K-Drama Couch: “Less Than Evil”, “Encounter”, “The Last Empress” & “Sky Castle” Notch Impressive Ratings

First batch of 2019 Korean dramas are already on a roll.

Majority of the currently airing 2019 Korean Dramas are doing well in terms of numbers and plot trajectories. We got two premieres last week with KBS youth drama Just Dance and MBC’s crime drama Less Than Evil. Midweek dramas are on an interesting rating race with well-received lineup from cable and public channels.

As most of currently running K-Dramas are nearing its halfway mark, the plot directions are making viewers more piqued.

Here are the roundups we prepared for the first batch of 2019 Korean dramas.

Read: Weekly K-Drama Round Up: Nov 26 – Dec 2

*Covers December 2 – December 9, 2018

K-Drama Premieres

Less than Evil (Mon-Tue/MBC)

Detective stories were not as active this year compared to 2017, so in a way, Less Than Evil is on a right timing since its strong presence excites the viewers, who have been mellowed down by the healing drama parade this season.

If the series will bank on portrayals, then we need to see more efforts from the supporting cast. If it capitalizes on the cases to be solved, let’s hope to see some really challenging problems.

Read: Less Than Evil Premiere Recap

Just Dance (Mon-Tue/KBS)

Barely feeling campus-coming-of-age dramas recently, Just Dance suddenly felt like a novelty. Albeit a few flat frames expected for its relatively rookie actors, the seasoned actors joining the cast provided a layer of depth supporting the story.

Read: Just Dance Premiere Recap

Currently Airing K-Dramas

Tale of Fairy (Mon-Tue/tvN)

I don’t know why I am still keeping up with this drama when it seems to be going nowhere to be honest. Maybe it is more of how I have already invested my time and patience so I might as well just finish it.

The three immortal country bumpkins finally reunite with Fairy Seon and Jeom Soon. Abundance of love triangles also erupt on Episodes 9 and 10 of Tale of Fairy.

The links to Geum and Professor Jang’s past lives are starting to become clearer as the drama finally answers how Fairy Seon does not remember the face of her husband. Hence, it kept giving us those confusing flashbacks, and even hints of who could be our heroine’s vanished husband.

Hopefully the next episodes will shed light to a lot of questions I am asking now, and need to get answers before the finale week. Why was Fairy Seon’s winged dress stolen? What is the real identity of the deer? When will Jeom Soon’s egg brother finally break out of its egg shell? What happened to Geum, Fairy Seon and the red fairy in the past? When they were lost in the forest, why didn’t Fairy Seon ask nature for help?

Well, the last question, I know happened to amp up the romance, but still, a lot of plot consistencies are abounding the series, and they need to be seriously addressed, at least to a certain extent please.

Clean With Passion For Now (Mon-Tue/jTBC)

Clean With Passion For Now is a refreshing break from your daily mundane tasks.

Episodes 3 and 4 served us with the laughs as Gil Oh Sol settled in with the Cleaning Fairies. The only rose among the thorns, her easygoing attitude charmed her all male co-workers, who readily accepted her in her team.

Meanwhile, CEO Sun Gyeol is still coming to terms with his growing attraction to the charming yet a bit unsavory heroine. On the other hand, Oh Sol herself is still coming to terms with the type of job she has. She finds herself daydreaming about working in the office when an office worker treats her rudely.

In an unexpected move, CEO Sun Gyeol comes to her rescue and tells her not to apologize when she thinks it’s unfair; and not to lower herself just because she works in a cleaning service.

Later on, during their welcome party for the new employees, the CEO refuses to be seated near her and sends her to the far end of the table. He steals glances at her now and then, though, repulsed by the sloppy way she eats, but still, seemingly fascinated at how well she gets along with her coworkers. He ends up having to take her home, but nearly has a heart attack because Oh Sol is drunk and keeps needing to throw up. This scene is hilarious because you can see the panic in his eyes. Oh Sol is also adorable in a drunken state.

In a classic K-drama move, Oh Sol is caught between two men, her handsome CEO and Dong Hyun,  the arrogant sunbae who rejected her. Sun Gyeol leaves Oh Sol with her brother and the rooftop neighbor, except Oh Sol runs after him, and in a super funny scene, she gifts him with a small bag of soondae, the food Sun Gyeol hates the most.

Unfortunately Dong Hyun refuses to give up and meets Oh Sol again, only for the latter to admit she feels stupid for loving him for three years. In a desperate move, she salvages her pride and kisses Sun Gyeol in front of her sunbae.

