K-drama: Oh My Ghostess

Synopsis: Na Bong Sun (Park Bo Young) may be a skilled chef, but she lacks the self-esteem to shine professionally and socially. Beyond her cooking talents, however, is an uncanny ability to communicate with ghosts. One day, her mystic senses go out of control when the seductive ghost of Shin Soon Ae (Kim Seul Gi) possesses her. Imbued with a fiery new "personality," Bong Sun starts turning heads, including that of Kang Sun Woo (Jo Jung Suk), the hottest chef in town and Bong Sun's secret crush!

My thoughts: Let’s try something different this time, shall we? It’s been a while since I last saw a K-dorama – or for that matter a dorama at all – but this one caught my heart so strongly that I just couldn’t leave it behind.

This was the CUTTEST, MOST ADORABLE dorama I’ve ever watched! Oh my, where to begin? It’s funny, witty, dramatic and heart-wrenching!

We start off with Na Bong Sun, a shy, low self-esteem girl, with great cooking skills, but too shy to show them. She works in the restaurant Sun, in Seoul, with the famous Kang Sun Woo, a great Korean chef, handsome and skilled – and she has a crush on him too, but too scared to even look at him. Beyond her skills, Bong Sun-shi has the ability to see and talk to ghosts – due to her bloodline, because her grandmother is a shaman.

So, one day, she gets possessed by one of these ghosts. But not just any ghost: a virgin girl, that died too young for her age, and never experienced a love life before – and well, since she is a virgin… you guys get the point. Her virginity is her grudge apparently, and she has three years to solve it before turning into a bad spirit. And Soon Ae has a target that may have the vitality to do it: chef Sun Woo!

This dorama was swell! Oh sweet Jesus, its twists and turns… The actress that plays Bong was very gifted, for she had to be two different characters in the same tv-show: her shy self as Na Bong Sun, and the bright, bubbly personality of the virgin ghost Shin Soon Ae when she was possessed. Although all the actors were very good, in my humble opinion, due credit must be given to Park Bo Young - who plays Na Bong - because her perfomance was very good, and she was responsible for the theme song of the show - that is so sweet that I downloaded already to my cellphone.

The actor that caught my eye - besides the protagonist - was one of the chefs that worked at the Restaurant. His nickname was Cordon, because of the culinary school Le Cordon Bleu, and he was a gentleman. I must confess that, even though I liked the main couple, I internally prayed that Na Bong would go for Cordon, because he always treated her kindly, was an honest guy, hard-worker, polite... A true gentleman!

I noticed how well played it’s dorama nowadays: the producers are very strategic, the played the characters very well! Usually in occidental tv-shows, kisses and romances happen with ease, and kiss-scenes become commonplace after sometime – because they are always happening. In k-drama, on the other hand, they build up the atmosphere so that when a kiss actually happens, your reaction would be as it follows:

a)    Not believing;

b)    Fangirling all the way through;

c)    Hope that it would happen more often, just to watch with suffering as nothing happens for some time;

d)    Even a hug makes you flicker and, obviously, fangirl;

e)    Whatever the guy does – even playing a fricking guitar wrong – becomes adorable, and you obviously fangirl.

They are little geniuses! They make smaller Tv-shows – with 16-20 episodes – but longer in duration, so they can really explore its characters and develop the plot, as well as its characters - for example, we see how shy Na Bong turns into a more confident woman, how the chef changes his manners and becomes more humble. Even the secondary characters – such as the restaurant staff, the shaman that chases Soon Ae around, the Woo family – are clever and funny!

I loved the ending: it wasn't as predictable as I thought it would be, so I really appreciated! It was well-made, interesting and gave me a desire to watch more dorama, more than ever!

Rate:

Trailer:

(It's in Korean, and I couldn't find a version with english sub - sorry guys!)