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Despite my penchant for Korean TV shows and programs, zombie-themed series aren't really my thing. I haven't even watched Train to Busan, so it came as a surprise how I got into watching the recent Netflix hit, All of Us Are Dead. If you haven't seen it and have plans of doing so, I highly suggest that you stop reading from here, or else you won't get much of the adrenaline rush which is best felt by watching the show.

High school feels and some...zombies!

Okay, so that subheading gives it away ( a bit!). Just like my previously-loved shows, Crash Landing on You and Hospital Playlist, All of Us Are Dead is also a Netflix original series. The story revolves around a group of students from the fictional Hyosan High School, and how their normal lives become deranged when a seemingly harmless bite from a specimen in their school's science lab creates chaos on campus because each individual transforms into creepy Halloween creatures! While I am a neophyte viewer of the zombie-apocalypse horror genre, I cannot say that watching (and even finishing the whole 12 episodes in 3 days) events unfold with blood, gore, and heart-racing scenes from this show was bad at all. One of my friends told me that variety is the spice of life. If this could be considered a form of putting variety in my usual Kdrama viewing habit, I must say that for once, my decision to give it a try was worth it.

Survival skills, strategies, and sacrifices

Such is the theme of the Korean drama Go Back Couple. A story revolves between Choi Ban-do (played by Son Ho-jun) and Ma Jin-joo (played by Jang Na-ra), a married couple who, after feeling exhausted with the struggles in their married life ends up deciding to divorce each other. Tables turn when they realize that they returned to their 20 year-old identities and reunited with their college peers and the people who happen to be their “first love”. The question is will they choose to revise the life events in the past or decide to choose their life at the present and work on their marriage, embracing even the struggles associated with it.

When I found out that this drama will have a re-run on TV last month, I decided to watch it again even if I had already seen the original in Korean. I must admit that Go Back Couple somehow was a timely pick when I started with my penchant for Kdramas last year.

Honestly, I never thought this show will be such an eye opener for me. For years, despite having seen a number of colleagues walk down the aisle and even get invited to their weddings, I on the other hand evaded the idea of getting married. Blame it on experiencing a failed relationship, and going through dates with guys of the shitty kind (yes, they do exist!) but I never cared if I was the only “last (single) one standing” in a group where everyone is getting hitched or even if people around me have been openly expressing their concern for me regarding that area and its absence. For years, I’ve already stopped considering the idea of marriage due to a personal reason: Next to the fear of that I might fail to be the kind of wife I wanted myself to become, it is because I am afraid that I will not be able to emotionally survive the conflicts tied with married life. I am scared that I might be the first to call it quits and eventually, end up going through a failed marriage. 

However, Go Back Couple was a show that became somewhat instrumental in enlightening me about the realities of married life because that is the main focus of the Kdrama: to show the “realness” behind those wedding vows recited during one’s wedding day. It was the words transformed into actions and day-to-day situations.

One of the major things that I realized was that misunderstandings are an inevitable component of married life. It will happen at some point. Even one’s way of expressing affection can be misunderstood because couples have different ways of expressing their “love language”. There are times that what one wants to give isn’t exactly what their other half really needs to receive. One wants to do something with the hope of making their partner laugh but the other person only wants something rather simple like physical presence and receiving a hug of comfort.

It is for this reason why communication really does play a vital role in relationships. I know it’s already been mentioned countless times but after watching the scenes from Go Back Couple, I realized, regardless of gender, when you are in a romantic relationship, no one will ever be good at mind reading. Couples are not meant to be each other’s mind readers and not even being married can transform them into one. And it is in this part that the Biblical passage “ask and you shall receive” really make sense, because unless you ask, the answer will always be "No".

It also showed the importance of reaching out to your partner. One may have overlooked it, but having those "reality checks"  at the end of a long day is essential in a marriage . Conversations no matter how trivial or otherwise mean a lot. A particular scene that hit me was the one involving a grieving Ma Jin-joo being greeted by her seemingly-jolly husband. Unknown to Jin-joo, her husband was also carrying the grief of losing his mother-in-law but he just wants to hide his true emotions away from her. I guess it’s one of the reasons why “how was your day?” is a part of everyone’s language.  By asking such, and having those conversations, one won’t have that feeling of being left behind to struggle alone; especially if one’s better half might be struggling emotionally but it’s something his or her partner isn’t aware of.

