My picks for entertainment ~ suggested movies, TV shows, music, and books ~ so you can enjoy some quality ME time! (ATTN Korean drama addicts! This blog has lots of K-drama love.)
Plot
Summary: Set in the Joseon era, these films follow a quirky detective and his sidekick solving bizarre cases. Sherlock Holmes meets a Korean period drama.
Plot
Summary: A
man with the ability to “read faces”, i.e., he uses the age-old art of physiognomy to discern a person’s character and fate by studying their facial features, gets entangled in ruthless palace intrigue and corrupt political schemes.
Plot
Summary: Assassins show up at a man's home, but they don't succeed. He realizes one of the group is a female and chases after her. She disappears into a widow's village. He disguises himself as a woman to infiltrate the village and uncover why assassins were sent to his home, and discovers a web of secrets, including his true identity.
Plot
Summary: A
reluctant secret royal inspector teams up with a divorcee who has a natural ability to solve crimes, and together they uncover corruption.
Plot
Summary: A
lawyer uses the law to seek justice for his family, uncovering deeper conspiracies. Sharp and layered with courtroom drama. His assistant is a princess.
Plot
Summary: The king is not just an ordinary monarch of Joseon. He's very clever,
educates himself in a wide range of subjects, and is relentless in his pursuit of justice and truth. He has the perfect assistant, a chronicler or historian who has a photographic memory. He only has to see something once, and he can recall every detail.
“Tomorrow With You” is a 2017 drama series,
with 16 episodes, and can be categorized as Time Travel, Romance,
Comedy (Rom-Com) and Fantasy or Supernatural.
SUMMARY: Suppose you meet someone on one day and that chance meeting saved your life. Then on another day you see your lifeless body being a carried away and the lifeless body of the woman who saved your life is also being carried away. Since you have the ability to time travel, maybe you can go back and sever the relationship you have with her. That should be fix everything. Right? That might work IF ... the ability to travel through time also gives you the ability to change the future. But if it doesn't ...
Yoo
So-joon is a handsome, young and wealthy CEO. You could say he has
it all. What more could he ask for? Love? Well, that's obvious.
But what else? How about the ability to travel through time? That
wasn't exactly something that Yoo So-joon had on his wish list. But
one day while riding the subway train, he felt a terrible pain in his
head. The next thing he knew he was in a different time period. As
soon as he got off the train he met another time traveler. The time
traveler told him he'll have to get used to going back and forth
between past, present, and future. But the most important rule is to
never be in the same time period with yourself. He can't be with his
present self and his future self at the same time. That's bad!
OK!
Important safety tip! But guess what happened? Yoo So-joon saw his
dead body being carried away on a stretcher. There was also a woman
who had died and her name was Song Ma-Rin. Yoo So-joon wondered if
it was possible to change the outcome of this tragic event. He time
traveled again and it turns out he and Song Ma-Rin were married. In
another time period, he and Song Ma-Rin were both on the same train.
They got into an argument with each other and got off the train.
While they were still arguing, the train blew up! Yoo So-joon had
intended to stay on the train that day. If he had, he would have
died.
Somehow
the timelines of their lives were intertwined. In one period, she
saved his life. In another, they both died together.
Song
Ma-Rin is unaware that Yoo So-joon has already seen her future. She
is barely managing to live in the present because her past keeps
getting in the way. Song Ma-Rin used to be a child star but when she
grew up she did not pursue an acting career. The problem is
reporters keep writing articles about how she has not accomplished
anything since her fame as a child actress and this gets in the way
of her moving forward. When she met Yoo So-Joon he gave her this
advice: "Life is shorter than you think. You shouldn't be
hung up on the past.” He
could say that, since Yoo So-joon already knew her future.
Yoo
So-joon decided to traveled back in time to see if he could break
their connection. If he could somehow sever their relationship, they
wouldn't be together, they wouldn't fall in love and get married, and
they probably would not die in a terrible accident. But does
having the ability to time-travel also give you the ability to change
your future?
This
Kdrama series had mixed reviews. Some did not give high marks for
the acting or the script. Others said it was underrated and thought
the chemistry between the couple was great.
