K-Drama Report: Genie, Make a Wish (2025)

I’ll try to be brief, since I missed the window on this one, big-time. Genie, Make a Wish is part romance, part fantasy, part sadomasochist fantasy, part Dubai tourism ad, and all around, a great K-drama. Aww. Consider this post to be a follow-up to my report on 2022’s Anna, and another benchmark in the twin journeys of watching everything starring its two leads, Bae Suzy and the utterly enchanting Jung Eun-chae (Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born is next) taking me into 2026. This is my third Suzy drama, after her moody turns in Doona! and Anna, and now it appears she’s no longer trying to beat the “idols can’t act” rap by playing an emotionless psychopath. And look, I get it. An idol in film and television is an interloper, leveraging fame when an actor with lesser name recognition might’ve done a better job. Of course, Bae Suzy would’ve only been a famous idol for a few months before she debuted as an actress, and it was so early on in her career that she could arguably be considered a child actress. Alarmingly, she was only 15 when she joined Miss A, and starred alongside IU and Eunjung in Dream High roughly when I was graduating high school (Suzy is one year younger than me). I suppose the argument isn’t that Bae Suzy shouldn’t act because she’s an idol, but that she shouldn’t because she can’t. … More K-Drama Report: Genie, Make a Wish (2025)

K-Drama Report: Anna (2022)

Every now and then, I’m stricken with the pang of something – maybe dread, even embarrassment – over the readability of this blog, and especially its “K-drama reports,” for one simple reason: spoilers. As much as I might decry being spoiled on things myself, I’m never so considerate in turn. Maybe I provide a spoiler warning or suggest that the coverage will be comprehensive, so to speak, but at that point, it’s not a recommendation. It’s like a diary entry, and while I’ve always enjoyed the relaxed, indulgent nature of these posts, again, to whose use are they? Because the element of surprise is important to today’s subject, the 2022 Bae Suzy drama Anna, I will begin with a recommendation section before the report proper, if such a thing can be. And it’s important to the overall discussion because I’m not even sure I was supposed to be surprised by half the reveals, or if the reveals were merely “developments.” Part of my confusion may stem from this show having gone under the radar – translation: it wasn’t on Netflix or Viki – and so, what I knew going in was half-inferred. Amazon Prime’s summary is this: “The story of a woman who ends up living a completely different life due to a petty lie.” That life belongs to Jung Eun-chae’s character, and based on the trailer, I assumed that these two actresses were going to war. Come to think of it, perhaps it’s a spoiler to even raise these questions. … More K-Drama Report: Anna (2022)

K-Drama Report: Doona! (2023)

Beautifully directed and powerfully acted, in a roundabout way, this ultimately inconclusive series proves to me that K-drama storytelling is storytelling. Now, a phrase like that is always gonna sound defensive, but I’ve had reason to doubt the form ever since annyeong. I mean, we all sort of agree that “K-dramas” are a single thing, which is the opposite of how we talk about anime. There is no “Belladonna of Sadness to Clannad” range to the K-drama, and its assessment requires a different language. It isn’t “That first kiss was so formulaic,” but “How good was The First Kiss?” However, The First Kiss isn’t just two people kissing, nor is a K-drama just a series of sympathetic faces and crying and swooning. … More K-Drama Report: Doona! (2023)