"I'm Not a Robot" Episodes 27-28 recap

Min-gyoo and Ji-ah just have a big romantic heart to heart explaining exactly everything that happened back when Ji-ah was pretending to be AZ3 and why. The sting of the drama's more illogical plot points is taken out a lot when we have Min-gyoo realizing just how stupid he was for not noticing the inconsistencies sooner. And it's just as sweet that Ji-ah is constantly moving to reassure Min-gyoo that no, he is not stupid, and she never thought of him as a mark.
This is all great for the sake of their relationship. Even the cheesier parts of the dialogue, where Ji-ah is talking frankly about how she really felt when Min-gyoo was saying certain unintentionally romantics things to her, comes off really sweet. It's a side of Ji-ah we've never seen much of before. Fundamentally, Ji-ah is a lonely person, just like Min-gyoo. That's why she's been making such a sincere effort to mend their relationship, even to the point of begging him not to leave.
Unfortunately, this does not absolve Baek-gyoon or his team of their own ethical failures. While we never saw Ji-ah thinking of Min-gyoo as being stupid, Baek-gyoon and his team explicitly said that it was surprising just how gullible Min-gyoo was. The big speech Min-gyoo gives to Yoo-cheol rings very hollow in this context. Baek-gyoon and his team may have been acting guilty lately, but their intent from the minute of AZ3's short circuit was to intentionally deceive him.
Likewise, Yoo-cheol is completely right when he notes that the entire contract incident happened while they were children. Yoo-cheol had no idea what signing the contract actually meant, he just knew that if Min-gyoo signed it they could live together. By the time Yoo-cheol was old enough to figure out what was actually going on it's hard to imagine that Min-gyoo would have accepted the apology anyway, Yoo-cheol's betrayal being such an essential part of Min-gyoo's self-identity by then.
It would be easier to hate Yoo-cheol if he acted villainous anywhere else. We do find out about some evil stuff his dad was involved in. And also that the foreign investors are planning to use AZ3 as a weapon, somehow. But all of this is just too little too late. Anything "I'm Not a Robot" does outside of the central relationship between the two leads is a mess, and unfortunately, that plot is what's going to have to make up the final episodes.
Review by William Schwartz
"I'm Not a Robot" is directed by Jeong Dae-yoon, written by Kim Seon-mi-I and Lee Suk-joon-I, and features Yoo Seung-ho, Chae Soo-bin, Uhm Ki-joon, and Park Se-wan.

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"Doubtful Victory" episodes 29 - 30 recap

On the latest episode of the SBS drama "Doubtful Victory", Oh Il-seung/Kim Jong-sam (Yoon Kyun-sang) and Jin Jin-young (Jung Hye-sung) detained Gook Soo-ran (Yoon Yoo-sun).
Soo-ran went to meet Lee Young-min who was in an asylum. Young-min told her where evidence was and asked her to take revenge on Gwang-ho (Jun Gook-hwan).
Soo-ran had a picture of a weapon and how Gwang-ho committed murder.
However, this was Gwang-ho's trap and Soo-ran was arrested by Yoon Kyun-sang and Jung Hye-sung.
Later, Park Soo-chul (Kim Hee-won) shook Jong-sam and Il-seung's profiles in Yoon Kyun-sang's face and called him Jong-sam.
When Jin-young stood frozen on the spot, Soo-chul said, "Jin Jin-young, cuff him".

Source : www.topstarnews.net/d...
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"A Korean Odyssey" Episode 5 recap

Seon-mi's burdens keep multiplying, as something happens to put our previously detached Bull Demon King in a much more invested position. After the big revelation of our heroine's mission, "A Korean Odyssey"takes a step back to look at her unique connection to Oh-gong. While the nature of this fake bond has been there for us to see, it is starting to dawn on Seon-mi that her needs tend to feed a dangerous and painful delusion of closeness on her end.

Before talking about the main romance more, I feel like I need to address the glorious yanking of Ma-wang (Cha Seung-won) into Seon-mi's (Oh Yeon-seo) story. As enjoyable as his character sometimes is, he is still an overlord removed from her day to day struggles and her fights with the supernatural. Ma-wang having a craving for her blood while still having to protect her for the sake of his goals tosses an interesting conflict his way.

This will help drive the main story a bit more, because as enjoyable as the subplots and monster-of-the-week progression are, we have a nuclear holocaust to stop here and that mission has to become central at some point. That being said, I can see the merits in having standalone cases. While an overarching story needs its own rules carefully kept throughout, having different creatures, objects and realities governed by their own separate rules gives the creators more freedom. Still, we need that main story to happen.

