As my blog is a victim of real life, this list is mostly for my benefit-for any one stumbling across my very quiet blog, if you have any questions about these dramas ask me in comments. As always, if it’s not in this list, I didn’t watch it and cannot include it.
It was a very long year, and a tiring year, personally, with my nations’ political insanity. I feel the bidding wars with Viki, Drama Fever, and Netflix over cable dramas messed up my viewing. Did Drama Fever’s death impact my viewing? I was already in drop mode on the ones I was watching there, so not on the dropping. But there have been several dramas I have wanted to watch that have not been picked up-would DF have picked them up? Maybe.
2018 Dramas I wanted to watch but have not been available to me:
Children of a Lesser God
Risky Romance
I Picked Up A Star On The Road
Cleaning With Passion
Top Star Yoo Baek
Sweet and Salty Office
DROPPED DRAMAS:
I just didn’t care/lost interest-
Jugglers
Just Dance
Suits
The Beauty Inside-I tried, cast was great, but I just did not care about the leads very much.
The Third Charm-After the 2nd split for WTF reasons, the lead fem character lost me. This drama had a HUGE start, out the gate it was fabulous. Seo Kang Joon and Esom were so good.
My Strange Hero- I watched almost all of it and just stopped, tired I guess. Kwak Dong Yeon was terrific.
Sketch-Rain was weird. I think I might have liked the fem leads trajectory but I just couldn’t get into the drama. I tried 3 times.
Didn’t Like-
Time –Just too much ugly for me.
Rich Family’s Son –I liked the couples well enough, I couldn’t take the parents.
About Time –Just didn’t care.
My Ahjussi –I hear this drama was great. It was very depressing at least in the first few episodes and it lost me.
What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim- I love the cast. I did not like the lead characters much, everything seemed off.
One Hundred Million Stars from the Sky –This screamed I am going to win the what the fuck did I just watch award. While it did not go where I thought it was going I think it still ended WTF so I am glad I did not stay.
Laughter in Wakiki –Big no, too something for me.
Player-Not even for Krystal.
12 Nights-Yawn.
Happy If You Die- I found the leads loud and obnoxious. I think I might have stayed for the satisfaction of getting to kill your anal retentive boss and Gong Myung. But then I got behind and got spoilered on the ending so I dropped it.
This was bad-
Where Stars Land-So WTF. Rising Muffin Kim Kyung-nam was great though.
Fluttering Warning-it bored me and I did not like it visually.
Sound of Your Heart Reboot
COMPLETED DRAMAS:
Are You Human Too? Uri Shin. That is all. No seriously, URI SHIN. I seriously loved this character. Seo Kang Joon was wonderful in portraying 2 characters.
Boyfriend- This was NOT the drama I was expecting. I was expecting more melo, more makjang, and a divorced Mom from a prominent family trying to break from the familial expectations, meeting a young hot man from a different class that stirred her mentally and sexual. For one thing, there was no kid. I think it was more than what I expected, and less. It was a very quiet drama with the threatening political chaebol shenanigans pretty much fizzling out. Beautiful to watch, a thoughtful drama. I very much liked Soo Hyun, and how she was so very calm and collected, measured and thoughtful. I think life experiences certainly played into how one interpreted and reacted to this drama, as well as attitude-actors are professional liars and have a job to do regardless of personal relationships. My god it was not like they are siblings in real life, people. Please learn to separate actor from character.
Come and Hug Me-This drama pulled you in. I am not great with melo, but I really loved this drama. The ending was anti climatic but the ride was awesome. Jang Ki-yong was super. And the supporting cast! There is a scene between Nak won oppa and Na moo hyung, in Nak won oppa law office. A small scene, really, That was some of the finest k drama I’ve ever seen. The actor that played Na moo hyun, Kim Kyung-nam, he’s a lovely rising muffin.
Dae Jang Geum is Watching-This was a fun little show, a little idiotic, but fun.
Devilish Joy-This drama came out gang busters with Choi Jin Hyuk hot factor on scorch level. And then not sure where this drama went. Everything was so contrived. Hoya was a lot of fun.
Ghost Detective-Let’s create all this canon AND THROW IT OUT THE WINDOW IN THE LAST 2 EPISODES.
Hoon Nam and Jung Eum-I didn’t think I would stay with this but I ended up liking it.
Live – Great cast, great drama. The only complaint I have with this drama is the awkward exposition delivery. I loved the female cast and characters in this. The male cast was no joke, and being a police drama, it seemed to lean male dominated, but really, this drama was very female centric. Bae Jong Ok as Ahn Jang mi was fabulous.
Lawless Lawyer –Lee Joon Gi made it so much fun. I think this is the most chemistry I have seen him have with his lead, Seo Yi ji, who was great. And watching Lee Hye-young and Choi Min-soo chew up the scenery was pure k drama watching payoff in platinum.
Let’s Eat 3-The greatest thing about this drama was the writers killed off Soo ji from Let’s Eat 2. THANK YOU. But because of this, the drama suffered from severe melancholia which does not make for a great social eating drama. Also the theme of a featured item in every dish of the meal got old. Real old, as much of it was fish. I was kind of glad Doo Joon got his marching orders and they had to wrap it up. I really wish they would circle Dae Young back to Noona and the weirdo law office gang with a happy ever after and close the “series.”
Mama Fairy and the Woodcutter–A little long for its content, but it was charming enough. The OTP had to be the most cinnamon roll OTP in the history of k drama.
Memories of The Alhambra – Lovely visually. So much potential. Hyun Bin was hot in black jeans. The romance was seriously contrived, and terrible. The characters were rather unlikeable. I stuck through it to find out how they were going to wrap the “mystery” even though I know it would have a wtf ending. For the most part, this drama was a big nothing burger.
Miss Hammurabi-I liked the plot. L stepped up his acting game. This is one of those low key dramas you just go with for a slow but satisfying ride.
My ID is Gangnam Beauty-I enjoyed this drama very much. It was killing it totally on point with social commentary. The male lead character was great, a really stellar best guy ever type. Which made him boring to a lot of viewers, as well as that lovely Cha Eun Woo is not the best actor made people turn up their noses, and I think they missed out on another thoughtful drama.
Mystery Queen 2-This was missing something important. Like heart. It made me sad after that awesome first season.
My Secret Terrius- Why couldn’t they call it Mysterious? I am assuming the Korean title is a pun I do not get. This was So Ji Sub being So Ji Sub and it was great fun. These are the worst spies since Level 7 Civil Servant but way more charming and fun and I liked L7CS more than most. Did I mention fun?
Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food-Loved this drama, every delicious low key bite. Well except the over use of Stand By Your Man (which I think a lot of people missed the point of the use of that song). The drama was not what we expected or wanted but it was satisfying. I thought the workplace issues were spot on. I thought the non resolution was spot on. Based on my t list I could see people did NOT relate to Jin-ah. I saw a lot of internalized misogyny and buying into cultural gender roles in the reactions to the ending. She may not have handled it well but no one would have questioned the male lead character making decisions on his own. Oh wait, he did. I loved watching her journey from a door mat to a person that said hey, I am making myself a priority. I think life experiences certainly played into how one interpreted and reacted to this drama.
Radio Romance-This was a weird drama, weird mood. I liked the cast and enjoyed the story. Use of color was fun.
Switch-A fun ride, lost me a bit toward the end.
That Man Oh Soo –This was a cute little drama that did not make a lot of sense but I would watch the hell out of it just to see Lee Jonghyun’s character meow.
The Great Seducer-Woo Do Hwan was awesome. Cast was great. This was the Disney version of Cruel intentions. It should have been on cable. Woo Do Hwan would have light our screens on fire. FIRE.
Witches Love-Perfectly entertaining little summer romance drama as well as female centric.
Wok of Love-The talking horse was weird and made no sense, glad they dropped it but it made the show uneven. I loved this drama though. Jang hyuk finally won me over in a role.
Your Honor-Yoon Si Yoon. That is all.
Best Dramas:
Live
Pretty Noona That Buys Me Food
Favorite/Most Enjoyable Dramas:
My ID is Gangnam Beauty
My Secret Terrius
Come and Hug Me
Drama that surprised me how much I liked it-Gangnam Beauty
Breakout/Memorable/People to Watch
Kim Kyung nam-Come and Hug Me, Where Stars Land
Seo Ji Hoon (for the second year in a row) in Mama Fairy
Lee Joo Young –Hye ri in Live
Mi-na was very engaging in Mama Fairy
Actor that is in everything:
Kim Won hae
Favorite Characters:
URI SHIN in Are You Human too? I did not have a crack show but Uri Shin was my crack character.
An Jang Mi (Bae Jong ok) in Live
Chil-seong In Wok of Love
WTF Thought of the Year: What the hell was going on with Rain’s (his character) pants in Sketch?
Acting Detail of the Year: Seo Kang Joon and braces mouth in The Third Charm-he even had sticking lips thing down pat.
As this is ALMOST APRIL 2018, I am not even going to pretend to do any analysis or rating for 2017 dramas. As my blog is a victim of real life, this list is mostly for my benefit-for any one stumbling across my very quiet blog, if you have any questions about these dramas ask me in comments. As always, if it’s not in this list, I didn’t watch it and cannot include it.
Dropped Dramas:
I just lost interest:
Revolutionary Love
Suspicious Partner
Meloholic
Andante
Witches Court-I cannot remember if I finished this or not to be real haha
Black Knight-After the first few episodes ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
It was bad:
Doubtful Victory
Father I’ll Take Care of You
My Sassy Girl
Queen of the Ring
Strongest Deliveryman: This drama started strong, but something about it just fizzled a little over halfway through and it limped to an end.
I just did not like it:
Voice
Other:
Fight My Way- Park Seo Joon is SO friggin NAMJA in this. SO NAMJA. Starts out really strong, and I dropped it like 2 episodes left because if I had to watch that damn girl do aegyo one more time I’d fly to Korea and slap the actress.
Judge vs. Judge- I want to go back and finish this not because it was good but because I love a who done it.
Man That Sets The Table-completely horrible parents that I couldn’t deal with.
20th Century Boy and Girl- bored by the lead romance, loved the fem friends, meant to go back to it but never did.
Manhole-Jaejoong’s character was so bloody frenetic it made me have anxiety.
Temperature of Love-Started strong with some heat, but got bloated and soggy, stopped caring.
Completed Dramas:
Chief Kim-SO enjoyable.
Mystery Queen-Charming!
Mad Dog-Energetic, and engaging team, but with annoying bad guy crap that wasted a lot of time that Woo Do Hwan and Ryu Hwa-young could light up the screen.
School 2017- Cute. Hated the last episode aegyo crap.
Girls Generation 1979-STELLAR.
The Best Hit-Absolutely darling.
Father Is Strange-My first long drama actually completed, mostly, I will admit I skipped through some of the side plots. Really good despite annoying in laws.
Lookout-Very good, heart rending, fem lead is awesome action drama, great roles, SUPER CAST.
Hospital Ship- Kang Min Hyuk. That is all.
I am Not a Robot-Started off shaky with some misogynistic crap, leveled out with enough feels and sweetness to make it ok.
While You Were Sleeping-Lovely, enjoyable drama, left us a bit hanging on the supernatural aspect.
Because It’s My First Life: Wonderful drama, so engaging and thoughtful, the ending faltered with wtf separation, but still was one of the best of the year.
Introverted Boss-A lot of people did not like this drama. I did. I do not like Yeon Woo-jin much but I really enjoyed his character in this, and what he did with it.
Prison Playbook-STELLAR
Liar and his Lover-This drama was likeable and forgettable at the same time.
Hwayugi- This drama was also likeable and forgettable at the same time. Also interesting and wtf at the same time. Budget and production issued were obvious.
Habaek- I loved this drama. LOVED. Nam Joo Hyuk and his friggin mullet of awfulness, and his hotness made me so crazy. WARNING: That doesn’t mean it’s good. So much wasted potential if only they had set it in the god world.
Chicago Typewriter-STELLAR
My Secret Romance-Sung Hoon is hot, and this drama is so much, sweet, sexy, cute, lovely.
Black- Like my heart and my mood while watching this pile of crap. I have NO idea why I finished it.
Strong Woman Do Bong Soon-Darling Cast. Park Hyung sik RULES. Super uneven, with disturbing content mixed in with sugar. Weird.
Man to Man-So much potential fun. I hated the fem lead. I think it was the character and the actress.
My Only Love Song- It was okay. Odd.
Best Dramas:
Girls Generation 1979
Prison Playbook
Because It’s My First Life
Chicago Typewriter
Favorite Dramas:
Habaek
Because It’s My First Life
The Best Hit
Breakout/Memorable/People to Watch:
Lee Junho-Chief Kim
Woo Do Hwan-Mad Dog
Gong Myung-Habaek
Lee Se Young-Best Hit, Hwayugi
Lee Kyu hyung- Prison Playbook
Jung Hae-in-Prison Play Book, While You Were Sleeping
Okay, let me say this up front, because you know I have to: This is based solely on the Dramas I have WATCHED.
Best Drama- My Dear Friends-Drama of the Year, hands down
Most Enjoyable Drama-Let’s Fight Ghost
Best Female Lead Character- Cheong, Legend of the Blue Sea. Smart, kind, funny, crazy sexy, cool. She knew what was important and what she wanted.
