Lee Yeon Hee. I sincerely hope that Emergency Couple does not fall into this trap. I can deal with a bad story line, but I don’t think I can handle another chemistry-lacking couple.

Oh Chang Min - How can you do this to me

Emergency Couple is the third Korean medical drama I am watching. I have watched the 2007-2008 MBC drama, New Heart, which focuses heavily on the medical part and I have watched the 2013 KBS2 drama, Good Doctor, which has an equal dose of medical and love in the drama. By the way, if you haven’t already, I have reviewed all episodes of Good Doctor for Dramafever so feel free to browse through those reviews as well. So far, Emergency Couple seems to be the type of drama that focuses more on love than the medical part. We don’t get any political bickering at the hospital as seen in Good Doctor and there is no hint of any staff member who has familial ties to any hospital administration executive as seen in New Heart.

Oh Chang Min - She threw urine on this handsome face

Still, with a third medical drama under my belt, I should be more familiar about how a hospital works, but I don’t. I am still very surprised at what an intern life was about. How are interns different from resident doctors? I notice that all interns go to work and leave at the same time. I wonder if the residents take over after the interns go home. Why didn’t they go home in shifts like residents do? I understand the interns of team four are assigned to the emergency room for three months, but what are the other departments? I would have liked to know the name of the other departments. I was also extremely surprised when Oh Jin Hee poured a bag of a patient’s urine on top of Oh Chang Min’s head, exposing him to contamination. I work in a medical-related field so I know that this is definitely a very dangerous thing to do. Who knows if the patient had any kind of infection and the urine actually got into Chang Min’s eyes. He would need to go to an eye washing station and report the incident to his supervisor immediately as well as get medical treatment as needed. Jin Hee would have lost her job immediately as she did it on purpose and Chang Min would have to deal with the medical consequences. This is never something to ever joke around with because everyone has a right to be safe at the workplace. Chang Min could not simply go to the bathroom and “wash it off.” I am very bothered by that scene as it was a reckless move by interns who should know better.

Han Ah Reum - I really hate the bullying culture in Korea

On a related note, I am disappointed that, like the plot of Good Doctor, there is bullying going on in this drama as well. Jin Hee’s first day was not only tough because of her mistakes from the previous night, but because all her team members wanted her to quit the hospital because she looked old and unreliable. I have low tolerance for people who judge other people without spending the time to understand the other person. Even the chief, Gook Chun Soo (Lee Pil Mo), tried to fire Jin Hee on the first day without giving her a chance to work. On that note, I felt sad for Jin Hee, especially after she removed her medical diplomas and placed them in her desk drawer instead. What a way to knock someone down. On the other hand, why couldn’t she tell Chief Gook the reason why she wanted to be a doctor? That’s really suspicious. In a way, I am not sure if she should quit or not quit because of that hesitation.

Oh Chang Min Oh Jin Hee look at the mess

So far, I cannot take sides on this love drama war. Chang Min and Jin Hee equally annoyed me and I don’t see a reason to take either side. Jin Hee seems to be such a weak character who is physically and emotionally influenced easily. Chang Min’s words are so poisonous and his character is very selfish. As a married woman, I found their famous fight scene so dramatic. No matter how angry I am, I would not take my anger out on such expensive items. I guess they didn’t show Chang Min and Jin Hee hitting each other because otherwise, the audience would be too shocked and uncomfortable with domestic violence. From what I see, both sides have their faults and I wonder how they will fall back in love within one year at the hospital. I expected Jin Hee to be more competent as an intern since she obviously worked hard to get where she is, but she messed up a simple thing like a blood draw, making me lose some of my faith in her abilities.

Oh Chang Min - How did you know I was in the hospital

Those suffering from an Heirs drama withdrawal will experience a bit of deja vu because actress Park Joon Geum is playing Choi Jin Hyuk’s mother again, only this time she is his real mother and Jin Hyuk seems to be a mama’s boy.

Yoon Joo Sang - Kids these days call it a mental collapse

Yoon Joo Sang, who I will always affectionately remember as Shin Sang Duk from the 2013 SBS drama, I Hear Your Voice, makes a cameo appearance as Chang Min and Jin Hee’s wedding officiant. Actress Jun Soo Kyung also makes an appearance as a hospital director who flirts with Chang Min.

Oh Jin Hee shocks the patient and Oh Chang Min

Since we ended with a ridiculous plot line where a suicidal patient had easy access to a security guard patient’s gun, Jin Hee shocked the suicidal patient and Chang Min with a defibrillator, which was a bit comical because I don’t know if her facial expression at the time meant that she enjoyed it or not. I think, at this point, I can’t take the medical part too seriously so I better enjoy the romantic comedy parts and that’s exactly what I signed up for. 

