My Favorite Dramas

While yes, this a tale of revenge (although most of it is along petty acts) its also about three women who decide to take agency in their lives. One because of her status as a single mom , another living under the control of her abusive power hungry husband, and another having lived as a pawn her whole life, its also a story of finding your people, and the bond these women form, one that's closer than family.

This drama knew exactly what it and that's probably why it was nearly the prefect rom-com. Yes, it was cheesy as hell, but it has all the cliches you expect but something feels fresh about them here. Nearly perfect because the last episode was a little lacking. I enjoyed that Tae Moo wasn't the cold ML from the start, and that Ha Ri (and Young Seo) never came across as a damsel. Her relationship with Young Seo was goals. She had a pretty relativity normal family too, unlike those crazy drama parents. And we had our favorite Haraboji and Young Seo's crazy but now iconic cousin, to add to the fun too. I'm not sure what else to say - but a fun stress free drama I will probably rewatch a million times.

A personal thing but I kind of wished for more Haraboji and Sung Hoon (I felt like that relationship could have been explored more), and I was also hoping for Haraboji to get into a fight with Young Seo's father for judging his grandson. And I'm assuming they cut out stuff with Ha Ri's brother because it seemed like there was probably a story with him - or he was just a pain, lol.

I reviewed this here : https://kisskh.at/profile/deswrath/reviews/206389

Everytime I tired to write a viewer about this it just become a essay about the characters, and then I lost the draft, so, lets just put it this way... this was one of my favorite dramas this year.

It's hard to find a show that truly makes you laugh out, on top of that you also have show breaking some stereotypes (a polyamous character, and non-Korean character Aziz written with substance who steals the show). Everyone's ridiculous at times and yet they still have some heartwarming moments.

Is gem the right word? I'm not sure, but it's pretty close. I always feel like people rag on those who want to leave a simple quiet life. And Gongjin is that place. I wish a place like this was real, because I'd love to live there. (A+ work for the cinematographer.) I felt like not focusing the drama fully on the leads was a great choice - without the neighbors this drama wouldn't have worked, they became such a huge reason I'd look forward to the drama every week. I'm also pleased they didn't pull the typical route with the SML. Also there were times I was wondering if they were trying to make us all ship him with the ML, I loved their weird bickering bromance. I've seen a few things with Kim Seon Ho before - but he was pretty unrecognizable here aka blending into the role so well I forgot I was actual was watching another drama with him in it at the same time.

Note: I'd rate it a little higher but there were moments when there was just tooo much sugar sweetness and I felt like the villagers gagging in the street, lol. And they very clearly over did it on the coincidences.

(Also that Domino's PP was one of cringest ones I've seen in awhile. I prefer the thinking about Subway while dying over this, lol)

Okay, sure. There really isn't that much plot.... but you know what? I don't care. I still enjoy it. Plus, I can tell someone who worked in the service industry wrote the script, because I can relate so well to the struggles the three friends are going through despite having different jobs (one in a hotel, one in a retail store, and the other a fight attendant).

It pains me to rate this lower when it will forever hold a small piece in my heart, but it was imperfect. Obviously one of the largest flaws was the 'serial killer' plot line. It was rather sloppy, since they never explained who he was or why he was doing anything. He remained this one dimension character to the very end, who's only purpose was to push the 'main' plot forward, which I get, but it could have been better. Some other problems were with the repetitive direction the drama took in later episodes, and Tae Sung (scene stealer) and In Hyuk who were utterly underused, and should have had their own stories outside of the their relationships to the leads. However the drama knew it's sweet spots: number 1 loser Seon Jae (who has became a standard no man could ever live up to), it's comedic bits, and the fluffy moments between the leads that I will and have already rewatched multiple times, lol.

I know this was meant to be a short web series, but man, this really needed to be longer, lol. It could have easily been developed into a 6 or 8 full length drama instead of the little over an hour we got. There was more world building we could have seen, including the "origin", how the relationship between the leads got to were it was, the side characters, etc. Ray Chang was great. Sure he was a little silly, but there where some pretty subtle things he did that really reflected how a cat would probably act as a human. I enjoyed it but I kind of wanted more?