Best Male Lead Character- Go Nan-gil, The Man Living In Our House. Nan-gil, really, grew up well and was nothing but love. He just needed to use his words, lol. When he did, pay attention.
Knock Out Performance-Lee Joong Gi as Wang So. Cruel, kind, loving, loyal, crazy, evil, broken, strong. A hot lovely obsessive mess of a man.
Best Bromance-The Ghost Facers of Let’s Fight Ghost
Best Sisters Friends-The friends in My Dear Friends. Oh Choong nam was a queen.
Most Unique Lead-Gong Shim and Ahn Dan Tae-these two darlings, with their own ways of looking at life.
Funniest Lead-Cheong, Ahn Dan Tae and Louis
Dumbest Lead-both leads in K2 were pretty moronic.
Most Sassy Lead of The Year: Note: this exists this year because of one person:
Special mention from C-Drama-Best tertiary characters that we wanted to be leads- KO and Beauty in Love 020.
Characters that need a spin off– See above, KO and Beauty
Memorable Supporting Characters-
Park Soo Kyung in Another Oh Hae Young-Soo Kyung was outrageous, and while comic relief, she’s also a cautionary tale, the future for Hae Young if she doesn’t stop being outrageous herself and stop living in the past, at the same time she shows a smart capable woman that can get her act together if she tried, and it is never too late. I am not fond of the pregnancy plot as a wake up call for her and Roof Top Party Jin Sang however.
Yeon Ha in My Dear Friends-God almighty this man. THIS MAN, such a beautiful soul.
Biggest Waste of Talent-
The cast of Mirror of the Witch
The cast of Entertainer
Lee Jong Suk in THOSE jeans, and Lee Tae Hwan, in W, my stars the lost potential for bromance was tragic.
Lee Joon in Vampire Detective. VAMPIRE. TEETH. BITING. LEE JOON. What in the blue hell, drama gods?
Freshest Face/Notable Presence-
Lee Se-young in Vampire Detective until they totally sidelined the character
Seo Ye-ji in Moorim School
Breakout-
Do Ji Han as Ban Ryu-maybe not completely fresh, but a stand out in Hwarang
Nam Joo Hyuk- he was in Cheese in the Trap as a tertiary character at the beginning of the year, then a almost secondary character in Scarlet Heart, and then the lead male character in Bok Joo, where his energy was just lovely.
Minah in Gong Shim-what a super job being a quirky woman
Best Sound Effect-
Catchphrase of the year- SWAG!
Fun Fashion-Lucky Romance-Between the cholo shirts and shorts, and the funky denim and the great earrings, such fun visually. And Lee Soo Hyuk in that one scene in those jeans. Dude.
Iconic Scenes-
Scarlet Heart- I can pick only 2?
Bath Scene-
Rain Scene-
REALITY of Lee Joon Gi….
Descendants of the Sun-
Most Visually Beautiful Drama- too many, they all get it?
Moonlight Drawn By Clouds
Goblin
Scarlet Heart
Descendants of the Sun
And the Gaksital Award Goes to:
Scarlet Heart- Wang Geon tormenting his family with rigid court laws and marriage and baby making as diplomacy, allowing the crazy wife to be crazy and evil for DECADES, HANGING the love of his life, and torturing Hae Soo and then later relying on her and telling her to live for the happiness moment and the future because life is too short. Fuck you Wang, you set up and enable ALL of that misery.
Goblin-WHY was Shin being punished SO much? WAE!? WAE!?
Biggest Surprise-
Lee Tae Hwan being the bright kid in Thumping Spike
How much I loved goofy Onew in Descendants of the Sun
How much I liked DotS
How much I liked Oh Hae Young
That I watched Oh Hae Young and Romantic Dr. Kim because I dislike Seo Hyun Jin as an actress.
Kim So Hyun as an action/fighting scene character
Mane of Glory–
Wang So-early days, the more messy, the better. Not gonna lie. It might have been the blood, mask, scar, and/or the crazy all over his face.
Soo-ho-Not gonna lie, it might have been the earrings.
Byeon-hun
Best Kisses-
Oh Hae Young
Runner up-Romantic Doctor Kim
Best Use of Guest Stars-Kwang soo, Jo In Sung, and Daniel Henney in My Dear Friends
Person that was in everything-Sung Dong-il
My Dear Friends-cameo
K2-cameo
Legend of the Blue Sea
Scarlet Heart
Hwarang
Biggest Feels– Scarlet Heart Ryeo-all those poor tragic babies
Goblin-Shin suffered.
Both he and and Wang So ended up alone. Bothers me so much, just like in Rooftop Prince, even more so that in Rooftop Prince.
This year definitely proved the favorite drama is not always the best, and best and favorites are not always what you might recommend to others.
That’s it folks, see ya next year, hopefully in January instead of March!
Finally, it’s only March, right? I decided to wait until Hwarang wrapped so I could wrap up dramas I started in 2016.
It’s been an incredible stressful year. As an American, the presidential election aftermath is a hot mess, and I wrapped my masters in December. SO TIRED.
Dramawise, it has been an interesting year, but frankly I just do not have the bandwidth for indepth analysis. My passions for K drama are still kicking but the time and energy to write my thoughts, just are not there.
This installment will address dropped dramas and why, and completed dramas. I will be frank, some dramas I am just not going to rate, again with the energy deficit.
DROPPED DRAMAS:
Ms. Temper- Great cast, I simply couldn’t get into it.
Gab Soon-Again I just couldn’t get into it.
Jealousy Incarnate-Okay maybe I would have finished this if I hadn’t been gripped with completing my graduate degree. But. I really disliked the lead male character and at some point I just didn’t care about either one of them. I enjoyed the Mom’s and the Black Pearl Chef much more. I actually thought Gong Hyo-jin’s character was one of her most likeable characters and I am not sure why. That may have changed by the end of the show?
Five Children- Sung Hoon was delightful in his role. But ultimately I cannot watch a 50 epi drama for 1 character, especially one in love with a lispy baby talker that drove me nuts.
Imaginary Cat-It didn’t pull me in.
Six Flying Dragons-2 episodes and another no.
Doctors-I tried. I didn’t care for the characters except Ji soo’s cameo and the hippy friend.
Ms. Cop 2- Kim Bum’s trouser swagger was on point. However the lead, wow, just as stupid as the first Ms. Cop. Don’t tell me a char is smart, show me.
COMPLETED DRAMAS
Not Rated:
Hwarang-Damn Beautiful Boys. This was not the right char for Go Ara. If the showmakers had left the character as the quirky and industrious girl, she would have fared much better.
High End Crush-Cute little typical romance with Jung Il Woo doing what he does best, a bratty chaebol type. Probably the only drama I’ve not wanted to stab Jin Se-yeon.
