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Much like the team they portrayed, Stove League rose from the bottom and shattered all expectations. Though the broadcasting station clearly tried to capitalize on this sleeper hit by dividing it into smaller episodes to shove more commercials in between and the production side weighed down some of the fun by inserting a ridiculous amount of PPL scenes, luckily the show ended with its intended 16-episode run. Thus, it's now time to say goodbye to our underdog team, Dreams.

**SPOILER ALERT** (The following has major spoilers for episode 8 of The Crowned Clown.) Marking the end of the first half of The Crowned Clown , Chief Royal Secretary Lee Kyu does the unspeakable: he murders the king, Yi Heon. Episode 8, the halfway point for the series, begins the clear divergence from the original source as Chief Royal Secretary is forced to choose between his king or his ideals. It's a quiet affair without much fanfare which only emphasizes the destitute state of the fallen king.   It's a brilliant scene: shot, scripted, and acted beautifully. My favorite scene from the show thus far, capturing the complexity of the characters and the moral ambiguity of their choices.     The episode starts with the king's unexpected return to the palace which throws Chief Royal Secretary's efforts out the door in a matter of seconds. Forced to face reality, he finally sees what the throne looks like with a rampant king. The man he once

Live is a brilliant drama about people and the workplace. It tells the stories of patrol officers, and explores how individuals make choices in environments not of their own choosing. It humanizes the people behind the uniform but doesn't shy away from criticizing society and the police force. The characters are deeply flawed, and the situations they encounter are unjust. However, Live is never hopeless. The characters continue struggling against the system, and despite the challenges and injustice they face, they don't give up. It's a story of human resilience, a tale of repentance and forgiveness, a journey of finding oneself in this crazy world, but ultimately, it's a drama about people.

Welcome to the fourth Lovepark End of the Year Award: where the awards don't matter, and nobody cares! Judges: Me (as always)

With only a week left, I wanted to share some quick thoughts about this show. I loved the first two episodes which set the tone and had a solid arc (a quick recap is in the works, but we'll see if it ever sees the light of day). The acting is great, and the characters are endearing to various degrees. Argon is (relatively) episodic with one major arc in each episode. Sometimes those arcs are about a news report, and if not, they usually center around a theme. As a result, certain episodes are more engaging than others, but overall, the quality is consistently good. As a whole, Argon almost feels like vignettes, highlighting the lives and struggles of its characters, and as a result, the audience sees snapshots of their lives. By starting the show at the crew's fall from grace, there's already an established history and relationships between the members of Argon as they've experienced success and defeat together as a team. In a sense, the audience enters Argon wit

What else can I say? Park Won-sang plays a major role in the drama, and you have me hook, line, and sinker. Side note, I watched the entire press conference the show held recently, and I actually liked Director Lee Yoon-jung. I only knew her as the Coffee Prince director and then more recently as the Cheese in the Trap director who got into quite a mess. I must admit that I haven't heard very nice things about her as of late, but she seemed so personable and cheery during the press conference that I couldn't help but warm up to her a bit. Anyways, Park Won-sang only had wonderful things to say about the show--don't they always?--so I'll trust his decision. Also, even if the show turns out to be terrible, I know for certain that Park will be amazing. Besides, the leads are Kim Joo-hyuk and Chun Woo-hee, and that's enough pull for me to check out a first episode even if Park Won-sang wasn't attached. It's been a while since I've been excited for

1. More of Woo Bo's funny drunk face. 2. Serious scenes of Moo-ha. (Didn't know he had it in him!) 3. Mae-chang's backstory. 4. A change in the female lead. (If they don't give Ga-eun something to do, Hwa-goon should be the female lead.) 5. Remember the crock? Apparently the writers don't, either. Seriously, it's been five years and counting, let's see it already! She can't believe you still haven't found it.

As touted during its promotional stage, Man to Man is an action comedy, and for all intents and purposes, it's pretty good. The first episode had a lot of setup as the audience is introduced to the major players, and episode two starts to showcase the interactions between the main characters. Storywise, there's your occasional contrivance and disregard of physics which can be bothersome, but this is one of those shows where you really shouldn't try to analyze and question every detail. If you just sit back and relax, it's a breezy watch. Park Hae-jin as Kim Sul-woo , Undercover Bodyguard I'm relatively indifferent towards Park Hae-jin. I remember him first from Famous Chil Princesses , and haven't really developed any opinions about him. I'm sure his fans will enjoy him in this role since he's portrayed as a super suave and charismatic person. He plays the role with a good balance of confidence and aloofness, and there aren't any complaints f

Apparently, Park Sung-woong has been cast in Bad Guys 2 which is planning for an October release date on OCN. The source says that he's playing a homicide detective who's an ex-boxer. He doesn't care about promotions or justice, but rather, risks his life for money because of a past event. If this is true... I suddenly got flashbacks of Hidden Identity which was just a waste of potential. Also, there hasn't been any other substantial names attached or dates given about the drama, so it is possible that Park Sung-woong might not join in the end. Well, the only good news is that the original was good and OCN tends to be better at police and noir-ish dramas than TVN. But after Signal , that might not be the case anymore. For Park Sung-woong's sake, I do hope the second season will be decent. Via Sports Donga