XingBack

Best of 2023

This year, lol I wont say many and pretend to be an MDL influencer, but this year my friends feeds and a few drama pages must’ve seen my bitter nagging Nancy complaining about the excessive use of the “wash, rinse and repeat” plot lines

Creativity is dead, many shows just depend on the cast name and come up with ridiculously overused plot moves in the same exact formula and order
But enough with nagging Nancy and let me say how this was different


For one, a calm elegant and truly smart and strong fl, that got to those characteristics by actual growth and steps
Second would be park gyu young, her poise, her charisma and her look truly made me believe she’d be a top M worthy influencer
Third would be the well use of cliches:
-poor fl/ rich ml; but ml wasn’t doing the thinking and problem solving for the fl
- not evil 2fl, an anti cliche that was HIGHLY welcomed. Tho they sure did play with our hearts and kept us guessing till the end by,
- 2fl is ml ex, the cliche that usually leads to said 2fl being basically crazy
- friend that feels jealous made sense well
- crazy jealous rich x btches, again they were a good bunch, typical but entertaining dad
There are probably others anyone can add :)


Then the twists, I thought they were spoon feeding us the plot into the same old endings
Ml died, fl was “murdered” by the rich btches if not 2fl and her psycho husband and the nation crying and completely forgetting their own involvement in making such a scary world



One other thing I liked was how everyone had a husband tho I must say that is the makjang way, usually romcoms would only have one friend that “lost to the pressure” and gave up on the single life xD

Bbbfamous, such a sad existence… idk how I feel about it tbh, sure ppl vent out their own mental struggles on others but are all depressed ppl who are envious and tired of the social pyramid should be considered evil?
Maybe cuz fl’s bff was the anti who was tired of living in the shadow and never seeing fame, was enough so bbbfamous had to have a different bg, tbh I’m atleast glad she was a “fake facade” rather than completely just “ugly/dirty”…
Ppl might think ah, so antis and haters are like that, crazy. But we only write support based on events so technically we’re not being antis
Like a scandal coming and everyone becoming keyboard warriors without fully knowing the truth but always carrying that info as the ultimate truth….

Anyway the last two eps went heavy on the twists and they sure did a mission impossible tho again it was a clever way to keep up with the modern times

Now for the deaths and drug, I mean it could be true but if it didn’t exist, how would’ve they continued? Basically it feels like a cheat sheet but atleast they used it once

Ari as a whole, was grey, but that’s the moral, is it worth it.. as someone who made a kdrama fan account on insta and TikTok, I did experience a few things that overall did make me believe the things happened were realistic
Using others to gain followers, buying followers, insta and TikTok having their own algorithm and hidden agendas on who and what gets viral, all are such stressful things honestly even scrolling through insta becomes suffocating when everyone is desperately screaming “look at me”. Thankfully I just edit drama clips so I don’t have to participate in that rat race sometimes I get 700k view’s sometimes I get 7 xD

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A 10 in 2023 dramas standards

*Entertainment: 8/10, in a slumpy(iPhone says skimpy) mood yet I didn’t look away too often
*Cast: 10/10, I especially loved how big actors played minor roles, most of those dudes can hold a 1ml role on their own easily
*Characters: 9/10, I didn’t like how easy they connected in one form or another, found each other or were long term enemies
But I also appreciated actors like siwon playing a “bad” person and joonho ahjussi playing a “nice guy” when both usually do the opposite
WDH; 1000/10, sad, happy, puppy face, strong, dark, pure hearted, every single emotion was conveyed beautifully. I do see my WDH as more of a serious if not even villainous persona but my precious convoys uwu well maybe he even got casted cuz of tkem and his adorable jo character
Gunwoo: 10/10 my precious he was sweet yet didn’t reach the pushover airheaded stage, he was sincere and had a heart of gold
LYS: 9.5/10 , he surprised me idk if I’ve seen him before but he certainly was different from his actual personality in I live alone. Tho I still can’t believe he’s just 1 year older than WDH🤣
Bromance: 10/10, I was kind of worried woojin would go rouge but🥺👍🏻
Soran: 4/10 tbh I actually didn’t vibe with her interpretation of the character, if that was hyunjoo’s webtoon personality she was miscasted, I’d imagine someone a bit rougher and still more playful tho saeron pull of emotion sadness well
Damon: 8/10 I was surprised by the actress cuz I didn’t recognize her, tho she also gave me IU vibes so it hit me in the feels well🥹😂
Plot: 7/10 it was sloppy sometimes as I said before it felt like a comic strip that didn’t translate well in a fast paced drama
Ending: 8/10, too picture perfect
Overall; eh I’ll be biased and say a 10 in 2023 dramas standards

