Archive for the ‘Drama Recaps’ Category
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Mandate of Heaven: Episode 5
I like that the characters in Mandate of Heaven are smart—they see clues, put them together, and are more or less shrewd about how to interpret motive and intent. Aside from the fact that it’s nice to have smart characters in any drama, this keeps the plot pushing forward rather than spinning its wheels; we’ve... More »
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You’re the Best, Lee Soon-shin: Episodes 17-18
Lots and lots of cuteness in this pair of episodes. It’s not like there’s a whole lot of new stuff going on, but the drama shifts its balance toward its humorous and couple-centric side, and that makes for a much more enjoyable watch this week. Plus, we kick up a few new conflicts and advance... More »
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Gu Family Book: Episode 10
It’s time for the big heist and the big reveal, but what I didn’t expect was the big laugh. Between Yeo-wool getting outed and Kang-chi playing Ocean’s Eleven, the episode goes by pretty quickly, especially when the good guys’ plan goes sideways about seventeen different ways. That probably has something to do with the fact... More »
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Gu Family Book: Episode 9
Cute. Now that Kang-chi has a new home to settle into, there’s a little breathing room for comedy and relationships to develop. Not to worry though—there’s still a spot of life-threatening violence to keep things interesting, not only for Kang-chi but for Yeo-wool as well, who finds that staying out of Kang-chi’s business is becoming... More »
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Mandate of Heaven: Episode 4
This is a particularly gorgeous episode. Perhaps that’s because it contained scenes to be used as the drama’s opening sequence, or perhaps the change of scenery offers up a whole range of movement and color that we hadn’t seen previously within the palace confines. In any case, our characters and are story swing into full... More »
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Mandate of Heaven: Episode 3
Better and better. The story moves quickly, the characters are developing nicely, and puzzle pieces are dropped and pieced together in a nicely suspenseful way. We’re still maneuvering the plot into position to fulfill the latter part of our title, Mandate of Heaven: Joseon Fugitive Story, but I like that the show is spending just... More »
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You’re the Best, Lee Soon-shin: Episodes 15-16
We take some significant steps forward in several storylines, which makes these two episodes rather satisfying (although there are certain other aspects that are less than gratifying, admittedly). But if we must deal with an increase of wrought emotions and mother-daughter angst, at least we get lovelines stepping it up all around to soften that... More »
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Cruel Palace: An Introduction
With traditional sageuk come certain preconceptions, since the images that normally pop into our collective heads probably include (1) lots of bearded monologuing, (2) a very long episode count, (3) all the nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat-thrills you’d expect from PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre, and (4) that this is your mom’s drama. At least, that’s what I always thought... More »
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Gu Family Book: Episode 8
Yay, this is a great episode that brings together all the story threads in a simple, cohesive way—the hero’s quest to become human comes to the fore, tying in the family’s revenge and the overarching Good Guy/Bad Guy war, all while launching us into the part of the story we’re all dying to get to.... More »
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Gu Family Book: Episode 7
Kang-chi finally learns the hard way who, or what, he is, and faces his demons quite literally in a war between his beast and human halves. And in a refreshing change of pace in dramaland, our heroine steps up in a big way to save his bacon. Now if only he could figure out that... More »
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