Star's Lovers - 오! 나의 여신님

Cupid's arrow hit two people that are completely opposite. Lee Ma Ri is a famous actress who leads a chaotic lifestyle with paparazzi and media always interested about her love life. Kim Chul Soo is a reserved person who works part time as a professor and dreams of writing books. In Korea, ghostwriting is frowned upon, but Chul Soo accepts a ghostwriting job because his sister is ill and needs to have surgery. Even though he wanted to be a writer with dignity, he also needed the money. The ghostwriting assignment was for Lee Ma Ri who even though was famous, Chul Soo knew nothing about. From spending time together, they develop feelings which gets very complicated when the media finds out. A scandal begins and his ghostwriting is exposed. He loses his job and opportunity to become a full time professor and author. To spare Lee Ma Ri from damaging her career further, he draws her a line and tells her not to cross it. Something he learned from his mother when she abandoned him and his sister. Her manager brings past lovers into her life to help her forget about Chul Soo. Both with the names Woo Jin, one is a childhood friend and the other is someone she shares fond memories of and were to be married but he disappeared. Which guy will Lee Ma Ri pick? Did Cupid's arrow really go through? This drama tells a story of destiny and the efforts between the main characters to change it. The performance and the chemistry between the characters were very good but I felt the storyline would have been better if there was only one big scandal with consequences instead of the same one that keeps repeating itself. I rate this drama 3 out of 5.

Release Date: December 2008

Episodes: 20

Main Cast:

Choi Ji Woo as Lee Ma Ri

Yoo Ji Tae as Kim Chul Soo

Cha Ye Ryun as Choi Eun Young

Choi Phillip as Kang Woo Jin

You are my Destiny - 너는 내 운명

You are my destiny is a very loooong drama with 178 episodes, so I will summarize it briefly. It has some dragging moments, but overall each episode was anticipated to see if Jang Sae Byuk and Kang Ho Se would ever get married. Jang Sae Byuk is a girl who despite some hardships in her life with having a cornea transplant and not knowing her parents remained quite positive. She is a hard worker and dreams of being a kitchen designer. She meets Kang Ho Se who works for a kitchen designing company which his father is CEO of and works there as well. Her adopted mother works as a housekeeper for Ho Se's family and her adopted father was a driver for Ho Se's father. When their relationship is discovered it becomes chaotic because his family, especially his mother did not want her son to date "the help's kid." Ho Se really aggravated me during parts of the drama because of his mama's boy behavior, perhaps because I can relate. Sae Byuk and Ho Se were meant for each other, but he placed his mom first too much for their good. Will their destined relationship work out or will their families ruin it for these two soulmates? With 178 episodes there are far too many stories for me to ramble about. Prepare a tissue box though because Jang Sae Byuk will be torn to make decisions that just breaks your heart. She is considerate of other's and their feelings and ends up always hurting herself. I rate this drama 4 out of 5.

Release Date: May 2008

Episodes: 178

Main Cast:

Im Yoon Ah as Jang Sae Byuk

Gong Hyun Joo as Kim Soo Bin

Park Jae Jung as Kang Ho Se

Bad Love - 못된 사랑

Na In Jung a talented cellist finds herself hopelessly in love with a business man by the name of Yi Suhwan. Unfortunately, he is married and works for his father in law. He is torn between succeeding in the business world and losing everything to be with Na In Jung so they continue their affair for quite some time, until Suhwan’s wife finds out and separates them. She injures Na In Jung’s hand which makes Na In Jung leave her dream of playing the cello to move to a small village. Starting a new life, Na In Jung opens up a small fried chicken business where she meets Yonggi. He came there after losing Joanne, his ex girlfriend. As Yonggi and Na In Jung get close they both forget their pasts and move on with their relationship. Things get heated though when it is discovered that Yonggi is actually Yi Suhwan’s half brother (in-law). The love triangle begins. Yi Suhwan is ready to drop his career and family to be with Na In Jung now, but does she desire to live in the past or will she move on this time? Like most dramas, Bad Love portrays love that must endure hardships. However, the characters each have an intriguing way of expressing their love or hatred such as Joanne with her suicide and Kang Julan (Suhwan’s wife) with her extramarital affair. By the way, very nice scenes too. I rate this drama 4 out of 5.

