Shahrizat Jailan

I love Chae Song Ah's character. She may appear timid and introverted but there have been many occasions when she stood for herself and expressed quite plainly how she felt about things in her own quiet but determined way. She knows herself and what she wants out of life be it her career choices, family & love but she is never pushy or selfish about it. I love her!

Yes he'll undergo some pretty redeemable character development. It has made me root for him somehow. He does also have a rather heartwrenching backstory.

Yoo Ah In and Kim Tae Ri... Someone make that happen, p l e a s e ! I really, really miss Yoo Ah In in Dramaland.

I remember wanting to smack him several times in Season 1. Now (especially after watching Lee Joon Hyuk in 365: Repeat the Year) he's starting to get a hold on me. He does hustle so well!

WWWSK - Dropped it after the mystery between the brother switch was resolved. Yes, that was quite late in the game and I felt that the storyline afterwards had not compelled me to finish watching. Perhaps I SHALL give it another go, as I did enjoy watching the first half

TMS - Also dropped towards the end, I believe at the wedding for the dead episode. I can't really give you a rational reason as to why I dropped it, and many would certainly disagree, but I found the FL's character vastly annoying. Sorry, but yeah there you go.

Abyss - for the very reasons you mentioned. Also I didn't find the way the ML's character was written appealing at all. I dropped it around the 5th episode. It was just too shambolic

MAB - Shall I say why and risk spoiling it for you? Hehe. This one I dropped around halfway through.

Gritted my teeth throughout watching DOTS, just for the sake of watching SJK in all his glory.

I thought Pinocchio was alright. Maybe because it was one of the first few KDramas I watched and was blissfully unaware of all the cliches attached

Have not watched the rest. But I HAVE dropped dramas that everyone else seemed crazy about, despite them being cast with some of my favorite actors. Shortlisted below:

The Master's Sun
What's Wrong With Secretary Kim
Abyss
My Absolute Boyfriend

My all-time favorite drama happens to be a Sageuk, and of course it's Six Flying Dragons. But boy was the start darned difficult; it needed 4 whole episodes to get us acclimatized. But when it did start boy it was the best ride ever to grace Dramaland. Well at least it was, for me. The series gave me millions of conflicting feelings with oscillating moments of euphoria, depression, horror, indignation, pride and most significantly, a curious feeling of empathy with one of the most paradoxical figures in history. And I attribute that to Yoo Ah-in's genius delivery of Lee Bangwon. I had a horrible case of withdrawal symptoms when it all finally ended. Had to take weeks off from watching dramas, because all other dramas at the time fell flat in comparison to what SFD had done for me, emotionally.

I'm getting Special Labor Inspector Jo vibes from this drama. I love how these dramas don't take themselves seriously.

In Romantic Dr. Kim (1st season) his was my favorite character though it didn't start out that way. But when he had the moment of epiphany that spurred him to change his perceptions, he turned out so admirable and I was just proud of him. And I loved his swashbuckling tsundere characterization of Gu Dong Mae in Mr. Sunshine.

In all honesty, I can't really say that this was a successful romance drama. But I do love the cross-dimensional and dualistic story development of all characters involved. The major problem with this drama is that the romance plot development between the leads was not as compelling and could not propel the story on the way it did with Goblin. Perhaps it was because of the lack of chemistry between the leads, and also largely because of the way the romance was even written.

Acting wise, although Lee Minho certainly LOOKED the part, a lot of times I felt that he hadn't been able to portray the charisma of a traditional royalty that well, especially that of a King. The delivery of his lines I felt seemed always just missed one fraction less than what was needed for a complete point scored, if you get my meaning. And he really needs to work on the inflections in his vocal delivery too. As for Kim Go-eun, although undoubtedly a talented actress, felt like a misscast against LMH. Perhaps it was the way her character was written, but many times it left me wondering what had been so compelling about her character that a King would traverse the universe to be with her.

As many here seem to concur, I think there had been many instances where Woo Do Hwan came in to save the drama, just the way the characters he played often came in to save the day for our intrepid and sometimes reckless King. And I loved Kim Kyung Nam's rendition of the token tsundere third wheel. Felt his pain and angst, and truly glad that he found his happy place(s) at the conclusion. Lee Jung Jin as an actor played a formidable villain, but I wished his character was a little more than one-dimensional. There had to be something more than just greed to fuel his decades-long mission for treason.

I would recommend this drama for the parallel universe theme and the unique premise it offers, for the plot development that ran in duality, and for the commendable cinematography throughout. Just don't expect too much from the romance storyline. It could have been written so much better, true, but I would still appreciate the creative thought processes behind the conception of this drama series.

This drama has that one character that the catchphrase "OK boomer" was totally made for. And I never even liked to use that catchphrase before!

I have a feeling that Dr Cha's nausea is more psychological than an actual biological condition that she has. And I highly suspect that the bottle of "suppressant" that Kim Sabu gave her is only a placebo. Dr Cha will soon rise to her full potentials once she realizes that she could beat her phobia. At least, I hope she will. As far as potential character growth goes, I think hers is the one with the most mileage as she has a long way to discover her true self. And her height is a nice balance to Ahn Yeo Seop's

I'm so relieved that Ahn Hyeo Seop has been given great material to practice his wonderful acting chops. I didn't like the stuff they made him do in Abyss, and he needed a new well-written character to move on to. Loving his Seo Woo Jin so far.

I'm also kind of hoping the Barley couple from episode one will make a cameo appearance. Would be a huge bonus if Yoo Yeon Seok could come and don the blue surgical tunic and pants one last time!