I
am always interested in how a scriptwriter will spin a
time travel fantasy / love story. In “Tomorrow
With You”:
The
female lead had a difficult time trying to get away from her past,
so that she could live productively in the present.
The
male lead was trying to get away from his grim future that had her
in it.
He
felt should she could easily fix her problem if she just wasn't hung
up on her past. Whereas the best way to fix his problem was to get
her out of his life, because she is the problem!
Kim Dan
is an angel who knows the rules of the heavenly realm. He must never
touch a human. If he does, he'll disappear, as in “cease to
exist”. He doesn't want that. He wants to go to heaven. But even
though he knew the rules, the female was badly injured and pleading
for someone to save her. Lee Seul-hwa was blind but she could hear
that someone was there at the accident and they were close enough to
help her. She used to be a prima ballerina, but while performing on
stage one night there was a terrible accident which resulted in her
losing her eyesight. People are afraid to be around her because she
is an angry, bitter, cold-hearted former ballet dancer who takes out
her frustration on everyone else, as if it's their fault. What is
even worse is that the Fantasia Ballet Company that her parents built
for her to inherit has almost been stolen from her by greedy
relatives.
So many
times Lee Seul-hwa had wanted to die. But now that she might
actually die, she's begging to live. Her pitiful pleas were too much
for Kim Dan and he yielded to temptation. He broke the rules and
touched a human to save her life. When Lee Seul-hwa woke up in the
hospital she could see! Meanwhile Kim Dan was getting ready to
receive his punishment. But wait! He didn't disappear! Why does he
still exist? It's true, he does exist, but no longer as an angel.
Now he is a human who is being given a chance to re-earn his wings.
This will be his last mission. If he fails he can forget about a
heavenly reward. What's the mission? LOVE. He must find true love
for Lee Seul-hwa. Even though she is no longer blind, she is still
disgruntled, angry and a terrifying person to be in the same room
with.
Lee
Seul-hwa has so many emotional scars. She is afraid to love because
all of the people she loved have died. Loving someone is too painful
so she avoids becoming vulnerable. Kim Dan starts trying to play
matchmaker, but starts to develop genuine feelings for her and
unintentionally creates a love triangle. This wasn't supposed to
happen. Aren't angels only supposed to love God? Will he be
punished for loving Lee Seul-hwa?
AWARDS:
This delightful Korean drama won several awards at the 2019 KBS
Drama Awards ceremony. Shin Hae-Sun won Top Excellence Award,
Actress. Kim Myung-Soo won Best New Actor and K-Drama Hallyu Star.
Together they won Best Couple Award.
Viu
Singapore. “Angel’s Last Mission: Love 단,
하나의
사랑 TRAILER
| INFINITE’S L, SHIN HYE SUN.” YouTube Video. YouTube,
May 23, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TSA7zVmmx0.
Watching Korean dramas is my guilty pleasure. I especially like the
historical period dramas, during the Joseon period. I have been contributing detailed reviews on PopGeeks.com since 2023. But I share K-drama love everywhere I can.
If you have not watched these, you should add them to your watch list.
If you have watched them, let me know if enjoyed them too!
The main character is a feisty little innocent girl who is fiercely
loyal to her family and friends, but has the courage, inner strength and
determination to break with tradition, and find her own way in a cruel
world that is not a very nice place for a low-born; especially not a
low-born young girl.
This series is 60 episodes, with an extraordinary cast, and based on a
true story. It is a real life love story between a king and a woman he
took to be his concubine: Dong Yi (played by Han Hyo-joo) and King
Sukjong (played by Ji Jin-hee).
It's a love story with a bold and daring hero who is not only an
expert swordsman but also knows how to handle a pistol and a rifle. His love
interest is an intelligent woman whose father is a scholar and allowed
her to learn (although she had to dress up like a man to attend school).
They both dream of their country, Joseon, as a land that will one day
be populated with free people. His enemies thought they had killed him,
but he was saved and taken to another country. He returned to Joseon
with a new identity and was determined to settle old scores. The first time
his beloved sees him again, she faints. He may be wearing different
clothes and using a different name, but he still looked to her like the
man she loved. She thought she had seen a ghost.
