Review of Small Island (2009), a BBC Masterpiece Theater TV Drama Series

"Small Island" is a two-part drama adapted for television, included in the BBC Masterpiece Classic Collection, based on a novel by the same title written by Andrea Levy.

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“Small Island” is a BBC Masterpiece Theater presentation.  The name of the main character is Hortense, an idealistic “proper” young Jamaican woman who dreams of living in England and she will fulfill her dream! It may take a little bit of conniving but … she will make it happen!

The setting is the 1940s; during and after the World War II - Jamaica and London.

* Naomie Harris plays Hortense.  She is something else!!

If the name Naomie Harris sounds familiar, it should. She starred in the James Bond movie, “Skyfall”. At the end of the movie, she is finally formally introduced to Mr. Bond as “Miss Moneypenny”.

Here's the plot in a nutshell.

Hortense has a friend who has a fiancé and that fiancé is in the military and intends to take the friend, who will be his wife, with him when he goes to England. Uh huh. That was the original plan. But Hortense figured out a way to get the guy to ditch the friend and take her to England instead.   As I said:  She is something else!  :)

* David Oyelowo plays Gilbert, the fiancé, scratch that ex-fiancé … dot dot dash … husband of “convenience”.

David Oyelowo. That name sound familiar? It should. He was “Danny” in the popular BBC spook TV show, “MI-5”. Also chosen for the role of “Dr. Martin Luther King”, in the Oscar-nominated film “Selma” about the Civil Rights Movement in America.

“Small Island” is a love story and you will love all of the characters; the ones in the starring roles and the supporting roles. They are very realistic and you will feel like you're a part of their lives.

Authentic costumes, great scenery, believable dialogue, stellar performances, and quality entertainment!

My one word to describe this masterpiece? Delightful!

Most memorable line? “Gilbert! I'm perishin' in this bed!” :)

Hortense dreams of England - Small Island - BBC


NOTE:  This content was first published at Daily Two Cents; however that site shut down.  It has now been published via Read.Cash.

Duty After School | K-Drama Sci-Fi Series Based on a Webtoon

Duty After School is a Korean drama sci-fi series based on a webtoon by Ha Il-Kwon.  It's 10 episodes, released in 2023, and currently streaming on Rakuten Viki. 

*****

High School Seniors Earn Credits for College

It's your last year of high school and the last thing that you're thinking about is … FIGHTING ALIENS! And it's not a video game or anime. It's REAL!

For about a year there have been some strange-looking spheres floating in the skies. Were they dangerous? Did they pose a threat? Nobody knew. Nothing ever happened. Well! According to the news that was reported to the general public, nothing happened. The military knew a different story but the higher-up officials who headed up defense operations did not want to cause mass panic and hysteria. 

Seongjin High is a typical high school with a typical graduating senior class of boys and girls. There's the girl that all the guys like, the besties who always stick together, the nerds, the outcast, the class clown, the bully, etc. One day the homeroom teacher for Grade 3 Class 2 announces that early admissions to college or university have been canceled. Instead, the students will serve in the military. No worries. Their service will be translated into credits that will count toward their future education.

That announcement on that day changed their lives forever!!

Each episode of Duty After School poses a new challenge for these kids to overcome. The characters are very diverse and the differences in personalities often cause clashes. 

• Some are selfish and immature, and their fear makes them think only of themselves. They are not team players but they will stick with the team because … it's safer when you stick together. 
• Others prove to be brave and loyal and emerge as leaders who can take charge when serious decisions must be made. They will make a sacrifice for the team if they have to.  

Fortunately for all of them, Platoon Leader Lee Choon-Ho (played by Shin Hyun-Soo) is an excellent role model.

• Viki viewers gave Duty After School a rating of 9 out of 10 stars. I agree.

• Read full review on PopGeeks.com. 

Why I Like Korean Historical Period Drama During the Joseon Dynasty

My preference is for Korean historical period dramas. I get so attached to the characters. The women look so elegant and refined in their silk dresses; and their hair is so beautiful, adorned with those pretty hairpins. The men look so noble with those hats and those robes. If it weren't for the fact that the king and crown prince wore special robes, all the guys could look like kings. 

Joseon was the last dynasty of Korea and its longest-ruling Confucian dynasty. During its reign, Joseon encouraged the entrenchment of Chinese Confucian ideals and doctrines in Korean society. Neo-Confucianism was installed as the new dynasty's state ideology.  Wikipedia

Here is a problem for me that makes it difficult to watch the modern K-dramas. Once I see these men and women in the traditional clothes of the Chosun (or Joseon) era, it's hard to look at then wearing modern clothes in a 20th century drama or comedy. They just don't look the same!

Fortunately, in America, there are sites that stream these series so that I can watch them online. I can't afford to pay for the subscription so I have to watch with the advertisements. But I'm OK with that. (Even though it takes forever!)

