Family by Choice Will Make You Cry Almost Every Episode | Episodes 1-10 Quick Review

Every time I'm watching a new episode of this drama, Family by Choice, there has been no episode that I didn't cry or at least get teary eyed. A lot are saying that the original version, the Chinese version, is far more better than the Korean remake. But since I haven't seen the original one, I'm already contented and enjoying every bits of the Korean remake. I got no complaints at all. The casts were perfect, I can really feel the emotions of each character. 

Personally, I really like Haejun (Bae Hyun Sung) here the most. Even though I watched this with an intent of seeing Hwang In Yeop finally getting his girl in a drama, the character of Hyun Sung really captivated me. I mean, I guess I really like the sporty one instead of the bookworm type of character. kkk 

Both Kim San Ha and Yang Haejun are deep characters. They have a very unfortunate childhood and life in general because of their irresponsible parents. They all have a painful story to tell, however, Haejun's love for Kang Ju Won's dad is just so pure that it melts my heart everytime they're having heart-to-heart conversations. Juwon's Dad (Choi Won Young) is such a softie character as well, he's just warmhearted. Just these two characters alone, make me cry a river already and I just find their connection really beautiful which is probably why Haejun and the dad are very close to my heart more than the other characters. Anyways, we'll see once she became a total lady after San Ha expressed his real feelings for her. 

But of course, I still like Kim San Ha. He's still a cool guy despite his introverted nature. He also possesses a golden heart just like Haejun. But sometimes, it just makes me feel awful how overly kind and pure hearted they really are even to those who wronged them. Drastic example would be Kim San Ha's choice to take care of his selfish mom after abandoning him for 10 years. She literally just came back to get San Ha as her daughter's baby sitter and later due to a car accident, she lost her ability to walk and so San Ha had no choice but to take care of her again just because they're so called 'family'. Sigh. It just infuriates me how San Ha still made this choice. The selfish mom got so unfortunate (probably because she's a meanie in her entire life) and now she had to drag his son into his life after leaving him like a dog on the street when he was a kid. Ugh. 

Anyway, we're already at the adult life of the main characters. Episodes 11-16, we'll witness more of romance to build up around Haejun and San Ha. I'm not really fond of the female characters here more than the male ones but I can probably say that I like Dal. Well, I'm at least rooting for her for Haejun. As for Juwon, she's okay it's just that... she's way too immature for me to like even in her adult years. 

The Judge from Hell Ends with 11.9% Nationwide Viewership Ratings with Episode 14 | Very Enjoyable Kdrama!!

The Judge from Hell has officially ended Saturday night and here I am still thinking about how beautiful it was. The ending was just so satisfying and every characters, may it be main or side, they were all given fair exposure and developments that were necessary to make a perfect closure. The possibility to have season 2, however, is open and it's something for us to look forward if it'll come to materialize in the future. Bael sends a message to Justitia from Lucifer, the king of Hell, that he has an offer of giving Justitia a chance to live as humans if she sends 10 more sinners to Hell. It's something that Bael doesn't want Justitia to choose since he still considers her as his one and only heir. Sometimes I feel bewitched by the thought that Bael has emotions of appreciation for Justitia but I am trying to dispel that thought 'coz Bael is still a demon (not humanized like Justitia to feel emotions at all). I mean, he was so ready to throw Justitia to eternal death before angel Gabriel came to save her. So, I'm definitely bewitched. lol That creature was only living up to his role in the hierarchal structure of heaven and hell though. kkk

Anyway, I still hope Justitia would choose to live as a human so Daon will have the chance to be happy for a long period of time. That man deserves to be happy after all the unfortunate events that he went through. Also, I can't wait to see more of Justitia in action as a demon chasing after the sinners and send them to hell. However, we all know that it'll be more of a challenge now to Justitia because she already has emotions of a human being unlike before. Justitia already knew it, this is going to weigh her down. But for the love she has for Han Daon, she has to keep trying!

Now the final verdict, will I recommend this Kdrama The Judge from Hell? It's an easy YES from me!

I just loved and enjoyed every bits of this drama. The Judge from Hell really gave us that entertaining story and good character developments for both main and side characters. I am gonna miss the whole cast, for sure. 

Dear Hyeri Ends with 3.3% Nationwide Viewership Ratings | It's Over, FINALLY!

I've never been this relieved before that a 12 episode Kdrama ended already. It felt like I was watching a longer one 'coz it had been a drag watching the whole thing after episode 9. To be completely honest, the drama was doing so great until episode 10 happened. I've been very clear that Hyeri is only part of Eun Ho's mental illness, so I didn't really hang on to the idea that Kang Ju Yeon and Hyeri would end up together. Because at the end of the day, this is a healing drama, and so Eun Ho has to heal to completely solve the whole point of the story. However, I didn't expect Eun Ho's treatment to be written in an insane manner. The writer made Eun Ho so dependent on Hyun Oh so much that she cannot heal on her own with the help of psychiatrist. Because the way I see it, if Eun Ho only depends on Hyun Oh throughout the series, it only meant there's a weak to no character development happened to her at all. If I knew this drama promotes and tolerates toxic love, then I wouldn't have started this. Sigh. What a complete waste of time. 