A baby who was born in a prison turns out to be a princess. But
before she learned her true identity, she was taught by a martial arts
master and first learned how to kick butt!! It's a handy skill to have
if you're going after the bad guys who caused your mother's death. The
main character is Ok Nyeo played by Jin Se Yeon, who is on my list for
favorite Korean actresses.
A young prince witnesses horrific bloodshed and commands that it be
stopped. Since he is a small child, his command is disregarded and he is
returned to his father; only to learn that it was his father who
ordered the bloodshed. To add insult to injury, his mother is
“accidentally” killed (really she was murdered). From that day forward,
he not only hates his father, HE HATES EVERYBODY! Everybody except his
close friend. He was forced into a marriage of convenience. His wife,
the princess, becomes pregnant by another man. In an effort to cover
this up, the father-in-law (the father of the princess) attempts to kill
the prince. The attempt fails. Trying to escape his assassins, the
prince falls down a slope and hits his head. A poor man finds him, takes
care of him as best he can while he is unconscious. When he regains his
consciousness, he does not remember who he is. The poor man tells him
that he is his daughter's husband-to-be and that they must marry
immediately or his daughter will be flogged.
For 100 days, he lives the simple life of a commoner and falls in
love. He is found by his father-in-law and brought back to the palace.
His memory has not returned. But slowly bits and pieces of incidents
from his past, like puzzle pieces, begin to come together. His story
begins … AGAIN! He realizes who he is and what he needs to do. He also
knows what he wants to do. He wants to marry the woman he fell in love
with as a commoner, who is also the little girl he met when he was a
child and had promised he would marry someday.
A young prince meets and makes friends with a nobleman's daughter when they were children. An accident happens on a boat, and the girl he
met is tossed overboard. Her father believes that she drowned. Her
sister grows up, and the prince, now king, chooses her to be his bride;
not realizing that she is the twin sister and NOT the girl he met when
he was younger. Corrupt officials arrange to have both King Lee Kyung
and his queen, Kang Eun Bo, assassinated on their wedding day. They
succeed in killing the sister but the king miraculously comes back to
life. The people are terrified of him. How can he possibly come back
from the dead? The twin sister realizes that her sister has been
murdered. She takes her sister's body and secretly buries it. Then she
returns to the palace AS IF she has also risen from the dead, just like
the king. The king not knowing that she is the young girl he had met as a
child, also believes his wife has come back to life. However, the twin
sister's main purpose for returning to the palace is to discover who
murdered her sister. For all she knew, even the king may have been
involved. But she eventually realizes his innocence and falls in love
with him. The problem is that she has already deceived him into
believing that she is the one who died. This makes their personal
relationship very complicated. As if life in the palace wasn't already
complicated with all of the scheming, conniving, ruthless, greedy
politicking that was going on. Oh! Did I mention the prophecy?
Goo Hae-ryung is a female historian. Prince Dowon (or Yi Rim) is a
young prince who has been sheltered from the outside world. These two
main characters are adorably cute! But they have had some tragedy in
their young lives. They both lost their fathers through violence. Of
course, the adults around them try to hide the truth. But the two of
them trying to uncover the truth makes for a good plot.
The time is during the transitional period between the end of the
Goryeo dynasty and the beginning of the Joseon dynasty, which is why it
is “The New Age”. A king, princes, military leaders, all engaged in a
power struggle to build a new country. Seo Hwi and Nam Seon-ho are two
childhood friends have the power of their friendship “tested”. Things
happen to them, they get separated, and become enemies due to a
misunderstanding about "my country." One of them decides his country is
“the country of the abandoned”.
“'Bossam' in the Korean title refers to a customary remarriage
procedure that took place during the Joseon period. At that time, a
widow could not remarry. A single man or widower would kidnap the widow
and marry her. Some of the kidnappings were agreed upon in advance and
others were by force.” (Quote Source: https://asianwiki.com/Bossam:_Steal_the_Fate)
Here's the story. Two friends earn their living by kidnapping widows.