A sweet mostly unproblematic (only for some characters homophobia) drama, with two awkward guys and their first relationship, along with a great support group of friends, and a few lessons along the way.

This was definitely a favorite and I was sad it ended. Lee Dam is one of the biggest reasons. She's just so true to herself though out the whole drama, and it's really refreshing to see in a FL. She's not strong all the time, but I wouldn't mess with her when she fights for the things she cares about. Another favorite element was the drama constantly calling out toxic masculinity. Normally in a drama they try to push the SML when he's just awful but this drama made it clear that he was just being annoying. Dam didn't like him and as a viewer he'd just make you uncomfortable because she found him uncomfortable. (I didn't hated him, but they pointed out his behavior wasn't okay and I loved that). Then there is Do Jae Jin who doesn't care if his classmates thinks he's a simp for the women he loves and will just keep on being the sweet boyfriend. I really enjoy the sibling bonds between the friends and was glad to see the drama not going anywhere with this. The ending had a bit of kdrama cliche but it didn't last long. I also loved Hye Sun a lot, sure she could be classified as ditzy and not very bright, but damn that girl had great instincts and I loved her interactions with Jae Jin and Woo Yeo aka POX. Definitely a lighter drama, that was alot of fun to watch.

(Well, minus the second leads. I've blocked those two out, lol). 

A man stuck in a rut and his colleague determined to help him find joy in his life, mainly by eating deserts. It doesn't sound like much, but the performances really brought the characters to life, which also touched about some norms, aging, gender roles, and just generally trying to find fulfillment in life.   The only real downside to this was that it was too short.

Easily one of my favorite dramas of the year. The writer really has a talent diving into the woes (or rather "blues") of everyday life, along with featuring some issues that always appear drama: including teenage pregnancy, depression, the ongoing trauma left behind from our parents, the burden of being a career (how you can love someone but at the same time feel exhusted by being around them), among many other stories by the people living in the same community on Jeju Island. There is a lack of "drama" with this since it's based much more in reality. My personal favorite story came from an estranged mother and son, one who is extremely prideful (a completely complicated character played brilliantly by _ ), and the other who hasn't really been able to live his life because of the trauma caused by her neglect, as they go on a trip together.

Okay maybe this isn't the best, but I really enjoyed it. First was just the lack of drama. The three women in the ML's life (the FL, his ex, and his widowed sister in law) have some reason to be bitter towards each other - but instead they are friends, and at times I was convinced his ex was was actively trying to push the FL towards him. In general there was so much space for nonsense drama here, but it never came, lol. The FL could be frustrating at times but she was really trying her best, so I don't think she's as useless as she thinks she is. Her only real problem was being lonely and a bit too nice for her own good. The ML is a bit of tsundere, that has some things to work through, but no one lends someone lots of money, live in his house for free, makes her food all the time, and runs across town if he thinks she's in danger if he doesn't care about her. They just had to get there first. I am a little sad they didn't develop anymore of the manga after that point since it was so chaotic and fun.

I found myself grinning like a manic watching this - either from the pure silliness or the sweetness. I enjoyed the dynamics of the leads, clearly they were made for each other, having some of the same crazy energy. I haven't seen Kim Young Dae in anything before but he managed the comedic bits so well with the emotional moments. The SML didn't get really exciting until the end, since he spent the beginning getting rejected and getting in trouble with the King for not doing his job. Some side characters could have been replaced by Sung Hwa Yoon (utterly misused in only three episodes), or the dorky bandits. While one villain was generally awful and despicable, the other was not as effective (made by a weird decision to play him as if he was asleep or high the whole time).

I don't know if this really deserves a 7.5 or not, it's kind of hard to judge my thoughts on this. The writing is a little at fault (although I wonder what the actual script looked like because it seems like they didn't adapt it 100%), but there are directing and editing problems I have with it as well. But the acting was great especially from Sam Lin (not surprising considering how emotional invested he was with his character). I don't know, lol.