One Zombie, Sharing Her Love of all Things Hallyu With The World
Zombie: I just have to ask, are you two loving Bride of the Century as much as I am because really, I’m freakin’ loving this show!!!
Tanya: I love the unexpected bits of comedy thrown into the darkness of this slightly creepy drama. It’s like they took My Love From Another Star and The Master’s Sun and rolled them together. I like it.
Continue reading “HALLYU ZOMBIE DRAMA REVIEW: Bride of the Century Episodes 1-2 (2/2)”
If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I’ve had a thing for CNBLUE for a very long time. Jung Yong Hwa was the bunny I happily followed down the rabbit hole that led me into the wonderful world of all things Hallyu, CNBLUE’s albums were the first K-Pop albums I ever bought and the boys of CNBLUE will forever be at the top of my bias list. That being said, it only makes sense that their latest release, “Can’t Stop” would win this week’s music spotlight.
Annyeong chingus and welcome to yet another edition of “Hallyu Zombie Drama Review!” I’m super excited to introduce this particular review to you for two reasons… First, because this drama is one I’ve been dying to watch for months and this week it has FINALLY started to air (squee!) and second, because two amazing ladies have agreed to join me on this particular drama reviewing endeavor. Who are these lovely ladies, you ask? They are none other than Shai from k-dramacentral and Tanya from HallyuKnow? *round of applause* You can find all three of us writing for our individual blogs as well as writing for some of DramaFever’s more recent Drama Clubs. *hooray!* And now that the introductions are over, let’s dig into these first two episodes, shall we?
Continue reading “HALLYU ZOMBIE DRAMA REVIEW: Bride of the Century Episodes 1-2 (1/2)”
Every once in a while, it’s good to look back at all of the dramas you’ve watched over the years and pull out one that, while a little dated, is still just as fantastic as it was the first time you watched it, which is exactly what I’ve done this week. For those of you who have seen this drama before, you can attest to its greatness and to those of you who may be new to the wonderful world of K-dramas, this is a classic, you won’t want to miss. So, without further ado, I present to you, for your weekend drama marathoning pleasure, Secret Garden.
February has proved to be a difficult month when it comes to deciding which song to feature in my weekly K-pop spotlight, not because there’s been a shortage of new music but because there’s been so much, I’ve had a tough time trying to narrow my favorite down to just one. This week, the tune that won out, over all the other contenders, is BTOB’s latest release “Beep Beep.”
Hello, Hallyu Zombie Emergency Couple fans. I’m Karen and it’s my turn to give a fresh, new take on this week’s episode of Emergency Couple. As my partner Zombie Mamma mentioned, only one, new episode is broadcast this week to allow the Emergency Couple staff more time to improve the quality of future episodes. That change is okay for me as I have more than enough topics to talk about this week.
Continue reading “HALLYU ZOMBIE DRAMA REVIEW: Emergency Couple Episode 7 (3/4)”
Welcome chingus to the very first edition of “KeopiTalk,” a new segment in which my friends KpopKolorado, missienelly and I get together and chat about the latest and greatest K-Pop MVs. We’ve decided to kick off “KeopiTalk” with Topp Dogg’s most recent release “Arario” and we’ve love for you to join us so let’s get to it!
Continue reading “KeopiTalk reviews Topp Dogg’s “Arario” MV: “It’s the Joseon version of “OOAK” meets “No More Dream””
Welcome back to Karen’s portion of the Hallyu Zombie Emergency Couple Drama Review, episode five and six. This week, Tanya started us off with some ridiculous situations. I found this week’s episodes really interesting, but I found Oh Jin Hee’s (Song Ji Hyo’s) honest and true excuse to be a doctor disappointing and unbelievable.
I can’t believe Oh Jin Hee’s real reason to become a doctor is to experience what it’s like to be a doctor because a doctor is somebody special and she’s a nobody. At first, I thought she was joking when she told her ex-mother-in-law, Yoon Sung Sook (Park Joon Geum) her reasons, but then, when she repeated the reasons of her true intentions to Dr. Gook Chun Soo (Lee Pil Mo), I was devastated. Jin Hee’s motivations are so shallow. Surely, I don’t believe it. If that was true, she wouldn’t do all she could to help her patients. She could have merely sit back, watch the show, and let her ex-husband and fellow intern, Oh Chang Min (Choi Jin Hyuk), handle the mess of a patient’s death. All those sticky notes she had in her medical book and all the effort she put in to become a doctor is way too much effort to make me believe she simply wanted to be a doctor, but not play the part. Then, Zombie Mamma, Tanya, and I could have been doctors too, though who knows if we can all get through some medical books and still retain all the knowledge that one needs to become a doctor. I know for sure that my eyes will glaze over. I’m just trying to prove that it takes more than a mere effort to become a doctor and I believe Jin Hee got this far because she is interested in becoming a doctor and saving lives.
