Review of Pinocchio

About

Genre - Romance/drama/comedy/family

Airing Time - November 2014 - January 2015

Running Time - 60 minutes the episode

Episodes - 20

Rating - 15

Storyline

In the year 2000, Ki Ha-myung is leading a happy life with his parents and older brother Jae-myung, until his father Ki Ho-sang, the captain of the firefighting squad, dies in a factory explosion during a rescue attempt along with several of his men. When Ho-sang's body is initially missing, the media sensationalizes the case by scapegoating him. In a battle for ratings, cold and calculating MSC reporter Song Cha-ok alleges that Ho-sang survived the blast, and is currently in hiding because he was responsible for the deaths of his men. This causes the Ki family to become outcasts in their neighborhood and objects of national scorn. Ha-myung's mother attempts to kill herself and her younger son by jumping off a cliff, and Jae-myung blames their deaths on the media, particularly Cha-ok.

But Ha-myung is alive, having been rescued from the water by Choi Gong-pil, a kind elderly man who lives on Hyangri Island. Gong-pil, who may either have Alzheimer's disease or trauma-induced memory loss, believes that Ha-myung is his older son Choi Dal-po, a simpleton who had died thirty years ago. Ha-myung, who has no one else in the world, embraces the deception and treats Gong-pil as his father. Gong-pil officially adopts Ha-myung, now named Dal-po, and places him in the family register as his eldest son. So five months later, when Gong-pil's younger son Choi Dal-pyung moves to the island with his daughter Choi In-ha, they are flabbergasted to be told by Gong-pil to address a mere boy as their "older brother" and "uncle," respectively. In-ha has "Pinocchio syndrome," which causes her to hiccup whenever she tells a lie. She idolizes her mother, and hates living on the island after her parents' divorce. The fledgling friendship between Dal-po and In-ha is dashed, however, when he learns that In-ha's mother is none other than Song Cha-ok.

Five years later, In-ha and Dal-po are high school seniors and classmates at their small-town high school in 2005.Dal-po, who is actually a genius, pretends to be dumb (like the real Dal-po) and gets all zeroes in his test scores. With his last-place class standing and scruffy, country bumpkin hair, Dal-po is friendless at school while In-ha is the most popular girl. Dal-po secretly likes In-ha, and he is forced to join a televised quiz show at first to prevent an admirer from confessing to her on national TV, then later to protect her from losing a bet. At the TV studio, he runs into the show producer Hwang Gyo-dong, who had been a YGN reporter and one of Cha-ok's rivals, but changed careers after what happened to the Ki family. After seeing Dal-po on TV, and despite knowing that her Pinocchio syndrome limits her career choices, In-ha decides to become a journalist.

In 2013, the Choi family has moved back to the city. While In-ha has spent the last three years after college studying to become a reporter after failing her job interviews 35 times, Dal-po works as a taxi driver. Cha-ok, who hasn't seen her daughter in a decade and is now MSC's nightly news anchor and section chief, fails In-ha at her final interview, saying a reporter with Pinocchio syndrome would be useless. Seeing how hurt In-ha is at her mother's rejection, Dal-po becomes determined to help her achieve her dream so he announces that he wants to become a reporter as well. A month later, In-ha and Dal-po apply at YGN's "blind" audition for broadcast news reporters, but only Dal-po gets hired. When confronted by Gyo-dong, now-chief of YGN's news desk, Dal-po confesses his real identity as well as his real motive for taking the job: he wants to find his older brother Jae-myung and clear their father's name. But what he doesn't know is that Jae-myung has taken revenge on the factory workers who lied about their father by killing two of them and framing the third one. Meanwhile, with MSC's credibility rating at an all-time low, Cha-ok hires In-ha, using her Pinocchio syndrome in a publicity stunt. Thus, Dal-po and In-ha become rookies at rival networks, and among their colleagues are Seo Beom-jo, who comes from a rich, sheltered chaebol background and has a connection to In-ha via a wrong cellphone number, and Yoon Yoo-rae, once an idol sasaeng fan who now uses those obsessive and determined traits in her new job.