It's a steady-paying job because … evidently, a lot of widows want to
be kidnapped and remarried. However, there is one widow who does not
have this on her mind. She just happened to be sitting outside, and the
kidnapper happened to go to the wrong house and … uh oh! … she is
accidentally kidnapped. You think this problem is easy to solve. The guy
made a mistake, so all he needs to do is take her back home. Right?
WRONG! The lady who was kidnapped turns out to be a princess. Her
father, the king, wants to see her. Since her father-in-law did not know
how or why she disappeared or where she was, HE LIED! He told the king
his daughter had committed suicide, having died from the grief of being a
widow. The king finds out that his daughter is alive and wants to use
this fact to trap the father-in-law and get rid of him for treason. The
father-in-law also finds out she is alive and the entire series is him
trying to have her killed so that he doesn't get caught in his LIE!
Neo-noir
is a modern take on classic film noir, which thrived in the
1940s–1950s. South Korea
began embracing neo-noir elements in cinema during the late
1990s and early 2000s,
with films like Oldboy
(2003) and Memories of
Murder (2003) setting the
tone.
Neo-noir
K-dramas are highly
popular among international audiences,
especially fans of psychological thrillers and crime dramas. Their
appeal lies in:
Complex
antiheroes and
morally gray characters
Stylized
visuals with moody
lighting and urban landscapes
Themes
of revenge, corruption, and existential dread
Directors
like Park Chan-wook
(“Decision to Leave”)
helped elevate the genre globally.
Decision
to Leave is actually a South Korean neo-noir
romantic mystery film, not a K-Drama. It was directed by
Park Chan-wook, who co-wrote the screenplay with
Jeong Seo-kyeong. Here’s what you need to know:
Based
on OR Inspired by?
The film is an original
story, not based on
any existing work.
Release
Date: Premiered at
the Cannes Film
Festival on May
23, 2022, and was
released theatrically in South
Korea on June
29, 2022.
Genre:Mystery, Thriller,
Romance, Drama.
Filming
Locations: Primarily
filmed in South
Korea, including
Busan.
Detective
Jang Hae-jun,
a dedicated investigator suffering from insomnia,
is assigned to a case involving the mysterious death of a retired
immigration officer, Ki
Do-soo, found at the
base of a mountain he frequently climbed. As Hae-jun delves into the
case, he meets Song
Seo-rae, the
deceased’s enigmatic widow. Though Seo-rae’s lack of grief and
suspicious injuries make her a prime suspect, Hae-jun finds himself
drawn to her in ways that compromise his judgment.
As the
investigation unfolds, Hae-jun becomes obsessed
with Seo-rae, watching her from afar and engaging in intimate
conversations that blur the lines between detective and suspect. His
growing infatuation leads him to cover
up evidence, despite
realizing that Seo-rae may have orchestrated her husband's death.
Their relationship is a delicate dance of trust,
deception, and longing,
culminating in a tragic separation.
A year
later, Hae-jun, now struggling with depression,
encounters Seo-rae again—this time married to a wealthy
businessman. When her new husband is found dead, Hae-jun is once
again drawn into her orbit, suspecting her involvement. As he pieces
together the truth, Seo-rae makes a final,
haunting decision,
leaving Hae-jun devastated and forever searching for answers.
Masquerade (2012) is a Korean version of Mark Twain's "The Prince & The Pauper", only set in the Joseon Era. It WON Best Film-Movie of the Year. No surprise it a made into a series. The Crowned Clown (2019) has also enjoyed immense popularity worldwide.
King
Gwanghae swears that “somebody” or maybe “everybody” is out
to get him! He's convinced that a member of the royal court is
trying to poison him. Isn't that how they always get rid of members
of the royal family? The king comes up with a plan. Find a LOOK
ALIKE! Substitute the look-alike on the throne while he goes off to
hide somewhere. That way, the doppelganger who looks like him can get
murdered instead.
As
impossible as the task seems, the king's councilor finds a “twin”.