Moorim School-Hmm. It wasn’t awful…maybe… but I can’t say it was good. I barely remember it. I liked the lead actress and her character.
Vampire Detective-This drama was an edit wtf.
Wanted- I love a who done it, but man the lead actress was wooden, and it rather fizzled towards the end.
Go Ho’s Starry Night. I remember I really liked this drama. That said I can’t remember this drama. It didn’t stick. If I ever re-watch, I feel I will rate it well, so I will do post on it.
Page Turner-Short little coming of age charmer.
Thumping Spike-Charming little drama, good times, good feels. Song Jae Rim as a teen was so out there, but okay. We got to see another side of the young and charming Lee Tae Hwan, and it was super.
Uncontrollably Fond-I do not know why I watched this. Seriously. I think I had a lull in my schedule. I gained respect for Kim Woo Bin as an actor, and I really don’t get the Suzy hate. But, wow, it’s a misery fest of a drama. I love this actor however, gosh, I love him.
K2-Another WHY did I watch this? I adored the strange and complex Wicked Queen, I really did. Some of the action scenes were terrible and inserted weirdly into the plot, and I’m not talking about the infamous nekked shower fight.
The Man Living In Our House-Started out good, and just kind of meandered along. Cast was great. Loved the male lead character particularly. If the drama had more oomph and there had been more chemistry between the two leads, he would have had more impact, and could have really rated on the best male drama leads lists.
Squad 38-I enjoyed this drama but didn’t love it. It’s outside the norm which is cool, but I something was a bit off, I never put my finger on it.
Romantic Doctor Kim-Started out pretty strong and kind of lost me the final leg. Super cast, other than the lead actors, whom I do not love, but they did have good chemistry. GREAT kissing scene.
Before diving into the rated dramas, here is my seriously too complicated rating system. I tend to be rather harsh. I sometimes look back at my ratings and have kinder perspectives. I am TRYING to be more flexible this year. I was thinking of adding a stickiness category but I realized sometimes one doesn’t realize a drama is sticky until a year or so later. Reference: Girl Friday of Dramabeans once talked about the stickiness of a drama. In other words, some drama elements stick with you, and some don’t even in really super good dramas. So I might or might not comment on stickiness, but not going to rate.
Coffee Prince Good
Boys over Flowers Crack
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it vs How good (quality) it was.
Cheese in the Trap
Coffee Prince Good 4
Boys over Flowers Crack 3
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 4
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 3 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 6 vs How good (quality) it was 6
Controversy/on set drama really tanked this. It was a decent little drama, and it did not end that badly, but when for whatever reasons, the showmaker’s excluded the lead male for a good portion of the latter half of the drama, it’s difficult to make it flow correctly.
Descendants of the Sun
Note -I don’t where this HD cap came from, it is not mine, maybe from a twitter peep share, but damn, and thank you.
Coffee Prince Good 7
Boys over Flowers Crack 8
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 7
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 7 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 8 vs How good (quality) it was 7
I went into this drama with low interest because the cast was not my cup of tea, and really did not much like the first episode, but went back to it, and found I rather enjoyed it. The military aspect spoke to me, and the parallels of the service of soldiers and doctors to the nation and the public good was a really nice draw. With KES, one expects engaging male lead chars, and we got this, but she is not known for her fem leads. I think this is one of KES better fem leads.
Some of the drama will stick with me.
And well THIS was awesomely fun.
Come Back Ahjussi
Coffee Prince Good 5
Boys over Flowers Crack 4
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 6
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead this cannot really be rated for that because it was a male spirit inhabiting fem body (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 7 vs How good (quality) it was 6
Loved this drama, loved the cast, and just so much heart. Didn’t love the resolution particularly, but quite an enjoyable drama. It is super well done, and Rain is love. But, it really hasn’t stuck to me. strangely.
Another Oh Hae Young
Coffee Prince Good 8
Boys over Flowers Crack 5
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 6
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 7 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 8 vs How good (quality) it was 8
This was another drama I went into with little hope of sticking to, as I super dislike the lead actress, and I don’t care for Eric either. I did not love the fem lead character, and the 2nd fem lead,don’t get me started. But. This is a very well done drama, with a super cast. Very, very good to watch. I however did not like the message of this drama much from a feminist stand point for the female lead, it was tough realizing I really enjoyed this drama and had problems watching her find happiness in her relationship with the former fiance of her high school nemesis. However, her character actually scores well for being fairly independent and having some agency, even though she was totally hung up on the other Hae Young. I did like the exploration of family and friend relationships, and hey, good kissing scenes.
Entertainer
Coffee Prince Good 2
Boys over Flowers Crack 2
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 3
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 5 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 4 vs How good (quality) it was 4
This another charming feel good drama, but you know, it was really hard to stick with for some reason (school probably), which is hard to say because Ji Sung, and Kang Min Hyuk are love. I wish I could enjoy it more, but it never quite gelled for me. I think I would like it more if I rewatched.
Mirror of the Witch
Coffee Prince Good 2
Boys over Flowers Crack 3
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 2
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 3 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 4 vs How good (quality) it was 4
This drama starts out strong albeit some of the special effects are cringe worthy, and it descends into a, hey, they are making this shit up as they go along. It should have been a glorious, dark, fairy tale. The fem chars drive the story, they have agency, even though most of them are evil, and that I suppose is worth something. But the execution and what makes it on screen, it’s not worthy of the wonderful cast and characters, and they throw everything away in the end, including the fem lead’s struggle. Uri Donggu and Kim Sae Ron are much better than this.
Age of Youth
Coffee Prince Good 7
Boys over Flowers Crack 3
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 6
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead this is an ensemble cast with flawed characters, yet very modern, so let’s give them a 9 because I said so. (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 8 vs How good (quality) it was 8
GREAT FEMALE CAST and a super little drama, super charming. It is not perfect, but the moodiness, and the mature contemporary look at young women set it above par. It’s uneven, and has a plot bunny that goes nowhere. The last episodes go off to the left, disrupting mood and flow which causes dissonance but in a way work with the themes and stories, but I didn’t quite love that dissonance.
Let’s Fight Ghost
Coffee Prince Good 5
Boys over Flowers Crack 5
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 7
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead this is difficult to rate due to the nature of a murdered ghost character but I will give her a 6 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 9 vs How good (quality) it was 7
I enjoyed every minute of this drama, it’s one of my favorites for the year. I have no complaints. None. Scary huh? Taecyeon totally levels up, and he and had a great chemistry. Net chatter dissed the drama for the actors age gap. Too bad. People missed out on an extremely compatible and enjoyable lead pairing, and an engaging drama in whole.
