My KDrama Year in Review 2016 Part 1 0f 2
Finally, it’s only March, right? I decided to wait until Hwarang wrapped so I could wrap up dramas I started in 2016.
It’s been an incredible stressful year. As an American, the presidential election aftermath is a hot mess, and I wrapped my masters in December. SO TIRED.
Dramawise, it has been an interesting year, but frankly I just do not have the bandwidth for indepth analysis. My passions for K drama are still kicking but the time and energy to write my thoughts, just are not there.
This installment will address dropped dramas and why, and completed dramas. I will be frank, some dramas I am just not going to rate, again with the energy deficit.
DROPPED DRAMAS:
Ms. Temper- Great cast, I simply couldn’t get into it.
Gab Soon-Again I just couldn’t get into it.
Jealousy Incarnate-Okay maybe I would have finished this if I hadn’t been gripped with completing my graduate degree. But. I really disliked the lead male character and at some point I just didn’t care about either one of them. I enjoyed the Mom’s and the Black Pearl Chef much more. I actually thought Gong Hyo-jin’s character was one of her most likeable characters and I am not sure why. That may have changed by the end of the show?
Five Children- Sung Hoon was delightful in his role. But ultimately I cannot watch a 50 epi drama for 1 character, especially one in love with a lispy baby talker that drove me nuts.
Imaginary Cat-It didn’t pull me in.
Six Flying Dragons-2 episodes and another no.
Doctors-I tried. I didn’t care for the characters except Ji soo’s cameo and the hippy friend.
Ms. Cop 2- Kim Bum’s trouser swagger was on point. However the lead, wow, just as stupid as the first Ms. Cop. Don’t tell me a char is smart, show me.
COMPLETED DRAMAS
Not Rated:
Hwarang-Damn Beautiful Boys. This was not the right char for Go Ara. If the showmakers had left the character as the quirky and industrious girl, she would have fared much better.
High End Crush-Cute little typical romance with Jung Il Woo doing what he does best, a bratty chaebol type. Probably the only drama I’ve not wanted to stab Jin Se-yeon.
Moorim School-Hmm. It wasn’t awful…maybe… but I can’t say it was good. I barely remember it. I liked the lead actress and her character.
Vampire Detective-This drama was an edit wtf.
Wanted- I love a who done it, but man the lead actress was wooden, and it rather fizzled towards the end.
Go Ho’s Starry Night. I remember I really liked this drama. That said I can’t remember this drama. It didn’t stick. If I ever re-watch, I feel I will rate it well, so I will do post on it.
Page Turner-Short little coming of age charmer.
Thumping Spike-Charming little drama, good times, good feels. Song Jae Rim as a teen was so out there, but okay. We got to see another side of the young and charming Lee Tae Hwan, and it was super.
Uncontrollably Fond-I do not know why I watched this. Seriously. I think I had a lull in my schedule. I gained respect for Kim Woo Bin as an actor, and I really don’t get the Suzy hate. But, wow, it’s a misery fest of a drama. I love this actor however, gosh, I love him.
K2-Another WHY did I watch this? I adored the strange and complex Wicked Queen, I really did. Some of the action scenes were terrible and inserted weirdly into the plot, and I’m not talking about the infamous nekked shower fight.
The Man Living In Our House-Started out good, and just kind of meandered along. Cast was great. Loved the male lead character particularly. If the drama had more oomph and there had been more chemistry between the two leads, he would have had more impact, and could have really rated on the best male drama leads lists.
Squad 38-I enjoyed this drama but didn’t love it. It’s outside the norm which is cool, but I something was a bit off, I never put my finger on it.
Romantic Doctor Kim-Started out pretty strong and kind of lost me the final leg. Super cast, other than the lead actors, whom I do not love, but they did have good chemistry. GREAT kissing scene.
Before diving into the rated dramas, here is my seriously too complicated rating system. I tend to be rather harsh. I sometimes look back at my ratings and have kinder perspectives. I am TRYING to be more flexible this year. I was thinking of adding a stickiness category but I realized sometimes one doesn’t realize a drama is sticky until a year or so later. Reference: Girl Friday of Dramabeans once talked about the stickiness of a drama. In other words, some drama elements stick with you, and some don’t even in really super good dramas. So I might or might not comment on stickiness, but not going to rate.
Coffee Prince Good
Boys over Flowers Crack
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it vs How good (quality) it was.
Cheese in the Trap
Coffee Prince Good 4
Boys over Flowers Crack 3
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 4
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 3 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 6 vs How good (quality) it was 6
Controversy/on set drama really tanked this. It was a decent little drama, and it did not end that badly, but when for whatever reasons, the showmaker’s excluded the lead male for a good portion of the latter half of the drama, it’s difficult to make it flow correctly.