While we wait for that one, we finally get to see the writers tackle the romantic conundrum between Seon-mi and Oh-gong (Lee Seung-gi) more maturely and it is highly satisfying. As cute as the romantic music and monkey puppets and all the pretty, cutesy things are, they all rely on something which is not there and that is Oh-gong's feelings. Seon-mi being shaken makes perfect sense. She has been alone and shunned, constantly hiding and fending for herself. A handsome protector who coddles her fills her emotional needs.

Yet as I have been saying and as Seon-mi is now realizing, relying on Oh-gong or falling for him do not consist a real bond or romance. Not as long as he is wearing his supernatural shackles. By extension, they do not only hold the romance back from truly happening, but Oh-gong's character development as well. We do not know the degree to which his prison affects his thoughts, feelings, values and ethics. His willingness to destroy a world for her is also menacing.

This is why I am hoping that the bracelet will either be gone or at least temporarily lose its power soon. It is a conflict which must happen anyway and the sooner it happens, the better. If the romance and Oh-gong as a character will be able to move forward and meet their fate, it has to. "A Korean Odyssey" (also known as "Hwayugi") is not very subtle, but it is entertaining. It has good potential, a great heroine and solid world-building. I hope it further builds upon these elements.

"A Korean Odyssey" is directed by Kim Byeong-soo, Kim Jeong-hyeon-I, Kim Seul-ah and Park Hong-gyoon, written by Hong Jeong-eun and Hong Mi-ran and features Lee Seung-gi, Cha Seung-won, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Hong-ki and Jang Gwang

Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'

"Longing Heart" Episode 3 recap

Na-hee (played by Jo Seung-hee) is Sin-woo's fellow teacher. Naturally, Sin-woo remembers Na-hee as a teacher from high school, and so has always been creeped out by the obvious romantic pretensions Na-hee has toward him now in adult form. I rather like this subplot, because it's the most explicit example we have of how Sin-woo's memories of people from high school are different from what these people were actually like. As Sin-woo's teacher, Na-hee had inherent dignity. As Sin-woo's colleague, she has almost none.
Also note the extent to which Na-hee rationalizes. When Sin-woo tries to talk her out of the crush, he acts under the obviously incorrect assumption that Na-hee's compliments were actually sincere, as opposed to thinly veiled attempts to make him like her more. Considering that Na-hee's alternate timeline love interest is played by someone as homely as Ko Kyu-pil, this should not come as a surprise to him.
Nor should it come as a surprise to the older Sin-woo that Ji-soo's secret crush is on him- the older version, not the younger one who's making an active effort to be her friend. Time travel elements notwithstanding, I rather like how Sin-woo's main problems tend to be problems that would be faced by most new teachers. This helps keep the "Longing Heart" grounded in reality, and maintains Sin-woo's likability as a protagonist.
The younger Sin-woo part of the story is also quite strong on its own even without the older Sin-woo's interference. We can see that both Sin-woos are smart, decent young men. Yet they also have huge blind spots that make it difficult for them to pursue what they really want. The younger Sin-woo concludes that his happiness and Ji-soo's happiness must be mutually exclusive. Like the older Sin-woo, he does this by taking Ji-soo's comments at literal face value.
Of course, the obvious irony there is that if the younger Sin-woo was acting more self-interested, and trying to use Ji-soo's confidence in him for personal advantage, then he would just come off like a little jerk. That the older Sin-woo is trying to encourage the younger Sin-woo to act more selfishly, well, that's just the more subtle irony. But going by the preview, it looks like both Sin-woos are going to have to experience a more serious tragedy before they can solve the conundrum of all this teen romance drama
Review by William Schwartz
"Longing Heart" is directed by   Min Yeon-hong, written by  Park Ga-yun and features Lee Jung-shin,  Seo Ji-hoon, Lee Yul-eum,  and Kim Sun-young-III.