Here's a TIP. Don't ever pick a series that is fairly new and all the episodes have not been uploaded and translated with the English subtitles. I made that mistake once. Never again!

I got hooked on “The Flower in Prison” (2016). but I did not realize that it was a new series. Oh the agony of waiting for the next episode to become available. But it was worth it!

However, whenever I get ready to watch a Korean drama TV series, I make sure all the episodes are there.

Like I said: Never again!

Original source

Netflix Original: Korean Drama TV Series: The King's Affection (2021 - )

Recommending a Korean historical period drama: “The King's Affection” (2021-). It is set during the Joseon Dynasty and this series started on a very serious note. Twins were born to the royal princess: a boy and a girl. The king wanted to kill the baby girl and ordered a massacre. All of those who knew about the birth of the twins had to be killed, and the twin girl who was born had to die!

Like any loving mother would, the royal princess hatched a plan to save her child's life. The mother faked the death of her daughter and had her taken away to grow up elsewhere. But there was a fire, and the child lost the home that she grew up in an her caretaker also died. Consequently, she took to begging on the streets. A woman took her into the palace and she became a maid.

Image credit: Netflix

She was outside doing her chores and her brother, the crown prince was outside doing whatever princes do. Accidentally, she, a lowly maid, crossed paths with her twin brother, the crown prince, and that's where the story begins.

It's a Netflix series; 20 episodes for Season 1. 

I am already in love with the main characters.

The first episode was dynamite!! I can't wait to finish it!!

I did my review after the first episode, because I am always afraid I might give away the ending and spoil it for those who have not watched this series.

Original Source

If You Liked This, You Might Also Like:

• Korean Peninsula (2012)

• Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (2016)

• Mr. Sunshine (2018)

• Sungkyunkwan Scandal (2010)

TV Series: Supernatural Drama: Sleepy Hollow (2013 - 2017)

Sleepy Hollow is an American supernatural drama TV series. It ran from 2013 to 2017. It is a "modern-day retelling" of the 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" written by American author Washington Irving. The short story was published in 1819.

I enjoyed this show right up until they killed off one of the main characters.

I was like: WHAT???

Don't you just hate that?

Don't you hate when you become attached to the characters and they kill them??!!

They tried to keep this show going but it was cancelled. What did they expect from the fans? (SleepyHollow’ Canceled at Fox After Four Seasons ~variety.com)

The leading couple in this series was Ichabod Crane played by Tom Mison; and Lieutenant Abbie Mills played by Nicole Beharie. They had great onscreen chemistry. When they killed Abbie, that was it for me! I didn't watch the show any more!

SLEEPY HOLLOW | Official Trailer 

Sleepy Hollow (The Complete Seasons 1-4)
20th Century Fox #HomeEntertainment
~ https://t.co/Xd7Nwz0dPM via @amazon @i_heart_amazon
#TVshows #family #Entertainment
Perfect addition to your #Video #Library.
For #SleepyHollow #fans. @TomMisonFans @NikkiBeharie@goshoppingbees

— Treathyl Fox (aka cmoneyspinner) ~ #Freelancer (@cmoneyspinner) August 19, 2021

TV Series: Murdoch Mysteries is Perfect for Mystery Lovers

I am grateful to Netflix for introducing me to Canadian TV series. One of those series which I thoroughly enjoyed was “Murdoch Mysteries”. The program is about Detective William Murdoch. He's a genius; a Sherlock-Holmes-type who not only has a brilliant mind but also comes up with brilliant inventions to help him solves crimes. The setting is Toronto, Canada, at the turn of the 20th century, when Canada was still under or linked to the British and Westerners were just learning how useful electricity is and how to drive motor cars.

Unfortunately the series is no longer available on Netflix. So I hunt for sites that have free online video streaming of this show and that way I can continue watching. I got attached to Detective Murdoch, his wife, Doctor Julia Ogden, and the entire cast.

It's rated PG. It's good family entertainment.

You can find a lot of the episodes on YouTube for free or for rent.

Murdoch Mysteries (2008 ~ ) : Award-Winning
Canadian TV Detective Series

Korean Drama Movie: “Commitment” (2013)

My exposure to Asian films has been gradual. Mainly because ... how can one watch what one does not have access to watch? Growing up in America, were it not for Bruce Lee, I am not sure I would have ever started watching real Chinese movies. Because I don't know if Chinese movies would have ever come to America. Before Bruce Lee, I watched movies about Charlie Chan but the guy who played Charlie Chan was not Chinese. I was in my twenties when I started watching Shogun theatre which exposed me to Japanese cinema.  But times have changed and the ways and means of making entertainment available to the masses has opened doors wide. Now there is streaming and the world is put right in front of you on the television screen.

Even though I started off watching mostly Chinese films and some Japanese, thanks to Netflix I was introduced to Korean films; mainly Korean drama.

