We Are All Trying Here | Quick Review and Recap

From the writer behind the masterpiece dramas My Mister and My Liberation Notes, Park Hae Young returns with We Are All Trying Here, starring Go Youn Jung, Koo Kyo Hwan, Oh Jung Se, Park Hae Joon, and more.

The drama follows people whose lives are weighed down by envy and jealousy as they search for peace and healing.

It centers on The Eight Club, a group of friends who formed their bond as students and promised to rely on one another. As adults, they all became respected directors and producers in their fields...except for one member, Hwang Dong Man, who was left behind.

Hwang Dong Man is seen as a pathetic loser by his friends. In their circle, he is the only one who still hasn’t debuted as a director. At 40 years old, he works as a teacher, but he’s losing students every day because they don’t believe in what he’s teaching. He’s overly passionate, yet his own life doesn’t reflect his words. To make ends meet, he also takes on part-time jobs, but it’s still clearly not enough.

His brother wants him to quit chasing his dream and work in construction instead, so he can have a stable income. After all, it’s been 20 years and nothing has happened. But Dong Man is stubborn and refuses to give up, continuing to work on his screenplay day and night.

"If I can't prove myself by succeeding, I'll prove myself by falling apart."

This was the phrase he was screaming at the top of his lungs when he went home frustrated. 

Perfect Crown First Impression | Episode 1 and 2 Recap and Review

The highly anticipated drama starring IU and Byeon Woo Seok premiered on April 10, and almost every K-drama fan page has been posting updates about the first two episodes. The hype is definitely real.

Episodes 1 and 2 pulled in 7.8% and 9.5% nationwide ratings, which is already a huge jump compared to the drama that previously aired in the same time slot, In Your Radiant Season.

10 favorite K-dramas I watched in 2025

Here are my 10 favorite K-dramas I watched in 2025.
Please note that this list is purely based on my personal taste, and it’s in no particular order.

1. Buried Hearts
This drama made me fall in love with Park Hyung Sik. The story is incredibly intriguing, and the ending is haunting. Up until now, I can still feel the heaviness it left behind. It was a great show overall.

2. Study Group
I rarely enjoy high school dramas these days, but this one kept me hooked until the very end. I genuinely loved it.

2025 SBS Drama Awards Full List of Winners

Since it's the first day of year 2026, I am here making a comeback writing on this blog. Hurray! Anyway, I won't say anymore excuses as to why I haven't been posting here last year, I'll just try to become more committed in posting here like I used to back in the days I was very active. 

Okay, so for the first blog entry of the year, let me talk about the year end awards show winners. Here's the full list of winners of the 2025 SBS Drama Awards:

Grand Prize (Daesang):

Lee Je Hoon - Taxi Driver 3

Ms. Incognito Concludes with Record-Breaking 7.1% Nationwide Rating — ENA’s Highest-Rated Monday-Tuesday Drama of 2025

One of my confirmed favorite dramas this year is Ms. Incognito starring Jeon Yeo Been.

When it first came out, I didn’t watch it right away, in fact, I even doubted if it was worth watching. But when four episodes were already available, I decided to start, and wow… what an experience! From the very first episode, you’ll already be hooked and want to finish everything in one go. That’s how good it is. It's thrilling, exciting, and refreshingly unique.

In most recent K-dramas, the bodyguards are usually male, like in Red Swan or Tempest. But Ms. Incognito breaks that pattern because this time, the bodyguard is a woman named Yeong Ran, played brilliantly by Jeon Yeo Been.

Kang Dong Won and Jun Ji Hyun Teams Up in a Star-studded Action Series "Tempest"

Tempest marks the highly anticipated collaboration between Jun Ji Hyun and Kang Dong Won, a pairing that alone is enough to draw attention. And true to expectations, both leads, along with the rest of the cast, deliver strong performances that elevate the series. There’s no weak link in the acting department; everyone brings depth and intensity to their roles.

However, when it comes to the story, Tempest treads on familiar ground. Viewers who have seen Red Swan (starring Rain and Kim Ha Neul) will likely notice the similarities, a bodyguard protecting a woman trapped in a broken marriage, with romance eventually blossoming between them. The themes of love, betrayal, and protection echo almost beat for beat.

That said, Tempest still manages to distinguish itself by weaving in elements of political drama, espionage, and power struggles. These added layers give the series a broader scope and keep it engaging despite its predictable foundation.

In short, Tempest doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it delivers solid performances, striking visuals, and enough intrigue to keep viewers invested. It’s a must-watch for fans of the lead actors and anyone who enjoys a well-acted melodrama with touches of suspense.

Beyond the Bar | Recommended Kdrama

Beyond the Bar is over and I'm feeling empty again. Have you ever felt so attached to the characters and story that you can't focus on other new on-going series? You just can't help but think of what might happen if the drama has more episodes? It's this one for me. The last kdrama that made me feel this way was Park Hyung Sik's "Buried Hearts", which I am yet to make a review about here on the blog, that one was absolutely amazing. It's been months since that drama ended but I still think about it up to this time. When a drama really captures my attention from start to finish, I build that kind of connection towards the characters and the story of that series, so when the conclusion arrives and everything ending after 10, 12 or 16 episodes, I am completely left empty. And it's really hard to find nowadays a great Kdrama that captures my attention fully. Really. That's why letting go of a well written Kdrama is not that easy. 