Go Back Couple is a show that also emphasized the importance of showing affection to the people important to us, including our parents, and never taking moments for granted. There is truth in one of the posts that I saw on Facebook a long time ago: Love the people that God gave you, because He will need them back one day. When our loved one dies and leaves us, part of ourselves tend to die with them somehow. And it leaves a void that not even time or the existence of a new person can fill. 

The show ended with a heartwarming yet pleasant conclusion for the two characters (but still not without the bawling and searching for a box of Kleenex!). For me, the final thought I had in mind was that maybe, like in the case of Go Back Couple’s characters,  going back (not necessarily reversing the order of things) is just a short break offered to us in order to think things out, and to enlighten us with the difference of "then" and "now". That while the past might be good, what we have now can be offering us with something better. It's just that we fail to recognize them. But in the end, it all boils down to what we will choose. Much like what Frances Mayes mentioned, life offers you a thousand chances but all you have to do is take one.  

I know you're dying to ask, "So, what's your choice?" Well, I'd rather keep it to myself for now. But all I can assure you is this: Unlike Choi Ban-do and Ma Jin-joo, should I end up getting married, I won't consider throwing my wedding ring out of the window should I get into an argument with my husband. I certainly don't want to return to my 20-year old self. Simply because I don't want to be in that catastrophic period of my youth ever again.   

Such was in the case of The Secret Life of My Secretary. It’s the story of Do Min-ik (played by Kim Young Kwang), an intelligent boss of a media company and his secretary Jung Gal-hee (played by Jin Ki Joo). As the company director, Do Min-ik has been so used to relying on his secretary for almost everything. But he only hires a secretary for year before eventually firing them. After getting into an accident, he develops Prosopagnosia, a condition that can somehow hamper his day-to-day routine. This will leave him without a choice but to negotiate the employment terms of Gal-hee, with the hope that his illness will not not be discovered by anyone or else it will cause him to lose his position in the company. 

This drama is another show that has that light rom-com feels, as well as some old school element. While this involved the usual genre of office romance between the boss and his secretary, it’s worth mentioning that the show also touched the subject of disabilities and the plight of people in the working class. Issues that are a bit overlooked by society. 

It depicted the reality of how most people in the workplace struggle hard to gain some recognition. And even if appreciation can be given for free, its positive value to a person who deserves it is often neglected. We should learn acknowledge the loyalty of people around us regardless of the occupation or work that they do, especially if their contributions paved way for us to grow and succeed. When Min-ik suffered from prosopagnosia (or in layman’s terms, face blindness), Gal-hee continued to perform the duties as his secretary despite being told that she’s being fired. She helped Min-ik manage the struggle associated with his condition because he is unable to see the faces of people even if he encounters them everyday.

There were two particular words of wisdom that I find to be profound while watching The Secret Life of My Secretary. One was the advice of Gal-hee’s mom to her blind brother while he was crying as he brought up the subject of being bullied by other people due to his disability. To which their mom said:

“We are all disabled,  In our entire life, we will never encounter a perfect person. Whenever someone makes fun of you, you should be the  first to embrace their flaws, because they're pitiful people who aren't aware of their flaws.”

The other was from the liberated chaebol heiress Veronica Park. While there were times I felt annoyed with the way she says her name (she introduces herself to people as “Veronica Park, yeah!”. I never thought to hear these words about giving your best shot:

“If you tried your best for someone, you wouldn't say that you've done enough. You would say that you'll do everything you can.”

It made me think, now this girl might be liberated and rebellious but here she talked with sense! 

My unexpected fondness for Korean dramas was one of the effects that the COVID19 pandemic brought me. Since February of this year, I have seen a number of Kdramas of different genres which were from the advice of peers from my former office; some of which became personal favorites while there are also a number of titles I can recommend to friends who just started joining the Kdrama hype. Incidentally, I am closing this year with a heartwarming rom-com, Shopping King Louie.

