burhaa aadmi

I agree with Se Ra in the Korean remake to FTLY deserving a second chance, but Anna in the original DELIBERATELY did what she did to the female lead. She INTENDED for what happened to happen, and that is just awful. Inflicting that particular trauma intentionally, with malicious forethought, is heinous and the fact that the K remake changed it from being a deliberately planned act to an unintentional accident was one of the biggest reasons why I preferred the remake

Several here you couldn't pay me to watch - Goblin, Secret Garden, Misty, Chicago Typewriter, and one that made me rage against its misogyny - Secretary Kim. The standout was Fated To Love You, a very rare Drama in that I saw that TW original first and HATED it for the awfulness of the ML. Ethan Ruan's character was horrid to the end. Then I saw the K remake and loved how much better it was. The ML was better, and the Second female lead was better too, not only because the actor actually WAS a ballerina, but because the character was not as awful. In the original, the second female lead DELIBERATELY caused the major trauma on the Female lead, in the K remake she caused the same trauma, but without malicious intent, just by accident. A major improvement over the awful original

"We know in hindsight that Lee Se-Young has become a better actress since 2016, and she shows some promise in HAYB"
This comment reveals a great lack of awareness of her LONG career as an actor. She'd already been acting for 15 years before 2016, and her performances in The Gentlemen of Wolgyesu Tailor Shop and Hit The Top showcase her professionalism and acting very well. Especially - her character's arc in that was one of the real highlights of the show. I'm not going to watch HAYB, but to imply she "showed promise" in it as if she was some rookie just starting out is not even close to being accurate

Amen to this. It's a pan-Asian problem, of course, one of my all time favourite actors, Nandita Das, has been active in addressing this issue in India https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/sep/04/dark-is-beautiful-battle-to-end-worlds-obsession-with-lighter-skin

Into episode 4 and not sure if I can stick it out. My main issue so far is actually the female lead's family - I want to strangle that selfish little brat of a sister, and don't see any sign of actual parental concern from the mother.

After watching and enjoying season 1, my reaction to reading the outcome for Season 2 (the outcome I expected and dreaded) can be summed up by this xkcd strip
https://xkcd.com/566/

No. Breaking someone's ribs says A LOT about that person.

No, it's on you - it really is NONE OF OUR DAM BUSINESS. Many may have thought similarly to you, but expressing such scepticism was an intrusion into her family's personal choice, implying that they were lying by omission or hiding something. Stop pretending your intrusive cynicism was righteous and justified

I watched 9, dropped 2 (Strong Woman & W), skipped 4 (Goblin, DotS, You're Beautiful , Secret Garden) LOATHED Full House with a visceral hatred, and can't stomach Playful Kiss now because it stars Rib-Breaker. Ugh! Hooray for Coffee Prince, and Dae Jang Geum

It's nice to see "Be Melodramatic" get mentioned in the comments, but a relatively recent Drama that it seems no one has mentioned is the OUTSTANDING "Goodbye to Goodbye". That Drama is ALL about the women, the lead pair are actually (prospective) mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. The Drama revolves around them, and their relationship with each other and with other women. The men (including the one involved in a loveline) are very much secondary characters

An excellent review, nicely highlighting many of the reasons why I dropped this misogynistic abomination. "Strong" women in K Dramas almost always need rescuing by the male leads, and the casting of the female lead shows that this was never going to be an exception. As you point out, her physical build is all wrong to be remotely credible as a weightlifter.

I'm looking forward to checking this out for Lee Joo Bin, who impressed me in Be Melodramatic

As someone who dropped the Drama halfway, I'm just happy to finally see someone else responding to the article with anything other than gushing, fawning, uncritical adulation. :)

Interesting review, thanks. It's been so long since I watched it that I didn't remember their ages, but since Lee Min Ki was 32 when the Drama was made, I have no problem with thinking of him as 38. I discovered just last week that a dear Korean friend I thought was 36-37 is actually only 31-32 (I haven't told him!), so the age stated seems credible to me.

You made it much further than I did, I dropped after 10 :)

If you do, be aware that the tone of the second half is VERY different. It's effectively a different Drama. No more fun and laughter and sweet jokes, just LOTS of death and misery. Pretty much everyone except the leads dies, most of them horribly and graphically. It's why I dropped at halfway, once the per episode body count started to skyrocket.

" if a cliché is done right, it can be entertaining enough." Brava for this! Like you, I enjoyed "Touch Your Heart" for similar reasons. It was nothing new, but it delivered the tropes competently and credibly, thanks to the leads. Sometmies it's nice to sit back and know exactly what you're going to get. :)

Also, yay for another plug for Be Melodramatic - although I found the lead couple underwhelming and unengaging, I loved the doco maker and her frenemy/subject

2019 was a mehdiocre year for me, 17 2019 K-Dramas completed, nothing higher than an 8.5 from me. On the upside, only one dropped, the slaughterfest that was "Tale of Nokdu", while the two Dramas that did score highest for me, Search:WWW (8.5) and Be Melodramatic (8)did make the list above.

Yep, me too - I'd just started ep 2 when I stumbled on the big secret, and dropped instantly, after recoiling in revulsion.

"The large secret the husband kept from the wife felt really wrong and kind of silly" - more than silly, it was a vicious lie, cruel and utterly psychotic. The very very worst kind of stalker, definitely creepy, nothing "borderline" about it.