Anyway, let's stop with the drama and get on with this review. Okay, so, Beyond the Bar is a legal drama that aired from August 2 to September 7 of 2025. It showcases the story of rookie lawyer Kang Hyo Min (Jung Chae Yeon) as she represents Yullim Law Firm through the cases that she works on through the help of her mentor and head of litigation department, Yoon Seok Hoon (Lee Jin Uk). As they work on new cases together, their relationship becomes closer and their backstory gets unveiled one by one. I honestly love that way of story telling when it comes to legal dramas. The cases and the story between characters flowed really in synched unlike some of the legal dramas that make these two flow differently. Both are effective, of course, but this kind of story telling from Beyond the Bar was a personal preference of mine. 

The Haunted Palace | Recommended Kdrama

The Haunted Palace starring Yook Sung Jae, Kim Ji Yeon (Bona) and Kim Ji Hoon ended Saturday last week and your guess is right... my mind still thinks of it. It's a romcom fantasy period drama that revolves around an Imoogi and a Shaman's adventure, taking on and sending off resentful spirits inside the palace. 

There were a few resentful spirits that haunts the daily living of the royal family. Queen Dowager's son, Prince Yeong In, was resented by a female ghost in a well because of foul treatment towards her while she was living. He's disgusting so somewhat, he deserves what happened to him in the end. Other that that, there were more but the biggest villain in the story was none other than the Eight-ft Spirit. This resentful spirit was very powerful as it also carry the souls from the village that got massacred because of the coward King 100 years ago. Eight-ft Spirit got summoned by Pung San backed by Kim Bong In, the betrayer among the few trusted people of the King. Together they aim to take down the King and his family. Actually the Eight-ft Spirit wanted more, his grudge towards the Royal family was immense that he wanted to continue taking down the Royal family for eternity. But despite all that, it's still a happy ending as Gangcheori and Yeori won in the end. Yaaaass! 

Gangcheori/ Kang Chul was the name of a dragon that was bound to ascend 100 years ago. But it did not became successful as someone from the Yeongdam Village saw him while the massacre was on-going. Years later, he has found a way to ascend and it's through Yeori. Gangcheori took form into human figure and pursue Yeori but failed. They all thought Gangcheori was the root cause of the unfortunate happenings including the death of Yeori's grandma, so they try to stay away from him. Then one day, the Royal Scribe Yoon Gap appeared and deceived Yeori to take her to the Palace and solve the mystery behind the resentful spirits. However, as they were on their way, Yoon Gap got killed and that's when Gangcheori possessed his body. Since then, Gangcheori was not able to come out from Yoon Gap's body. 

Yeori wanted to find Yoon Gap's soul and bring him back to his body so she continue on with her journey to the palace despite Gangcheori's opposition. Once they were in the palace, they meet the King and the rest is history. 

That's just a teaser for y'all, if you haven't watched the drama then I'll say you should. It's a recommended drama from me. 

This is Yook Sungjae's drama series since Golden Spoon (2022). Tbh, I didn't like that drama and was not able to finish it.. it felt like it's a drag watching it so dropped it along the way. But this one, The Haunted Palace, was really something. There were no boring episodes, I enjoyed every bits of it. The characters were lovely and they grew on me. Love them. 

Park Eun Bin Transforms into a Genius Doctor who Works in the Shadow in "Hyper Knife"

Park Eun Bin once again left me in awe by her versatility as an actress. I love her for that! This new series of hers, Hyper Knife, is a medical/crime/thriller drama that I absolutely enjoy watching lately. This got me really excited, tbh. I wasn't really expecting anything much from it when I started watching it, as I don't really read synopsis before watching anything, but it just got me hooked as episode 1 gone by. The concept where the one who oppressed the protagonist before and seeking her help now is what made me really excited. lol I want to see Jung Se Ok to disregard the old man's wishes to help him. haha! But the old man does dirty works too, he's persuading her to operate on him by threatening her to stop her from doing surgeries in the shadows. 

It's A Happy Ending for Got 7's Jin Young and Roh Jeong Eui's in "The Witch" Finale

Another Kdrama has ended and it's The Witch starring Got 7's Jin Young as Lee Dong Jin and Roh Jeong Eui as Park Mi Jung. Basically, the story revolves around Dong Jin finding the truth behind Mi Jung's real identity and curse. It's entitled The Witch because it refers to the existence of those who happen to have a curse with them. When someone confesses that they like Mi Jung, they all ended up severely hurt if not dead. The Witch thing only started as a mere mockery from a jealous person towards Mi Jung but it got bigger as more deaths and accidents happen around Mi Jung's close vicinity. During their high school, Dong Jin witnessed how Mi Jung isolated herself from the other students. But he tried his best to serve comfort for her in her solitude even from afar. And as he continues to observe Mi Jung, Dong Jin fell in love with her to which became his driving force to unveil the truth behind Mi Jung's mysterious curse. 

Dong Jin's chosen path was to take analytics to prove that the existence of a Witch is not true. He wanted to prove that the deaths and accidents surrounding Mi Jung were just mere coincidences with facts and data. However, he failed doing so. Eventually, Dong Jin's research turn from dismissing the idea of Mi Jung as a witch towards finding out the rules of her curse as a witch. And there, he found out the rules of death as he tried and tested each hypothesis he came up with through observation and data gathering. 

1. Being with a 10m radius of her for over 10 minutes is dangerous.

2. Holding a conversation with her is dangerous.

3. If she knows your name it's dangerous.

4. Confessing your feelings to her is dangerous.

5. Breaking all these rules will result in death.