Thank you very much, @Ele! I know what you mean by character driven dramas. Often a good plot without relatable…
Thank you for the recommendation. I do know about Cruel City but except Jung Kyung Ho in the lead there never really was an appeal for me to watch. Now that you say this though I will put it on my plan to watch list.
I absolutely love this article. Come and Hug me is already on my fav list but I love it even more after reading this because you mentioned some things I haven't noticed. I do hope you can write more articles like as I do prefer long ones when it comes to an analysis like this. I usually enjoy stories more that focus on the characters rather than the plot. I don't mind slow paced stories, often even prefer them, because they give room for compelling characters and their development throughout the story. This drama presents such a good ensemble of interwoven, complex human beings and that's what makes a good story; at least it does for me.
I agree with all your points.I think having 'unemotional characters' is a trend now? They either think it's cool…
Yeah, I think making the male lead unemotional gives them an excuse to cast someone who is not that great at acting but popular and good-looking, as drama consumers tend to place value on how the actors and actresses look. We have seen this often enough, that they cast someone as a lead actor who makes us wonder who is making these bad casting decisions but they are all still good-looking of course.
I actually have to agree with all of these, except Pinocchio but there is always a degree of subjectivity when it comes to liking a couple so that's understandable.
Yoon Sung treated Na Na however he felt like treating her and however it was convenient at the moment. The push-and-pull was awful and Na Na deserved much better in my opinion. And as you said, why exactly did she fell for him?
Full House had a bunch of unnecessary stuff in there that made no sense, aka everything with the second female lead. It made the angst towards the end so annoyingly absurd that I skipped most of it.
You can't even argue with Playful Kiss, it was one of the worst dramas I've ever watched. I'm one of those who had Boys Over Flowers as their first drama and that too had a bad romance and an unnaturally unemotional Kim Hyun Joong. I was far more invested in the second couple in that one. Anyway, I don't get why the source material to Playful Kiss is so popular and has been adapted so many times in several countries. The male lead is awful in all of them.
And thank you for adding Love 020. It's praised so much and I get where it's coming from. Because it is quite refreshing to have a drama where a couple gets together and actually stays together without useless angst thrown in their way. But what bothered me immensely was the leads' really bad acting. Both of them were just really really bad. And I don't think it's because of the way they were written because the characters in the movie were actually likeable. They should have made the drama with the leads from the movie, who weren't stiff and interacting like cyborgs but like actual human beings with actual feelings of attraction.
Thank you so much for adding Strong Woman Do Bong Soon. I get so weirded out whenever it is praised to the heavens when the plot was just a complete mess. It had three storylines that did not blend well into each other and an apparent comedy that was just downward cringey and unnecessary. The main couple, on the other hand, was fantastic and Bong Soon and Minhyuk are great characters, still, it should not be overlooked that most things did not make any sense in this drama.
I also agree with most of the other dramas you have mentioned. It seemed as if Suspicious Partner did not know what exactly to do with their characters so the writer just presented us one cliché trope after another and came up with aggravating reasons to keep the couple from coming and actually staying together while neglecting the actual crime-solving part of the story.
Fight My Way also let its characters suffer from one cliché lost daughter cliché and an ex-girlfriend that could have been cut clean out of the drama without making any difference to the plot. The time spent on both these storylines could have been used to create an actual problem that made sense and didn't make me roll my eyes. And instead of actually dealing with the dilemma that made the main couple (who I absolutely loved btw) break up, they pulled a marriage proposal out of nowhere as if that would make everything okay. The best-friends to lovers is my favorite trope and this drama did it so well, with a main cast that had great chemistry but what was going on around them did just not satisfy.
And while While You Were Sleeping had an interesting start, it completely fell flat after some episodes because they were doing the same thing over and over and over again, taking the wind out of its own sails. Suzy's acting didn't bother me instead the waste of potential did. The drama had an interesting antagonist and a concept that should and could have been utilised in a way to actually create some twists along the way. I also think that the overall story seems too similar to the writer's previous works (see I Hear Your Voice and Pinocchio).
I usually enjoy stories more that focus on the characters rather than the plot. I don't mind slow paced stories, often even prefer them, because they give room for compelling characters and their development throughout the story. This drama presents such a good ensemble of interwoven, complex human beings and that's what makes a good story; at least it does for me.
We have seen this often enough, that they cast someone as a lead actor who makes us wonder who is making these bad casting decisions but they are all still good-looking of course.
Yoon Sung treated Na Na however he felt like treating her and however it was convenient at the moment. The push-and-pull was awful and Na Na deserved much better in my opinion. And as you said, why exactly did she fell for him?
Full House had a bunch of unnecessary stuff in there that made no sense, aka everything with the second female lead. It made the angst towards the end so annoyingly absurd that I skipped most of it.
You can't even argue with Playful Kiss, it was one of the worst dramas I've ever watched. I'm one of those who had Boys Over Flowers as their first drama and that too had a bad romance and an unnaturally unemotional Kim Hyun Joong. I was far more invested in the second couple in that one. Anyway, I don't get why the source material to Playful Kiss is so popular and has been adapted so many times in several countries. The male lead is awful in all of them.
And thank you for adding Love 020. It's praised so much and I get where it's coming from. Because it is quite refreshing to have a drama where a couple gets together and actually stays together without useless angst thrown in their way. But what bothered me immensely was the leads' really bad acting. Both of them were just really really bad. And I don't think it's because of the way they were written because the characters in the movie were actually likeable. They should have made the drama with the leads from the movie, who weren't stiff and interacting like cyborgs but like actual human beings with actual feelings of attraction.
I also agree with most of the other dramas you have mentioned. It seemed as if Suspicious Partner did not know what exactly to do with their characters so the writer just presented us one cliché trope after another and came up with aggravating reasons to keep the couple from coming and actually staying together while neglecting the actual crime-solving part of the story.
Fight My Way also let its characters suffer from one cliché lost daughter cliché and an ex-girlfriend that could have been cut clean out of the drama without making any difference to the plot. The time spent on both these storylines could have been used to create an actual problem that made sense and didn't make me roll my eyes. And instead of actually dealing with the dilemma that made the main couple (who I absolutely loved btw) break up, they pulled a marriage proposal out of nowhere as if that would make everything okay. The best-friends to lovers is my favorite trope and this drama did it so well, with a main cast that had great chemistry but what was going on around them did just not satisfy.
And while While You Were Sleeping had an interesting start, it completely fell flat after some episodes because they were doing the same thing over and over and over again, taking the wind out of its own sails. Suzy's acting didn't bother me instead the waste of potential did. The drama had an interesting antagonist and a concept that should and could have been utilised in a way to actually create some twists along the way. I also think that the overall story seems too similar to the writer's previous works (see I Hear Your Voice and Pinocchio).
I did like Mad Dog and School 2017 though.