Descendants of the Sun
Note -I don’t where this HD cap came from, it is not mine, maybe from a twitter peep share, but damn, and thank you.
Coffee Prince Good 7
Boys over Flowers Crack 8
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 7
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 7 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 8 vs How good (quality) it was 7
I went into this drama with low interest because the cast was not my cup of tea, and really did not much like the first episode, but went back to it, and found I rather enjoyed it. The military aspect spoke to me, and the parallels of the service of soldiers and doctors to the nation and the public good was a really nice draw. With KES, one expects engaging male lead chars, and we got this, but she is not known for her fem leads. I think this is one of KES better fem leads.
Some of the drama will stick with me.
And well THIS was awesomely fun.
Come Back Ahjussi
Coffee Prince Good 5
Boys over Flowers Crack 4
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 6
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead this cannot really be rated for that because it was a male spirit inhabiting fem body (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 7 vs How good (quality) it was 6
Loved this drama, loved the cast, and just so much heart. Didn’t love the resolution particularly, but quite an enjoyable drama. It is super well done, and Rain is love. But, it really hasn’t stuck to me. strangely.
Another Oh Hae Young
Coffee Prince Good 8
Boys over Flowers Crack 5
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 6
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 7 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 8 vs How good (quality) it was 8
This was another drama I went into with little hope of sticking to, as I super dislike the lead actress, and I don’t care for Eric either. I did not love the fem lead character, and the 2nd fem lead,don’t get me started. But. This is a very well done drama, with a super cast. Very, very good to watch. I however did not like the message of this drama much from a feminist stand point for the female lead, it was tough realizing I really enjoyed this drama and had problems watching her find happiness in her relationship with the former fiance of her high school nemesis. However, her character actually scores well for being fairly independent and having some agency, even though she was totally hung up on the other Hae Young. I did like the exploration of family and friend relationships, and hey, good kissing scenes.
Entertainer
Coffee Prince Good 2
Boys over Flowers Crack 2
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 3
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 5 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 4 vs How good (quality) it was 4
This another charming feel good drama, but you know, it was really hard to stick with for some reason (school probably), which is hard to say because Ji Sung, and Kang Min Hyuk are love. I wish I could enjoy it more, but it never quite gelled for me. I think I would like it more if I rewatched.
Mirror of the Witch
Coffee Prince Good 2
Boys over Flowers Crack 3
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 2
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 3 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 4 vs How good (quality) it was 4
This drama starts out strong albeit some of the special effects are cringe worthy, and it descends into a, hey, they are making this shit up as they go along. It should have been a glorious, dark, fairy tale. The fem chars drive the story, they have agency, even though most of them are evil, and that I suppose is worth something. But the execution and what makes it on screen, it’s not worthy of the wonderful cast and characters, and they throw everything away in the end, including the fem lead’s struggle. Uri Donggu and Kim Sae Ron are much better than this.
Age of Youth
Coffee Prince Good 7
Boys over Flowers Crack 3
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 6
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead this is an ensemble cast with flawed characters, yet very modern, so let’s give them a 9 because I said so. (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 8 vs How good (quality) it was 8
GREAT FEMALE CAST and a super little drama, super charming. It is not perfect, but the moodiness, and the mature contemporary look at young women set it above par. It’s uneven, and has a plot bunny that goes nowhere. The last episodes go off to the left, disrupting mood and flow which causes dissonance but in a way work with the themes and stories, but I didn’t quite love that dissonance.
Let’s Fight Ghost
Coffee Prince Good 5
Boys over Flowers Crack 5
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 7
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead this is difficult to rate due to the nature of a murdered ghost character but I will give her a 6 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 9 vs How good (quality) it was 7
I enjoyed every minute of this drama, it’s one of my favorites for the year. I have no complaints. None. Scary huh? Taecyeon totally levels up, and he and had a great chemistry. Net chatter dissed the drama for the actors age gap. Too bad. People missed out on an extremely compatible and enjoyable lead pairing, and an engaging drama in whole.