In Shopping King Louie, Seo In-guk plays Kang Ji-Sung, who also goes by the nickname Louie, the heir of a chaebol chairman who resorts to online shopping as a means to divert his emotions from loneliness. After a plot to kill him causes him to develop temporary amnesia, he ends up in the care of Ko Bok-shil (portrayed by Nam Ji-hyun), a poor but kindhearted bumpkin who, despite growing up in the countryside and acquiring limited education, adapts well to challenges and situations associated with city life.

Prior to watching the show, I have read a few reactions online saying that Shopping King Louie is fun to watch. Well, I must admit that the comments of strangers did not disappoint. Next to teaching me a thing or two about the wonders of eCommerce and how online shopping influenced our lives, watching this drama at some point made me think about what it means to be truly happy. It made me recall a part of the lecture from an online course of Yale University called The Science of Well Being which I took at the height of the COVID19 lockdown. The course lecturer, Professor Laurie Santos stated a fact: “we live in a culture whose economy relies on us wanting awesome stuff (in order to be happy)”. She even raised an advice that rather than investing in material things, we should focus more on investing in experiences because it is less susceptible to social comparison. 

Whenever I watch TV programs, science fiction is always the genre that is the least of my liking. But after watching the movie The Passengers on cable TV recently, I remembered that I have one sci-fi Kdrama that has been sitting in my external hard drive for months. That Kdrama was Melting Me Softly.

Melting Me Softly is the story of variety show producer Ma Dong-chan and TV show part-timer Go Mi-ran. Two ordinary people who will try to make amends in catching up with the time they lost after a supposed 24-hour science experiment where they were both part of fails. Both people wake up 20 years later, leaving them confused, in a daze and racing against time to adjust and cope with the changes they encounter in the present time. 

My author-friend Elizabeth told me that this Kdrama is another show that can give one a lot of feels -- and indeed it is. There was actually a moment while watching this drama that I felt it hard to process what I was feeling towards Dong-chan and his girlfriend Na Ha-young’s situation. Ha-young was left powerless when Dong-chan went missing; and despite being in a situation where there was no clear resolution as to what happened, she still waited for him to return -- even if it meant she will have to wait for two decades. But what made it all the more painful was when Dong-chan confessed that his feelings no longer aligned with hers. It made me realize that time indeed can change everything, and it’s not just limited to one’s physical features but even to the emotional aspect of their being as well.

Aside from the humor and a bit of the romantic side, this drama showed a good representation on the importance of family. I particularly found the episode where Dong-chan had this heart-to-heart conversation with his youngest sister where he assured her that he will always be his older brother and that she is still precious to him. But honestly, if there was one thing that really pushed me to watch the show aside from wanting to observe the genre, it’s only because of its lead actor, Ji chang-wook. Melting Me Softly would have been better if only the main characters were given a much-deserved conclusion to their story. I mean come on, Dong-chan and Mi-ran went through a lot of complications from that botched science experiment and a stabbing incident caused Mi-ran to be a cryonic human again for another three years so the ending that they both travelled together to the United States and did a travel vlog does not give justice to both the storyline and the characters. I guess viewers would have enjoyed it more if the story and the characters had a more interesting ending. 

In the months of being confined at home due to this present health crisis, I’ve seen a number of Kdrama of different genres and themes. From medical, legal to action but not suspense and dark-fantasy. Not until I got to pick the series Hotel del Luna.

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Next to the drama’s light, colorful and funny representation of the inevitable, what made it interesting is that even the “supernatural guests” have their own backstory. Like the events that happened before they reached Hotel del Luna and what each will do before they leave the mysterious place. Some of those made me cry. Particularly the scene about Yoo-na's short-lived romance with the hotel's receptionist Hyun-joong, the father and son who despite being killed in an accident, decided to forgive the driver responsible for their deaths through the hotel’s dream call service to communicate to someone who is still living. The other one was the scene when Chan-sung brought his best friend, Sanchez to the hotel’s sky lounge during a lunar eclipse to break the sad news that the latter’s girlfriend, Veronica has died and to give him the opportunity to see her ghost and bid her goodbye for the last time.    

