MaryMeKpop

I’m back with another review post! This time, I cover the newest and most recent dramas on the block including ‘My Lovely Liar’, ‘Moving’, ‘My Dearest’, and ‘Behind Your Touch.’ In this first part of the review, I’ll go over the former two dramas while the second half of my review will touch on the latter half. It’s an exciting time to be able to watch 4 dramas that are airing simultaneously and it’s been a while since I’ve been this excited or intrigued by all 4 dramas that I’m watching. With that being said, let’s get started!

My Lovely Liar

My experience with ‘My Lovely Liar’ is such an interesting one in that I actually didn’t really plan on watching the drama. I had heard about it and I’m also fond of both Kim So-hyun and Hwang Min-hyun but it just wasn’t really one that I thought about dedicating time into watching. But one day, I changed my mind and decided to give the first episode a try. Then before I knew it, I ended up watching the rest of the episodes that aired and now I’m all caught up on the drama.

‘My Lovely Liar’ isn’t the most exciting or fascinating show for me, but I have to give credit to the leads, Kim So-hyun and Hwang Min-hyun, for doing just enough with their respective characters to keep me interested. I’m not the biggest fan of dramas that include idol/entertainment company stories which this drama features but I like that it’s not necessarily the main focus of the drama. ‘My Lovely Liar’ remains enjoyable thanks to Kim So-hyun’s character, Mok Sol-hee, who has the ability to hear people’s lies and can detect when a person has lied. Her character arc is rather fascinating and I enjoyed the way that the drama hashed out her story. It felt refreshing in a way. We’re shown the different ways in which her special ability is used by different characters and strangers throughout the drama. We also witness the way that it impacts Sol-hee herself or impacts her broken relationship with her mother. She’s not the proudest in having this special ability to detect lies and it does drain her at times but she’s learned to live with it and even use it to start a business and make some money. I enjoyed watching the different scenarios where Sol-hee was hired and brought into to utilize her lie-detecting abilities. More so than just being told that she can hear people’s lies and know when someone is lying, we watch her prove it.

Hwang Min-hyun’s character, Kim Do-ha, is also another interesting character in this drama. Though I’m a bigger fan of Sol-hee’s story and character arc, I enjoy his interactions with her as her neighbor/soccer buddy/friend. Due to his own circumstances, he went into hiding from society. But with the help and support of Sol-hee, he’s slowly learned to come out of his shell and be proud of who he is. There was a scene at the end of episode 5 when he invited Sol-hee to come watch him perform at the jazz club that he usually performs at and there was a moment during the scene where he took off his face mask so as to declare his appreciation and love for Sol-hee. Forget kisses and hugs and grand confessions and flowers – something as simple as taking off the mask that he had become so accustomed to wearing everywhere while performing in a room filled with a number of people? How can you not be romantic about K-dramas?!

Sol-hee and Do-ha are now at a point in their relationship where they’re interested in each other and slowly but surely are starting to act on their feelings for each other. The end of the last episode – episode 6 – left us with Sol-hee revealing her secret ability to Do-ha so it’ll be interesting to see how he responds. I’m sure it won’t change the way that he feels about her too much but it could cause some paranoia and doubts to creep into his mind. He’s been a pretty honest and truthful person with her so far, that shouldn’t change how he feels about her too much, right? Right?

Moving

Admittedly, I wasn’t so sure what to expect with this drama when the promotional teasers came out or when more information about the show was being shared. I knew it was a high-level, high-budget drama given the star-studded cast that included Ryoo Seung-ryong, Jo In-sung, Han Hyo-joo, and Cha Tae-hyun. I knew it had something to do with super powers (which Ryoo Seung-ryong seems to love, haha). I knew there was also a younger cast that included Go Yoon-jung who I’ve been looking forward to watching more of ever since her drama ‘Alchemy of Souls’ Season 2. So given all the hype and excitement around the drama, was the drama as good as it was promoted to be?

I would say ‘Moving’ has met expectations so far and definitely has the chance to exceed those expectations. With there being a total of 9 episodes released so far, I’ll admit that I was more interested in the first 7 episodes which focused primarily on the younger characters in high school – Kim Bong-seok, Jang Hui-soo, and Lee Gang-hoon. The last two episodes in episode 8 and 9 transitioned to focusing on Han Hyo-joo and Jo In-sung’s characters, Lee Mi-hyun and Kim Doo-sik, and showed us the backstory behind their relationship. That’s not to say that Mi-hyun and Doo-sik’s love story wasn’t interesting because it was and the context behind their relationship was definitely needed to help us understand the current timeline with the high schoolers. We witnessed how Bong-seok’s parents met and fell in love with each other. We were also left with questions as to what happened to Doo-sik and why he did not appear in the present timeline with Bong-seok and Mi-hyun. Did he die? Did he go into hiding? By the end of episode 9, we were left pondering and wondering what had happened to him.

After watching the first few episodes of ‘Moving’, I couldn’t help but notice and appreciate how much time the drama took in laying out the foundation and giving us insight into Bong-seok and Hui-soo’s characters and their powers. We also saw the two eventually get to know each other better and form a special connection with each other and I really appreciated that. I feel like oftentimes, K-dramas love to just rush through things without properly building up the relationship or showing how our two lead characters bonded and fell in love with each other. Nowadays, I feel like K-dramas speed through things which makes it difficult for me as a viewer to become invested in the relationship of our leads. But ‘Moving’ does things right by showing the evolution of Bong-seok and Hui-soo’s relationship and how they went from being strangers who bumped into each other on the bus on the way to school to eventually spending more and more time together to Hui-soo unexpectedly meeting Mommy Mi-hyun, haha. I’m also a sucker for high school puppy love and there was this hint of innocence that hovered around Bong-seok and Hui-soo’s relationship. They both didn’t have friends, were going through their own individual problems and worries in their personal lives regarding their parents, and possessed superpowers that they were trying to hide and suppress. Then they found each other and sort of found a home in the other person. Bong-seok and Hui-soo can relate to each other in a way that not many people can.. Literally.

With episodes 8 and 9 focused on the adult characters in the drama, I anticipate that the next few episodes will continue where we left off and we’ll see what happened with Mi-hyun and Doo-sik’s relationship. I have to say that it’s nice to see Jo In-sung on the small screen again and it’s also been refreshing and nice to see Han Hyo-joo navigate the different emotions in her character’s life where she portrays a single mother. She’s gone through a lot raising young Bong-seok by herself (I teared up in the beginning of the drama when she cried at the restaurant sitting across from young Bong-seok and commented at how tired she was) and has managed to make a life for herself and Bong-seok by running a Tonkatsu restaurant. Of course, the fun (and the thrill) will really start when our superhero characters go up against the agents who are chasing after them. We watched Ryoo Seung-bum’s character, Frank, chase down and kill other former agents who also had superpowers. There was a point in the drama when he also came extremely close to attacking Mi-hyun and Bong-seok but thankfully, his operation was called off at the last second and the lives of the mother and son were spared. But if the pair were discovered by Frank, there’s only so much hiding they can do and sooner or later, the war will start. I’ll admit that I’m looking forward to the part where our superheroes will fight against the villains in the drama. I’ve already been glued to my screen watching ‘Moving’ and I anticipate that it’s only going to get better from here on out.