I don’t know how I should start this review but let me begin with this, my so-called reviews for Buried Hearts/Treasure Island will be done slightly differently than Dr Slump from last year.

For my Dr Slump reviews I did it in the style of recap per episode but I realized that it takes too much time so this time I’m gonna do it differently to save time. My reviews for Buried Hearts will be two episodes combined per review….

Before going into Buried Hearts I was excited but a little worried even though it was pretty much hyped up and a lot of the times when shows are hyped up a bit too much it gets disappointing but so far Hyungsik didn’t disappoint me once again…..

I thought Disney plus USA was gonna upload it on the same day as Korea with SBS but I found out that wasn’t the case. When I realized that Disney USA wasn’t gonna upload the show and I couldn’t watch it on SBS, I was a bit disappointed because I didn’t want to watch it on some unofficial website. However, not too long after my disappointment I found out that I was able to watch it on HULU but it was five days after the show aired in Korea…..

When I read the synopsis online regarding this show  I felt that it was gonna be one of those  kinds of shows which have been done to death since K-DRAMA had been the thing for quite some time but I still didn’t mind it because it’s Park Hyungsik we’re talking about here.

Treasure Island/Buried Hearts is a revenge story and like I said above these kinds of shows are pretty common so it’s been done to death but Hyungsik was able to carry the show single handedly and to be honest, I don’t think I would have watched this show if it weren’t for Park Hyungsik my favorite actor that I’ve been a fan of for two whole years now……

Hyungsik plays a guy named Seo Dongjoo who works as an Executive Director and Team Leader for Daesan Inc. Seo Dongjoo is a very ambitious young man but when he falls in love with a woman named Yeo Eun Nam he becomes more in touch with his feelings over someone he loves over ambition. 

Buried Hearts isn’t all that different from what we have seen in K-Drama for years where family members fight over the inheritance, wealth and riches which tears up the relations/relationships between family members. So this kind of story isn’t anything new really but Hyungsik’s acting and delivery is what makes it cool.

Episode one sets up the relationships between characters and what’s at stake but it starts on a very high note because we get to see Seo Dong Joo and Yeo Eun Nam as a happy couple while living together.

Seo Dong Joo felt like a grown up Yoo Changsoo from High Society. Yoo Changsoo started out as a womanizer who eventually fell in love with Jiyi but in Buried Hearts, Dong Joo was already in love with Eun Nam and it was obvious that he was a one woman man unlike Changsoo from High Society.

Episode One was so intense because I don’t think I’ve seen that many make out scenes with Hyungsik’s character and the female lead in one go. Normally, the make out scenes would happen over time here and there in different episodes. However, I guess it makes sense since this is a revenge story so they started episode one on a high note with a bunch of make out scenes. 

Once we get to Episode two we see an angry Dongjoo after getting betrayed by the love of his life. I knew that Eun Nam was gonna do Dong Joo dirty cus she came onto him so strongly and she was the one always initiating the make out session instead of Mr. Seo.

I had a hard time watching certain make out sessions between Dongjoo and Eun Nam because Hyungsik’s character, Dongjoo showed way too much skin. There was a bed scene where Dongjoo is fully topless and this particular scene reminded me of Changsoo and Jiyi from High Society but in that one he was fully clothed. I couldn’t help but to think that Hyungsik really wanted to be seen as a sexy man instead of a cute guy with puppy eyes.

Hyungsik reunited with a few actors he worked with before like Kim Jung Ran who played his cousin Noh Yeong Seol in What Happens to my family is somewhat his rival in this new series as Cha Deok Hui, and she’s the eldest daughter of Chairman Cha of Daesan Group. Hyungsik also worked with an actress named Hong Soo Hyeon who was in Our Blooming Youth and she’s the one who played the Queen and in this one she played the second eldest daughter of Daesan group Cha Guk Hui.

Finally, Hyungsik reunited with Yoon Sang Hyeon who played Nam Bada in Dr. Slump. In Episode one we didn’t get any interactions between Seo Dongjoo and Yoon Sang Hyeon’s character Huh Tae Yun. However in Episode two we got more scenes with Huh Tae Yun and also a few interactions between the two males.

Even in Dr. Slump Hyungsik’s character Yeo Jungwoo and Sanghyeon’s character Naam Bada were like brothers but it seemed like Seo Dongjoo and Huh Taeyeon were like that too.

There was a scene where Taeyeon accidentally called Dongjoo, “Dongjoo Hyung” instead of Mr Seo or Director Seo which shocked Cha Deok Hui.

Eunnam studied in the US for some time and she went by Jennifer Huh although her last name is Yeo but her last name is Huh on her paperwork because her mother remarried a man with that last name.

I had a very bad feeling that Yeo Eunnam was gonna do Seo Dongjoo dirty when she said something in particular while she was taking a bubble bath with her boyfriend. 

Like I said before Dongjoo is a very ambitious man and he wanted to marry Chairman Cha’s granddaughter not knowing that his girlfriend was actually the granddaughter of Chairman Cha. Dongjoo’s initial plan was to marry Jennifer Huh, the granddaughter of Chairman Cha but decided to cancel that plan when he ended up falling in love with Yeo Eunnam. Dongjoo had no idea that his girlfriend Yeo Eunnam was Jennifer Huh, the granddaughter of Chairman Cha that he works for but he was shocked when he found out the truth.

On the surface and at the very beginning it might seem like Chairman Cha would be the bad guy but it’s starting to seem like he is one of the few people that’s on Dongjoo’s side. The real culprit of this drama is none other than the man Yeom Jang Seon played by the actor Huh Joonho.

