Phantom (K-Drama 2012)

What we have here is the closest thing to a really good Korean drama that I've personally seen. Phantom (유령), is a suspense-thriller that does a lot of things right, but of course, it also does a handful of things wrong. What were you expecting? Perfection?

The Seoul cyber-investigation team is on the hunt for a mysterious hacker that goes by the handle of Hades (Daniel Choi). Leading the team is Woo-hyun (So Ji-sub), and he's an emotionless, stone-faced figure who loves what he does and does it well. Hades seems to be one-step ahead of Woo-hyun and his team and when popular actress Shin Hyo-jung (Esom), turns up dead, the stakes certainly seem to be raised. What appears to be a suicide that no one could have imagined, ends up being much more complex as the team discover her laptop was hacked by Hades. Woo-hyun and Detective Yoo Gang-mi (Lee Yeon-hee), are sure there is more to her death then meets the eye. Also on the case is Detective Kwon Hyuk-joo (Kwak Do-won), a larger-than-life type who gets what he wants by intimidation. Woo-hyun eventually catches up to Hades after some slick surveillance and when he finally meets Hades face to face, he's shocked to discover the person in front of him is someone from his past. Hades explains to Woo-hyun that, of course, not everything is as it appears to be and that he isn't responsible for Shin Hyo-jung's death. Due to their history, Woo-hyun is inclined to give Hades the benefit of the doubt and in turn imparts some shocking truths about himself. Naturally, after he confesses his sins to Hades, an accident occurs, taking Woo-hyun's life and leaving Hades severely burned beyond recognition. Hades, filling in Gang-mi to the words Woo-hyun left him with, asks for her help in having doctor's surgically rebuild him with Woo-hyun's appearance so that he can go undercover. Whoa...let that sink in. Someone is responsible for Shin Hyo-jung's and Woo-hyun's death and to top things off, there are some shady cats working within the cyber-investigation team. All for what though? When the mysterious Jo Hyun-min (Uhm Ki-joon), finally shows his face, you just know this guy is up to no good, but who is the real villain here?

Phantom is a real whodunnit in every sense of the word. It's just one of those series that has you pointing the finger at pretty much anyone that pops up on screen. Aside from having a plot device straight out of 1997, (Face/Off), there is enough here to keep things fresh. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you interested in the proceedings, although there is a sub-plot involving a girl's school and Yoo Gang-mi starting around episode 7 that is so terribly out of place, it's baffling. It breaks up the flow of everything you saw in the first 6 episodes, has nothing to do with the overall story and just spoils what could have been a great series. Watching So Ji-sub is like watching a statue come to life. The man is expressionless throughout, yet somehow it feels appropriate for his character. Daniel Choi is definitely the more lively of the dynamic duo, but he doesn't have as much screen time after the face switch. I have to point out Lee Yeon-hee and her abysmal acting ability. It's beyond clear that she was cast in this role because they needed a pretty face, otherwise we'd be left with a total sausage fest. Jokes aside, her delivery is flat to the point where you feel like you're watching some amateur auditions. She really stinks up every scene she's in. Couple that with her schoolgirl sub-plot and you'll feel that even the writers struggled to think of how to use her. Okay, now that we've sunk a bit, Kwak Do-won is there to bring us right back up. His performance is what you're looking for in a great character. He's incredibly charismatic and lights up the screen whenever he pops up. A true scene-stealer. Sure, he's a bit over-the-top at times, but you still love to watch him act and that's what counts. Uhm Ki-joon's performance is another stand-out. This guy just oozes sleaze and you really just want to punch him in the face every time you see him. Don't get me wrong, with the type of character he's playing, that's a good thing. It's a strong performance. There's a whole host of supporting actors in Phantom, from the cyber-investgation team (with only Kwon Hae-hyo being of note), to the spunky little reporter friend of Hades/Park Gi-young, Choi Seung-yeon (Song Ha-yoon), who manages to avoid being completely annoying...but only just.