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the actors here, in fact they are all excellent in what they're doing. It's the story that really irks me so much. I can't believe that I successfully avoided The Impossible Heir and Hierarchy this year but I ended up watching Dear Hyeri. Sigh. One of my worst experience in watching a Kdrama, tbh.

The worst episode for me here is 11, btw. After episode 10 ruined everything... I felt nothing at all watching the next episode. I seriously detested the time watching Hyun Oh and Eun Ho being lovey dovey after the storyline made the viewers hate them. Like... are they for real?! It's like they're trying to cover up their mess with something that really caused the mess. lol Also inserting comedic scenes and pointless get togethers in episode 12, saying goodbye to Hyeri when there are only 5 people who got involved with her in the series... it's so ridiculous. The only redeeming part of this whole drama is actually Hyeri's side of characters. (Min Young, Ju Yeon, Hye Yeon and nothing else) I'm honestly more excited to know that there's possibility of Ju Yeon and Hye Yeon being a couple in the future than that marriage of Hyun Ho and Eun Ho.

Anyway, it's time for my verdict... will I recommend this drama? My answer is a big NO. 

Congrats to those who have finished the drama though. We've been through A LOT just by watching this drama. lol

Shin Hye Sun and Kang Hoon Called it Quits in "Dear Hyeri" Episode 11

From 3.5% nationwide viewership ratings in the previous episode, now it's down to 2.7%. This drama seriously has a great potential at the beginning but it was all wasted as it nears end. If I knew this drama would romanticize toxic relationships, I would've not started it. I trusted Shin Hye Sun's choice of project way too much, now because of Dear Hyeri, I think I developed trust issues because of her. 

The way this drama was written was so disappointing that I found it really a huge waste of time. I got to the point that I don't feel anything about the characters anymore aside from Joo Yeon, Hye Yeon, Min Yeong and Shin Jung. At first, I still care about Hyun Oh and Eun Ho but I got drained by how messy this drama became. lol Even the ending scene of episode 11, I don't feel anything at all when Hyun Oh could be dying or anything. I'm not even curious of the finale episode anymore. I'm contemplating right now whether to still watch it or not. Sigh. 

Episode 11 was a complete drag for me to finish. The only thing worth watching here is that they gave Eun Ho and Kang Ju Yeon what they call a 'good breakup' where they ended up in good terms. I'm really happy about that and I found it very beautiful until they decided to pull comedy at the end. Like, are they rubbing on our faces that it was the toxic Hyun Oh who Eun Ho picked? lol Also, the other bits of comedy put into the whole episode, it all felt forced. Seriously, what happened to this drama? The writer messed it up and it's awful. Sheesh, I need to beware of this writer's next project. I don't want to waste more time with his/her new works. 

I know it's just 11th episode, as of now, but I'm gonna conclude this whole thing already coz I might not be able to create another blog post for this drama whether I watch the finale or not anymore. So, will I recommend this drama or not? Definitely NOT! 

Shin Sung Rok Gave Park Shin Hye's Final Task in "The Judge from Hell" Episode 12

The real identities of J and Satan were finally revealed in episode 12. I wasn't really surprised with it at all, I knew Satan would use someone else to act for him. Bosses are like that after all. The match with Satan was really easy with Justitia though, Satan got no match with Justitia's power especially when it's also driven with the power of Han Daon's love. Lesser evil wins this time and it's none other than Justitia. lol

Isn't it crazy how humans like J can be so evil? Almost like Satan in this drama (if not more than that). Serial killer J is psychotic as if possessed by the devil with all those killings he had done without conscience at all. The way he killed detective Kim too was so gruesome, it's really awful. It enraged Han Daon when they finally meet and discovered how Kim died in J's hands. The anger he holds for him is out of this world and Justitia could clearly understand that, now that she's having sympathy for humans, which is why she's being supportive of him no matter what decision he makes between killing J or punish him legally. In the end, Han Daon chose the legal way as he remembered his promise with Kim before. 

Now, with the final case of Justitia, Bael wanted her to release J and send him to hell instead. The general public is already enraged with the judge, Justitia also promised Han Daon to punish J legally and then this request of Bael came out of nowhere. I cannot really get mad at Bael though, because he's just following the original plan whereas it was really Justitia who went astray from his instructions by falling in love with a human. I wonder what will happen in the next episode. Will Justitia abide Bael and betray the people and most especially Daon? Or she has something else installed to get away from Bael's orders? Hmmm... Waaaah! Only 2 episodes left! I'm not yet ready to say goodbye to this drama.