Dr. Gook’s wise response was really touching to me. In fact, I respect his honest response to Jin Hee’s confession, which sums up my feelings as well:
Then did everyone become a doctor to cure sick people and save the world like Jesus? Are you saying that only the people with the right intentions can become doctors? Are you saying that their intentions are never swayed by their lives? That kind of perfect idealism doesn’t exist.
Meanwhile, contrary to what I said in my first Emergency Couple review, there are politics in the hospital after all when Jin Hee is the one to be dismissed for the death of a patient while Chang Min’s job position remains safe. We can’t escape the political madness in every hospital drama!
Honestly, with all these clues becoming obvious that Jin Hee and Chang Min have some type of relationship that goes beyond one of colleagues, Dr. Gook is still questioning everything. Even their fellow interns already speculated Jin Hee’s and Chang Min’s mysterious relationship and it’s only a matter of time before they all figure it out.
Chang Min needs to step up as a man. He still disappoints me very much when he doubted that Jin Hee might harm his mother when Jin Hee went into the VIP room and when he failed to stick up for Jin Hee in front of his mother. Yet, if he didn’t care about Jin Hee, he wouldn’t have lied about performing the tracheotomy only to lose his job, which he spent many years pursuing. I really can’t root for him too much.
Chang Min’s mother, Yoon Sung Sook, should have became a doctor herself if she’s so obsessed with doctors. Honestly, she needs to get her priorities straight. Being rich does not automatically bring happiness. Why is she pursuing such unrealistic goals? She wants a high society-ranking woman like “Jessica” Han Ah Reum (Clara) to become her daughter-in-law and she wants Chang Min and Han Ah Reum to represent her pride as doctors in order to match up with the rest of her family. She even knew that her rich sisters didn’t visit her after she collapsed in the hospital and that the joke is on her when her former daughter-in-law, Jin Hee, became a doctor. As a bonus, Jin Hee thoughtfully saved Sung Sook’s life. Furthermore, because of her schemes, Sung Sook already lost her husband’s heart. He didn’t bother to visit her at the hospital either.
This week, another new character is revealed and she is Oh Jin Ae (Jun Soo Jin), Jin Hee’s sister. She is really rude, but also ignored by the family. I don’t know whether to scold her or to feel pity for her. Initially, I was really mad at her for stealing her sister’s wedding ring and pawning it for a guitar. Honestly, since Jin Hee says that Jin Ae is older than Han Ah Reum, Jin Ae should be old enough to get her own job to support herself. She’s not a teenager, but it’s because she is still dependent on her sister that there is still hope that the family can reunite again. Jin Ae seemed to be the forgotten child. What took so long for Jin Hee to find Jin Ae anyway when Jin Hee could have just made a couple of phone calls at any time to check on Jin Ae’s whereabouts? Or is Jin Hee giving her sister some space?
Lastly, it’s cameo hunting time. Dubbed the “Monday Couple” from the ever-popular Running Man variety show due to their hinted relationship, Gary, who is one-half of the hip-hop duo, Leessang, reunites with his Running Man teammate, Song Ji Hyo, in episode six of Emergency Couple. In her drunken state, Jin Hee mistakes Gary for Gary while showing him her godly hands, but Gary assures her that he is Dari, God’s substitute driver who is hired by Dr. Gook to escort her home. Dari has a feeling he will see her again on Monday because why? Because, they are the Monday Couple on Running Man, of course!
There is more drama sure to come as Zombie Mamma takes over with her thoughts for part three of the Emergency Couple Hallyu Zombie Drama Review series. Check back soon!
Be sure to check out our blogs for more dramatic fun!
Zombie Mamma | Hallyu Know? | Wehaiyo!
Welcome back to the Emergency Couple review, episodes three and four with Karen, who is reviewing Emergency Couple each week with Zombie Mamma and Tanya. If last week’s introductory episodes were incredulous, then this week’s episodes are bound to be more interesting because of additional background information on our main characters. Unfortunately, there are still some ridiculous plot lines that bother me.