Phantom gets things right by have mostly capable actors in a story that at times is overly-complicated but still intriguing. Also, they don't force a love story in where it's clearly not needed. Just because you have a male and female lead doesn't mean they have to be a couple. So kudos to those responsible for not following that tired cliche. Those interested in watching something a little different in the stale, all-too-similar K-drama landscape should give this one a shot. (Lee)

Grade:C+

Lie To Me (K-Drama 2011)

Okay, I promise I'm going to stop complaining about the number of episodes in Korean dramas...after this review. Lie To Me (내게 거짓말을 해봐) tells the story of how a small, seemingly innocent, lie can spiral wildly out of control, with inevitable chaos ensuing. Shenanigans, here we come!

Kong Ah-jung (Yoon Eun-hye), is a single woman, living with her widowed father Joon-ho (Kang Shin-il), and working for the Culture and Tourism board. She seems quite content in life, until she starts having one too many unfortunate run-ins with her "friend", Yoo So-ran (Hong Soo-hyun), a spoiled braggart who just so happens to be married to Ah-jung's school crush, Chun Jae-beom (Ryu Seung-soo). It pains Ah-jung's heart to see the two of them together and the love that never was, and it angers her to no end to hear So-ran boasting about her luxurious lifestyle (Jae-beom's a well-off attorney). However, something happens at Ah-jung's workplace which doesn't end well and she's to blame. She feels terrible about this incident and feels it might just be best to submit her resignation. She goes to drink her sorrows away, sloppily writing a resignation letter on a cocktail napkin. A young man by the name of Hyun Sang-hee (Sung-joon), is intrigued by Ah-jung's drunken behavior in the club and decides to strike up a conversation with her. Even through her slurred speech and unsightly demeanor, he's a bit taken with her and decides to keep her company. Meanwhile, Hyun Ki-joon (Kang Ji-hwan), is living on the other side of the spectrum as a wealthy, good-looking, young president of the World hotel group. It turns out that Sang-hee, the young man keeping Ah-jung company at the club, is Ki-joon's younger brother. Sang-hee had just returned to Korea from a stay overseas and Ki-joon hasn't seen him in years. You can imagine, he's a bit eager to see his younger brother again and by circumstances only a drama can create, he spots his younger brother at the club with Ah-jung. Sang-hee leaves before his older brother can get to him, but Ki-joon notices a drunken, passed-out Ah-jung in front of the club and, being the gentleman that he is, makes sure she gets to the hospital. Wanting to know as much about his younger brother as he can, he decides to stay by Ah-jung's side while she recovers at the hospital. It doesn't lead to much, but his actions leave a lasting impression in Ah-jung's mind.

After another chance meeting with So-ran and Jae-beom, (you have to understand, coincidence's are a dime-a-dozen in the world of dramas), at the hair salon, the topic of conversation turns to relationships. Ah-jung, feeling fed up with how she's pitied for still being single, lies and says she's married. So-ran can't believe it and is determined to expose this little white lie. Ah-jung then heads to the World hotel to pay Ki-joon back for his kindness in staying with her overnight at the hospital, but nothing in this world can ever go as smoothly as that, can it? She makes a fool of herself, spilling tomato juice all over the floor, but Ki-joon is there to keep her from slipping and cracking her head open. This all seems fine and dandy, but wouldn't you know it, Ah-jung's group of girlfriends just so happen to be at the hotel to see all this and thus, the rumor of her being married to the young president are off and running!

There's your rundown in a nutshell. Ah-jung's lie about being married turns into a much bigger thing because Ki-joon has a status and professional profile to maintain. His Aunt Hyun Myung-jin (Oh Mi-hee), can't believe her nephew would do such a thing, potentially hindering his role as president and complicating their relationship, and Sang-hee, having developed a small crush on Ah-jung himself, feels his older brother has, yet again, stolen love away from him! To complicate matters even further, let's introduce Oh Yun-joo (Cho Youn-hee), Ki-joon's former love, whom he was engaged to three years prior. Sang-hee was also in love with Yun-joo, and in a true sign of bro's before ho's, Ki-joon let his love go because these brother's stick together and have since their parent's passed. Yun-joo returns to Korea from time spent in Paris and yeah, she wants Ki-joon back. I mean, this guy looks good in a suit. I get it. See how messy things are getting? Well, Ki-joon annoyance with Ah-jung's marriage lie eventually turns into acceptance, only because the lie turns out to be a necessity. You'll have to check the show out if you want to know what I mean by this. Oh, and why can't Sang-hee find a girl his brother isn't involved with?