Initially, Ha-Sun tries to imitate the King Gwanghae speaks. It
works … for a while, although Queen
Heo Gyun
immediately suspects. After all, she is a wife, and the man who has
entered the bed chamber does not behave like her husband. There's no
way he's the king, i.e., the man she married. But??? … Who is he, and what is he doing in the palace? (O.o)
The
best-laid plans often go awry. While
King Gwanghae is hiding, he becomes gravely ill. That means Ha-Sun
has to continue pretending to be King. He finds it too difficult
pretending to be someone that he's not, and his true personality
emerges. He is nothing like King Gwanghae, and everybody notices the
difference. Even so, the king's enemies still want
to get rid of him.
Will
Ha-Sun end up dying in the king's place anyway?
♦
STORYLINE:
The Crowned Clown (2019)
This
is the
same story as
the movie “Masquerade”
with a few more details.
It tells
the story
Ha-Sun's childhood and how he became an entertainer. He worked with
a group of clowns
and they chose him to play the King during
their performances
because he looked so much like the real king. He
was spotted by the king's councilor during a performance and that was
the day his
life changed FOREVER! One of the best
things
that happened to him was
meeting and falling in love with the queen.
When
it comes to keeping Korean drama addicts happy, Netflix and Viki continue to
duke it out. In my humble opinion, Viki is the GO-TO streaming
platform for all the Hallyu-ites and K-drama newbies. To be fair,
that's only because Rakuten Viki markets its platform as “The Heart
of Asian Entertainment”. Whereas Netflix has lots of other content
from all around the world. It's kind of like comparing apples to
oranges.
Even so, Netflix jumped in on the game, so it's kind of
fair to make comparisons. That
being said, below is a quick list of Korean dramas that can be found
ONLY ON VIKI. Many of them, but not ALL of them, are Viki Originals.
ALL of them have been reviewed right here on PopGeeks. To make it
easy for reference, the list is in alphabetical order.
A
top divorce lawyer needed a truly excellent divorce lawyer because
she was getting a divorce, and she and her husband both wanted the
same thing: custody of their child.
I
just liked the male lead because he was one of the mage in “Alchemy
of Souls”.
(The mages are people with special powers who can control the energy
of heaven and earth, and are the protectors of country. That was my
first time seeing the male lead and I've liked him ever since.)
This
K-drama shows that even men who are kings have an inflated ego and
can still be JERK! The queen was a kingmaker. She
did everything
within her power to make her husband king and how did he show his
thanks? By being a KING-SIZED
JERK!
OK.
Admittedly it is strange that every boy who likes you or tries to be
nice to you ends up getting in a tragic accident. That could make
guys want to steer clear of you. But the whole town labeling you a
witch? That's taking it too far. At least there was one guy who
didn't believe it!
If
you have watched any of these, do you have favorites?
Have you ever heard the term "Koreanovela"? It's a portmanteau (newly invented word or phrase) that combines "Korean" and "telenovela”.
A telenovela is a Latin American soap opera. Growing up in Miami, Florida, which has a large Cuban population, the Spanish-speaking channel often aired these TV shows. They are just like American soap operas, i.e. loaded with a bunch of catty people, unfaithful spouses, and unnecessary life drama, but the storyline is very addictive.
It turns out that "Koreanovela" is used for K-dramas that have gained popularity in Latin America and in the Philippines (Yes, this country is part of the part of the Asian continent). Having just recently discovered this word, it made me wonder if I had watched and reviewed any Koreanovelas. The answer is: Yes.
FUN TRIVIA: The Koreanovela that most K-drama addicts know about is “Boys Over Flowers”. No surprise. There are versions, remakes, or adaptations in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, China, and Thailand ~ movies and series.
Below are five (5) Koreanovelas reviewed on PopGeeks. NO, they do not have 100+ episodes. YES, they are available on either Viki or Netflix.
STORYLINE: Kim Sung-Ryong ((played by Namkoong Min) used to receive awards for being a math genius when he was a little boy. But when he became a man, he lost his way and ended up for gangsters managing money. In an attempt to find his way back onto the right path, he started siphoning money from the accounts of his gangsta boss. He got caught! He was a given choice. Get a job at a legitimate company, continue working for his gangsta boss, cook the books to make his boss look like an honest businessman OR … ??? DIE!