If there’s one thing that the drama imparted, it’s the reality that we will all really cease to exist one day. Much like what happened to all the characters in the story: the hotel staff left after having settled the unresolved issues that hindered them to leave the land of the living, Koo Chan-sung sent Jang Man-wol off as the hotel's last guest so she can proceed to her long-awaited journey to the afterlife, the Moon Tree died, and Hotel del Luna itself vanished at the emergence of the full moon. And while the conclusion to Man-wol and Chan-sung’s love story was an open-ended one, I just want to believe that they were reincarnated and met again in a different place, perhaps in New York as that was the last conversation between Sanchez and Chan-sung suggests. 

In my opinion, despite 90-minute run for each episode, this series is worth the time. And after seeing My Love from the Star’s Kim Soo-hyun making a cameo in Episode 16, I now understand why Kdrama fans want a second season (if not a sequel). I would love to see Man-wol and Chan-sung as human guests of another mystic hotel should that happen. 

Given that I still have 22 pending Kdramas on my device at home, I decided to use the fishbowl method to pick what to watch next. I was also hoping that by doing so, I could move on to Ji Chang-wook's charm after watching Suspicious Partner.

But it appears that the Universe is sabotaging my strategy because I ended up picking another show where he was part of. The action Kdrama The K2. I could have just returned that to the fishbowl but then, it would be cheating so despite not knowing what I'll be getting from it, I decided to go ahead and watch.

K2 tells the story of Kim Je-Ha played by Ji Chang-wook, a mercenary soldier from Iraq who flees to South Korea as a fugitive after being framed up and accused of killing his lover, Rania. As he tries to uncover the truth and discover the person responsible for her death, Je-ha crosses paths with Choi Yoo Jin, the ambitious eldest daughter of a chaebol family who aspires to become the country's first lady. He becomes part of JSS Security and is eventually assigned to serve as a bodyguard for Go An-na (played by Im Yoon-ah), the illegitimate daughter of Yoo Jin's husband and presidential candidate Jang Se-joon. While the two characters develop feelings and eventually fall in love, Je-ha becomes torn between choosing to work with his ally to give justice for Rania's death and protecting his newfound love at all costs.

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Suspicious Partner was just a random pick when I went through the downloaded dramas on my device a few weeks back. I was hesitant to watch it at first because the series seem too lengthy given that it has 40 episodes . But I still decided to give it a go because of its legal genre.

A Kdrama from 2017, Suspicious Partner tells the story of aspiring lawyer Eun Bong-hee (played by Nam Ji-hyun), who meets stern prosecutor turned private lawyer Noh Ji-wook (played by Ji Chang-wook). After a not-so-favorable first impression during a rush-hour commute in a subway train, Bong-hee and Ji-wook's paths cross again when she becomes an intern in the Sunho District Prosecutor's Office -- the same office where Ji-wook works as a prosecutor. What happens when Bong Hee becomes accused of allegedly murdering her cheating ex-boyfriend and she gets prosecuted by her immediate boss is just the start of the crime-solving events that involved a number of theories, people and clues in order to catch the real culprit and prove one person's innocence. 

I must admit that the main reason why I  chose to watch this drama is primarily because of my curiosity about Ji Chang-wook. I have only known him to be a celebrity endorser of the Filipino clothing brand Bench (and has been used to seeing his face daily in one of the boutique's branches in a mall near my former office) but I only decided to watch his Kdramas just now. And while worrying about my patience easily getting burned down given that the drama has 40 episodes, I must say that this one was worth all the puyat and my patience.

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Compared to her previous role in another Kdrama that I saw months back, 100 Days My Prince, I enjoyed watching Nam Ji-hyun play the role of Eun Bong-hee in Suspicious Partner. From her being a prosecutor's intern to how she fought and struggled to prove her innocence  to redeem herself (with the help of Ji-wook) and eventually regain her rightful role of a full-fledged lawyer. And speaking of redemption, there was another scene in the drama that involved an event in the past related to the lives of the two main characters that I would confess, tugged a space in my heart.  