Being the honest guy that I am, I'll tell you flat-out that I only watched this series because I love Yoon Eun-hye. I told myself that after, "The Coffee Prince", that I would check out anything else she does, so that's what I'm doing here. Get it out of your mind now that this was anywhere near as good as, "Coffee Prince", because it's not. You should never even think to make comparisons. However, Yoon Eun-hye is still very charming in her role as Ah-jung, although, my God is she a total crybaby in this. I counted at least six awkward scenes where you just sit at watch her ball uncontrollably for seconds that feel like minutes. Very long minutes. I rather enjoyed Kang Ji-hwan's performance as the confident, but not cocky, Ki-joon. The way he played it made him quite easy to like. Watching Ah-jung and Ki-joon together is when this drama really shines. However, there are a lot of side characters in Lie To Me that are obnoxious and uninteresting and take away from the main two. I really can't stand So-ran, regardless of how attractive she is and her husband, Ah-jung's first love, Jae-beom, comes across as so bumbling and incompetent, you wonder how he's even a lawyer. Maybe there's a lawyer joke in there somewhere. Anyway, Ah-jung's group of "friends", also come across as possibly the worst, most-gossipy friends, you could ever hope to not have. Seriously, if these are her friends, I'd hate to see her enemies. Yun-joo also annoyed me every single time she had a scene because all she did was mope. We get it, you want Ki-joon back but Cho Youn-hee, haven't not seen her in anything else, pursued her goal of re-obtaining love in the most boring performance possible. Her face expressionless and her delivery emotionless. Basically, a difficult character to watch. Sang-hee is slightly interesting at first, when he's getting to know Ah-jung, but then he gets written off towards the second half of the series as a jealous, cry-baby who does nothing but sulk and paint all day. It's almost as if the writers ran out of ideas for him once the ball got rolling with Ki-joon and Ah-jung. I just thought there would be more to him. Oh well. I would like to point out that Hwang Suk-bong (Kwon Hae-hyo), turns in another amusing performance as the restaurant owner. I always get a kick out of him.

Lie To Me is mediocre drama that I suppose you want to be better than it is because of the two stars, but the pacing is off and the supporting cast is obnoxious. The side-stories, anything deviating from Ah-jung and Ki-joon, are simply annoying and uninteresting. The soundtrack is mind-numbing (especially that ice cream song - enjoy below!), and really, just how big is Seoul? These same characters bump into each other at every turn. I'm nitpicking on that last point, but I guess it's my semi-clever way of saying: let's try harder next time guys. (Lee)

Grade: D+

Life Again (KBS Korea 2005)

As my first attempt at reviewing a drama series for the site, Life Again (aka: Resurrection) could've been a whole lot worse. It's nowhere near perfect (and what really is), but it definitely gets points for trying to break conventional molds that are all too common in Asian series'.

After being dropped off by a mysterious stranger to live with a family he doesn't even know, Suh Ha-Eun (Uhm Tae Woong) is now a grown man working as a detective for the police force. His new family consists of his "father" Suh Jae-su (Kang Shin Il) and "sister" Suh Eun-ha (Han Ji Min). Living with Eun-ha his entire life, Ha-Eun has always cared deeply for his "sister", in a way that steps outside the boundaries of loving a family member. Ironically enough, Eun-ha feels the same way about him, and they both realize that they've been repressing their love for so long that now it's time to be open about it and admit how they feel. These two are meant to be together. After being assigned to a murder case, Ha-Eun notices that the victim was wearing the same ring that he remembered seeing as child. As the memories come rushing back to him, he starts to think that this man has something to do with the death of his father, Yoo Gun-ha (Ahn Nae Sang), who was ran off the road with a young Ha-Eun in the vehicle. Ha-Eun also remembers that he had a twin brother when he was younger, and after he was placed with Jae-su and Eun-ha, he lost contact with him because of the trauma he endured during the car crash that took his father's life. Ha-Eun gets information from his new boss Kyung Gi-do (Lee Dae Yeon) that his brother is still alive, but before he can give Ha-Eun this information, trouble steps in to make sure the truth isn't known.