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I had more fun watching this than watching dramas xD
at some points they wanted designers rather than stylists but kids these days are too into distortion and layering that I sometimes didn't blame the judges
sometimes they were too cruel, those kids all had so much enthusiasm and it was so sad to watch the excitement leave their eyes when the judges nitpiked everything beside the "good" members.
I wanted to see more styling and challenges than getting more bonuses for creating new pieces by cutting and sewing. atleast I hoped they taught the kids better


overall I LOVED this, this was similar to my dream fashion mdl production.
hayoungie was the "fl", Ye Chan was the "ml", Seo Yeon the "2fl" and I didn't ship them I just matched their vibes to drama characters but I did slightly ship yuna and her itaewan partner Ju Seung ;p

I think they tried to balance and add a twist so they didn't always praise the best but as a "drama" they made hayoung the main character so much that she always won the ratings and she might've thought she'd win so that was sad. though I always felt like they actually appreciated yuna the most they didn't want to always back her up so it didn't seem preplanned.


the budget was HIGH, so high it felt weird. the concept was about styling and most of those kids didn't have the artistic mindset and creativity to create a new thing so the judges were too cruel to ask uniqueness of them
I loved the kids ep the best I think that was more close to "style" than designer and I wished for more eps

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this was such a refreshing little unexpected gem~ it was sweet and healing but also too short and abrupt, I wish it was longer or they made a 2nd season ;(


when the drama started I thought, ah Kuroki Haru and Takahashi Isse as a couple! but as ep 1 went by I wondered if he was a guest role, then if he was a 2nd lead, but the casting list confused me and I thought it was one of those 2ml gets the girl reversals, until each ep went by and slowly their stories opened up step by step.

in some ways everyone lives in their own bubble, or aquarium and in some ways we try to fit with others but every once in a while everyone needs a long vacation to better understand themselves away from the herd

but each vacation needs to end too and we need to step right back into society becasue the world continues to spin. in some ways the demolition of the little building was like forcing nagi to jump back into the world

each character had their own journey. and I think they did what was best, nagi finally saw the world from shinji's pov but still even if she ended her vocational self discovery, she still had alot of new experiences left in the outside world and I personally like to think after a while they could cross paths again as 2 more interdependent people who could swim alone besides each other (especially with Ryoko unexpectedly dating his brother xD)

overall it was sweet but I wished for a better in depth characters, but still I enjoyed it alot and I'll miss it~

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the story is very very simple. this was better as a binge, tbh I don't think I'd have given it a chance higher than the 1st four eps and I'd have dropped it if I watched it as it aired, but it was also not as engaging as I'd have hoped. it got better by eps4-6 but as soon as it got it's footing it was so obvious how their "big picture" was going to turn out that I lost interest in the plot.

the side plots were related to the big picture, each case reflected Wol Joo's own situation and concerns but they were somewhat really flat, idk, it was hard to connect to the side stories? though the messages were great and really inspirational, but they just felt too fleeting?

I know, I might be complaining too much so one would wonder why the high rating, but something the review ratings doesn't cover is the characters, their relationships and their depths.
the 3 mains had a really sweet chemistry and I highly enjoyed their bickering and "grudge" fights and I wished they'd have tried to make them a little more active outside the pop up bar, I know that was their home base but I wanted more action (and I don't mean fighting)
and even though their family bond was sweet I kinda wish they weren't related and just found comfort in each other regardless of the destiny makjang move "he's your long lost son/love" ;D

the best part for me was Kang Yeo Rin who's going to join my favorite female characters list, she was refreshing, independent, smart and always made the 1st move ❤ and I loved their chemistry, Kang Bae truly deserves the "sweet male lead" tag though I wish they focused more on them ;)

which makes me wonder, are romances better in non romance dramas because they focus on them less, so the "chase" is longer and there's no space for misunderstandings and inevitable breakups?

