Anne: Hello theater lovers! A few weeks have passed and I haven’t made much progress in my drama viewing.
But this week there will be a change of pace. I will be talking about two Korean shows, both on Netflix.
Officer’s black belt
The first one isn’t a drama series, it’s actually a movie. I started this because of Kim Woo Bin. And it was after 11pm and I didn’t want to stay up too late… It was, for the most part, a fun watch. Lee Jung Do is a young man who spends his days having fun, playing with his friends or learning various marital arts/fighting techniques. One day, while delivering food for his father’s restaurant, he comes across two men fighting. When the “criminal” took over, Lee Jung Do stepped in and “helped”. Through this act, he is introduced into the parole unit. His natural combat skills make him a natural candidate to replace the injured officer he saved that day.
Since this is a movie, the pace is quite fast. Be careful though, the main cases concerned sex crimes against children. So some parts…were difficult to navigate.
Ultimately, Lee Jung Do finds his calling in life. Yeah!
Love next door
I started this one, also on Netflix, because my husband wanted something to watch with me. And I started this because Jung So Min. I loved him in Alchemy of souls. The story takes a classic plot of childhood friends turned lovers and puts a twist on the details. Choi Seung Hyo and Bae Seok Ryu grew up next to each other. Their mothers, along with two other women in the neighborhood, love to chat and compare their children’s achievements. They became friends when his parents returned to Korea from France. And having lived all his youth in France, his move to Korean where he was not used to the food, the language, the people and the environment led him to reject everything. It was Bae Seok Ryu’s kindness that brought him out of his little shell.
…when Bae Seok Ryu returns to Korea after 10 years, after breaking off his engagement and leaving his job. Of course, this didn’t go over very well with her mother, who simply bragged about her daughter’s job and her impending marriage. (I loved that his mother’s drumming was his method of letting out his frustration.)