Release Date: December 2007

Episodes: 20

Main Cast:

Kwon Sang Woo as Kang Yonggi
Lee Yo Won as Na In Jung
Kim Sung Soo as Yi Suhwan

Shining Inheritance - 찬란한 유산

Shining Inheritance aired the finale and it is definitely going to move up to my number 1 spot. Go Eun Sung's unfortunate events turned into opportunities for her that made others envy. After her Father's death, her step mother forced her and her autistic brother, Go Eun Woo out. Not too long after living on their own, Go Eun Woo gets lost and is abandoned by the step mother. Go Eun Sung meets new friends and love interests as she is in search of her missing brother. By accident one day she meets an elderly woman whom she takes in and cares for. This elderly woman briefly had a memory loss after a fall, but when she regained her memory, she goes home and invites Go Eun Sung to live in her mansion. Jang Sook Ja is actually a CEO of a large food company and tells her family that she has signed a new will in which she is giving part of the company to Go Eun Sung. This creates tension between Go Eun Sung and the family, but also her friends who are envious. I highly recommend this drama. It shows how people can change and what others will do for money and power. Unlike most other dramas where the mini stories of the other character's life is somewhat pointless, I really enjoyed how it was presented in this drama. I think the main characters did a really good job at portraying their roles and the script was very clever. The love story within the drama is quite sweet and touching as well, but I hope there will be a Shining Inheritance II in the near future to discuss that. A show to laugh and cry. I rate this drama 5 out of 5.

Release Date: April 2009

Episodes: 28

Main Cast:

Han Hyo Joo as Go Eun Sung

Lee Seung Ki as Sun Woo Hwan

Bae Soo Bin as Park Jun Se

Moon Chae Won as Yoo Seung Mi

Cinderella Man - 신데렐라맨

Cinderella Man is a story about Dae San who grew up as an orphan and works at his own clothing shop at Dongdaemun Market (flea market like shops). He dreams of having a successful store and becoming rich. His dreams come true when he meets Joon Hee who is heir of a designer fashion empire called Sophia. Joon Hee is sick and needs to have heart surgery but doesn't want to let anyone know so he pays Dae San to fill in for him. Joon Hee is sophisticated, more on the serious side, well mannered and well dressed, Dae San on the other hand wears and sells imitation products, speaks his mind, and is quite comical. Even though they looked identical, they both behaved very differently which left Joon Hee's assistant/caretaker quite worried that the two would be discovered sooner than later. In the meantime, Dae San meets Seo Yoo Jin who studied design in France and returned after her father died to run his store in the Dongdaemun Market. She falls in love with Dae San and vice versa, but is confused when she finally gets her dream job at Sophia's to design clothing and meets him again as Joon Hee. Dae San knows that Seo Yoo Jin is feeling betrayed and lied to but he cannot reveal the truth to her when he discovers that Joon Hee is actually his twin brother. This would not be a Cinderella story without a wicked step mother. His step mother wants her son Lee Jae Min to be heir of Sophia and will do whatever it takes. Lee Jae Min is

even more upset when he thinks that his step brother Joon Hee is also after Seo Yoo Jin the girl that he crushes on. How long will Dae San last playing the role of Joon Hee? Will he continue playing the role of a rich guy or go back to being Dae San the one Seo Yoo Jin cares about? Overall, Cinderella Man is a good love story. I was touched by the dedication Dae San had towards fulfilling a wish of a dying person even before he knew it was his brother. The acting was ehhh...okay. Seo Yoon Jin's character played by Yoona was very stiff and I couldn't really feel any of the emotions that she was trying to bring out. It doesn't quite matter though because if you're a Kwon Sang Woo fan, it's definately worth watching as he plays two different characters. I rate this drama 4 out of 5.

Release Date: April 2009

Episodes: 16

Main Cast:

Kwon Sang Woo as Oh Dae San and Lee Joon Hee

Yoona as Seo Yoo Jin

Song Change ee as Lee Jae Min

Han Eun Jeong as Jang Se eun