HWJ was slightly as overreacting as ever, but since this was a comedy it kinda fit the vibes well and I wish she'd act in another drama with Choi Won Young minus the long lost lovers theme ;D I want a pure secret like makjang


the OSTs were nice enough and I never rewatch stuff

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the movie felt like 4 different movies;
the 1st was the meeting of two teens, the princess and the bad boy who was rough around the edges. this might be where the good girl/bad guy complex came about. they had zero chemistry and she was way too good for him..

the 2nd, was the marriage and loveydoveyness, tbh I thought it was weird how they got married so soon in the movie but they had a lot of built up angst coming their way. they were like a different couple. he got a job and lost his carefree bad boy puberty rebelling phase.

the 3rd part was when they revealed she was sick. and this is when it started to lose points. first of we had the crazy scientist guy who told her everything so bluntly. a professional doctor who personally experienced that should ask for her to bring a family member with them for that kind of earth shattering news ;/
also, forgiveness doesn't cost money.. you should never pay your life savings "to forgive" someone, it should be the opposite if anything... and just becasue she was his mom doesn't mean he needs to put up with her bs ;/

the 4th part started when they added that stupid dramatic scene... a guy who knows his wife has alzheimer sees the door open and she's just standing with a guy so what does he do? go punch the heck out of the guy! why?! the heck?! the guy didn't even do anything, he was confused and didn't react....
like why? why just why.. I was going to give it a 8+ but that was the most ridiculous scene ever. did he think he was going to hurt her? did he think they were cheating? there were no signs, non of that explains why he beat that guy so much ;/
and then the dad goes "we will take her"... what does "through sickness and health mean".. he was willing to stay by her side. just bring in a live in nurse or something but no, she remembered everything and left him while he spent weeks(?) looking for her thinking she might be dead in a ditch ;/

and that binges me to my last point, they were really bad at explaining/showing the passage of time. beside Chul Soo ditching his ragged clothes, they looked the exact same throughout all those phases. how long did this all take? was she always 27 and him, 30ish? becasue his 1st appearance was of someone in his early 20s struggling through life.. and their last appearance was of someone in their 20s losing all of her memories and acting as if she was drunk..

and I hated the ending.. so why did she leave if they reunited and drove towards the sunset? just horrible writing ;/

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I like and respect all of the actors, but the plot was just horrible. in the 1st movie, the main guy's brother is killed and he's framed for it.
here, they took revenge for this guy that "raised" the ml, but so brutally and just to teach him go.... I mean, it is a traditional game, but if you switch it to chess, it'd still be as pointless. sure they played several Saw like Go games, but everything happened just for the sake of the plot.
it's like, if it was a sport like karate or taekwondo, it'd have some action and suspense, beside the whole backstory of the sister felt like a cheap move to add to the "revenge"

Loner had a more solid reason for revenge, his dad was murdered and he got severely hurt by evil guy that raised the ml... but his story was just used as a time filler..
it's funny how a 1 hour 45min movie felt like a 5 hour one.. also this is the type of movies I hate, they add creepy and gore as a way to be edgy but it just looks silly

the acting was great of course, and I never rewatch things

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I usually don't enjoy medical dramas, and since this is a 2016 production I want to cut it some slack.

I enjoyed the small side stories more, and I wish the "extra" ep actually happened in the middle so they could've used that to shake things up instead of the ceo's story.