Cinderella and the Four Knights
Coffee Prince Good 5
Boys over Flowers Crack 5
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 7
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 4 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 6 vs How good (quality) it was 5
Park So Dam was adorable, but you know, “they” totally ham-stringed her character just has happens in many k dramas A kick ass justice girl who beat up dudes and brooked no nonsense, was bullied and physically assaulted by…a group of mean girls so that she could be rescued. Total negation of her entire char development. The other big problem in watching it was the second fem lead literally sucked the life out of every scene she was in. But. Who knew Ahn Jae-hyun could be such a charmer? He really stole the show. Jung Il Woo took on a character outside his norm, and man did people complain about him being angsty, emo and boring, (do not get me started on that it is 2017 yet people still conflate actors and characters). This drama was not as big as Heirs, but one could compare JIW’s effort to portray a serious angsty guy to LMH’s Kim Tan effort. Kim Tan was not the right char for LMH, Tan was just too damn sad to someone who is not good at sad. However, JIW had a char that was angry rather than just sad which came off better. The parody of Boys Ever Flowers was pretty funny, I particularly liked the snippet of instrumental OST in the graduation scene when walked across the bridge. The drama totally fizzled in the end, but the first part was way fun.
I had a lot to say about this, maybe because of net chatter, more than the drama was worth. This tells you how much fun it was in the beginning.
Scarlet Heart
Coffee Prince Good 6
Boys over Flowers Crack 10
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 7
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 6 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 8 vs How good (quality) it was 7
MY CRACK DRAMA. I haven’t had a crack drama since I Can Hear Your Voice. Lee Joong Gi slayed as the beautifully broken Wang So. Really I just love So, so so so much. I loved IU in the Soo role but good grief what was the point of the body switch, really? This drama hit all the feels for me, and I really, ah, did I say how much I loved Soo and SO? The deserve all the screen caps, sigh, so beautiful. Lots of problems with this drama, from pacing to edits, to the common k drama, let’s really not explain the supernatural aspect. I admit it just went into snail pace in the last 5 episodes, and I suffered through it. I cried for the last 4 episodes nearly the entire time. No I didn’t love the ending. I think people question the ending, why the last parting of the happy faces. I see this as what might of been, if they could just be, the promise of another try in another life, and So did not have to be political, and Soo could have been well and strong. Those poor lovely babies. However, the premise of the beginning, was that one cannot always change ones life, just because you want to. However, the drama also showed us that Soo did impact So’s life. This drama just gave me so many feels, makes me tear up as I type.
My Dear Friends
Coffee Prince Good 10
Boys over Flowers Crack 5
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 5
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead- The halameoni’s and Ahjummas were tough cookies. They get 9’s just because just liked the Age of Youth women (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 10 vs How good (quality) it was 10
This is a stellar drama, wonderfully cast, and beautifully done. Some people can’t handle the sadness of confronting the lives of older people, and how family and family needs impact our lives, but really, they need to, and this drama does it with as much dignity as possible. I will say that Wan absolutely did not deserve Yeon-ha.
Shopping King Louis
Coffee Prince Good 6
Boys over Flowers Crack 5
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 8
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 7 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 8 vs How good (quality) it was 7
This is simply a charming, lovely, lovely, fun, drama. I’d probably kill Louis in really life, but in drama world, he’s so much fun. Great cast.
Bok Joo
Coffee Prince Good 5
Boys over Flowers Crack 5
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 8
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 6 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 8 vs How good (quality) it was 7
I super disliked the lead actress going into this. I came to respect her skills more. I did not find Bok Joo likable, she was not actually a very good friend or team mate to her besties. She had heart,and loved, but she was a lot like Bella in Twilight in that she REALLY wasn’t that into her friends. Bok Joo was a habitual liar and the male lead called her “fatty” as an endearment, and her friends “uglies” throughout the drama so they both could be assholes. That boy was just so visibly in love with her it was even difficult to dislike him for his stupid mouth. Other than trying to make an extremely thin actress look bulky (fail) the drama is pretty well done and so bloody charming. A big part of that is a great cast and the male lead character and actor. He really brought such joy and love into the portrayal of the character.
SWAG!
Beautiful Mind
Coffee Prince Good 1
Boys over Flowers Crack 1
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 2
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 6 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 2 vs How good (quality) it was 3
This drama would have been much better as a medical who done it than whatever it was supposed to be. It had possibilities but it just never gelled. The Jang Hyuk and Park So Dam pairing and dynamic was very awkward and weird-and I’m a person that likes weird and unconventional It was like the showmakers couldn’t decide what to do-actually the entire drama was like that. Some of it was intentional due to the plot, looking at the world through a different lens, which was interesting but did not make it a good drama.
Moonlight Drawn By Clouds
Coffee Prince Good 4
Boys over Flowers Crack 2
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 5
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 4 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 5 vs How good (quality) it was 5
The drama is lovely to look upon. Park Bo gum being utterly charming is always a win. He’s so sassy. Cute moments. None of the characters really spoke to me except the Crown Prince and Nari. Not gonna lie, Bo Gum’s sass in his flash mob video was as much or more fun than anything else.
Lucky Romance
Coffee Prince Good 6
Boys over Flowers Crack 4
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 6
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 7 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 7 vs How good (quality) it was 7
I really enjoyed this drama, until a certain incident in the street. I enjoyed the characters and the cast and the fun fashion. And then that poor boy was left lying in the middle of the road. I am sorry, I am not as forgiving as some. I was totally, absolutely, done with the female lead at that point, and it ruined the drama for me. I am a little bitter over that, it bothers me.
W
Coffee Prince Good 5
Boys over Flowers Crack 4
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 5
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 6 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 6 vs How good (quality) it was 5
Lee Jong Suk is awesome as ever. This show started out WOW and went WTF to the point of no return by about the 6th episode. It had a lot to say, a lot of meta about writers as god and so forth, but you can’t make the writer, who was a side character, the lead character in the second half of the drama when LEE frigging JONG SUK is the lead actor, viewers are not going to have that. Pile that on a wtf no logic- the only consistency was in the logic breaking its own rules. So much potential, so much waste of Lee Jong Suk, and Lee Tae Kwan too.
Beautiful Gong Shim
Coffee Prince Good 7
Boys over Flowers Crack 4
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 8
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 7 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 7 vs How good (quality) it was 7
Again, started off the start with quirk, charming, and with a great, fun, fem lead and male lead ANNND in the last quarter of the show totally focused on the male lead and second lead and Gong shim became a secondary character. WTF show, WTF?
