I Summon You, Gold

Summary: I Summon You, Gold! is a 2013 k-drama produced for the television network MBC. It follows the interaction of the Jung and Park families as their different lifestyles and values come into conflict through both work and marriage. The main characters are Jung Mong Hee (Han Ji Hye) and Park Hyun Soo (Yeon Jeong Hun), who unexpectedly cross paths and realize that Jung Mong Hee looks exactly like Park Hyun Soo's estranged wife. Hoping to keep his impending divorce a secret, he strikes up a deal for her to impersonate his wife until she either returns or he can break the news to his family.

Recommendation:  This is a 50 episode k-drama that requires some serious commitment to watch from wing-to-wing. It starts off strong and I was drawn into the lives of these two families. But, like with most of the 50 episode series, I was bored 1/2 of the way through it. Then, the drama took a strange turn and I was left completely confused as to the direction of the show. One of the saving graces of this k-drama is the narrative around the arranged marriage between Jung Mong Hun (Baek Jin Hee) and Park Hyun Tae (Park Seo Joon). Despite an overall terrible ending, I think there's enough content along the way to make the experience worthwhile.

Other Thoughts (And Possible Spoilers):  I've never had a glass of soju but I imagine that three bottles of it would be enough to make me feel really good before I wake up the next morning with a killer headache. That's how I feel about I Summon You, Gold! It had a great start but left me somewhat disappointed with the outcome.

Typically, from the many k-dramas that I've watched, the leading lady and leading man meet and they eventually fall in love. I Summon You, Gold! did not stray from this convention and we, the audience, came to believe that Jung Mong  Hee and Park Hyun Soo were destined to fall in love. In fact, this was the overriding storyline for the first 30 or so episodes (I might be overestimating a little) and it seemed like that was settled. Park Hyun Soo just had to divorce his estranged wife, who hadn't been seen since the second or third episode of the show.

But it never happens...

There are reasons for it and I get what the writer was trying to accomplish. But that doesn't mean I agree with it or that I like it. Plus, I don't know that the producers wanted to promote the idea of divorcing one's wife to marry her twin sister. My views on divorce are probably somewhat liberal and even I think that premise is a bit strange.

You're the Best, Lee Soon Shin

Rating: 4 out of 5

A few weeks ago, I finished watching the k-drama series "You're the Best, Lee Soon Shin" starring IU and Cho Jung-Seok The cast is rounded out by a talented group of actors and actresses that bring life and familiarity to the story being told and play a huge role in the success of this drama.

The plot of this particular drama was not necessarily something new or exciting. A seemingly happy family struggling with everyday issues is struck by tragedy when the patriarch dies in a hit and run accident. This triggers a series of events and revelations that the Lee family must deal with and rise above in order to survive and find peace. At the same time, each member of the family is dealing with his or her personal issues - finding love, losing love, chasing after a dream, career vs. marriage, familial duty vs. happiness, etc...

Given the 50 episode run, the writer(s) had plenty of opportunity to really develop each character, evolve the relationships, and establish clear justifications for the choices each would make from start to finish. The following are character resolutions that made me giddy with joy:

• Lee Soon Shin doesn't give up acting!
• Lee Soon Shin and Shin Joon Ho end up together and he's going to propose!
• Lee Hye Shin realizes that she likes Seo Jin Wook!
• Kim Jung Ae learns that her husband wasn't a philandering fool!
• Lee Yoon Shin and Park Chan Woo are having a baby!
• The police catch the guy who hit Mr. Lee with his car and then ran away!

I'm sure there are more but those are the highlights.

So, why 4 out of 5 soju bottles? The pace of the show needed some tweaking. There were a string of episodes where I kept asking myself, "Is there anything else that could possibly go wrong? Where are the happy moments? The comic relief? Why is everyone so sad?!"

I took a break in the middle of the series and then had a marathon viewing session to catch up - forcing myself to get through it. I'm glad that I did because it paid off in the end.

P.S - I completely missed the fact that the actress playing Soon Shin is also the same actress from "Dream High" (the first one) that played the chubby (read: fat suit) vocalist. No wonder Soon Shin suddenly developed the ability to sing for her first major audition!