After their kiss, Sun Gyeok can’t keep Oh Sol out of his mind, but he isn’t about to admit it yet. He has hallucinations of her and even watches her as she works with the rest of the Cleaning Fairies crew.

On the anniversary of her mother’s death, Oh Sol starts her annual routine of cleaning their whole house. She gets herself ready and takes special care of her appearance. Her father explains that this is her way of showing her mom that they’re doing okay.

All the Cleaning Fairies are shocked at her beautiful appearance, and Sun Gyeol himself can’t take his eyes away from her. Unfortunately, they have an accident during one of their jobs, which pushes Sun Gyeol to insult Oh Sol, and accuse her of being too distracted and fires her.

Feel Good to Die (Wed-Thur/KBS)

A lot of realizations and revelations happened in last week’s episodes. There’s Baek Jin Sang who finally admitted to himself that he likes Roo Da. It was hilarious to see Baek Jin Sang jealous. He was so petty, childish and so himself that you can forgive him for acting that way. Lee Roo Da is yet to acknowledge her feelings and she is quite torn between Kang Joon Ho and Jin Sang. Kang Joon Ho finally accepted the Director position and mostly antagonized his uncle s he realized it is the only way to protect Lee Roo Da.

Apart from feelings, 5th week of Feel Good to Die revealed identities. We saw that the person sending those hate text messages to Baek Jin Sang is a part of MW Chicken security and the father of Jin Sang’s former subordinate. Joon Ho’s true identity has been out as well and it kinda creates a rift between him and Roo Da, but only for a short period of time. Also, Team Leader Park has relinquished his position back to Jin Sang as he also realizes how bad he has become. And just when you thought Jin Sang has changed, he would prove you wrong. He is still hard to figure out. What exactly does he mean, when he said during a news broadcast that he wants to “compliment” MW Chicken?

Children of Nobody (Wed-Thur/MBC)

The girl Cha Woo Kyung and Kang Ji Heon met in the orphanage is not the same girl in the green dress.  They discover she is the daughter of the woman they found dead in the Children’s Center. As they try to figure out who killed the mother, the truck driver, Eum Ho (VIXX’s N) becomes a suspect. Eum Ho has been in another case involving a 12-year old boy whose father was killed in a house fire. Ji Heon suspects that the boy killed his father. He is seen in a CCTV footage purchasing a container of gasoline. Eum Ho provides an alibi for the boy which exonerates the child.

The police releases Eum Ho as the girl said he is not the “nice man” she saw. The identity of the child Woo Kyung killed is also revealed. The death of the man, previously ruled as suicide, has now become a murder and the wife is proven to have killed her husband.

The third week of Children of Nobody keeps the mysteries and piques the interest of viewers. I can’t help myself but formulate theories regarding the girl in the green dress (I do have several), but I shall keep it to myself for now, and see if at least one of them turns out right.

The Last Empress (Wed-Thur/SBS)

Moving at a rapid and exciting pace, The Last Empress has showered some painful revelations received by the hero and heroine of the story. Na Wang Shik (Choi Jin Hyuk) finally learns the truth about two-faced Min Yu Ra (Lee Elijah). He manages to build a closer connection with the emperor, although the latter’s mother orders the security chief to be wary of the new security recruit.

Following Min Yu Ra’s advice to be closer to the Emperor, Oh Sunny belatedly realizes the warning of the Queen about trusting shady people. The truth about Princess Ari’s identity is also revealed to be the Emperor’s daughter from the same court maid taking care of the princess.

Wang Shik leads the Empress to witness her husband and his ex-girlfriend’s affair right before their very eyes, while the two were happily kissing each other on a cruise ship.

Now that Wang Shik and Sunny have created a bond through their shared pain, I look forward to how they will challenge their adversaries. This drama has strong villains that they are beginning to feel like the protagonists of the story, so I look forward to balance the anticipating showdowns in the coming episodes.

Encounter (Wed-Thur/tvN)

This week, we learned two kinds of bravery from Soo Hyun and Jin Hyuk – one that protects one’s self, the other of shielding another person needing it. We got a glimpse of how Soo Hyun’s life has been everything but a lie while growing up. Her role of being a perfect daughter obedient to her parents, even to the point of getting an arranged marriage, was well established.

In a way – meeting someone who is slowly making her feel that she matters as she always has a choice and does not need anyone’s opinion about what makes her happy – leaves a ruminative message for those who shares her sentiments.

Jin Hyuk, as smart as he is, knows well that everything will be hard if he shoots for a relationship with a woman that is way beyond his league. The social norm, age disparity and economic status have been modern essential parameters in creating a relationship. But Jin Hyuk’s character is making us go back to the basic meaning of how a lingering relationship begins — via chance encounter, sharing and listening to each other’s stories, and empathizing each other’s pain while sharing dreams together.