Goblin
Coffee Prince Good 7
Boys over Flowers Crack 6
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 7
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 4 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality.)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 8 vs How good (quality) it was 7
Moody, weird, funny, some wtf moments, beautiful, and sadly charming. A decided lack of character development for the female leads. However Kim Go Eun just glowed, this actress just became this character. But we all know to expect a focus on the male leads with KES, it is what she does best. The symbolism and themes were wonderfully incorporated (and made up a lot for the messiness of the symbolism and themes in Heirs). I never quite understood WHY Shin had to suffer so much. SO MUCH. I enjoyed this drama tremendously however. The last two episodes were an emotional rollercoaster, and I am not sure how I really feel about that. That needs time to process. Life is beautiful, bitter, and heartbreakly sad and not fair, we cry for a vengeance, yet we endure, find some measures of forgiveness, peace, and joy in small moment, and I guess that really speaks to Korean Han. I felt the ending was cheated somehow. It left me as bereft for the male lead as did Rooftop Prince.
Legend of Blue Sea
Coffee Prince Good 5
Boys over Flowers Crack 3
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 5
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 8 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 5 vs How good (quality) it was 7
Lee Min Ho really has become comfortable in his own skin, or either his co-star and he really worked well together. The drama wasn’t in your face crack, but it was solidly entertaining and charming, even though at some points it ventured too close to being “am I watching a daily?” when it spent to much with Jeong Joon Amma’s employers. There was however something missing, or perhaps there was a certain quietness to this drama that was intentional, it seemed to lack verve, but it moved along well enough. I did not like that they had this dual running across time story that just fell off inconsistently in the second half. I also felt that they dropped continuity of Joon Jae’s character as suddenly his ability to read and hypnotize people disappeared mid run. The 16-18 episodes dragged a bit for me. It did have a few wtf moments, but most cleared up okay. I especially liked the use of green and blue in the drama. I think this drama is better than my enjoyment of it. And that sneaky damn tongue, how did they get that on air?
Note:
I actually watched quite a few Taiwanese and Chinese dramas this year.
Bromance-Sexy, kinda.
My Amazing Boyfriend-WTF did I just watch? Lots of euphemism. LOTS.
Ice Fantasy-WTF did I just watch and man was the make up for the lacefront wigs bad. It was a hot mess but I loved that weird little Shi and this character is my heart twin.
Love 020 –A video game romance, guy was cute, girl was super creepy. Not enough Beauty and KO.
When A Snail Falls In Love-I liked the moodiness and pacing, loved the lead fem char, and then it just got stupid and ridiculous in the last few episodes.
Prince of Wolf-Wow, this drama was bad. But so fun in the first half, with the cutest puppy boy ever. The malamute was the best actor in the drama. Along with Wolf Prince’s adam’s apple, which needed it’s own time zone.
Beautiful Boys, a Sadistic Seraphim…mind effing in progress!
Apparently never been kissed Soo-jin, customer service clerk at Lotte, meets a sadist angel? Sadistic Seraphim sends Soo-jin on her own little spin through what could be with 7 lovely men who offer a kiss…but yanking Soo-jin back to the present before the lips meet.
Lucifer was an angel too, you know. Just saying.
Soo-jin has met six bachelors and all we have left is Lee Min ho’s character. With LMH being the last character that’s a big clue, but there’s no harm in a little speculation on who would she choose out of the first six?
Note: The characters are using the actor’s real names which is super weird and crosses into real people fan fiction which is a big NO for me, BUT this is also basically a really long Lotte Duty Free ad using Lotte CF spokespersons.
I must admit I found the Lee Joon Gi and Park Hae Jin arcs a bit awkward, if not creepy. Especially Joon Gi the church oppa that secretly took pictures of Soo-jin as a child – WAY neighborhood creeper, sorry my lovely man. Park Hae-jin was his trademark cold but compelling character.
Ji Wook’s episode was exciting, a tad silly, but could he really settle down?
She was super thirsty with Taec, but that was escalated as she’d been cockblocked by the sadistic seraphim with 3 super hot men. I mean seriously her panties were probably on fire after meeting Taec.
I felt she was most comfortable and had the most chemistry with Kai. Certainly the most sweet and charming arc.
Despite her happy arc with Kai, Soo-jin seemed the most honestly “herself” with Lee Jong Suk, I think, and almost as engaged in the kiss as with Kai. But Jong Suk would have kiss chemistry with a light post so possibly I’m getting a false positive.
Based on comfort and chemistry, I totally pick Kai.
Based on the Soo-jin character as a department store customer service person, I can see her being attracted to a hard-working middle management guy like Park Hae Jin’s character, but she never seemed comfortable with him.
Jong Suk’s arc was different from all of the others, he was not pursuing her but rather, it was an “Acting” kiss- but yet arguably the prettiest almost kiss.
So, best almost kissed? For me, Kai and Lee Jong Suk. As stated, LJS always performs.
I was most surprised that I disliked Lee Joon Gi’s arc, and that I really liked Kai’s arc and his chemistry with the actress.
What do you think? Which arc did you like the best? Which almost kiss? And where will Lee Min Ho fit in as the wildcard?
I’m not convinced that Ha jin/Soo is actually a 21rst century woman because seriously how could she not come back at THIS:
I mean really wouldn’t she be more like…
and then…
annnnd she get’s this…
Maybe this is why it’s take TWO years to get a kiss. Just saying.
Seriously, our kokoros can’t take this. If you two are going to have miserable lives and die tragically can’t you guys at least have a MAJOR make out session? So was always so passionate, and Ha Jin/Soo deserves to have passion.
As always a tough decision, but this year I have a much wider field of dramas to choose from than usual, so that means it was really a good drama year for me!
Contenders: Hogu’s Love, Reply 1988, Producer, Kill Me Heal Me, Angry Mom, Mask, Heart to Heart, all lovely dramas.
It narrows down to Hogu’s Love, Reply 1988, Producer, and Angry Mom. Producer was just technically so sound. All are worthy. My ratings boils it down to Hogu’s Love, and Reply 1998. I enjoyed both of these dramas immensely. Reply 1988 is very very good, solid and rich, and blends the warmth with the absurd. Hogu’s Love is an important little underrated drama that had a lot to say. Gender role subversion, it had a beta male lead, it tackled subjects that you don’t see many k drama female leads tackle-ambition and career, rape, unwanted pregnancy, how the personal life affects a career, what to do when you are alone in the world, etc., done in a heartbreaking and warm way, right along with the wacky and crazy of Hogu’s nerdiness and family life. Not to mention the inside jokes and references on k drama, the puns, and art parody, it was a win for me.
I dearly loved Reply 1988, but I have to give this years ‘ nod to the quintessential underdog because it’s rich as Reply with some tough subject matter we don’t see addressed in a progressive way in K Drama:
Hogu’s Love
For my favorite drama…
ahh, another hard call from that same field. What’s sticky? Hogu’s Love, the themes are important. Angry Mom resonates. Kill Me Heal Me rocked me, so damn entertaining and I loved the color themes and small things in the drama as well. Producer was charming. Mask was delightful. Reply 1998 could easily be best and favorite drama, and deservedly so. All of these dramas I could easily sway towards and put in this spot. However my favorite drama was not even a great drama, but I enjoyed it, because the weird and dark and crazy was all there for me. I Remember You has a lot of wtf, and the fem lead is really not what I would want her to be, she’s so overshadowed by the charisma and chemistry between the male characters, but the drama is oh so engaging.