Excellent writeup and I can relate quite well as I've watched all but one. And I'm glad you've enlisted Confession; it is indeed a hidden gem. I've always loved Lee Junho's acting, he's versatile and can take on different genres. He was on point as the emotionally-repressed (or numbed?) lawyer and Yoo Jae Myung was stellar, as always. His character did get on my nerve a little at the beginning when he had yet to develop his trust in LJH's. But yeah I think in its entirety, Confession was one of the few good ones this year.

And The Fiery Priest! Watching Kim Namgil in long, black flowy robes executing perfect martial arts moves was everything for me! And I did had a lot of floor-rolling moments of laughter I hadn't experienced since Good Manager Kim. Definitely a must-watch.

Thanks so much for the recollections. I might just give The Fiery Priest another round.

From my observations he is better suited as a second male lead. He didn't do well as the lead in Blood ether. I didn't think he had enough charisma to take on a vampire role.

For great laughs:
Chief Kim (had me in complete stitches)
The Fiery Priest
Extraordinary You
Black (Really, Song Seung Heon is EVERYTHING in this)
Chicago Typewriter
Thirty but Seventeen

For that warm, fuzzy feeling:
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo
Coffee Friends (technically a variety show, but oh so therapeutic. Highly recommended)
Miss Hammurabi
Just Between Lovers
Extraordinary You
Prison Playbook (Oh, the bromance! One of the best)
Healer

Emotional roller-coasters:
Mr. Sunshine
Six Flying Dragons (Oh my god, this one. Took me about 3 episodes to warm up but the remaining episodes gave me one of the best emotional rides I've been on watching tv. The withdrawal symptoms after it was over was so great I couldn't watch anything else for days)
Black
Chicago Typewriter
Moment at Eighteen
Thirty but Seventeen
Lucifer (oh this one really hit me in the gut. I would consider this a classic)
Healer (another classic for me)
Life on Mars (this one slowly grows on you and you'd become invested in the characters and their relationship to one another)

Visual Therapy (from cinematographic excellence and also the cast):
Coffee Friends
Search: WWW
100 Days My Prince
Mr. Sunshine (this one is a veritable FEAST!)
The Fiery Priest (if you consider Kim Nam Gil in long, black, flowy robe executing perfectly choreographed fight scenes a form of visual therapy, of course)
Life on Mars (A reminiscence of life back in the 80s)

Honorable mentions:
Memories of Alhambra (so much potential, awesome concept)
All the Arthdal Chronicles (just for something different, and Song Joong Ki's awesome portrayal of 2 characters)
Vagabond (We-all-need-to-hear-classic-Lee-Seung-Gi-yelling-and-watch-him-kick-butts-every-now-and-then, don't we?)

Hope I've helped, somewhat.

Chansung (HDL) did go back in time to get some flowers for Mago to make the special wine, remember? Managed to save Manwol from bankruptcy and stopped her gambling habits, even.

It seems that Circle isn't a time-travelling drama too, then. It only involves a story that spans 20 years but no one actually went back in time or jumped forward into the future to affect any change to the past nor present, if I remember correctly.

Might I add a few more

1) Mr. Sunshine - Lee Byung-hun, Yoo Yeon-seok, Byun Yo-han shared a bromance of epic proportions when all three pinned after the same girl, shared almost nothing else in common including allegiances, yet on so many occasions worked together to protect the sole object of their affections.

2) Chief Kim - who needs conventional girl-meets-boy romance when you have polar opposites, sworn enemies Nam Goong-min & Lee Jun-ho joining forces to bring down Mr. Big Evil while having old-married couple's fights along the way? Look forward also to their classic, in-sync slo-mo entry strides like the superheroes they are.

3) Prison Playbook - everyone in Wing 2 Cell 6. What kind of bromance would you think a handful of inmates sharing the same cell would form? One of a unique kind! From turning a prison snitch into a loyal personal bodyguard right up to turning around a wrong conviction, everyone experienced huge life changes by virtue of being placed in the same Cell as our main protagonist. And forged real, lasting friendship along the way.

4) Warrior Baek Dong-soo - Still tugs at my heartstrings, when I recall all that Ji Chang-wook and Yoo Seung-ho had to endure. I better not say too much for fear of spoiling

The special investigation team lead by Chief Kang was instructed to disband, so NIS didn't have anything to do with Go Haeri being there in Kiria, at least not on an official capacity. But knowing Chief Kang, I'm pretty sure as the leader of the group Vagabond, he is pulling some invisible strings while also enlisting Jessica's assistance. Go Haeri received training as a lobbyist from Jessica in the US during that time jump before landing in Kiria. Now fate has it that Cha Dal-geon was also operating undercover within the Black Sun group to destroy it from inside and exact revenge on Samael the only way he knows. How serendipitous it is that he happened to be the one instructed to take down a "rising, mysterious female lobbyist" who turned out to be Go Haeri, of all people! If it was any other member of the Black Sun, she'd almost certainly have been a goner. So Dal-geon took out the second sniper and then we're left with that crazy cliffhanger. Phew. I hope they won't leave us hanging for very long or I WILL riot!

Quite well summarized, only I'm thinking that Haeri is no longer working as a part of the government because it is already being controlled by Edward Park. The person actually lobbying to get the Kiria project is Prime Minister Hong in order to win over public/national favor by boosting SK economy in time for the presidential elections. Go Haeri is there lobbying the Kiria project to wrestle it away from PM Hong to incapacitate Edward Park's plans to install PM Hong as a puppet President.