Hello everyone! Today is very hot in my country, and I am here drinking a can of beer while I introduce you guys to the Korean drama I am currently watching: Drinking Solo!
Drinking Solo is a romantic comedy that tells the story of people who like to drink alone (like me) for different reasons; sometimes, you just want to have alone time and heal yourself from a very tiring day, or maybe you have a bad day, and that drink can be a kind of encouragement for the next day, saying that everything will get better. Or a drink can even be for a celebration!
The story takes place in an institute in Noryangjin, an administrative division of Seoul, which is for people who want to pass the Civil Service Exam of the Republic of Korea. It revolves around the lives of the teachers and students of the institute, showing their daily struggles with money, love, and work relationships.
The cast is very funny and also the acting is good! The mains leads are Jin Jeong Seok (Ha Suk Jin) and Park Ha Na (Park Ha Sun). Jin Jeong Seok is a very famous instructor that teaches Korean history and is hired to save the institute that is about to close its doors. He is also known as "Premium Trash" to the other teachers, because everything for him needs to have good quality and reach a high standard, but his personality is so bad that it is just like trash. Park Ha Na is a newbie teacher of Korean language that has money problems and comes to Noryangjin with high hopes of becoming a good teacher and helping a lot of students. Reality is hard, however, and with her naive personality she has to learn how to survive in the world where just being a nice and hard-working person isn't enough.
Park Ha Na and Jin Jeong Seok
One thing that pleased me very much in this drama is that the characters tell stories that we all can relate to. It is not an unrealistic story, and maybe if you are a student trying to pass a difficult exam, you are going to find a little piece of yourself in there. If you are someone who has a job, you will as well, because it also has a lot of references to the workplace environment.
The funniest parts for me are always the students. The main actors are Gong Myung, Kim Ki Bum (SHINee's KEY), Kim Dong Young, and Jung Chae Yeon. Their characters have the same names as them in real life; it was my first time seeing this in a drama, and I couldn't find why this was done. (If you know, please put it in the comments! I am so curious hahaha.) Gong Myung has a crush on teacher Park Ha Na, and Dong Young wants to pass the exams really bad because of his family. Chae Yeon is a girl who is known as a beauty but doesn't want to date anyone and just studies.
Gong Myung, KEY and Dong Young
For me, KEY is the BEST. He is that kind of lazy rich student that doesn't want to study and keeps finding reasons to not do anything. Let's be honest, we all know someone like that (or maybe, sometimes, we all are a little like that).
The teachers are also great. Hwang Jin Yi (Hwang Woo Seul Hye) is the English teacher and she is known for her sexy personality and really wants to get married; Min Jin Woong (played by the actor with the same name) is a teacher who likes to impersonate famous drama characters to make his students laugh; Joo Won Jang is the academy principal (Kim Won Hae) who is always complaining about money and his wife's problems.
Teacher Min, Director Joo, and Teacher Hwang
So, I think everyone should try this drama because it is very good if you want to relax and just watch something with light humor. You can have a good laugh and be a little emotional. It is nice to see how so many different lives can be connected by just one place, and even if they seem to have nothing in common, they all do the same thing; they all drink alone at the end of the day.