ZOMBIE MAMMA'S DRAMA REVIEW: Pinocchio Episodes 1-2

Greetings dear readers and welcome to the very first Zombie Mamma Drama Review here on KDramaStars! I'm so happy you've decided to join me as we work our way through Park Shin Hye and Lee Jong Suk's latest drama Pinocchio. I know I'm starting this review a bit late (blame it on K-Pop concerts and major holidays) but I promise to get us caught up quickly so we can discuss all of the latest happenings in this drama together. So let's get started, shall we?

As is the case with most dramas, the first couple of episodes are more about introducing characters and giving backstory than anything and I'm okay with that because I'd rather know as much as I can about the characters now than be forced to suffer through endless flashbacks later on. Though these first two episodes have had their fair share of flashbacks, haven't they? I'm just hoping that with these first two episodes out of the way, we can stop watching the story unfold backwards and start enjoying a storyline that unfolds as time progresses. (Sorry, but watching a story backwards just isn't a favorite of mine.)

However the story unfolds, I've come to the conclusion that there are characters in this drama that I will love to pieces. Others I will loathe for all of eternity and  there are some I'm still on the fence about. (We are only two episodes in, after all.) I can tell you right now that Choi Dal Po is someone I'm going to love for all of my drama-watching days. He's adorable, brilliant, wounded and sweet which makes him the absolute epitome of male drama leads. In my world, it's inevitable to love a guy like Choi Dal Po, especially when he's played by Lee Jong Suk. (I fell so hard for Lee Jong Suk's character, Park Hoon, in Doctor Stranger and I'm probably going to fall just as hard for Choi Dal Po.) And the only thing that I could possibly see happening, to make me change my mind, was if Dal Po eventually went off the deep-end in a desperate attempt to right the injustice done to his family. However, seeing as how we're only two episodes in, I can't make any sort of assumptions yet so I'm just going to believe Dal Po is every bit as sweet and innocent as I'm seeing him to be.

Choi In Ha is a character I'm a bit on the fence about, after these first two episodes. She's someone I want to love, because I want her to be the perfect match for Choi Dal Po, but I'm not ready to ship her just yet. Seeing as how she's played by Park Shin Hye, there's a very good chance In Ha's going to become a weak and wounded female lead who ends up so broken by the end that she has to disappear for a year or two in order to "find herself" (aka run away from the people she loves most because she can't own up to her own feelings) and I just can't get behind that. For once, I'd like to see a Park Shin Hye character with a backbone, able to make her own decisions, follow her own dreams and own up to her feelings without becoming some sort of emotional martyr. I might be asking for a lot here but I'm hoping that with Lee Jong Suk as her leading man, Park Shin Hye will finally portray a character that doesn't make me want to throw things at her head by the half-way point. (Just saying...)

As for the rest of the characters, I'm fairly certain Dal Po's real brother is going to be a bit of a troublemaker, whether the problems he causes are going to have to do with his need to clear his father's name, or if it's simply going to be the drama that comes with eventually reuniting with his long-lost little brother. Either way, I see a lot of drama unfolding as these two reunite and I'm pretty sure a box of tissue is going to be necessary when we get to that point.

Part of me wonders whether In Ha's father is going to start stirring up trouble, now that he knows Dal Po isn't the idiot he's been pretending to be. I'd like to think that after five years, Dal Po's proven that he isn't out to cause trouble for In Ha's grandfather, he just needed a place to call home and he desperately needed someone to love him. But who knows if In Ha's father will be able to see that. He doesn't seem to be the most open-minded guy on the face of the planet and he certainly isn't the most warm-hearted. But I'm willing to cut him slack seeing as how he was once married to one of the most horrid women on the face of the planet.

Speaking of which, Song Cha Ok is without a doubt, one of the most awful women in a long history of awful drama women and I have to wonder, how does she sleep at night? She's a newswoman without a heart and I hope, more than anything that she sees the error of her ways before this drama ends because to leave her as she is would be so wrong! She needs to know that messing up people's lives for the sake of an interesting story is unacceptable and she needs to be held accountable for what she did to poor Dal Po and his family. Seriously! If this woman doesn't get what's coming to her before the end, I'm going to be flipping all the tables! But I'm getting ahead of myself (again) so I'm just going to stop here. Needless to say, I was happy when Dal Po decided to turn his back on In Ha, the second he realized who her mother was though that doesn't really seem to have left any sort of lasting impression. Five years later it's so painfully obvious that Dal Po has fallen for In Ha. I guess five years is enough time to realize that people can't be held responsible for who their parents any more than they can be held responsible for the weather; some things are simply unavoidable.

With only two episodes to talk about and nothing really happening as far as progressing storyline, I don't have much more to talk about. I'm intrigued by the main characters, I'm interested to see how Dal Po's painful past will affect his future. I'm really curious to see where this story goes from here, especially when it comes to Dal Po and In Ha's relationship. (Yes, I'm a sucker for the romantic side of any story. I just can't help myself!) I'm also really curious about Dal Po's father, whether or not he's still alive and what that will mean for Dal Po and his brother... I have so many questions about this but I'm sure they'll all be answered in time. In the meantime, I'd love to hear what you have to say about these first two episodes of Pinocchio. Are you enjoying this drama so far? Are you as excited by this paring of Park Shin Hye and Lee Jong Suk as I am? I'd love discussing dramas so be sure to let me know what you're thinking by leaving me a comment below!