Encounter is keeping crystal clear on the romantic plot it is keen to thread to. That’s why it is easy to be drawn to its pragmatic storytelling.

Read: Encounter Ep 3 & Ep 4 Recaps

God’s Quiz Reboot (Wed/Thur/OCN)

What I feel of the strong point of this drama is the cases they solve each week. It makes me happy that I can end each week on a satisfied note because this show really takes time to solve their cases.

Bad guy Hyun Sang-Pil raids a pharmaceutical company and wrecks havoc there with his goons. They collect vials and hand it over to a Chinese customer, who pays them and is about to leave until Sang-Pil invites them to eat, but ends up killing them all instead.

First of all, Kim Jae Won as the bad guy totally works for me. His bright smile, his penchant for video games, and childish enthusiasm are in total contrast against the evil things he does.

This week’s murder mystery case was on the victims of a malicious attacker.

13 strains of viruses and one unidentified virus strain are randomly injected into the victims. A woman named So Yul is found dead in the fitting room of her office. Detective Nam’s nephew is brought to the hospital because his parents don’t realize the severity of his condition.  Six more victims surface. They trace the locations where the needles are implanted.

These episodes also highlighted the extent of people who would go to gain popularity on social media. The team zero in the culprit, the theater manager of the Children’s Theater, who randomly implanted needles for unsuspecting victims, to get more attention for more likes and views on social media.

This show always manages to tie in socially-relevant issues in their cases. People who commit crimes for likes and views? This is something we all can relate to in the world of reality today. And in a way they managed to twist it around in the show. Good job indeed. This is exactly why I am looking forward to this show every week.

Love Alert (Wed-Thur/MBN)

Photos from MBN

The Kanghan Group daughter will not stop until she gets Woo Hyun to marry her. She already announced their “engagement”, and goes as far as saying that Yoo Jung has picked the wedding dress. Kang Hye Joo is also trying to entice Yoo Jung’s best friend by offering him an advertising contract. She talked to the building owner, where Woo Hyun’s clinic is, to have them evicted.

The conflict continues between Woo Hyun and his father as he clearly states he does not want not to go back to the family.

A flashback reveals that Woo Hyun’s older brother caused a fire and Woo Hyun saved him. His stepmother grabbed his son and left Woo Hyun behind. The fireman who saved Woo Hyun was Yoo Jung’s father at the expense of her mother’s life. This explains the rift between father and daughter as she blames him for his mother’s death.

Kang Hye Joo continues to put more pressure on Yoo Jung’s agency and Woo Hyun as well. I just can’t believe she has that much power over them. Things are getting difficult for our leads, but surely happy days are about to come for these two, right? I am really looking forward to the day the two get back to their happy moments together.

Sky Castle (Fri-Sat)/jTBC)

Am I getting weird because I am liking these eccentric Sky Castle families? *chuckles

For the record, I am not a fan of the idea of having overachieving parents who go to impossible studying regimen for their kids to get to the top universities. But it is such a delight to witness how the mother cast in Sky Castle are flawed to perfection to keep up with the high society game.

I also like how the young cast, who have to put up with their so-called privilege life, are owning their screen times to play their characters well.

This week, Han Seo Jin scores a loss but gains a reward with Ye Seo ranking first in all the exam at her school. But her husband fails to get the director position, which is given to Woo Joo’s dad. The cliff-hanging incident involving Young Jae’s table brought by Ye Bin to Lee Soo Im when the latter spotted her leaving Sky Castle will raise another gap between the two mothers surely.

A Promise to the Gods (Sat/MBC)

Photo from MBC

Week three of this melodrama has brought the viewers back to the present, precisely ten years after Ji Young gave birth to her second child. We got to see a teenage Hyeon Woo and his 10-year old brother. The adults have also crossed paths. It seems that no matter how much they try to keep a distance from each other, they are bound to meet.

Jae Wook is secretly arranging a meeting with his son. He comes in as a friend of Hyeon Woo’s professor. Na Kyung is genuinely fond of Ji Young’s child, and acts as a real mother to him.

Meanwhile, Hyeon Woo is very much aware of his own mortality, and encourages his mother to live a life without worrying too much about his.

All characters are together in the same place, and tension rises when Jae Wook grabs Ji Young’s hand. She drags her away from his wife and sister as their son runs after them.

I just can’t wait for next week’s episodes as this drama keeps getting better each week.

