Title: 총리와 나 | Chongriwa Na | Prime Minister and I
Genre: Romantic | Comedy | Drama
Episodes: 17
Broadcast Network: KBS2
Broadcast Period: December 9, 2013 to February 4, 2014
Synopsis:
Kwon Yul is a righteous, upright and hardworking politician. A widower and father of 3 children. His kids rarely felt his love as they were growing up because he was so busy serving his country and now he’s going to be appointed as its Prime Minister. While Nam Da-Jung is a reporter of a gossip newspaper, Scandal News. She was brought up solely by her father, Nam Yoo-Sik, who is suffering from Alzheimers disease and a brain tumour with a few months to live. Her father’s dying wish is for Nam Da-Jung to get married so he can walk her in the aisle on a her wedding. By twist of fate, Kwon Yul and Nam Da-Jung was forced by the situation to enter in a contractual marriage of convenience. Along the way, they developed feelings for each other but politics and a unexpected revelation will rock their love for each other and may not survive.
Characters:
- Im Yoon-Ah as Nam Da-Jung
- Lee Beom-Soo as Kwon Yul
- Yoon Shi-Yoon as Kang In-Ho
- Chae Jung-An as Seo Hye-Joo
- Jung Da-Bin as Younger Hye-Joo
- Ryu Jin as Park Joon-Ki
- Choi Soo-Han as Kwon Woo-Ri
- Jeon Min-Seo as Kwon Na-Ra
- Lee Do-hyun as Kwon Man-Se
- Jeon Won-Joo as Na Young-Soon
- Lee Young-Beom as Shim Sung-Il
- Lee Han-Wi as Nam Yoo-Sik
- Choi Deok-Moon as Go Dal-Pyo
- Lee Min-Ho as Park Hee-Chul
- Min Sung-Wook as Byun Woo-Chul
- Yoon Hae-Young as Na Yoon-Hee
- Jung Ae-Yeon as Park Na-Young
- Kim Ji-Wan as Kang Soo-Ho
- Jang Hee-Woong as Bae In-Kwon
- Song Min-Hyung as Kim Tae-Man
- Kim Jong-Soo as Gong Taek-Soo
- Hong Sung-Sook as Jang Eun-Hye
- Lee Yong-Yi as Lee Dal-Ja
- Ko Joo-Yeon as Roori
- Han Young-Je as Kwon Yul’s Bodyguard
- Lee Deok-Hwa as Na Yoon-Hee’s Father on Episode 6
- Kim Junmyeon of EXO as Han Tae-Woong on Episode 10-12
- Oh Man-Seok as Gangster on Episode 12
My Review:
I don’t know much about the leading actor and he’s not really the typical korean actor I swoon about when I watch dramas and films while the leading actress, although, I’ve seen her before in some k-drama, she didn’t leave much impression to me until I remember I’ve seen her in K2 korean drama. So, I didn’t have much expectations on this k-drama when I decided to watch it. I was just longing for something light, funny and breezy. Episode 1 was a good start as it already provided a bit of what’s ahead and shows that it won’t be boring if you go along with the ride even if the looks of the leading actor is not something one would swoon about. Having said that, his looks blended well with his character that you can’t help but love him any way because he brings s sense of realism to the story.
So, What do I Like About this K-Drama?
(1) I love the spunk of Nam Da-Jung. She stands well on her own and doesn’t act like a subservient and just take whatever is dished out because of her situation. She looks at problems in simple ways and just live for the moment without regret. Girl power, hurrah!!!
(2) I like that the supporting characters and the supposed antagonists in the story are not really villains per se. They probably can’t even be categorized as such because each acted in a normal behavior albeit not always good in intention. They respond to what they know and feel at the given situation. They are flawed but never evil for evil sake.
(3) Lee Beom-Soo as Kwon Yul grew on me as episodes passes by. He’s such a great actor that even if he is not the typical korean hunk I consider to be, it doesn’t matter as he brought life to his character and made him handsome in my eyes. How I wish most of the politicians nowadays are really like him especially in terms of integrity.
(4) I like learning new things that are factual in k-dramas like the meaning of different kinds of flowers. The story behind them is quite interesting such as the baby’s breath has 2 meanings, pure heart and eternal sadness. I didn’t know that and it even explored behind the meaning, the story as to why it stands for eternal sadness. Knowing the story behind it made the scene with a voice over endearing and sad all at the same time. It made it more poignant rather than just giving the audience a chance to learn and listen to the thoughts of the character.
(5) There are many moments in the k-drama that truly made me laugh out loud and be touched. This is due to the talents of all the actors in the k-drama, however, I find the delivery of Jung Ae-Yeon as Park Na-Young a bit fake and force sometimes. Most of the time she’s not even funny, just irritating.
What I do Not Like About this K-Drama?
Failure to provide accuracy to the minute details to make the story realistically passable is always the weakest point of most of the k-dramas. Here’s to show some of the points that baffles me why the director can’t take the time to do it right is beyond me.
(1) How can one work under one of the most powerful people in Korea and not undergo a thorough background check? So, is it really that easy then to penetrate powerful people in the government and do harm without them knowing about it until it’s too late?
(2) For someone with Alzheimer’s, the character remembers conveniently a lot of things.
(3) If the reason of the character in leaving is for the sake of the children and because they need their mother, the mother doesn’t necessarily have to be back in being the wife again, isn’t it? On this part, Nam Da-Jung went off base from her character and who she is.
(4) For some reason, there’s something lacking on the ending. Although, it ended happy enough, however, considering the story and the characters are adults, the lack of intimacy and the way the director chose how to show the romance between the two could have been better dealt with.
Would I recommend this K-Drama? Yes
My Rating to this Drama
( See My Rating System: ) 4/5 Stars
OST:
01. Steps – Taemin of SHINee
02. I Love You To Death – Yoon Gun
03.Sweet Lies) – The Barbarettes
04. Carol Of Arirang – Various Artist
05. Morning) – Various Artist
06. Sound Of Snowing) – Various Artist
07. A Serious Face – Various Artist
08. I Love You To Death (Band Version) – Yoon Gun
09. Steps (Whistle Version) – Various Artist
10. She`s Kitty – Various Artist
11. I Love You To Death (Guitar Version) – Yoon Gun
For Lyrics in English, Romanization and Hangul, CLICK HERE