• “Commitment” (2013) was the first Korean film I watched.  It is a spy thriller and it is intense!

STORY:  The young man's father was a Korean secret agent. But the government betrayed him and branded him as a traitor. The agent's kids, the young man and his sister were thrown in jail. The wicked corrupt government officials tell the son, if you want erase the shame of your father and save your little sister, you have to work for us. So they train him and he is so good at his job that he becomes the best secret agent on the planet!! But of course, he's driven to be the best because he wants so much to save his sister. The wicked government officials figured that once his mission was completed they were going to screw him over the same way they did his father and kill him. Did I say that he became the best secret agent on the planet? It turns out, he wasn't so easy to kill and he was going to make sure that he saved his sister. That movie was HOT!

• The young man who starred as the secret agent was Choi Seung-hyun, who was a member of a popular Korean boy band even before he started acting.
• The young girl who played his sister was Kim Yoo-jung. She has been acting since she was very little. I like to call her the Korean Shirley Temple.

If you have never watched a Korean film, I recommend you watch “Commitment” (2013).

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(Images found on Wikipedia)

 

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Netflix Original: Korean Drama TV Series: Mr. Sunshine (2018)

You would probably not think that a series with a title like “Mr. Sunshine” would be a Korean drama, would you? But it is! It is a Netflix Original and it is intense!

The lead actor is Lee Byung-hun and he is the reason this series caught my eye. He's Korean but the first time I saw him was in one of the Terminator movies. He was one of the terminators: T-1000 in “Terminator Genisys” (2015). He was awesome! So when I saw he was the main character in “Mr.Sunshine”, I had to watch! I was not disappointed.

It is an historical period war drama which depicts conflicts involving the Americans, the Japanese, and the Koreans. His character starts off as a young child who was a slave but he escaped to America. The name given to him by the kind-hearted and generous American who saved his life was Eugene Choi. His Korean name was Choi Yoo-jin. He grew up and became a high-ranking officer in the American military and they sent him back to Korea on a special assignment. He was not exactly thrilled about being sent back home to a country where he was never treated like it was his home. Nevertheless, when you're a soldier you obey orders.

Not only was this series entertaining, but it was also very educational and emotional. I got caught up in the lives of each of the main characters listed below.

~ Lee Byung-hun as Eugene Choi / Choi Yoo-jin who became a Captain in the United States Marine Corps.

~ Kim Tae-ri as Go Ae-shin, a Joseon noblewoman, a skilled sniper and loyal member the Righteous Army.

~ Yoo Yeon-seok as Goo Dong-mae (his Korean name) / Ishida Sho (his Japanese name), whose father was killed fighting in the war and he fled to Japan. He joined a Japanese criminal organization and when he returned to Korea, he wanted revenge!

~ Kim Min-jung as Lee Yang-hwa (her Korean name) / Kudo Hina (her name when her father forced her to marry a rich Japanese man so he could get at his money). She became a widow and returned to Korea to run the "Glory Hotel", a property she inherited after her husband's death.

~ Byun Yo-han as Kim Hee-sung, an extremely wealthy Joseon nobleman who was supposed to marry Go Ae-shin, only she fell in love with Eugene Choi. But that didn't stop him from loving her anyway.

Korean dramas always have to have a love triangle.

I fell in love with each one of these characters. They were so real to me.

I will have to do follow-up research to find out if there was a group called the Righteous Army.

A one-word description for this Netflix Original Series? Outstanding!

Korean Drama TV Series: Sungkyunkwan Scandal (2010)

Sungkyunkwan Scandal (2010) is a Korean drama television series which has 20 episodes. I watched and enjoyed every episode but I still can't pronounce the name. ☺  Korean is not my native language.

I really enjoyed the main characters. Four young adults in a type of college are studying to become professionals who will work for the government. These young scholars were being educated in the teachings of Confucius and their goal was to become dedicated and just public servants who stood up for what was right. Just like most young people in every generation, they were bursting with ideas and ideals. They were so adorable.

There was just one problem. One of the aspiring scholars was a girl! NOT ALLOWED!

Sungkyunkwan Scandal is a historical period drama based on Jung Eun-gwol's bestselling 2007 novel “The Lives of Sungkyunkwan Confucian Scholars”. It stars Park Min-young, Park Yoo-chun, Yoo Ah-in and Song Joong-ki.

A one-word description for this TV series? Delightful!

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Review: Action Spy TV Series : Undercovers (2010) ... (Reblog)

“Undercovers” was an American action spy TV series that aired briefly on NBC in 2010.

First episode: September 22, 2010, AND Last episode: December 29, 2010

It had beautiful people and totally sucked!

Review: Action Spy TV Series : Undercovers (2010) ~ Do Not Rinse and Repeat! (Reblog)