Given that the story has the element of legal drama, I was able to relate to the flow of the story. I guess my previous job being in the legal profession was also helpful. Next to just realizing that prosecutors could also be crush-worthy persons of authority, the show pushed my mind to ask thought-provoking questions (mostly who, why, and what) and even make assumptions just to challenge if what I was thinking about the scenario was right. Another thing that made this show interesting (at least for me) was it tackled another query I've once had in mind. A "what if" that, as shown in the story, happens to be one of the biggest dilemmas for those in the practice of law -- what if the one you acquitted was indeed guilty and that the one you convicted was really innocent. And while I was provided with an answer, it showed me that the search for truth, as well as the act of proving someone's innocence or guilt could be a complicated, exhausting process.

The presence of supporting characters in the form of Noh Ji-wook's colleagues also provided a good balance of comedy in the story. And while there's also an angle of a past love in the show, you won't find the character of Kwon Na-ra as the prosecutor ex-girlfriend intimidating compared to how exes are portrayed in other Kdramas.

It also gave me a glimpse and an answer to one long withstanding silly question that I've always had even when I was still an employee: how two lawyers (or those in the legal profession) go through romantic arguments and quarrels. But this show won't be complete as a rom-com drama without the romantic scenes between Prosecutor Noh and Attorney Eun. Talk about getting some dose of endorphins to counter all those stressful scenes that involved some crimes discussed during the whole series. I didn't even recognize the age gap between these two characters because they were able to execute the role of a couple so well. The ending to their story was simple yet, I still found it satisfying.

If you're asking me if I would recommend this show to friends for their binge-watching sessions, despite that this might be a lengthy one, I would say yes. If you're looking for some feel-good legal rom-com to watch, try adding Suspicious Partner to your list. Take it from me, you'd get just the right mix of laughter, a bit of drama, an ample amount of suspense, and some dose of kilig from this show.

Throughout this quarantine period, there had been a few Korean dramas that I have watched more than once because I enjoyed the story the first time. One of which is the romantic comedy Touch Your Heart. The show stars Lee Dong-wook and Yoo In-na who happens to be the second lead couple, Grim Reaper and Sunny in the 2016 Kdrama Goblin.

While I was unable to see them portray their respective roles in Goblin, I decided to give this one a go mainly because I found the trailer interesting. In Touch Your Heart, Yoo In-na plays as an actress named Oh Yoon-seo. After being involved in a drug scandal, she hopes to redeem her top star status by making a comeback as a female lead in another drama. But to do so, she must first get some work experience by serving as a legal secretary at a law firm. It is there she meets the workaholic and aloof lawyer, Kwon Jung-rok. Just when she's firm with just acquiring some field experience for her role, love unexpectedly blooms between her and her immediate boss.

I must say that I could somewhat relate to the plot of the story especially with Yoo In-na's role as a legal secretary as I also ventured in the same career before going into this unexpected hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than just a glimpse of life inside the confines of a court, the law practice, and reuniting with legal jargon, what made me enjoy watching this drama was the element of romance (of course). But specifically, I liked how the show was able to convey the concept of office romance between two people from obviously different social status in such a delightful way. I confess, there were moments when I have to lock the door of my bedroom because I was squealing in giddy delight whenever there are kilig moments involving the two characters.

But the show is not just all about all that lovey-dovey stuff. It also included some elements of suspense and conflict especially the ones that involved evidence gathering during those crime-solving scenarios. This rom-com also showed some of the pros and cons, the ups and downs that are part of romantic relationships, and how vital compromise is for a couple to sail through the rough patch and make a relationship work. 

The episode ends with Yoon-seo making a successful comeback and finally deciding to make her relationship with Kwon Jung-rok known to the public. While the ending of Touch Your Heart is simple and not as fireworks-worthy as I hoped it would, I must say it was still worth watching. 

I would recommend it to friends who are after feel-good, lighthearted Kdramas to binge-watch on Friday nights. Who knows they might end up wanting to have someone like Kwon Jung-rok in their lives after finishing the series, as in #SanaAll.