STORYLINE: Yoon Ji-Woo (played by Han So-Hee) never knew her father. But like a typical young adult she thinks her father is never there for her. Everyone and everything else in his life is more important to him than her. But on the one night he did show up, he was killed right outside the door of their apartment. She heard the gunshots, and tried to look through the keyhole, but couldn't see the killer. Someone told her that her father had been killed by a dirty cop. Yoon Ji-Woo changed her name to Oh Hye-Jin and got a job work undercover in law enforcement, hoping to find out who the killer was, and GET REVENGE.
STORYLINE: Lee Na-Mi (played by Chun Woo-hee) is intelligent, talented, hard-working, has excellent marketing skills, and holds down more than one job. She's smart but did something that was not smart. Got stupid drunk and lost her smartphone. A serial killer found it. When the serial killer wasn't killing people he had a regular job fixing phones. He contacted her and returned her phone AFTER installing spyware. That psycho trapped both Lee Na-Mi and her father in his murderous hellish nightmare. The End Game was MURDER. But he wanted to have fun before that.
STORYLINE: Im Sol (played by Kim Hye-Yoon) is a young girl involved in a tragic accident and must now use a wheelchair. Ryu Sun-Jae (played by Byeon Woo-Seok) is a top K-pop star and she is a huge fan. The K-pop members are being interviewed on a radio show making calls and talking to listeners. Fan or not, she would rather die than be in a cripple! While she was contemplating suicide, she received a phone call.
Im Sol answers the phone and releases all of her rage on the caller. Rather than hang up, Ryu Sun-Jae started talking to her and ultimately convinced her to live. But later she heard that Ryu Sun-Jae had committed suicide. WHAT? That's so unfair! He was in pain too? She lived. Why didn't he live? Now there's no way to bring him back. Or is there? As if it was an answer to a prayer, Im Sol miraculously traveled back in time. She wasn't in a wheelchair, and Ryu Sun-Jae wasn't a K-Pop member. He was a top athlete in high school and they both attended the same school. He was ALIVE! Could she prevent his suicide?
STORYLINE: Baek Hyun-Woo (played by Kim Soo-Hyun) fell in love with Hong Hae-In (played by Kim Ji-Won), but he didn't know she was a chaebol heiress. No matter because she agreed to get married and promised she would never leave him alone and would never make him cry. But he did make him cry. He became so miserable he decided to divorce her. On the night he planned to ask for a divorce, she told him she was dying. Whoa! Divorce? Death? He decided not to ask for a divorce. If only his wife's illness was the only thing he had to concern himself with. He didn't care about his wife's money. But other people did!
(6)
Mr. Queen (2020) A chef from modern-day Seoul falls off a hotel
balcony and into a pool. When he comes out of the water, he is in
the body of a queen during the Joseon Era. It seems that at that
moment a few hundred years ago, she had jumped into a lake because
she was trying to commit suicide. Somehow his soul entered her body.
He was in shock when he looked in the mirror and in even more shock
when he realized he had to sleep with the king! His first thought
was how to avoid the king's bed until he noticed the king didn't seem
to be interested in him … uuuhh? … her. So then he turned his
focus on how to get back to his time period and back in his own body.
Meanwhile
… he had to learn to live as the queen, which meant he was drawn
into all of the palace scheming, conniving, corruption, and
treachery. He had to learn the queen's friends and her enemies, and
how to get along with her father. The fun part of this
time-travel/body-swap misadventure was using his chef skills to
prepare dishes and win over the king’s enemies. Even though the
chef's identity and personality remain in her body, the queen’s
identity and personality gradually become dominant.
The
chef's memories get replaced with the queen's memories and the reason
she tried to commit suicide became clear. But by that time, the
romance between the king and the queen develops because the king also
understands her reason. The king was mistaken about her true
intention and her love for him. He believed she was part of her
family's corrupt plan for power. The queen learned the tragic story
of the king's childhood and that her father had knowledge of how his
family died. They became closer to each other and fell in love.