Shin Hye Sun Chooses Lee Jin Wook in "Dear Hyeri" Episode 10 | Reached Their Highest Nationwide Viewership Ratings to Date

At the end of the day, this is just a Kdrama where fantasies could happen and make the worst situation look good like in a t0xic relationship. lol Why writers cannot pull a 'Love Alarm' stunt here where the 2nd lead gets the girl? or the 3rd lead maybe? 'Coz the writer made Eun Ho dependent on the male lead waaaaay too much. 

The first person that comes to Eun Ho as she is.... it was Hyun Oh and the next ones are just invalid. Sigh. Why did I even signed up for this drama? lol I'm way too deep with this right now to drop it, really. 

Anyway, the 10th episode of Dear Hyeri reached 3.5% Nationwide viewership ratings and it's their best so far! Wow, it's really gaining a lot of attention but with the turn of events with this week's episodes, I wonder if there would still be a lot of viewers who are going to tune in for the next episode. Only 2 episodes left btw! I'm still gonna watch it despite my disappointment here. lol I know, I know, Hyun Oh is the main lead here no matter how toxic he is. Crazy how the writer can force feed that to us though. kkk

Dear Hyeri Reached 3.5% Nationwide Viewership Ratings for Episode 8 | Their Highest Record to Date

If you're going to follow the viewership ratings for this drama, you can see how a new episode each week break its personal high record. It just proved how the story is unfolding interestingly that it captures more viewers. Dear Hyeri became the 3rd most buzzworthy kdrama for this week too with Shin Hye Sun as the 3rd most talked about actress and Lee Ji Uk as the 4th most talked about actor. 

Even though I see a lot of people commenting on my Facecbook page that they're dropping this because they are hurting for Kang Hoon's character Kang Ju Yeon. On the bright side, a lot are still sticking with this drama (including me) because the story is truly captivating. I honestly love this drama and how it's written close to reality for each characters. How they battle hardships throughout their lives, how to cope up from failures and downfalls, their love stories as well as how everything that happens to them affect their lives. I just love healing dramas like this and the angst put into this are really well told and only people with depth and understanding for the characters here would be able to enjoy this. So in short, not all people would be able to enjoy this drama at all and it's understandable. I just feel that it's a shame that they wouldn't be able to witness how great this drama really is. 

If you're still watching Dear Hyeri and still enjoying it then we're gonna be good friends. 

Read more: Kang Hoon Revealed About The Real Situation of Shin Hye Sun to Lee Jin Uk in "Dear Hyeri" Episode 8

Park Shin Hye is Determined to Protect Kim Jae Young in "The Judge from Hell" | Episodes 9 and 10 Review

From 13.6% viewership ratings last week, it's now only at 11.4-5% this week. Seems like the viewers don't like the idea of d3m0ns losing their powers because of falling in love again. How many times has this plot twist been used in many kdramas already? Well, generally, so many concepts has been repetitively used even on different dramas too so it's a matter of how good and different the story telling would be now. So far, I'm really loving The Judge from Hell. I, too, don't like the idea that Justitia would weaken at some point in this drama but if the writers can only think of it to write a good character development for Justitia then I'm not gonna complain at all. I just really love Justitia as a character so I'm just gonna embrace these changes she'll go through. I also like Han Daon, so they have my blessing. lol 

The ending scene of episode 10 was sad btw, but I believe Da On is still alive. In the preview, Da On's vehicle smashes through an enclosure so I'm not that really worried if he got killed by Paimon protecting Justitia. Speaking of which, Justitia pledge to protect Da On in the ending scene only for Da On to get stabbed protecting her from Paimon. Oh, love birds. They're good for each other, so how can we even complain with them falling in love? kkk

Episodes 9 and 10 are just as good as the previous ones and I love how there's insertion of new demons to fight Justitia like Paimon. The action scenes are superb and it's always fascinating how these demons use their powers to fight. It just proved also how strong Justitia really is as a demon, just in case we're too focused on her being dehumanized, it's a good opportunity to redeem Justitia as a demon. It's like, hey she's still a demon after all, after watching these kind of fight scenes. kkk 

So there are only 4 episodes left for this drama and Satan's real identity hasn't been revealed yet. You know what? I, too, have theories of my own and I'm gonna share that in here. Despite Kang Bit-Na's fiancé being an obvious bad person as well as the brother being serial killer J, I still have a feeling that Satan is Jung Jae Gul (the assemblyman). I mean, if you're this powerful creature Satan, surely you're gonna have pawns to work for you, right? Jung Tae Kyu and Serial killer J are humans living like devils under the control of Satan who I think is their father. What do you guys think? Share your theories here.