Cast

Main cast

Lee Jong Suk as Choi Dal Po/Ki Ha Myung

Nam Da Reum as young Ki Ha Myung

Park Shin Hye as Choi In Ha

Noh Jung Ui as young Choi In Ha

Kim Young Kwang as Seo Beom Jo

Lee Yu Bi as Yoon Yoo Rae

Supporting cast

(YGN News)

Lee Pil Mo as Hwang Gyo-dong

Min Sung Wook as Jang Hyun Kyu

Kang Shin Il as Lee Young Tak

Jo Deok Hyun as Jo Won Gu

Choo Soo Hyun as Im Jae Hwan

(MSC News)

Jin Kyung as Song Cha Ok

Kim Kwang Kyu as Kim Gong Joo

Kim Young Hoon as Lee Il Joo

Im Byung Ki as Yeon Doo Young

Yoon Seo Hyun as Lee Joo Ho

(Family)

Jung In Gi as Ki Ho Sang, Ha Myung's father

Jang Young nam as Ha Myung's mother

Yoon Kyun Sang as Ki Jae Myung

Shin Jae Ha as young Jae Myung

Byun Hee Bong as Choi Gong Pil

Shin Jung-geun as Choi Dal Pyung

Kim Hae Sook as Park Ross

(Cameo appearances)

Im Sung Hoon as Quiz show host (ep 1-2)

Jung Yoo Geun as Ahn Joon Ki, Chan Soo's first child (ep 14, 15, 19)

Jang Gwang as High school principal (ep 2)

Jung Woong In as Min Joon Gook (ep 2)

Jang Hang Joon as Director (ep 2)

Kim Min Jung as Dal Po's blind date prospect (photo, ep 3)

Lee Bo Young as Hye Sung car navigation (voice, ep 3)

Kim Hee Chul as Yoo Rae's cellphone wallpaper (photo, ep 8)

Bae Suzy as Beom Jo's blind date prospect (photo, ep 12)

Yoon Sang Hyun as Cha Gwan Woo, Jae Myung's public defender (ep 12)

Lee Joon as Fama, idol singer investigated for propofol use (ep 19)

Kang Nam as Song Cha Ok's student (ep 20)

Personal Opinion

So sad! What to do? The drama is over TTwTT

The drama was one of the bests I've ever seen!! This drama made it on my top 10 and even on my top 5!! It took over the 4th place which means one drama has to be removed from my list (sadly). I chose to remove Who Are You (2013) from the list since it was in 10th place and I had to make room for Pinocchio. If you haven't guessed already, I watched this drama because of Lee Jong Suk is a part of the cast. What makes a bonus is that Park Shin Hye is the female lead and this is her best drama ever.

Well this drama shows us how the world of a reporter is like, but also how the world of a reporter should be like. Now I understand Dal Po's anger and hatred against reporters, since a reporter destroyed his family. I would've proably felt the same. Of couse the drama's lag of logic is pretty much the same as any other drama's I've watched, that doesn't change that the plot was exciting.

For my favorite part of the drama...where to begin? I mostly like the part where Yoon Yoo Rae thinks Dal Po likes her, because Seo Beom Jo told her so. The whole part makes Yoo Rae look stupid and Dal Po confused. So funny XD But I have to say my favorite scene is in episode 8. In the end Choi In Ha walks past a resturent where Dal Po is eating (coincidence?) They end up eating together and then later walks side by side. In Ha talks about if the can get back to their previous relationship as uncle and niece. Dal Po tells her, he can't do that and asks if she can. She says yes, but because of her "pinocchio syndrome" (she hiccups when she lies) she hiccups, gets embarressed and walks away. Dal Po catches up with her and grabs her arm. She is trying to explain why she hiccups, but Dal Po kind of already know. He leans in to kiss her, but she blocks the kiss with her hand. That doesn't seem to stop Dal Po though. He ends up kissing her hand. She removes her hand and Dal Po goes for it again. This time it's on the lips.

The reason I chose that as my favorite scene is not only because of the kiss. It's because it's the first time Dal Po tells In Ha he likes her. In the beginning of the drama, In Ha tells Dal Po she like him, because she first said she didn't, but then she couldn't stop hiccuping.

For my least favorite scene, must be the scene where Jae Myung is arrested for killing three people. If you haven't seen the drama yet, this makes him sound like a crazy morder, but he isn't. Oka he is a morder, but he had his reasons. He shouldn't be killing people though...

My rating for this drama is:

Check out the trailer :)

Thanks for reading my review of Pinocchio :) Remember if you have any drama or movie I should review, please feel free to tell me about it and I'll add it to my list :)