Sweet Stranger and Me (2016) Review & Woo Do-Hwan

One day of blogging and another lost day. I was highly motivated for one day. Sad state of affairs, but to be honest, I'm not surprised. I have been so lethargic for so long, after all. This illness is dragging on and on.

Sweet Stranger and Me (2016)

I finished this drama. It became super clear to me that I really like Lee Soo-Hyuk. I mostly watched it for Kim Young-Kwang, but seriously... Lee Soo-Hyuk is incredibly likeable.

The drama itself was okay. The characters were all fairly likeable except for the slutty "hoobae" who ended up with a very happy ending. I found her grating... not because of the gold-digging character (which isn't my favorite) but because the actress was so chirpy and fake and vapid.

She was supposed to be incredibly manipulative, but the actress wasn't good enough to make it even remotely believable that grown adults would buy what she was selling. Not a fan. She also didn't come across as intelligent at all, which usually helps for a manipulative character.

I wasn't wild about the little girl stalker either. The actress did an excellent job with the character, but I felt that it slowed down the story unnecessarily, and there was not enough relationship/character building with her brother (Lee Soo-Hyuk) to make the character worthwhile.

I could have used more of the relationship between Go Nan Gil (Kim Young-Kwang) and the gangster ex-adopted brother played by Woo Do-Hwan. It seemed like an interesting love-hate relationship... unique. The adopted gang in general was the most interesting aspect of the drama. I would have loved to see more than that. 

As for the romance, I wasn't convinced about the back-and-forth, we-can-we-can't just was not well written enough for me. The chemistry wasn't super on-point either. For me, it was mostly carried by Kim Young-Kwang being endearingly awkward with no experience with women on the one hand... while being super slick on the other. Despite the occasional goofiness:

In short, I watched this for the gangster story, which held my interest... and the male cast who, to be honest, were shockingly good at their roles. Oh, I would have liked more backstory on the kitchen staff members who he met in prison too. It was a casual mention, but it could have been so much more.

Discovering Woo Do-Hwan

This was also my first time seeing Woo Do-Hwan. I have come across his pictures here and there while looking up other things. His face is striking, and he looks enough like Seo Kang-Joon that his pictures often get mixed into searches for him. It's weird, since they don't look much alike at all... but they are both handsome and unique looking.

Obviously, Seo Kang-Joon is amazing and my #1 favorite Korean actor for both his talent and look. I never understood my husband's expression... that someone is "painfully hot" until I watched Seo Kang-Joon. I get it now. It's almost physically uncomfortable to watch sometimes.

But anyway... I digress. Woo Do-Hwan has been on my to-watch list for a very long time. I didn't realize he was in Sweet Stranger and Me until halfway through the drama when I was like, "Okay, who the hell is this guy?"

He is striking to look at, but he did a very convincing job as a bad guy. Color me shocked at how sweet he seemed at the end when he was free and smiling. I'm looking forward to more from him. 

First Historical Kdrama?

Thus far, I have Tempted (2018) on my list (and have since like, day one of looking through kdramas). I also added Mad Dog (2017). On the more immediate agenda though is My Country: The New Age (2019)... which I am 100% ready to watch.

First, I've never seen a historical kdrama at this point. Second, I think Yang Se-Jong is an amazingly talented actor. I only saw him in Still 17 (2018) but was captivated by his portrayal of a mentally ill and thoroughly traumatized guy who gradually opens back up. He did a great job in a pretty silly drama. I was impressed.

Now that I know it stars both Yang Se-Jong and Woo Do-Hwan, I think it is time to get into my first historical kdrama. Maybe I will catch a real vibe on it and decide I love them. Who knows?

Studying

Yesterday, I did study quite a bit. I practiced Lesson 9, which went well. I feel like I have it down pretty much, so I will move on soon. Though when practicing it with guys on Tandem, it became clear the there were some discrepancies between the proper way, the lesson's spelling of the casual way people actually use it, and the spelling people use in reality? I will figure that out.

Today's plan... go through vocab for Lesson 10 so that I can move on when I'm ready.

I also downloaded KakaoTalk at the request of one the the people I talk to most on Tandem. I like it enough that I defaulted it for SMS too. We will see how it goes, but so far so good.

파이팅!