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"Jugglers" Episode 13 recap

Once again "Jugglers" is able to salvage the relationship between Yoon-i and Chi-won by having them act like professional adults in the face of a bad situation. Yes, naturally Yoon-i is horrified and freaked out by the way her relationship with Chi-won has been outed. All the same, Chi-won is right there to remind her that this is not the end of the world. More importantly Chi-won is plenty willing to give Yoon-i emotional and physical space to recover, which is especially essential since a company investigation is now necessary.
The investigation is pretty lightweight, as is to be expected. Yoon-i and Chi-won's actions, while in violation of the spirit of anti-fraternization policies, don't really go against the letter of such policies. Yoon-i is clearly more hurt by the idea that someone would go out of their way to attack her like that than she is worried about the possible employment consequences. That this conflict reaffirms, rather than damages Yoon-i and Chi-won's relationship is thus fairly sweet and compelling.
Unfortunately for all the sudden improvement in the relationship between Yoon-i and Chi-won we get equally as much devolution in the one between Jeong-ae and Bo-yool. But that much was baked into the premise. For reasons I still can't grasp, writer Jo Yong felt the need to have Jeong-ae take the secretarial job under false pretenses and a false name. The woman's husband is gone, the son hates her, and she's being chased by debt-obsessed gangsters. What possible more conflict could she need aside from all that?
Although really, the bigger problem is that Yoon-i had to help Jeong-ae do all these things. While Yoon-i probably can't be fired for entering into a consensual relationship with Chi-won, she absolutely could be fired for helping someone doctor their resume and lying in a recommendation letter. That reminds me- if Jeong-ae has been using a false name at the company, how is she cashing her paychecks? Just how far does this fake identity go?
That's not a rhetorical question. It's genuinely unclear to me whether that plot point is supposed to be interpreted in a professional context or if it's just an excuse to wring more melodrama out of Jeong-ae's situation. Neither explanation inspires me with a lot of optimism. In the first case Yoon-i is so obviously at fault it would be difficult to root for her, and in the second place "Jugglers" is really bad at melodrama.
Review by William Schwartz
"Jugglers" is directed by  Kim Jeong-hyeon-I, written by Jo Yong  and features Baek Jin-hee, Choi Daniel, Kang Hye-jeong, and Lee Won-geun.

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"Just Between Lovers" Episode 11 recap

Kang-doo has been forced to acknowledge the death of someone he genuinely, deeply cared about. Kang-doo does not take the news very well, and most of this episode is just an exercise in the other characters trying their best to calm him down. Which works, sort of. After an initial violent outburst Kang-doo is quite subdued, and seems willing to accept that which was always inevitable. But one way or another, Kang-doo always twists the situation around so as to maximize the self-hatred.
This is something all the other characters have long since figured out. Even the deceased Na Moon-heecharacter puts it pretty bluntly in her final letter, ordering Kang-doo to be happy. That really is what it takes to even get Kang-doo to try and think in terms of self-interest. Anything more subtle than that and Kang-doo's just too thick-headed to get the point. The Na Moon-hee character was important mainly because she was the only character willing to be that direct with him.
Contrast Moon-soo, who keeps trying to get Kang-doo to open up by being nice to him, to which he responds by pushing her away. Moon-soo's main virtue is her near infinite sense of patience. Well, it helps that Moon-soo knows what Kang-doo does to people he really sincerely hates, but what's really sweet about Moon-soo is that she believes in Kang-doo. Moon-soo knows that Kang-doo is a good person, and can see how much he has improved since they first met.
The problem, and really all of the conflict, comes from the fact that Kang-doo refuses to believe that he is a good person. Logic really isn't at issue her. There was no way Kang-doo could have stopped the Na Moon-hee character from dying, and he knows that. The real issue is that Kang-doo doesn't have any way of coping with grief except to dip into self-hatred, because that was the main critical traumatic memory he received from the accident. Self-hatred is his immediate response to everything.
As great as "Just Between Lovers" is as a character study, I have to admit it was with relief that by the end writer Yoo Bo-ra has gotten back to the drama's original enemy- capitalism. Although admittedly the construction project is quite a bit more ambiguous now, since we've had so many scenes reminding us that the people there, too, are in the end just people. Not necessarily noble ones but still, flawed, in somewhat sympathetic ways.
Review by William Schwartz
"Just Between Lovers" is directed by  Kim Jin-won-I, written by  Yoo Bo-ra, and features Junho, Won Jin-ah, Lee Ki-woo, and Kang Han-na

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"Prison Playbook" episode 13 recap

On the latest episode of the tvN drama "Prison Playbook", Hae-rong/Yoo Han-yang (Lee Kyu-hyung) confessed that he is gay to to Je-hyuk (Park Hae-soo) and Joon-ho (Jung Kyung-ho).
Joon-ho suspected Hae-rong of needing love as he was always around Je-hyuk. Hae-rong admitted it was true and said, "My mother was always working even when I came home from Japan after two years away, and even when my grandmother passed. She likes money more than her only son".
Joon-ho said, "There are a lot of rich kids like you who need love. I heard your family runs the famous Galbi place. I saw it had opened another building". Hae-rong said, "My mother doesn't care about me. She wouldn't know if I went missing". Je-hyuk and Joon-ho slapped him on his back and called him a baby.
Hae-rong told them his story. When he was young, his family was very poor, so his mother was always busy working. He was always bullied at school because he was always dirty and there was only one friend who came close to him. That was Song Ji-won (Kim Joon-han). They met again in university and they ended up becoming a couple.
Je-hyuk and Joon-ho assumed he was from a co-ed school, but Hae-rong said, "Ji-won was a boy. I feel better telling you about this. I kept it a secret that you're a thing so keep this one a secret for me". Je-hyuk and Joon-ho were surprised and Hae-rong said, "I know you're surprised. Stop pretending".

Source : www.newsen.com/news_v...
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