Unbeknown to Ha-Eun, his twin brother Yu Shin-hyuk (also played by Uhm Tae Woong) has been living and working in the same city as him as the vice president to Mureung Construction company under his step-father Kang In-cheol (Lee Jung Gil). Shin-hyuk lives at home with In-cheol and his mother Kim Yi-hwa (Sun Woo Eun Sook), also Ha-Eun's real mother, and his sister Kang Shin-young (Lee Yeon Hee), whom Ha-Eun doesn't even know about. Ha-Eun finds out that his brother is still alive and he needs to meet with him in order to continue his investigation as to whom this murdered man was and what his connection was to their fathers death. After a cruel reuniting of the two brothers, Ha-Eun finds out that his real name is Yu Gang-hyuk and is forced into impersonating his brother in order to find out the truth of their father's murder. It seems that those responsible for this crime are going to be a lot harder to get to than just your average joe and there are a lot more people involved then Gang-hyuk could've ever imagined. Fueled by rage, Gang-hyuk decides to take matters into his own hands in order to get revenge on those responsible so that they feel the same pain that he's felt his entire life. However, pretending you're somebody else and forgetting everyone you used to know in your life isn't easy and Gang-hyuk has to decide if all the pain and deceit will be worth it.

First off, I have to tell you that I really summarized the gist of the show as much as possible because it spans across twenty-four episodes! In all honesty, Life Again could've told it's tale in sixteen episodes max, and that makes it one of my bigger gripes about this drama. Aside from the length of the series, while it does change up the usual Korean drama formula quite a bit, it stills retains too much of the predictable melodrama that you know and loathe. One of the biggest offenders is the, "show you a flashback of a scene that just happened two seconds ago" elements that seem to occur way too often. Now that we have my major irks out of the way, I will say that the series' lead, Uhm Tae Woong, did an excellent job in displaying a wide range of emotions, as well as portraying two different characters. Han Ji Min playing the "sister"/love interest is cute enough to look at, but she spends the entire series making sad faces and crying constantly. A shame really. Life Again has an extensive supporting cast with talent ranging from good to laughable at best. So Yi Hyun as the incredibly nosey and sometimes annoying reporter Lee Gang-ju does just fine, as does Ha-Eun/Yu Gang-hyuk's co-worker and best friend Kim Su-cheol (Go Myung Hwan). Lee Gang-ju's father Lee Tae-jun (Kim Gap Soo) is really quite good as one the antagonists of the series, but sadly the same can't be said for his cohort Jung Sang-gook (Ki-joo Bong). The worst "actor", and I use that term loosely, of the entire series would have to be Kim Kyu Chul as Tae-jun and Sang-gook's henchman Choi Dong-chan. This guy is so over-the-top with his acting that you don't know if you should take him seriously or just laugh at everything he does. Definitely a misstep in the casting process. Story-wise, I had initially read that Life Again was supposed to focus more on the drama of the darker story than the romance angle which is almost always the focal point of a Korean drama. This, as you can imagine, grabbed my interest. I can't remember where I read this, and I wish I could because I'd like to go back and call them all liars. The uber-dramatic scenes between Ha-eun and Eun-ha happen way more often than I would have liked, and the love triangle between Ha-eun, Eun-ha and Jung Sang-gook's son Jung Jin-woo (Ko Joo Won) were unnecessary and even a little annoying. I did enjoy the fact that Ha-eun/Yu Gang-hyuk really followed through with a lot of the revenge that he set out to do. I initially had an anxious feeling in my gut thinking that the show wouldn't be "hardcore" enough to have him really go through with some of it.

A step in the right direction for Korean dramas, Life Again shows a lot of promise in what could a new sub-genre of Korean series'. I respect those responsible for thinking outside of the "norm", but it'll probably be awhile before shows like this, with a darker story and edge, become mainstays within the culture. Rest assured, I'll be ready and waiting to review them. (Lee)

*Life Again is temporarily out of stock at YESASIA

The Official Life Again Website *In Korean