Cinderella and the Four Knights
Coffee Prince Good 5
Boys over Flowers Crack 5
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 7
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 4 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 6 vs How good (quality) it was 5
Park So Dam was adorable, but you know, “they” totally ham-stringed her character just has happens in many k dramas A kick ass justice girl who beat up dudes and brooked no nonsense, was bullied and physically assaulted by…a group of mean girls so that she could be rescued. Total negation of her entire char development. The other big problem in watching it was the second fem lead literally sucked the life out of every scene she was in. But. Who knew Ahn Jae-hyun could be such a charmer? He really stole the show. Jung Il Woo took on a character outside his norm, and man did people complain about him being angsty, emo and boring, (do not get me started on that it is 2017 yet people still conflate actors and characters). This drama was not as big as Heirs, but one could compare JIW’s effort to portray a serious angsty guy to LMH’s Kim Tan effort. Kim Tan was not the right char for LMH, Tan was just too damn sad to someone who is not good at sad. However, JIW had a char that was angry rather than just sad which came off better. The parody of Boys Ever Flowers was pretty funny, I particularly liked the snippet of instrumental OST in the graduation scene when walked across the bridge. The drama totally fizzled in the end, but the first part was way fun.
I had a lot to say about this, maybe because of net chatter, more than the drama was worth. This tells you how much fun it was in the beginning.
Scarlet Heart
Coffee Prince Good 6
Boys over Flowers Crack 10
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 7
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 6 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 8 vs How good (quality) it was 7
MY CRACK DRAMA. I haven’t had a crack drama since I Can Hear Your Voice. Lee Joong Gi slayed as the beautifully broken Wang So. Really I just love So, so so so much. I loved IU in the Soo role but good grief what was the point of the body switch, really? This drama hit all the feels for me, and I really, ah, did I say how much I loved Soo and SO? The deserve all the screen caps, sigh, so beautiful. Lots of problems with this drama, from pacing to edits, to the common k drama, let’s really not explain the supernatural aspect. I admit it just went into snail pace in the last 5 episodes, and I suffered through it. I cried for the last 4 episodes nearly the entire time. No I didn’t love the ending. I think people question the ending, why the last parting of the happy faces. I see this as what might of been, if they could just be, the promise of another try in another life, and So did not have to be political, and Soo could have been well and strong. Those poor lovely babies. However, the premise of the beginning, was that one cannot always change ones life, just because you want to. However, the drama also showed us that Soo did impact So’s life. This drama just gave me so many feels, makes me tear up as I type.
My Dear Friends
Coffee Prince Good 10
Boys over Flowers Crack 5
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 5
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead- The halameoni’s and Ahjummas were tough cookies. They get 9’s just because just liked the Age of Youth women (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 10 vs How good (quality) it was 10
This is a stellar drama, wonderfully cast, and beautifully done. Some people can’t handle the sadness of confronting the lives of older people, and how family and family needs impact our lives, but really, they need to, and this drama does it with as much dignity as possible. I will say that Wan absolutely did not deserve Yeon-ha.
Shopping King Louis
Coffee Prince Good 6
Boys over Flowers Crack 5
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 8
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 7 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 8 vs How good (quality) it was 7
This is simply a charming, lovely, lovely, fun, drama. I’d probably kill Louis in really life, but in drama world, he’s so much fun. Great cast.
Bok Joo
Coffee Prince Good 5
Boys over Flowers Crack 5
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 8
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 6 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 8 vs How good (quality) it was 7
I super disliked the lead actress going into this. I came to respect her skills more. I did not find Bok Joo likable, she was not actually a very good friend or team mate to her besties. She had heart,and loved, but she was a lot like Bella in Twilight in that she REALLY wasn’t that into her friends. Bok Joo was a habitual liar and the male lead called her “fatty” as an endearment, and her friends “uglies” throughout the drama so they both could be assholes. That boy was just so visibly in love with her it was even difficult to dislike him for his stupid mouth. Other than trying to make an extremely thin actress look bulky (fail) the drama is pretty well done and so bloody charming. A big part of that is a great cast and the male lead character and actor. He really brought such joy and love into the portrayal of the character.
SWAG!
Beautiful Mind
Coffee Prince Good 1
Boys over Flowers Crack 1
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 2
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 6 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 2 vs How good (quality) it was 3
This drama would have been much better as a medical who done it than whatever it was supposed to be. It had possibilities but it just never gelled. The Jang Hyuk and Park So Dam pairing and dynamic was very awkward and weird-and I’m a person that likes weird and unconventional It was like the showmakers couldn’t decide what to do-actually the entire drama was like that. Some of it was intentional due to the plot, looking at the world through a different lens, which was interesting but did not make it a good drama.
Moonlight Drawn By Clouds
Coffee Prince Good 4
Boys over Flowers Crack 2
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 5
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 4 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 5 vs How good (quality) it was 5
The drama is lovely to look upon. Park Bo gum being utterly charming is always a win. He’s so sassy. Cute moments. None of the characters really spoke to me except the Crown Prince and Nari. Not gonna lie, Bo Gum’s sass in his flash mob video was as much or more fun than anything else.