Yeom Jang Seon isn’t the only one who seems to be the greedy one here, there’s another guy that wants to swallow the Daesan group whole and that’s Cha Deok Hui’s second husband Huh Ildo played by the actor Lee Hae Young.

Yeom Jang Seon wants so much power that he wants to control the big Korean conglomerates, politicians and even the judiciary system. This completely mirrors the state that South Korea is in currently full of greedy and shady puppet masters who are pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Yeom Jang Seon wants to gain power over Daesan group and he wants to help out his greedy relatives and want to use them to control things so he makes a deal with Chairman Cha to have his grandson marry Yeo Eunnam/Jennifer Huh.

When Eunnam was taking a candlelight bubble bath with Dongjoo she was hinting that she was gonna betray him. I had a feeling she was gonna do him dirty and over what? Daesan’s stocks, and her grandfather’s money. Eunnam ended up going for Yeom Jang Seon’s grandson so she could get the wealth of her grandfather and Daesan group.

Dongjoo might have been an ambitious man but when he falls in love with someone he’s willing to give that up while Eunnam on the other hand doesn’t know how to control her greed.

There are several characters who will be fighting over the wealth of Daesan and what would be Deok Hui, Deok Hui’s second husband Heo Ildo, Yeom Jang Seon, Chairman Cha’s second daughter Guk Hui. At first Dongju’s ambition was about to get the better of him and he was thinking about gobbling up Daesan along with a man that initially introduced him to Daesan but he gave that up when he fell in love with Yeo Eunnam but not anymore. Ever since Eunnam betrayed Dongju, he will be one of the contestants fighting for Daesan. Now, Dongju’s feeling of betrayal will set him up for an all time revenge towards Eunnam and this might hurt others in the process. We will get to see the execution of this revenge tale throughout the rest of the series.

There are some cute parts in the show like Dongju and the orange tabby cat and the way he drinks soju and eggs with his boss. Obviously Chairman Cha trusted Dongju since he shared the combination for his safety box although that changed after Mr. Cha found out about Dongju’s relationship with his granddaughter. Dongju was surprised since he thought he was able to keep his relationship with Eunnam/Jennifer a secret but even the Chairman knew about it.

So I thought Dongju was pretty much screwed and he had nothing but an enemy until he told Chairman Cha that he gave up his ambition for Daesan after he fell in love with Eunnam which opened up the boss’s heart. Chairman Cha took Dongju to a bakery owned by one of his mistresses from long ago. And to make matters worse, The chairman’s grandson from that mistress works there as a baker too and when Deok Hui and her husband found out about this they were both very nervous. I get the feeling that Deok Hui and her husband wants their son Taeyun to inherit Daesan.

As soon as Chairman Cha found out that Dongju chose love over ambition over Daesan he was able to relate to him more so this helps him save his job at the company.

As soon as everyone found about Dongju’s relationship with Eunnam, Yeom Jang Seon wanted Chairman Cha to fire the boy and he was very close to doing so but after hearing about Mr. Seo’s sensitivity he changed his mind about which pissed off Mr. Yeom.

I feel kind of bad for Yeom’s grandson who just got married to Eunnam. The situation is so much worse since Yeom’s grandson and Dongju went to highschool together. Yeom’s grandson Yeom Hui Cheol has no idea that his fellow classmate from high school had a steamy night with his newly wedded wife.

I’m already eager to find out Yeom Hui Cheol’s reaction after finding out about the steamy night Eunnam had with Dongju the night before their wedding. I could see why Yeom Jang Seon wants Dongju gone from Daesan for good but it doesn’t seem like he’s gonna do that though. Dongju is gonna stick around and go with his original plan to eat Daesan and it seems like by Episode 3 he might be succeeding in doing just that.

Towards the end of Episode 2 Dongju got lured into an empty apartment and obviously Yeom sent someone to get rid of this Dongju kid but we could tell that didn’t go so well…..So starting from Episode 3 we are gonna start seeing the fight between Seo and Yeom.

It’s sad cus it seemed like Yeom Hui Cheol was happy to marry Eunnam and unlike his dad his feelings for her seemed more or less innocent. Hui Cheol was smiling like a little child in front of Eunnam without realizing that there’s so much happening on the surface. By the way, Hui Cheol is a prosecutor and he didn’t get along well with Dongju back in high school. Hui Cheol kept on calling Dongju a thug so I’m curious to know their relationship back in high school.

There’s so much I want to know about Dongju because it seemed like he grew up as an orphan raised by the church and Dongju has a church name which is Stefano and man the name sounds so perfect for him!

The full on revenge is gonna happen starting from Episode 3 and I’m curious how it’s gonna all unfold.

I forgot to mention that there was a scene where we see a flashback of Dongju playing the violin for Taeyun to show the audience how they became close enough for the little Taeyun to call Dongju ‘Hyung’ meaning Big brother in Korean. This reminded me of Jungwoo’s relationship with Haneul’s little brother Bada although in this new series, Taeyun and Eunnam aren’t real siblings, they are just step siblings.

I’m so amazed at how Hyungsik could go back and forth from looking cute, adorable, average, boy next door, classy, traditional, to sexy all at once. This guy never disappoints me and my fangirl sis when it comes to how he could be such a chameleon…of course in a good way.

Also, Dongju has a tattoo of his old girlfriend. I wonder if he will ever go to a tattoo shop to get it completely removed because the woman freaking betrayed him. I would totally get that thing removed if I were in his shoes and my girl did me dirty like that.

I’m gonna be patiently waiting for Eps 3 and 4…they are already out on unofficial websites but it’s okay, just less than 2 more days to be posted on Hulu…….