I Remember You
With a Special Mention of oomph, and heart feels and crazy enjoyment of:
Kill Me Heal Me
SeGi, so heartbreaking
Best Female Lead
One of the great things about 2015 were the female characters. My ratings give it to Young Shin in Healer and I agree with myself haha. She can support herself, even though she lives with Dad, hey, culture, she pursues a career, and she’s no shrinking violet. And I want her shearling coat.
Knock Out Performance
Ji Sung in Kill Me Heal Me
A true fangirl
Kim Hee-sun in Angry Mom
Jung Kyung Ho in Falling For Innocence
Special Mention:
Siwon
Best Bromance
Yo-na and Ri-jin
Ji-an, Hyeon, and Min
Most Lovable Characters:
Ahjussi Unni Appa
Taek
Min-what’s its say when a sociopath is lovable?
That’s a lot of Bo Gum. I’m okay with that.
Let’s Hear it for the Beta Males Leads, yes plural:
Hogu
Healer-Yes, seriously.
Choi Joon-ki -High Society
Park No-ah-Angry Mom ?
Joon-mo and Seung-chan – Producer- argue over which one was lead if you want, both were beta males really.
The Guy that is in everything:
Choi Won-young
Best Female Friendships-Can I say how excited I am for this category?
Yoona and Ji-yi
Mi-ran, Il-hwa, and Sun-Young
Ahjussi Eunnie Appa and Jin Joo
Gang-ja and Su-hee
Joon Sung and Ji woong
Most Unique Lead
Poor sweet Hogu
Funniest Lead
Kang Min Ho
Dumbest Lead
Poor sweet Hogu
Kim Soon Jung
Best Second Leads
Ji-yi and Chang-soo
Gang-chul and Ho-gyeong
Best Supporting Characters
Everyone in She Was Pretty
Everyone in Reply 1988, what a great ensemble cast
Everyone in Angry Mom
Wendy and The Secretary
Min ja
Diver Ahjumma, The Black Pearl, and The Mayor
Joon Sung and Ji woong
Best Supporting Characters that were really the lead characters
Ji-yi and Chang-soo
Noona and Sun woo
Diver Ahjumma and The Black Pearl
Characters that need a spin off
The Mayor and his family in Warm and Cozy
The I can’t even, facepalm scenes
Healer
Uneven Bars Routine and jumping through a glass window for no apparent reason-still never getting over the Stephen J. Cannell is punking me feeling
Biggest Personality Transplants
What the hell happened to these awesome female characters after episode 8?
Biggest waste of talent
Lee Jun Ki and Lee Soo Hyuk in Scholar
Lee Jong Suk in Pinocchio
Most Over Used Trope:
Childhood Connection/Fated To Love You
This list is ridiculously long, for just from my viewing list. Stop it K Drama!
Hogu’s Love
Reply 1988
Kill Me Heal Me
She Was Pretty
Healer
I Order You
Producer
Heart to Heart
I Remember You
Let’s Eat
Pinocchio
The Girl Who Sees Smells
Most Beautiful Clothes
The Scholar’s
Biggest Moral Flexibility Question -Do We Want Them To Use Their Powers For Good Or Evil?
Gaksital Award
And the winner is…
Blood
Sexiest Drama…That Somehow Wasn’t
Scholar
Breakouts
Sung Hoon
Kim Seul Gi-not really, but she leveled up to show she can carry a lead role
Ryu Hye-young-not really, because she’s moved from film into some tv roles, but yay for us in kdrama
Freshest Faces
(My fresh face from last year was Park Bo Gum. Just saying…I have more choices this year, so who is having a banner year in 2016?)
Lim Ji-yeon -Not really a newbie either, but she’s been in more film roles but another win for kdrama.
Ji Soo-if I had to pick only one….
Nam Joo-hyuk
Lee Tae-Hwan
Lee Won-keon
Tae Mi
Sungjae?
Bitches NEED to Die:
Kang So-young in School 2015 –she needs to burn.
4
Kwon Soo-ah in Sassy GoGo –I really disliked this redemption of this awful character. You can say I have no sympathy for the pressure she was under to her parent and culture, but pressure from parents did not make her mean, which she was, and doing a personality transplant at the end of the drama doesn’t change that she was calculating and vicious, and violent, for the majority of the drama.
Great meme livinginloganland lol
Lee Joon Hee in Falling for Innocence, just shut up and die. You know, by a slow moving Fiat of Doom, so it’s ultimately fatal but you linger and suffer from your injuries.
Most Overrated
Healer and Oh My Venus and Pinocchio
Most Overhyped
Healer…and most over squeed and people would not shut the hell up over it, breaking into other conversations on various sites and blogs to bring up Healer. The OTP was great, Minja was great, Dad and the gangster ahjussi’s were great, but the drama in whole was not great, or entertaining. In fact, a lot of the backstory was boring as hell. I rate good on if I pay attention and how much I skip, and wow, I skipped or didn’t care about a LOT of this drama outside of the OTP from at least the halfway mark of the run.
Most underrated
Hogu’s Love
Biggest Disappointment
Let’s Eat 2
You are cute but you are not Barassi. Go home.
You are no Noona and I do not like you, go away.
Biggest Surprise
Mask
Best Kisses
I Order You
Noona and Sun-woo Reply 1988
Healer
Guilty Pleasure
Noble My Love, or as I tweeted when I first watched it, Noble? My ass.
Shower Scenes of the Year:
Girl broody shower scene, hey, would you look at that.
And Last But NOT Least, Best Accessory or Real Star of the Show:
Hyeon’s Wardrobe, er, hair, er body, forearms, everything okay pick something okay, his Trousers?
Seriously, the Wardobe, Hair, and Make-up People along with Seo In Guk’s Genes and Plastic Surgeon/Skin Person and Trainer deserve all the awards and we thank them very very much.
Runner up:
Bo Gum’s Pout, Smile, Bottom Lip, Eyes, Face? All of it, just take our friggin money, okay?
Anyone that knows me knows I prefer to do my End of Year reviews in January. I like to wrap up that lingering drama that I am inevitably watching. So, yeah, well it’s APRIL. Better late than never?
This has been a banner year, I think. An interesting year. I watched a lot of dramas. I dropped a lot of dramas.
I am changing my format this year. I will still have ratings, but I am drastically reducing my commentary and critical analysis. I’m at the end of a grad school semester, and that I’m actually doing this review is kind of insane timewise. Anything to avoid actually completing my coursework.