Lucky Romance
Coffee Prince Good 6
Boys over Flowers Crack 4
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 6
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 7 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 7 vs How good (quality) it was 7
I really enjoyed this drama, until a certain incident in the street. I enjoyed the characters and the cast and the fun fashion. And then that poor boy was left lying in the middle of the road. I am sorry, I am not as forgiving as some. I was totally, absolutely, done with the female lead at that point, and it ruined the drama for me. I am a little bitter over that, it bothers me.
W
Coffee Prince Good 5
Boys over Flowers Crack 4
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 5
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 6 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 6 vs How good (quality) it was 5
Lee Jong Suk is awesome as ever. This show started out WOW and went WTF to the point of no return by about the 6th episode. It had a lot to say, a lot of meta about writers as god and so forth, but you can’t make the writer, who was a side character, the lead character in the second half of the drama when LEE frigging JONG SUK is the lead actor, viewers are not going to have that. Pile that on a wtf no logic- the only consistency was in the logic breaking its own rules. So much potential, so much waste of Lee Jong Suk, and Lee Tae Kwan too.
Beautiful Gong Shim
Coffee Prince Good 7
Boys over Flowers Crack 4
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 8
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 7 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 7 vs How good (quality) it was 7
Again, started off the start with quirk, charming, and with a great, fun, fem lead and male lead ANNND in the last quarter of the show totally focused on the male lead and second lead and Gong shim became a secondary character. WTF show, WTF?
Goblin
Coffee Prince Good 7
Boys over Flowers Crack 6
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 7
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 4 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality.)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 8 vs How good (quality) it was 7
Moody, weird, funny, some wtf moments, beautiful, and sadly charming. A decided lack of character development for the female leads. However Kim Go Eun just glowed, this actress just became this character. But we all know to expect a focus on the male leads with KES, it is what she does best. The symbolism and themes were wonderfully incorporated (and made up a lot for the messiness of the symbolism and themes in Heirs). I never quite understood WHY Shin had to suffer so much. SO MUCH. I enjoyed this drama tremendously however. The last two episodes were an emotional rollercoaster, and I am not sure how I really feel about that. That needs time to process. Life is beautiful, bitter, and heartbreakly sad and not fair, we cry for a vengeance, yet we endure, find some measures of forgiveness, peace, and joy in small moment, and I guess that really speaks to Korean Han. I felt the ending was cheated somehow. It left me as bereft for the male lead as did Rooftop Prince.
Legend of Blue Sea
Coffee Prince Good 5
Boys over Flowers Crack 3
Flower Boy Ramyun Shop Fun 5
Kim Sam Soon Rocking Female Lead 8 (is she too damsel like? Ability to take care of herself financially and otherwise, and owning her sexuality)
Dramabeans Scale: How much I enjoyed it 5 vs How good (quality) it was 7
Lee Min Ho really has become comfortable in his own skin, or either his co-star and he really worked well together. The drama wasn’t in your face crack, but it was solidly entertaining and charming, even though at some points it ventured too close to being “am I watching a daily?” when it spent to much with Jeong Joon Amma’s employers. There was however something missing, or perhaps there was a certain quietness to this drama that was intentional, it seemed to lack verve, but it moved along well enough. I did not like that they had this dual running across time story that just fell off inconsistently in the second half. I also felt that they dropped continuity of Joon Jae’s character as suddenly his ability to read and hypnotize people disappeared mid run. The 16-18 episodes dragged a bit for me. It did have a few wtf moments, but most cleared up okay. I especially liked the use of green and blue in the drama. I think this drama is better than my enjoyment of it. And that sneaky damn tongue, how did they get that on air?
Note:
I actually watched quite a few Taiwanese and Chinese dramas this year.
Bromance-Sexy, kinda.
My Amazing Boyfriend-WTF did I just watch? Lots of euphemism. LOTS.
Ice Fantasy-WTF did I just watch and man was the make up for the lacefront wigs bad. It was a hot mess but I loved that weird little Shi and this character is my heart twin.
Love 020 –A video game romance, guy was cute, girl was super creepy. Not enough Beauty and KO.
When A Snail Falls In Love-I liked the moodiness and pacing, loved the lead fem char, and then it just got stupid and ridiculous in the last few episodes.
Prince of Wolf-Wow, this drama was bad. But so fun in the first half, with the cutest puppy boy ever. The malamute was the best actor in the drama. Along with Wolf Prince’s adam’s apple, which needed it’s own time zone.
Part 2 will be the best of 2016 picks.