Fates and Furies (Sat/SBS)

This week started off with Hae Ra turning her head to avoid In Joon’s kiss. She asks him not to fall for her no matter what she does. He says yes, and the shoes are his. Soo Hyun’s parents are happy that In Joon doesn’t neglect his work. In Joon meets with his dad and older brother, who tells him that he met with Tae Oh regarding the mall he wants to build.

Soo Hyun goes to In Joon, and wants to know who he visited. Hae Ra moves to Seoul with her sister, and starts to work for Gold Mirage, but the team is very unfriendly to her.

Soo Hyun talks to Hae Ra and tells her she doesn’t want her there. Hae Ra isn’t one to be fooled around with since she fights back.  Hae Ra says Soo Hyun is starting to make her want to steal In Joon away.

In Joon catches her hand just as she is about to slap Hae Ra for a second time. In Joon catches up with Soo hyun and tells her to stay within her boundaries and not to interfere in his company.

Later that night, In Joon meets with Soo Hyun and his dad, who tells him to give her a position in the company. Soo Hyun looks at In Joon triumphantly because she gets exactly what she wanted.

Later on, In Joon and Hae Ra meet by accident in the office as they are both working late. He tells her he has faith in her to complete the project. It turns out that  Tae Oh set up the whole thing, he goes Hae Ra back to the office even though earlier In Joon saw her at the bus stop.

Tae Oh knows In Joon will go back to the office, so he makes sure Hae Ra is there. Hae Ra leaves Tae Oh after telling him she should be allowed to set the temperature, but she’s upset because he’s not letting her decide on her own. She gets out of the car and walks toward In Joon.

She tells In Joon that he forgot to give her a welcome party. He tells her Gold Shoes was his only home and Hae Ra is going to help him get him back. The restaurant they are in is apparently where Soo Hyun frequently goes to also, because she sees In Joon with Hae Ra inside the restaurant.

Tae Oh and Soo Hyun meet and she confirms Tae Oh’s plans of revenge. She asks if Hae Ra is part of his revenge, but he says she is only a back-up plan. She knows exactly what he is up to.

In Joon and Hae Ra meet up again. They seem to be meeting more frequently as he seeks her out more often. (Our boy is falling in love.)

Again they meet in the factory as Hae Ra is sent to the factory by the Manager. They share an intimate moment as he tells her about his mom. Soo Hyun’s dad visits In Joon, and tells him to get married right away. In Joon starts to doubt his plans of marrying Soo Hyun, wondering out loud what will happen if he didn’t push through with it.

Unfortunately for him, it could mean his business might go bust. Tae Oh and Hae Ra meet up and he tells her that he won’t interfere, but that he expects results soon. Hae Ra finds shoes from In Joon and wears it home, even if his guess was wrong and it’s a bit too big for her.

On her way home, she sees couples and families spending time together happily. She looks down at her shoes and smiles as snow begins to fall. It’s the first snow of the winter and they’re both thinking about each other.

A thieving woman can destroy everything In Joon has built. Will ambition prevail over the growing love Hae Ra is starting to feel for In Joon?

Memories of the Alhambra (Sat-Sun/tvN)

I am stocking up calming pills because the thrill keeps on burning in this ambitious tvN drama. It makes me want to drag the calendar days because the cliff-hangers are so far effective. Writer Song made the first drama that I had to watch with comprehensive note-taking with Nine. I feel like I will be needing it again, soon.

I am willing to volunteer as a tribute to find Se Joo, wherever virtual world he is. Isn’t he cute for causing all this mess? The series feels like a modern adventure drama. I am all in with my nightly prayers to support the hero. *giggles

Read: Memories of the Alhambra Ep 3 & Ep 4 Recaps

Priest (Sat-Sun/OCN)

There is another possession, and this time, it is a Licensed Practical Nurse Jae Moon, who is working at the Southern Catholic Hospital (this hospital seems to be a favorite hangout of this evil entity).

The latest possessed individual is a man of faith, and has dreams of becoming a doctor. He has low self-esteem, and being bullied at work aggravates the situation. Jae Moon tries not to succumb to the evil entity’s power but to no avail. He ends up hurting one of the nurses, Dr. Ham’s friend. Fortunately, Dr. Ham is able to revive her.

The group tries to exorcise the possessed individual, but he escapes. At Jae Moon’s house, Father Moon finds out his obsession with Dr. Ham. As they trap Jae Moon (the young police officer), Detective Koo’s partner becomes a casualty. The spirit leaves the body of Jae Moon, and triggers in Father Moon.

Father Oh and Dr. Ham obviously share a deeper connection, and the entity is clearly not just a simple acquaintance of Father Moon. These are some of the mysteries I will be eager to find out in the succeeding episodes.