I’m going to start with the dropped drama, and just briefly acknowledge why. Then I will begin with viewed dramas, and in a second installment I will talk about best of and favorites and such.
DROP IT LIKE IT IS NOT HOT
Blood: It was awful. And not because of Ku Hye Sun. I cannot believe the same people that wrote The Good Doctor wrote this terrible drama.
Oh My Venus-They lost me when 2 grown men acted like a women weighing probably 150 lbs was heavy. They lost me when they excused her weight gain with a disease. I loved Sung Hoon and Henry’s characters. Henry’s code switching is something to behold.
Unkind Women-They were not just unkind. They were unlikable. The matriarch was unwatchable. Not even for Song Jae Rim.
Spy-This started out strong with Jaejoong masquerading in the lead role when it really was much about the mother. Then they turned her into an idiot that would have never survived as a spy.
Orange Marmalade-It was disjointed and boring.
Warm and Cozy-More like lukewarm and wimpy-I really disliked the male lead character. Diver Ahjumma, The Black Pearl, and The Mayor. That is all.
Imaginary Cat-I don’t know what happened but I just stopped watching it.
Mrs. Cop-Don’t tell me a character is strong and smart and show me an idiot.
Lets Eat 2-If you told me I’d drop this, I would have laughed at you. I didn’t like the characters, and I did not like the lead fem character. I didn’t like the actress, period. Give me Noona and Barasii, not fake asses.
Bubblegum-I loved the cast, I really just didn’t care about these characters.
Ex GF Club-Bored now, not even that lovely boy kept me.
Pinocchio- The drama peaked with Dal po and Grandpa in the bathtub.
Yong Pal-It was so bad.
Completed Dramas-WATCHED IT CAUSE IT MIGHT BE HOT?
My rating scale is seriously too complicated but here it is.
Coffee Prince Good 1-10
Boys over Flowers Crack 1-10
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 1-10
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 1-10 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 1-10 vs How good (quality) it was 1-10
Healer
CP Good 5
FBRS Fun 6
Female Lead 8
6/6
The OTP and Hacker Ahjumma sell the show. The backstory was zzzzzz. The WTF is strong -The guy jumps through a glass w-window for NO reason. I’m not sure I will get over that. But Young Shin’s coats, I NEED.
School 2015
CP Good 5
FBRS Fun 3
Female Lead 3
The Puppies. The End.
The mean girl needs to burn in a pit with the sister from Rooftop Prince.
6/5
I Remember You
CP Good 6
FBRS Fun 7
Female Lead 4 That’s generous. She was just kinda there. But a stalker, so ha.
9/6.5
It hard not to love Socio-Min and Hyeon but the real star of the show was the costume person.
Sassy GoGo
CP Good 6
FBRS Fun 8
Female Lead 6
7/6
The cute overdose is awesome but the mean girl redemption put me off.
Producer
CP Good 8
FBRS Fun 7
Female Lead 6?
Ensembly Quirky awesome fun. IU really stole the show for me.
7/8
Late Night Diner
Rating: Warm and wonderful rating all it’s own.
This was a quiet little “Nighthawks” type drama about the locals and their resident sage in a diner cook form. Enter the story and guest star of the week. Wonderful. Watch it.
Pride and Prejudice
CP Good 5
FBRS Fun 4
Female Lead 1 Eww.
5/4
This show sucked but puppy power was STRONG. Also I think possible Attorney Moon’s bobby pin game outgunned Mike He in The Devil Beside You.
Kill me Heal me
CP Good 7
FBRS Fun 8
Female Lead 6 ?
10/7.5
I loved this. More.
Angry Mom
CP Good 8
FBRS Fun 8
Female Lead 7
10/8
This was a super quirky dark drama that was wonderful. It almost derailed the Angry Mom and sabotaged her char dev but it made up for it with greatness over all.
The Scholar That Walks At Night
CP Good 4
FBRS Fun 4
Female Lead 2
6/4
Kdrama struggles with the vampire drama.
Lee Jung Ki is pretty. Lee Soo Hyuk is hot as fuck.
This drama was bad.
She Was Pretty
CP Good 5
FBRS Fun 6
Female Lead 5?
6/5
This was a drama had a boring lead male character, and wtf char dev for him that went off on a bunny trail. The fem was okay, but all of the secondary and tertiary characters were extra super duper MOST like.
High Society
CP Good 6
FBRS Fun 5
Female Lead 5
8/6
This started strong, with a fem char with potential and lead subversion. Then about E8, the two leads went flat, and the second leads stole the show…and then the show gave everyone a personality transplant in the end. And no one knows what the hell Handsome Oppa was doing but apparently he was as crazy as the rest of the family.
Jekyll, Hyde, and Me
CP Good 4
FBRS Fun 4
Female Lead 3
5/4
Based on the camera work Hyun Bin’s hips rock.
The Girl Who Sees Smells
CP Good 5
FBRS Fun 6
Female Lead 5
For a drama with a ton of trauma backstory, the lead characters were high level adorable.
7/6
Mask
CP Good 7
FBRS Fun 7
Female Lead 6
9/8
I loved this wacky makjang show.
The Village
I’m not rating this
Sunjae. The end.
I Order You
CP Good 6
FBRS Fun 7
Female Lead 7
8/6
This little drama was so enjoyable and likely wins make out scenes of the year awards. Yunho totally upped his game.
HO Goo’s Love
CP Good 9
FBRS Fun 7
Female Lead 7
10/9
This drama is awesome. From lead subversion to heart, it’s a total gem.
Hidden Identity
Not rating this
This was bad. Kim Bum made me do it. I’d do it again for him.
Heart to Heart
CP Good 8
FBRS Fun 5
Female Lead 7
8/7
Lovely wacky heartbreaking drama that started off with me ready to kill the male lead, but did some wonderful things in its run.
Oh My Ghost
CP Good 6
FBRS Fun 7
Female Lead 6
7/7
Kim Seul gi is my home girl. She was great. Lots of heart.
Twenty Again
CP Good 7
FBRS Fun 5
Female Lead 6
7/8
This is just a solid, across the board, GOOD drama.
Reply 1988
CP Good 9
FBRS Fun 9
Female Lead All the women were leads so this gets 8
10/9
Wonderful, it has everything and your heart will explode.
Dr. Frost
Not rating this
WTF was this? Was I drunk?
Falling For Innocence
CP Good 5
FBRS Fun 6
Female Lead 4 Wow I disliked this character
7/5
Great Cast. This drama was not so good in whole. Kang Min ho, Secretary, and Wendy should run away and run Neverland together.
Stay tuned for Part 2 with Best of, favs, and trends.
A true fangirl
4
RandomSoju 
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