tabuno

One of the few media productions that goes from terrible to excellent by its end. This English-dubbed, 10 episode Korean comedy romance involves a new female lawyer with street smarts martial arts who ends up at an all-male law firm representing celebrities. She is assigned a prestigious older actress and she herself seeks to represent a supposedly popular aloof, chauvinistic actor who she wants to embarrass. What is quite surprising is how terrible most of the first two episodes are with overly dramatic humor and drunken characters as well as stereotypical acting that just don't seem believable. By the third episode, perhaps with a new director or script writer, the series becomes an appealing connected storyline that includes mystery, behind the scenes of movie production, stunt acting, legal machinations, and good relational drama and character development. There are a few problems with translation and unsettling cultural nuances especially around the excessive after work liquor culture. What eventually shines in Love To Hate You is the eventual sophistication and depth of character interactions that propel the dialogue and acting to creating intriguing extended scenes that most America films edit out for pacing purposes or dumbing down now found in contemporary American television. By the end, this television series lifts itself up above the bar set by the American industry standards.

This brilliant adaptation of the typical rich guy/poor gal scenario is substantive and deep, revealing the maturity of the Korean film industry. Gone are the overly laughable, dumb comic characters. Instead Tastefully Yours reveals a quality production with great character development, great pacing, and an excellent script that offers up much more than most American productions. A typical elitist, snobbish food corporation executive in order to win the rights to inherent his mother's mega corporation seeks to steal a delicious recipe from a young woman struggling with her own café in a smaller city. From the first episode to the tenth and final episode with its extended special climax, the audience is treated to something special as the relationships and interactions are more rounded and sophisticatedly different from traditional American productions. There is great direction, good use of lighting, silent performances, and complex characters that defy the usual black and white, good versus evil demeanor. Taking from The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and Meryl Streep and even a more contemporary resemblance to the quality adhering to the classic television series of Pride and Prejudice 1995, this Korean production finally brings the more tepid, generic Hallmark romance comedies to the forefront with that of other movies. This series offers a similar excellence as the Chinese romantic drama Shuttle Love Millennium (aka Love Through a Millennium) a 2015, TV mini-series. A minor weakness in regards to dialogue may actually be attributable to the difficulty in translating subtitles from Korean to English especial the word "like." There is also disjointed omission of the traditional contrast between competing factions later in the series though with the 10 instead of the 12 episode format, the viewing time seems even deliciously compact. Even so, this series is beyond satisfaction containing emotional resonance and real meaning that ends with well worth viewing wrapped up sensation. Highly recommended for those people who love drama romance with a good dose of humor along with authentic messages.

One of the most compelling dramas involving a rag to riches story wrapped and steeped in a mystery. This 12-episode Korean television series goes behind the scenes of the elite class of influencers in the country and exposes the superficial lives of many of its players. While the script follows the typical plot of a mediocre door-to-door saleswoman but with an eye to fashion design and her introduction to the fashionable and very rich, the actual delivery is hard-hitting and thankfully never reaches the soap operatic version of daytime television. Instead what the scriptwriters and the delivery by all the performers accomplish are a riveting and serious drama of tintillating excess, behind the scenes manipulations, striking relational tensions as well as a television arch of an underlying brilliant thriller. The flashback at the beginning is one of the best uses of the technique with plenty of sharp surprises and reveals along the making watching the series all in one binge well worth the effort. Other then perhaps a little too much flash from two character performances and one weak logical slip in the middle of the series, this drama along with its well-intentioned integrity and temptation to money and power sends out a loud message about real humanity and possible foibles of about our super-sized media age.