Their love story is beautiful and triumphant. Best time travel
romantic comedy ever!! [Where
to Watch]
Hong
Cheong-Gi is the main female character and also the name of a real
historical figure who was the only female painter accepted into the
Korean Royal Academy of Painting during the Joseon era. The leading
male character is Ha Ram. She is the divine painter and he is a
divine astrologer. They first meet as children; she is born blind
and he is a child with special power. The children get separated
because Ha Ram is chosen to participate in a rain ritual. On the day
he performs the ritual, he loses his eyesight and is possessed by a
demon. At the same exact
time, the blind girl gains her eyesight. When they grow up, they
meet again, and their bond of friendship is renewed and matures into
romantic love. However, their love and lives are endangered because
they are caught up in two webs: the political power games in the
human world AND the eternal power struggle of good versus evil in the
spirit world. This Viki Original series is a delightful historical
fantasy romance. [Where
to Watch]
(8)
Poong, the Joseon Psychiatrist (2022) A royal physician who
works in
the palace and is called upon to treat members of the royal family
has such extraordinary medical skills, he is given the title “Divine
Acupuncturist”. But others hatched a plan to murder the king and
frame him. He is not aware that performing acupuncture would cause
the king's death. Consequently, he is accused of murder and thrown
into prison. The murderers hoped he would receive the death penalty
and their crime would be hidden. But the crown prince set him free
because he believed he was innocent and that he was also the only one
who could prove who had murdered the king.
He went
from working
as a royal physician to working in a village hospital. But he was
so traumatized that he could no longer perform acupuncture. He met a
young woman
and trained her to be an acupuncturist. When
she first saw him she had to talk him out of committing suicide.
When
he met her again, she a trying to commit suicide. Not only did he
have to treat her “heart”, he uncovered that she was a victim.
Her mother-in-law was trying to convince her to commit suicide so her
family would receive the Virtuous Widow
Honor.
The
royal physician who
was
no longer able to perform acupuncture started a new life and
developed a new
skill. The physician changed the way he treated patients by
diagnosing both their physical sickness and determining how to heal
their troubled minds. He became a “heart doctor” and he also
fell in love. This K-drama has 2 seasons. [Where
to Watch]
The
daughter of a nobleman owns
a guesthouse left to her by her father. In addition to being a
guesthouse, there are also secrets and romance. There are three
flower scholars are her guests.
One
is already paying for a room before the other two guests arrive. He
hopes to win the heart of the owner.
The
second guest came to town to take the civil service exam for martial
arts and hopes to become a member of the king's royal guard.
The
third guest has no money but he did try to help a damsel in
distress. Since the damsel is the owner
of the guesthouse, he arrives there and tells her she should repay
the debt by allowing him to stay there.
Two
of the scholars have a secret identity and are on a secret mission.
The owner
also has a secret and tells all of the guests they are not allowed to
go near the guestroom located at the back. It's haunted.
When
the owner was
a young girl, she protected a young boy who ran into her yard and hid
in the dog house. That boy was the crown prince but he did not tell
her his true identity. Thirteen years passed and one of the guests
is that prince and he' gong to fall in love with him. This is
a Viki Original series. [Where
to Watch]
(10)
Missing Crown Prince (2024)
A
royal physician was told that if his daughter married the crown
prince, he would die young and she would become a widow. His plan is
for his daughter to become the future crown princess so he kidnaps
the crown prince. They are both drugged and spend the night
together, lying side by side, technically making them a married
couple. He further plans to eliminate that crown prince and replace
him with another crown prince and get him to marry his daughter.
Before
he was kidnapped the crown prince was investigating her father. He
had information that proved he was having a secret affair with the
Queen Dowager and might be responsible for the death of a court maid
assigned to the queen dowager's palace.
The
best laid plan usually doesn't work out. The daughter wakes up and
helps the prince escape not knowing who he is. He also does not know
that she is the daughter of the royal physician he was investigating.
The other prince the father had hoped his daughter would marry was
very close to the crown prince. They grew up together and had a
strong bond. But that strong bond might be broken because both of
them fell in love with the royal physician's daughter. This K-drama
series is a spin-off of “Bossam:
Steal the Fate”,
another Viki Original which was released in 2021. This
is a Viki Original series. [Where
to Watch]