I really hated the back story for Yoon Seo Jung. the drama started off with her as a confident strong sunbae, but they just had to add a trauma to make her weak and "interesting/open to development".. I also loved Yoon Seo Jung and Kang Dong Joo as a couple I think they were closest to a "mature" couple as dramas could get, but again that 1 random traumatic event kept them away for so long ;/

I also think their overall "big plots" were really weak. like the heart ceo's story and big fight around him was boring, and Do Yoon Wan's character existed just so they had "conflict".

my rewatch values are a 1 or 10 so ;)

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my favorite characters were Seo Young Joo (a total srs), Lee Ki Chan (student), Park Seung Man (teacher) and Shin Kang Hoon (detective), also Choi Ji Kyung (reporter).. it's easier to fight for your cause then to fight for someone else's?
the overall plot though was really basic, the same old story told the exact same way with slight drag and a small twist? and things seemed to "wrap" up fast after all of that fighting..
+ the raw emotions, I'm a sucker for a sob story and this made me tear up alot..
+ the characters and the acting
- it needed less episodes, maybe 6?

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I just can't take this....
pink hair likes her becasue he's looking for a mother figure/someone who'll devote their time to him. while the fl is just like kyoko? she gets obsessed with things because she looks at them as a project, but pink hair thinks he's special and then there's the fact that pink guy is also falling for her "pureness" and drunkenness ;/

cousin guy is literally family, and even though I guess it's normal but again it's like worse than being friend zoned, she doesn't see him as a man and he's way too obsessed with the "image" he had of her for 10 years which is extremely burdensome, like dude, if you couldn't confess for 10 years then it's too late move on!

teacher guy again is the only normal one, but he too seems to be still hang up on the fact that she devoted her time to help him (he was that kid right? xD) and unless he is the "one" I don't want to watch this

then the fl. her talk about back pain and the cane drives me nuts, she's not 90! and then that falling scene, I hate that move ;/
and she's being way too skinshipy with the kids, and she's like forcing herself in their friends group trying to relive her youthfulness or more like try to put herself in a position where she's the most mature because around people her age she's extremely naive.

I used to like reverse harem because it gave diverse relationships and choices, but it's more like she's so clueless that she can't see how everyone mercilessly likes her...

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I'm not a fan of law dramas, I only wanted to watch this for my girl but with this writer it's just like they made a Hani role but without Hani, it's a spitting replica of the fiery priest character

the law stuff is booorrriing, yet another revenge story with evil people doing evil stuff and talking about it over dinner.. korean villains are become like the LAMOS from totally spies

the worst part is the lack of balance between serious and comedy. one second they're all hotshot poker face people and the next they're like Goofy the Disney character

the fl is super over reactive, she's a walking 2nd hand embarrassment and the ML is like a giant baby throwing tantrums
then there's the whole mess of the tenants, everyone is out of a parody textbook, I literally couldn't care less about them. just pointless time and space fillers

basically all of this criticism is directed at the writer, they just kept repeating their comedic sense from chief kim and kept repeating it in different settings


also Kim Nam Gil, Namgoong Min and Hani are made for this comedic sense but Song Joong Ki and Jun Yeo Bin are better off in serious roles


the plus side, my girl got another casting call and I loved her outfits, honestly she looked so hot in the stills..


She's more comically aggressive than Hani, Baek Inha, Veronica Park, Hwang Jungeum and even Lee Yori...
I went from "aw my girl is a total boss lady", to "aw look she's acting cute" and ended with "what the heck is wrong with her"...

And worse the other smart boss lady is also as over reactive with the weird dance and crazy facial expressions. That is not comedy and I loved Pegasus Market and Spring turns to Spring

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By ep4 there are many things I don’t like
The past, either the romance or the revenge and everything related to the 2 villains, skiiippp

The villagers are dumb, and now I’m realizing annoying mask girl is an older woman? And his wife? Or are there 2? Still I hate useless plot moves like that, like who the heck would wear a mask 24/7, it literally dries in 10mins🤡
So basically this is one big drag on something that should’ve been a movie
If those are his kids that’s even worse
The mom is just evil yelling at someone who doesn’t remember it worse is mentally 6

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Obsession, bullying, power imbalance, late subs made the plot and overall drama unenjoyable for me

as an mdl feature we are allowed to review dropped dramas, and I have a point to just review everything
like most webtoon adaptations, it lacks reasons for characters behaviors, everything is flashy and overdramatic, for example fl took a pic of an after school class. and they chased her like she was a thief that she had to hide on the roof? ridiculous

the drug things are also way too unbelievable, everyone is popping pills to study better xD and going to drs to get prescriptions to resell, in this economy?

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