Bae Hyun Sung Got Angered by Hwang In Yeop's Truthful Words in "Family by Choice" | Episodes 3 and 4 Review

I can't believe these parent/s of San Ha and Hae Jun are coming back to get them after years of abandonment. Did they really think their children are like puppies where they can abandon them anytime they want and just get them back once they changed their minds? You know what, they're even worst than animals. Sheesh! Biological dad of Hae  Jun came back to get him just because he didn't have a child with his wife and that he doesn't want to share his wealth with his wife's family. It's so ridiculous. And we have San Ha's mom coming back saying he wants to live with him after abandoning him so easily in the past. And did she just said that she wanted to try forgiving San Ha for what happened in the past? An incident that all decent human being could tell that it's the parent/s fault for leaving two kids all alone by themselves. Where were they during that time anyway? Sigh. She's awful! And what really frustrates me most with this comeback of San Ha's mother is the fact that she's using her daughter from another husband of hers to get San Ha back to her. Seriously, the way she's telling her little daughter that San Ha would come to them to Seoul and will play with her, it feels like the mother is looking forward to make San Ha a baby sitter again. lol Seriously, that mom is so selfish and just ridiculous. 

All these parents are in no par with Juwon's dad. Juwon's dad is so kind hearted not just as a parent but as a person in general. But then I won't be surprised if Juwon's dad has some sad story to tell later on too. Because we all know that the kindest person always has a sad, if not tragic, backstory. But before that, I just hope that these problems that had occurred with San Ha and Hae Jun's awful parents would be resolved. Kudos to Juwon's dad for being so understanding of the people involved in their situation. Sigh. 

In episode 4, I'm in awe of  how good the relationship of San Ha and Hae Jun were. But it all crumbles down because of their current situation with their parents. I'm a little bit disappointed with Haejun's actions in here tbh. I get it that he also has family issues and has different perspective of things especially when it involves a mom, but he cannot push other people to think same as him. 

San Ha was trying his best to be the mature person from the start and tell his side of story, but Haejun always disregard his feelings. San Ha is also just young and very sensitive with family matters so... I really understand how he ended up blurting out hurtful words towards Haejun like that. At the end of the day, he's just telling the truth.

Kang Hoon Revealed About The Real Situation of Shin Hye Sun to Lee Jin Uk in "Dear Hyeri" Episode 8

Hyun Oh finding out about Eun Ho's multiple personality disorder, I can't believe it'll be through Kang Ju Yeon. I see a lot of commenters saying it was wrong for Ju Yeon to reveal this medical condition of Eun Ho to other people and it's true, but I think it's about time Hyun Oh finds out about how miserable Eun Ho had become because of him. I just want him to regret his actions whether it's intentional or not. He broke up with Eun Ho right there and then when she opened up about marriage, throwing away the 8 years that they've spent together. He had insisted what he told Eun Ho clearly at the beginning of their relationship that he didn't want marriage but now that the 'marriage' topic come to light to him because of his dying grandma, he should've thought of Eun Ho right away to fulfill his grandma's wishes and not other girl. I know that it was the girl who's forcing herself on Hyun Oh but still, what are his mouth and feelings are for? He could always reject her and say that he already love someone else right? Sigh. 

Seriously, I've tried to understand Hyun Oh the best I could because Eun Ho still loves him and even after knowing his backstory and responsibilities. But this guy, we can no longer deny how toxic he really is when it comes to relationship. He's just way too much, and it's already a mistake to forgive him nor give him a chance at love again considering how much he has torn Eun Ho's life already. The gravity of his indecisiveness has become unbearable already and it's not something that can be cured so easily anymore. I hope that he'll realize that finally now that he found out about Eun Ho's medical condition. 

Anyway, my heart is just saddened of what's happening to Eun Ho right now. Although I'm saying that I really wanted her to heal, I just don't know anymore how she'd do that at all. She has no one but herself, how can she go through this when she herself is the weak point? Who's gonna help her other than the doctor? To be honest, the deepest connection Eun Ho really has right now is with Hyun Oh. I wouldn't be really surprised if she would still end up together with him once Hyun Oh changed 360 degrees and stay by her side on full throttle. I don't really like him anymore, I'm so frustrated with him, but if it means for Eun Ho to get healed then... I'd just allow it like that. But clearly, not because I like him, it's gonna be because I'd like Eun Ho to heal. 

At the end of the day, the person here is Eun Ho and Eun Ho has a total different personality than Hyeri who she pretended to be only but adapted to be another personality in the long run of pretending. In short, Eun Ho is the person, the existing human being here and Hyeri is part of her mental illness. Even if this drama is called 'dear hyeri', I would find it disturbing if Hyeri is going to conquer Eun Ho's body in the end tbh. I'd rather see Eun Ho get healed and start a new life and love with Kang Ju Yeon instead of Hyeri being with Kang Ju Yeon.