Last week’s episodes ended with Oh Jin Hee (Song Ji Hyo) shocking a suicidal patient and her ex-husband and intern colleague, Oh Chang Min (Choi Jin Hyuk). Immediately afterwards, almost all medical personnel rushed to Oh Chang Min’s side. What about the suicidal patient? He was never seen again nor did I see anybody treat him. I thought it didn’t make sense to focus all the energy on Chang Min and not the other patient. Even the patient who was accidentally shot by the suicidal patient had more screen time than the actual suicidal patient. Was the suicidal patient’s life not as important as the other patients? I had unresolved feelings about that mini story. In fact, the nurse said the drunkard, suicidal patient was discharged afterwards. Shouldn’t he go to the police station?
Once again, I have my doubts about what intern life is really about at the hospital. From what I learned from the drama, interns are lucky if they even have one hour for lunch because they never know when an emergency can happen and they are summoned. How much sense does it make to leave the hospital to go out for lunch and on top of that, a blind date? Even worse, Oh Chang Min’s blind date was supposed to be fellow intern, Han Ah Reum (Clara). Chang Min is so obedient towards his mother that he didn’t have any common sense. Is it that hard to change the blind date to an evening time after interns get off of work? Profession aside, a lunch date isn’t really enough time to get to know somebody anyway. Han Ah Reum’s family should have known that it would be quite impossible for Han Ah Reum to go to this lunch date when she is an intern at a hospital. The lunch date was doomed to fail from the beginning.
I really like Dr. Gook’s (Lee Pil Mo) response to an intern taking lunch during an emergency. Even with his buried pain, he’s becoming quite the comical character from his expressions to his view on hospital life.
Actress and comedian Jung Joo Ri has a few cameo scenes as the person who attends the blind date in Han Ah Reum’s place. The way Jung Joo Ri looks at art is basically how I look at art. She mistakes the artist’s name (but, thankfully corrects herself) and criticizes the man’s hairstyle in Leonardo da Vinci’s famous drawing of the “Vitruvian Man.”
In a way, I love that Han Ah Reum is from the United States or at least has a western mentality. I get to see how she reacts to Korean culture. Foreigners such as I would learn a lesson or two about how to assimilate into Korean culture.
I am intrigued by what Oh Jin Hee said about referring to others who are more than five years in age difference by name. My Korean husband, however, says it really depends on the situation, but either way, I would feel more comfortable referring to my colleagues by surname if I were working in a hospital.
On the other hand, I feel that Han Ah Reum is so rude. I hope her behavior doesn’t reflect badly on all Americans. I would never make fun of other people’s age and their insecurities. The way she bullied Oh Jin Hee was such a turn-off to me that I hope Chang Min never falls in love with her.
On a positive note, I have a better understanding on why Oh Jin Hee became a doctor. She has been supported by Oh Chang Min’s father, Oh Tae Suk, all along. I believe Oh Tae Suk had been burdened by the guilt of his wife separating Oh Chang Min’s marriage to Oh Jin Hee so Oh Tae Suk decided to secretly support Oh Jin Hee’s path to become a doctor. I find Oh Tae Suk and Oh Jin Hee’s relationship very sweet even though they can no longer meet due to the awkwardness of their relationship. Perhaps Chang Min’s father will take the Vice-Director job at the hospital after he learns of Jin Hee and Chang Min’s fateful working relationship.
On a side note, the way Chang Min’s parents fight seems to be way more vicious than Chang Min and Jin Hee’s martial fight, yet Chang Min’s parents are not divorced.
Lastly, I will talk about the Emergency Couple love gauge. Finally, the drama gives me what I want when Oh Chang Min shows a bit of concern for Oh Jin Hee when they found out that their patient, whom they performed tracheotomy on, had died. As they both tried to take the blame, Oh Chang Min was more forceful in protecting Oh Jin Hee, but I will have to wait until next week’s episode to find out what exactly will happen. Previously, Chang Min hated Jin Hee so much that he would rather be shot by the suicidal patient than be saved by Jin Hee. Will protection turn into love again?
Check out our blogs for more dramatic fun!
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.
Continue reading “HALLYU ZOMBIE DRAMA REVIEW: Emergency Couple Episodes 1-2 (4/4)”