Look for our upcoming collaborative chat about episodes one and two soon, exclusively on our blogs.

Zombie Mamma | Hallyu Know? | Wehaiyo!

Emergency Couple:
Episodes 1-2: [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

Hallyu Zombie Drama Review: Emergency Couple Episode 1-2 (2/4)

Welcome to Hallyu Zombie Drama Review! I am joined by The Zombie Mamma and Karen Yoon-Kung and we will be writing weekly opinions on Emergency Couple starring Choi Jin Hyuk and Song Ji Hyo.

Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about this show yet, so my opinion may be fairly short this time around. In Episode 1, we got to witness an adorable rush to the alter as Oh Chang Min and Oh Jin Hee ran away from those who were seemingly protesting the marriage (this was never really explained, so I can only assume that is what was actually happening). Then we are launched into a depressing household, where the characters have been married a year, but there is not real explanation as to what went wrong and how they ended up in that situation. The climax is, of course, this epic fight between the couple which I didn’t find humorous at all. I have to say though, even though it was a bit over the top, it was one of the most realistic fights I have seen between a couple in a drama. There truly are toxic relationships that end with everything literally being destroyed and the two sides just staring at each other as to say “how did we get here?” So in that sense, bravo drama land?


Since so much of the beginning story is missing, Episode 2 seems a little off-kilter to me. They run into each other, obviously still have an extreme dislike for one another, but all of that magically seems to subside in course of Episode 2.

Chang Min and Jin Hee both become interns at the same hospital. While Jin Hee makes mistakes the other interns and the department Chief are all hard on her, and Chang Min quickly ends up coming to her defense. We obviously know that they are going to end up back together at some point, but I still want to know what happened to begin with and why it’s such a big deal that since it was never explained. Heck, Jin Hee even throws urine on Chang Min while he tries to prevent her from running into his mother/her former mother-in-law. He’s seemingly trying to be a nice guy.

What I have come to appreciate about this show is the characters themselves are diverse. Each has their own strong point and so far, at least in the limited exposure we have had to them, hasn’t waffled. Chang Min is strong-willed and caring although he comes off as cocky. Jin Hee is stubborn to a fault and seems to thrive off being told she can’t accomplish something, as seen when Chief Gook tells her to quit trying to be a doctor because she ended up in the ER herself. Chief Gook himself has a stubborn streak but is willing to teach through a “tough love” approach to those who are willing to work to learn. Even the other interns have their quirks and I can’t wait to see what they all develop into being.

The most stand out moment as far as comedy, since this show is supposed to be one, is the end of Episode 2. A crazy patient in the ER has taken Chang Min hostage at gun point and Jin Hee decides to save him.

While the situation itself is not all that funny, watching her internal conflict about whether or not she should save Chang Min after she sees that she can get to the paddles is. Definitely not the smartest idea, because she shocks Chang Min as well as the gunman, but at least she did something unlike everyone else who hides… Except Chief Gook. He does try to talk the man down, but you can’t talk to crazy sometimes. Oh. And the faces they make. Honestly.

So, I want to know what you think of this new drama. Are you missing the back story? Where do you think this drama is going to go? Any characters you love so far? You can leave me a comment here or tweet @Hallyu_Tanya.

If you missed The Zombie Mamma’s post yesterday, you can find it here. Don’t forget to join us for Karen’s post tomorrow and our group post on Thursday!

Emergency Couple:

Episodes 1-2: [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

HALLYU ZOMBIE DRAMA REVIEW: Emergency Couple Episodes 1-2 (1/4)

Hey everyone! Hallyu Zombie’s drama review is back and this time we’ve asked our fellow DramaFever Drama Clubber, Karen (aka Powerz) to help us recap TvN’s latest medical rom-com, Emergency Couple. Woo-hoo! Much like we do for DramaFever, Tanya, Karen and I will be spending the next ten weeks sharing with you all of our thoughts and hopes, likes and dislikes, predictions and ponderings as the story of Emergency Couple unfolds. As always, we’d love for you to join us in our discussion, so grab yourself a snack, curl up in your favorite chair with a warm blanket and your computer and join us as we dig into Emergency Couple!

opening title

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FOUR DEVILISHLY HANDSOME ANIME ROGUES YOU WISH WERE REAL

sebastian 1

If you’ve watched K-dramas for any length of time, you’re no stranger to the strange spell the leading men are capable of casting. However, you may not be aware that drama men aren’t the only ones capable of entrancing you with their charming voodoo. Here are four leading anime men whose spells are so powerful you’ve caught yourself wishing they were more than an animated character, despite their shady character.

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